I so badly want to be able to issue the keep moving and formation command at the same time. I want to be able to have ships in formation, but as soon as the formation “breaks” I want those ships to keep moving.
The only good way I’ve found to keep fast ships in the back, and not run off and die too early is to put them in formation with slower ships in the front. When those ships in the front die, the fast ships move up to engage. Well now this fast ships run up… and stop right in front of the enemy, totally defeating the purpose of fast ships that are hard to hit!
There could even be another command instead of formation. It could be called “keep ranks” or something, where ships only stay in formation until they reach a certain range of another enemy ship. This would give your fleet much better control of when certain ships move off to engage.
Actually, I suggest allowing contradictory orders to be implemented but for actual behavior to be governed by a higherarchy. The most conditional orders, like “stay in formation with this ship” or “escort this ship” take precedent over blanket orders like “keep moving,” but if the former are removed due to game events then the latter become operative.
Though I like the “Keep Ranks” idea too. It’d be the equivalent of issuing a “break and attack” command (staple of many space combat games) upon actually engaging the enemy.
I agree. I think in another thread I’ve mentioned that I think it should be possible to set both others… Just with Formation taking precedence over Keep Moving until the flagship has been destroyed - at which point the Formation order becomes invalid, and Keep Moving can begin to have an effect.
“Break and Attack” would be a great addition to the orders menu. As it is now you either have to juggle ship speeds to try to get the ships to hit the enemy at the same time, or deal with greatly reduced mobility to keep all your ships behind your Cruisers. The one big thing the game is missing in its current iteration is the ability to have ships stay in a defensive formation to defend against initial frigate/fighter rushes and then break into knife fighting when the big dogs get in range.
Really I would love to have a million options when it comes to the orders. If you could somehow implement “flagships” in your fleet so you could plot out courses for task forces, coordinate times to target, and even somehow have ships selectively target with their weapons Such as targeting Plasma to cruisers, pulse lasers to frigates, defense lasers to fighters. That way the weapons would focus their fire on whatever is in range but prioritize their chief targets.
Oh well, one can dream huh?
edit as an aside I know all this is way harder than just clicking a button. If I had any once of ability when it comes to scripting/modding I would try. Don’t take any of this stuff personally cliff, just kinda shooting for the stars.
I’d love to see something like that. All the speed on your frigates is kinda hard to micromanage. You want them to hide behind your heavy hitters, but still use their mobility to their advantage. Ion cannons are great for dropping enemy shields, but isn’t feasible if your cruisers aren’t screening for them.
I would love a “form ranks” or “break and attack” command that kept your units in line until the battle started. It currently takes a lot of minute changes to keep your frigates and DPS ships in back. Failing that a order hierarchy would probably work and be easiest to implement.
