colonizing planets in 'enemy' systems

[AmigaKid]

Ok now...

I´m playing Moo3 for some month now and browse the forums regularly. I believe I learned a lot of things about the game now, but there is one thing that bugs me and for which i can´t seem to find an answer.

I read a lot of posts like:

"... I created a colony in his (the AI´s) system..." or
"... when you have an alliance the AI can colonize your planets..."
etc...

BUT... whenever I sent a colony or outpost ship to a planet in a system that already has one or more colonized planets of another race, my colony ship won´t land on the marked planet. (Yes, the planets i try to colonize are uninhabited, so it´s not like I am trying to build colonies on top of his. )
Even if I have a Full Alliance with the other race I can´t land colony or outpost ships in his systems. The ships just stay in the system and do nothing, if I check them the AI orders are still active (i.e. colonize planet)
I´m not sure but I think I have observed that this only happens if the 'enemy' has ships in the system... not sure tho... and they have ships in every system anyway

So, what am I doing wrong?
I tried it again today, just to test. I gifted a Klackon empire with loads of techs until he was willing to enter a full alliance... then i sent one colony and one outpost ship to two of his systems... they weren´t 'allowed' to land again

In the end I just reloaded, gifted him techs again and then exchanged some more techs against one of his planets... as soon as I recieved that planet, my colony ship (which was trying to land on a different planet in the same system for at least 20 turns) immediatly landed and builded a colony
Seems I can only land colonies in empty systems and systems in which I already have a planet... is that normal? how do you get hold in 'foreign' territory in a peaceful way, then?

Help please

[The Wagster]

If you're trying to colonise an uninhabited planet there are two things that can stop you;

a) the system has some ships in it from an empire you don't have an alliance with (or Non-agression, I can't remember if that stops you or not). If there are any "hostile" ships your colony or outpost ships won't be able to land.

b) If both you and your ally are trying to colonise the same planet neither ship will land.

I'm not sure why you can't colonise that planet in the Klacton system but my guess would be option b). Maybe when you first tried it the klactons were trying to colonise it on the same turn but when you retried it after trading the planet the Klactons didn't have a colony ship there for some reason.

[AmigaKid]

Thanks for the answer.


Actually I -do- have a Full Alliance and he -doesn´t- have any colony or outpost ships in the system and still i can´t land.

[The Wagster]

Well then I'm stumped

Sorry

[mpenni]

From my understanding, (which I will admit is limited), landing a colony or outpost ship in a system is not possible if there are foreign ships in the system. I say foreign because this includes ships from races that you have a Non-Agression Pact with. The presence of foreign colonies or outposts will not block your colony or outpost ships from landing, just ships. This includes system ships. I am not sure what happens with empires that you have any kind of alliance with, (I tend to play xenophobic Klackons and never make alliances with other species).
My guess as to your problem landing your colony ship in the Klackon system was that there might have been Klackon ships there, or more specifically Klackon system ships. When you traded for his planet, you got the system ships as well, (I think), and thus there were no foreign ships left in the system. This permitted your colony ship to land. Can anyone else confirm this?
This problem you are experiencing can also be used to your advantage. Races that you have NAPs with, (again, I can't be certain for Def. Alliances and Full Alliances), can be prevented from colonizing worlds in your systems if you leave a ship in that system. Once you have built System ships, this is automatic, but for those systems where you have not yet built a System ship, have an obsolete scout just sit there until you do. You can even put obsolete ships out "to pasture" in systems within your space that you have no plans of colonizing now but do not want your NAP allies to do so either. This way you can keep the integrity of your empire's corner of the galaxy from getting corrupted by the presence of colonies from your annoying NAP neighbors.....

play nice with your neighbors until it is time not to play nice.

[Patton1942]

Originally posted by AmigaKid
Thanks for the answer.


Actually I -do- have a Full Alliance and he -doesn´t- have any colony or outpost ships in the system and still i can´t land.

Does he have system ships perhaps? They don't snow on the galaxy map as a ship icon. Try selecting the planet, and look to see how many ships the AI has in system. If its not that, perhaps a random bug where the AI is reading an orbital as a system ship?

Not sure what else it could be. I would hope that its a system ship. that at least, we can be sure of.

[Yushal Al Dai]

Go to the victory panel and choose the offending empire from the drop down menu, then see what his "front" is toward you.

If he has a defensive front, then any ships he has there, be they starships or system ships, will act to stop your colony ships from carrying out their orders.

At least, so I think.

You will need to switch to a total war front toward him for one turn and blow his system defense ships out of the skies. Then you ships should land the very same turn or the next turn. Be sure to manage the battle screens to make sure that you dont bombard his worlds, so as to cause as little "diplomatic incident" as possible.

This course may well ruin your treaty with him, I'm not sure.

You have to have higher alliances and/or make him a better friend somehow before he will drop his front down to Quiet. Quiet front means you wont harass each other's colonization efforts or whatever.

You should also change to defensive front when you want to keep him from landing his ships.