Another example of inefficient path

[100thMonkey]

Platform: Steam
Build version: 1.0.6.4 (Beta)
Severity: Low
Saved game:

The Culture - Boskara - 2804-11-08.7z

(4.5 MiB) Downloaded 4 times

As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm sure getting "pathing" right is very difficult. So in the hope of helping identify what's wrong and, ideally, ways to improve things, here’s another example of many inefficient paths I've observed after assigning missions to fleets.

I’ve ordered my Shuttle 04 fleet to invade the Libiya 2 independant colony. Here’s the path it has chosen:

Chosen path.png (481.69 KiB) Viewed 296 times

By far not the most efficient path to get there. Instead, it could have gone that route: start by following the path another of my fleet (Shuttle 02) is taking to invade another independant colony (Isseun 2), and from there take a much shorter path to reach Libiya:

Alt path 1.png (443.84 KiB) Viewed 296 times

Another, even more efficient alternative path would be:

Alt path 2.png (444.42 KiB) Viewed 296 times

[rxnnxs]

Do all ships in your fleet take the same path? While I tried to understand what the heck they are flying, I observed some ships take a different (better) route.
I told them to stick together, but.. you know yourself.
And where is your tanker in this flight?

[100thMonkey]

Do all ships in your fleet take the same path? While I tried to understand what the heck they are flying, I observed some ships take a different (better) route.
I told them to stick together, but.. you know yourself.
And where is your tanker in this flight?

Hmmm... Interesting. I've closed the game right after finishing the bug report, so I can't check those ships and paths. Same for the tanker, except that I've noticed very strange tanker behaviors lately (tankers far, very far from the fleets). Can't open the game right now, but I'll check as soon as I can and I'll let you know what I see.

[100thMonkey]

@rxnnsx:

I've continued the game, but not for long, because I've encounter, again, the bug where manual fleets do not obey your orders. Then, I spent a lot of time trying to post a bug report, but some attachments weren't accepted (now it seems OK). So after many attempts, I stopped trying, but I didn't return to the game after that.

But for the part I did, I didn't observe any unusual behaviors: the military ships in the shuttle fleets were staying together, and weren't deviating from the path chosen at the beginning, at least until I stopped. So I have no explanation as to why you were observing something different.

As for the tankers, as I said, I've observed some weird behaviors recently. But also, not long before the save I posted, I had ordered retrofits to all the tankers in the shuttle fleets that weren't already up-to-date. So that explains at least part of why they're so far from the rest of their respective fleets.

But now that I've encountered that "fleets not obeying" bug again, I don't know if or when I'll continue the game. If I do and there's something worth mentioning, I'll post here again.

For now, I'm going to try to post two the bug reports (one of them being an addition to an already existing one).

[Thineboot]

Do all ships in your fleet take the same path? While I tried to understand what the heck they are flying, I observed some ships take a different (better) route.
I told them to stick together, but.. you know yourself.
And where is your tanker in this flight?

Hmmm... Interesting. I've closed the game right after finishing the bug report, so I can't check those ships and paths. Same for the tanker, except that I've noticed very strange tanker behaviors lately (tankers far, very far from the fleets). Can't open the game right now, but I'll check as soon as I can and I'll let you know what I see.

Unless there is something new this happens when ships are not at the same place for various reasons, like newly added to the fleet, gone for repair/refuel, things like this.

Fleet fuel tankers always stroll around, often taking detours to reload. And since they not always share the same speed, especially when in derelict fleets, they tend to arrive later. Tend, because they also arrive earlier for a prepared gathering nearby Gravilex and Co


Generally speaking, lately (1.0.6.4) I've seen fuel tankers standing in the middle of nowhere waiting to be called to travel on to the other side of your expansion, which is neither effective in terms of time nor Caslon. It seems more like a simple queue than an approximation of nearest distance.

[100thMonkey]

Unless there is something new this happens when ships are not at the same place for various reasons, like newly added to the fleet, gone for repair/refuel, things like this.

I did use the "Top up fleet with ships" a few times not too long before the save. So that almost certainly explains at least part of the dispersion.

Generally speaking, lately (1.0.6.4) I've seen fuel tankers standing in the middle of nowhere waiting to be called to travel on to the other side of your expansion, which is neither effective in terms of time nor Caslon. It seems more like a simple queue than an approximation of nearest distance.

I did see that too. The tankers waiting in deep space would be good if they were doing it near their fleets (less chances for them to be attacked or destroyed).

What do you mean exactly by "more likely a simple queue than an approximation of nearest distance"? That the problem is that the game has to many things to do ("to do" queue?), and therefore the tankers do not receive the instructions that they should in a timely manner?

Anyway, from what I've seen lately, the tanker rarely do what they're supposed to do: refuel their fleet. More often than not, my fleets can refuel somewhere by themselves before the tankers can reach them to refuel them. If it is a queue problem, I presume that there are way to prioritize certain things over others (not just "first in, first out"). If that's the case, tankers should have a much higher priority than they do right now. To paraphrase someone I used to work with:

Tankers that do not refuel are as useless as tits on a bull.

[Thineboot]

[...]
What do you mean exactly by "more likely a simple queue than an approximation of nearest distance"? That the problem is that the game has to many things to do ("to do" queue?), and therefore the tankers do not receive the instructions that they should in a timely manner?
[...]

Queue in the sense of a queue of fuel tankers. When one is needed the first one is picked, not really looking for which one is nearest, which would require much more calculations. But that's not a real observation with taking exact data but more an impression. So I could be wrong about that.

[...]
Anyway, from what I've seen lately, the tanker rarely do what they're supposed to do: refuel their fleet. More often than not, my fleets can refuel somewhere by themselves before the tankers can reach them to refuel them. If it is a queue problem, I presume that there are way to prioritize certain things over others (not just "first in, first out"). If that's the case, tankers should have a much higher priority than they do right now. To paraphrase someone I used to work with:

Tankers that do not refuel are as useless as tits on a bull.

I've seen more ships waiting for their fuel tankers to arrive while parking next to another fuel resource, tanker, spaceport, mining station, than is good for my health
Also, never look at anyone else's paraphrases on YT

[100thMonkey]

Also, never look at anyone else's paraphrases on YT

I know explaining humor is rarely fun, but I don't get the "paraphrases on YT" reference (maybe because english isn't my first language?). Care to explain? (if not, it's ok also)

[Thineboot]

Also, never look at anyone else's paraphrases on YT

I know explaining humor is rarely fun, but I don't get the "paraphrases on YT" reference (maybe because english isn't my first language?). Care to explain? (if not, it's ok also)

... and now that you know that tits on a bull wouldn't be as useless as you thought, you might consider switching it with an ashtray on a motorcycle, which also allegedly originates from Australia. It makes more sense to me, not much, but still... unless you wanna learn a so called dance, which is, at least in my humble opinion, the very least useful of those three. But who am I to judge about Aussies as I'm not native speaker either

[Erik Rutins]

As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm sure getting "pathing" right is very difficult. So in the hope of helping identify what's wrong and, ideally, ways to improve things, here’s another example of many inefficient paths I've observed after assigning missions to fleets.

The systems you chose for your more efficient paths, did any of those have threats or enemy military forces in them?

[100thMonkey]

The systems you chose for your more efficient paths, did any of those have threats or enemy military forces in them?

In the Isseun system, there are two independant ships with unkwnon missions, one appearing as a small freighter, the other as a medium one. Other than that, no.