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Author Topic: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu  (Read 3142 times)

kazi

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A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« on: December 02, 2012, 12:34:39 AM »

Exactly what it sounds like.

Mainly I'm tired of when my captured ships (with no weapons or health) autodeploy at the beginning of a battle and I have to waste a command point telling them to insta-retreat. Some option that allows the player to control which ships autodeploy in smaller battles would be super helpful.
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StahnAileron

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2012, 02:35:44 AM »

There's actually a workaround for that: carry only enough crew to man your main combat ships and leave the rest unmanned. Unmanned ships never deploy. You also get the side benefit of using up less supply. I tend to keep my manning at or just above skeleton/minimum crew requirements. If I carry excess, it only just enough to help cover any losses I may take in a fight, but not enough to crew most ships if I capture any.

Looking forward into the future though, a "Keep Unmanned" option might be useful. (Same effect.)
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Hopelessnoob

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2012, 11:22:54 AM »

The problem with that StahnAileron is you're just one bad engagement away from having your flagship undeployable.
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frag971

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2012, 11:35:10 AM »

The problem with that StahnAileron is you're just one bad engagement away from having your flagship undeployable.
For a hopeless noob like you - yes!
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Let's say I'm captaining the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle here.

Hopelessnoob

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2012, 11:39:15 AM »

Sometimes things happen like a wing of daggers gets through your point defenses and the 2nd torpedo causes and overload with the 3rd impacting. That is going to get through any armor and cause crew deaths. If you've got the builds that reduce crew deaths it hurts less but people still die if you carry only the bare minimum of crew people dying like is going to hurt.
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erynr73

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2012, 11:53:15 AM »

I agree, I think every battle should start with the deployment screen not just large scale ones with capture pts.  Shouldn't have to tell my cargo ship to retreat on every single battle, plus it has a burn drive which the AI always activates BEFORE turning around to retreat.  Not sure why the AI thinks it's a great ideal to charge toward the enemy with no weapons >.<
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StahnAileron

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2012, 05:20:48 PM »

The problem with that StahnAileron is you're just one bad engagement away from having your flagship undeployable.

That's only if I do that with ONE ship. I don't do that with one ship. I only do that when I have MULTIPLE ships. I always have enough crew to man my personal flagship. And my flagship is ALWAYS the first on on the fleet list, so it get crewing priority. The ships I don't want manned I always place at the end of my fleet list. My assistant ships would go in the middle, so they get crewed as second after my flagship. If I lose crew, they are the first to go unmanned, not my flagship.

Once I DO start overmanning my fleet, it usually means I'm using enough FP to do large scale engagements and can select my deployments. Still, I generally stick to about only 50-100 crew over skeleton requirements when I'm using larger vessels. With a fleet of smaller vessels (I tend to use Tri-Tach High-Tech ships), I only keep 5-10 over. Tri-Tach frigates have very minimal crewing requirements.
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Arrath

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Re: A "do not deploy" option in the fleet menu
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2012, 01:49:47 AM »

There's actually a workaround for that: carry only enough crew to man your main combat ships and leave the rest unmanned. Unmanned ships never deploy. You also get the side benefit of using up less supply. I tend to keep my manning at or just above skeleton/minimum crew requirements. If I carry excess, it only just enough to help cover any losses I may take in a fight, but not enough to crew most ships if I capture any.

Looking forward into the future though, a "Keep Unmanned" option might be useful. (Same effect.)

That is a gamey solution, though. I'd rather see a more 'in universe' way to try to keep ships out of battles. Maybe with ways to force them into battle, like ambushes or something. So if the fight goes south suddenly that tanker you had sitting safely out is in some serious trouble.
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