[#4586] AI M ships following but not using highway

[zerocrown]

• 8.00 English
• No mods
• Emergence
• AI sent to a faraway destination in a medium ship along the superhighway will follow alongside the highway without ever entering it. I have to teleport to the ship to force them onto the highway and they will stay on it until their destination. This REALLY hurts with slow ships given long preprogrammed routes.
• I'm unsure if this was or wasn't working properly in 7.6. I added a lot of slow medium-sized traders specifically for superhighway trade routes shortly before 8.00 release (prior to that, most of my trade routes used L ships and/or did not closely follow the highway). No other notable changes.
• Unmodded save: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/67wh9d98 ... 3u3ey&dl=0 (note the "R15 Vulture Sentinel" path/position)
• Map view: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/w66azk9n ... xqxd4&dl=0

[ManuelEgosoft]

Hey zerocrown, thanks for your report.
As it is right now, formations cannot use the highway and this is intended. Formations would otherwise break apart because of the time needed for every single ship to enter and exit the highway. While this fact is important for larger formations, me personally, I see room for improvement here regarding super tiny formations like your current case (one trader and its escort). We haven't made the decision yet IF and WHAT we want to do about it. Mainly because of priorities. In the meantime, don't assign escorts to your trader if you want them to use the highway.

[zerocrown]

Thank you for the reply. That is an understandable conundrum, and I appreciate the explanation and workaround.