How to stop destroyers from getting close to stations im attacking?

[burthole]

title

I have 9 Syn's the large turrets have argon plasma with over 8km range set to attack all targets, while the medium turrets are flak and only set to attack fighters. Still my destroyers like to fly right up close and get eaten by station defenses.

My next attempt is to turn off all turrets and try again but what a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hassle. There has to be a better way that I'm not aware of.

[zpc]

Since 6.0 destroyers stay outside the range of Xenon stations. Did you update the game yet?

If you want to bring long range anti capital turrets (L-Plasma) I'd say set them to "attack capitals". This will limit them to capital ships and stations.

[MartialDoctor]

This is a known problem and it appears to still happen in 6.0 sadly (I haven't seen it myself, just going by what I hear). Unless you want to micro your destroyers, the best way to fix it is to use Kuda AI Tweaks mod.

[SENMSL]

They have the mind of floor-sweeping robots. Modules can block visions to other modules. What destroyers were doing was to find a feasible fire position by trials (without considering station defence range).
Suggestion is to surround the target station. Keep an eye on the destroyers and save frequently.

[Cellar_Cat]

Use a coordinated attack, but do not trigger the attack. Slowly reduce the range, creeping the sphere of ships closer until their turrets fire.

[burthole]

Originally posted by zpc:

Since 6.0 destroyers stay outside the range of Xenon stations. Did you update the game yet?

If you want to bring long range anti capital turrets (L-Plasma) I'd say set them to "attack capitals". This will limit them to capital ships and stations.

Yes the game is updated and that feature doesnt work I guess. I hadn't tried setting them to only attack capital ships because I was trying to destroy stations and didn't know they were the same thing.

[burthole]

Originally posted by MartialDoctor:

This is a known problem and it appears to still happen in 6.0 sadly (I haven't seen it myself, just going by what I hear). Unless you want to micro your destroyers, the best way to fix it is to use Kuda AI Tweaks mod.

I think you're right. The only way to fix this is to modify the game.. :(

[zpc]

Originally posted by Armadale:

Originally posted by MartialDoctor:

This is a known problem and it appears to still happen in 6.0 sadly (I haven't seen it myself, just going by what I hear). Unless you want to micro your destroyers, the best way to fix it is to use Kuda AI Tweaks mod.

I think you're right. The only way to fix this is to modify the game.. :(

I'd say no, that is not necessary. During the beta for 6.0 I cleared 4 Xenon sectors with a huge fleet, attacking the Xenon stations simultaneously with multipe destroyer groups. So while I was IS with one group attacking a station, other groups attacked and destroyed other stations.

Try to cut your group in half - 5 destroyers with cross formation work very well for me. The turret settings I already mentioned, having the flak to attack fighters only is also very good.

The only destroyer which doesn't work very well with station demolition (at least not like the others) are Split Battlesnakes. Those are melee destroyers and their main gun range brings them too close to stations. (I've an elite squad with enhanced main weapon ranges, but this costs a lot of purple mod parts, money & good RNG rolls - nothing you can do on a larger scale)

[burthole]

My current playthrough has reached 11 days and 23 hours, (zero Seta) and unfortunately, it may end here. Even with 6 Asgards and 9 Syns, it's not enough to take out a Xenon defense station, unless I'm constantly babysitting the fleet and manually directing them to flee one at a time to recharge their shields. It's not exactly the most enjoyable gameplay experience. Kinda feels like I just wasted 12 days developing this economy and building this armada for nothing.

[Gulash]

Originally posted by Armadale:

My current playthrough has reached 11 days and 23 hours, (zero Seta) and unfortunately, it may end here. Even with 6 Asgards and 9 Syns, it's not enough to take out a Xenon defense station, unless I'm constantly babysitting the fleet and manually directing them to flee one at a time to recharge their shields. It's not exactly the most enjoyable gameplay experience. Kinda feels like I just wasted 12 days developing this economy and building this armada for nothing.

Make 1 destroyer the leader of 2-3 others then make the leader do a co-ord attack. They should all stay together and attack at range. put the other group at another angle and do the same. its how i do it and i've only lost ships due to me not splitting them up properly

[zpc]

Right - I really do hope those 6 Asgards / 9 Syns are organized in fleets. Not just "select all" -> "attack". That would indeed explain the totally different experience.

Coordinated attack isn't needed though - but it helps to handle (coordinate ^^) big fleets.

[burthole]

Originally posted by zpc:

Right - I really do hope those 6 Asgards / 9 Syns are organized in fleets. Not just "select all" -> "attack". That would indeed explain the totally different experience.

Coordinated attack isn't needed though - but it helps to handle (coordinate ^^) big fleets.

What's a fleet?

[burthole]

Originally posted by P15H:

Originally posted by Armadale:

My current playthrough has reached 11 days and 23 hours, (zero Seta) and unfortunately, it may end here. Even with 6 Asgards and 9 Syns, it's not enough to take out a Xenon defense station, unless I'm constantly babysitting the fleet and manually directing them to flee one at a time to recharge their shields. It's not exactly the most enjoyable gameplay experience. Kinda feels like I just wasted 12 days developing this economy and building this armada for nothing.

Make 1 destroyer the leader of 2-3 others then make the leader do a co-ord attack. They should all stay together and attack at range. put the other group at another angle and do the same. its how i do it and i've only lost ships due to me not splitting them up properly

Regardless of whether their attack is coordinated or not, they always start at range. However, even with a fleet of 9 destroyers, it takes an exorbitantly long time to destroy a station. If I'm not constantly monitoring the situation, some of my ships inevitably get too close and end up getting destroyed. It's frustrating because when I look away for just a few minutes to manage other parts of my empire, I often return to find several ships destroyed, forcing me to reload a save. I had hoped that Egosoft, would have been aware of this issue and provided a solution. With exception to mods, the only solution I can think of is to remove all turrets and drones from my destroyers all together because adjusting their behavior doesn't seem to help.

[burthole]

Originally posted by Cellar_Cat:

Use a coordinated attack, but do not trigger the attack. Slowly reduce the range, creeping the sphere of ships closer until their turrets fire.

How are you controlling the range on a coordinated attack? I have no such options.

[blackphoenixx]

There are several solutions. Like the "attack turrets" command. Take out the stations turrets with missiles or burst rays first and it doesn't matter if your destroyers stray into range when maneuvering.

[burthole]

Originally posted by blackphoenixx:

There are several solutions. Like the "attack turrets" command. Take out the stations turrets with missiles or burst rays first and it doesn't matter if your destroyers stray into range when maneuvering.

There is absolutely no need or purpose for maneuvering within range of the station defenses, especially when the effective range of my destroyers' weapons is 8km or more. In fact, the Asgard boasts a main gun with a range of 14km. The goal is not just to destroy the station defenses before getting within their range, but to avoid their range altogether. After all, that's the entire point of utilizing ships equipped with long-range weapons.