Range Bug
In previous games I’ve seen AI ships moving well beyond what I think their range limit should be. I have also seen my automated ships doing this, but I didn’t understand why. I could provide a save that showed it, but that wouldn’t provide any evidence of why.
In my current game I found my automated survey ships were doing the same thing. Since they are my ships, and I had earlier saves, I began checking saves until I found one before it happened. I then kept track of my automated survey ships until they began going beyond their range limit. I then carefully checked each turn to find what happened.
Here is a screenshot showing what I first found.
The sectors are labeled A, B, C, D. I’m playing as the Yor and started in the yellow circle in the Sector A. The arrow labeled 2 is at the range limit for my survey ships. The arrow labeled 1 is where I found my ships. The arrow labeled 3 is where they are going. They have to take the long route because there is no subspace stream connecting Sectors A and D. When I saw this I realized that in all previous occasions all the ships were going to a sector that was close to their starting sector but wasn’t directly connected with a subspace stream.
Since the range line is in Sector B, sectors C and D should be well beyond their range limit. So, how can they go to location 3?
When the game’s cursor is on a tile in space, a tool tip will appear that shows that tile is out of range if it is out of range. No tool tip means it is in range. That tool tip didn’t appear at point 3. It did appear 1 tile closer to survey ships. That destination is in range for some reason. The ships can go there because they can travel through areas that are out of range to get to areas that are in range. That has been true since GalCiv2. The ships are going there because there aren’t any anomalies that are in range, so they are doing their secondary task, which is to clear the fog of war anywhere that is in range.
That leaves the question of why that area is in range. I went through multiple tests and found that it happens when the tech Subspace Streams is researched. For some reason it makes part of an adjacent sector in range when it should be out of range.
Even stranger, if I use the console to give myself Subspace Streams the bug doesn’t happen.
I have two saves that show this. They are Range Bug 1 and Range Bug 2.
Here are the steps to take for Part 1
Start GalCiv4, the load the save Range Bug 1. You will be at a fleet of Yor ships. This is the fleet that should be used to determine range. Make sure it is selected. Zoom out a little to see the subspace stream on the right side of the sector. This shows that I have already researched subspace scanning.
Open the console and use the fownc command to show the galaxy. Close the console. Move below the sector with the Yor to find the sector labeled D in the screenshot above. Move the cursor into that sector and get the tool tip that Subspace Streaming is required.
Open the console and use the unlock MasterTech_SubspaceStreaming command to get the tech. Make sure the fleet is selected, then check the tiles in Sector 4 that are closest to where the Yor are. They will all be out of range.
This shows that using the console to get the tech doesn’t cause the bug.
Here are the steps to take for Part 2
Exit GalCiv4, then restart it. Load the save Range Bug 2. You will be at the Yor fleet again, and it doesn’t have any moves left. Notice that only one turn is needed to research the tech Subspace Streaming. Go to the next turn.
Subspace Streaming has been completed. Select whatever tech you want to research next. Go to the next ship with moves. It will be the Yor fleet. Open the console and enter the fownc command, then close the console. Make sure the Yor fleet is still selected. Move to Sector 4 and see how many tiles are now in range. There will be some in the area closest to Sector A between the two yellow stars. If you move the cursor far enough away from the upper edge of Sector D, you will start getting the tool tip that indicates those tiles are out of range.
Something about researching the Subspace Streaming tech causes tiles that are in a close sector that isn’t connected to a starting sector to be in range when they shouldn’t be.
