Adding Escorts to a Science ship

[Torr Nomad]

I was watching the steam with the Blorg, and several times, a science ship would be sent to survey a system, but run when finding hostiles in the system.

Would it make since to be able to attach warships as an escort for a science vessel? I know you can send a fleet to a system first, but it would be nice to be able to still select a science ship in the Civilian ship list and tell it to survey a system, and simply have the escorts follow.

A minor thing overall, but it would be a cool addition. It could work much like added ships to Military Fleets.

 

[ahhheygao]

Ideally I'd want to customize my Science Vessel and put Photon Torpedoes on it, but since Civilian Ships can't be weaponized, yes, a small escort would be nice.

 

[KingRolan]

Perhaps it would make sense for militaristic factions to arm their science vessels.

 

[13Foxtrot]

It would seem to make sense. It depends how the game AI works...if the AI just piles ships together then it may not have the desired effect. If there is a game mechanic reason to have 1 or 2 ships around a system then it may be worthwhile. Some games award a boost to the planets happiness if there are defending ships.

 

[Balkri]

and escort mission option for a fleet could be good, like send 4 corvettes and 2 destroyer to protect your science ships... could that be "difficult" to implement?

 

[Torr Nomad]

Perhaps it would make sense for militaristic factions to arm their science vessels.

That would make sense to me. Or it could be a research option under society set. Or maybe under edicts.

 

[Taintedtamt]

I would really love to see this be a thing instead of having micro manage a military fleet by sending it ahead of my science ships every time.

 

[Texas_Jack]

I can't imagine it would be all that hard to implement escorts for a science vessel. All you would need to do is make sure any fleet can conduct science missions, provided a science ship is in the fleet.

Note: I'm no AI programmer, so I don't know how difficult that would actually be...

 

[vyshan]

I really hope this is a thing. Even though the Empire of Varanska(my first empire, and the one I am doing an AAR on) will be pacifist 1; it would be good, particularly in areas that might be contested or dangerous to have some back up should we run into space monsters or space cthulhu.

 

[Fonz]

Actually, I remember that you could set a fleet to follow another as they did that with the gas grazers in an earlier stream. I suppose you could have a simple task force put on follow, then set the science ship stance to not retreat upon seeing an enemy. I'd imagine that would serve the same purpose as escorting?

 

[Torr Nomad]

I forgot about the following option. That might just cover escorting.

 

[irg1973]

Actually, I remember that you could set a fleet to follow another as they did that with the gas grazers in an earlier stream. I suppose you could have a simple task force put on follow, then set the science ship stance to not retreat upon seeing an enemy. I'd imagine that would serve the same purpose as escorting?

That's what I was thinking too. That would be convenient.

 

[Exemplar Voss]

Currently, from what Wiz has said during the stream, you can't mix civilian vessels into military fleets.

You can, however, set them not to flee on sensor contact, and have military ships take care of the threat (hopefully) while the science ships hang out at the edge of the system.