Container and wreck ownership

Container/wreck ownership, flagging and damage

How do the container ownership rules work?

Attacking a Container or Wreck

Cargo containers and wrecks are considered valid property just like drones and ships. If you damage either, you are initiating aggression on its owner and should be ready for a security hit and Concord intervention.

Note I: This also applies for attacking a gangmember's cargo container. Being in a gang does not allow you to destroy his container or ship.

Note II: These rules do not apply when salvaging wrecks, please refer to the last paragraph of this Knowledge Base Article for more information.

Stealing from a Container or Wreck

When you attempt to take or move items from containers or wrecks in Empire Space, it may result in you being criminally flagged to other players. Whether you get criminally flagged and who you get criminally flagged to depends on who owns the container/wreck and whether, if you're not the owner, you have an implicit right to take from it. This criminal flag lasts for 15 minutes.

Who owns what, and when

Who gets ownership of containers/wrecks depends on the situation. The possible circumstances are as follows:

• When an NPC is killed by a player, the player who did the most damage to it gets ownership of any loot containers that may drop and of the wreck left behind by that NPC.
• When players are killed, any containers dropped from their ship are still owned by them. The same goes for the wreck that once was their ship.

When taking is not stealing

If you do not own a loot or jettison container, you may still have an implicit right to take from it. However, this is only if the owner of the container:

• Has given you a personal standing of 10
• Is in the same player corporation as you
• Is in the same gang as you (and is located in the same solar system as you).
• Since Dominion it has been possible for a player to set their wrecks as "available to all". This allows anyone to take from their wrecks and cans without any consequences. Wrecks marked this way appear blue on the overview, rather than the usual yellow or white.

What happens when you steal

When you take something from a container/wreck that does not belong to you and which you do not have the implicit right to take things from, you will be shown a confirmation dialog asking you if you really want to steal it and warning you of the consequences.

If you choose to go ahead and steal despite the warning, you will be criminal flagged to:

• The corporation which the owner of the container/wreck belongs to, if it is not an NPC corporation.
• The owner of the container/wreck (this is not done if the owner’s corporation was flagged).

Note that scooping a whole container belonging to another character doesn't result in criminal flagging. This means that secure containers are not really secure until they have been anchored.

SALVAGING WRECKS:

As long as its contents are not taken, anybody is allowed to salvage any wreck at any possible time. Wrecks remain floating ship debris made out of raw materials and as such do not belong to anyone in particular.

This means that having wrecks salvaged by a third party while being in an asteroid belt or mission is -not- considered to be an exploit and is a valid game mechanic and tactic under all circumstances.