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[Chthonic One]

If a unit is told to escort another unit, they should have the following priorities in this order:

If threats are in weapon range of escortee, screen for the escort, and attack the threat.
If no threats are in weapon range of escortee, and escortee has a target in it's weapons range, move to attack it's target.
If no threats are in weapon range of escortee, and no targets are in weapons range, fall into formation with escort. Formation should be dependent on number and type of escorts:

Wedge: All escorters are smaller vessels and at least as fast as escortee.
Boxed wedge: Some escorters are larger than escortee, and all are at least as fast as escortee. (Boxed meaning that larger vessels fall in in front of the wedge and to the sides of the escortee)
File: Not all escorters are as fast as the escortee. Those that are will attempt to keep ahead in a wedge or boxed wedge.

I bring this up because most of the time, giving escort orders to large groups just ends up a big mess. Ships just trail behind who they're told to escort, and allow the escortee to jump into danger before they try to run to their rescue. They should instead exibit some level of squad tactics.

[Kirschbra]

I hella second this!!!

[Yunru]

There's a subforum literally named "Suggestions".

Do they no longer teach reading comprehension?

[Arcagnello]

There's a subforum literally named "Suggestions".

Do they no longer teach reading comprehension?

It's alright, I'm pretty sure my first "suggestion" in this forum got posted in General Discussion instead aswell 

As for the OP, ships with aggressive, reckless and Fearless (AI core only) personalities will already try and get into shooting range of whatever the escorted ship is aiming at if there are no enemies endangering its back.

 This is not at all specified anywhere as far as I know tough, Vanilla could certainly include it in the Tip collection.

[Deshara]

the problem with that is that the AI needs the escort order as-is to run capital ships. It's explained a lot when u read the ship size attribute in the doctrine screen; the AI tries to match capital ships with smaller escorts to cover their flanks. If you've ever gone to flank an Onslaught's exposed engines & there was a lasher back there giving u trouble, that was the escort ordering doing its job. Anything similar to what u want would need to be a new command

[Morrokain]

Anything similar to what u want would need to be a new command

Pretty much. Iirc escort behavior was closer to the OP suggestion once upon a time and the reported problem with that behavior was when your escorted ship got flanked while the escorts were engaging your target players complained that the "escort" part of the behavior wasn't working properly.

Definitely a catch-22 to try and do both things with one command.

[Arcagnello]

Hm.

Dividing the entire order into two different ones may not be such a bad idea afterall.

"Escort" to make sure the ship is not flanked or rear-ended by the enemy

"Assist" to get the ships to try and focus fire the same enemy the ship the order is on is engaging, without getting into its firing line.

[Phenir]

Just having separate behaviors depending on the personality would be good I think. Gives aggressive and reckless more roles than just vanguards. Reckless escorts would always prefer to engage the escorted's target rather than protect their flank but will stay behind them if there are no enemies nearby, aggressive and steady would depend on how heavily their escortee is being flanked, and cautious and timid would always cover their back. But I suppose this would really necessitate individual personalities for all your ships, not just one with officers. I certainly wouldn't want to regularly relegate officers to mere escorts. They should be the ones being escorted.

[Histidine]

Made a thread about splitting Escort orders back in the day.

[KDR_11k]

I use escort as a way to say "follow that", e.g. I tell carriers to escort battleships so the battleship decides the pace and the carrier hides behind it.