Fire in Place?

[donnylicious]

Anyone know of an option to fire in place? If not, this is a much needed option for long range ships. Currently, if I want to set a ship to attack an enemy ship, it will attack at the set distance and move as the enemy ship moves.

However, with longer range ships, I only want it to rotate and fire without strafing.

[icuurd12b42]

there is no option to only turn towards the target unfortunately

[BrightExistence]

Originally posted by donnylicious:

Anyone know of an option to fire in place? If not, this is a much needed option for long range ships. Currently, if I want to set a ship to attack an enemy ship, it will attack at the set distance and move as the enemy ship moves.

However, with longer range ships, I only want it to rotate and fire without strafing.

You can absolutely fire in place! I too have sniper ships built for this play style. There are two ways of doing this:

1) Put the ship where you want it, press the stop icon to abort any existing commands it may have, and press 'R' (default key for rotate unless I rebound it and am confusing myself) then click on the ship you want it to target. It will rotate to always face the selected ship to the best of its ability. If the ship is hostile, it will fire automatically assuming you have your weapons set on 'fire at will' (their default setting I believe), but only when the target ship is in range.

2) Set the weapons on your ship to continuous fire instead of fire at will. The ship will *not* rotate automatically but you can do so manually. The weapons will fire continuously even if the ship is not in range.

Hope that helps. Happy hunting!

EDIT: The one catch is that if you tell a ship to rotate to face a target using the 'R' key it seems to break formation. It won't move on its own, but you'll have to put it back in formation before moving your fleet. (Assuming you use formations.)

[icuurd12b42]

Originally posted by BrightExistence:

He said he wants self rotating but holding fixed position. I also would like that option

[lalelunatic]

well, you could also just build ships with "turn engines" and "move engines", make a ctrl+# group and deactivate the move ones. ship might wobble a bit but should be technically pretty stable.

could also be that it just flies sideways and turns just for shots... well smaller engines then... but also crap if it turns to slow... ya game needs more options...

[icuurd12b42]

Currently the game fires any engine it can to move towards the formation position on the target. The "rotating dedicated" engines would be used in ways you did not think possible to move the ship back in formation with the target :)

Right now I would settle for a "hold your position" button.

It would be nice if we could specify a set of manoeuvres as you said. it would also help if the AI was more independent working and remembered what I want it to usually target so I dont have to repeat myself each encounter...

[BrightExistence]

Originally posted by icuurd12b42:

Originally posted by BrightExistence:

He said he wants self rotating but holding fixed position. I also would like that option

Yes. To attain fixed position order the ship to stop. To attain self rotate and fire, next press 'R' and click on the target. The ship will self rotate towards the target but hold its current fixed position. That is exactly the request I answered.

Now, if you mean staying *in formation* while rotating and firing (*not* a fixed position), I acknowledged that this is not possible (by any means I know of) and yes, I would *very much* like that option as well. So if that was indeed the request, then let me add my +1 to that. However, that is not strictly what the OP asked. As you can see, they said nothing about formations:

Originally posted by donnylicious:

Anyone know of an option to fire in place? If not, this is a much needed option for long range ships. Currently, if I want to set a ship to attack an enemy ship, it will attack at the set distance and move as the enemy ship moves.

However, with longer range ships, I only want it to rotate and fire without strafing.

[icuurd12b42]

So we all do agree, it would be nice to have

[BrightExistence]

100% agree that there should be a way to stay in formation but rotate independently of the other ships. Never understood why it was not programmed like that from the start.

[Stellar Remnant]

Originally posted by BrightExistence:

100% agree that there should be a way to stay in formation but rotate independently of the other ships. Never understood why it was not programmed like that from the start.

It already works like that, though? Settings, Gameplay, uncheck 'Break formation to attack'. The ships stay in formation but rotate as needed. You will probably want grid relative follow angles instead of ship relative.

[BrightExistence]

Originally posted by MiniHerc:

Originally posted by BrightExistence:

100% agree that there should be a way to stay in formation but rotate independently of the other ships. Never understood why it was not programmed like that from the start.

It already works like that, though? Settings, Gameplay, uncheck 'Break formation to attack'. The ships stay in formation but rotate as needed. You will probably want grid relative follow angles instead of ship relative.

So... just no, it absolutely does not 'already work that way'. We are just talking past each other because we do not realize we are not talking about the same thing. Alas, that happens to me a lot. For whatever reason this particular thread is a nightmare in this respect, as I did not understand what the others were actually proposing at first either.

'Break formation to attack' is unchecked for me, as it has been almost since I started playing the game. I have even mentioned it myself in other threads. If it were not, my formations would dissolve the moment I ordered my ships to attack a target. That actually has nothing to do with the behavior we are all in favor of, which is: rotating a ship while still in formation, but without breaking formation.

You can verify this yourself with one simple demonstration:

1) Select multiple ships and put them into a formation.
2) Select just ONE of the ships that are in the formation. Order it to rotate using the 'R' key, and click on a target.
3) Select all of the ships in the formation again, and order them to move.

What should happen: The entire formation will move (as best as it can anyway with one ship out of rotation), but the individual ship will continue to rotate to face the target you gave it, even as it maintains its relative position in the formation.

What actually happens: The individual ship continues to rotate towards the target you gave it, but DOES NOT move as part of the formation. It moves on its own, ignoring its place in the formation, until you once again order the ships into a formation. BUT if you do that it then stops rotating to face the target you gave it. Formations and individual, separate ship rotation simply cannot coexist.

See what I'm saying? If giving a rotate command would override the ship's *rotation* as stored in the formation, but NOT the ship's relative *position* in the formation, I would have a lot easier time with my play-style when I am using formations to attack an enemy but then get flanked.

[icuurd12b42]

Why are we talking about a formation? He's asking for a way to Fire in place. Fire in place means stay right here, in this place and fire at things.

He wants the ship to rotate towards the targets when firing in place. Turning the ship into a giant turret... the game does not have that option

[CptnRedstone]

Originally posted by icuurd12b42:

He wants the ship to rotate towards the targets when firing in place. Turning the ship into a giant turret... the game does not have that option

Issue a move or strafe command to wherever you want to be. Then use the rotate command on whatever target you want.

[icuurd12b42]

Originally posted by CptnRedstone:

Issue a move or strafe command to wherever you want to be. Then use the rotate command on whatever target you want.

Is this Groundhog Day? We dont want to issue rotate commands, we are busy elsewhere with other ships. That's the whole point of wanting auto rotating fire in place.

[FeedMe]

Originally posted by icuurd12b42:

Originally posted by CptnRedstone:

Issue a move or strafe command to wherever you want to be. Then use the rotate command on whatever target you want.

Is this Groundhog Day? We dont want to issue rotate commands, we are busy elsewhere with other ships. That's the whole point of wanting auto rotating fire in place.

hes just explained that clicking the target ship after pressing r will cause the ship to stay in place and rotate to track the target.. now i assume that you cant get ships to auto engage while staying in place but i dont know becouse this is news to me any way and the advice here is some thing i wanna try my self

[icuurd12b42]

Originally posted by FeedMe:

Originally posted by icuurd12b42:

Is this Groundhog Day? We dont want to issue rotate commands, we are busy elsewhere with other ships. That's the whole point of wanting auto rotating fire in place.

hes just explained that clicking the target ship after pressing r will cause the ship to stay in place and rotate to track the target.. now i assume that you cant get ships to auto engage while staying in place but i dont know becouse this is news to me any way and the advice here is some thing i wanna try my self

OMG I cant read anymore!... Sorry and thanks guys! Works.