Random Exploration: Not So Random?

I haven't noticed because I don't explore in that fashion. I use a cargo hold loaded with sensors, and send them out in all directions. I control them manually and don't mind it much. I do use the auto-survey ability for the flagship though, it is quite handy. Not sure if that was any help, but you might try another means if it isn't working for you.

I have noticed the same thing, particularly in smaller maps. My guess is that whatever algorithim is used to explore, it is unable to relate to other ships that a certain bit of exploration is already being done, so all the ships eventually hone in on the same piece of real estate.

Yeah I noticed that too. It looks like they all explore according to the same logarithm, because scouts have such a short vision they all take the same routes. Increasing the vision of your scouts seems to decrease the problem.

I have noticed the same.

Yeah, I hadn't thought to mention it, but now that you bring it up, that's happened to me, and it's really annoying.

Yeah, I hadn't thought to mention it, but now that you bring it up, that's happened to me, and it's really annoying.

More annoying, to me, is that all ships (yours and nearby enemy ships) all auto-survey the same things... resulting in 'races' to the nearest anomaly, after which all the nearby scouts turn and head for the next one. You'd think the ones who'll ose would realize it and turn for something else so they can at least survey -something-...

I really noticed it, its really annoying. For the first while when it matters where I explore I manually control them but it just reaches a point eventually where its just much faster to build a few more cargo sensor ships and set them to auto.

I saw the same thing during the campaign with three scouts of mine and had to manually force them off in different directions. Definite one to fix, especially as it wouldn't surprise me if the AI uses this behaviour.

What was the size of the galaxy?

The fact that scout can go to the same sector, at the same moment is a proof that the exploration is random and the auto-explore algorythm have a flaw : it dont exclude from the possibilities parsec who are destinations for other ships.

Yup. I now put exactly 1 ship on auto-explore, and the rest I move manually (super pain). Otherwise they follow each other like ants. It's cute, but not very effective.

Definite one to fix, especially as it wouldn't surprise me if the AI uses this behaviour.

It seems to, sometimes. I often see AI scouts operate in pairs. However, I've never seen them in trains of 4+, which happened to my scouts the first time I tried auto-explore.

I've hit this problem before, but it is pretty easy to work around. When you see two of your scout ships together, just manually send one in a different direction. You don't even have to take it off auto-explore. As soon as it gets to where you sent it, it will resume exploring. If you send it somewhere near unexplored territory it will go there.

It seems basically like auto-explore sends the ships towards the nearest unexplored area. If two ships are right next to each other, they go to the same place because that is the closest unexplored area. So you just need to get your ships into different areas and let them go at it.

Has anyone else noticed the supernatural ability of Flagships and other survey ships, when set to auto survey, to head straight for the nearest anomoly, even if this anomoly is not visible.

Galactic Civilization 2 is supposed to be a Science Fiction game, not a Fantasy game.

One possible solution would be to make anomolies visible at the start of the game.

That is by design. Both player and AI survey vessels can find hidden anomolies. Consider it one of the abilities of the sensor module.

I hope this comes to the attention of the devs if it is a bug, often times I have so much else to micro manage, micromanaging my explorers gets to be a hassle, I wish I could just send them out to randomly survey different areas. (and for the record, even if all of my ships are in different parsecs, they eventually end up in the same one, even if another unexplored parsec is closer.) Though I realize the devs do have better things to do with their time, I wouldn't mind if this got fixed.

I like to make my auto-explore ships have different speeds. This way, even if they all head for the same square, they will eventually get out of sync.

Plus, there's a tendency for ships on auto-explore to lose this ability when they reach the edge of the map.

It would be cool if you could assign them to different sectors, and when a sector is completely maped it will indicate to the player so i they can tell the scout which sector to map next