Type priorities

[Baron Munchausen]

Has anyone actually used the type priorities in strategies? I'm just curious if anyone has tried to get any detailed effects with these or if they remain completely unused.

Do any of the major mods offer examples of using type priorities?

[Grandpa Kim]

Baron, I do use them, but its hard to tell if they work. There are so many other "priorities" and no easy way to tell in which order they apply. I just figure I should do all I can to get my ships to perform they way I want. I try to mix up the various orders in an effort to prevent the "gang rape" that usually happens and instead, get them to fire at different targets. Being a lazy SOB., I'm not likely to do proper testing to see what and how things work on the strategy screen.

In my unscientific opinion the type priorities only work when all else is equal. IE: range, weaponry etc. For instance, a base and a ship at the same range with the same weapons and of the same size (cruiser and space station). In my observation, the ships/units that are attacked are the nearest and strongest, no matter how things are set.

Kim

[Mephisto]

Nearly all the TDM races use these but the effect is hard to judge.

[Baron Munchausen]

I wish you could give a ship other orders than what to attack. How do you tell a ship to escort and protect a carrier? Put it in a fleet with 'don't get hurt' orders and the carrier as the leader? Or how do you tell a ship to avoid planets while chasing unarmed transports and colony ships. You can create a targetting scheme for smaller ships to hunt down the unarmed 'infrastructure' ships while your main fleet duels with the planet but the little ships will follow the orders blindly and plunge right in after a transport instead of skirting around the planet...

[Atraikius]

Baron - I use them, and like Mephisto said, its hard to tell what the effect is. One thing I have noticed, and would appreciate it if any one else could confirm or check on this, is that when used with drones the type may be used in determining what targets to launch drones at outside of combat - I had set colony ships as the primary target type, and observed the AI useing drones to hunt enemy colony ships, without launching them at fleets.

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Atraikius:
Baron - I use them, and like Mephisto said, its hard to tell what the effect is. One thing I have noticed, and would appreciate it if any one else could confirm or check on this, is that when used with drones the type may be used in determining what targets to launch drones at outside of combat - I had set colony ships as the primary target type, and observed the AI useing drones to hunt enemy colony ships, without launching them at fleets.

Now that's fascinating and offers some interesting possibilities for influencing how the AI uses it's ships and units.