Because losing a ship and having it get captured-and-recaptured are very different things in a ship slot economy. In the former case, you lose PBPs and a ship slot. In the latter case, you lose nothing. And you could even send well-equipped ships in to strip fighters because you'd know you'd get the ship back.
From a story side, you could certainly make an argument that an attacking ship uses automated attack sequences (hence it keeps fighting with 0 crew) until destroyed. To avoid enemy boarding parties just beaming over, all ships are equipped with a way to block transporters (as long as they have power, which requires fuel). With no enemy crew to pass along the transporter authorization codes, you can't just beam up a replacement crew. |
Show Media Item - Hmm Just Wonder Why can't a Planet Not Capture a Ship? i...
