9/9/9 Happy fun time[WON]

[Pireciter]

Oh my goodness, lots of questions there and seem to be variations on a central theme.

Are you moving giant balls of ships? Are you moving different types of ships into different areas strategically or just fleetballs?

The short answer? It depended on the situation.

Is it chasing threat? Neutering a planet? Neutering THAT planet? Fighting off a wave? "Maintenance" cleaning of border worlds? All of those could require something different.  Is there a specific case or setup you would like me to elaborate on?

Also, are you using the different types of fleets to accomplish your goals or are you trying to put them all in the same place when the events happen?

I'm not quite sure I understand this one. Are you asking if I customize my fleets for a specific purpose, or do I just not bother and group everything up wherever there is room? Or is this a "Do I keep everything together in one spot all the time" type of question?


On larger assaults, I did tend to pull a lot of fleets in on a central point such as a critical post or target(Instigators, etc.), but I could be fighting on multiple fronts so things were split around. I also would transfer units between transports even if it meant rebuilding them so I didn't have to pull a fleet off the line to go 6 hops back to reinforce a defense group.

One thing I did do a lot of was use the transports to ferry ships across the gravity well. Why have everything trundle across the entire well to take out those snipers, when they can sit nice and comfortable in the transport for the journey. Suffering a volley or two after unloading before I could attack was much better than eating the half dozen or so crossing the well. I was also heavy on the melee this game...so why fight all those slow pike corvettes, when you can fly right past them to the juicy snipers?

Or...why straight line to that OMD past those 4 guardposts when you can run around outside the range of 3 of them?

[Cyborg]

Well, what I do with my fleets is I just drag around to whatever planet I need to do something on. Hope it works out. I don't really understand how to fight with fleets. I come from AI War 1, where I created and separated out groups of ships that made sense to me for some purpose. I don't feel I could do that with fleets. I kind of need to see a visual or extremely descriptive prose on what the fleet workflow is supposed to look like. I know I can't be doing it right. I feel like I'm fighting it because I'm trying to do what I always used to do.

Yes, the question is not hyper-specific. Maybe there is a video out there that shows it, but I haven't seen it yet. I tried to ask someone else on this forum, and they gave me kind of the same reply as you. Nobody knows what I'm talking about, and I guess that's par for the course for me.

[Pireciter]

Well, actually...

Your comments cleared up your question for me I think. I came from AI War 1 as well, so the fleets were a little confusing for me the first time I saw them. Let me try and explain how I handle them a little better and how I use them.

I've found the fleet mechanic both a blessing and a curse, especially being used to normal control groups from other RTS systems, and/or AI War 1.


With AI War 1:

You could set space docks up with groups and selectively control which ships were built there. They would get added into that group automatically. You could also create custom "Task forces" from the main fleet blob. Give a subset of them a special number to control them and away you go. This was similar to how other RTSs used control groups and was similar implementation.


Now, with AI War 2:

Think of the fleets as the Intra-Galactic warp gates from 1. Your factories build the ships, and they warp right to the fleets. Now, think of the fleets as permanent control groups. You set a fleet to a hotkey, every ship that is built and "warped" to it becomes part of that group. So, in essence you still have the control groups, just every one has a dedicated transport.


Now for an implementation...I'll use a couple examples from the game I just finished.

Take the "Chop Shop" brigade, that single fleet where I put several groups of saws in it. I used it to drop right on top of guard posts to knock them out while the rest of my "blob" did whatever. In AI War 1, it would be several assault transports control grouped up and doing the same thing.

The "Boom Boom" fleet. A fleet with only Siege Frigates. I wanted to control them against specific targets without affecting anything else. So, they got a custom fleet group all to themselves. AI War 1, I'd give them their own control group number and do the same thing.

If I wanted to split up a fleet...say I wanted TWO "Chop Shop" fleets and split the saws between them. I'd build a custom transport and move some saws over. Then I have two hotkeys...one for each group. AI War 1...separate space docks, or highlight Ctrl+# to do the same thing.

The WEAKNESS of the fleets however...is that if you want to create a new control group on the fly from ships in two different fleets during a battle. AI War 1 it's easy, you can't do that in 2.


Does that help clarify things? I can try to work something up from my in-progress saves...maybe through screenshots or something on my thought processes when I setup fleets?


Don't forget you can build those custom fleet transports. You are not stuck with the 4-6 or so you capture across a game.

The only change I wish we could make...or if it's there I don't know where it is: When you select a fleet to move it somewhere, I want an option to NOT have the transport move as well. I may want the transport to stay "Parked" while the units run around

[Cyborg]

Intra-Galactic warp gates, now I get it! We are warping in reinforcements to each fleet. But if you want to exchange ships between fleets, you have to transport them? Is this true even if the fleets are in the same system?

Are you on discord? Maybe I could look at one of your saved games to see your fleets in progress? Or, if you just posted a picture of your fleets tab.

[Pireciter]

But if you want to exchange ships between fleets, you have to transport them? Is this true even if the fleets are in the same system?

You can't "transport" between fleets. A closer example of it would be scrapping and rebuilding in the new fleet.

Back to the Intra-Galactic warp gate comparision...Think of a group of ships at one gate, but you need them at another gate 8 hops away. You don't transport them through all that hostile territory, you instead scrap them, switch which gate is powered, and rebuild.

Edit: Cyborg, check your PMs

Edit edit: Here's a couple screenshots of some fleets right before the home world assault: