Black Hole! Panic stations!

[Arkcon]

[quote]Originally posted by Marvin Kosh:

Originally posted by Arkcon:
[qb]I had my ships with orders to warp at each warp point, so I could see the plotted course. That would mean that if it couldn't warp it would still continue with its next order, to move to the next system and warp.

'Kay. So maybe the fix doesn't work. But I still think my explanantion holds --

Situation A
IF (ship is on warp point) AND (order to WARP), THEN (warp through).

Situation B
If NOT(ship is on warp point) AND (order to WARP), THEN (BEEP at user) AND DO(nothing).

What happens is Situation A becomes Situation B when you're not looking.

[ August 02, 2002, 18:13: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[Marvin Kosh]

Hmmm, you know I'm going to just stop using the Warp order for moving to systems I've already explored. That will eliminate that particular loophole

[Suicide Junkie]

Ships tend to clear orders when one of them fails.
I think Arkcon's answer is more accurate than it first seems.

Do(nothing) is instead: Clear Orders

I believe this also happens when you have a Launch order without cargo, or a load order without free space.

[ August 02, 2002, 14:53: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by Marvin Kosh:
Hmmm, you know I'm going to just stop using the Warp order for moving to systems I've already explored. That will eliminate that particular loophole

That's always a good plan, notice the newbie problem with zero population colonies. That's caused by using the warp command instead of the colonize command. But then, how do you explore an unknown warp point -- you go to it and activate the warp command.

Note that your work around may still fail, if the ships Last movement point that turn places it on the warp point out.

Anyways, even though black holes are unfair to the AI -- I think they're fun. They add variety, a little bit of drama ( Do we have the supplies to cross ? Can we repair engines in time to escape? Captain, the light cruiser is too damaged -- we have to cut it free from the fleet before we're lost as well. Captain ? Captain ? Sir ?)

Then there's those crazy ship commaders of mine, shutting down those engines and letting the the ship coast in to save supplies, activating them just two sectors away from certain destruction --

"Commander, we must activate the engines now, or we'll be destroyed"

"Orders from the Emperor have not arrived yet"

"You fool, can't you see he's forgotten us and left us to die !"

"You're out of line Sub-commander, stand down!"

*Crunch*

Uhh, oops. Sorry 'bout that guys. Heh.

[ August 02, 2002, 16:48: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[dogscoff]

*crunch*

LOL! So true. I think there should be a log report at the beginning of the turn for those occasions:

"Events: Hey, Stupid! You've left a fleet in a black hole system without any orders! Maybe it's time you got some sleep!"

[Marvin Kosh]

Originally posted by Arkcon:
"Orders from the Emperor have not arrived yet"

"You fool, can't you see he's forgotten us and left us to die !"

LOL! You know, it would be nice if, in addition to getting sucked in two sectors a turn, the ship was swirled clockwise (or is it counter-clockwise)one sector around the black hole too. I know, it's not the same as a cosmic sinkhole, but....

Originally posted by dogscoff:
I think there should be a log report at the beginning of the turn for those occasions:

"Events: Hey, Stupid! You've left a fleet in a black hole system without any orders! Maybe it's time you got some sleep!"

Heehee, I think it should be more like a blinking warning light on the empire map, that indicates ships are in imminent danger if you do not give them orders this turn, but that's just me.

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by Marvin Kosh:
EDIT: I know they should have their orders cleared if they take damage, but I'd swear they went Scooby AFTER passing into the black hole system.

You mean they passed into the system, moved a couple spaces, and THEN went Scooby? Or do you mean they went Scooby immediately after warp? If they lost orders immediately after warping in, it's the damage thing. Damaging warp points cause damage when you warp through, which means the damage appears AFTER passing through the damaging warp point.

If they moved a couple spaces before losing orders, that would be strange. Although it could be that an enemy warped in, clearing your ship orders, and then the enemy ship got sucked into the black hole and destroyed before you saw it during your turn.