Templates to Fleets

[Arcanestomper (OP)]

So I am currently using mining platforms to mine an asteroid with substantial mineral deposits. Every six months or so a new platform comes out of my factories. This is plenty of time for my tug to grab the platform, move it out to the asteroid, and come back. I actually didn't realize this and built too many tugs.

Anyway the problem is that every few months I have to give the exact same set of orders. Tractor Any Ship from Fleet, Release Tractored Ship at Location, and Refuel at Earth. So I figured this was a job for templates. But it doesn't work. For some reason if I add the first tractor from fleet order to a template, then it registers the fleet at being in the position it was in at that time. And when I use the template in the future and the shipyard fleet has moved along Earth's orbit, then the order fails.

Is there any way around this? It would be even better if I could release the tractored ships into a target fleet instead of the asteroid itself, but I assume that would have the same problem.

[Thrake]

Target the mining fleet when using release tractored ship order and they will be part of your mining fleet. That's the only bit of solution I can offer to your issue.

[mike2R]

I think what is happening is that stations get built into a Space Stations fleet, which is created for it, then auto deleted once it is empty (not my favourite feature...).  So its a new fleet, and the template wants the old one.  Try setting your space stations to build into the standard Shipyard fleet - that seems to hang around, so it should stay a valid order.

[Arcanestomper (OP)]

I think what is happening is that stations get built into a Space Stations fleet, which is created for it, then auto deleted once it is empty (not my favourite feature...).  So its a new fleet, and the template wants the old one.  Try setting your space stations to build into the standard Shipyard fleet - that seems to hang around, so it should stay a valid order.

Well that worked. Which is weird, because I can definitely still see the Space Station fleet before and after I remove ships from it.

[JyeGuru]

I can definitely still see the Space Station fleet before and after I remove ships from it.

If you manually create fleets, or move ships around by dragging in the Naval Org window, then yes - they will stay there.  But if you order a tug to tractor the last ship in a fleet, that fleet will vanish completely (similar to "join" or "absorb" commands).  This is something I have worked around by creating a tiny little station (named "Fleet Rendezvous Marker") that I put wherever I need static fleets for order templates or tugging - shipyards, sorium orbitals, etc.

[Conscript Gary]

I can definitely still see the Space Station fleet before and after I remove ships from it.

If you manually create fleets, or move ships around by dragging in the Naval Org window, then yes - they will stay there.  But if you order a tug to tractor the last ship in a fleet, that fleet will vanish completely (similar to "join" or "absorb" commands).  This is something I have worked around by creating a tiny little station (named "Fleet Rendezvous Marker") that I put wherever I need static fleets for order templates or tugging - shipyards, sorium orbitals, etc.

Wouldn't you run into issues if the tug grabs that station as part of its 'tractor any ship' order?

[JyeGuru]

I can definitely still see the Space Station fleet before and after I remove ships from it.   

If you manually create fleets, or move ships around by dragging in the Naval Org window, then yes - they will stay there.    But if you order a tug to tractor the last ship in a fleet, that fleet will vanish completely (similar to "join" or "absorb" commands).    This is something I have worked around by creating a tiny little station (named "Fleet Rendezvous Marker") that I put wherever I need static fleets for order templates or tugging - shipyards, sorium orbitals, etc. 

Wouldn't you run into issues if the tug grabs that station as part of its 'tractor any ship' order?

Absolutely, but I don't usually have massive fleets with those placeholders, since those aren't at easy risk of vanishing due to the fact they have a bunch of ships in them .  .  .   if I'm using 'tractor any ship' it's likely to move the entire fleet anyway, which is then fine. 

It's certainly not a perfect solution (like adding a "do not autodelete this fleet" checkbox), but it's a decent enough workaround for most of the cases when it would work against me.

[mike2R]

Something that might work would be to build a ship, pointed at the fleet you want to keep, then pause it.  I think fleets with associated shipyard jobs don't get deleted, so that should keep it around.  Would tie up a shipyard permanently, but a base level shipyard isn't a huge asset.

[Father Tim]

It's probably not what you want to hear, but if you put engines on those miners they could fly themselves to the asteroid, with simple 'move to' orders.

[JyeGuru]

I think fleets with associated shipyard jobs don't get deleted, so that should keep it around.

This doesn't work, the fleet is still removed when the last item is tugged out.  And in fact, when the ships were built, I got a "Divide By Zero" error, and they appeared in some random civilian fleet instead.

[Arcanestomper (OP)]

It's probably not what you want to hear, but if you put engines on those miners they could fly themselves to the asteroid, with simple 'move to' orders.

But then I would need an extra shipyard for them. And they wouldn't be as efficient since I'd have to build many more engines and fuel tanks overall.

I mean to be fair I foresee needing a continuous stream of these mining platforms. So it would probably make sense to build a dedicated shipyard at some point. But right now the tugs work great now that I'm using the shipyard fleet. And since I already have tugs I can do things like build a one off station with troop transport bays for moving some geosurvey teams around. Or an enormous fuel tanker for grabbing all the fuel my harvesters have been producing and dropping off at Io.

[Droll]

So I am currently using mining platforms to mine an asteroid with substantial mineral deposits. Every six months or so a new platform comes out of my factories. This is plenty of time for my tug to grab the platform, move it out to the asteroid, and come back. I actually didn't realize this and built too many tugs.

Anyway the problem is that every few months I have to give the exact same set of orders. Tractor Any Ship from Fleet, Release Tractored Ship at Location, and Refuel at Earth. So I figured this was a job for templates. But it doesn't work. For some reason if I add the first tractor from fleet order to a template, then it registers the fleet at being in the position it was in at that time. And when I use the template in the future and the shipyard fleet has moved along Earth's orbit, then the order fails.

Is there any way around this? It would be even better if I could release the tractored ships into a target fleet instead of the asteroid itself, but I assume that would have the same problem.

If the mining platforms are being attached to the tugs fleet you can take advantage of order templates in order to not have to repeat the whole order sequence one by one. The only problem is that you need one template for each unique destination but combined with order cycling this will still help you when you need many platforms on one body.