When a player takes over an empire, PBW emails him the password. Woefully, this is often incorrect because a previous owner of that empire has changed the password in-game but did not notify PBW using the "Update password" button. As far as PBW knows, there has been no change. In this case run the turn offline as discussed. I do think it's a good idea to change all the passwords of abandoned empires but for *censored* sake, write them down!
Or better still, use the "Update password" button!
[ December 18, 2003, 01:00: Message edited by: Grandpa Kim ]