An Order Loop is a Default Behaviour (Introduced in 4.0 beta 1) that requires a minimum aggregate skill level of 1 star (incorporating pilot and crew skill, biased toward the pilot) and turns the Order Queue from an ordered and finite list of instructions into an infinitely repeating set of instructions that complete in the order first given by the player.

Like the regular Order Queue, orders can be deleted and re-ordered so if you get the order mixed up when first giving the orders you can fix it up with no hassle.

Consequently, these orders are quite powerful, allowing ships to complete a complex set of commands without micromanagement by the player (apart from the initial setup).

To start, navigate to the ship's Behaviour menu as you would for setting up any other default behaviour. Select "Repeat Orders" from the Default behaviour Drop-Down Box and click confirm.
Note: order loops require a minimum 1 star pilot to be selected as a default behaviour.

At this point you should notice the Order Queue changes from "Order Queue" to "∞ Order Queue [Loop]"

You are now ready to begin giving the set of orders that your ship will follow indefinitely whether they be trade, exploratory, combat or a combination. In the next sections I will give examples of each.

Trade Loops are great for getting traders moving when your crews haven't reached 3 stars yet or you don't have a station.

The "Repeat Orders" Default Behaviour allows ships to participate in 4 Order Loop exclusive orders


In their most basic form Trade Loops consist of a "Buy From" component and a "Sell to" component with parameters for the maximum quantity bought and sold and the maximum buy price and minimum sell price. With these parameters players can ensure each occurrence of the loop is able to generate a profit (there's nothing worse than losing money on a regular basis to an incorrectly set-up trade loop).

As an example here is a screenshot of an incredibly simple trade loop that buys engine parts and then sells them to the adjacent wharf.

The "Fly to" command is a powerful order for revealing regions of space, updating trade offers and keeping an eye on the Xenon if you can't afford the outlay for satellites.

Navigation commands in an Order Loop allows the player to explore larger regions of sectors or even set up a single ship to explore the entire Jumpgate Network constantly. (Note to explore the whole galaxy it will take a significant amount of "Fly to" commands and a great deal of patience to set up).

By default, the routes fleets follow when ordered to patrol or police a sector are fairly haphazard and ships always seem to be in the wrong spot. With Order Loops, however, by combining a series of "Attack Targets in Range" commands in strategic locations it is possible to force fleets to only patrol key areas and critically, use their travel drives to move between patrol locations. Additionally, this allows the player to force fleets to patrol across multiple sectors (even the whole Jump Gate network if desired)

In the example below the fleet is set to "Attack all Targets in Range" at four locations including 2 Accelerators, a Jump Gate and the centre of the sector.

Below is a list of orders that cannot be utilised in an order loop

• Explore
  
• Dock to Trade
  
• Dock and Wait
  
• Attack
  
• Attack Multiple Objects
  
• Sell Ship at
  
• Patrol
  
• Police

Additionally the mimic command cannot used to copy another ship's order loop, mimic only works for the standard set of default behaviours.