two MAJOR questions for simul-games...

PvK · #1 April 17th, 2004, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
1) Your ships that have that design strategy will break from formations. Only ships and fighters can ever be in formations. Other things are in the list for no reason I know, other than it might have been possible to code them to be able to go into formation.
...

My memory/understanding disagrees with this. I think actually the fleet's strategy is consulted, and the indicated vehicle types will use their own strategies and break formation, while the types told not to break formation in the fleet strategy, will use the fleet's strategy and stay in formation. So, you cannot have, say, combat ship design A break formation but combat ship design B stay in formation, unless you place them in multiple fleets with different fleet strategies.

PvK

PvK · #2 April 17th, 2004, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TurinTurambar:
... I guess what I'm really trying to ask here is, "How do I get a fleet of Missile Cruisers to move to a planet and break formation?" (to avoid sweeping the trailing edge of a formation into weapons range and allow the ships to use their individual strategy types)
...

Simply set the fleet's strategy to one that tells ships to break formation.

PvK

Fyron · #3 April 17th, 2004, 08:50 PM

Hmm... yeah, it is the fleet strategy that tells them whether to break formation or not. Really, it is a good idea to have all ship strategies set to break formation. Staying in formation is a really bad idea in 99.9% of situations.

PvK · #4 April 17th, 2004, 10:53 PM

Generally, yeah. Exceptions can be if you really want some ships to escort a specific ship (but then that ship needs a weapon and a combat strategy, or it will break formation anyway

), and getting a few specific ships to fight as a group in a certain formation, which I've used successfully when micro-managing in a competetive game, but ya, that would be the 0.1% ...

PvK

TurinTurambar · #5 April 18th, 2004, 01:35 AM

OK, so it seems to me that the Sentry command is useless in 99.2% of the game so nevermind that. My idea of a Sentry command is one for the wishbook I guess.

So, to strategy. If I get the gist of the replies, my best option is to set ship strategy at Max.Weap.Range and program the fleet's strategy to break on Planets. The fleet formation really then just becomes a vehicle for large-scale movement and a unified command. Ships set to MWR will fire long-range missiles, stay mostly out of the range of beam weapons on WP's, and damage the planet to the degree specified in the MWR strategy.

Should work, right?

TurinTurambar · #6 April 18th, 2004, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LGM:
Turin Turambar - what a great character to use as your code name. Married his sister and killed his best friend.

The Edain are my favorite denizens of First Age mythos, T�rin was the greatest of them save maybe his father H�rin of Dor-l�min, and "The Tale of the Children of H�rin" is one of the best stories ever penned. But you already know all this, don't you Mr.Smarty-Pants? Then you also know that Turambar means "master of doom" in Quenya, and you have to admit, that's a nice "haughty" name for gaming!
... and hey, the story's a Tragedy... these things happen in tragedies! ;-)

Grandpa Kim · #7 April 18th, 2004, 03:45 AM

Quote:

ship strategy at Max.Weap.Range and program the fleet's strategy to break on Planets.

No, not quite.

If your fleet strategy is set to "max range" and you have set formation for that strategy to yes for "ships" and no for all the others, then only your ships will break formation. Carriers, colony ships, fighters, transports and ships(no weapons) will NOT break formation! (You are right about the other selections, they are nulls.)