1.03 "Intercept" flight pathing isn't an actual "intercept"

from Sins Forums
One of the most infuriating things about fleet management is the fact that the ships never actually move to intercept. What they are actually doing is moving to follow. Moving to follow consists of always flying to where a target is "right now" and adjusting that as the target moves. Flying to intercept consists of flying towards weapons range of where you expect the target "to be" based on current target direction & speed.

I'm sure everyone else has noticed that ships are practically invulnerable while moving through enemy systems. No ship can be engaged & fire without attempting to "follow" which generally leaves them out of long term effective weapons range. I understand scouts are fast but it actually is somewhat ridiculous that a single scout ship on autopilot can practically map out the entire galaxy while passing through hostile system after hostile system (no this is not the only example, it is just the most extreme I can think of right now).

When I micromanage fleet intercept the end result is even worse because a move order is automatically a "stop engagement" order. Ships won't fire again until they have reached their destination.

1. I'd love to see true "move to intercept" fleet intelligence.
2. Failing that I'd love to at least have "set target" and "move here" be separate controls so that I can set a target and then micromanage the "move to intercept" myself.
12,919 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Agreed I guess. But I simply just manually give a move order so they'll intercept, not really that hard..

It'd be nice if fighters/bombers did this at least, though.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
I had noticed this, and it drives me nuts. (I'm pretty sure it's not new to 1.03.)

Very annoying to watch a couple dozen cruisers pass right by an enemy ship going the other direction, just so they can fall in behind it and then try to catch up to fire.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
The idea that doing it manually 'isn't that hard' is pretty offensive. Clicking a target is saying 'kill that guy': are we to believe the commanders of these ships are so cripplingly retarded they make no effort to intercept? This is particularly amusing against AI, where a few ships can lead the AI fleet on a merry chase, largely negating them.

That said, moving and targeting being separate would be pretty boss. I wouldn't mind a 'tactical UI' to use in combat, to reverse-designate targets and control movement separately (ie, say 'kill these guys' instead of 'you, kill him, you guys, kill him' while retaining full movement freedom for capships).
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
But I simply just manually give a move order so they'll intercept, not really that hard..
End of quote


I do that too, but like I said in my post... the problem I have is that the ships stop firing and instead concentrate all their effort on moving to my intended destination. If however you give the "engage target" command they'll move and fire... just in a really stupid way.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
This is particularly amusing against AI, where a few ships can lead the AI fleet on a merry chase, largely negating them.
End of quote


Oh hell yes. Just build a few colonizers and then send one in with the fleet and solo guide it all over the place. It's almost an exploit IMO.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Believe me, its been asked for. At least we've gotten a decent "chase" AI so it doesn't stop to fire, then have to catch right back up!
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
The way it is now requires less micromanagement than the way you suggest. As it is now, you can simply select your fleet and right click or a-click on a certain point. If the AI were really capable of intercepting, you would just have players 'dancing' their retreating fleets around to make your fleet delve deeper towards the planet. This kind of behavior is present in a lot of games, and Ironclad probably specifically knew of it.

Even if the intercept behavior was present without any 'dancing' problem, I can't really imagine coding an AI capable of intelligently navigating in such a way as to stay an optimal distance away from the planet when chasing a fleet - and that's really the biggest issue with this kind of thing.

That said, I feel like bombers were made SPECIFICALLY for this kind of thing. However, with flaks being such a hard counter (and so much cheaper than carriers), they're not often enough a good choice.