Autolaunch satellites?

Tarm · #1 October 5th, 2001, 04:35 PM

Any way to have satellites auto launched when
they are produced?
If there isnt it would be nice to have in a new patch , its a pain to have to launch them manually if you like me always are producing them in border systems.
Specially for planets that only have space for one turn productions.

LeTharg · #2 October 5th, 2001, 04:41 PM

I agree--mines too.

When I asked this question many moons ago, someone pointed out that you could have a satellite launching ship with repeat orders that picked up the sats and launched them.

Yep, that will work but it is way to much cost and trouble. Much better would be an autolaunch capability.

Unless it is already there somehow?

Suicide Junkie · #3 October 5th, 2001, 05:23 PM

Either autolaunch, or treat empty space like a cargo base in orbit:
IE, Any units that can't be held by the planet or cargo vehicles in orbit, gets launched automatically.

geoschmo · #4 October 5th, 2001, 05:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
Either autolaunch, or treat empty space like a cargo base in orbit:
IE, Any units that can't be held by the planet or cargo vehicles in orbit, gets launched automatically.

Unless they are troops! DOH!

Aub · #5 October 5th, 2001, 07:31 PM

I know that bothered me too for a while - I was always forgetting to launch satellites. Then, I discovered that the Satellite/Mine minister does a great job here!

Simply turn the Sat/Mine minister on, and then put all new planets under minister control. The satellites will be launched for you. Since other miniters are not on, the AI will not interfere with other things like facilities and construction.

(So far I have not found any problems with turning the minister control on for planets. There ARE however bugs associated with doing that for fleets. E.g. the "attack" order stops working in sim. games if you turn any ministers on for a fleet.)

Aub

Tarm · #6 October 5th, 2001, 07:58 PM

It cant be that simple!!
Youre pulling my leg.
Right?

Cant believe I didnt even LOOK at the minister.
Probably because I've hated to use ministers in all the other games with them that I've tried.

Sigh........

Shyrka · #7 October 5th, 2001, 10:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Aub:
I know that bothered me too for a while - I was always forgetting to launch satellites. Then, I discovered that the Satellite/Mine minister does a great job here!

Simply turn the Sat/Mine minister on, and then put all new planets under minister control. The satellites will be launched for you. Since other miniters are not on, the AI will not interfere with other things like facilities and construction.

(So far I have not found any problems with turning the minister control on for planets. There ARE however bugs associated with doing that for fleets. E.g. the "attack" order stops working in sim. games if you turn any ministers on for a fleet.)

Aub

Hello

This idea is good, but i think it has a problem. Turning minister on for the planets makes all active ministers "work" in the planet. This can include ministers that you do not want to be active in that planet, such as the "Facility construction" minister.
You only want to launch the units automatically, just as the "Launch units remotely" order for the ships.

I had this problem too. I constructed a space station with a space yard component and several sat launch bays. I put it to build sats in repeat build mode. When the log noticed me that the station couldnt finish the sats because there was no cargo space available, then i "went" to the station and launched the sats manually. I tried activating the launch minister, but it doesnt work. The sats werent launched.

I think that its necessary some kind of order for auto launch sats/fghtrs/mines when present. It would be very useful, and a quite elegant solution for this problem

Aub · #8 October 5th, 2001, 10:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Shyrka:
Hello

This idea is good, but i think it has a problem. Turning minister on for the planets makes all active ministers "work" in the planet. This can include ministers that you do not want to be active in that planet, such as the "Facility construction" minister.

If you don't what the "Facility construction" minister, then why activate it at all? I never do. I agree that the ministers lack granularity though, you cannot select the active menisters for each planet separately.

quote:
...
I had this problem too. I constructed a space station with a space yard component and several sat launch bays. I put it to build sats in repeat build mode. When the log noticed me that the station couldnt finish the sats because there was no cargo space available, then i "went" to the station and launched the sats manually. I tried activating the launch minister, but it doesnt work. The sats werent launched. [/b]

You have to turn the minister on AND put the planet/station under minister control. There is a setting that allows you to have ALL new planets to be put under minister control automatically. But I usually turn the minister on the moment I start building satellites. Saves me from launching them every turn. So far, it worked every time

Aub

Baron Munchausen · #9 October 6th, 2001, 04:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
Either autolaunch, or treat empty space like a cargo base in orbit:
IE, Any units that can't be held by the planet or cargo vehicles in orbit, gets launched automatically.

I've requested this many times. It seems simple enough to add. It would be especially helpful for the AI, you know. If you setup the build queue to include both WPs and Satellites it tends to build the WPs and then keeps queuing sats that cannot be built due to lack of cargo space. This screws up the whole defense plan.

Aub · #10 November 28th, 2001, 09:31 PM

An idea: can one mod satellites so that they are actually huge fighters without engines?

To be more precise: we remove current satellite hulls and replce them with huge fighter hulls that cannot have engines. These hulls should look like old satellites (use the right .bmp) and be available through the satellite tech.

One problem is they will use fighter bays instead of satellite bays, but we can make a Version of Fighter Bay I as a generic "Launch Bay" and make it available in the Satellite tech as well.

We'd also need to make all ship components mountable on these new satellites (i.e. fighters - but they'd take too much space to put on regular fighters tho) and change satellite mounts.

What does it solve:

- planets will launch satellites in combat! Here's your "autolaunch" function - you will never forget to launch sats again.

- Sats will be launched in Groups, thus covering the space around a planet more evenly. If you have lots of them sitting on a planet, by the time the enemy ships some into range you will have a good defense from all sides (I have to test it...)

How does it sound?