3 questions

[greyhoundgames]

Question #1
I find the formation move, j, is unreliable For example a group of scouts refuse to stay in formation. Is there special rules on this?

Question #2
I have 2 spire starships that are marked as in service but cannot be found. I filtered the map for spire starships broad and they show up nowhere(though it has orange numbers on 3 systems where I have scouts despite me only having 2 spire starships possible). Did they get eaten by that ship eater and then somehow never finished being digested?

Question #3
It would be great if the game had an autopause when the attack number goes from 0 to non 0. Also when a new wave is added. This game is such a strategic game but I hate when I loose systems because I just didn't notice the warnings soon enough. This feels like a no brainier but maybe others can educate me.

[Captain Jack]

Well, first thing's first, non-combatants don't like being group with combat forces. You sure you're adding the scouts to the combat group to begin with? Unless the group is hotkeyed, you have to reselect the scouts every time. Not sure if that's your specific problem though.

Try searching for Starships in the galaxy menu. Any planets that have a number over them, go to planet view and use the right hand icons to find their silhouette.

Ah, the eternal issue. Personally I like setting up enough defenses that I only have to get involved when an exo wave or Champion shows up. Still, after a few games you'll learn to keep an eye on the ticking timers. You should still officially request the auto-pause feature on Mantis, I can see that helping a lot of new players.

[Elestan]

I find the formation move, j, is unreliable For example a group of scouts refuse to stay in formation. Is there special rules on this?

If you have some of them in a command group set to always use formation move, then the 'j' modifier is reversed, and tells them not to.  IMHO, this is confusing, and it would be better if holding 'j' always performs a formation move.  Players who really want a non-formation move could still select them in multiple groups.

I have 2 spire starships that are marked as in service but cannot be found. I filtered the map for spire starships broad and they show up nowhere(though it has orange numbers on 3 systems where I have scouts despite me only having 2 spire starships possible). Did they get eaten by that ship eater and then somehow never finished being digested?

They could be on transports, or eaten and undigested.

[greyhoundgames]

Thanks for the answers. I had actually already checked the starships display and could not find them there. The game has gone on a long time so unless there is a ship that stops digesting if you are not present or something, that cannot be it. I have not ever built transports so thats not where they are either.

As far as the formation move, my scouts are not in any groups. I just manually select say tier 1 and tier 2 scouts and say go Here and they spread apart.

I haven't done anything that I know of about always use formation move. Where is that configured?

I have actually logged 196 hours in this game, so an auto pause feature is what is needed. When I am sucked into an intense battle, its easy for me to not notice a random attack. They aren't always warned by waves. There is a sound effect for a new wave starting but i think auto pause would be a no brainer. I mean why not right?

[greyhoundgames]

I found by spire starships. They are not showing up on the system view. I have it set to starships, my mobile ships. i can see all my other ones, but not those 2. Wierd. If i take them to another system, they show up on the count. If i put them back in that system, they do not show up again.

[Elestan]

I found by spire starships. They are not showing up on the system view. I have it set to starships, my mobile ships. i can see all my other ones, but not those 2. Wierd. If i take them to another system, they show up on the count. If i put them back in that system, they do not show up again.

You should post a savegame in a bug report on Mantis.