Freighters & Combat

[MatBailie]

I've noticed that when my freighters come under attack, other freighters do not help out.
- 10 freighters near a mine, pirate attacks mine, freighters just watch
- one of the freighters gets attacked, the other freighters just watch

That prompted me to realise I'm not setting the tactics in the Ship Design window. But, what would be 'good' settings?

• I can set them to "Engage When Attacked", but then they still just watch each other getting attacked.

• I can set them to "Engage Nearby", and then they do start attacking the aggressor. Then, however, they abandon their mission and chase the aggressor.

Is there any way to just enable them to fire at any aggressor that comes in to range, without them have to "Engage" (so as to avoid chasing them around and/or dropping their pre-existing mission) or otherwise change their behaviour? (Chasing a pirate can be worthwhile, but when I saw 20 freighters chasing a Hive ship, I cried for their crew.)

(Having a small swarm of missile carrying freighters can easily scare aware a pirate, especially when then supported by, or in support of, a starbase, mine, etc.)

[btd64]

Cargo ships are defensive in nature. They will not attack....GP

[MatBailie]

Cargo ships are defensive in nature. They will not attack....GP

As per my post, they -can- be set to attack. I -have- set them to attack. They -will- attack.

But, only if they're engaged with a target.

So, I -have- had a pirate be chased away by local freighters. But, they abandon their existing mission, and they chase down Hive ships (they flee when attacked by the Hive, but the Hive kills them in a single salvo so I don't want them to engage and chase, I just want them to use their weapons on anything that happens to be in range).

What would make sense, to me, is if near-by freighters would also fire on aggressors without having to "engage" and follow. Essentially, defend each other, rather than watch each other die and only defend (fire their missiles) when they themselves come under fire. Else, what's the point in putting any weapons on a freighter?

[zgrssd]

The goal of all Freighters is to run ASAP when attacked.
"Escape when attacked".

Really, they should not even have weapons. It only missleads the AI into what to do.

[Emperor0Akim]

So other empires can complain about you having armed ships in their systems .. wait that was DW:U

That is the reason why I remove all weapons from freighters as well.
I will give them PD and maybe some Ion Weapons but everything else is outclassed anyway.

The goal of all Freighters is to run ASAP when attacked.
"Escape when attacked".

Really, they should not even have weapons. It only missleads the AI into what to do.

I smell an engine discussion