I attacked the area left of the green X here then the green X. To return to home, the ship attacked both red xs, resulting in it returing with zero fuel, but more importantly bringing diseases back to the island I really didn't want to have to deal with. I was unable to click return home when it started moving to the red x, it had already decided its path and I couldn't change it.
Got what I think is the same issue. I explored to the oil rig from the west, ran out of fuel, and proceeded to cut a bloody path through the dotted areas on the automatic route home
Okay i mixed up my clockwise and counterclockwise but that is exactly what it did for me
i dont think this is a bug every ai chooses the shortest path its only weird if its not the shortest path
Even if i agreed with that logic, it was still the longest path considering the fuel use required for combat though