Batch auto explore - how does it work?

[alocritani]

Reading description I understand that:
I put a dock in a ctrl group and put it in a loop building 2 mk I scouts and the "batch auto explore" feature will send these 2 scouts together with auto-explore behavior.

Instead it seems to wait to have a full cap of scouts and then send it to autoexplore.

Am I misunderstanding the feature?

I opened a mantis report months ago, but just now thought that maybe you guys can help me here.

[zoutzakje]

hmm I'm afraid I know nothing about auto-scouting, but i just wanted to let you know that you can get much better results with scouting manually. I just takes a bit more micro-managing.

[Chthon]

hmm I'm afraid I know nothing about auto-scouting, but i just wanted to let you know that you can get much better results with scouting manually. I just takes a bit more micro-managing.

Agreed.  Auto-explore is really best used with Mk IV scouts and fortresses that need to be moved to a new locale.

The latter may or may not be intended behavior though.  I still like it when I finish a super fortress moments after my front lines moves a few worlds.

[Vacuity]

From the wiki patch notes for release 6.047.

Added new per-control-group toggle to the CTRLS window: Batch Auto-Explore
The idea here is to automatically build and send batches of scouts to get initial scout intel on planets you've never seen before. This is not at all optimal (you'll lose a _lot_ of scouts, and they won't generally concentrate their paths in an optimal fashion) but it can be great for picking up intel on a bunch of planets that are accessible with minimal micro.
Suggested usage:
1) Pick a control group you're not using, and turn this toggle on for it.
2) Build a separate Space Dock, and assign it to that control group.
3) Set the space dock to loop build, and pause it.
4) At that space dock, queue up the number and type of scouts you want in a batch (presumably all you can build, but if you've got some scouts stationed permanently elsewhere they won't be available for this so set the number accordingly).
5) Make sure no other space docks are building those types of scouts.
6) When you're ready to start building the scout batches, unpause the space dock. Having engineers on hand to speed-build the scouts is helpful but not required.
And that's basically it. The dock will build scouts until it has a full batch (according to the numbers you set) and then when the last scout is built it will automatically set the "auto explore" behavior on those scouts. As the scouts die the dock will build more and once it has a full batch again it will set those to auto-explore too. And so on.
This can actually cost a fair bit of metal and crystal, so once your scouts have stopped making progress you'll want to pause that dock again.

[Vinraith]

I'm not one to diss new options or anything, but to me that sounds like more trouble than just scouting properly.

[Chthon]

I'm not one to diss new options or anything, but to me that sounds like more trouble than just scouting properly.

It explains why I never learned how to do it.

[alocritani]

From the wiki patch notes for release 6.047.

Added new per-control-group toggle to the CTRLS window: Batch Auto-Explore
The idea here is to automatically build and send batches of scouts to get initial scout intel on planets you've never seen before. This is not at all optimal (you'll lose a _lot_ of scouts, and they won't generally concentrate their paths in an optimal fashion) but it can be great for picking up intel on a bunch of planets that are accessible with minimal micro.
Suggested usage:
1) Pick a control group you're not using, and turn this toggle on for it.
2) Build a separate Space Dock, and assign it to that control group.
3) Set the space dock to loop build, and pause it.
4) At that space dock, queue up the number and type of scouts you want in a batch (presumably all you can build, but if you've got some scouts stationed permanently elsewhere they won't be available for this so set the number accordingly).
5) Make sure no other space docks are building those types of scouts.
6) When you're ready to start building the scout batches, unpause the space dock. Having engineers on hand to speed-build the scouts is helpful but not required.
And that's basically it. The dock will build scouts until it has a full batch (according to the numbers you set) and then when the last scout is built it will automatically set the "auto explore" behavior on those scouts. As the scouts die the dock will build more and once it has a full batch again it will set those to auto-explore too. And so on.
This can actually cost a fair bit of metal and crystal, so once your scouts have stopped making progress you'll want to pause that dock again.

I read this, but what I understand is that if I add 2 MKI scouts to dock queue, it will build 2 scouts and then send them. Then another loop starts and other 2 scouts are created and sent and so on. But in fact it seems it continue to build up to CAP scout and then send all of them.

Yes, I know manual scouting is a better choice, but I'd like to understand this feature.

[Chthon]

From the wiki patch notes for release 6.047.

Added new per-control-group toggle to the CTRLS window: Batch Auto-Explore
The idea here is to automatically build and send batches of scouts to get initial scout intel on planets you've never seen before. This is not at all optimal (you'll lose a _lot_ of scouts, and they won't generally concentrate their paths in an optimal fashion) but it can be great for picking up intel on a bunch of planets that are accessible with minimal micro.
Suggested usage:
1) Pick a control group you're not using, and turn this toggle on for it.
2) Build a separate Space Dock, and assign it to that control group.
3) Set the space dock to loop build, and pause it.
4) At that space dock, queue up the number and type of scouts you want in a batch (presumably all you can build, but if you've got some scouts stationed permanently elsewhere they won't be available for this so set the number accordingly).
5) Make sure no other space docks are building those types of scouts.
6) When you're ready to start building the scout batches, unpause the space dock. Having engineers on hand to speed-build the scouts is helpful but not required.
And that's basically it. The dock will build scouts until it has a full batch (according to the numbers you set) and then when the last scout is built it will automatically set the "auto explore" behavior on those scouts. As the scouts die the dock will build more and once it has a full batch again it will set those to auto-explore too. And so on.
This can actually cost a fair bit of metal and crystal, so once your scouts have stopped making progress you'll want to pause that dock again.

I read this, but what I understand is that if I add 2 MKI scouts to dock queue, it will build 2 scouts and then send them. Then another loop starts and other 2 scouts are created and sent and so on. But in fact it seems it continue to build up to CAP scout and then send all of them.

Yes, I know manual scouting is a better choice, but I'd like to understand this feature.

Personally I'd just like a more intelligent rework of this system.  Perhaps to where if a system has never been scouted and bordered by a world with no tachyon guardians, it sends one of the cheapest scouts.  Then it concentrates on getting scouts into systems which you marked for picketing.  Perhaps a new priority mark (PS for Priority Scout), or make it interact with codes in the notes for a system.  This way it would automatically stop once it has achieved what you asked for, and restart once you assign new priority targets.

[Vacuity]

I read this, but what I understand is that if I add 2 MKI scouts to dock queue, it will build 2 scouts and then send them. Then another loop starts and other 2 scouts are created and sent and so on. But in fact it seems it continue to build up to CAP scout and then send all of them.

You're talking about this line?

The dock will build scouts until it has a full batch (according to the numbers you set) and then when the last scout is built it will automatically set the "auto explore" behavior on those scouts.

I'd agree with your interpretation, but as I've never tried it myself, I have no idea whether that's how it really works or not.  I read another explanation of it some time back and the description given matched what you're describing in your game, so I guess it might have been changed in a subsequent patch?

[alocritani]

I'm referring to this line

The dock will build scouts until it has a full batch (according to the numbers you set) and then when the last scout is built it will automatically set the "auto explore" behavior on those scouts