Attempting to Capture Ship..Friendly NPC's come in to "help"

[Gloomy]

Hey Everyone,

 

When attempting to capture an NPC trader ship, I often run into the problem of NPC friendlies coming into the battle and sinking them.  I've attempted to use the map commands by clicking on each ship and giving them a command, but they don't seem to listen. 

 

Is there a trick to make it work? 

 

Thanks

[Bartholomew Badgerbeard]

Are you initiating combat with friendly AI's in the combat circle by any chance?

 

As far as I'm aware, any AI within the combat circle (the one that appears when you choose to launch an attack) can get dragged into the combat with you. These AI are not part of your fleet, so they cannot be commanded.

The way to avoid this is to only attack ships that are far enough away from other AI to keep the fight "personal".

[Capt. Rice]

If they are your ships in you fleet you have to push M to give orders.  if they are not then they are AI that you pulled into your battle and they will sink the ship.  to stop that from happening you need to make sure there are no other ship in the vicinity.

[Gloomy]

ahh, thank you!  That was helpful.

[JJWolf]

Enemy AI in the circle will also jump in to assist the trader you are attacking too

[Admiral 8Q]

Enemy AI in the circle will also jump in to assist the trader you are attacking too

Yep I learned that the hard way after attacking a merchant near his nation's port. Four huge battleships came in to defend him within 30-60 seconds of the battle. 

So I turned and ran away, heh heh!