Attack Orders in Simultaneous Play

rand029 · #1 July 10th, 2002, 08:46 PM

I've been playing a Simultaneous mode game with a friend here at work (SEIV Gold). Came across some problems.

With ships: Telling them to attack (seek after) results in them not doing anything if over a planet. If you tell them to move 1 square off, THEN seek, it seems to work. (I won't get into the "seek" itself, but it is annoying to see the enemy cruise on by because of the pathing)

With drones: (this bugs me a lot) I had one system that I tried defending with 30+ planet launched drones. After launching them, I found I had to target each drone individually. Not a big deal. Of course, next turn I find that none of the drones moved at all! I think it's the same bug as ships, but there's ONLY an attack command for drones. Needless to say, all my drones appear useless unless he goes for the planets (only half have the drones though).

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has run into this and if there's a workaround/fix. Or maybe I'm just missing an important step.

Skulky · #2 July 12th, 2002, 05:10 AM

Basically i have found drones to be the same as any technological advance. You can't depend on it entirerly. It isn't the be all end all. Instead they should be used ot their capacity. Defendign with them is a waste IMHO as you can't build too many. A few ships for the numbers you need to overwhelm any decent PDC coudl do in the fleets you speak of. however a massive industrial base coudl really pump them out and a luanch of say 200 all targeted against a ringworld or a fat fleet could do some funny things to the enemies.

Also, they are great for modding (see Starfire mod discussion) and can be nice ifyou have nothign else (me in Paranoia)

capnq · #3 July 13th, 2002, 06:03 AM

Quote:

After launching them, I found I had to target each drone individually.

To order several drones to attack the same target, multi-select them by holding down the shift key while you click on them.

PvK · #4 July 13th, 2002, 08:59 AM

I've never seen ships stay put with attack orders "because they are on a planet" - has anyone else seen this? Other circumstances?

PvK

Zarix · #5 July 13th, 2002, 11:22 AM

With the ships it could be sentry orders. If they have been ordered to sentry they don't move. It could also be AI messing with your empire. Are you using any ministers?

capnq · #6 July 14th, 2002, 03:08 AM

Another thing that will make drones stop is if they lose sight of their target, either because it's been destroyed or because it warped to a system that you can't see into.

rand029 · #7 July 15th, 2002, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zarix:
With the ships it could be sentry orders. If they have been ordered to sentry they don't move. It could also be AI messing with your empire. Are you using any ministers?

I checked, no ministers running.

And for the ships, I've never used sentry. It just seems like they're reluctant to leave orbit. If I tell them to move one square, then see, all is well.

Ah well, I figured that a few drones could protect a system, but it seems that anti-ship drones are only useful if the attack the actual planet... Of course, as soon as the enemy saw all the drones launch, he parked one square off the planet and waited for them to die.

It DID give me enough time to get my fleet there and wipe him out though. So they were somewhat useful in the end...