Matrix Games Forums

Why does a construction ship and colony ship have to go all the way back to it's home base before it will do what I want it to do 10 inches from where it is right then?

Now, this happens when a constructor ship is in the same system as another planet I want it to build a mine on. It won't go directly from the mine it is working on when finished it goes all the way back to home base, turns around and then comes back to do the job it could have done 30 minutes ago.

WHY? That's the stupidest thing I've seen in the game so far. Fleets will do it also from time to time. I'll even turn off their auto and they will still go ahead and fulfill the last auto set before they will go where I want them to go.

This kind of bull crap has cost me planets and gas stations many times cause these ships gotta go the long way around to do what I want them to do in the first place.

Same thing with gasing up sometimes. A fleet or ship will bypass a really close gas station to go 50 miles out of the way to get gas. I'd pull my hair out if I had any. [:'(]

I've never had a colony ship swing back to a colony ever, construction ships do in-between jobs to collect the materials they need for the next job.

I suspect they need to refuel, and/or to pick up raw materials for construction ships.

Fuel at mining stations can be reserved for other use, so fleets will sometimes have to go to where they can get un-reserved fuel to fill up with even if further away.

Constructors dump all their leftover cargo into the base they just built. That's why they need to go back and get more raw materials before starting each new job.

I've never had this problem with colony ships.

ORIGINAL: RiftHick

I've never had a colony ship swing back to a colony ever, construction ships do in-between jobs to collect the materials they need for the next job.

Stop for gas along the way and you will. Press the gas up button, it will go get gas and then press on the planet it was headed to. It will go all the way back to home base and turn around. I ain't seeing things.[:D]

My colony ships don't linger and therefore never need refueling, they exist for the shortest amount of time they have to. When made they always have exactly what they need in order to quickly and safely reach their intended destination, the longer they exist the more you spend on them via maintenance and it's simply not needed for a unit which is meant to exist for a short amount of time.

Is there any way to make your ships have priority over existing reservations, specifically for the acquisition of fuel?

No, reserved resources are not available.

In the case of fuel, ships will reserve fuel for their max fuel capacity, so they may actually pick up significantly less fuel than reserved. The "extra" fuel is of course available for everyone else when the refueling ship is done. And a destroyed ships may hopefully clear its reservations.