Patrol command is useless!

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Szines Geza
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Patrol command is useless!

Post by Szines Geza » Tue, 23. Nov 21, 19:28

The "patrol" command is completely useless!
The behaviour of the ships is incomprehensible. They patrol calmly, while not far away pirates or even the Khaak cheerfully thins out my mining ships! (destroying one after another)
Why can't they find out what's going on in this sector?
Even from the satellites in the sector! Or even the ship under attack could give a distress signal. And then they could come to the aid of the attacked ship!
As it is, they're just wandering around the sector like idiots!

I know it's too late, because this game doesn't matter anymore. But perhaps more thought could be given to this in the future.

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Ragnos28
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Ragnos28 » Tue, 23. Nov 21, 19:55

You are correct. The only thing that works is to give your patrol ships, orders to protect until further notice, a station that you place near the "hot spot" where the Kha'ak tend to appear. Another way to make the patrol command to be more useful is to order 1 ship to patrol and others to mimic the commander (I use 1 Katana on patrol and 9 others to mimic), that achieve a better sector coverage. Also, give up all your M miners and replace them with L miners. L miners will stay alive, until the patrol ships, finally, stumble across the Kha'ak. Even so, more often than not, I find myself giving atack targets in range to the patrol ships, but, at least, L miners will not die.

Ezarkal
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Ezarkal » Tue, 23. Nov 21, 20:00

Szines Geza wrote:
Tue, 23. Nov 21, 19:28
I know it's too late, because this game doesn't matter anymore. But perhaps more thought could be given to this in the future.
Where did you get this idea? The devs are still releasing new features and DLC, improving the AI, fixing bugs, etc. We had a massive DLC 8 months ago, and at least another one to come.
Sure, there are some places that still need improvement. Patrol feature is one of them, and not the only one. But considering all that's been added to and fixed in the game so far, I'd say they will eventually get to that.

If you take a peek at the changelog for the next patch, this here is listed:
Improved coordination between multiple free-flying police operating in same sector.
Not exactly the patrol feature, I know, but it may be related enough to be affected.



In my game, I have a couple of squads in Frontier's Edge that are in charge of protecting my miners from ka'haks and xenons, and they do a moderately decent job of it. They still need a bit of babysitting here and there when distant miners are in trouble, but they will hunt down any enemy ships within radar range and assist close-by miners. I'm tempted to just add 2-3 wings of fighters and see if it does the job.
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Axeface
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Axeface » Tue, 23. Nov 21, 20:04

Szines Geza wrote:
Tue, 23. Nov 21, 19:28
The "patrol" command is completely useless!
The behaviour of the ships is incomprehensible. They patrol calmly, while not far away pirates or even the Khaak cheerfully thins out my mining ships! (destroying one after another)
Why can't they find out what's going on in this sector?
Even from the satellites in the sector! Or even the ship under attack could give a distress signal. And then they could come to the aid of the attacked ship!
As it is, they're just wandering around the sector like idiots!

I know it's too late, because this game doesn't matter anymore. But perhaps more thought could be given to this in the future.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
They can only see things within their own radar range. It would be nice if we could give them access to specific satellites or something, or perhaps give us a new type of satellite that can relay information to patrolling ships. And a station module perhaps too.

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grapedog
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by grapedog » Wed, 24. Nov 21, 00:44

There is a radar range ship mod, green i believe, for basic nanoweave. Does anyone know how much of a radius increase it gives? Perhaps patrol ships would operate mich better with an increased range.

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Axeface
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Axeface » Wed, 24. Nov 21, 01:26

grapedog wrote:
Wed, 24. Nov 21, 00:44
There is a radar range ship mod, green i believe, for basic nanoweave. Does anyone know how much of a radius increase it gives? Perhaps patrol ships would operate mich better with an increased range.
5 - 20%. So its not going to make much difference.

Jaskan
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Jaskan » Thu, 25. Nov 21, 09:47

Maybe you should try reaction force instead

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2069655173

Mr.Killer
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Mr.Killer » Thu, 25. Nov 21, 11:45

I would suggest not to let them patrol. From military point of view, patrol is not seeing what really is important, just be a dumb-ass(when I was in the military) and walk the fence until coffee break! But this is not real life, this is a game. I also let big carriers with loads of behemoths and whatnot patrol a sector, but when it comes to mining areas, I always appoint at least two little fighters at their side to protect them, that helps.
Maybe you made this mistake, cause I also saw that patrol is not always 'seeing' the enemy and I had to step in to made them aware.. I find this not a flaw, just something we can overcome...

I hope you try this....

Gavrushka
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Gavrushka » Thu, 25. Nov 21, 11:49

Yeah, patrol isn't a command I use anymore. - What I do is have small fleets or even individual ships with the leader set to 'Repeat' and then right click on a few areas of concern with the command 'attack targets in range.' - It works well, especially against Kha'ak, but is best employed with multiple small fleets with overlapping 'attack targets in range' commands.
“Man, my poor head is battered,” Ed said.

“That explains its unusual shape,” Styanar said, grinning openly now. “Although it does little to illuminate just why your jowls are so flaccid or why you have quite so many chins.”

“I…” Had she just called him fat? “I am just a different species, that’s all.”

“Well nature sure does have a sense of humour then,” Styanar said. “Shall we go inside? It’d not be a good idea for me to be spotted by others.”

King[NL]
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by King[NL] » Fri, 26. Nov 21, 13:39

I also let my carrier patrol the sector. However I also set a global order to give an alert when khaak is detected in the sector. This way when I hear the alert, I can manually deploy fighters from the carrier to take care of the khaak.
I know this means manual intervention, but it does work quite well!

It would be really cool if NPCs (but als your patrols) would react on distress signals. That would make the game much more dynamic and immersive. If someone is in trouble, then law-abiding citizens and law enforcement should respond. Not completely ignore the ship in distress and let him be destroyed.

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grapedog
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by grapedog » Fri, 26. Nov 21, 23:33

If Protect Position could be given a much larger radius, that would probably go a long way towards solving the issues... because ships do react to threats inside the protect position radius.

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Xkuka
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Xkuka » Mon, 29. Nov 21, 01:34

grapedog wrote:
Wed, 24. Nov 21, 00:44
There is a radar range ship mod, green i believe, for basic nanoweave. Does anyone know how much of a radius increase it gives? Perhaps patrol ships would operate mich better with an increased range.
I remember a statement that the ships using its "default" radar range, so with this in mind ship mods are useless.
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Xkuka
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Re: Patrol command is useless!

Post by Xkuka » Mon, 29. Nov 21, 01:37

Jaskan wrote:
Thu, 25. Nov 21, 09:47
Maybe you should try reaction force instead

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2069655173
Its ok, but not if the mining area is too large. In combination with the "Sector Patrol" mod you get decent results. Or just skip RF and just use SP and kill any suspect in the first place. Less immersion but also less trouble. :roll:
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