Is this a new feature?

[HsojVvad]

Ok, I usually manual set my ships for me. Well I started a new game, and I made 6 fighters. I must have missed the message that they were made. I am under attack from pirates, so I sent my 3 ships that came with the game, I upgraded them to have solar panels and then once attacked I told them to attack the 2 pirate ships.

I was shocked that my fighters showed up to the battle as well. I forgot to unautomate them. I checked the ship screen and they are set to attack. What is this? From what I read, people complained about automated ships not attacking pirates.

So is this a new feature that I have missed? Can I leave my fighters and other ships automated and they will attack the enemy? Was this a fluke? I would like to know so I can rest ashured that my fleet if automated will attack the enemy, without me being involved or should I leave them on manual.

Usually I remembe to go into the ship screen and turn them to manual but as I said I forgot this time and had a nice surprise.

And just if anyone asks, my fighters are just escorts with the minimum for it to be built.

[idgar]

My automated ships have always engaged pirate ships when they attack something in my empire. This was in 1.02 as well as now in 1.03 beta.

A bit off-topic maybe but the main problem for me was that un-automated ships did not engage enemies in range unless they were being shot at or manually ordered to. This made manual fleet control against several un-fleeted enemy ships a pain sometimes. If the enemies are in a fleet you can zoom out to galaxy view and order your fleet to attack the enemy fleet by right clicking on the icon. Ordering your fleet to patrol a friendly planet/station or attack/blockade an enemy one will also make them attack nearby ships.

If I understand correctly the "un-automated ships doing nothing while other ships get attacked right next to them"-issue was not addressed in the 1.03 beta.

[JonathanStrange]

Yes, I don't think it is a new feature. No doubt though, given the diverse experiences people have had, I wouldn't be surprised if someone reports just the opposite.

[HsojVvad]

Well my happiness disaperaed now LOL Now they went of to do some escort duty or something so now I don't have them to protect anyone now.

So is there a way where I can automate the ships, but do nothing so they don't waste up fuel and only set them to attack if anything is in the sytem or being attacked? If not maybe this is an option we should have.

[BigWolfChris]

Indeed, I seriously hope this is something that is altered
Concerning patrol ships, I've noticed they will patrol until
a) They run out of fuel
b) An enemy appears and they engage

After either, they will simply just sit there waiting for you to tell them to do something
In this case I would prefer that
a) Once nearly running out of fuel, they will go and refuel automatically at the nearest base/resupply ship that can hand out fuel, and then return to previous patrol
b) After engaging an enemy, quickly scan for further enemies to attack, if no enemies, again return to previous patrol

This will save ALOT of hassle

[HsojVvad]

It's a hit and miss thing, I notice now. First time my fleet without orders attacked. Then second time didn't attack just stoop there till I told them, then the third time, they attacked again. So I guess the AI attacks if it feels like it or not. Hope this is addressed soon. too much micor managing when I am trying to let the AI do things for me.

[murteas]

Or give us the option to patrol a whole system at a time...or can you do this already?

[Resan]

My experience are that you can not trust AI ships to attack Pirates. I had 3 AI controlled ships escorting a miner, when a mining base on a nearby planet got attacked. They didn't react at all, just because it wasn't attacking the ship they where escorting.

The AI should make some kind of judgment call as to when to divert ships that's on a escort mission.