Intercept trajectories question

[frostyplanet]

My ships are with zeta boron drive that have 900 DV.
Alien ship just finish attacking some base and return home, I spend only 1/4 DV to intercept their fleet (they are not far away). But after winning the battle. I found my ship immobile, only to wait a long time until my ship reach alien base, and then order them to come home.
Is it the game's limit that ship cannot change course once they are in trajectory? I think should make a exception for the intercept mission.

[spoop]

The intercepting fleet always inherits the trajectory of the original fleet




Now that cut's both ways, good players have used it to send the alien doomstack to Pluto at griddrive speed

[PAwleus]

Now that cut's both ways, good players have used it to send the alien doomstack to Pluto at griddrive speed

This is why I actually bug-reported it because when you know it you always intercept enemies that are on safe to you trajectories (eg. that lead to your own stations) but they are helpless, currently, and they are very easily lured into traps (eg. making colonization much easier that it should be) so it cuts in only one way, effectively.

[frostyplanet]

Now that cut's both ways, good players have used it to send the alien doomstack to Pluto at griddrive speed

lol, how do they know what target doomstack fleet will pick?

[frostyplanet]

(eg. making colonization much easier that it should be) so it cuts in only one way, effectively.

how this work with colonization ?

[PAwleus]

(eg. making colonization much easier that it should be) so it cuts in only one way, effectively.

how this work with colonization ?

Assume you fly to Jupiter (or Saturn) with your colonizing fleet - apart from alien fleets that try to intercept it from a different body but usually arrive too late to matter there is a substantial alien fleet that is defending the interface orbit of an alien-colonized Jupiter (or Saturn) body. You can trick this fleet to try to intercept a chosen by you ship by doing some activities in the mentioned orbit, eg. trying to scan the body, and then you can set up a transfer to some distant body or even better: to a distant trap with enough force to easily destroy them. The chosen by you ship is sacrificed in the process if it's not good enough to run away but this alien defensive fleet inherits its trajectory and without it it's much harder for the Aliens to disrupt your local colonization efforts. Other substantial local alien fleets that will become interested in your colonizing fleet you can send to a trap in a similar way while developing locally a force that will be able to deal with any credible threat.

[frostyplanet]

@PAwleus Thanks for the tip. In my current game the alien has little present in Jovian system (attrition by my static defence and policing AI base in the belt). And alien doomstack fleet has been always sitting at home.