Patrolling Issues?

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soilwork595
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:07 am

Patrolling Issues?

Post by soilwork595 »

Hello, I'm recently new to the whole series and have a question about patrolling. I like to send ships to patrol a star system if I have mining bases on them, but when I do send a ship to patrol it, they eventually will just sit there and the automated patrolling will be off. It really bugs me because when I cycle through my idle ships, I will come across it when it should be automated patrolling. Now I know I see other ships that have automated patrolling on, and they patrol their targets fine, but it seems to me some of them will eventually stop patrolling their target system or base, and its a bother to have to reassign them. Anyone else have this problem or can shed some light on the situation? TYVM
balto
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by balto »

Excellent observation. I have the same issue.
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Gelatinous Cube
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by Gelatinous Cube »

Patrol is a mission. They will fly to the target, make sure its okay for awhile, and then become idle again. If you want to set a fleet to permanently patrol an area, use the fleet disposition/engagement range buttons which are explained way better than I could do it in the Galactopedia.
soilwork595
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Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:07 am

RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by soilwork595 »

I've been messing around with it for a bit and noticed that when I set ships to patrol a system they will go to that star and just sit there and it shows they are on "No Mission".  They will attack any invaders which is good, and once they are done attacking they go back to being idle at that location.  I do notice if you patrol a mining base, they are actually "Patrolling" the base.  Yes I could mess around with the fleet engagement options, but there are times where it is unnecessary and a nuisance.  I guess my gripe is that the ship keeps popping up as idle when i assign it to patrol a system.  It just makes things more of a hassle when cycling through idle ships.  I just wish there is a way for it to be on a Patrolling mission of that system so it doesn't interfere with the my 'cycle idle ships' button. 
balto
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by balto »

Concur with that one also. Excellent post.
soilwork595
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Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:07 am

RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by soilwork595 »

It looks like this was a complaint awhile back as well.  I just started playing the game about 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure that ships would patrol (circle the star) once then go idle.  Actually patrolling something burns fuel, and NOW when Patrolling a planet, they just go idle and don't circle at all.  I'm curious to know if the Dev team has been trying to work on this or not.  Ideally, what was said in a different post, is that a 'Standby' mode would be an alternate for patrolling a planet, where the ship just sits and attacks enemy invaders while being on a mission and not interfering with your idle ships.  Regardless, as long as a patrolling ship is off my Idle ships button, all is good.  Another good map layover would be to show what planets and bases are being patrolled. 
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Gelatinous Cube
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by Gelatinous Cube »

ORIGINAL: soilwork595

I've been messing around with it for a bit and noticed that when I set ships to patrol a system they will go to that star and just sit there and it shows they are on "No Mission".  They will attack any invaders which is good, and once they are done attacking they go back to being idle at that location.  I do notice if you patrol a mining base, they are actually "Patrolling" the base.  Yes I could mess around with the fleet engagement options, but there are times where it is unnecessary and a nuisance.  I guess my gripe is that the ship keeps popping up as idle when i assign it to patrol a system.  It just makes things more of a hassle when cycling through idle ships.  I just wish there is a way for it to be on a Patrolling mission of that system so it doesn't interfere with the my 'cycle idle ships' button. 

Set fleet to automate, then set fleet posture/range and Home base. It will defend that entire area. If you turn on the Fleet Posture overlay you can also get an instant idea of where your "Defensive Net" is, instantly.

The only problem i see with it is that it is hard to tell the AI to set up a specific kind of defense if you have fleet formation on Auto, as the moment you set a picket it you won't be long before the fleets re-shuffle. I'm not sure if taking individual fleets off Auto would help in that situation?
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elliotg
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by elliotg »

ORIGINAL: soilwork595
Hello, I'm recently new to the whole series and have a question about patrolling. I like to send ships to patrol a star system if I have mining bases on them, but when I do send a ship to patrol it, they eventually will just sit there and the automated patrolling will be off. It really bugs me because when I cycle through my idle ships, I will come across it when it should be automated patrolling. Now I know I see other ships that have automated patrolling on, and they patrol their targets fine, but it seems to me some of them will eventually stop patrolling their target system or base, and its a bother to have to reassign them. Anyone else have this problem or can shed some light on the situation? TYVM
If you manually assign a patrol mission to a military ship it should continue patrolling the target indefinitely (i.e. until you stop it). If they are low on fuel, they will refuel and then return to patrol the target.

However automated ships work differently - after a time they may reassign themselves to new missions.

Was the ship automated, or manually controlled?
balto
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by balto »

Hi ElliotG,

Legends is 5 stars!

About that manual v auto assignment - does that apply to all things, not just Patrolling. Like if you manually assign a ship to escort or guard a mining station or troop transport will it (a) do that forever, and (b) still do common sense things like refuel?

I assumed manuall assigning stuff would cause a ship to become stupid and not re-fuel, thus I feared manually assigning ships to do things. For example, if I sent an Explorer to a sector, I thought it would just explore until it ran out of fuel.

If you are saying MANUAL assignments still allow ships to fuel and then go back to their assignment, I think that is incredibly great.
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elliotg
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by elliotg »

ORIGINAL: balto
About that manual v auto assignment - does that apply to all things, not just Patrolling. Like if you manually assign a ship to escort or guard a mining station or troop transport will it (a) do that forever, and (b) still do common sense things like refuel?
Patrol and Escort are special case missions: ships that are manually assigned to these missions will continue with those missions until cancelled.

In addition, all manually assigned missions (including Patrol and Escort) will refuel as needed.
If you are saying MANUAL assignments still allow ships to fuel and then go back to their assignment, I think that is incredibly great.
That's exactly how it works [;)]
soilwork595
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Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:07 am

RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by soilwork595 »

I've been experimenting with it for a bit to figure out what does what. When I assign a ship to patrol a system it is manually controlled, not automated. It will say it's on a patrolling mission, fly to the system, then go idle and show no mission. I noticed it goes for repairs on its own, then returns to the system it was patrolling, so that's good. So now the only problem with a ship patrolling a system is that they go idle, which means they are still patrolling, but they show up on my idle ships tab. If I manually set a ship to patrol a mining base, it will actually say it's on a patrolling mission and circle the base. I guess it would be something the Dev team would have to fix. I just don't want to cycle though my idle ships and have to go though a bunch of ships that are patrolling a system
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elliotg
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RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by elliotg »

ORIGINAL: soilwork595
I've been experimenting with it for a bit to figure out what does what. When I assign a ship to patrol a system it is manually controlled, not automated. It will say it's on a patrolling mission, fly to the system, then go idle and show no mission. I noticed it goes for repairs on its own, then returns to the system it was patrolling, so that's good. So now the only problem with a ship patrolling a system is that they go idle, which means they are still patrolling, but they show up on my idle ships tab. If I manually set a ship to patrol a mining base, it will actually say it's on a patrolling mission and circle the base. I guess it would be something the Dev team would have to fix. I just don't want to cycle though my idle ships and have to go though a bunch of ships that are patrolling a system
Patrolling an entire system is slightly different to patrolling a specific base or colony. A manually-controlled mission to patrol a system will not do much more than move to the system.

I would suggest instead assigning a patrol mission for a specific base or colony and also set the ships engagement stance (comma key) to "Engage System targets", which should be the default stance for patrol missions anyway. This means that the ship will continually patrol the assigned base or colony, but will respond to any threats in the same system.
soilwork595
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:07 am

RE: Patrolling Issues?

Post by soilwork595 »

Thanks elliotg, that actually will fix my problem if I do that. Will keep those off my idle ships tab.
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