Still some weird pathfinding going on...

[100thMonkey]

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*** Edited to incorporate additional information ***

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Platform: Steam
Build version: 1.2.2.0 Beta
Severity: Medium
Annoyance factor: High
Saved game:

The Culture - Ackdarian - 2807-09-25.7z

(7 MiB) Downloaded 4 times

My fleet DF Urd Mantil was going toward the Sondare system (where the capital of the Grand Dhayut Tyranny, which I’m at war with, is located). I’ve changed my mind about what the fleet should be doing right now, and I’ve ordered it to instead guard the Huppawoe Research Center, located in the Huppawoe System, itself located in the Huppawoe Discharge Nebula.

But instead of jumping toward the research station, directly from its current location, the fleet instead is going back toward the Diltak system, and only from there will it jump toward the research station.

Fleet going backward.png (225.49 KiB) Viewed 186 times

It seems as though the behavior is related to the entrance in the nebula. If I give the fleet the order to move close to the research center (ie: in the nebula), the path is the same. But if instead I order the fleet to move toward the research station but to stop near the nebula border, then the fleet goes directly there, without going through the Diltak system.

Yet, I'm certain I've seen, in a previous game, one of my fleet fly through a nebula to reach its destination on the other side of the nebula. If that is possible, why can't the DF Urd Mantil go directly to the research station?

[100thMonkey]

As a follow-up to the previous post:

The DF Urd Mantil fleet is now near the edge of the nebula, after I’ve manually ordered it to move there. So it’s pretty close to the research station I want the fleet to protect:

Fleet near research station.png (219.31 KiB) Viewed 148 times

Now let’s look at what the fleet is doing if I manually order it, from its current position shown above, to move to the research station:

Detour.png (201.61 KiB) Viewed 148 times

WHAT?!?

Hopefully it IS a bug, and not the intended behavior...


Updated save:

The Culture - Ackdarian - 2807-11-09.7z

(6.99 MiB) Downloaded 3 times

[100thMonkey]

I've just manually order the fleet to move very close to the research station, but not so close that the order becomes "Move to Huppawoe Research Center". In other words, the order is in the "Move to [coord1, coord2]" format. And now, the fleet IS moving toward the research station.

Finally!!!.png (193.51 KiB) Viewed 140 times

So the game mechanics allow such a direct travel. But if a direct "Guard the Huppawoe Research Center" or "Move to the Huppawoe Research Center" is given instead, then the fleet does the gigantic insane detour.

Which looks to me like an UI / UX problem.

If it's possible to send the fleet directly where I want it to go (without an annoying detour), using the "Move to [coord1, coord2]" form, why not allow the same thing with a "Guard [item name]..." or "Move to [item name]" also?

Having to give the fleet a second order, once it's arrived at its destination, to insure that it does guard the research station, is annoying and problematic. Because it's easy, in the middle of a war with tons of things happening, to forget to do so. Especially given that there are no notification to the player when a manual fleet completes its mission (in this case, move to...).

[MaximKI]

Thanks, there are still situations with pathfinding relating to nebulas that we're trying to pin down and improve upon. We'll investigate this.