Matrix Games Forums

So I'm liking the game so far but not really happy with the fleet coordination. I'm trying to find a system of fleets that works well for defending my colony systems and surrounding areas.

For example, in my last game I had 3 colonies. So I setup 6 fleets, a defense fleet (destroyers/cruisers) and a strike fleet (escorts/frigates) for each system. I set the names of the fleets to represent their jobs and system and set their home system to the colony I was assigning them. I set the defense fleets range to system and stance to attack units in system and set them on automate. Similarly, I set the strike fleets range to sector and stance to attack nearby targets and set them on automate.

I thought that my system would work nicely, but as soon as I went to war I had defense fleets sending themselves on offensive missions to attack my enemies logistical type systems. I thought that even though they were on automate, they would not leave their current system. I took them off automate and left them in their home systems, but this didn't feel right. Similarly, the strike fleets, who are not designed to attack enemy systems, were also going on offensive missions. This was more expected, but still not what I intended.

I need a sort of defensive stance, that tells my fleets not to leave a system but to still automate, or for a fleet to not leave my empires systems but still go out and defend against attacks on my bases in surrounding systems.

Does anyone know of anything I can do to get more of the result I am looking for? I'm not happy with leaving my fleets on auto, because then I feel like I'm simply watching the action instead of overseeing it. I'm also not happy with having to send every fleet to go and defend every system that comes under attack. I really would like to find a balance where I setup a sort of defensive grid.

Thanks,

BoostHungry

I think you want to use fleet postures. Gelatinous Cube did a nice how to that you can find here.
The quick answer is that you can set a range for how far your ships will go, and it defaults to anywhere. That's probably why your fleets are going off to do their own thing.