Why don't ships obey their $@#$@# fleet orders

capnq · #1 July 19th, 2002, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Good formation makes great things

...which is part of the reason people don't use them more: the way ship movement is implemented, it's quite difficult to get good formation behavior.

Gryphin · #2 July 19th, 2002, 07:44 PM

The fleet / ship order I would like to see:
When in Warp Point and Sats are present
Stay Behind Sats
Or some variation there of.

[ July 19, 2002, 18:50: Message edited by: The High Gryphin ]

Taera · #3 July 19th, 2002, 09:23 PM

Which is if/then/else system which would make just a great addition to SE AI but....

Taera · #4 July 19th, 2002, 09:25 PM

And yes, someone explain me why are formations so much useless? I find out that (in my single-player games) formationed ships survive longer and hit harder than those without it.

geoschmo · #5 July 19th, 2002, 09:41 PM

I think formations work tolerably well if you are using small Groups and they have weapons that fire every turn. But missles or other weapons that have to reload will try to retreat whil they do so. This results in the ships on the right wing crossing over and vise versa and getting bLasted in the process. This is even worse for large Groups as they have farther to go.

It would be nice if you could have small formations within the fleet. Wingmen in effect. 30 ships in Groups of 2 or 3 that are independant of the other Groups would be devastating I would think. Unfortunatly there is no way to do that currently that I know of.

Geo

Taera · #6 July 19th, 2002, 09:49 PM

Personaly when i create fleet designs i always put an APB or PPB to every ship (including transports, missile ships, carriers) to keep the formation. I always count the max. number for the given formation and try to keep at the number. Makes me have several fleets but thats not a bad thing.

I'll also say that i strongly use Turbine and Butterfly formations and those do work very well for me, keeping the enemy under fire while ships always move making the enemy unable to hit the same ship twice in a row. When armor and shields are there, the life expectanct of my fleets rise greatly. I do not understand why everyone here hates formations so much, they are obviously underrated. at least, this is my opinion.

Gryphin · #7 July 19th, 2002, 09:59 PM

Taera
They work for you because you thought it our and practiced. Now I'm going to. Thanks for the ideas.