bucky699 wrote:
You could make the retreat based on how large enemy fleets are or how much sensor power they have or something. interception again can be based on how good sensors are or how big your fleet is.

I like this idea. Makes it even more important to have support ships with good sensors in your fleet and keeps from having too many single purpose ships systems to use.

This thread is the origin of all fleet interception out of systems discussions.

Other threads about this have been archived:

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13404-sugestion-intercept-fleets

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13522-suggestion-between-system-fleet-interception

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13630-suggestion-interception-strikes

/#/endless-space/forum/29-archives/thread/13686-suggestion-moving-stopping-fighting-in-empty-space



Feel free to post here about this topic here and inform yourself about the variations the threads listed above have already discussed, but don't open new suggestion threads for anything alike.

I'm gonna bump this, some form of intercept is necessary since to provide enough fleet coverage for my empire eats the vast majority of my budget, leaving very little dust generation per turn. I think it should be %'age based as the above poster commented, but increasing with defence or applied science research and possibly Hero perks. Really infuriating having little scout ships slip past my lines to harass my colonies and then spend turn after turn attempting to catch them.



EDIT: I also think that having a larger fleet should increase chances of it being detected, since a small scout ship could probably skip past enemy lines with ease but a huge armada would have trouble without bulldozing through in the first place.

Look at the honor harrington novels, ships can pass through frontlines to hit back worlds, it impose you to keep some strategic reserve, wich is good.



But in the sake of gameplay, I think a 10% chance of intercept a "passing" ennemy would make sense, like an ambush when a fleet leave the space lane for opening an other.



It can be logical with some technobabble, look at this one :



10% chance intercept

When a fleet leave a space lane, it takes approx 2 weeks to recharge warp drives and open another lane (remember 1 turn is 1 year). Ships defending a system often deploys beacons to detect arrival of transiting fleets, and a good sized defensive fleet with good scanners can position iself to ambush the transiting fleet when they leave the lane or can try to intercept them during the few weeks of recharging if they are not too far away.



Sounds right ?

I don't mind about intercept fleets, but I CERTAINLY mind enemy fleets arriving at my system on their turn and leaving my system on my turn. They should not be capable of movement during your own turn; it is extremely frustrating.

I think that there should be a chance that an enemy fleet moving through an occupied system can be intercepted. I think this chance should be based on numerous factors (average ship speed in the blockade running fleet vs. blockading fleet, sensors tech on both sides, numbers of ships involved on both sides, firepower, etc.) which could be shown as a tool tip when a fleet is trying to pass through (oh yeah, a 'turns to destination' tool-tip should be in too). Basically, choke-points should be defensible, but only if you actually have defenses there which could do anything to whoever is passing through.

I would love to see this add into the game, though really only the part where an enemy fleet can't just bypass yours and get deeper into your Sovereignty

space is big, very very very big



ships are travelling through it at quadrillions of meters per second



so interceptions taking place outside of star systems are ridiculous, no to that





suggestion



when a fleet wishes to disregard or disengage from any other fleet in their system (which is a perfectly legitimate tactical necessessity) they must be both fewer and faster than the fleet that desires combat, if this is so they may choose whether or not to engage



I propose a threshold of contiguous yes/no rather than a probability slider, in order for the mechanic to gel with the strategic level's existing explicit determinism



being determined exclusively by speed and fleet-size this mechanic would not pollute the tech-tree or ship design with extraneous modules

I like the idea of an intercept ability, what if it was the default way things worked, and then you could research a module like "blockade runner" that would let some ships try and bypass the intercepting fleet?

I like the current system of fleets on the move not being able to turn around, because it is "realistic". (At least within the games logic, once you are on the string no one can contact you)

We could still have a rather expensive research (maybe called "Quantum Entanglement, ME anyone? ) allowing for turning ships around midway.



On the other hand, it is stupid that fleets can "leave" the string at a system, wave at any devensice fleet and go on to the next system. An intercept function is really needed there!

Merku wrote:
Agreed completely. However, being able to cancel move requests should operate on a similar system to those found in other games. The exact game I can't recall... but the mechanic was that you could not have a fleet return once the order was issued and they were already enroute to the target planet/system, whatever in the beginning. However, later on, you could get technology that would enable communication with fleets enroute somewhere and could tell them to turn around, modify course, whatever. I think this was MoO2 actually... Either way, agree with addendum.



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Merku

That would be Sword of the Stars, although it may have been in MoO2 first. But the best example I know of is Sword of the Stars 1, which really had an amazing way of handling propulsion systems between the different races.



The humans could not turn around, only used starlanes (effectively), but were so fast that turning around or stopping mid-lane was kinda pointless anyways.



The Tarka moved 'traditionally' with a go anywhere warp drive, but they could not be redirected or stopped once the warp leg started until a communication upgrade was researched. Per the research, their communications simply were not fast enough/could not penetrate the warp bubble around the fleet in motion until a custom research point.



Which would be a nice addition, an ability to unlock changing fleets in motion.

bucky699 wrote:
Agreed intercept is needed, i'd also like to see your standard "fight/retreat" option at the begining of combat. You could make the retreat based on how large enemy fleets are or how much sensor power they have or something. interception again can be based on how good sensors are or how big your fleet is. Also as mentioned i'd like to see a way to cancel move orders instead of having to goto that planet and then come back then goto the new one. Sometimes i make mistakes or sometimes you send a fleet out and then a turn later an enemy is knocking a your door and you need your fleet to come back and defend. Having to wait for it to reach its destination then turn it around is annoying.

Agreed completely. However, being able to cancel move requests should operate on a similar system to those found in other games. The exact game I can't recall... but the mechanic was that you could not have a fleet return once the order was issued and they were already enroute to the target planet/system, whatever in the beginning. However, later on, you could get technology that would enable communication with fleets enroute somewhere and could tell them to turn around, modify course, whatever. I think this was MoO2 actually... Either way, agree with addendum.



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Merku

bucky699 wrote:
Agreed intercept is needed, i'd also like to see your standard "fight/retreat" option at the begining of combat. You could make the retreat based on how large enemy fleets are or how much sensor power they have or something. interception again can be based on how good sensors are or how big your fleet is. Also as mentioned i'd like to see a way to cancel move orders instead of having to goto that planet and then come back then goto the new one. Sometimes i make mistakes or sometimes you send a fleet out and then a turn later an enemy is knocking a your door and you need your fleet to come back and defend. Having to wait for it to reach its destination then turn it around is annoying.

It reminds me of the dominions 3 system. More ships should have a better chance to intercept. Small fleets should have a manoeuvring advantage.

I'm just starting, but is it possible to intercept fleets in space and not around a planet? I tried to do this by clicking on the enemy ship (it was close enough for me to get to it in 1 turn) but try as I might I couldn't get it to target that ship.

McNum wrote:
Perhaps there should be an Interdiction module for ships? Enemy fleets that enter the system lose all their remaining move for that turn.



Still won't help you chase someone, but it will allow for chokepoints and setting up a perimeter. Of course, the interdiction ship could just be destroyed to allow free passage through the system again, but that's only fair.

This I like. Forces the enemy to destroy your frontline and not just fly through it.

McNum wrote:
Perhaps there should be an Interdiction module for ships? Enemy fleets that enter the system lose all their remaining move for that turn.



Still won't help you chase someone, but it will allow for chokepoints and setting up a perimeter. Of course, the interdiction ship could just be destroyed to allow free passage through the system again, but that's only fair.

This sounds like a plan. having the enemy bypass your front lines is frustrating!

Perhaps there should be an Interdiction module for ships? Enemy fleets that enter the system lose all their remaining move for that turn.



Still won't help you chase someone, but it will allow for chokepoints and setting up a perimeter. Of course, the interdiction ship could just be destroyed to allow free passage through the system again, but that's only fair.

Agreed intercept is needed, i'd also like to see your standard "fight/retreat" option at the begining of combat. You could make the retreat based on how large enemy fleets are or how much sensor power they have or something. interception again can be based on how good sensors are or how big your fleet is. Also as mentioned i'd like to see a way to cancel move orders instead of having to goto that planet and then come back then goto the new one. Sometimes i make mistakes or sometimes you send a fleet out and then a turn later an enemy is knocking a your door and you need your fleet to come back and defend. Having to wait for it to reach its destination then turn it around is annoying.

The lack of intercepts is a bit annoying as it more or less makes the map with jumplanes pointless. There is no way to make bottlenecks and even ships slipping through are hard to notice until they turn up on the other side of your empire causing havok.



A fair chance of success up to 100% to intercept would be good. If its not 100% it could be buffed by number of ships present (to cover the systemspace), modules, buildings and general technology bonuses. There should be a fine line between bottlenecking and having the ability to sneak past to raid. But raiding is another thing entirely.

You know it is possible to make chance of successful retreat less than 100%. Also it's possible to create a special module, that prevent retreating.

WiZz wrote:
Hmm. I prefer to leave this system as is. I think, it's nearly impossible to intercept fleet, that runs faster than light. More realism into game!

Hm. In this case, this would lead to a "why fight at all"-problem, since even in a space system there would be no need to enter combat. You would have to include a "retreat" or "flee"-button to make sense, then.



On another note, any enemy would just have to build the cheapest ships available, block every system of the enemy, flee each time they try to get him off, come back and repeat. That would shred every empire in the long run.

Not sure that would be such a good idea.

Hmm. I prefer to leave this system as is. I think, it's nearly impossible to intercept fleet, that runs faster than light. More realism into game!

Maybe there could be a special ship ability or technology you can research which allows intercept? I also think fights in the string lanes would be pretty awesome.

Agree, pretty sure it is on the fix list.



The scouts just waltzing around in a system where you have a powerful fleet out there is ... just plain wrong.

Nosferatiel wrote:
Yes, it is really tiresome that enemy scouts and pirates just traverse through your blockade fleet unhindered and you have to chase them for a couple of turns.

Yes, it is really tiresome that enemy scouts and pirates just traverse through your blockade fleet unhindered and you have to chase them for a couple of turns.

I dont think so as of yet but thats something they should definitely look into adding. Also, once you go onto a string lane you have to go to the next planet, you can't turn around. This is very annoying when you're hunting down an enemy fleet. :P