Can't use my drone!

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

I feel rather dumb, I did not manage to use the drones I embarked on my long range scout... Luckily for me the planet I targeted was devoid of alien!

Situation:
Scout with Fire control 60m kms range, size 12 launcher, 12 drones

Drones: range 190 m kms, active sensor on board, range 90 m kms.

I give to my scout the order 'fire at planet xx'. Drone is associated to fire control.

My expectation was that the drone would be fire at the max range of the fire control, so 60 m kms. But nay, it was fired over the planet!!

So how to use then, really? That would really help me, as THEY ARE aliens in this system, I know that! (4 freighters lost so far!).

[Erik L]

Try firing the drone at a way point?

[welchbloke]

Try firing the drone at a way point?

Remember to do this using the F8 screen (you can target WPs in this screen).  That way the drone will fire when you want it to.  IIRC, the 'fire at planet x' will always fire at range zero.  I only use this command for laying minefields and sensors.

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

Indeed, it works with fire at waypoint! thanks. Now another slightly related question, is the AI cheating? When I create an empty colony on a planet, 2 months latter 60 Alien FAC comes to orbit it. If I remove the empty colony, they move away... How can they know I created a 0 thermal signature colony in the first place?

[Jacob/Lee]

I've found that adding alien races usually adds an army alongside it. I added an alien race to Earth for the lulz one time and they started with a bunch of craft as soon as they touched down.

[sloanjh]

Indeed, it works with fire at waypoint! thanks. Now another slightly related question, is the AI cheating? When I create an empty colony on a planet, 2 months latter 60 Alien FAC comes to orbit it. If I remove the empty colony, they move away... How can they know I created a 0 thermal signature colony in the first place?

I'm not aware of the AI cheating this way, and don't think it does.  It does cheat on fuel - AI ships never run out or need to refuel.

John

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

ok, good enough. I would hate to know that AI don't consider FOW.

[welchbloke]

ok, good enough. I would hate to know that AI don't consider FOW.

Way back when he started developing Aurora one of Steve's stated aims was to ensure that the AI didn't cheat.  He seems to have stayed true to that mantra in the things that matter.  Even Precursors have to rearm 

[Peter Rhodan]

the 60 FAC will almost certainly have a mother ship somewhere.........

[Brian Neumann]

The npr's do cheat a little bit.  They never run out of fuel and they do not worry about maintenance failures.  They do have enough maintenance parts on large ships for damage control/repair so it is not all bad news.  As far as I know these are the only two places where npr's are given any advantage, and this is mostly for programing purposes not to try and make them more dangerous.

Brian

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

What is the max range I can fire a drone? Its fuel range or the targeting control?

While I'm at targeting control, how many missiles launchers can one control? 5?

[Brian Neumann]

What is the max range I can fire a drone? Its fuel range or the targeting control?

While I'm at targeting control, how many missiles launchers can one control? 5?

You can fire any missile/drone at a waypoint even if you are totaly out of range.  When they run out of fuel they just self destruct.  This can actually be usefull on a sensor drone as you fire it on a bearing and it will let you see anything along that line based on its sensors.

Your missile fire control can handle as many launchers as you want to have it control.  There is a practical limit where more launchers gets confusing, but that is mostly dependant on your abilities.  There is also a benifit to having smaller size salvo's as they have a better chance of getting through point defense.  1 fire control can only engage a single salvo at a time.  If your 20 missiles are in one salvo then they will just target that salvo until it is destroyed.  If instead you have 10, 2 missile salvos then each fire control will shoot at only 2 missiles.  If that fire control gets 5 hits then 3 of them are wasted, also if they only have 7 fire control to use then 3 salvos may not even be fired on.  This does work better against beam ships as missile point defense can shoot at a different salvo each time it fires.  The principle does hold up though and can make a big difference on how many missiles get through to your enemy.

Brian

[Nibelung44 (OP)]

Thanks much Brian!

I have 72 PT Boat (FAC) in a TG... How can I easily handle them (assigning missiles to controls, targeting by group of 12 a given enemy), etc.?

[Brian Neumann]

There is a decent tutorial on the wiki for combat that will help you.  The simple way to do this is to split the task force into multiple squadrons of 12 facs (play with the fleet organization tab of F12 screen)  When you get into combat go to the first ship in the fleet and set it up, without setting a target (F8) and then use the copy command to all ships of the same class in your empire.  This will basically become your default set of missiles, launchers, fire-control and eccm for this class of ship.  You can then set the target for one ship and use the copy to task force command to have all of the units in the task force target that single target.  If you have broken your fleet down into those squadrons then it isn't to tough to do.  Good luck with a fight.  Save before you start so you can learn from your mistakes without having to start all over again.

Brian

[sloanjh]

There is a decent tutorial on the wiki for combat that will help you.  The simple way to do this is to split the task force into multiple squadrons of 12 facs (play with the fleet organization tab of F12 screen)  When you get into combat go to the first ship in the fleet and set it up, without setting a target (F8) and then use the copy command to all ships of the same class in your empire.  This will basically become your default set of missiles, launchers, fire-control and eccm for this class of ship.  You can then set the target for one ship and use the copy to task force command to have all of the units in the task force target that single target.  If you have broken your fleet down into those squadrons then it isn't to tough to do.  Good luck with a fight.  Save before you start so you can learn from your mistakes without having to start all over again.

One thing to be careful of - unless they have 100% fleet training, you'll probably want to merge them back into a single TG before firing.  This is because you'll want to set them to use synchronous fire, so they launch as one big salvo of missiles, rather than dribbling out over time (which makes it easier on the bad guy's anti-missile fire).

John