Sirius Business - a C# Aurora forum game. v2.5

[blue emu]

Tugs. Our current Fat Man Tug:

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Fat Man class Tug 69,921 tons 598 Crew 2,797.2 BP TCS 1,398 TH 8,800 EM 0
6292 km/s Armour 1-151 Shields 0-0 HTK 187 Sensors 8/11/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 25 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

1985 CIV Magneto-plasma Drive EP400.0 HS 50 (22) Power 8800 Fuel Use 4.74% Signature 400 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 12,000,000 Litres Range 651.2 billion km (1197 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 200 hours

CIV Search Sensor AS39-R100 1976 (1) GPS 2100 Range 39.8m km Resolution 100
CIV PD Search Sensor AS8-R1 (1) GPS 21 Range 8.6m km MCR 771.7k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-8.0 1969 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
EM Sensor EM1.0-11.0 1976 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Tug for auto-assignment purposes

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And the improved Fat Man II

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Fat Man II class Tug 61,207 tons 573 Crew 7,969.2 BP TCS 1,224 TH 2,100 EM 0
10721 km/s Armour 1-138 Shields 0-0 HTK 114 Sensors 11/18/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 81 Max Repair 1054.6875 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

2009 CIV Inertial Fusion Drive EP1875.0 C-150 P-50 (7) Power 13125 Fuel Use 1.83% Signature 300.00 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 6,000,000 Litres Range 966.4 billion km (1043 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 160,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 37 hours

1992 CIV PD Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1
1992 CIV Sensor AS51-R100 (1) GPS 2800 Range 51.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-18.0 2004 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33.5m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Tug for auto-assignment purposes

 

[blue emu]

Tankers. Current model, the Cow III

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Cow III class Tanker 18,262 tons 86 Crew 387 BP TCS 365 TH 625 EM 0
1711 km/s Armour 1-61 Shields 0-0 HTK 26 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 13 Max Repair 78.125 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

Commercial Ion Drive EP312.50 HS-50 1974 (2) Power 625.0 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 312.5 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 12,000,000 Litres Range 2,137.1 billion km (14456 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 200 hours

CIV Search Sensor AS29-R100 1967 (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-8.0 1967 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-8.0 1969 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a None for auto-assignment purposes

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New model, the Cow IV

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Cow IV class Tanker 19,989 tons 111 Crew 1,339.3 BP TCS 400 TH 300 EM 0
4690 km/s Armour 1-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 26 Sensors 11/18/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 41 Max Repair 1054.6875 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

2009 CIV Inertial Fusion Drive EP1875.0 C-150 P-50 (1) Power 1875 Fuel Use 1.83% Signature 300.00 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 11,300,000 Litres Range 5,573.3 billion km (13753 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 160,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 70 hours

1992 CIV Sensor AS51-R100 (1) GPS 2800 Range 51.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-18.0 2004 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33.5m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a None for auto-assignment purposes

 

[randakar]

Hmm, wondering a bit why some designs are bigger than the previous ones. The colony ships for example went from 19000 to 22000 tons, but why? They even have an engine less than the previous design...

 

[randakar]

As an aside, I see you've been reducing the number of engines on these puppies in general. I guess you're doing that because it's cheaper and you don't gain a lot of speed from it?

 

[Wagonlitz]

Fighters are built in factories and not shipyards?

 

[Blaaat]

Fighters are built in factories and not shipyards?

Yes they're build by Fighter Factories.

 

[Wagonlitz]

The gas giant Xi Bootis A-I has no minerals at all, and no moons. There is however a companion star Xi Bootis B, a red dwarf star, and it has a mineralized inner planet Xi Bootis B-I.

Ah. Mightnbe what I was thinking of, then. As you dozens of pages back showed a screenshot with the biggest concentrations of a specific mineral think it was corundium, and Xi Bootis had the second highest. Which was what started this train of thought.

Our Fast Freighter, the Walrus, is much the same.

Current model:

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Walrus class Freighter 59,263 tons 335 Crew 1,572.4 BP TCS 1,185 TH 4,800 EM 0
4049 km/s Armour 1-135 Shields 0-0 HTK 100 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 100 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

1985 CIV Magneto-plasma Drive EP400.0 HS 50 (12) Power 4800 Fuel Use 4.74% Signature 400 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,000,000 Litres Range 128 billion km (366 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Freighter for auto-assignment purposes

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New model, with improved engines:

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Walrus II class Freighter 58,143 tons 335 Crew 4,579.4 BP TCS 1,163 TH 1,200 EM 0
6449 km/s Armour 1-133 Shields 0-0 HTK 63 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 49 Max Repair 1054.6875 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

2009 CIV Inertial Fusion Drive EP1875.0 C-150 P-50 (4) Power 7500 Fuel Use 1.83% Signature 300.00 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 169.5 billion km (304 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Freighter for auto-assignment purposes

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More than +50% faster. Longer ranged (+30%). Slightly more compact.

wy6 us the fast freighter close to double the tonnage of the normal freighter?

 

[Wagonlitz]

Tugs. Our current Fat Man Tug:

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Fat Man class Tug 69,921 tons 598 Crew 2,797.2 BP TCS 1,398 TH 8,800 EM 0
6292 km/s Armour 1-151 Shields 0-0 HTK 187 Sensors 8/11/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 25 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

1985 CIV Magneto-plasma Drive EP400.0 HS 50 (22) Power 8800 Fuel Use 4.74% Signature 400 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 12,000,000 Litres Range 651.2 billion km (1197 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 200 hours

CIV Search Sensor AS39-R100 1976 (1) GPS 2100 Range 39.8m km Resolution 100
CIV PD Search Sensor AS8-R1 (1) GPS 21 Range 8.6m km MCR 771.7k km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-8.0 1969 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
EM Sensor EM1.0-11.0 1976 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Tug for auto-assignment purposes

---

And the improved Fat Man II

---

Fat Man II class Tug 61,207 tons 573 Crew 7,969.2 BP TCS 1,224 TH 2,100 EM 0
10721 km/s Armour 1-138 Shields 0-0 HTK 114 Sensors 11/18/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 81 Max Repair 1054.6875 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

2009 CIV Inertial Fusion Drive EP1875.0 C-150 P-50 (7) Power 13125 Fuel Use 1.83% Signature 300.00 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 6,000,000 Litres Range 966.4 billion km (1043 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 160,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 37 hours

1992 CIV PD Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1
1992 CIV Sensor AS51-R100 (1) GPS 2800 Range 51.8m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-18.0 2004 (1) Sensitivity 18 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33.5m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Tug for auto-assignment purposes

That 10k km/s is the speed when no load, right?
How fast can it go when at load?

 

[blue emu]

Hmm, wondering a bit why some designs are bigger than the previous ones. The colony ships for example went from 19000 to 22000 tons, but why? They even have an engine less than the previous design...

One of our tech lines is "Maximum Engine Size". It has advanced, so we can now build much larger engines. Larger engines are more fuel efficient. By consolidating three smaller engines into one large engine (replacing three 25 hull square engines with one 75 hull square engines, for example) we boost the fuel efficiency dramatically and need to use - and carry! - far less fuel.

The original colony ship needed 550,000 liters of fuel to travel 104 b-km. The new model needs less than half that much fuel to travel even further.

The new 75 HS engines, swapped 1-for-3 with the old 25 HS engines, are more than twice as fuel efficient as well as being much faster.

But what about a ship that doesn't have a multiple-of-three engines, to swap 3-for-1? The old-model Colony Ship had only two 25 HS engines... how do we make the swap? Swapping two of them for one of the new 75 HS engines increases the ship's mass by 25 HS (1,250 tons) less any fuel tankage savings.

 

[blue emu]

As an aside, I see you've been reducing the number of engines on these puppies in general. I guess you're doing that because it's cheaper and you don't gain a lot of speed from it? - It's because the engines are three times larger than before.

wy6 us the fast freighter close to double the tonnage of the normal freighter? - How does it become a "Fast" Freighter? More engines. Which are massive, and require even MORE engines (and more fuel) to move them around.

That 10k km/s is the speed when no load, right?
How fast can it go when at load? - How massive is the load?

 

[Wagonlitz]

Swapping two of them for one of the new 75 HS engines increases the ship's mass by 25 HS (1,250 tons) less any fuel tankage savings.

So for the col9ny shups we swapped 2 engines for one of rhkse large ones and hence gained more engine power that way?


For rhe tug load, how does rhe speed then change the more load tou have? And what's the heaviest we can tug?

 

[blue emu]

So for the col9ny shups we swapped 2 engines for one of rhkse large ones and hence gained more engine power that way?


For rhe tug load, how does rhe speed then change the more load tou have? And what's the heaviest we can tug?

We would have gained more engine power swapping 3-for-1 anyway, because the new engines are higher tech. More power output per kilogram. But yes.

If a 70,000-ton Tug pulls a 70,000-ton load, it moves at half-speed. It's one of those Speed x A / (A+B) things.

 

[randakar]

One of our tech lines is "Maximum Engine Size". It has advanced, so we can now build much larger engines. Larger engines are more fuel efficient. By consolidating three smaller engines into one large engine (replacing three 25 hull square engines with one 75 hull square engines, for example) we boost the fuel efficiency dramatically and need to use - and carry! - far less fuel.

Ok, that definitely didn't exist in VB Aurora. That explains a lot!
Are we going to do something similar with the military battleships? Or is it too much hassle, given that smaller ships like the Sabre won't have room for engines that big ..

 

[randakar]

And another thing: Is it worth it to create a 125.000 ton (edit: cargo space, not ship size) haul-a-research-lab-or-5-in-one-go freighter design? I can imagine that being an option for the future, with larger shipyards. Building larger ships in bulk is also more efficiënt. and cuts down on the micro a bit.

Maybe the civilian companies would build such a thing even without the shipyards ..

 

[GarfunkeL]

If you are relying on civilian shipping lines to generate lot of your wealth budget, then do not research the "minimum engine power" below 40% as the civvies will always use the lowest power setting on their engines to save money and fuel but that makes them very slow until you hit late-game engine tech. If most of your wealth comes from facilities, then the point is moot.

Wagonlitz, the lore of Aurora is largely left up to the players, in order to be as flexible as possible for various RP scenarios. Almost everything can be renamed to fit your own setting and there is no Master of Orion or Stellaris style grand space opera plot discover. This includes the various spoiler enemies. Their mechanics are set in stone but otherwise you can dress them up anyway you want. So Precursors can be automated drone ships or actual spaceships crewed by humanoid robots. Maybe they are advanced scouts of an intergalactic entity or they are the remnants of an ancient galactic society. The Swarm can be the Tyranids from Warhammer 40,000 or they can be the space whales from Star Trek 4. But they will always be a biological void-based race. Since you select which ones you want active in your game, the choice is up to the players. Want to be play as the first race to attempt to create a galaxy spanning empire? Turn precursors off. Don't want to worry about your supply lines or to come up with an explanation for dimensional rifts? Turn off raiders and invaders. And so on.

Blue Emu, there might still be a rearming bug left where the colliers do nothing until the next production cycle happens. Steve squashed it some time ago but occasionally these things return. It's one of the reasons why I play with 23h 59m production cycle instead of the default 5 days.

 

[GarfunkeL]

And another thing: Is it worth it to create a 125.000 ton haul-a-research-lab-in-one-go freighter design? I can imagine that being an option for the future, with larger shipyards. Building larger ships in bulk is also more efficiënt. and cuts down on the micro a bit.

Maybe the civilian companies would build such a thing even without the shipyards ..

Extremely unlikely to happen, though I don't remember the biggest size civilians build off the top of my head.

 

[blue emu]

At the moment, we have more bottoms (cargo ships) than we can really use, so additional freighters are not on the cards for a while.

Bigger freighters would simplify micro, of course.

I'm updating military engines too... but since military designs are far more constrained than civilian designs, I'm more likely to design a special one-off engine for a military ship... like the unique engines used in the Sabres and the General class Gunships.

 

[blue emu]

Blue Emu, there might still be a rearming bug left where the colliers do nothing until the next production cycle happens. Steve squashed it some time ago but occasionally these things return. It's one of the reasons why I play with 23h 59m production cycle instead of the default 5 days.

Yeah, we would have taken that planet in fairly straightforward fashion if I had access to my reserve missile stocks. And the Collier did start working again after the next 5-day build cycle (although I attributed the fix to reloading the game, which also happened during those 5 days).

 

[blue emu]

When it comes to upgrading our Laser-armed ships, there are two approaches.

Our advances in Aperture tech allow us to design larger, higher damage weapons such as a 45cm Spinal mount (for comparison, the Sabres use a 25cm Spinal).

But of course the larger the weapon the more slowly it fires. A small Laser can fire every impulse, a really large one might fire every eight impulses.

Our advances in Capacitor tech improve the re-charge rate of Lasers of all sizes. The most important effect of this is that as our Capacitor tech ramps up, larger and larger weapons become able to fire one shot every impulse, with no "dead time" spent re-charging. So as we tech up, larger and larger weapons can be classed as "Dual Purpose, anti-ship and PD fire".

So when we upgrade our ships, we can either switch to larger weapons that fire at the same rate as the old (and smaller) ones did; or we can keep the same calibre weapons as before but fire faster than they used to.

I think it might be best to keep the old calibres and improve the rate of fire. New and larger calibres can form the basis of a new line of ships... perhaps our first true Battlecruisers.

 

[blue emu]

Nearly all of our current Sabres are Sabre V:

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Sabre V class Fast Attack Craft 1,906 tons 45 Crew 539.5 BP TCS 38 TH 420 EM 0
11022 km/s Armour 3-13 Shields 0-0 HTK 12 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 8
Maint Life 2.96 Years MSP 719 AFR 116% IFR 1.6% 1YR 122 5YR 1,834 Max Repair 210 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required

1998 Magnetic Fusion Drive B-150 EP420.00 HS-14 (1) Power 420 Fuel Use 116.45% Signature 420 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 20.3 billion km (21 days at full power)

25.0cm C5.5 Far Ultraviolet Laser RoF-15 2000 (1) Range 320,000km TS: 11,022 km/s Power 16-5.5 RM 50,000 km ROF 15
1998 Beam Fire Control R320-TS10000 (SW) (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s ECCM-1 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R6 2000 (1) Total Power Output 5.5 Exp 5%

1992 CIV PD Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

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Ten of them are Sabre VI instead, with increased spare parts stowage.

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Sabre VI class Fast Attack Craft 1,906 tons 47 Crew 550.6 BP TCS 38 TH 420 EM 0
11022 km/s Armour 3-13 Shields 0-0 HTK 15 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 8
Maint Life 6.53 Years MSP 1,590 AFR 58% IFR 0.8% 1YR 64 5YR 964 Max Repair 210 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required

1998 Magnetic Fusion Drive B-150 EP420.00 HS-14 (1) Power 420 Fuel Use 116.45% Signature 420 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 12.2 billion km (12 days at full power)

25.0cm C5.5 Far Ultraviolet Laser RoF-15 2000 (1) Range 320,000km TS: 11,022 km/s Power 16-5.5 RM 50,000 km ROF 15
1998 Beam Fire Control R320-TS10000 (SW) (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s ECCM-1 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R6 2000 (1) Total Power Output 5.5 Exp 5%

1992 CIV PD Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

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Our tech advances enable us to design a new Sabre VII.

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Sabre VII class Fast Attack Craft 1,991 tons 49 Crew 1,086.2 BP TCS 40 TH 84 EM 0
13189 km/s Armour 3-14 Shields 0-0 HTK 15 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-5 PPV 8
Maint Life 6.93 Years MSP 2,341 AFR 32% IFR 0.4% 1YR 85 5YR 1,278 Max Repair 590.625 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required

2010 Boosted Inertial Fusion Drive EP525.00 B-150 HS-14 (1) Power 525 Fuel Use 93.16% Signature 84.00 Explosion 15%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 14.6 billion km (12 days at full power)

2009 Spinal 25.00cm C8 Soft X-ray Laser (1) Range 384,000km TS: 13,189 km/s Power 16-8 RM 60,000 km ROF 10
2010 Beam Fire Control R384-TS12500 (SW) (1) Max Range: 384,000 km TS: 12,500 km/s ECCM-3 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Tokamak Fusion Reactor R6 2000 (1) Total Power Output 5.5 Exp 5%

1992 CIV PD Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

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2,000 kps faster. Longer cruising range. Longer firing range... 384,000 km vs 320,000 km. Rate of fire 50% faster... one shot every 10 seconds instead of every 15.
More spare parts storage (six more breakdowns covered).