So, I'm trying to orchestrate a really neat "cut-scene" type battle----the player jumps into a system, and sees a bunch of Capships firing on the surface of a planet.
Now, I heard somewhere that "Attack enemy spobs" doesn't work right, so I didn't use it or any planet-type weapons. Instead, I set three or four invisible ships to start right over the spob, whom the auxships jumping in really hate.
Here's the problem. Yes, the fleet opens fire on the planet----but not with all their guns. Only with their beam weapons. Now, the beam is cool and all, but it's meant to be a tertiary weapon-----long reload time, non-turreted, only mounted on really huge ships. The vessels jumping in have missiles as well, but they don't use them---mostly. They do now and then, but not all the time.
So, a few questions.
-Can anyone explain in detail how the AI's weapon selection policy works?
-Why did the ships stop using the beams when I made them turreted?
-Why is it that "standoff attacks" seem to imply a fixed distance, rather than max weapons range (eg, they won't use the beams at all if they're too far away)?
-Why do ships executing standoff attacks for whom beams are out of range, not try their other weapons?
I checked, and none of the weapons have the "exclusive" flag.