Ok the ships seem to be firing normally, actually. Autofire isn't really for you. I use autofire when I'm doing things like moving my point defense ships over some hostile freighters. They just do it automatically.
To properly assign firecontrols, pick the first firecontrol, highlight the guns you want, and hit assign.
Then, make sure you set the point defense rules for that fire control, assign the ECCM if there is any, and finally make sure you load it with missiles. I believe the protocol is to highlight the missile launchers and the missile, then hit that assign button.
Now that i think about it, its a really complicated window. I need to hire a really hot blond to work my control panels while I shout commands.
I'd pay good money for that game.
This is currently what my Gun/Missile assignment looks like, if copied from the Combat Overview Screen. (Below is my Battleship's selection).
Ship Beam Fire Control #1: No Target Assignment
Quad 30cm C10 X-Ray Laser Turret #1 (Ready To Fire)
Ship Beam Fire Control #2: No Target Assignment
Quad 30cm C10 X-Ray Laser Turret #2 (Ready To Fire)
Ship Beam PD Fire Control #1 (Point Blank PD Mode 2): No Target Assignment
Twin 10cm C10 X-Ray Laser Turret #1 (Ready To Fire)
Ship Beam PD Fire Control #2 (Point Blank PD Mode 2): No Target Assignment
Twin 10cm C10 X-Ray Laser Turret #2 (Ready To Fire)
Ship Missile Fire Control #1: No Target Assignment
ECCM-4 #1
Long Range Missile Launcher #1 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #2 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #3 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #4 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #5 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #6 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #7 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #8 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #9 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #10 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Ship Missile Fire Control #2: No Target Assignment
ECCM-4 #2
Long Range Missile Launcher #11 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #12 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #13 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #14 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #15 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #16 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #17 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #18 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #19 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Long Range Missile Launcher #20 - Long Range Anti Ship Missile (Ready To Fire)
Ship Point Defence Missile Fire Control #1 (2v1 PD Mode 1000): No Target Assignment
Small PD Missile Launcher #1 - Small PD Missile (Ready To Fire)
Large PD Missile Launcher #1 - Large PD Missile (Ready To Fire)
Ship Point Defence Missile Fire Control #2 (2v1 PD Mode 1000): No Target Assignment
Small PD Missile Launcher #2 - Small PD Missile (Ready To Fire)
Large PD Missile Launcher #2 - Large PD Missile (Ready To Fire)
Active Sensors On
Some of your problems sound like you are using the ships screen to control your settings and not the combat overview. The ship screen doesn't work for the most part. If you use the combat screen you can set up one ship of a type and then use the shortcut options to copy your missile and fire control assignments to all the other ships. Once everyone is set you can select automated fire if you don't want to micromanage the battle.
I'm not using the ship screen(that is the one in the ship list, or do you mean the individual ship screen inside the combat assignment window?). Though saying that, when I did use the ship screen and manually told my missile cruiser to fire after manually selecting the damned target, etc it actually complied .
also note the multi-targets button. it will assign a different target, below the current target in the list, for the same firecontrol in other ships of the same class in the fleet. So it's a great way to split your salvos in a pinch.
I haven't tried to use the multi-target just yet. . . but that means I'll need to manually select the primary targets always, before sharing right? I'll try it in a moment.
There are buttons to copy the assignments of fire controls and weapons to all ships of the same type, and a button to have the entire fleet hold/open fire.
I use the copy assignment thing for weps/fc, as well as clicking the open fire/autofire/cease fire every 10 seconds (where I've lost a ship by this point).
Some Pictures:(EDIT: The forum seems to be refusing my links =/)
And yes, I have tried selecting/deselecting both the Iserlohn Fleet, and all of it's sub groups/individual ships)
My main fleet and my fleet support ships are under that
swarm pileup. My Experimental missile cruiser and AWACS are to the south west.
The combat assignment screen if looked at from me clicking on my Flagship (the Victory class called Hyperion)
Things to do/try:
Multiple Targets thing. - Before I try, does this mean I have to manually select a lot of targets first, and then let it share to other ships so they also target or? I don't mind if I have to, but I would imagine my ship Captain's are smart enough to bloody fire without fleet hq telling them what to do -. -.
Furthermore, does anyone know how I can force a task group to join a different task force? currently no matter what I do, the fleets all link back to the default Fleet HQ that we get at the start.