Removal of battle AI for own ships

[TorkWrench]

I love the new version. Adding different times of day certainly enhances the realism of the game.

That being said, I think that removing the "AI on" button for formations is unrealistic. In a real setting, an admiral would be able to signal for his subordinate division commanders to independently pursue and investigate signs of enemy presence. I don't think there was ever a structure in "steam and steel" era navies in which the admiral was required to make every single granular decision for each formation.

At the very least, there should be a clear indication of the current bearing of spotted smoke, rather than general cardinal compass points. It's confusing and out of the 15 or so battles I've entered into in the new update, maybe 1/3 of them actually end up with my force getting a visual on a single enemy ship. I sit here for 20 minutes chasing vague "Enemy smoke spotted to the Northeast" reports before I get frustrated and click the end battle button. It's really eating into my enjoyment of what has, up until now, been my favorite game in my whole Steam library.

I think the changes of the new edition are largely for the better, but this one has me tearing my hair out in frustration.

[TorkWrench]

Just entered into a battle in which I was told the enemy was to the Northeast. Immediately thereafter, the one enemy vessel present was spotted directly to the North of the formation.

[MasterFool]

The Smoke call outs are innaccurate and a terrible way to find the enemy. I spent the first part of my first campaign getting very frustrated with the game and wanting not to play because of this mechanic. They've removed the Fog of War (FoW) mechanic from identification, now they need to remove the smoke mechanic for the same reason... it's stupid and doesn't add to the game.

However, to overcome the loss of the AI button do this:

1. Select your lead ship/div.
2. Press PAUSE
3. Select "Retreat" from the navigation options.
4. Press PLAY (x1 speed) then PAUSE again.
5. The green Arrow pointer shows the steering bearing for Retreat. That means if you click 180° away from that direction the arrow points, you will be headed for the closest enemy ship. Click the direction 180° away from the arrow direction. This also resets the navigation to SAIL.
6. Your ship/div will have taken a micro turn away from it's previous course but settled into a course directly toward the enemy. Congratulations, you've just set course toward the enemy.

Smoke readings completely unnecessary.

[TorkWrench]

Originally posted by MasterFool:

The Smoke call outs are innaccurate and a terrible way to find the enemy. I spent the first part of my first campaign getting very frustrated with the game and wanting not to play because of this mechanic. They've removed the Fog of War (FoW) mechanic from identification, now they need to remove the smoke mechanic for the same reason... it's stupid and doesn't add to the game.

However, to overcome the loss of the AI button do this:

1. Select your lead ship/div.
2. Press PAUSE
3. Select "Retreat" from the navigation options.
4. Press PLAY (x1 speed) then PAUSE again.
5. The green Arrow pointer shows the steering bearing for Retreat. That means if you click 180° away from that direction the arrow points, you will be headed for the closest enemy ship. Click the direction 180° away from the arrow direction. This also resets the navigation to SAIL.
6. Your ship/div will have taken a micro turn away from it's previous course but settled into a course directly toward the enemy. Congratulations, you've just set course toward the enemy.

Smoke readings completely unnecessary.

Dude thanks so much. I would never have thought to reverse engineer the system.

Bummer about the game balance but I'm sure they'll fix it.

[Big mean bunny]

Damn the cats out of the bag, now they will remove the retreat button.

[glythe]

Originally posted by Emma:

I found the best button ever, The "uninstall" button in steam

Before you give up on the game would you consider trying modded files? Check out the DIP project on Nexus mods.

[MasterFool]

No problem, I just approached it from 'what AI navigation is left?' and came up with that process. If they remove retreat, I have another method to use as well, but keeping that cat in the bag for now.

P.S. I wouldn't mind the smoke readings if they either made them actually work and increased the sighting ranges of ships, or gave us an ACTUAL compass bearing on the sighted smoke, not a call out that doesn't obey actual compass bearings. It reports something like North West when actual bearing is only a degree or two off North or West. This really messed me up when I first played and I hated the game for it. I almost stopped playing it just for that bit of game logic stupidity. If you don't understand naval navigation/sighting, you shouldn't make a game that uses it. I was all good once I found the AI bit and ignored the silly smoke readings.

[Nitemares]

Originally posted by glythe:

Originally posted by Emma:

I found the best button ever, The "uninstall" button in steam

Before you give up on the game would you consider trying modded files? Check out the DIP project on Nexus mods.

Going to agree with Emma.

Sometimes, no matter how much you like the premise of a game, the BEST thing to do is to walk away.

I did for pretty much ALL of 1.5 and only came back for 1.6 to see if there was any improvement or if I wasted my money.... (Jury is still out....). The frustration level over the game just isn't worth it most of the time.