Claim NPC Ship
NPC ships are ships owned by NPC Factions which spawn automatically. The number of ships each NPC or player faction can own is governed by a value called PCU.
Before v1.204, when players captured NPC ships, the ships' blocks remained in the NPCs' PCU pool. This had the disadvantage that, after the NPCs' PCU pool was exhausted, no further NPC ships would spawn.
From update v1.204 onwards, NPC ships despawn after 2 hours to free up the NPCs' PCU pool. This would have the disadvantage that you could not keep captured ships, so a claiming mechanic was introduced.
The Claim NPC Ship button in the Control Panel Screen lets players capture these ships by transferring the PCU to themselves and prevent them from despawning.
The Claim button does not affect the ownership of the functional blocks inside the ship! You still have to hack the blocks to be able to use them or access the ship's terminal.
Usage
To claim a captured ship:
- Interact with a hacked terminal on the NPC ship.
- Notice the despawn timer.
- Click Claim NPC Grid. This transfers the PCU to you and prevents the ship from despawning.
- Hack all functional blocks that you want to gain ownership of, or grind them down.
When does the Timer start?
While the NPC ship is flying past or when you are shooting at it, the timer is not running yet. The ship may despawn naturally at the end of its path.
The NPC claim timer starts as soon as non-NPC ownership or authorship is detected on the grid. For instance, the timer starts after you hack (grind down and re-weld) the first block, or when you build a new functional block on the grid.
Mod interactions
If you are using mods that interfere with or override the default NPC spawns, this Claim game mechanic can be either not available, or it suddenly despawns NPC owned grids retroactively if you didn't hack all blocks.