how do you colonize a nearby planet/moon ?

[tkobo]

I figured out that i had to be in space to issue a build order for a space ship... seems unnecessarily separate from the other build commands..But now that i have built a colony ship ,i cant figure out how to get it to colonize the target planet/moon.
I see the order "colonize" for the colony ship, and the ship travels to the target, but then just enters "orbit? " and sits there...What am i missing ?

[tkobo]

wow, found an incredibly long winded tutorial...Thanks..

Now can someone explain WHY in order to get our colony ship to colonize the planet, we have to create a battlegroup consisting of the colony ship...

[Balthagor]

WHY ... we have to create a battlegroup consisting of the colony ship...

Simply because the game is still in early access and some of the design is not yet complete. I have a ticket to George for a new bit of UI at planet level so you'll be able to see your "in orbit" stuff to select it. For now, you need to use BattleGroups.

You should have seen the game 3 weeks ago at the start of early access! You had virtually no galaxy UI and had to use number groups to FTL around. We've pushed 9 updates in the 7 weeks since EA started. Many of the improvements came from user questions like these.

Now, that said, I still think I'll always use number groups. Being able to quick select this ship I want from a hotkey is a feature I've always liked.

[evildari]

maybe use a hotkey to cycle through idle ships of such specialized type (can be any type with more keys though)

[Balthagor]

maybe use a hotkey to cycle through idle ships of such specialized type (can be any type with more keys though)

Hmmm, interesting. Noted for the wishlist. I feel like this needs a bit more details though. Hotkeys just trigger an action, same as a button. If this was a button in the UI, I guess it would be "make the next colony ships in the system of this planet the selected unit" and would be available only at the planet level? Is that what you're thinking?

[SGTscuba]

maybe use a hotkey to cycle through idle ships of such specialized type (can be any type with more keys though)

Hmmm, interesting. Noted for the wishlist. I feel like this needs a bit more details though. Hotkeys just trigger an action, same as a button. If this was a button in the UI, I guess it would be "make the next colony ships in the system of this planet the selected unit" and would be available only at the planet level? Is that what you're thinking?

And have it only select from the units above the planet? or in the controlled space perhaps to limit the selections.

[evildari]

maybe use a hotkey to cycle through idle ships of such specialized type (can be any type with more keys though)

Hmmm, interesting. Noted for the wishlist. I feel like this needs a bit more details though. Hotkeys just trigger an action, same as a button. If this was a button in the UI, I guess it would be "make the next colony ships in the system of this planet the selected unit" and would be available only at the planet level? Is that what you're thinking?

almost - rather like a select next idle ship (or closest idle ship compared to current viewed location) - so you can give order to ie. colonize (or do whatever that special ship type does - dont know what else there is) the location that is in your view (maybe i dont understand how colonizing works here - but i would make these selection available on the highest level galaxy&system)
it similar to those settler / constructor selection in the old civilizations games - and such function i seen in one or more traditional space 4x games
very useful in the inflationary expansion part of a 4x game

[tkobo]

Its been a long time, but im pretty sure i liked battlegroups....The thing is,a colonize command comes up for the colony ship,and it really should be as simple as , select colony ship at starting point, click colonize,click target,click spot on land mass for first base. Thats not only straight forward and concise , its how most people would expect it to be. The whole battlegroup thing is just very left field, and not many would think of it as part of the process.

[Balthagor]

BTW, all of this is flagged for review and improvement. But so are a dozen other things. Since you've got some thoughts, I've got no problem shifting my focus. Let's see if we can plan out a better implementation;

I've broken down your action set so I could consider why this isn't currently possible;

- select colony ship at starting point
- click colonize
- click target
- click spot on land mass for first base.

As currently implemented, if you select the unit, then select colonize as the order, the selection is dropped because the order has been given to colonize the hex it's in. You can't select the hex after the order is issued. Currently, giving the order at the system level won't create a colony (even if in the same location as a planet) because no location on the planet (no valid location) has been selected.

** We might be able to change the colonize order at system level to keep the selection and change levels. The order would be hidden at system level if not in the same hex as a habitable world. The mouse interaction would be altered so that the next click on the planetary map would set that hex as the colonize target.

In your example, after click colonize you have click target, but currently you cannot see a valid target if you can see the starting point. Starting points are in space, valid targets are locations on a planet. Most of the ways to navigate to the planet's surface breaks the selection process and that' intentional. This is actually the 1 way you can colonize without a battlegroup

- Put the colony ship above the planet you want to colonize
- Click on the hex to select colony ship (starting point)
- Switch to the land dept
- Click the Go Down to Plant button
- CTRL+right click target
- select colonize from the advanced orders

That's two more steps than you had, but like I said, you missed navigating to the target. The battlegroup method began because in early development I had no way of selecting or keeping a selection at planet level. Our current design plan includes adding a list of "in orbit" units that's visible at the planet level

- Put the colony ship anywhere in the system of the planet you want to colonize
- Use any of the ways to Go Down to Plant
- Select the colony ship from the list
- CTRL+right click target
- select colonize from the advanced orders

To me that's a good, simple method.

Any further thoughts on this mechanic would be appreciated.

[tkobo]

by "click target", i meant the "target" to mean the planet or moon you wanted the colony ship to colonize. This would make the colonize order a move to order to start the ball rolling, then when the ship arrived at the target,it would auto trigger the colonize affect ,opening the moon/planet and activating the hex selector. This is prob the most common way a colonize order works in 4x for colony ships.As such it would be pretty instinctive for 4x players.

If you do this now, the clicking on the target(right click) ( a nearby moon) after selecting a colony ship (on your home world) and selecting the colonize order, already moves the colony ship to the target.All thats missing is the colonize effect to trigger when the ship reaches the target.

[Balthagor]

by "click target", i meant the "target" to mean the planet or moon you wanted the colony ship to colonize. This would make the colonize order a move to order to start the ball rolling,...

But it needs to know where on the planet you want it to land, unless we have it land randomly, which I think most users would not like. But might be worth it for new players.

then when the ship arrived at the target,it would auto trigger the colonize affect ,opening the moon/planet and activating the hex selector...

Um, but what if I'm in the middle of a big space battle? I don't want my screen to suddenly send me to a planet while I'm trying to save my fleet.

...This is prob the most common way a colonize order works in 4x for colony ships.As such it would be pretty instinctive for 4x players.

For real-time games? That sounds more like a turn based mechanic.

...
If you do this now, the clicking on the target(right click) ( a nearby moon) after selecting a colony ship (on your home world) and selecting the colonize order, already moves the colony ship to the target.All thats missing is the colonize effect to trigger when the ship reaches the target.

Again, until the player says where on the planet, the order can't proceed.

Note: Right now an FTL order issued to a destination that is more than 1 jump away doesn't happen. That is part of the design for later, so it's not a barrier to this discussion.

[Balthagor]

Just found the ticket I'd previously created for the design issues related to unit orders; 26016

[Balthagor]

We had some big discussions on this feature today and made progress on the design. Some of the changes we want are already half implemented, so that's always nice

New ticket 26457.

[tkobo]

by "colonize effect" ,i mean for the on planet view to open and a courser to appear allowing the player to choose the hex to land in.
Make that courser more easily seen ,this is coming from an old guy with bad eyesight.

[Balthagor]

The lastest fasttrack is up, new order click sequence is ready for feedback.