Colonization bug?

[heretk]

OK, in MOO2, whenever you sent a colony ship to a system, it automatically prompts the option to colonize a planet upon arrival.

Not so it seems in MOO3. When I send my task force to a new system, no prompt. No apparent command available to colonize from that point. The only way I can figure out how to do it is through the Planet tab, by selecting the system and ordering a colony ship to be sent.

Am I just being a dumb noob here? Shouldn't I just be able to manually direct a colony task force to a system, and from there, order the ship to land on the appropriate planet?

I have tried this with both the Colony setting in the Empire tab turned on and off.

[Vyshka]

If you have a colony ship at the system you want to
colonize already, then what you need to do is go
into the system screen, click the planet you want,
clock on the forces tab, click the TF for the colony ship,
and hit the colonize button at the bottom of the forces
menu.

[heretk]

Many thanks. I knew it was an ID10T error.

[canamrock]

Alternatively, you can click on the planet to be colonized before the colony ship is built, and click the 'send colony' button. That way, a colony ship will be sent automatically when it's available. This is faster (less layover time in orbit), but it can get problematic with the AI on occassion.

[Killazer]

im having a problem where I select build colony on planets and the ai send like 12 colony ships to that ONE planet while there are several other planets waiting for colony ships. That is a real pain in the ass to fix. Not sure wtf that is about

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Killazer
im having a problem where I select build colony on planets and the ai send like 12 colony ships to that ONE planet while there are several other planets waiting for colony ships. That is a real pain in the ass to fix. Not sure wtf that is about

Not sure how to fix that either yet. You can click on the ship and give it new instructions, but I don't know how to send them out more efficiently.

I find that the colonize ai is fairly efficient, though it will send colonies beyond my defensive lines in all directions, which is incredibly annoying.

[Vince278]

I ran into something bizarre. I was checking out a planet and clicked on create colony. Then I changed my mind and cancelled that so I could send the colony ship there first. Couldn't find the ship so I went back and clicked on create colony again on the same planet. The ship arrives on schedule and colonizes the planet. I select the planet only to find not one but two pop points on it. I definitely did not have more than one colony ship built at a time. Sounds like a colonization bug to me. I'll see if I can duplicate it before I pass judgement on it.

[Jason Beaudoin]

Are colony ships destroyed after colonizing a new planet (like in MOO2), or can you go back and pick up more settlers from your home planet?

If so, how is this done?

[Vyshka]

nope, they disappear when the colony is made.

[heretk]

Originally posted by canamrock
Alternatively, you can click on the planet to be colonized before the colony ship is built, and click the 'send colony' button. That way, a colony ship will be sent automatically when it's available. This is faster (less layover time in orbit), but it can get problematic with the AI on occassion.

I too am annoyed with how the AI will handle colony orders. Though the method is great in principle: directing all colonization of new systems from a single menu (Planet tab). Recently, I discovered three nice systems close to my homeworld (one was a Sweet Spot) and had the AI begin building three colony TFs. Then I waited. And waited, and then waited some more. The AI was taking its sweet a** time and didn't seem to put a rush on things.

The imperial hand had to descend into the respective military build qeues and get things moving. I wish there was a way to punish lazy viceroys.