Fleet position

Smolf · #1 March 24th, 2005, 04:16 AM

Is it possible to place a ship in a specific position in a fleet? So that I know which ship is number one, two etc?

Evil_Duckie · #2 March 24th, 2005, 05:15 AM

I believe it has something to do with parameters like construction date. Personally, in solo games, one of the first things I do once I get close to the enemy is break all formations. More often than once I happened to move the leader, in which case all other ships in the fleet that have movement points try to get in their respective positions, throwing my plan way off...

Smolf · #3 March 24th, 2005, 05:22 AM

I'm playing a game by email, so I can't use tactical combat. So I have to find some way to determine where the ships are placed before entering strategic combat.

NullAshton · #4 March 24th, 2005, 09:39 AM

I believe it may order it based on strength. Stronger ships are at the front positions, and weaker ships and ships without weapons are at the back of the formation. The fleet leader is always at the L position in the formation.

Smolf · #5 March 24th, 2005, 09:59 AM

I guess I have to learn to live with it...

Suicide Junkie · #6 March 24th, 2005, 02:00 PM

the best idea is to use the fleet formation to determine a general distribution for your ships (compact vs spread out)

Then set them to all break formation so they can each move to their optimal firing ranges.
You will also have to make your designs a little more mulitpurpose than with tactical combat; every ship should have 2 or 3 PDCs, and every ship that you want to stay in the fighting needs at least one non-PD weapon.

Fyron · #7 March 24th, 2005, 06:12 PM

Strength is irrelevant. Evil Duckie was close. Construction order (possibly that ship ID number thing, which might obfuscate the exact ordering after some ships have been destroyed...) is what determines the order the ships are placed in the slots of the fleet. The leader is the ship you designate as the leader, but all other positions are out of your control. The order you add ships to the fleet is also irrelevant (other than determining the leader when you first create the fleet; the first ship added is the leader for a newly created fleet).

Ships without weapons are not placed in the formation. They are scattered randomly around the battlefield (as are extra warships that do not fit in the formation when you have too many), generally behind the fleet, but not always. This random placement is the same method used for a group of unfleeted warships (such as when you have a group of ships orbiting a world and you are attacked). It is a very poor solution, but it is what the game does.

Captain Kwok · #8 March 24th, 2005, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:...This random placement is the same method used for a group of unfleeted warships (such as when you have a group of ships orbiting a world and you are attacked). It is a very poor solution, but it is what the game does.

What's wrong with that... since the ships aren't officially organized into a fleet maybe they're going about their business in the sector - you know just milling about.

Fyron · #9 March 24th, 2005, 08:48 PM

For unarmed vessels or excess warships in a fleet, it makes no sense at all and causes them to be picked off one by one, when the fleet they are with should be protecting the unarmed combat vessels. If SE4 had smart enough AI that would group the warships together before sending them towards the enemy fleet, unfleeted or excess ships "milling about" wouldn't be such a big deal... There should be no set limit to the number of ships that can fit into a fleet formation. Unarmed vessels should be protectable. Hopefully SEV gets it right...

NullAshton · #10 March 24th, 2005, 11:47 PM

Unarmed ships can be protected, Fyron, all you have to do is turn off that type of ship in the strategy that says 'break formation'...