How to tell which ships you can steal? Inaccessible or Not Authorized.

[Ivanark]

There's a ton of threads on ship stealing, and I'd like to see if I can get a guide to ship stealing avalible. I've stolen maybe ten ships so far, but I tried to steal another ten and couldn't.

Now, to steal a ship there seem to be a few things that matter.
1. Piloting. We usually need more piloting skill for larger ships.
2. Wanted bounty hunter ships cannot be stolen.
3. It might be impossible to steal a ship if some of the crew are outside. I'm not sure on this one, but someone said something about it, anyone have thoughts on it?
4. Some ships are plot related, like star born ships cannot be stolen, though I understand you get one in NG+.

I tried to steal a merc ship, and couldn't. I was able to board, but when I tried to fly it I got 'you are not authorized to pilot this ship' and I went outside and the rest of the crew came up, told me they were hunting me, and when I killed them I still couldn't take the ship.

Another time, I tried to steal some House Va'ruun ships that landed on a moon, and couldn't even get in the door, 'inaccessible." If I got off the ramp they would take off. I tried getting them to take off with me on the ramp, in the hopes once we hit orbit I'd get in, but I just slipped through the walls and fell to the ground. Really do want to steal a Va'ruun ship.

Anyone have any clues in general what factors in to what ships can be stolen and which ones can't? Ideally clues I didn't mention, or how the ones I did might add up?

[Virus]

you need the proper piloting class to steal most ships...rank 4 to fly C class ships..

[Ivanark]

Yeah that's #1 on my list. Even with it though, you find ships you think you should be able to steal which often you cannot.

[DANEDANGER]

It is posible to scan the ships and get more detailed information of them before you even have fired a shot. Its one of those scanning skills that unlock that.

Untill then, simply go sit in the pilot seat and then go to your ship menu, it wil tell the information of the ship you are sitting in at that moment, dont want the ship, simply stand up and get back in yours

[zpc]

It's pretty simple actually:

Story ships can't be stolen (most of the times) - one knows for certain once the pilot seat doesn't allow to be used.

Ships landing on planet landing spots can always be taken - their door might be locked but not marked as "inaccessible". The locked ones are usually those owned by friendly factions

A ship with parts of advanced classes (B, C) of course needs a pilot skill of that same level (B = 3; C = 4). After building some ships one can tell which class a ship is by just looking at e.g. the engine or the reactor. If one can board / enter a ship and get the activity "kill all or leave the ship" it can be taken over - the only limitation is the player skill then.

Ships landing on a planet to reinforce a Poi can't be boarded (entry door is inaccessible)

[titanopteryx]

When a ship lands on a planet there's an easy way to tell if you can steal it. If it creates a point of interest called Landing Site then it's stealable. Actually I don't remember if it's called Landing Site exactly, but it has the word Landing in it. The exception is Starborn ships but I don't remember if those create a Landing Site.

[Ivanark]

I tried to steal a va'ruun ship which created a point, and another landed next to it, and I quick saved on my way over. Door was inaccessible on both, and both wanted to take off right away. Maybe they were doing this reinforcing thing? But I haven't seen a varuun owned point....

[zpc]

Originally posted by Ivanark:

I tried to steal a va'ruun ship which created a point, and another landed next to it, and I quick saved on my way over. Door was inaccessible on both, and both wanted to take off right away. Maybe they were doing this reinforcing thing? But I haven't seen a varuun owned point....

I got a Varuun ship from one of the landing locations already - so it is possible. It's best to run for the ship if a hostile party is at the landing zone - or if a combat with the local fauna is going on. The pilot will eventually take off and abandone his ground crew once a fight started. One has only a few seconds then to enter the ship (one still is taken into orbit no matter what).

[MJY]

its a pain, i tried like 10 times in a row and the darn thing keeps saying Inaccessible, screw that, now i click unlock

 and take the ship

[Michael]

Originally posted by Ivanark:

There's a ton of threads on ship stealing, and I'd like to see if I can get a guide to ship stealing avalible. I've stolen maybe ten ships so far, but I tried to steal another ten and couldn't.

Now, to steal a ship there seem to be a few things that matter.
1. Piloting. We usually need more piloting skill for larger ships.
2. Wanted bounty hunter ships cannot be stolen.
3. It might be impossible to steal a ship if some of the crew are outside. I'm not sure on this one, but someone said something about it, anyone have thoughts on it?
4. Some ships are plot related, like star born ships cannot be stolen, though I understand you get one in NG+.

I tried to steal a merc ship, and couldn't. I was able to board, but when I tried to fly it I got 'you are not authorized to pilot this ship' and I went outside and the rest of the crew came up, told me they were hunting me, and when I killed them I still couldn't take the ship.

Another time, I tried to steal some House Va'ruun ships that landed on a moon, and couldn't even get in the door, 'inaccessible." If I got off the ramp they would take off. I tried getting them to take off with me on the ramp, in the hopes once we hit orbit I'd get in, but I just slipped through the walls and fell to the ground. Really do want to steal a Va'ruun ship.

Anyone have any clues in general what factors in to what ships can be stolen and which ones can't? Ideally clues I didn't mention, or how the ones I did might add up?

3. I highly recommend NOT killing the outside crew. Just run straight into the ship without engaging, kill the onboard crew, make it your home ship, and then go out and mop up the outside crew. Killing the outside crew first can make the ship take off. Killing the inside crew first and then going back outside without fully taking over the ship can also make it take off.

I think what determines whether a ship can be stolen is probably a flag in the event that spawns it. I don't think there is some gameplay trick or approach that will make a difference once the ship has been spawned, outside of console commands.

[Ivanark]

Originally posted by Michael:

3. I highly recommend NOT killing the outside crew.

Good advise, Like with my var'ruun fail, I did run past them, got to the lock, and it was inaccessible. :( Then I went to the second ship, same. I was loading every few minutes and got a lot of experience with inaccessible locks.

I think I said above I would leave the ramp and try to get the ship to take off (it usually would fast) and jump back in. Sometimes it would close with me inside between the lock and the ramp. I 'kind of' remember stealing a ship that lifted before that, which I had to take over in orbit.

[Ivanark]

Ideally, I'd like to be able to tell if a ship is inaccessible before I run all the way over, dash pass the ground crew, and into the lock.

[Aesthier]

They should make a tiny lock indicator on your scanner.

Unlocked = accessible
Locked = inaccessible