Federation complains that I hope will be addressed

[scaper12123]

For goodness sake, often times I decide not to join a federation just because of the caveats associated with it: the various issues that make them hard to work with and can ultimately bring down a group of nations as opposed to a single one. Among my issues with these are:

Ship customization: Why must I reopen the federation overview screen every damn time I want to customize a different ship in the federation. Let us access that from the normal ship customization screen, please!

Fleet coordination: This is often the ultimate downfall of a federation: an inability to coordinate. Every fleet acts on its own, something you wouldn't expect a united federation to do. Understandable when two independent nations join together for a single war, not so much for a united alliance. Please give somebody a greater amount of control over the entire navy so this isn't so much of an issue, preferably by volunteering for a player's sake.

Federation fleet: This is the part that makes the least sense: Why is the federation fleet always so weak? It's never anything significant compared to, say, the fleet of the most powerful nation in the federation. It needs some sort of buff. Either give it more naval capacity per contribution from the members, or give it a special "federation fleet" buff of some sort to make it a significant force.

War goals screwing members over: This one is debatable as to whether it should be considered a problem, but I find it odd that somebody could look to my ally for conquest and then decide that they want a bunch of war goals from me instead of them. At the very least they could declare war on me instead. It should be a rule that if you want your war goals from a particular nation, your declaration of war should be focused on that nation.

Difficulty gaining association: Another debatable one, but in some ways I find the requesting of association with a federation you're interested in working with to be very annoying. You'd think me having the exact same ethos as a nearby nation would be an encouraging factor, but thanks to his spiteful borderline salty ally I couldn't because he had an irrational hatred against me. You'd think my relationship with my ethically similar friend would encourage good relationships between myself and the spiteful one indirectly but nope. Some way to improve those relationships would be appreciated.
Also doesn't help where there's an unusual system where my own country's attitude affects my ability to join a federation. There's very little I can do about that... without a way to get around this I could easily be stuck on my own as a warmongering awakened empire rapidly consumes every country in the galaxy.

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

if you never build any federation fleet ships, you're the reason its so weak.. ^_^

 

[Cagliostro]

I have found that with modest player building the federation fleet is a good 'backup' fleet that i use to slaughter smaller forces while the main doomstack does its business.

 

[Riftwalker]

i do believe they want to expand federations so they become similar to possibly HRE mechanics later on.

 

[Foefaller]

Devs have said several times they want to add more to federations, including internal politics and the ability to go HRE and intergate into a single Empire.

As for fed fleet IIRC in 1.5 empires that go through the diplomacy tree can unlock a tradtion that has the fleet cap they contribute for the fed fleet count for double (i.e. Instead of losing 20 fleet cap to add 20 fleet cap to the fed fleet, you lose 20 fleet cap to add 40 to the fed fleet) A large part of it, however, is to simply remember to build ships for the fleet when you have the chance, it's never going to grow if noone builds ships for it, after all.

Something else to keep in mind (which helps for joint war declarations as well), there is an button on the top left of your fleet's card, that if selected, will have your allies try to have their fleets follow that one. Heavy emphasis on "try," as even taking various FTL types into account it's not 100% certain that the AI will even bother (it seems like they are more likely to do so if you are in enemy territory, and tend to abandon everything if a hostile fleet enters theirs) but it's your only tool for coordinating attacks, so might as well use it.

 

[Wolfgang I]

I have been part of Federations with a 100-150 k fleet while my fleet was about the same(and I was above fleet cap). I play on insane and only join/form Federations with major empires though. I have used Federation fleets to trap FE fleets before.

 

[scaper12123]

Something else to keep in mind (which helps for joint war declarations as well), there is an button on the top left of your fleet's card, that if selected, will have your allies try to have their fleets follow that one. Heavy emphasis on "try,"

That's the thing though. Especially in the early days of the galaxy, the fact that everyone has different FTL types means coordination has to be much more in depth in order to make certain strategies work. Like if I was trying to trick an enemy fleet into a system for a large scale ambush, if each member had a different FTL type then the coordination wouldn't be effective and you can guarantee at least one of them will not be able to show up in time to help. Something to address that would be appreciated.

 

[melkor88]

The fleet customisation does need a rework personally. Also if you delete a ship it take you back to your own screen, and you have to go back into it again. It gets annoying when you are deleting the dozen so ships the AI has created.

 

[scaper12123]

The fleet customisation does need a rework personally. Also if you delete a ship it take you back to your own screen, and you have to go back into it again. It gets annoying when you are deleting the dozen so ships the AI has created.

OH GOD, yes I hate that so much. It's even worse when you're having to delete weak ship models in favor of your own designs, so that's four times you gotta reopen the federation interface to get there

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Honestly, just use the autobuilt federation ships.

 

[scaper12123]

Honestly, just use the autobuilt federation ships.

no way! they use lasers when plasma weapons and kinetic artillery are the best weapons in the game (put together)

 

[terrycloth]

Honestly, just use the autobuilt federation ships.

I'm playing with a mod that adds some really, really useless parts, like a 'kitchen sink' that uses 25 power and does basically nothing. The computer LOVES to use it instead of a shield capacitor.

 

[NicoH]

I'm playing with a mod that adds some really, really useless parts, like a 'kitchen sink' that uses 25 power and does basically nothing. The computer LOVES to use it instead of a shield capacitor.

Have you ever tried to stay years in space without a kitchen sink? Where should all the dirty dishes go otherwise?
But it would be interesting to know, how the AI decides, which are the best parts,

 

[mudcrabmerchant]

Federations shouldn't get another empire's worth of fleet power on top of that of their members.

What I'd like to see:

1. Federation fleet cap is donated by each empire from their own fleet cap, with a minor buff to total fleet cap in the transfer. E.G. I give up 20 fleet cap, and the federation gains 22.
2. Ships can be donated directly to the fed fleet, in their current state. The federation leader can upgrade them to the fed designs at their own pace.
3. You can loan your fleets to the federation during war, giving control to the fed leader and giving your ships a buff to combat ability (~10% to all stats).
4. The more you do to help the federation, the more power you have within it. Meaning you have a better chance of being elected leader, and helping you to unite the federation as a single state (when that becomes possible in a future patch).

The AI should, unless relations are strained with other members (especially with the leader), contribute a significant percentage of their fleet cap to the fed fleet, and always loan their own fleets to the federation in times of war. However, if their home systems are being occupied and the federation does nothing, there should be a chance of them ending the loan and trying to liberate their worlds themselves.

That way, federations will generally work together in times of war, but will still have inherent weaknesses not present in huge united empires.

 

[Foefaller]

Federations shouldn't get another empire's worth of fleet power on top of that of their members.

What I'd like to see:

1. Federation fleet cap is donated by each empire from their own fleet cap, with a minor buff to total fleet cap in the transfer. E.G. I give up 20 fleet cap, and the federation gains 22.
2. Ships can be donated directly to the fed fleet, in their current state. The federation leader can upgrade them to the fed designs at their own pace.
3. You can loan your fleets to the federation during war, giving control to the fed leader and giving your ships a buff to combat ability (~10% to all stats).
4. The more you do to help the federation, the more power you have within it. Meaning you have a better chance of being elected leader, and helping you to unite the federation as a single state (when that becomes possible in a future patch).

The AI should, unless relations are strained with other members (especially with the leader), contribute a significant percentage of their fleet cap to the fed fleet, and always loan their own fleets to the federation in times of war. However, if their home systems are being occupied and the federation does nothing, there should be a chance of them ending the loan and trying to liberate their worlds themselves.

That way, federations will generally work together in times of war, but will still have inherent weaknesses not present in huge united empires.

1. Will be a thing in 1.5, as a tradition, only it doubles the value of your investment, not a 10% bonus.
2. Should very much be a thing, or at least let us build fed ships for the fed fleet when we aren't president, even if we have to follow the designs the current fed prez is using, so it's not nearly always in an anemic state.
3. I can never see that as being a thing, though I can at least see the fed president giving orders/suggestions to other fed members that carry even more weight for the AI than the "follow my fleet" option.
4. I cannot decide whether I want war/conquest overhaul or diplomacy/federation overhaul as the next major patch/expac, it changes every day and ideas like this bring me towards one idea or another.

 

[krios41]

no way! they use lasers when plasma weapons and kinetic artillery are the best weapons in the game (put together)

lucky you... such ships are at least somewhat usefull...
I'm often stuck with a Federation fleet full of missiles! that's even worse! they aren't even good as cannon fodder!

 

[WhiteWeasel]

I'm trying federations out for the first time, and they do seem a bit cumbersome.

Being able to access the fed fleet from the ship designer would be nice, but ideally I'd like it on a separate tab, I already got way too many hull deigns to scroll through as it is.

Also for mixed FTL types issue, I think it would be nice if the federation president could elect a fleet standard. Either allowing mixed FTL like we do now or adopting a universal FTL type.

 

[terrycloth]

I'm trying federations out for the first time, and they do seem a bit cumbersome.

Being able to access the fed fleet from the ship designer would be nice, but ideally I'd like it on a separate tab, I already got way too many hull deigns to scroll through as it is.

Also for mixed FTL types issue, I think it would be nice if the federation president could elect a fleet standard. Either allowing mixed FTL like we do now or adopting a universal FTL type.

The federation president directly builds and upgrades all federation ships, so they choose the FTL type already, and non-federation ships can't use anything but their creator's FTL type, so what would that standard even do?

 

[Sheriff Godwin Law]

Federation fleet: This is the part that makes the least sense: Why is the federation fleet always so weak? It's never anything significant compared to, say, the fleet of the most powerful nation in the federation. It needs some sort of buff. Either give it more naval capacity per contribution from the members, or give it a special "federation fleet" buff of some sort to make it a significant force.

Well the Federation Fleet is something like 20% of the fleet capacity of each of the members. So if the Federation has less than 5 equal sized members, it is unlikely that the Federation Fleet will be larger than the fleet of the largest member.

Plus the Federation Fleet is free of maintenance. You don't spend any energy on those ships.

lucky you... such ships are at least somewhat usefull...
I'm often stuck with a Federation fleet full of missiles! that's even worse! they aren't even good as cannon fodder!

Go into the federation ship designer, create a design you like in that size class, delete the design you don't, upgrade the fleet ships and after the 'upgrade' they will be refit to your specifications. For a not-insignificant mineral cost, you will have turned your federation fleet into something worthwhile. And when leadership passes from you, the AI has to decide if having bad ships is important enough for him to spend the minerals to make it happen.

In my experience the AI does indeed decide it has the minerals to take your well designed ships and turn them into trash.

 

[krios41]

In my experience the AI does indeed decide it has the minerals to take your well designed ships and turn them into trash.

Hence why i don't bother with it anymore.

Plus the Federation Fleet is free of maintenance. You don't spend any energy on those ships.

Wait realy? shees, if being in a Federation wasn't such hassle (and more often then not) not worth my time, i'd do it...