Colonization ships behaviour

[Zaimat]

Currently colonizer ships drop their pods to colonize a planet but the ships stay in orbit.

In the next update. We have made the change so all ships *without orders* automatically orbit and dock at the nearest starbase/shipyards (if there is one in the system) for refits/upgrades/repairs.

Effectively removing the requirement to placing them in orbit manually (but you still have to move them to a system with a starbase/shipyards).

Do you like this behavior or would you rather see it changed further?

[Madbiologist]

I think it is good like this. Don't want your ships to be too 'self-acting' (except if it helps reduce needless busy work), however, having them orbit a nearby facility to be repaired and retrofitted on their own is useful (for the reason I just said before).

At the moment I can't think of what else we can do to make things smoother.

[Cumberlow]

I certainly think this will be good change. However, will we get a message in the turn summary to say that a ship has been repaired/retrofitted/resupplied that gives details of what work was done i.e. lasers on cruiser 101 upgraded to mark v at star base zebra 3

[Zaimat]

I certainly think this will be good change. However, will we get a message in the turn summary to say that a ship has been repaired/retrofitted/resupplied that gives details of what work was done i.e. lasers on cruiser 101 upgraded to mark v at star base zebra 3

Right now it says taskforceName has been refit. We can add the location to it.

Detailing the components upgraded would take some extra work but beyond that it would also add a lot more 'noise' in the events list when there are many ships getting upgraded.

Since everything is upgraded to the latest version, would you find it that helpful?

[GhostOfGod]

Right now it says taskforceName has been refit. We can add the location to it.

With the addition of a location I think this sounds like the perfect amount of info for a refit/repair/resupply notifications.

Detailing the components upgraded would take some extra work but beyond that it would also add a lot more 'noise' in the events list when there are many ships getting upgraded.

I think something like this will become more important if/when ships are going to be going through entire overhauls, rather than just an upgrade of equipment. I.E. swapping out specials, different weapon placements, all that good stuff. In those cases I think a pop-up detailing the differences would be very helpful.

[Cumberlow]

Detailing the components upgraded would take some extra work but beyond that it would also add a lot more 'noise' in the events list when there are many ships getting upgraded.

Since everything is upgraded to the latest version, would you find it that helpful?

Good point, it could get quite noisy later on in in game. Perhaps if it could just say how many ships were refitted at star base X? Will these refits be free or is there a resource cost since that could impact a decision to upgrade ships e.g. if broke.

I like resupplying colony ships. It differentiates Horizon from other 4x games colony ships that are all single use.

[FrozenFallout]

I also like how you do Colonization, cutting out the busy work of choosing what planet it needs to orbit for upgrades is a good way to step this up.

[Fairin]

I like resupplying colony ships. It differentiates Horizon from other 4x games colony ships that are all single use.

this. (although i dont think i ever used it they make good scouts afterwords, and their cheap) its a feature, in my book. also think of putting one on a warship. turn the surface to glass , and recolonize it. buy a starbase and carry on.. =)

[Madbiologist]

I like the way you think Fairin, but indeed, the way Horizon does it is interesting and opens up the door for some interesting possibilities.

[True_poser]

I like resupplying my colony ships.

I'd like even more to be able to build a mothership with several cargo holds, several colony pods and name it "The Plague Star".

[Soldaris]

I would prefer having the colony ship scrap itself after colonizing a planet. It is annoying having to send the ship back home, put it in orbit and then fill it up again. Anyway colonies consist of more than just people; you need the tools, technology and equipment in those ships to start a colony on a fresh planet.

[Ashbery76]

I think colonizing should be harder on both your economy and population.I think its a little easy spamming colonies.Colonizer ships should disband and also be very expensive to produce on cash and population in my view.

[keller]

I like the idea that a colonizer automatically goes to a shipyard, but what if you have none like at the start of the game?
What will the colonizer's default behavior be then?

[Bansheedragon]

Currently colonizer ships drop their pods to colonize a planet but the ships stay in orbit.

In the next update. We have made the change so all ships *without orders* automatically orbit and dock at the nearest starbase/shipyards (if there is one in the system) for refits/upgrades/repairs.

Effectively removing the requirement to placing them in orbit manually (but you still have to move them to a system with a starbase/shipyards).

Do you like this behavior or would you rather see it changed further?

There is one thing I would like to see added.
Its the ability to send a colony ship to a planet from the planet list(on the galaxy map) or the Star System screen, and have it automatically colonize the selected planet.

This was done in the MOO games, and its something I have requested previously and hope is possible to do.
It would make easier and smoother to manage colonization, at least in my opinion.

Other than that I like the way this is proposed as it saves some needless micromanagement.

I would prefer having the colony ship scrap itself after colonizing a planet. It is annoying having to send the ship back home, put it in orbit and then fill it up again. Anyway colonies consist of more than just people; you need the tools, technology and equipment in those ships to start a colony on a fresh planet.

You can already do this.
In the options you can select to have the colonizer be scrapped when you colonize a planet.
I think its a good idea and important to keep that option available, as it gives people the chance to choose their preferred way of playing.

[Zaimat]

There is one thing I would like to see added.
Its the ability to send a colony ship to a planet from the planet list(on the galaxy map) or the Star System screen, and have it automatically colonize the selected planet.

This was done in the MOO games, and its something I have requested previously and hope is possible to do.
It would make easier and smoother to manage colonization, at least in my opinion.

Definitely a nice convenience option and we've added this automation feature which will be in the upcoming update.

[keller]

Definitely a nice convenience option and we've added this automation feature which will be in the upcoming update.

Thanks