Setting Engagement Range For Ships

[Pink Zeppelin]

I think that we need to be able to set the range at which our ships slow at and try to remain relatively at with regards towards the enemy.

The main reason why this currently is a problem is that I have made ships with no long range weapons that as soon as they are within the enemy's range slow to a crawl and allow the enemy to whittle them down. This is an awful tactic and makes no sense. My ships should be smart enough to know that their main mass of weaponry only works when they are at a certain range.

 

[Wyrm]

The main issue here is that combat speed is different from sublight (normal movement) speed.

Unless they change this mechanic that problem will remain. You could always slap afterburners on your ship to make them close the gap faster.

 

[Pink Zeppelin]

The main issue here is that combat speed is different from sublight (normal movement) speed.

Unless they change this mechanic that problem will remain. You could always slap afterburners on your ship to make them close the gap faster.

Damn, thank you for your answer though. Hopefully they will find a way to fix it.

 

[Dejma]

I would like to see this working properly the other way around, as of now ships keep closing in even if they already can hit enemy fleet. It would be great if they stopped or even tried to maintain distance to utilize long range of XL/L weapons.

 

[Pink Zeppelin]

I would like to see this working properly the other way around, as of now ships keep closing in even if they already can hit enemy fleet. It would be great if they stopped or even tried to maintain distance to utilize long range of XL/L weapons.

Yeah, that has always been funny to watch. I always wondered why effectively siege ships would voluntarily fly towards my fortresses like that.

 

[Qilue]

I've found that battleships designed with only kinetic batteries will stay at long range and function as artillery. Especially when grouped with destroyers that close with the enemy.

 

[Jabby]

There is a mod for this.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=790455347&searchtext=

 

[scaper12123]

I think that we need to be able to set the range at which our ships slow at and try to remain relatively at with regards towards the enemy.

The main reason why this currently is a problem is that I have made ships with no long range weapons that as soon as they are within the enemy's range slow to a crawl and allow the enemy to whittle them down. This is an awful tactic and makes no sense. My ships should be smart enough to know that their main mass of weaponry only works when they are at a certain range.

To be fair, you really ought to have SOME sort of long range weaponry on at least one of your ships, like some strike craft for example.

I agree that the engagement range for ships needs to be scaleable in certain situations, although mostly for the sake of offense rather than defense. For example, I find it annoying that I engage certain fleets at long range where only my battleships could possibly hit them, and it takes them a moment to charge up their weapons by which point those ships can escape. I also find it annoying how you attack every resource gathering station while moving to attack a planet, which just wastes time; the only reason I would want to specifically attack a resource station is if I wanted to.

 

[Scourgeclaw]

I've basically resigned to using mods until they fix this. There was the option to determine the basic behaivor of ships in earlier versions, but that was removed here semi-recently. Exact version numbers are escaping me right now...

Anyway, combat with anything but Autocannons and Afterburners right now is a joke unless range-setting mods are installed. The ability to set a vessel class's firing-line range adds a great amount of depth and customization to how an individual empire's fleet works. I can't for the life of me figure out why it was removed.

Oh well. Guess this is why it's great to be a part of the PC gaming master race: something is broken or it set a way we don't like; more often than not, it can be fixed with mods.

 

[Pink Zeppelin]

To be fair, you really ought to have SOME sort of long range weaponry on at least one of your ships, like some strike craft for example.

I agree that the engagement range for ships needs to be scaleable in certain situations, although mostly for the sake of offense rather than defense. For example, I find it annoying that I engage certain fleets at long range where only my battleships could possibly hit them, and it takes them a moment to charge up their weapons by which point those ships can escape. I also find it annoying how you attack every resource gathering station while moving to attack a planet, which just wastes time; the only reason I would want to specifically attack a resource station is if I wanted to.

Depends on your tactics. For me I like to amass a fleet of smaller ships to run interference between the enemy and my fleet and then bring in the big ships. Problem is that big ships I like to make are designed to use plasma throwers to burn through the enemy's hauls, not to batter a station from long range.

 

[Almond_Brown]

Everything slows down once the Fleet enters a Gravity well. As noted, getting them to stop and use their range would be better, seeing as you can speed up, the smaller ships at least, with afterburners.

As for keeping fleets at Range, I have found that entering the system via an entry point that has some near by planets, or any small body at all really, allows me to click on one of them as a target destination for the fleet. Continued clicking will keep the Fleet near that body much better than if they are allowed to just head straight for the enemy fleet as they are oft to do.