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Cykur
Cykur
Join Date 03/2003
+48

Scout Auto-Scouting

July 8, 2008 11:52:55 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Has anyone else noticed that when you send a scout to a new star system and leave it on auto-scout, the first thing it does when it arrives is turn around and fly back? If you give it a couple of manual orders to hit a gravwell, then it seems to be fine. I'm not certain if it always does this, but it has happened to me so many times.  It would be great if this was fixed.

I also mentioned in the past that it would be great if we could set systems to "avoid" for auto-scouting purposes. That way we could have them avoid the pirate base, or another world that is a death trap, and still get some use out of the auto-scout function. As it stands, I almost never use auto-scouting after a certain point, but would like to if we could make it so auto-scouting wasn't an absolute death sentence. (Those suckers LOVE the pirate base.)
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Cykur
Legolan
Join Date 06/2008
+1
Reply #1 July 8, 2008 12:27:13 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
It would be nice if the scouts would at least avoid going into pirate bases more than once (barring it being neccesary to go to other unexplored planets).

Although as you say, I don't use auto scout after a point as well, I figure I might as well just use the scouts to scout what I need scouted and not everything else, although it is useful for the initial exploration of the map.
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Cykur
Cykur
Join Date 03/2003
+48
Reply #2 July 8, 2008 2:02:43 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
It is actually useful later game too, because you want to keep track of expansion and enemy fortifications. But I do it all manually, because the scouts will keep flying into deathtraps. That is why I'd love an "avoid" toggle.
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Cykur
Aaron Solon
Join Date 02/2008
0
Reply #3 July 10, 2008 3:58:03 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I actually think the necessity of scouting manually adds a welcome "micro" element to the game and, honestly, give you something to do during downtime. Keeping the unit AI kind of dumb actually adds strategic depth to the game by forcing players to choose where to direct their attention.
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Cykur
Cykur
Join Date 03/2003
+48
Reply #4 July 10, 2008 4:15:29 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I actually think the necessity of scouting manually adds a welcome "micro" element to the game and, honestly, give you something to do during downtime. Keeping the unit AI kind of dumb actually adds strategic depth to the game by forcing players to choose where to direct their attention.


Interesting viewpoint. It might be because I only play online, but the only downtime I have in the game is when I'm waiting for my first capital ship to built at the beginning of a match. And yes, I pretty much do all my scouting manually. Manual scouting is best, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to have slightly smarter auto-scouting.
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Cykur
Howdidudothat
Join Date 04/2008
+34
Reply #5 July 11, 2008 9:56:57 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I agree, auto-scouting is mostly useless, even at the beginning of the game. Let's say you are a normal player and build 3 scouts. I have found that by the time the frigate factory spits out the 3rd scout, my first scout would be heading back to the HW and for the planet that my 3rd scout is intended for. Add to it the scouts love for pirate bases, and I just don't use it much anymore.
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Cykur
KuroTora
Join Date 07/2004
0
Reply #6 July 12, 2008 3:21:44 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Why not just have the Devs introduce a few different buttons for scouting.

Like:

Auto-Scout Last Known Locations of Players (Heedless to Damage)

Auto-Scout Last Known Locations of Players (Attempt to Stay Alive)

Auto-Scout Unknown Planets

Auto-Scout All Locations



Id think options #1 & #2 would differ between the scout scouting without rest, and the scout returning to repair & restore some sheilds before trying again.


But then again, because of the difficulty of stopping scouts at all stages of the game, (without a defense fleet directly at the phase lane choke point), it may just make the game too easy.
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Cykur
Kitkun
Join Date 06/2008
+175
Reply #7 July 12, 2008 11:44:18 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Why not just have the Devs introduce a few different buttons for scouting.

It ain't that easy. We can ask them, but they may (Probably) have other things to do.
Though I'd like to see those as well.
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Cykur
KuroTora
Join Date 07/2004
0
Reply #8 July 13, 2008 4:33:27 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
oh yeah, im sure they do, just a suggestion.
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Cykur
Mazuo
Join Date 07/2007
+17
Reply #9 July 13, 2008 5:17:47 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Honestly I'd be quite content to leave smart scouting to manual clicking with only one small change to auto-scouting.

Make the scout retreat to the nearest friendly or empty system when its shields collapse. You could toggle this off if you were wanting to use them for their various abilities like timed explosives.
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