[geoschmo]

Originally posted by SpaceBadger:
Except... hmmm, my Capture Planet fleet strategy has everyone break formation, too, yet it seems to keep on working anyway, so that the gunships bLast the defenses and then quit firing to let the troopships make their assault - even though gunship individual strategies are set to Optimal, they seem to remember that the fleet was set to Capture Planet...

Capture planet is the exception to the rule that ships that break formation follow their own strategies. Actually it's more complicated then that. Because the ships really do follow their design strategies as far as movement, that's why they mill about the planet aimlessly, or sit motionless rather then go to the corners. They just won't fire on the planet once the weapons platforms are gone if the fleet has capture planet orders and there is a transport with troops in the fleet. You will find that if you attack a planet with the fleet having capture planet orders, but set to break formation, and you do NOT include a transport with troops in the fleet, your ships will quite happily go about glassing the planet. It's a hard coded exception to the normal game logic to make planet capture work right.

Geoschmo