automated Tasks

y.a.newbe · #1 November 29th, 2001, 11:52 AM

Situation:
planet X produces satelites
I want them at wormhole Y
a transporter with sat-bays is available

Can I order the transport to:
step 1: load sats
step 2: go to wormhole Y
step 3: launch sats
step 4: go to planet X
step 5: repeat steps 1-4 automatically

possible? how?
thanks!

ZeroAdunn · #2 November 29th, 2001, 12:25 PM

It should be farely simple, just give the ship the following orders:

Load cargo (sats)
Launch units remotely (sats at location)
Move back to planet
Repeat orders

dumbluck · #3 November 29th, 2001, 01:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by ZeroAdunn:
It should be farely simple, just give the ship the following orders:

Load cargo (sats)
Launch units remotely (sats at location)
Move back to planet
Repeat orders

Keep in mind that following those orders, it will do the following:

turn 1. Load up full of sats
turn 2. move to destination
turn 3. Launch max for 1 turn of sats
turn 4. return to planet WHETHER OR NOT IT HAS LAUNCHED _ALL_ THE SATS IN IT'S HOLD.

So it will attempt to launch sats on only 1 turn, then return to base without checking if there are any sats it could launch the next turn.

y.a.newbe · #4 November 29th, 2001, 01:34 PM

Thanks a lot for the answers!!

But I must have missed the obvious: the "Repeat order" command. I can't find it! Where is it?

quote:
Originally posted by dumbluck:

turn 4. return to planet WHETHER OR NOT IT HAS LAUNCHED _ALL_ THE SATS IN IT'S HOLD.

so I'd better
a) get as good a transport design i can come up with that is fit for the task
b) let it launch on 2 turns

President_Elect_Shang · #5 November 29th, 2001, 03:43 PM

The repeat command is on the Main Window, right menu set, 10th button, bottom row. It looks like a big red arrow curving back on itself.

[ 29 November 2001: Message edited by: President Elect Shang ]

Will · #6 November 30th, 2001, 02:47 AM

You must also be sure to have a Move order to the planet. If the orders are simply "Load Satellites, Move to *Enter warp sector here*, Launch Satellites, Repeat", then the ship won't pick up any satellites.

y.a.newbe · #7 November 30th, 2001, 10:34 AM

the button: only shows up after commands are given (that's why I missed it)

I gave the repeat thing a try and discovered some strange behavior:
My ships are set to cancel orders if an enemy is
present in a system. There is no enemy in my system (and it's too early for the cloaking tech). Only some Ally ships are present. But the orders get cancelled.

On another test I tried to set up an automated transport route into a neighbor system. I failed. While assigning orders, the movement takes place immediately. As soon as the movement points are spent no further orders were accepted. Is this a fact or something I did wrong?

Are documents available on "HOWTO automate tasks" ?

dogscoff · #8 November 30th, 2001, 12:47 PM

OK, a few things: Unless you're playing in simultanous mode, orders will be executed immediately. You have to spend all of your movement points before queueing orders. You can check the status of a ship or fleet's orders by clicking on the "eyeball" icon.

One limitation of order queueing is that you can't launch units you haven't picked up yet. You can't order a ship

Go to planet & pick up sats
go to warp point & launch sats
repeat

because the "launch sats" won't be available until you have som sats to launch. Instead, you have to go to th planet and pick up the sats manually, then give the orders

go to warp point & launch sats
go to planet & pick up sats
repeat

Same orders, different order, if you see what I mean=-) Of course there's a problem here if your planet and warp point are only a few squares apart - as soon as you give the "go to warp point&launch sats", the ship will do so, leaving you with no sats and you're back to square one. You find yourself sending the ships around in pointless circles to use up their movement points... it's very annoying.

I'd like to see MM add the following to the game:
-a "program mode" where orders aren't executed until you come out of proram mode.
-Ability to remove one order from the queue without clearing all orders
-a "wait x turns" command
-Ability to queue join fleet / break fleet commands
-"nearest" (as in "resupply at nearest", "repair at nearest") calculated at time of order being executed, not at the time it's given.
-Logical boolean operators and a few variables to play with, allowing things like
go to planet, wait at planet UNTIL >30 troops available THEN load troops and go to...
patrol locations x,y,z UNTIL supplies=20%, THEN resupply at nearest, repeat
wait at warp point UNTIL enemy ship in system THEN intercept

Combine the above with some of the ministers (the resupply minister for example) and you could manage your ships and fleets so much more easily.

Once, many years ago, I saw a game with such a system. You had this flowchart builder, and you just drag-dropped the commands and operators into place. SEIV really needs something like that.

[ 30 November 2001: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

dumbluck · #9 November 30th, 2001, 12:52 PM

[quote]Originally posted by y.a.newbe:
the button: only shows up after commands are given (that's why I missed it)[quote]

I gave the repeat thing a try and discovered some strange behavior:
My ships are set to cancel orders if an enemy is
present in a system. There is no enemy in my system (and it's too early for the cloaking tech). Only some Ally ships are present. But the orders get cancelled.

That's misleading. When it says "when an enemy is present", it really means "when an ALIEN is present"

On another test I tried to set up an automated transport route into a neighbor system. I failed. While assigning orders, the movement takes place immediately. As soon as the movement points are spent no further orders were accepted. Is this a fact or something I did wrong?

hmmm. It's been a while since I've done tactical, but I thought that you could still chain together orders for a ship that had no movement left. Any tactical-savvy people out there have an answer for him on this one?

Are documents available on "HOWTO automate tasks" ?

Your best source for "how to" info is, well, this forum! There has been some discussion on a newbie FAQ and the like, but I don't know what came of it. For now, your best way to get an answer to a question is to ask it here.

edit=typos

[ 30 November 2001: Message edited by: dumbluck ]

dogscoff · #10 November 30th, 2001, 12:59 PM

quote:

That's misleading. When it says "when an enemy is present", it really means "when an ALIEN is present"

Not quite. There are 2 different options. One is "clear orders upon any alien ship in system" and the other is "clear orders upon any enemy ships in system". Or you could swith both options off and then your orders will never be cancelled automatically.

So there are actually 3 options. I'll come in
again:

*whoosh*

No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition. Amongst our options are such diverse elements as...

Now that would be a cool shipset - Monty Python

[ 30 November 2001: Message edited by: dogscoff ]