Starship have a recycle rate. The Host person can set the recycle rate to any thing from 0% to 100%. Default setting is 75%. The Host person can set the recycle rate using HCONFIG.
This is the percentage of the minerals that are recovered from a starship that colonizes a planet. The minerals that were used to build the hull and weapon systems are transformed back into minerals and laid out on the planet's surface. Money spent to build a ship cannot be recovered. Fighters are recycled.
FOR EXAMPLE: You have a very old battleship with tech 3 engines and laser beams and mark 1 torpedoes. You feel this ship is outdated so you set the mission to "Colonize". The Host program will unload all the fuel and cargo from the ship and than convert a percentage of the minerals that were used to build the ship back into minerals. The torpedo launchers, laser beams, engines and hull are all converted back to a percentage of the original minerals.