Okay, I just came back to this game after many years and started a custom game. I am the sole occupant of my starting island and I'm only, like, 15 turns into the game, so I was surprised to discover, after wandering out toward the sea, a building of some sort on floating platforms situated right off my coast. At first, I panicked, thinking I was up against some super AI that had managed to build a factory there already, but then I realized it is just an alien relic.

So here's my problem: I can't remember what to do about such relics. What I'd like to do is take possession of the two killer gunboats docked there (finders keepers, pathetic AI opponents!), but I don't know if that's possible or how to go about it. Can anyone advise me and refresh my memory about such alien artifacts?

Woo woo! Thanks! The infiltrator is the unit you're speaking of, but then I have a further question: the gunboats' info panel lists them as "disabled." If I capture them as you describe, will they become enabled and usable, or will I then be in possession of a couple of cool, but useless, trophies?

Also, I was thinking: is it possible to connect the alien building they're docked at to my complex? Would that give me the ability to manufacture alien boats or something? Yeah, it seems a long shot, but that would be pretty cool if you could do it.

Ah, the "disabled" thing will clear as soon as you take them over, no problem. They'll be quite kick-ass, though their usefulness depends on your map.

But no, cool those jets - you can't incorporate their alien building into your base. It's just decoration. :)

"Infiltrator", thanks, that's it. And the gunboats are good, safe practice to level-up your Infiltrator for the real challenge, messing up the enemy base. Disabling radar, or a missle-launcher, or anti-aircraft right before your other units exploit the gap in defenses, it's so critical against AI fortresses.

Don't know if you're still following this thread, but I had an interesting thing happen.

The first enemy unit I came into contact with was a green scout that was cruising near the derelicts, and just as you said, it blasted one of them the moment it spotted it. However, then it noticed me and immediately backed off the gunboats. Long story short, for the last 30 or 40 turns , it and its buddies have been hanging around the area, staying close to the boats but never attacking them, even though they would be safely out of my firing range if they did.

Ok, so yeah, that's mildly interesting in light of your comment about the AI trying to blow up derelict shipts, but obviously no one knows all the ins and outs of the AI code so it's nothing earthshattering. Maybe green is getting his own infiltrators ready to send down. Anyway, what really has me puzzled is this: now my other opponent (red) has showed up in the same area, and not only failed to shoot at the boats even though he could easily do so with impunity, but he and our supposed common enemy green are running around within each other's firing and scan ranges and completely failing to attack each other! It's as if they're allied, or so scared of me that they've forgotten about each other (sure, lol). It's the most curious, yet entirely entertaining, thing to watch, since there is no diplomacy mechanism in the game--it's kill or be killed, that's the premise.

If I had ever noticed the AI opponents not fighting between themselves before, that would be one thing, but I never have (although it has admittedly been a long, long time since I've played, so maybe I've forgotten?). What do you think? Bug? Procedurally-generated sentient AI? Old age and not enough sleep? Corona virus?

There we go, the enemy scouts are doing social distancing.

Actually, that scout behaviour is something I'm used to ... at least the first part, where they are backed off from the gunships. My suspicion is that they're not in your gun range, no, but you have a scout nearby, or might have (not sure how much the AI cheats on unit knowledge) that could get within firing range. AI scouts generally won't fire if it means they won't be able to shoot defensively when your scout zips up and tags them, and they usually try to float just out of range of your quick units. And, since defender fires first, AI scouts mostly don't advance into firing range of other scouts, unless the other scouts have already fired.

Though you say the green & red are actually getting within firing range of each other, that doesn't sound familiar. Amusing though. But given enough time they'll move some assault guns or other heavier units up, so I recommend cranking out those Infiltrators, or dedicating something to defend those gunships.

That made me lol, because you're describing exactly what it looked like: two people circling and eyeing each other closely but refusing to shake hands :) Now that you mention it, I have seen that behavior before, so that's probably the answer. If so, though, that would mean the enemy AI doesn't really know what I have in that area, since there are no scouts around anymore. Either it's remembering the scouts that used to be there, or it's just plain scared to mess with me. I'm almost positive it's the latter. I'm on it. However, the cheeky green bugger pulled a nasty one on me: up until this point, all I'd seen out of him was scouts (I'm turtling at the moment). But no sooner did I get back from posting my last post than he flew in a transport out of nowhere and landed a missile crawler on my beach! (I was actually relieved that it was only a missile crawler after all the talk about infiltrators lol.) No problem, though. Yeah, he got my gold storage facility (two turns to replace, pfft), but I got his missile crawler, the transport plane, and an accompanying fighter! TBH, I was surprised he flew it in blind, with no AWAC, but it sure did get my attention! Man, I love this game!