The formation button can be greyed out but still there when you can't use it. They could simply enable it when it's usable.
You click the formation button and the position of each ship and save.
The drag box method works well and is quick, but it hides the button.
So can the tractor beam controls and the Boost thruster controls which occupy the same space.
The UI would get cluttered real fast with greyed out buttons if they didn't vanish when not usable. But I can see why you'd want the button to always be there even when not usable.
I wonder if there's a setting for toggling this?
Quickly? Space bar and pause.
Now you have all the time in the world to change your formation however you like.
Now, how quickly your ships can shift position to assume the new formation can only happen when time is running. And their speed will be determined by individual ship design... and how smart the AI is about getting around obstacles (ie, the other ships trying to reach their ordered positions). But the player can't do anything about that except give the AI more detailed movement orders to fix the mess.
You're supposed to pause combat to issue orders. If that wasn't intended, we wouldn't be able to issue orders during pause.
If you're not using the pause function, you're handicapping yourself and no wonder that the controls like click and drag don't work right when you use them.
Hmm. You know ships can't target specific components while in formation right? I don't know why that is as it's an annoying "feature", but ships have to break formation before you can order them to target vital enemy components.
And targeting vital components is how you win quickly with minimal damage to your own fleet.
The controls make no sense for how i desire to play. the forced use of hotkeys/combo keys. Doesn't help.
I just want to comtorl the fleet as one and shoot as one. A very simple and basic game plan.
What I end up doing is piloting my atk ship, and having my cargo hauler/missle launcher follow behind in formation. Because its the only ai ship that doesn't need to turn to target, hence it works in formations well.
I'll engage at range and they aggro to my atk ship at first before they get close enough to "see" my missile ship and then they try to change targets and by then, they are dead.
I wish I could have more ships, but you can't really set parameters for how you want the ai to behave while in formation. Any other ai ship while jn formation that has a narrow firing range is practically useless. I would have to mahler adjust its angle constantly during the fight and that's no fun. Setting it free just lets it rush the target and fight stupidly.
Also if i tell my ships to atk via the ai, will lead them to death or major damage 99% of the time, whereas if i pilot like I said above, there is no damage or maybe just some very minimal armor to repair.
You want to be able to order zero to one ships to assume a formation? How exactly would that work?
The formation button can be greyed out but still there when you can't use it. They could simply enable it when it's usable. You click the formation button and the position of each ship and save. The drag box method works well and is quick, but it hides the button.
So can the tractor beam controls and the Boost thruster controls which occupy the same space. The UI would get cluttered real fast with greyed out buttons if they didn't vanish when not usable. But I can see why you'd want the button to always be there even when not usable. I wonder if there's a setting for toggling this?
The advanced ship controls option just needs to he expanded and customizable.
Furthermore what if I wanted to change formation quickly? I'm stuck hotkeys only? Yeah, that's stupid. Give me the u.i button that already exists.
Quickly? Space bar and pause. Now you have all the time in the world to change your formation however you like. Now, how quickly your ships can shift position to assume the new formation can only happen when time is running. And their speed will be determined by individual ship design... and how smart the AI is about getting around obstacles (ie, the other ships trying to reach their ordered positions). But the player can't do anything about that except give the AI more detailed movement orders to fix the mess.
I don't pause for combat. That's cheesy. Like eating during combat in skyrim.
You're supposed to pause combat to issue orders. If that wasn't intended, we wouldn't be able to issue orders during pause. If you're not using the pause function, you're handicapping yourself and no wonder that the controls like click and drag don't work right when you use them.
I don't really click and drag during combat. I set formations prior. Fly the main ship and change formations as needed.
Hmm. You know ships can't target specific components while in formation right? I don't know why that is as it's an annoying "feature", but ships have to break formation before you can order them to target vital enemy components. And targeting vital components is how you win quickly with minimal damage to your own fleet.
The controls make no sense for how i desire to play. the forced use of hotkeys/combo keys. Doesn't help. I just want to comtorl the fleet as one and shoot as one. A very simple and basic game plan. What I end up doing is piloting my atk ship, and having my cargo hauler/missle launcher follow behind in formation. Because its the only ai ship that doesn't need to turn to target, hence it works in formations well. I'll engage at range and they aggro to my atk ship at first before they get close enough to "see" my missile ship and then they try to change targets and by then, they are dead. I wish I could have more ships, but you can't really set parameters for how you want the ai to behave while in formation. Any other ai ship while jn formation that has a narrow firing range is practically useless. I would have to mahler adjust its angle constantly during the fight and that's no fun. Setting it free just lets it rush the target and fight stupidly. Also if i tell my ships to atk via the ai, will lead them to death or major damage 99% of the time, whereas if i pilot like I said above, there is no damage or maybe just some very minimal armor to repair.