The capship follow command does not work as expected. If my capship is jump-capable (3000+m away from nearest object, has required energy, etc.), and I use the follow command from a different sector, the capship should immediately or at least nearly immediately jump. As-is it is very unpredictable and sometimes causes the capship to route to a jump point in the sector it is in instead of just jumping where it is.

I think it follows your previous plot points instead of taking a direct route
Also, since the sector isn't active I think it simulates flying from the center of the sector.

I've seen this bug myself. Capship is deepspaced in a station sector, full charge, everything, but takes a long time to jump in if ordered to follow from another sector. However if you order it to jump when it's in an empty sector it follows almost immediately.

I do understand that when capships travel through inactive sectors the travel time needs to be simulated, that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about specifically the case where the capship is in a definitely active sector (for example one you just jumped from), and is 3000m+ away from any object, and has energy available. The behavior in that case should be that the capship almost immediately jumps, but sometimes it changes direction and goes to a specified jump point, which sometimes leads to it taking dramatically longer to follow.

This is not actually a bug. This is behaviour inherited from the NPC convoys, which are grouped, and have parameters designed to keep the "convoy" together so escorts and defenses are more useful.

Basically, if you're in a group, the capship will use the jump-out point of a group member who has jumped out of the sector. It does this, because:

1) It knows this is a "good" position" (jumpable, no asteroids, etc).
2) It assumes that anyone else in the group will also use that same location (keeping the convoy together).

We are not currently changing that, because it has a drastic implication for convoys. However, we have added the following modification specifically for player-owned capships:

- IF a "follow" command is received from outside the sector (sector-jump is intended).
- AND IF no members of the group are in radar range.
- THEN jump as soon as it becomes possible (minimum object distance, sufficient energy / no drain-attacks).

This was supposed to be added some weeks ago, but Ray apparently "forgot" and only implemented it after I asked about it last night. So, it is in place now.

Inc, does this new change affect capships in foggy sectors? Some, like Latos M-7, don’t actually show your distance increasing. I noticed this (or perhaps a simultaneous but different issue) prevented my ships from ever following me out of M7, which could be a problem if I had flown them out a fraction of a light year or two...

Inc, does this new change affect capships in foggy sectors?

Er? I mean, there are a hell of a lot of NPC capships (convoys) who are already able to leave foggy sectors. I'm not actually aware of a problem around that.

If someone finds a Bug, then please reproduce it carefully and then post a reproduction case in a new thread on here. Because that will actually be unrelated to this thread (even if they seem to be).

People have been sending us on a lot of wild-goose-chases lately, around "exploits" and bugs and things that aren't actually real, so.. please be sure it's definitively a game problem and not some kind of visual error due to a plugin, etc.

Thanks Incarnate, both updating the logic for player-owned capships and just knowing how it works are very helpful.

*- AND IF no members of the group are in radar range.*

Is this line of logic really necessary for the modification for player-owned capships? It appears as though for players owning a goli and trident, they count as being in the group, so if they are following within radar range of each other but far behind the player, and also far from the jump-in area of the sector, both capships can get "stuck" until the player flies out to where the capships are. In addition, groups are an important part of coordinated play, and there are many scenarios where I'd want to be in a group and still have my capship jump to follow me when in radar range of a group member.

Those rules are implemented generally for all capships, including NPC convoys. The modification was simply put in place "specifically for player-owned capships", ie for the benefit of player capships.

That rule was put in place specifically to retain compatibility with NPC convoys, which rely on a group-convoy jump mechanic.

At any rate, this is not really a "Bug", per-se. I appreciate the behaviour isn't ideal, but it is functioning as intended, even if the implementation is currently imperfect.