There has been a persistent issue where ships fail to properly pursue enemy targets, especially in battles that start at long range, and either when enemy ships retreat (such as those with Artillery or Carrier combat computers) or when the enemy does not actively approach (such as starbases or transport ships).
While this issue existed in previous versions, it has become more frequent in Stellaris 4.0 due to the addition of Deep Space Citadels.
The root causes of this issue are:
1. The return_to_formation_distance (RTFD) value is set too low relative to the updated fleet combat scenarios in Stellaris.
2. The 'fleet center of mass' determined by this value is placed awkwardly - somewhere between the fleet's current position and the center of the star system.
3. Ships are not allowed to move beyond the RTFD range from this fleet center of mass.
These issues result in the following problems:
1. Melee ships are unable to effectively close in on retreating artillery ships and are unfairly wiped out. This is most noticeable in battles between fleet of many corvettes and long-range cruiser fleet.
2. When battles start near the edge of a solar system, ships behave oddly by moving toward the system's center at the beginning of combat.
3. In fleets that combine long-range ships (like Titans) with close-range ships, the fleet often fails to approach edge-of-system targets (such as Deep Space Citadels) properly. (See GIF below)
Relevant forum links are listed below.
forum.paradoxplaza.com
forum.paradoxplaza.com
forum.paradoxplaza.com
Maybe I can find more, but IMO the problems are well enough shown.
So I made a simple fix mod designed to resolve issues with ship combat behavior.
steamcommunity.com
In this mod, the RTFD value is simply set to a very large number — 2000 — to prevent ships from behaving abnormally due to an incorrectly calculated fleet center of mass.
This mod is a partial extract from Better Ship Behavior and is not planned to receive further compatibility support or updates.
For more refined ship combat behavior, better compatibility with other mods, and ongoing support, I recommend using BSB.
steamcommunity.com
I also reported this issue for the bug reports.
forum.paradoxplaza.com
While this issue existed in previous versions, it has become more frequent in Stellaris 4.0 due to the addition of Deep Space Citadels.
The root causes of this issue are:
1. The return_to_formation_distance (RTFD) value is set too low relative to the updated fleet combat scenarios in Stellaris.
2. The 'fleet center of mass' determined by this value is placed awkwardly - somewhere between the fleet's current position and the center of the star system.
3. Ships are not allowed to move beyond the RTFD range from this fleet center of mass.
These issues result in the following problems:
1. Melee ships are unable to effectively close in on retreating artillery ships and are unfairly wiped out. This is most noticeable in battles between fleet of many corvettes and long-range cruiser fleet.
2. When battles start near the edge of a solar system, ships behave oddly by moving toward the system's center at the beginning of combat.
3. In fleets that combine long-range ships (like Titans) with close-range ships, the fleet often fails to approach edge-of-system targets (such as Deep Space Citadels) properly. (See GIF below)

Relevant forum links are listed below.

Stellaris - Incorrect ship behavior - ships not closing on enemy ships and pathing incorrectly.
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Maybe I can find more, but IMO the problems are well enough shown.
So I made a simple fix mod designed to resolve issues with ship combat behavior.
Steam Workshop::[FIX] Simple Fix for Ship Combat Behaviors
In this mod, the RTFD value is simply set to a very large number — 2000 — to prevent ships from behaving abnormally due to an incorrectly calculated fleet center of mass.

This mod is a partial extract from Better Ship Behavior and is not planned to receive further compatibility support or updates.
For more refined ship combat behavior, better compatibility with other mods, and ongoing support, I recommend using BSB.
Steam Workshop::Better Ship Behaviors
I also reported this issue for the bug reports.

Stellaris - [4.0] Ship in combat circling issue
Description [4.0] Ship in combat circling issue Game Version 4.0 What version do you use? Steam What expansions do you have installed? Do you have mods enabled? No Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible. There has been a...
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