Nasty problem with strategy

CW · #1 January 4th, 2002, 09:46 AM

I've got a really hair-pulling problem here with my PD cruiser's strategy. The ship is armed with a bunch of PDCs and a few phrased poloroid beams, and I've specifically told it NOT to fire on planets because it has a nasty tendency of getting itself killed/heavily damaged by weapon platforms. The attached link is a screen shot of the strategy screen for the ship. My problem is, I can't stop it from firing at planets!!

Screen shot of the strategy screen

The ship is attached to a fleet whose strategy says every ship under it should break formation in combat, and all other ships are following their own individual orders faultlessly except for this rogue ship. Any help appriciated thanks!

[ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: CW ]

Zarix · #2 January 4th, 2002, 12:42 PM

I made the following test. I built two colonizer and gave them kamikaze strategy. Then I put them in a fleet and gave the fleet a break formation strategy. I used the fleet to attack two escorts but the colonizers just went in the corners of the map and didn't try to ram. I tried using one colonizer without putting it in a fleet and it rammed without any problems.

I might be that when a ship breaks formation it doesn't get the strategy that was given to it. I think it gets the default strategy of the ship type. At least that is what happened to the colonizers in the test. What strategy those ships have that aren't misbehaving in your situation?

Mephisto · #3 January 4th, 2002, 01:19 PM

Version 1.58:
10. Fixed - If a combat piece was in a fleet it would always use the fleet strategy, even if it had broken formation.

Hope that helps.

CW · #4 January 4th, 2002, 04:48 PM

quote:
What strategy those ships have that aren't misbehaving in your situation?

There is a gunnery DN specialised in planet bombardment, using "optimum firing range" with planets set as the highest piority and "damaged until all weapons gone" checked. It is ignoring the enemy fighters and ships alright. It still fires at these if they get into the way, but it won't actively go hunting until the planet is dealt with.

There is an anti-ship BC armed with nothing but a computer virus package and allegiance subverters, using "point-blank" and told not to fire on planets. It seems to be doing what I expected from it, but then it doesn't have any guns so it stays away from planets by default, and I haven't ran into any big combined enemy fleets so I'm not sure about its target selection routine.

There are unarmed spaceyard ships and minesweepers using "don't get hurt" and these run for the corners as usual.

Finally there is a troop transport using "capture planet" and it performs brilliantly, staying away from the planet until all the hostile WPs are destroyed.

quote:
10. Fixed - If a combat piece was in a fleet it would always use the fleet strategy, even if it had broken formation.

Is it telling me that from 1.58 onwards the ships WILL continue to follow the fleet strategy even if they break formation? That's a BAD idea if you ask me. My experience tells me that it is best to design a few specialised ships then to build some "jack-of-all-trades". If you are going to have specialised ships then they can't have common orders!

[ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: CW ]

geoschmo · #5 January 4th, 2002, 05:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by CW:

Is it telling me that from 1.58 onwards the ships WILL continue to follow the fleet strategy even if they break formation? That's a BAD idea if you ask me. My experience tells me that it is best to design a few specialised ships then to build some "jack-of-all-trades". If you are going to have specialised ships then they can't have common orders!

[ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: CW ]

No, I misread that myself the first time and was not happy. What it's saying is that before the fix, ships in a fleet would break formation ok, but still use the fleet strategy. (Optimal firing, point-blank, etc.) Now after the fix they will break formation and revert to their own ship strategy instead of using the fleet strategy. At least that's how it's supposed to work. I haven't had a chance to test it yet. Actually I hadn't even noticed that they were using the fleet strategy before the fix.

Geoschmo

Growltigga · #6 January 4th, 2002, 05:18 PM

OK, apologies but newby side topic to this thread - I have found the strategy button (the pawn) on the control panel - BUT how do you differentiate between a fleet strategy (which seems limited to optimal firing range, point blank etc) and the wonderful individual bit about what you target first etc?

tesco samoa · #7 January 4th, 2002, 06:49 PM

Empire options window has a link to strag. There you can make your own stag. or alter the current ones.

To set it up for individual ships ( when in the ship building screen ) check the stats/stragety icon.

Growltigga · #8 January 4th, 2002, 06:52 PM

cheers TS - I shall check this out when I get home tonight

how are you finding Shogun BTW?

tesco samoa · #9 January 4th, 2002, 07:41 PM

The game is hard.

I started playing it on the hard level ( in the middle of the map ) I have lost every game so far.

But enjoyed it.

Whats up with those Geshia 9000 model ninja's ??

They cannot be stopped.

Did you ever play it multi player ???

Zarix · #10 January 4th, 2002, 09:07 PM

With those ships in the fleet I don't see any way to make the PD ship do what you want. Well, I guess we just have to wait until Gold comes out.