Starships may signal a starbase they presently orbit to clone them, or make an identical copy, by using the CLN Friendly Code. The following conditions must be met in order to initiate a cloning:
Normal cloning takes place after the first Build Ship subphase in the Host Order, in place of normal build operations. If a starbase is scheduled to build a ship in the normal build queue and the starbase meets the above cloning conditions it will clone the ship successfully, resetting its speed to Warp 0. The build queue will then move on as normal and the normal ship build for this starbase will be considered to have been used until the base is prioritized again. (This holds for both the PQ and PBP systems.)
If the Ship Limit is near and the Priority Build Queue system is active, it is possible for a starbase to clone during the standard build subphase and build normally during the priority build subphase. Otherwise, a regular build scheduled at the starbase can prevent successful cloning. It is occasionally possible for the use of a pbN code to interfere with this.
It is usually impracticable to attempt a cloning after the Ship Limit has been reached unless the player has the Advanced Cloning advantage activated in a Campaign environment. However, it can be possible.