1.5.0.0 saves: Navigational Directions with nothing at the indicated location

[sbach2o]

The attached save games (in sbach2o-NavigationalMisdirections.zip on your FTP server) show instances of 'Navigational Directions' from a repaired ship leading apparently astray.

After loading these save games, the view should be centered on where those directions are pointing respectively. To see the animated circle marking the location, zoom out a little. Sorry, but this time I haven't marked the places with a hotkey.

It turned out that nothing was at the indicated locations in either case. Note, how both times the pointers do not mark a planet or moon although they are on orbits at least.

In the first save game 'QoirmeaBlindChase.dwg' the spot is pretty problematical, as it is in a system controlled by a rival AI. But this time I have a fleet very close by - just zoom out a little further, to see my 5th fleet, which had visited the very place a short while ago (Navigational Directions from a different event, nothing there then, too) and was just now flying away.

The case of the second save game is clearer. No rival who could snatch up a derilict ship or base is anywhere close.

I have seen this problem in earlier versions of the game, when it was more blatantly apparent that something is amiss. This is intended as a reminder.

[Krob]

This may or may not apply, but the location beacon has always stayed in the same spot where it was first indicated, so that while the planets move in orbit, the beacon ends up trailing behind it. I usually just send my ships to the planet or moon on that orbital path. I've only ever run into empty locations late in the game where it's more than likely that a rival has cleared it out before I got to it. It'd be swell if it were a bug though.


K

[sbach2o]

Yes, you have a few points. So let's give a tiny wee bit of background. I hope it's helpful. The fact that the next planet is in both cases a fair bit away around the respective orbit can actually help speculating about a cause of the problem.

First, I always react immediately to the Navigational Directions messages. So there was no time for orbital movements to carry the planets away for the messages in question.

But in both instances I wasn't for the first time sent on a futile errand in those systems. In one case it was the second time, in the other I've lost count. The exact same spots per system were marked every time. The first instances likely pointed to a Planet or moon respectively - asteroids sometimes also are the targets, but here we are too close to orbits to make asteroids likely candidates. I think neither system has any asteroids even close.

Unfortunately, the Navigational Directions messages do not say directly what to expect, whereas datacores in the debris of pirate bases usually tell whether it is a lost base or derelict ship. Those would be seen immediately when entering the system, often before when there's coverage through long range sensors. But Navigational Directions can also have pirate bases as their object. Or story line objects, but I seem to have used those up in the game in question. All Ancient ruins are also known and explored, btw.

Regarding Navigational Directions I have also seen:
* Storyline objects as target of Navigational Directions messages are sometimes refered to multiple times when you take your time exploring these. Something similar could be the case here. The objects have not been found the first (second, third, ...) time around, so another message referencing the same object is generated.
* The flashing circle marking the targets vanishes the moment a (state-controlled?) ship or fleet of mine enters the system with the marker. This may be the time an object becomes eligible to be referenced again by a Navigational Directions or Pirate Debris message, respectively (speculating here).
* Datacores (in some respects similar to Navigational Directions) from the debris of pirate bases seem to 'like' certain spots, although they create their objects. Once I got three such messages pointing to the same asteroid in a row while my recon fleet was still under way. At the target were two bases and one ship (or the other way around).

Maybe in these problematical cases the object of the messages is something invisible. Becoming invisible has happened to my ships (see the report below), it can affect space monsters. Why not a derelict ship or base? (Or a pirate base? That could be nasty. Better than a Shaktur Deathstar, I guess.)

I think an invisible object is a likely cause. If that is indeed the explanation, there should also be some limited interaction with such invisible objects. In one case (** see note below) I actually sent a ship to every asteroid, planet and moon along the orbit, just in case the object orbits with them. Of course, nothing was found. So there really was nothing there, or simply nearing such objects doesn't trigger the request about investigating them when they're invisible (or I just didn't see I didn't come close enough).

(** note: in one case *this* game - I did this more consistently previous games but by now I know to expect nothing and have given up)

A potential alternative to the invisible object would be a rare case where the object spawns in a completely different system from the one marked.

Or it is a feature, not a bug and some directions are leading nowhere by design. Or the game for some reason fails to create an object at the place after the message pointing there has already been issued. I would prefer it though, if there were something that would clear things up, something like a message in bottle saying 'gotcha!' or the like. And why, oh why would then always the same handful of places spawning 'nothing'? Well, there is another same handful of places spawning derelict ships and bases.

So in short, the options are:
* There is really nothing there. (for whatever reason).
* Something exists but is somewhere else (must be different system).
* Or the something is invisible and, likely but not verifyably, of limited interactivity.

Another point to note: These directions are seemingly designed to point out uninhabited systems. In a previous game it went so far that I got directions to the same spot even after I had established a colony in the system and constant coverage through long range sensors even before that. Not in this game... yet. However, it reeks of an old, unfixed bug.

I've only ever run into empty locations late in the game where it's more than likely that a rival has cleared it out before I got to it.

I've seen this often enough in situations where third party involvement can be ruled out. This is only for one of the save games I am refering to the case, though.

Addendum: I have a encountered a third target for such blind chases in my current game, where I was sent to a place with no planet close, the one where I checked through all asteroids, planets and moons close to the indicated orbit (not really close to a planet's orbit here, so most likely an asteroid). This was the first time I was sent to the system in question, unless I remember wrongly. So here we likely have a case where an AI empire got the original Navigation Directions message with an asteroid still at the indicated spot. It is reasonable to assume that the AIs might get these direction, too, though not certain.

[elliotg]

Thanks for the savegame - that should make tracking this one down much easier. We'll fix this in the next update.