I really shouldn't have to tell my missile ships to not fly directly into the enemy's guns every time I start combat.
The PDO menu is similar to the simulator, but only appears as the TAB tactical map. Here, you can assign orders to your ships and those ships will then immediately begin battle with those orders assigned. If an order isn't applicable (escort a ship that you didn't deploy), then it defaults to standard behavior.
Edit: More complex additions.
Spoiler
I'd like to add a few more features to this. Note that some of these ideas alter AI, and thus will take some time to code. Whether each individual feature is worth the effort of coding, I'll leave to your discretion.
Staggered Deployment:
When a ship is ordered to be deployed in the PDO menu, its icon appears on the tactical menu.
Whenever you click on a deployed ship, there will be a time slider. You may move this slider to delay that ship's deployment time.
If a ship is given pre-deployment orders, they'll start with those orders once they're deployed.
In case it fails, you'll receive an error message informing you why:
- Said ship does not have enough CR/Crew
- You do not have enough deployment points.
- You already deployed the ship (No message)
For example, if I deploy my missile ships at the very beginning of battle, they burn straight into the enemy along with my the rest of my fleet. If I set their deployment to come 5 seconds after the battle begins, they can avoid entering the thick of things and fire safely from a distance.
Capture Priority:
When you click on a ship, icons of the different capture points will appear with the numbers 0-3. Default is 1.
While the ship is selected, right-click on the icon(s). This changes the number.
Said ship will then automatically begin attempting to capture those points when deployed.
0 - Don't bother
1 - Will attempt to capture if no other applicable points available.
2 - Will attempt to capture if not held by enemy.
3 - Will attempt to capture even if held by enemy.
Once all possible capture points have been taken, default to standard behavior.
If two or more capture points have the same priority, target the closer one.
For example, I have a group of fighters to capture points in the beginning. My small fleet doesn't require many command points, so I set Comm relay priority to 0. I want navbuoys for the boost, but want sensor arrays more, so my setting for that is 1. Sensor arrays are priority, but I don't want my fighters suiciding into the enemy, so the sensor array priority is 2.
Engagement Priority:
When you click on a ship, icons of the five hull types (Fighter, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Capital) appear on the map.
Similar to capture priority, they are also given numbers between 0-3, right-clicking the icon with the ship selected will determine engagement priority. Default is 1.
0 - Avoid engaging. (i.e. Stay away. PD guns will still fire if they're in range though.)
1 - Will engage if no priority targets available.
2 - Prioritize engaging.
3 - KILL IT SO HARD IT DIES TO DEATH.
Since there are a huge amount of possible variants of enemy ships, I only listed the basic hulls. If you notice your AI setting will end badly for you, order your ship to target something else, this will make them default to regular behavior afterwards.
This is similar to locking on. Weapons whose arcs can't reach the target will shoot something else instead.
If two or more ship types have the same priority, target the closer one.
My missile ships are armed entirely with LRMs, they have little chance of hitting fighters so I set that priority to 0. Frigates are set to 1, as other ships can clear them out fairly easily. Destroyers are set to 3, as they have attack power but are still quite vulnerable to mass missiles. Cruisers and Capitals are set to 2, as their shields tend to eat up all my missiles and I want to get rid of as many threats as possible first.
Wimpy:
Wimpy, simply put, are conditions that can be set that, when met, will order a ship to retreat.
- A slider for hull, which orders them to retreat once it drops below a certain percentage. (Fighter wings will attempt to return to a carrier instead)
- A setting that appears like the weapon group menu. Once all selected weapons are empty, retreat. (May not be applicable with the next version's infinite ammo settings.)
- A slider for CR, when it reaches that CR percentage, retreat.
Save settings:
Similar to the "Manage Variants" menu, you can save individual ship settings and load them later.
Furthermore, you can also save entire battle plans. When you select "Move in to engage", a menu called "Review existing orders" will appear, where you can choose which battle plan to implement.
Possible balance features:
Orders given pre-deployment use half a command point (Rounded down).
Features are locked behind advanced tactic skill.
