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

[blue emu]

Hmmm...

Another crazy, outside-the-box sort of thought.

If our fleet is going to totally suppress any STO fire before sending in the drop ships...

Why not just use civilian Tugs, towing space stations that have huge numbers of drop pods loaded with troops? Just tow them into orbit, drop the troops, and tow them back to pick up another load.

It's extremely vulnerable to enemy fire... but if we're going to squash everything that might shoot at it first...

 

[blue emu]

Great Googly-moogly!

It even qualifies as Commercial... no maintenance or breakdowns! We can build it in a Commercial yard!

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Urchin class Dropship 32,090 tons 102 Crew 1,249.8 BP TCS 642 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 4-89 Shields 0-0 HTK 31 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 2,524 Max Repair 800 MSP
Troop Capacity 25,000 tons Drop Capable
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months

Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range N/A

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

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OK, this definitely looks like the first thing to try.

We can build it in a Commercial yard!

 

[blue emu]

Technically, I could delete the armor from the Urchin (above), remove the Hull entirely... so that it's just a frame or chassis carrying a big rack of drop pods with life support attached... and then we could build it in our factories instead of needing a shipyard.

Like this:

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Lizard class Dropship 30,809 tons 102 Crew 894.4 BP TCS 616 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 31 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 2,518 Max Repair 800 MSP
Troop Capacity 25,000 tons Drop Capable
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months

Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range N/A

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
This design is classed as a Troop Transport for auto-assignment purposes

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We could build that using orbital assembly, without even needing a shipyard.

Takes eight days to build...

... eight days. We HAVE to try this.

 

[blue emu]

Iche Bins has recovered both of the Espionage vessels, and is heading back to Earth for overhaul.

Meanwhile... a Lizard is being assembled in orbit. Let's try out this crazy idea, and see if it works.

 

[randakar]

45k tons... Damn, yeah, that's practically dreadnaught size given your usual ship sizes.

Of course a Brigade is what, 5.000 troops? It would be strange if it wasn't huge...

Do we even have shipyards that big?

 

[randakar]

I was wondering why it wasn't commercial. Lovely stuff.

Why can we build it in orbit? Because it's classed as a space station?
Weirdest space station ever, but lol, sure, why not

Edit: Why does it even have fuel?

 

[blue emu]

I was wondering why it wasn't commercial. Lovely stuff.

Why can we build it in orbit? Because it's classed as a space station?
Weirdest space station ever, but lol, sure, why not

Edit: Why does it even have fuel?

That fuel is only one hull square.

There used to be a bug where the Tug wouldn't move if the "ship" being towed was out of fuel... even if it had no engines!

So I always include a single hull square worth of fuel tankage.

 

[blue emu]

So... we have ten Fat Man Tugs.

With each one towing one of these puppies, we can drop 250,000 tons of ground units at a time.

 

[blue emu]

Why can we build it in orbit?

LOL.

By removing the armor, the hull, and everything else except the drop pods and life support, I've basically turned it from a ship into a ship component.

 

[randakar]

So... All we need is the missile build for the STO and the lizard builds. Plus a free fat man collection. what ground units are you going to send in?

 

[blue emu]

We've got just about enough Space Marines to fill two Lizards. Maybe four. I don't have the game open just now.

Building more space marines now.

 

[blue emu]

We could always stop to upgrade our ground units to modern tech first. Most of them were built in the 1980s.

 

[randakar]

I'd vote to send in the obsolete stuff first.

if killing the STO leaves the planet empty, it doesn't matter how modern they are.

If there are ground units remaining, there might be a lot of them in which case we get a learning experience and we might learn a few things about how to build a proper army.

 

[randakar]

As an aside, one thing to take into account is that once a planet is conquered you need a different type of troops to keep the peace. My one attempt at invading back in the VB version ran into problems because troops used for invading are not necessarily good at keeping the planet under control.

This may not matter, and/or have changed completely, but it's wise to take it into account.

 

[blue emu]

I'd vote to send in the obsolete stuff first.

if killing the STO leaves the planet empty, it doesn't matter how modern they are.

If there are ground units remaining, there might be a lot of them in which case we get a learning experience and we might learn a few things about how to build a proper army.

True... I have very little experience with serious ground combat, and we could learn a lot whether we succeed or fail on the first attempt.

 

[Iche_Bins]

How livable is the planet? Will dumping a ton of bikes on it alter the climate?

 

[blue emu]

How livable is the planet? Will dumping a ton of bikes on it alter the climate?

The planet is rather hot (46 degrees centigrade), but the atmosphere would be breathable if the CO2 were removed. Already has an ocean.

This is one of those one-month terraforming jobs. Just suck out the CO2, and we're done.

No idea whether there are any minerals... the current tenants are not very welcoming.

Nuking the planet will degrade the climate somewhat, yes.

 

[blue emu]

January 2009.

Our first Lizard class Assault Station is ready for testing! We could drop some guys on one of Jupiter's moons, just to test it out.

Our second-generation Gate Constructors are ready! We can send one to Planet X in the Sol system... and pray for a large moon orbiting it... and use the other to Gate in some awkward system like 61 Cygni.

And our Penetrator Two-Stage Missile design has been researched! Building some now.

 

[blue emu]

Dammit!

No large moon at Planet X.

Scratch THAT idea.

 

[randakar]

No lagrange point there then?
How far away is it?