how in the nine hells
 

do i set up small/med transports so they will move populations and units? ive read what i could find on the subject here and i just cant get it to work. id like to be able to automatically collect, and launch sats/mines as well. any help would be appreciated.
Emperor Fritsch the Overworked

Re: how in the nine hells
 

The mine and satelite ministers do kinda work, but you won't have absolute control over where the units are deployed. The minister never deploys them over planets, just over warp points.

The population minister does kinda suck 'tho

Do you want complete hands off automation like I've described, or do you want to direct them a little more?

Those are really two separate, but inter-related questions.

Re: how in the nine hells
 

ok forget populations then, just to have the sat/mine layers pick up and deploy units on WPs would be good enough for me to start learning this skill
Emp Fritsch

Re: how in the nine hells
 

Click Upload Population
From where
Click Donwload Population
To where
Click repeat orders

This is what I do. I then have one or two transports under the control of the Transport minister in every system.

The transport with the orders will continue to follow its orders until changed or destroyed.

You can set them to take population for the HW to any other planet you want. Use more than one, or leap frog them out into your empire.

Good luck.

Re: how in the nine hells
 

OK. Build cargo ships: you can use transport hulls or other hulls, just give them some cargo space, and the correct launch component. For sats, I don't think they need to be given the ship class "cargo transport" or "transport", but I may be wrong. Mile layers do need the correct ship class. Also build units nearby. Turn on the sat/mine minister and turn on the minister for the cargo ship.

The ship will pick up cargo, and deploy it at warp points. But you can't be absolutely sure where. Could be the closest one, could be one you just discovered 3 systems away. It will retrieve units in planetary cargo as well, but you can't be sure from which planet. Resupply is also an issue if it flys anywhere.

The population minister works similarly, the transport needs the "population transport" class. Its just that it gets hung up on tiny worlds that can't take the population, or depletes worlds where you'd like a large population to get a production bonus. It will also mix species up and cause domed worlds.

If you want to try this, don't acquire other races, and build frigates with lots of supply but only 1 or 2 cargo. Build lots, and let them zip around, just moving a few people at a time. At the very least, its faster than reproduction.

Re: how in the nine hells
 

cool beans, thanks guys

Re: how in the nine hells
 

Now if you build said transports, and pick the planet to load cargo (population or units) from and a place to specific place to drop the cargo, you can just hit the repeat orders button, and have the orders repeated again and again.

That's the non-minister way. It's still micromanagement, but there's less mouse clicking. Working out a sopisticated chain of planets, so you can control a vast empire, can be fun.

Re: how in the nine hells
 

What I find amusing is that obviously I am not the only one to swear in D&D terms....by the seven heavens http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: how in the nine hells
 

Ok i figured how to set it up and used some out of date Troop Transports to move huge amounts of troops to my staging area. But after a few turns i go back and check on the gimps they are parked and not moving troops and cleared of orders. I did hit repeat orders and they were moving in completely secure areas......they stop because there were no troops to move? I did try to produce smaller amounts of troops at a time so they would always have troops to move but i was side tracked and forgot to check....that sound like a good reason for them to park?
Emperor Fritsch the Confused

Re: how in the nine hells
 

Emperor Fritsch the Dense said:
"they stop because there were no troops to move? I did try to produce smaller amounts of troops at a time so they would always have troops to move but i was side tracked and forgot to check....that sound like a good reason for them to park?

That's not the reason, no. Lemme 'splain how I'd do it, and what I'd expect to see.

You got the transport, and you give it some orders. If you're playing turn based, it executes those orders. Remember now, those orders get cleared when done, and won't be remembered for the repeat. Eventually, it consumes all movement points.

Now what happens next in turn-based is the same as simultaneous. You continue giving orders, and it will store the commands to execute them in sequence next turn, you can click on the eye icon on the button bar to see what that ship plans to do. At the end you hit the repeat orders, and when you do you'll see "repeat" in the orders list when you click the eye icon.

Boy, I'm long winded today. Sorry, but its hard to explain in words.

Somehow, you've told the ship to do the same thing twice, or you haven't given it the orders to repeat. You can use the eye icon to see any orders stored. See what's up.

[EDIT]

He's what happened to me before I began viewing the orders. I would give the transport orders to a point A, then point B, then Point C, then Point A again, then repeat. That ends up with two trips to A in a row, and clears the queue.

Planets empty of units won't stop the round trip. If the transport can't hold anymore, the orders queue is flushed, but you get a message saying the transport is full.