Sounds like a random mod messed with colony. In vanilla I never had to personally participate in the expedition defense battles to prevent industry interruptions, and the comm relays don’t randomly get taken over.
Patrols will take comm relays back automatically, though I don't know how long does it take.
Nex prides itself on launching fleets at you that are guaranteed to be stronger than your defences, iirc without a cap.
What can happen is while in system other fleets hostile to TT, but not of your faction, can also intercept, shifting those numbers. While away from the system, however, the abstraction doesn't take things like that into account.
The only real nuissance were pathers in game versions before the Bar event and before the active Gates. But now the colonies need not too much babysitting. Just put at least 3 or 4 of them in one system and max the defenses to the top. As long as your colonies are close together and as long as the system is not too big, they should be quite safe. But if you choose to have few colonies in gargantuan blue star systems, it may become a bit harder to leave them alone. More space means less fleets per square.FYI the battle is abstracted when you’re away and I don’t believe the size of the system is taken into consideration when an expedition is calculated remotely.
The only real nuissance were pathers in game versions before the Bar event and before the active Gates. But now the colonies need not too much babysitting. Just put at least 3 or 4 of them in one system and max the defenses to the top. As long as your colonies are close together and as long as the system is not too big, they should be quite safe. But if you choose to have few colonies in gargantuan blue star systems, it may become a bit harder to leave them alone. More space means less fleets per square.
FYI the battle is abstracted when you’re away and I don’t believe the size of the system is taken into consideration when an expedition is calculated remotely.
The point of the whole game is about min max and most players will never get everything they want. At the end it's all about priorities. And im not the one, who chooes your priorities.
I noticed, that in bigger systems more leftover stray fleets swarm around, while smaller systems get cleaned faster. It's somewhat logical, because the own fleets have less space to spread.
I think the game still simulates the fleets flying around in the system just not the combat between individual fleets. Having multiple colonies in the same system just massively increases the number of fleets in the system, increasing the odds of stuff getting intercepted/defeated. I could be wrong about that though.
When I've seen my defenses fail in Nex while they were supposed to win, it's usually because there were multiple events happening at the same time (pirate raids, other expeditions/invasions etc.) and those weakened the defenses temporarily. I don't personally defend anything and with a minimum of 3 colonies, I haven't lost any defenses I wasn't supposed to lose.
I think the game still simulates the fleets flying around in the system just not the combat between individual fleets. Having multiple colonies in the same system just massively increases the number of fleets in the system, increasing the odds of stuff getting intercepted/defeated. I could be wrong about that though.
When I've seen my defenses fail in Nex while they were supposed to win, it's usually because there were multiple events happening at the same time (pirate raids, other expeditions/invasions etc.) and those weakened the defenses temporarily. I don't personally defend anything and with a minimum of 3 colonies, I haven't lost any defenses I wasn't supposed to lose.
With Nex, the best you can do is launch defense fleets to make sure they're protected. If I had to guess, what happened is that one of the "elite" fleets that nex gives factions rolled up since you weren't around to immediately stop their disruption fleet and steamrolled what was in system.
Not sure how effective turtling up a single system is, since that would just lead to the following invasions scaling as well.
I think they last about 2 months but also take a month or two to launch. You can press Z to launch fleets from anywhere.With Nex, the best you can do is launch defense fleets to make sure they're protected. If I had to guess, what happened is that one of the "elite" fleets that nex gives factions rolled up since you weren't around to immediately stop their disruption fleet and steamrolled what was in system.
Not sure how effective turtling up a single system is, since that would just lead to the following invasions scaling as well.
I do need to figure those bits out, I forgot you could do that. How long do those last? Because as far as I know, you still have to go to x colony to spawn something like that in person, right? And then that fleet factors in for auto-calc battles while you're away?
I think they last about 2 months but also take a month or two to launch. You can press Z to launch fleets from anywhere.
The way I look at it, an expedition being successful isn't that big of a deal. If you have multiple colonies, the rest of them are still giving you full income so you should barely notice the drop in income. Obviously, invasions are different but you asked for that if you are at war with a faction.
a Tri-Tachyon fleet came to disrupt one of my mining/refining coloniesWas this a raid (which is added by Nexerelin) or a punitive expedition sent due to market competition (a vanilla feature)? But either way, the autoresolved event saying it's failed while having caused disruption to anything sounds like a bug that shouldn't be possible. (The opposite seems more likely; there are ways it can report success while not having done anything more than kill the orbital station).
It honestly feels like you're just forced to micro-manage every last aspect of colony business yourself, with your personal fleet. Got a shortage? You have to pull from stockpiles yourself, with your personal fleet, to move to address said shortages, or your colony is hobbled for x amount of time (when you should just be able to tell your colonies to move those stockpiles around themselves). Some kind of shipment going somewhere? Better escort it personally, lest you risk a high rng rate of losing it, leading to more shortages (for multiple cycles, it feels like I've had "-2 stacks from a lost shipment" active on at least one colony at any point).Personally I don't bother fixing shortages or trade disruptions at all, except when stability drops to dangerous levels. Unless compounded with other problems, the most they can do is cause some loss of income, you may as well do whatever stuff you were planning to do.
Nex prides itself on launching fleets at you that are guaranteed to be stronger than your defences, iirc without a cap.Invasion fleets are capped (albeit the hard cap is 2000 FP, which is more than what it considers enough for some of the toughest modiverse star systems like the Legio home system, but a player system's defenses can exceed even that). They do scale based on the target system's defenses and target market size, but the defense numbers go up faster than the invasion size.
Not sure how effective turtling up a single system is, since that would just lead to the following invasions scaling as well.I'd expect it's still beneficial, since
Was this a raid (which is added by Nexerelin) or a punitive expedition sent due to market competition (a vanilla feature)? But either way, the autoresolved event saying it's failed while having caused disruption to anything sounds like a bug that shouldn't be possible. (The opposite seems more likely; there are ways it can report success while not having done anything more than kill the orbital station).This was a raid to disrupt an industry, yes. It's been a week or so, so I forget the exact industry (it was either mining or heavy industry, fairly certain), but the way it played out was:
Personally I don't bother fixing shortages or trade disruptions at all, except when stability drops to dangerous levels. Unless compounded with other problems, the most they can do is cause some loss of income, you may as well do whatever stuff you were planning to do.I will totally admit this is true. It isn't a huge deal, it's just a seemingly constant occurrence that lends to my feeling that unless there is a constant, personal player hand in most matters, there will be consistent failure mixed in. Certainly not a hill worth dying on due to the minor impact it has, I admit, just a side detail.
Invasion fleets are capped (albeit the hard cap is 2000 FP, which is more than what it considers enough for some of the toughest modiverse star systems like the Legio home system, but a player system's defenses can exceed even that). They do scale based on the target system's defenses and target market size, but the defense numbers go up faster than the invasion size.One thing I do want to ask regarding this, does the market size and/or alliance size of an invading fleet have an impact on invading fleet size? Because Hegemony is the big boy in my current game (they "won" in the first two months, so y'know), they're in a three-way alliance with the Church and Diktat (it's disgusting), and they have certainly consistently sent fleets that make everything else look pathetic by comparison (outside of, again, player fleet interference).
One thing I do want to ask regarding this, does the market size and/or alliance size of an invading fleet have an impact on invading fleet size? Because Hegemony is the big boy in my current game (they "won" in the first two months, so y'know), they're in a three-way alliance with the Church and Diktat (it's disgusting), and they have certainly consistently sent fleets that make everything else look pathetic by comparison (outside of, again, player fleet interference).Nex has another per-faction invasion/raid size cap, based on the faction's industrial output (which is also used for how frequently invasions and raids occur). This was added so factions that have been reduced to 1 or 2 planets can't launch huge invasions. Output isn't shared between allies, each faction builds up invasions/raids based on its own economy.
And would that factor into non actual "invasion" fleets as well? Is it a normal occurrence for an AI inspection fleet, for instance, to consistently be loaded with 4+ battleship/battlecarriers? Onslaughts and Legions are a cakewalk with a player led fleet, but unless I babysit for all their actual invasions (and inspections, I suppose), my colonies are just kind of boned on a dice roll.
Nex has another per-faction invasion/raid size cap, based on the faction's industrial output (which is also used for how frequently invasions and raids occur). This was added so factions that have been reduced to 1 or 2 planets can't launch huge invasions. Output isn't shared between allies, each faction builds up invasions/raids based on its own economy.Oof, yeah, it's the vanilla ones that have quickly proved to be more ridiculous than the Nex ones lately, then. The last Hegemony invasion wasn't even terrible, just two fleets with a Conquest or two in each. Inspection fleets are just broken I guess.
The cap doesn't really apply to a small but healthy faction, e.g. in the new game with a vanilla sector I just checked, Luddic Church's cap is 1151 FP, or over half the hard cap of 2K. However, smaller factions take longer to be able to launch an invasion of the same size.
Vanilla fleet types don't use such mechanics. Inspections, for instance, just get larger each time they occur.
First inspection is 50 + 125 = 175 FP
Second inspection is 50 + 250 = 300 FP
and so on.
(yeah inspections are pretty big, they start having enough points for almost six Paragons)
Punitive expeditions work similarly, but the numbers are different (starts at 50 + 50, and I'm not sure if the number of attempts is shared between factions).
Vanilla fleet types don't use such mechanics. Inspections, for instance, just get larger each time they occur.
First inspection is 50 + 125 = 175 FP
Second inspection is 50 + 250 = 300 FP
and so on.
(yeah inspections are pretty big, they start having enough points for almost six Paragons)
The numbers are hardcoded (though a mod can in principle modify the events' code). But inspections do cap at 550 FP and punitive expeditions at 350 FP.Vanilla fleet types don't use such mechanics. Inspections, for instance, just get larger each time they occur.
First inspection is 50 + 125 = 175 FP
Second inspection is 50 + 250 = 300 FP
and so on.
(yeah inspections are pretty big, they start having enough points for almost six Paragons)
Is there a way to turn that down or at least cap it at a certain size?
I really don't want to wipe the Hegemony, for thematic reasons mostly, but if those inspections keep growing indefinitely...
The numbers are hardcoded (though a mod can in principle modify the events' code). But inspections do cap at 550 FP and punitive expeditions at 350 FP.Vanilla fleet types don't use such mechanics. Inspections, for instance, just get larger each time they occur.
First inspection is 50 + 125 = 175 FP
Second inspection is 50 + 250 = 300 FP
and so on.
(yeah inspections are pretty big, they start having enough points for almost six Paragons)
Is there a way to turn that down or at least cap it at a certain size?
I really don't want to wipe the Hegemony, for thematic reasons mostly, but if those inspections keep growing indefinitely...
(Also, as the inspection or expedition gets bigger, the amount of thing-that-makes-faction-angry needed for the event to occur also increases)Brief code explanationInspections and expeditions have a "threshold" figure. When the cumulative amount of AI use or [things that trigger expeditions] exceeds the threshold, the event is launched.
Fleet size is 50 + (threshold/2), threshold doubles after each event.
Inspection threshold starts at 250 and caps at 1000. Expedition threshold starts at 100 and caps at 600.[close]