Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Thaago on June 07, 2019, 10:11:07 AM
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I tend to bump mine up to 'aggressive' to encourage the unled ships a bit, and I think in general it helps. I'm considering doing a run where I run a true SO fleet and bump everyone to reckless, though its hard to find reckless officers to match.
How about you?
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I default to Steady because that what it has been before fleet doctrine was available.
If there was a way to put Aggressive on some warships, Steady on others, Cautious on carriers, and Timid on missileships - without Officers - then I would consider different. Otherwise, I try to build ships that work with Steady. I tend to have a balance of warships and carriers, and what would work for warships may not work for carriers.
Full times when I really need aggression, I toggle Full Assault.
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A question I have is what is the difference between Aggressive and Reckless. I tried both on Conquest with Storm Needlers, and it seemed to behave identically.
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When I was doing testing for the tourney, I found the primary difference to be that aggressive would happily close to brawling range on single targets it thinks it can take, but is hesitant to enter into regions that are too dangerous. Reckless ignores enemy threats and will just charge in.
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I take steady because the AI plays well with it across the board. If I could stick aggressive only on phase ships and armor tanks, I would.
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Yeah it seems like Reckless just make them not give a single f*** about how dangerous their assignment is. Aggressive makes them want to go in guns blazing, but it wont be suicidal. In my experience, anyway.
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I find an aggressive doctrine works best when your ships are one to one superior to the enemy's ships. When you've got optimized custom loadouts and fleet boosting skills, and your unofficered ships can win just about any 1v1 with an unofficered ship in the same size class and retreat from anything they can't kill, aggressive gives them the confidence to push their advantage. If you're running a zombie fleet or you're earlygame and don't have nice things, steady is better so your terrible ships don't get themselves into too much trouble.
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errr... how do you set your fleet doctrine?
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It's in the colony fleet customization tab; I don't remember exactly what it's called, but IIRC you get to it by pressing D then 4. The fleet aggressiveness slider is at the bottom left, below all the other sliders.
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Related: What behavior do you use for officers?
So far, on my character with no Officer Management (so far), I use one Cautious for a carrier (usually Astral) and three Steady. I might change one of Steadies to Aggressive if I want him on Conquest or other ship that needs it to use short-ranged loadouts well.
If I get Officer Management 1, I probably get a second Cautious for another carrier and another Steady for general use (unless I need that extra for one Aggressive).
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For my fleet: aggressive if I run an elite fleet, steady most of the time, cautious if I have destroyers and/or frigates in my endgame fleet for some reason. In case of officers, it depends on my ships, I tend to go with whatever personality benefits them the most, which typically means aggressive on warships and steady/cautious on carriers; timid is fine for support ships, but I will not spend an officer on such unimportant ships (I just get a mod that lets me change behaviour on a per ship basis).
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I greatly prefer having aggressive officers across the board. Officer skills make ships much better, and I want them to take advantage of that. 90% of the time an officered ship will be able to win the engagements it wants to get into, and the other 10% of the time is what avoid orders are for.
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I go for aggressive and reckless officers whenever I can find them, but I'll purchase steady as well because sometimes officers are rare. I might consider a cautious officer for a carrier, but honestly I'd prefer steady for non-combat carriers and agressive for combat. Or reckless for an SO Mora, but thats mainly a silly build rather than practical.
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I use a steady fleet doctrine and a mix of officers. I find that being overly aggressive limits your ability to fight fleets that are more powerful that your own. If you can't overwhelm the enemy, then all you achieve by being very aggressive is putting yourself in bad positions. A more cautious AI lets you fight significantly bigger fleets without losing much in my experience. I prefer to use eliminate orders and fighter strikes to get targeted aggression where I deem it necessary rather than letting the AI choose to take big risks. I do wish there was a slightly less suicidal version of eliminate, but I can usually make do by choosing a moment when the enemy has overextended and canceling the order if the enemy retreats.
For officers I have mostly steady, but I also use both aggressive and steady officers. I like aggressive officers in slow tanky ships like dominators, and I prefer cautious officers in carriers. I usually try to choose and outfit the ship to match the officer.
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I wish there were a less suicidal version of reckless for the same reason: Reckless will engage the enemy, but can get itself killed, and aggressive is a shade too cautious for most of my taste.
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Right now, I only want Aggressive officer if I want to sic a Conquest with Storm Needlers at the enemy. (There may be other good loadouts that require Aggressive AI to use properly.) Otherwise, I prefer Steady behavior for most combats, especially when the enemy has the force advantage. If I wanted full blown carrier fleet like that Drover fleet with Sparks, I probably want Cautious. If I wanted to build a joke pilum fleet full of Vigilance and Falcon (P)s, I would use Timid if that were possible.
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I prefer Steady behavior for most combats
Same.
If I wanted to build a joke pilum fleet full of Vigilance and Falcon (P)s, I would use Timid if that were possible.
It is possible. It works. And it is an edifying experience.
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@ Serenitis: By possible, I meant via fleet doctrine or anything that does not require Officer Management 3 and ten Timid captains dedicated to the job. Most cowardly behavior allowed by fleet doctrine is Cautious. Speaking of Officer Management, that is one of the first skills on the chopping block with a skill point crunch. I might get one if I can squeeze a single point, but no more.
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Steady and almost nothing else, including any officers I hire or pick up. In theory Cautious officers would be the perfect choice for ships with ATC (Paragon, Arachne from SWP), but the AI fails utterly at handling ships with bad flux dissipation, and sticks them out in front of my deployed ships formation - which is well inside enemy weapons range which gets them overloaded and killed every time. I optimistically assume that micromanaging such ships with separately placed orders with regards to their range but I doubt it will work as intended.
Timid is useless. Aggressive is situational, which is why the toggleable Full Assault order is an amazing addition which works so good if you know when to hut it. Aggressive officers are also a good choice for overdriven ships. Reckless is a liability, but it works well for AI faction fleets who would thematically make great use of such doctrine, like the Luddic Path.
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Steady. Often enough they take way too long to kill targets, even when the enemy is much weaker, but I'd rather have that than lose ships. :)
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Another reason I like to default to Steady: If I put my ship on autopilot, it behaves like Steady, regardless of actual fleet doctrine. I can put Reckless for fleet doctrine, but my flagship on autopilot behaves as Steady. (e.g., Conquest refuses to get close enough to use Storm Needlers effectively. Something Aggressive or Reckless AI have no problem with.)
Your fleet commander is locked at Steady, but it is hidden and not shown by the game.