"send colony ship" function

Slick · #1 February 28th, 2004, 02:34 AM

I have a few questions about this order.

Does this order send the closest colony ship or does it choose the colonizer a different way?

Does the game check that the chosen colony ship has the right colony component for the target planet, or could it accidentally send the wrong type of colonizer?

Does the command still work if a colonizer ship (by class) is not built on a Light Cruiser or other "non-colonizer" hull?

Do people use this or colonize manually?

Slick.

geoschmo · #2 February 28th, 2004, 02:49 AM

Does this order send the closest colony ship or does it choose the colonizer a different way?
It sends the closest available colonizer to the planet you have selected. That isn't always a ship actually close to the planet though. Just the closest one you have available, even if it's on the other side of the quadrant. What I'd like is an order to give to the ship to head for the nearest available planet that doesn't already have a colony ship enroute. That would be very useful.

Does the game check that the chosen colony ship has the right colony component for the target planet, or could it accidentally send the wrong type of colonizer?
No. If you pick an ice planet and only have rock colonizers it won't send any ship to that planet.

Does the command still work if a colonizer ship (by class) is not built on a Light Cruiser or other "non-colonizer" hull?
Yes, it works independantly of the hull type. If you have a colony class hull and the colony comp has been destroyed or is being retrofitted it wont respond to the send colony ship function

Do people use this or colonize manually?

I use both, depending on the size of the empire and the situation. The send colony ship function is more convenient, but doesn't always result in the most efficent use of resources. You can have colony ships going very long distances if you aren't careful. They can run out of supply if you don't plan your routes accordingly.

[ February 28, 2004, 00:53: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

Slick · #3 February 28th, 2004, 02:54 AM

Thanks, but I am still a little unclear about this one part.

Quote:

Does the game check that the chosen colony ship has the right colony component for the target planet, or could it accidentally send the wrong type of colonizer?
No. If you pick an ice planet and only have rock colonizers it won't send any ship to that planet.

Just to be clear, say I have some rock colonizers and some ice colonizers available. If I "send colony ship" to an ice planet, will it pick the nearest available ice colonizer even though there may be nearer rock colonizers (which would give an error when they tried to colonize the planet)???

Slick.

geoschmo · #4 February 28th, 2004, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slick:
Thanks, but I am still a little unclear about this one part.

quote:
Does the game check that the chosen colony ship has the right colony component for the target planet, or could it accidentally send the wrong type of colonizer?
No. If you pick an ice planet and only have rock colonizers it won't send any ship to that planet.

Just to be clear, say I have some rock colonizers and some ice colonizers available. If I "send colony ship" to an ice planet, will it pick the nearest available ice colonizer even though there may be nearer rock colonizers (which would give an error when they tried to colonize the planet)???

Slick.

In that case it will send the nearest available ice colonizer.

Specifically the nearest ship that has the ice colony component on it and does not have orders already and has movement available. It ignores ships with no movement, or ships with orders, or ships with damaged colony comps. It also disreagards the type designation. It only looks for the actual colony comp ability.

Using "manual" colonization, you can tell an ice colony ship to try and colonize a rock world. You will get an error when it get's there, but it will make the attempt. However, using the "Send coloony ship" function, it will only send colony ships of the correct type.

[ February 28, 2004, 01:02: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

Slick · #5 February 28th, 2004, 03:03 AM

Thanks, Geo. You are da man! Up until now, I would only use that function until I got my 2nd colony tech because I was afraid that the game would send the wrong type of colonizer. Also never got around to testing it myself.

Slick.

geoschmo · #6 February 28th, 2004, 03:09 AM

np.

Another wierd thing about the send colony function. Later in teh game you might build a colony ship with multiple colony components. Or you might play a mod with a universal colony comp, such as Devnull mod. In that case in the planet window where it shows you how many colony ships you have available it will list the ship as three colony ships. It counts the abaility instead of the actual number of ships.