I've noticed one I unlock this tech, that sometimes when I ask a ship to move from system A to B which are not connected by strings but are closer together than following strings to get there, that the ships still follow the strings and ignore the fact that it could have just flown across and save a few turns in travel time.



Also I was playing one galaxy where I was trying to colonize a section in between two other factions, there was a path to get there that didn't involve crossing their territory and kept the seed ship in mine for most of the trip, however the ship would continually move into enemy territory to get to the destination and wind up getting destroyed. I would like to see the ships movement affected by faction relationships and war, if you aren't friendly with a faction and you have a visible route to your destination that goes around the enemy territory then that should be taken and not lost ships because the automatic route takes to right to the enemy.



One additional suggestion: it would also be nice if approaching a system in which as you get close you see an enemy ship, if you could cancel you're movement to there and be able to retreat back to the previous system.

JStarr wrote:
I've noticed one I unlock this tech, that sometimes when I ask a ship to move from system A to B which are not connected by strings but are closer together than following strings to get there, that the ships still follow the strings and ignore the fact that it could have just flown across and save a few turns in travel time.

Ships route themselves (very) intelligently; if it went by strings, that's because it's actually faster to travel through strings than via warp.

There are some bugs in pathfinding. It is definitely a good idea to prevent *unarmed* ships from traveling through enemy areas; however it would be hard for the game to tell that. For example, you might want to send a scout that way. I think you are better off doing this yourself, and moving an unarmed ship in several stages. You can always tell where the pathfinding wants to send you by holding down the right mouse; so if you don't like it you can add a stage. (Waypoints would be nice but at least it is *possible* to move in stages.)



I actually like the fact that you cannot change your mind once you enter a string. Lots of SF universes have this. The string is like its own little hyperspace bubble, and you can't see in or out. You just go till you arrive. If you didn't scout first, it could be tough luck.

I have noticed this also, that the game decides for you whether or not it wants to warp drive. Perhaps we could get something simple like shift+click. If I want to send a ship via warp drive, then I should be able to.

But, do you ever find that it makes the wrong decision on which is faster? If you want a long route for a reason (colony ship avoiding warzone) you may have to do that manually. It is a little painful now, but if you find the big red dots on the path as you hold down the right mouse, you can count how many turns of travel are involved. There is one suspected bug, moving through wormholes; but other than that pathfinding seems right. For wormholes, many players report weird behavior like moving back and forth. But it seems likely that pathfinding thinks a wormhole costs 1 MP instead of "all" MP.

Or another method that might be better is if there was an option for you to plan out a route for the ship to take.

yeah, like using shift+right click to make checkpoints.

Setting a manual destination would be nice. I don't want scout ships that are backdooring empires to take strings if I want them to be hidden. I want them scouting and exploring the system, avoiding contact (therefore possible destruction).

Yes I think setting your own routes makes perfect sense. Especially important for when it will come to a multi-player game. The less you and your opponents know of each other's movements the better the contest it will make.

fixou wrote:
yeah, like using shift+right click to make checkpoints.

You mean like using shift+right click as it's already implemented in the game?

Le Gasp. ;o

^many thanks Is there a way to deselect all way points in case you change your mind? Once I have set the first way point I can't seem to cancel movement order and off the little fleet trundles.

Spaceball_Harry wrote:
^many thanks Is there a way to deselect all way points in case you change your mind? Once I have set the first way point I can't seem to cancel movement order and off the little fleet trundles.

NO IDEA. I don't use way-point navigation.