Fleet vs Ship automation conflicts

[Teflon007]

I have had non-stop issues with fleets not responding to threats, refueling, and refit requests. What I figured out is ALL ships in the fleet have to be set to automated for fleet commands to take. If an individual ship is set to manual, the fleet will often become unresponsive. If you want to refit an individual ship, it needs to leave the fleet, then the ship command can be issued. I hope this helps someone as its not spelled out in the Galactipedia or the manual.

[MichaelJ007]

EDIT: To be clear, are you referring to automated fleets not behaving as you expect? Or Manual fleets?


MANUAL FLEETS
My experience with MANUAL fleets is that the only ships that generally dont pay attention to fleet orders are fuel tankers.

There are some edge cases that can cause problems. Your ships will always try to rubberband to wherever the flagship is. If the flagship is stuck, or in combat, or retrofitting, it can be a problem.

Ships that are in combat sometimes try to finish the combat before they go anywhere. If you are using 'Prepare and Attack' rather than 'Attack' or 'Move' then your fleets also may attempt to refuel or repair before doing anything.

Also, check your automation settings for fleets in your Empire Policies tab. Make sure that all automation policies for manual fleets are off unless you understand exactly what they will do.


AUTOMATED FLEETS
Generally, my automated fleets behave exactly as I expect them to (once you get used to the nuances of the AI).

However, ALL my fleets are built from fleet templates. If I upgrade a design, I update the template, and the automation retrofits the fleet to match the template. If I dont want fleets to retrofit (during wars for e.g.) I dont update the template till after the war. You can upgrade the design no problem, and single automated ships will retrofit, but your fleets based on templates will not retrofit until the template is updated.

Doing it this way, you can have a Line Fleet, a Defense Fleet, a Bombard Fleet, an Invasion fleet, all using different ship designs, and the templates will keep them organized no problem.


TIP: If you build a fleet from scratch using a template, ships are built at random spaceports, then have to assemble, often without fuel. This can be frustratingly long if you aren't prepared for it or expecting it.
Instead, build all the ships you need using the Construction Build list. Let them finish building and refuel, and leave them automated. Then ASSEMBLE FLEET using the templates, and it will auto populate the fleet for you. This can be faster as the ships are more likely to be fuelled up.

[maggiecow]

Make sure that all automation policies for manual fleets are off

It's sad this sentence makes sense.

AUTOMATED FLEETS
Generally, my automated fleets behave exactly as I expect them to (once you get used to the nuances of the AI).

Nuance is a funny way to spell bug.

[MichaelJ007]

Nuance is a funny way to spell bug.

I kinda figured eventually that he probably manually retrofitted a ship (or gave it an individual order) and forgot to set it back to auto.

Something that I've never needed to do. You're right. It also shouldn't be a roadblock to subsequent fleet behavior.

[Radamanthe]

Note that these tactical settings are brillantly described in "Scott's Guide to DW2" (page 41 & 42 in v2.7).

EDIT: Scott's Guide v2.7 tactical settings are now invalidated by beta update 1.4.0.1. Likely Scott will update his guide soon...

[100thMonkey]

I have encountered many problems with fleets, including manual fleets. I've just posted a bug report about a recurring problem that happens almost every time I order a fleet to capture a mining station. Extremely annoying!

If anyone's interested:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=383871

[Erik Rutins]

Please try the new 1.0.4.1 public beta update (and read the change notes in full for explanations of how these settings should work) and let us know if it helps:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 1&t=383383