I've noticed two frustrating issues with the "Guard" command for fleets in orbit around a system. I'm not sure if they're bugs, working as intended, or already planned to be changed, but I figured I'd bring them up just in case.

The first is how "Guard" affects all fleets in a system; it really should work on a fleet-by-fleet basis. If I have a doomstack of hunters guarding my system, I really don't want my exploration or colony ship in the same system to also be on guard duty... or if, as the Vodyani, I have a fleet of leechers gathering essence from a Minor and a second fleet in orbit to protect them, I really don't want the Minor to spawn a stack and attack my leechers, defeating the purpose of having a second fleet there to guard them.

I have to believe that this is simple oversight and not supposed to be working this way, but yeah... just in case you were thinking of making it work this way... please don't.

The second issue's a bit trickier (and not only related to the "Guard" action, but it's a big part of it), but I think it's something worth bringing up/discussing: given the way synchronous movement works between factions (i.e. the whole "other factions can move on your turn" thing) and the multitude of pop-ups one can get at the beginning of a turn, it can be tricky to issue proper orders in time.

I forget the exact details of the event that really brought this home for me, but I remember having to reload my turn a few times to make things work out properly. Something to do with creating a fleet from my hangar and setting them to guard in time to block off a quickly-approaching invading fleet. Succeeding in doing that required some pretty frantic clicking; minimizing all my pop-ups at the beginning of the turn, panning the map to the right system, forming my fleet from the hangar, and setting it to guard. In that moment, it felt more like I was playing a twitchy action game that a turn-based 4x.

I have nothing against synchronous movement. I got used to it in ES1, it's something that sets ES apart from other games in the genre, and I understand it's important for multiplayer, but it does feel like something could/should be done about this.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to suggest as a solution to this problem, but perhaps there could be a bit of a "time buffer" (~5-20 seconds?) at the beginning of one's turn that "freezes" potential movement from other factions, giving the player a chance to do a few things before other ships start moving on the map? Perhaps only non-movement actions (creating fleets, disbanding them, setting fleets to guard/un-guard, repair, retrofit) could be taken during this "time buffer", to make it fair for everyone? (i.e. movement orders will be delayed until after the "time buffer" runs out)

If someone has a better idea than my not-so-great "time buffer" one, please do share.

ElegantCaveman wrote:

I've noticed two frustrating issues with the "Guard" command for fleets in orbit around a system. I'm not sure if they're bugs, working as intended, or already planned to be changed, but I figured I'd bring them up just in case.

The first is how "Guard" affects all fleets in a system; it really should work on a fleet-by-fleet basis. If I have a doomstack of hunters guarding my system, I really don't want my exploration or colony ship in the same system to also be on guard duty... or if, as the Vodyani, I have a fleet of leechers gathering essence from a Minor and a second fleet in orbit to protect them, I really don't want the Minor to spawn a stack and attack my leechers, defeating the purpose of having a second fleet there to guard them.

Currently the fleets do have individual control for all functions. This sounds like a bug you've encountered. Because it's totally possible to have one group guarding, another leeching, and a third just stopping in while in transit (Or any other combination). Just select each fleet on the right, and tell them what you want to do.

I have to believe that this is simple oversight and not supposed to be working this way, but yeah... just in case you were thinking of making it work this way... please don't.

The second issue's a bit trickier (and not only related to the "Guard" action, but it's a big part of it), but I think it's something worth bringing up/discussing: given the way synchronous movement works between factions (i.e. the whole "other factions can move on your turn" thing) and the multitude of pop-ups one can get at the beginning of a turn, it can be tricky to issue proper orders in time.

I forget the exact details of the event that really brought this home for me, but I remember having to reload my turn a few times to make things work out properly. Something to do with creating a fleet from my hangar and setting them to guard in time to block off a quickly-approaching invading fleet. Succeeding in doing that required some pretty frantic clicking; minimizing all my pop-ups at the beginning of the turn, panning the map to the right system, forming my fleet from the hangar, and setting it to guard. In that moment, it felt more like I was playing a twitchy action game that a turn-based 4x.

I have nothing against synchronous movement. I got used to it in ES1, it's something that sets ES apart from other games in the genre, and I understand it's important for multiplayer, but it does feel like something could/should be done about this.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to suggest as a solution to this problem, but perhaps there could be a bit of a "time buffer" (~5-20 seconds?) at the beginning of one's turn that "freezes" potential movement from other factions, giving the player a chance to do a few things before other ships start moving on the map? Perhaps only non-movement actions (creating fleets, disbanding them, setting fleets to guard/un-guard, repair, retrofit) could be taken during this "time buffer", to make it fair for everyone? (i.e. movement orders will be delayed until after the "time buffer" runs out)

If someone has a better idea than my not-so-great "time buffer" one, please do share.

To be honest, this situation is very, very rare, and sounds like it could lead to way bigger issues with the multiplayer community. It is annoying to have someone sneak a ship in sometimes, but it's still completely fair. If that ship is getting in, it's because they got their side of things all planned out and sent before you. Yes, it means they will almost assuredly strike before you can save yourself, but that's OK, that isn't an issue with the game.