Heres something. 3 of use were playing, about 15 hours into the game. my son sent over some priviters to look around. i attact them but they would not attack. he got a message they were being attacked but there was no fight. i got no such message and so i click down in the box to my lower right and moved my ship away. i tried again with other ships but could not attack his priviter. i could attack any of the AI ships thought. hmmmmmmmm
love the game.