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Author Topic: Support Assignment  (Read 1741 times)

SafariJohn

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Support Assignment
« on: July 29, 2017, 08:52:41 AM »
From what I’ve seen on the forum there is a desire for an order like the Escort Assignment that doesn’t get small ships killed. I think at least one person has suggested something along these lines, but here’s my take: the Support Assignment.

When Ship A is assigned to support Ship B, A tries to stick close to B. If A is high on flux, it will try to move so B is between it and danger.


So almost exactly like escort, except the assigned ship sacrifices the ship it is supporting instead of itself :P
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Sy

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Re: Support Assignment
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2017, 11:06:17 AM »
yes please.

the commands should also get names that make it clear what they really do. quite a few new players seem to think this is how Escort works, and then get confused when it gets the escorting ship killed. i think "Support" is fine, but my suggestions are "Follow" (for this) and "Protect" (for what Escort currently does).
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SafariJohn

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Re: Support Assignment
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2017, 01:22:56 PM »
Heh, when I first wrote this up I called it "follow". :)
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orost

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Re: Support Assignment
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2017, 01:46:16 PM »
I was thinking the same thing yesterday while struggling to make good use of a Gryphon. Ideally I'd want it to follow a big ship around and lob LRM from behind it. If I order it to escort, it'll put itself in danger and die, because that's not what a Gryphon is for. If I leave it without orders, it'll wander off too far from other ships and accomplish nothing.

I think it would make things a bit clearer too. If I understand it correctly, currently carriers have different escort behavior than normal ships, essentially just like what "Support" would be. But the line between carrier and not carrier can be blurry and I'd like to be able to make the decision myself instead of wondering what "Escort" will do with this ship. Does an Odyssey count as a carrier for this purpose? I'm guessing no, but I'm not sure, and sometimes I would like to force it to - if it's heavily damaged, for example. And then there are some not carriers that would benefit from carrier-like behavior, like the Gryphon.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2017, 01:49:43 PM by orost »
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Megas

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Re: Support Assignment
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2017, 06:59:17 PM »
I cannot tell which carrier is a combat carrier or not, and which carrier gets minor enemy presence or not when a lone enemy frigate appears.  If there is one carrier that can both brawl and send fighters to kill stuff, it is Legion, yet when I see the AI use it, Legion stays in the back with the rest of the carriers.  No, I want Legion (with ballistics and no missiles) at the frontline because it can do that job effectively!

Yes, Gryphon should behave like a carrier; they are launching unmanned fighters/drones (called missiles).

The difference between fighters and missiles are almost cosmetic now.
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AxleMC131

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Re: Support Assignment
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2017, 10:46:49 PM »
Totally agreeing with this. Escort is quite misleading and I almost never use it nowadays. I would be happy with either an AI change to the order (so ships don't put themselves mindlessly in harm's way) or an additional alternative order like "Support" or "Follow" that simply tells the ship to hang near the target and not endanger itself.
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