Fleet auto-attacking. How do I stop it? (if possible)

[Sokar408]

So I have gotten off to some battling in my current game, and I have noticed something very peculiar. I was attacking a system with a fleet, and no matter what posture or mode I put the fleet in, as soon as what I ordered destroyed was destroyed, they would start warping around in small groups and attack stuff on their own.

This is very use for in some situations, however in this one it really wasn't. The enemy had heavily defended a planet, and my ships kept warping in on it to attack it, and naturally dying like flies. The only workaround i found, was to spam click move or attack something specific repeatedly, which is extremely inconvenient. I imagine this won't be a problem in the mid-late game, but in the early game this is tedious as hell. What can I do make the fleet stay at a particular planet, regardless of what is going on in the rest of the system?

[Bingeling]

Short answer: You can't.

You have discovered the main, micro management way, spam orders to do something else. You can for instance give a fleet a chain of order to for instance attack each mine in a system in turn, and then for instance refuel (to get out). They will not be distracted.

What happens in your case, though, is that the ships lose their orders, and try to figure out a new one. They probably have the engagement stance "attack system targets". You can change this with a button, I forget exactly where, but look at top right or lower right corner around the selection panel.

The next problem is that this resets whenever they get a new order, so when the order finishes they are back at "attack system targets".

To prevent this, you have the most obscure option menu in the game. Bring up the game menu (escape should work), select options, settings or whatever it is called. This is the original option screen. Somewhere in the middle you have a button saying something like "empire settings" and this is the screen you need.

Here you can among others: Adjust default engagement stances. Turn of automatic mode for newly built ships. Suppress all popups (nice for running automated games). And adjust overmatch (a slider that should influence how many of your ships targets each enemy ship/structure at the same time). So if you change the default engagement stance to something more peaceful, you should avoid seeing your ships go after that enemy colony.

I would not do so, however. I like that my ships in general want to kill enemy stuff. If you change it you will probably end up in a situation where you go "Why are my ships not jumping over to attack the pirate in the system?"

Also, even if you change it to "when attacked" or something, you will see your guy fighting an enemy ship and winning. The enemy tries to escape and jumps back to the colony and its spaceport. Your attacker follows, and is shredded by the spaceport.

So my solution: Destroy the enemy planet defenses. Either that, or don't try to hang around inside that system.

[Sokar408]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

Short answer: You can't.

You have discovered the main, micro management way, spam orders to do something else. You can for instance give a fleet a chain of order to for instance attack each mine in a system in turn, and then for instance refuel (to get out). They will not be distracted.

What happens in your case, though, is that the ships lose their orders, and try to figure out a new one. They probably have the engagement stance "attack system targets". You can change this with a button, I forget exactly where, but look at top right or lower right corner around the selection panel.

The next problem is that this resets whenever they get a new order, so when the order finishes they are back at "attack system targets".

To prevent this, you have the most obscure option menu in the game. Bring up the game menu (escape should work), select options, settings or whatever it is called. This is the original option screen. Somewhere in the middle you have a button saying something like "empire settings" and this is the screen you need.

Here you can among others: Adjust default engagement stances. Turn of automatic mode for newly built ships. Suppress all popups (nice for running automated games). And adjust overmatch (a slider that should influence how many of your ships targets each enemy ship/structure at the same time). So if you change the default engagement stance to something more peaceful, you should avoid seeing your ships go after that enemy colony.

I would not do so, however. I like that my ships in general want to kill enemy stuff. If you change it you will probably end up in a situation where you go "Why are my ships not jumping over to attack the pirate in the system?"

Also, even if you change it to "when attacked" or something, you will see your guy fighting an enemy ship and winning. The enemy tries to escape and jumps back to the colony and its spaceport. Your attacker follows, and is shredded by the spaceport.

So my solution: Destroy the enemy planet defenses. Either that, or don't try to hang around inside that system.

It would be nice if I could give an order like "maintain position around planet X". That way I safe rip a system apart and avoid my fleet dying slowly by following the enemy fleeing ships to their defense posts. I have a similar problem with repairing and construction. I don't mind auto-repair, but I don't like auto-building. I'm puzzled these things have been overlooked.

Anyway thanks for letting me know. I'm hoping some of these (silly) restrictions will be revised in Distant Worlds 2

Speaking of which, is that game in development?

[Bingeling]

There have at least been strong hints that a DW2 is in progress. There have been no reveals as to what it is, for all we could it could just be a re-release of pacman But I guess the concept "DW2" gives a hint.

The game does not handle "hared systems" well. My best suggestion to bust a hard target by micro management, like a main pirate spaceport or a strong colony is:

1. Jump at the star or the general gas cloud. Keep your fleet busy by some move-to orders and such and wait for local ships to jump at you. Attack the local ships. When you see that it is hard to avoid ships following hurt ones to the spaceport, tell your fleet to attack the spaceport.

That way you kill off some ships first, and there are less to battle you alongside the spaceport. At times, I have split my attacking force into two fleets, making the smaller one gain a bit head start and aim for the star, while the main fleet jumps directly at the spaceport.

If you do not feel up for the main target in a system, do not try to hang around.

[Blabsawaw22]

that's interesting, because I've also had the opposite.. I think I remember my ships sitting like ducks and not attacking things.. or not jumping to where the enemy is coming in.. so I think it can be done..

it is in the settings/options menu .. Empire settings - "engagement stance" - set it to "default to no change in stance"

and as for the "attack overmatch" - i thought that was how many ships go after an enemy by the forumla it says - 5 of your ships attack 1 enemy ship.. etc..?


I believe I had my fleets stance set to : "Engage when Attacked" in the actual game on the bottom left menu .. it's one of the buttons down on the bottom left of the screen when you have the fleet selected..