Squad behaviour confusion!

[Scoob]

Hey all,

I'm hoping for some guidance here, as things aren't working as I'd expect.

I'm sat in a Cerberus Vanguard, who's the leader of a small squad of similar class ships. These subordinate ships were all initially following the default "defend" behaviour, however they'd regularly fly off engaging random targets, leaving me alone! I double-checked their behaviour and switched it from the default "Defend" to "Protect Ship" hoping that meant they'd only engage hostiles that engaged me. Nope.

The problem is, I'm exploring Xenon space and I want my guys to stay close. What they're actually doing is zooming off to attack any Xenon station I go near - despite me not having taken any fire from them, and being 20km+ away. This is really quite frustrating.

So, is there any way to actually command my squad to stay in a cohesive group, only breaking off when I, or another ship, come under direct fire?

Additionally, I've set the turrets on my ship to shoot enemies first, not the default stance of waiting to be shot at, by using the icons along the top of the cockpit. How do I order my subordinates to take the same stance?

Finally, I do attack a station - and allow my subordinates to do the same - they seem to remain at range, circling the station and rarely getting close enough to fire. These three ships together should be quite devastating, but the wonky AI and imprecise control are scuppering their abilities.

Any tips on effectively managing a squad much appreciated.

Scoob.

Bonus question: Is there any way to control Drone Launches? I've sold the ones on all my ships as they'd launch at inappropriate times lol.

[gschultz]

I havne't seen enemies for a while, but i think ive experienced a bit of what you say. in my case i had miner with a fighter escort. on the rare occasion that i had found an enemy ONE figther would peel of the wing he was ASSIGNED TO and fly 5 sectors to me to try and defend me.

i think the only way to stop it, or how i would do it initally is manual orders with a default defend position - maybe even hold fire. but that isn't realistic as we need to automate much of our fleet. i mean i automate flying now too witih my captain. micromanagement should be much less.......as previous x games had this system down.