That one story mission with friendly fire mechanics... (spoilers warning)

[azaghal]

(this is basically a rant)

Ok... So, I am playing for the second time (first time being in version 6.20) the Paranid Civil War story line, and am currently at the "Foundations of an Empire" mission with the task of defending the "Sacrosanct Conclave" (not going to post what _I_ called it in the game...). And yet again, in the middle of the combat, while defending the said station after I have _personally_ built the thing (with all the deadly armaments), I find myself on the receiving end of it after some friendly fire.

If I remember well, the last time this happened to me it was fairly late during the battle when my destroyers suddenly started to pop one by one. At first I thought "damn, they have sent in more reinforcements", but after a 5th or 6th destroyer got whacked in quick succession, I really started to wonder what the heck is going on and paused the game to jump to the map mode and discover that it is the damn station that had turned on them. I believe that after that attempt I simply sent in my fleet for defense and jumped out of the sector to enjoy the grandiose immersive battle from the middle of nowhere - the magnificent renders of green and red icons in the map menu.

So... Beyond doing the mentioned immersive map-watching, disabling all turrets, equipping only beam weapons, or who knows what else (maybe making sure you don't fight even close to the station), there has got to be a way to make this a little bit more enjoyable.

Perhaps it would be better if the station remained under player's own control until the battle is over? At least that way the station can still continue to provide defensive fire and cover without going berserk on its own allies.

Or maybe there should be a way for the game to be way more tolerant in case of specific defensive missions? In cases like this there is bound to be a lot of friendly fire, even if you do a lot of turret loadout and fire configuration tweaking.

It would be just so nice if you could participate in battles like this without the constant need for scum-saving...

[Raptor34]

That's why I suggested no friendly fire damage unless specifically ordered to or you use AOE weapons. Logically the gunners can't miss a stationary target like a station, and conversely can avoid hitting a stationary target. No friendly fire is basically simulating intelligent gunners. We're assuming our gunners have brains and therefore they did not just pump a stream of plasma into it trying to hit a fighter, and since that did not happen, no damage is dealt.
A simple comparison would be Egosoft removing collision damage, that also doesn't make sense realistically speaking but is a reasonable change considering autopillock.

[azaghal]

That's why I suggested no friendly fire damage unless specifically ordered to or you use AOE weapons. Logically the gunners can't miss a stationary target like a station, and conversely can avoid hitting a stationary target. No friendly fire is basically simulating intelligent gunners. We're assuming our gunners have brains and therefore they did not just pump a stream of plasma into it trying to hit a fighter, and since that did not happen, no damage is dealt.
A simple comparison would be Egosoft removing collision damage, that also doesn't make sense realistically speaking but is a reasonable change considering autopillock.

I just saw that thread, and generally agree with it - there might be different ways to handle it, but friendly fire really ruins a lot of fun for me.

I also found it funny that you posted that thread just as I was in middle of typing this post. Would have probably posted over there instead, since this mission in particular is a very good example of why friendly fire needs to be addressed in some way

Best regards,
Branko