[6.20] Escorts on "intercept" sometimes don't

[LameFox]

This is something I have seen on a few occasions, typically when using M sized escorts (maybe because they are not landed?). The ships will be set to intercept for another ship as it moves around doing whatever it does. They fly along with it, sometimes keeping formation. When an enemy of interceptable size appears, they do not react until fired on.

Today I managed to spot it happening and quicksaved moments before they took fire:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G0q_YE ... sp=sharing



It is literally 'moments' so you will have to use pause to observe this.

Step 1: pause during load. When loaded in, locate "Salvager I" in the property menu and observe that its two Katana escorts are set to Intercept.

Step 2: viewing them on the map, tap pause twice to display the Kha'ak Hive Guard about to attack what appears to be the nearest Katana. Note the distance: it's well inside the intercept range. Their orders however have not updated to attack it.

Step 3: unpause. They will be attacked by, and subsequently kill the Hive Guard.

The order is not fully broken. If you were to path the Teuta over by the nearby Kha'ak Installation, where destroyers are spawning Kha'ak, the interceptors would pick targets. It just seems like in some circumstances they are not checking for new targets as often as they should. Kha'ak ships are fast-moving, but I have frequently seen carrier fighters in intercept mode launch because a small Xenon ship zipped past *in the highway system*, so I don't think they are just approaching too fast for the order's normal function. And while I wasn't quick enough to save earlier, I am sure this Kha'ak did not spawn as close as it is, it was definitely flying toward them.

In this situation it isn't very dangerous, because once the Kha'ak attack they are always killed before doing any real harm. However I have seen for instance that a Minotaur Raider can easily kill a relatively durable M sized freighter like a Vulture before its intercept escorts can react. In those situations, I have found that manually removing the assignment and re-creating it will cause them to immediately target such a ship, presumably because it triggers a check for hostiles in range.

[LameFox]

Here is another save that may be useful. Once again navigate to Salvager I.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r3XOgA ... sp=sharing

In this case, one escort has moved to intercept a Kha'ak ship while the other hasn't. More Kha'ak should also be arriving soon, based on a few reloads, and I have watched this one ship continue to fight solo unless they directly attack the other or its lead ship. Maybe the distinction between the ships will make the problem more apparent.

[LameFox]

Testing in 7.0 beta.

Turns out this also applies to landed S ships. In this save my carrier is not launching fighters but is launching M ships. Both are set to the intercept role. There seems to be a problem with this order as a whole then, and it's not addressed by the new version.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13FARWS ... sp=sharing