any point in creating fleets?

I find it usefull for keeping ships from running all over the place when they first enter orbit. Formations would be good though..... to make them even more usefull.

Fleets are good especially if you are just passing through a system and want some effective collective fire.

Im rather new to thegame, but i use the fleets, havent had a problem with them not attacking right.

Only advantage i can see, is that they try to stay formed up in a proper sequence, heavy in front long range in back etc...

Also if you send newly made reinforcements to the front lines, they will auto join your fleet thats at that sector soon as they phase in.

Im not sure how it decides which fleet to join if theres multiple, think its supposed to join the fleet that needs it most? but would have no idea what method it would use to determine that.

As for your ships not attacking, may have been just a random glitch, id try it again.

forming a bunch of mini-fleets is a good idea. For example, if you have and Akkan, then get the targeting computer ability. then you can make a fleet consisting of 15-20 LRMs with 15% increased range. (useful for defence platforms) then have a Kol with a bunch of your pure fighting vessels to support your other fleet. This is good because you can have the LRMs focus on caps or light frigs while your Kol-fleet takes out the support frigs and distracts the rest of the fleet.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again...

Fleets only really behave like a fleet when you issue orders only to the flagship. The rest of the fleet makes it's decisions based on what you just ordered the flagship to do. If you told the flagship to attack some heavy cruisers, it's gonna saunter on over and do it, meanwhile the flakk ships will go "wtf? waste of time, imo." and just follow in formation shooting at fighters/bombers as they go.

Also, you have to set your engagement envelope properly... ANYTHING other than "Hold Position" will see your pretty formation fall apart as segments of your fleet break and attack based upon their range (either local or system if I recall properly).

If you want the fleet system to work for you, you need to custom tailor several fleets, and learn to micro them via their flagships. Otherwise everything disintegrates into a large furball (or melee, if you prefer).

Most the time... having a big mess and just micro-managing the capships and useful support vessels is more than enough to do the job, though. However, it's far more impressive when you do it by the numbers, and you will likely also suffer less damage as a result.

Furthermore, I have found that organizing by fleets best serves the TEC and Advent, where as the Vasari actually do quite well as a chaotic mess... but I suppose that fits with their guerilla tactics / mobility theme.

But the beauty of this game... is that you can only control a few key components of your mess, or artfully conduct fleets via flagships, or even just make a bunch of control groups out of certain ship types w/ no cohesion... and get the job done in any case.

Really, it all comes down to whatever playstyle you prefer; but imo yes, there is a point in creating fleets - it's just the way I like to do it .

Go go IC/StarDock for giving options!

-Itharus

He could do this with hotkeys as well, button 1 is ranged, button 2 is short ranged ships for example. Controlling flagships is a bit different. If you key a bunch of ships and tell them to attack a cap, all of them attack the cap if able. If you tell a fleet to attack a cap, your flagship will, but the other ships in the fleet might shoot at defense platforms etc instead.

My suggestion to the OP would be to try a few games with fleets and ordering flagships, then decide for yourself what method suits your play style the best. Maybe a mix of both.