Good catch! You are most certainly correct.
The problem is that escorted ships keep their original nation's flag, even when you change yours.
Your other companion does follow your flag and they end up technically at odds with each other and respond accordingly!
There are several ways to fix this. Extract attached to your PROGRAM folder for my first suggestion.
This one ensures that the relations between all ships in the player fleet are set to the nation of the flag you're flying.
That should ensure no companions ever end up firing on each other or on the player.
This does mean that your Spanish companion (who really should be Dutch???) remains Spanish.
So if you pass any ships who are hostile to Spain (his flag) but not to France (your flag), your companion ship SHOULD be attacked, while you're in the clear.
Does that make sense to you?
Other potential solution is setting companion ships to ALWAYS get the relations for the player flag.
That would mean that despite your companion flying a Spanish flag, he'll be treated as French (your flag).
Perhaps makes things a bit more simple, but I like my first suggestion because it is prone to more interesting situations!
The problem is that escorted ships keep their original nation's flag, even when you change yours.
Your other companion does follow your flag and they end up technically at odds with each other and respond accordingly!
There are several ways to fix this. Extract attached to your PROGRAM folder for my first suggestion.
This one ensures that the relations between all ships in the player fleet are set to the nation of the flag you're flying.
That should ensure no companions ever end up firing on each other or on the player.
This does mean that your Spanish companion (who really should be Dutch???) remains Spanish.
So if you pass any ships who are hostile to Spain (his flag) but not to France (your flag), your companion ship SHOULD be attacked, while you're in the clear.
Does that make sense to you?
Other potential solution is setting companion ships to ALWAYS get the relations for the player flag.
That would mean that despite your companion flying a Spanish flag, he'll be treated as French (your flag).
Perhaps makes things a bit more simple, but I like my first suggestion because it is prone to more interesting situations!