Lifepod Questions

[TBleader (OP)]

I have attacked many alien vessels (Ranging in size from 5,000 tons to 37,000 tons or more) but none ever drop lifepods.  Could it be because I use lasers to destroy the ships and there are huge explosions from said lasers? Also, when (and if) I get lifepods, when you pick up the aliens, how do you interrogate and dissect them? I assume there is an option on the ship that picked them up? Is cargo space needed for the 'guests'?

[Yonder]

I have attacked many alien vessels (Ranging in size from 5,000 tons to 37,000 tons or more) but none ever drop lifepods.  Could it be because I use lasers to destroy the ships and there are huge explosions from said lasers?

It sounds like you are only fighting various spoiler races, which don't drop lifepods, rather than NPR empires which have ships and crew just like you do.

Why spoilers don't drop lifepods:
Precursors: The vessels are AI defensive ships that remain behind and automatically attack trespassers. As completely automated vessels they don't have crew or lifepods.
The Swarm: Swarm ships are actually living organisms which naturally grow in space. As such there are once again no crews, or lifepods to house them.

Also, when (and if) I get lifepods, when you pick up the aliens, how do you interrogate and dissect them? I assume there is an option on the ship that picked them up? Is cargo space needed for the 'guests'?

It will be an option on fleets with the aliens I believe, and no it won't take cargo space.

[TBleader (OP)]

Alright well I salvaged a wreck of a recently destroyed vessel, and it gave me a Combat Drop Module - Battalion.  I have Star Swarm disabled, Invaders disabled, but Precursors are enabled.  How can I tell if it is a precursor ship? I have yet to find any inhabited worlds, but there are ruins (An outpost) in the system where I found this ship.  The ship didn't have any weapons, and acted strange.  As I was using my diplomatic skills (or lack thereof) to attempt to communicate with them, my scout was just watching the vessel stand there.  My diplomatic team decided communication was impossible, and the tango turned red (as a result of the lowered DR) so I decided to send my scout to attack it.  The vessel only started moving once it noticed my ship coming up behind it, after a few weeks of playing catch-up (The tango moved at 5,000 km/s or so, my scout moved at a slightly faster speed) I blasted the sucker out of the sky.  So it was possibly a precursor ship due to not dropping any lifepods? I mean I guess it explains how it did nothing but sit there, and how it was alone in the system.  No further ships have been detected so far.  It kinda sucks if that is true, meaning I have yet to find a true NPR. 

A little off-topic; In the last campaign I had, a ship was standing in a system and didn't move until I chased it down, but as I was catching up it suddenly vanished.  My fleet stood there and waited, then about half a year later the same vessel magically appeared off in the distance, I sent the fleet to chase it, and soon it vanished again (In a different spot).  At first I thought it was using a jump point, but after I surveyed the system there were no jump points near the disappearance site.  The ship never returned after the second chase.  What do you think caused it to disappear.  Each time it was well within my active sensors.  I mean it literally disappeared off the radar.  Also, on a jump point I found size-28 mines, but when I went through the jump point and scanned the system down with all sensors, nothing turned up.  Could those have been Precursor mines left over?

[Mysterius]

The absence of lifepods and presence of ruins are obvious clues that this was a precursor ship. They often guard old ruins.

About the mines, i've never heard of Precursors leaving them.

If you never encounter any NPR, i suggest setting the "NPR generation chance" higher up (i use 95% most of the time ^^).
You can also use SM mode and create a new empire via the F9 menu. This solution lets you customize the said NPR a little.

[Yonder]

About the mines, i've never heard of Precursors leaving them.

I have found precursor mines... the hard way.

[Mysterius]

Really? This game always reserves some surprises 

[TBleader (OP)]

I leave it at the default, which is 30% I believe.      But I did set it to generate one I think, is it just farther out and I need to explore some more? I'm sure I will find one sooner or later.      I just hope they don't have any dormant jump points in one of my lesser defended systems :V

Edit:
So uh, my jump scout was returning to a jump point from a newly discovered system and it stumbled upon six vessels of alien origin.     They are of a different class but yet it says they are of the same race as the ship in Alpha Centauri (The system where the precursor ruins and ship were).     These ships have a small thermal (160), very small TCS so the est.    tonnage is 1000, armour is 1, but they are numbered 2-7 (Possible FACs? Do precursors have FACs?).  Nasty little ships.  They have "Robber Anti-Ship Missiles".  I'll have to send in the big guns (with point defense) as they took out my scouts weapons.  I am just wondering though, if they are precursor ships, they are reported as the same race? I'll have to dispatch a geo-survey team to this system after I clear it out to see if there are ruins to confirm that they are precursors.   

[ZimRathbone]

If you created one NPR it will be out there somewhere, depending on its stats it may be agrressivly exploring or may be turtling.   In the first case it may indeed find you before you find it (in fact it may already have done so).  If its a stay at home then you have to run across it  -  the only major issue will be if its run through its homeworld minerals already.

regarding the precursor ships, yes the always have the same race in each game. in fact there is only a single instance of each of the special races in each game,  If you acheve comms (can happen if you get good rolls early on) then they identify themselves as Precursors - ive never seen the others identify themselves but I presume its possible