Survey Points Question

[monkey (OP)]

Well I've taken the plunge and D/Led Aurora and I think I'm making a progress slowly with it. I've built survey ships, conducted research, assigned officers and other tasks etc.
However I'm puzzled by my Survey vessels, the 2 Geo ships are busy going from Asteroid to Asteroid which is fine. But my 2 Grav survey ships are stopped dead in their tracks. 1 made it as far as the Asteroid belt and now has the message.......(SP needed 10) and the other hasn't even left Earth with the message (SP needed 174)
Can anyone explain to me whats going on here and/or what I should be doing?

[ShadoCat]

Grav surveys tape place at grav points (specific spots in space around the star).  It generally takes a little while to survey a grav point so the ship hangs around that spot until it is done and then it moves onto the next spot.

As for the one on Earth, it may be that there just happens to be a grav point on the location Earth occupies.

Now if the ships are hanging around those points and the SP number is not updating, something is wrong.  It may be that they have finished the survey.  Have you fund jump points?  If so, they are awaiting orders.  If not, I don't know what's going on (out of fuel, maybe?)

[boggo2300]

Sounds like theyre trying to do Geological survey's rather than Grav surveys,  Are you using the automated orders on the second page of the task group window? or have you selected targets and sent them to survey?

Matt

[Steve Walmsley]

Well I've taken the plunge and D/Led Aurora and I think I'm making a progress slowly with it. I've built survey ships, conducted research, assigned officers and other tasks etc.
However I'm puzzled by my Survey vessels, the 2 Geo ships are busy going from Asteroid to Asteroid which is fine. But my 2 Grav survey ships are stopped dead in their tracks. 1 made it as far as the Asteroid belt and now has the message.......(SP needed 10) and the other hasn't even left Earth with the message (SP needed 174)
Can anyone explain to me whats going on here and/or what I should be doing?

If you are trying to use the gravitional survey ships for geological surveys they will just sit there forever because they aren't generating any geological survey points. Clear their orders, go to the Special Orders tab of the Fleet window and give them a default order of Survey Nearest Survey Location. They will then survey the system by themselves.

Steve

[monkey (OP)]

Thanks Guys,  that advice worked a treat, it was me giving them the wrong command.
 I've now discovered 6 JP's and transited 4 of them with my geo ships
With almost 40 mineral bearing sites in the Sol sector alone and I guess a raft more of them to discover I now have my work cut out to get on with mining and colonising!!

[Elmo]

Check the quality of those sites carefully.  Many (most?) may not be worth mining.