u/Angelofdeath600

Instead of a complex math check for every ship, Egosoft just needs to add a Distance-Based Kill Switch to the "Retaliate" behavior.

​The Logic: If (Ship is assigned to Fleet) AND (Ship distance from Commander > 3km), then (Abort current Attack order) and (Resume Escort).

Defend orders should have my ships chasing something across the sector. Can't force combined arms/ escorts when they hunt down the nearest dude that insulted thier paint job...

Intercept: Allowed to break formation to hunt S/M ships.
​Defend: Prohibited from breaking formation. It only fires turrets. It treats its engines as if they are disabled for any order except staying near the commander. Attack w commander has turned into attack without discernment ​Current Problem: In 9.0, "Defend" is basically just "Attack with a slightly shorter leash." They need to make "Defend" a passive-aggressive role where the ship acts like a turret platform, not a fighter.

Instead of 50 subordinates each asking, "Am I being shot? Should I move?", the Commander should be the only one running the "Targeting" script. ​The Change: The subordinates stop thinking for themselves. They essentially "Mirror" the Commander's sensor data. ​CPU Impact: This actually reduces the load. You move the "brain power" to one ship (the Flagship) and make the subordinates "drones" that just follow the lead.

you don't need a lower tick rate; you need smarter ticks. Instead of a blanket 5-second delay, the game could use Event-Driven Logic: ​Low-Power Mode (Idle): If no enemies are within 40km, the Destroyer checks its surroundings once every 10 seconds. (Saves CPU). ​High-Alert Mode (Combat): The moment a sensor detects a red icon or a shield takes a hit, the tick rate instantly ramps up to match the fighters. ​The Benefit: You save 90% of your CPU power during transit and docking, but you have 100% precision the moment the first shot is fired.

Edit it means more like a 20km bubble sorry

Holy Judas priest on a bike the insane targeting bug in emp missles seems fixed or dialed back. Fighters work great at modular stripping but more spread out to keep lets say engines to be overwhelmed in seconds. BUT also splits up firing arcs which could prove to require some skills and tactical planning.

This is starting to look fleshed put pretty nice. Xenon have a thought tine to predict your boost in things like the Rattlesnake rewarding jousting/ run and gun.

I did notice enemy foghters struggle to not smash into me when thrust vectors change but that makes sense honestly. Things are looking good. Its rewarding skillful piloting and yet also keeps the ai from being too pathetic. Though the boost throwing off fighter trajectory can be abused making enemies possibly appear weaker.

Overall good report things like destoryers arent over powered but arent looking weak af amd they did so in an interesting way ( changing how foghters split up fire on your modules)

Just thought id point out the whole "destoryers shouldnt solo a fighter compliment isnt actually backed up by anything credible quite the opposite in fact.

In actual naval history, a Destroyer is a dedicated screening vessel meant to swat down swarms, not a "liability" that needs babysitting.

​USS Laffey (DD-724): During the Battle of Okinawa, this lone Destroyer fended off roughly 50 Japanese aircraft. Despite being hit by 6 Kamikazes and 4 bombs, it stayed afloat and shot down 9–13 planes.

A real Destroyer is a "No-Fly Zone." In X4 9.0, a Destroyer is an "Engine Health Bar" that gets disabled by a single EMP scout while your at max speed because of artificial tracking limits and shield delays.

On top of the superior module targeting they've been hammered in like 3 times now

Every major sci-fi universe treats the Destroyer as a self-contained power house.

​Halo (Halberd-class): A "glass cannon" that uses internal missile banks and point-defense to erase fighter wings solo. It doesn't need a Carrier to hold its hand.

​Star Trek (Defiant-class): A Destroyer-sized escort that routinely solos swarms of Jem'Hadar fighters. Its shields don't stop regenerating because a single scout "tapped" them with a laser.

​Stargate (304 Daedalus-class): Can engage hundreds of Wraith Darts simultaneously. Unlike X4, it actually has the hangar capacity (16+ ships) to match the "escort" meta the devs claim to want.

So honestly my argument from the beginning literally still stands. Again if the whole idea was to make destoryers require escorts than think REALLY hard. Why were thier docking bays left untouched? Why do some have abysmal carrying capacity. Why has follow ship orders not been corrected and you find half your fleet 3 sectors over when you get jumped.

I dont mind requiring escorts if they actually made it make sense. But it really doesnt

Edit. On the flip side I enjoy flying a fighter it feels almost star wars esk where you come in blast at turrets takingba few out after a few passes before letting a destoryer move in for the kill. Fighters have gotten imo a much needed buff/ love. 8.0 ships survived because thier modules barely got targeted. Now with shield changes you REALLY have to watch yourself modules and how much damage they end up taking. Its really fun and engaging. Ai are pretty good at utilizing destoryers and seem to have some hidden buffs over player control so destroyer v destoryer seems doable but I still feel you are forced into specific turrets.

Fleet vs fleet you might not notice much and ai vs ai isnt going to help as ai have some advantages over you in piloting such as abusing the travel drive to extend the length of main cannon projectiles. ( like in the one example provided via video on a different post) But destoryers can be excessively weak to fighters especially with emp and other missles. Your engines get sniped and thats it. With emp missles being faster than travel drive... its not a skill issue at that point. Your just waiting for a destoryer to move in and finish you off.

There is alot of good in the update dont get me wrong. But there are a few things not great either as a result of these changes ive noticed.