User error or bug? 2.0452 autopilot

[kmunoz]

I took a job that set 6 waypoints. Then I saved the game. I then engaged the autopilot and it took me all the way, correctly. Then I died. Then I reloaded the save. I still had the 6 waypoints, but when I used autopilot, it engaged to a yellow waypoint in the same sector instead of going to waypoint 1.

I feel like there's a chance I'm not doing something right but also I haven't had to do anything different other than engage autopilot to get the multi waypoint system to work.

[kmunoz]

I was able to "goose" it back into working by setting my yellow waypoint to the waypoint 1 location. Now I definitely feel like I was doing something wrong but I'm not sure what, as this hasn't happened before.

Maybe on the save re-load it reset the position of the yellow waypoint? Is it normally set to green waypoint 1 when a job is taken that sets them up?

[Vice]

The autopilot will always go where the nav marker tells it to go. So if/when it potentially resets, such as after you get destroyed, it will need to be placed back at whatever waypoint you may want to return to or continue from. You can use the 'Set Nav' button to set the nav marker to a waypoint or manually adjust it to whatever location you may want. Additionally, it won't automatically reroute back to waypoint 1, even if you aren't destroyed, unless you instruct it to. It will always hold at the last waypoint as the final destination.

Yes, at the time you take a contract and if a waypoint route is provided for you, it will automatically set the nav marker to waypoint 1. From there, you can follow the route or manually select whatever waypoint order you may want. If you are destroyed, then the contract is lost anyway and it will not route back to waypoint 1. The waypoint route will be left behind to preserve whatever route may have been set up for any reason (so you don't lose a route you may have taken some time to put together and so you can continue from where you left off). Waypoints are preserved per game session until cleared by the player. That way, they don't lose their plotted course during such a destruction cycle since that can take some time to set up. It also allows the player to retrace their steps and go back to a previous waypoint with little effort, even after reaching an end waypoint and/or any particular waypoint. That is, they can selectively return to a location or fly a loop for search patterns, trade route checking, etc.

[kmunoz]

Makes sense! I think the issue was that I hadn't been paying attention closely enough to see that the yellow waypoint got set to waypoint 1 initially, so when I reloaded the save and the yellow waypoint was somewhere else, I got confused. But I did figure it out after a bit!

(Also, I had forgotten that contracts don't persist across saves, so the whole thing was moot anyway!)