Oolite Bulletins

I keep coming across Boomslang "graveyards"...

Is there a point to this???

Some of them start moving when shot at others just die!!!

Am i missing something???

sounds like those ships use a broken (pirate)AI.
They probably get stuck in a loop or a deadended state, firing at them causes the ATTACKED message to interrupt the loop.
(group dynamics cause the others in the group to repond sometimes ass well)