One feature that Civ games offer that I miss in this game is the rubberband pathfinding mechanism. You hold down the right mouse button after selecting a unit and move it anywhere on the map. As you do this, the game will show you the path it intends to take with that piece to the destination. This would make it very easy to plan a straight hyperlane and avoid obstacles.
When I want to move a ship over long distances, I will do the first move manually and only then set the target. Then I can see whether the path is fine or not, without the ship actually moving.*
One major problem with pathfinding in GC3 is that ships no longer follow the path that is mapped out for them on the map
One reason is that if an obstacle appears on the path (such as an AI ship), the path needs to be adjusted to the situation. Personally I'd prefer if instead the ship would follow the laid out path up to the point where the obstacle comes into sensor range, then stop, and wait for manual orders.
* P.S.:
Actually I would prefer if ships wouldn't start moving upon setting a target, then I could check the layout of the path before doing the move. More importantly, and that is my main reason for editing my post, I wouldn't accidentally moving a ship in the wrong direction by clicking somewhere while having accidentally selected thew wrong ship (this happens to me rather often, especially when playing late into the night...)
