I did have a PBW game once where I was about to be eradicated by a much stronger opponent and so in desperation I hid a couple colony ships in a storm and hoped that once he killed the last of me he could see then I could start over in a quiet piece of the quadrant while he turned his attention to other foes. Techincally the idea was feasible as long as I had an ally willing to allow my ships to pass unmolested and I could establish the colonies before my resource storage ran out and my ships were abandoned.
I can't imagine it working very well in a two player game though.
