Ship Fleet

[Teory]

I have been playing for a few days, and I have found it frustrating trying to juggle your fleet, especially if you have more then a few ships on the go.

 

Here's the thing - I get it, I get that its early in development, and things are up and coming. When i'm moving to other sectors and I have 5 ships trailing me it would be nice if I didn't get "Ship2" has lost its path. Does anyone know the statistics behind this? Do ships just follow at their max velocity or do they boost when you boost? What's the distance when they loose your path?

 

I'm thinking that it would be a great addition if you were at your space station you could control all your ships in different sectors when they implement the ship's continuing to work while your not in that sector.

 

However it would be nice to know that ship would continue to follow on my path while I jump and look for better places to mine regardless if I am 2-3-4-5 sectors away. I get it if pirates intercept that's fine.

 

Anyone have any tips around this or how are you controlling your fleets?

[Lord_Greyscale]

The only time I have seen "ship has lost it's path" is when I've jumped beyond that vessel's jump-range, while said ship was still sitting a jump behind.

 

I've never seen them fail to track me in a single sector.

EDIT: they have, however, often stopped moving due to trying to go around a sudden battle. and they usually take forever to reach me if I'm in the opposite corner of a sector.

 

 

They DON'T boost either.  Ever.

 

[MrVorgra]

They don't boost.

 

Their top speed is dependent on their brake capabilities, At least it seems...

 

Design your fleet to have faster jump recharge, and Further jump range then your Lead ship.

 

occasionally to ships may get stuck together, push them apart.

 

Don't use "escort me" in combat, they will shoot anything that shoots you, this includes yourself, your own ships, and even your own fighters.

 

If you find yourself running from fights, then you arn't ready to lead a fleet, Only when you can afford a fleet that will fend off any threat is it really viable to use a fleet, as this allows you to assign to "attack enemies" when entering any sector and then going about your business without fear of loosing them.

 

When I mean a fleet that can fend of any threat I mean something akin to this -

[oreganor]

Here's the thing - I get it, I get that its early in development, and things are up and coming. When i'm moving to other sectors and I have 5 ships trailing me it would be nice if I didn't get "Ship2" has lost its path. Does anyone know the statistics behind this? Do ships just follow at their max velocity or do they boost when you boost? What's the distance when they loose your path?

 

I get that you are trying them to follow you through Jumpgates...

 

...If you are using your Jumpdrive you NEED to be sure every single follower can jump at least as far as you do and all are in Escort or Follow.

 

Regarding Jumpgates... There are all kind of weird things going on with them. My observational advice:

 

- Use ships that are smaller than the Gates or much bigger... If you use ones that are close in size, the AI flying them will decide to "bounce" against them instead of going through.

 

- If you try to make multiple followers to use the Jumpgate, generally, only the 1st one will go through... The others will "loose track". It's funny the fact that if you make them follow each other, like a conga line, all of them go through the JG... Just be sure you separate more than 3k from the gate so each one that enters immediatly moves away from the Gate landing zone.

 

ATM sectors WITHOUT a player in them become inactive until you return, so those ships following you "cease to exist" as active ships some time after you leave a sector...

 

...It would kill any CPU to simmulate with the granularity you see when you are there the entire ammount of created sectors of the typical Avorion Galaxy...

 

...This doesn't means that the Dev can't SIMMULATE what happens there in raw terms, but that requires an independent layer of code that simply isn't present ATM, AFAIK.

 

Returning to Fleets... TBH, atm they are just for screenshots... At least in combat, a human player is FAR FAR FAR more efficient fighting alone. Freighters, miners and salvagers are ok... But you don't need to go around with combat ships.

 

EDIT: Forgot the most important tip... Get used with the RTS command mode (Just scroll back until you get a flat vision of the current system). There you have a new way to command ships:

 

- Select one or drag a box to select multiple.

 

- Single right click will do a context based action based on what you click:

 

a) Empty space. All ships will move there.

 

b) Friendly. All ships will follow that target.

 

c) Enemy. All ships will attack that target.

 

d) Jumpgate. All ships will use that gate to jump to the next sector (WATCHIT because if you jump AFTER them you will collide with ALL OF THEM when you arrive at the next sector. Use your drone to scout the other side to prevent costly repair bills ;) ).

 

If you keep your right button pressed a small menu will appear, instead with "Escort", "Attack" and "Stop" commands that are self explanatory.

 

AFAIK there is no key to directly go to the RTS mode... So it's a bit cumbersome having to use the scrollwheel... But it's worthy to organize your followers insector.

[Lord_Greyscale]

Returning to Fleets... TBH, atm they are just for screenshots... At least in combat, a human player is FAR FAR FAR more efficient fighting alone. Freighters, miners and salvagers are ok... But you don't need to go around with combat ships.

 

You haven't hit the end-boss yet, have you?

 

He summons friends.  Lots of them.

 

Yes, one lone, dedicated human can kill it, but it takes a while or a very specific build. (ramming, FTW)

 

 

Meanwhile, with a fleet, that's multiple targets for the enemies to shoot at (distractions, HO!), meaning you can go around in a weaker ship, picking off the enemies (practically) one at a time, and not get swarmed doing it.

 

Bottom line: Fleets are there to distract the enemies when they're swarming you, so you can keep calm and murder a ****er, without all 12 of his angry friends trying to gang-bang you.

[oreganor]

Bottom line: Fleets are there to distract the enemies when they're swarming you, so you can keep calm and murder a ****er, without all 12 of his angry friends trying to gang-bang you.

 

Just get enough cannons and kill anything at range... By the time you get enough money and resources to assemble a fleet able to deal with a Boss Escorts (or even the typical Big Xsotan spawn when you are next to the core) you better make your own ship bigger and more agile and look for a decent Turret Factory to make your own weapons...

 

...6xBurst Cannons + 6xRailguns + a bunch of Seeker Missiles to kill those anoying 10% hp straglers that stop to let their friends get closer... And you are set.

 

EDIT: If at some point, AI is teached how to strafe and how to use Boosters... Then a fleet may become resource-viable... For now, a player that keeps his distance flying a decent combat ship worth just a fraction of the resources you risk in hands of the suicidal AI, is far more efficient, I'm afraid.

[Lord_Greyscale]

By the time you get enough money and resources to assemble a fleet able to deal with a Boss Escorts

 

Did I say a word about them being able to "deal with" the Boss escorts?  Hell no.

(in point of fact, I explicitly said "distraction")

Literally all my escorts have are some piddly-ass chainguns (Naonite, as a whole lot of them dropped), and enough shields to keep one of the boss escorts busy for about 5 minutes.

 

They literally can't kill one of the boss escorts, even if all of mine shoot the same one.

 

But, as the AI is very much a case of "is player in gun-range? No? turn and shoot this irritant next to us" my fleet massively distracts the enemy, allowing me to use what weapons I have built (I have shitty, shitty luck with turret factories, and with the parts for them) to pick them off one at a time.

[MrVorgra]

Fleets are definitly viable

 

Use them as either distractions or cannon fodder.

Use them to mop up enemies.

Use them to defend a sector your mining in etc, or doing other stuff.

Use them to defend yourself if your going afk and either you dislike auto turrets or don't have any that are worth it.

Use them to look cool and feel bad-ass.

Use them to expend your Hundreds of millions of credits.

Use them to haul massive lucrative trades to make half a billion every trip.

Use them to clear that 150 ship Xsotan sector because bullshit to anyone who thinks they have a ship that can survive that alone.

 

Hell, As I type this, my fleet is mopping up the recent Xsotan spawn, while I have a small salvage fleet emptying a scrapyard and browse reddit.

 

Honestly, they work wonders, kit em out with all your scrap gear, minimal crew, and they do wonders.

[BlueDiscord]

Hell, As I type this, my fleet is mopping up the recent Xsotan spawn, while I have a small salvage fleet emptying a scrapyard and browse reddit.

 

Do I take this as proof that AI counts wrecks, at least scrapyard wrecks, as asteroids?

[Brigadon]

Fleets are definitly viable

Use them to haul massive lucrative trades to make half a billion every trip.

Use them to clear that 150 ship Xsotan sector because bullshit to anyone who thinks they have a ship that can survive that alone.

 

Hell, As I type this, my fleet is mopping up the recent Xsotan spawn, while I have a small salvage fleet emptying a scrapyard and browse reddit.

 

Honestly, they work wonders, kit em out with all your scrap gear, minimal crew, and they do wonders.

 

Hundreds of Millions of credits? The most I have ever had is 40 million, that I blew on trying to get decent salvagers.

 

And that took literally dozens of sold asteroids.

 

I have a ship with 14 1000+ cannons for direct fire, 4 500+ 40% salvagers, and about a dozen lightning guns on auto, made out of avorion... I am lucky if I can keep myself in the black at ten million. (also 5 squads of mining fighters)

 

What am I doing wrong? should I replace the mining fighters with salvage fighters or something?

[Ohm is Futile]

Fleets are definitly viable

Use them to haul massive lucrative trades to make half a billion every trip.

Use them to clear that 150 ship Xsotan sector because bullshit to anyone who thinks they have a ship that can survive that alone.

 

Hell, As I type this, my fleet is mopping up the recent Xsotan spawn, while I have a small salvage fleet emptying a scrapyard and browse reddit.

 

Honestly, they work wonders, kit em out with all your scrap gear, minimal crew, and they do wonders.

 

Hundreds of Millions of credits? The most I have ever had is 40 million, that I blew on trying to get decent salvagers.

 

And that took literally dozens of sold asteroids.

 

I have a ship with 14 1000+ cannons for direct fire, 4 500+ 40% salvagers, and about a dozen lightning guns on auto, made out of avorion... I am lucky if I can keep myself in the black at ten million. (also 5 squads of mining fighters)

 

What am I doing wrong? should I replace the mining fighters with salvage fighters or something?

One word: trading.

[Brigadon]

I have a nice purple trading system installed, but I just cannot seem to 'get it'. If i find something with a lot of volume, I just cannot find a buyer anywhere.

[Ohm is Futile]

Bad luck, a lot of it depends on the galaxy generation. Some people find very profitable trade routes within the same sector, sometimes you need to jump. Sometimes you have to go around a fair bit and still have a dry spell. But the profit potential is astronomical compared to anything else you could do.

[Brigadon]

Thanks

[MrVorgra]

 

Trading, Yes I got lucky, Its easier to sell to XL stations, so add a note on anything of High value and High Demand on the galaxy map, When you go around you'll eventually notice some place selling they same product for pittence in mass quantity, you'll remember you had a potential buyer because you took note of it before.

 

Yes I've fucked up sales, however I to solve this I initially built a ship to store this shit, and left it in a sector with the details of the contents on the galaxy map sector notes, when I check a station for anything ill then go and check the galaxy map.

 

This ship is now obviously mobile and I pilot it while I have my Escort fleet, and the profits simply snowball, problem being I need to spend moneys to keep below the 2 billion mark.

 

In regards to the salvaging fleet, I used a mod, otherwise its a pain in the arse.

 

If you do have a fleet without the mod, set them to "attack" a large salvage and they'll go close in, consequently they use their salvage beams to "attack" it which in turn salvages the ship.

[Guswut]

I have a nice purple trading system installed, but I just cannot seem to 'get it'. If i find something with a lot of volume, I just cannot find a buyer anywhere.

 

The "trade route" tab of your trading system will give you almost all of the data (what the item is (hover over the icon on the left), and both where you can buy it and where you can sell it (sector and station)) you need to find trade routes. The only other data that you need is the quantities, which you'll find by first visiting the sell-to station to see how many they're willing to buy.

 

In the current design of the game, more expensive items (such as all of the accelerators, or fusion reactors (my first trade (which I waited until money started to become a major issue) was selling around eight thousand of those puppies, and it landed me over one hundred and fifty million money units), etc) as you can often find them in decent amount of volume. Low-size high-volume low-value items don't really seem all that worth it, but then again they are also likely a whole lot more stable of a choice (as opposed to spending the majority of your time trying to find that multi-hundred-million-money-unit trade), but I'm not sure.

 

Your purple trading system will likely give you a dozen or more systems that it'll remember, so make a bunch of jumps in nearby space (prioritize systems that have more things, and ideally ones that having trading posts, or factories with high-value things).

 

When you enter a new system, open up the trade menu and first see if any new trade routes have appeared. They (at least for me) are sorted by net profit (actual profit you make from the trade) so new good trades will appear at the top.

 

After that, take a look at the station-selling-to-you tab and see what things sell what. Try and get an idea as to what's expensive (such as all of the accelerators), and what types of places sell them (Accelerator factories, if I recall correctly).

 

Then take a look at the station-buying-from-you tab and see what things stations want to buy. Science labs will often want accelerators (if I recall correctly), so you know if there is a science lab near an accelerator factory you've got a possible trade route.

 

Finally, make sure to double check how many items a station wants to buy from you before you go and stock up on said item. Nothing is worse than filling up your cargo hold with an excellent buy, only to find out the station only wants two. You've then got a load of capital bound in an extremely dangerous place (a physical item as opposed to money units which are immortal and untouchable from what I've seen) and also have the additional headache of being forced to find a new route (or more than one).

 

Good trading!

[spurgurgle]

trading made simple...

 

step 1 find a military outpost

step 2 see what it wants to buy

step 3 find places that sell stuff it wants (even trading posts with there up't pricing)

step 4 sell all the things and never need to make money again

 

seriously it is that easy the military outposts seem to pay a lot more then any other place. as a standard practise i will now carry things they want on me when exploring so if i find new factions i can get them up to a decent rep quickly. sell them some Roids until they are yellow poor relations and then go to a military outpost and sell what ever they want and instant admired pretty much