AI Patrol Fleet

[Qloshae]

So, I am building a few stations and considering expanding to a few sectors, but I would like these sectors to be patrolled. Is it possible to make fleets that jump between these sectors together in a loop or will they all start to desync and start spreading out instead of jumping together?

[Multi Colored Psychopath]

You cannot create a loop command after a patrol sector command, unfortunately. A simple fix would be for the devs, or modder, to add a timer the patrol sector command, but alas, there is none as far as I know.

[Valck]

Let the flag ship do the navigation, and have the others on escort orders?
I haven't done it in a while, but I seem to remember that something like this worked.
Might need a bit of tuning of jump drives and/or generators, and possibly the use of system upgrades, so that the escorts are ready to jump again before the flag ship.

[Qloshae]

Originally posted by Multi Colored Psychopath:

You cannot create a loop command after a patrol sector command, unfortunately. A simple fix would be for the devs, or modder, to add a timer the patrol sector command, but alas, there is none as far as I know.

Can't you do an "attack enemies" and then have them go to the next sector. If no enemies are present, wouldn't it then just skip to the next?

[Engine Of Darkness]

You could perhaps do this with the Mod "AutoAI - Self Defense" (perhaps 2.0 will allow this out of the box, who knows)

Using this Mod, set the Ships to "Attack All Enemies" or something and then setup a looping "jump to sector" orderchain.

The only thing you have to make sure is that your "jumpdrive" does not insta-recharge, so the AI has time to realize there are enemies in the sector it is in.

If the Ship then jumps into a sector with enemies in it, the Auto AI will take over, until the enemies are beaten.

You can also set the AI to run away if a certain shield / hull threshold is reached - the AI will then run away.

I think I also saw the ai return once it was healed (passive shield / hull regen) and went back into the fight if I remember it correctly.

I use this mod on my game to setup my fleet to auto-flee in big fights if they reach critical hull (30%).

[Multi Colored Psychopath]

Originally posted by Qloshae:

Originally posted by Multi Colored Psychopath:

You cannot create a loop command after a patrol sector command, unfortunately. A simple fix would be for the devs, or modder, to add a timer the patrol sector command, but alas, there is none as far as I know.

Can't you do an "attack enemies" and then have them go to the next sector. If no enemies are present, wouldn't it then just skip to the next?

Suppose you could, but you'd want to take in account the jump times of your ships. They wouldn't be synchronized.

[Hassie54]

Originally posted by Multi Colored Psychopath:

Originally posted by Qloshae:

Can't you do an "attack enemies" and then have them go to the next sector. If no enemies are present, wouldn't it then just skip to the next?

Suppose you could, but you'd want to take in account the jump times of your ships. They wouldn't be synchronized.

I think if you set 1 ship to attack enemies then jump and attack enemies, while all other ships just escort that 1 ship. They should all jump when that ship jumps, even if a bit after, they will all arrive within seconds of one another, to start attacks on enemies if need be.

[Qloshae]

Originally posted by Hassie54:

Originally posted by Multi Colored Psychopath:

Suppose you could, but you'd want to take in account the jump times of your ships. They wouldn't be synchronized.

I think if you set 1 ship to attack enemies then jump and attack enemies, while all other ships just escort that 1 ship. They should all jump when that ship jumps, even if a bit after, they will all arrive within seconds of one another, to start attacks on enemies if need be.

Yea, that was my thought. They would with this if anything catch up when there are enemies as thryd all stop to deal with the enemies and then they'd all follow the same commands to just keep moving.

[Gespenst Gaming]

So while you could do that, pirates never spawn in systems you, the current player controlled ship, aren't in. they always spawn in your current system. Or you could encounter them jumping into places you've never been to before, but a "defense patrol fleet" wouldn't be doing that.

[Qloshae]

Originally posted by Gespenst Gaming:

So while you could do that, pirates never spawn in systems you, the current player controlled ship, aren't in. they always spawn in your current system. Or you could encounter them jumping into places you've never been to before, but a "defense patrol fleet" wouldn't be doing that.

More concerned with the fact that I got a multiplayer server and want my sectors defended if my friend decided to go afk in one of them.

[Aurelia]

"Attack Enemies" unfortunately does not have any "end". So including it in any chains will hold up the order list indefinately once it reaches it's first attack enemies command.

The escorting isn't a perfect idea, because you'd only have the time it takes for your flagship to recharge it's drive before it jumps again, and none of the ships would seek out any enemies that aren't within a close proximity (about 10km).

The best way to arm your systems, is to just simply station ships there on "patrol", or simply "attack enemies". The way i defend my own sectors is by creation a factory as a type of military outpost armed with long range weaponry and fighter bays. Issuing it the command to attack enemies will send out fighters whenever enemies enter the sector.

Without the use of mods, what you're asking currently isn't possible, though it may be when 2.0 comes around?