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

[blue emu]

We've transferred five DSTS (Deep Space Tracking Stations) from Earth to Claymore in the Luhman 16 system, facing the Galapagonians. More DSTS on the way, although it might take 30 of them to bring the jump-point to Struve 2398 within detection range. The dashed circle is detection range.

 

[blue emu]

Our current deployment of Garrisons.

None of these units would be worth anything in combat. They are intended (and configured) for crowd control... for preventing riots on our own planets. They are Police units, not soldiers.

We are getting very close to the point where we can start building soldiers, though. I want more "Fire Control Speed" before we try to build any GTO units (units equipped with Laser weapons that can actually damage an orbiting ship).

 

[blue emu]

Speaking of combat... even if our Galapagonian rivals in Struve 2398 do not advance their tech further, it will still be 20 or 25 years before we catch up to their level. More realistically, 40 years or so (since they also will be researching).

Our best hope is to get them to talk to us, and make friends with them.

Two more months until our Diplomatic ship comes off the ways.

 

[blue emu]

May 29th, 1972

Our Diplomatic Ship is ready!

I don't see much to be gained by delay, so I'll sent it to visit them.

Hopefully they don't shoot at it!

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DIP-01 Diplomat 001 (Diplomat class Diplomatic Ship) 4,998 tons 91 Crew 490.5 BP TCS 100 TH 250 EM 0
2501 km/s Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 HTK 24 Sensors 8/8/0/0 DCR 1-2 PPV 0
MSP 61 Max Repair 300 MSP
Captain Control Rating 1 BRG DIP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months

CIV Nuclear Gas-Core Engine HS50 EP250.0 1967 (1) Power 250 Fuel Use 5.53% Signature 250 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 450,000 Litres Range 292.9 billion km (1355 days at full power)

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 Diplomatic Ship for auto-assignment purposes

 

[blue emu]

Mmmmm...

I had originally intended to insert the Diplomatic Vessel by building one side of a jump gate... leading INTO the Galapagonian system, but not OUT of it.

I think I'll build a civilian Jump Tender Station instead. Just a space station that will sit on the jump point and pass ONLY Diplomatic vessels.

We only need one minor tech for that (288 points), so it's worth waiting for.

 

[Wagonlitz]

I thought passives couldn't spot stuff like missiles, etc.

By invaders you mean those who destroyed the precursors, right?

Will we mine the minerals in those systems?

 

[Wagonlitz]

We've transferred five DSTS (Deep Space Tracking Stations) from Earth to Claymore in the Luhman 16 system, facing the Galapagonians. More DSTS on the way, although it might take 30 of them to bring the jump-point to Struve 2398 within detection range. The dashed circle is detection range.

View attachment 1076709

What's the green line?
Also, shouldn't we cover the Sol jump point ideally too? As aliens could come from some of the other jump points as well, after all, so knowing if somebody sneaks into Sol would be useful.

before we try to build any GTO units (units equipped with Laser weapons that can actually damage an orbiting ship).

What does GYO stand for?

Mmmmm...

I had originally intended to insert the Diplomatic Vessel by building one side of a jump gate... leading INTO the Galapagonian system, but not OUT of it.

I think I'll build a civilian Jump Tender Station instead. Just a space station that will sit on the jump point and pass ONLY Diplomatic vessels.

We only need one minor tech for that (288 points), so it's worth waiting for.

The reason for wanting that instead of a gate is to make it harder for them to exploit?

 

[blue emu]

I thought passives couldn't spot stuff like missiles, etc. - When did missiles enter the question? Passives spot things that make heat or EM noise. If the passive was sensitive enough (big enough, high-tech enough) it could spot missiles when they come close enough. Passives can't TARGET anything, though.

By invaders you mean those who destroyed the precursors, right? - Yes.

Will we mine the minerals in those systems? - Probably. I haven't bothered to check them over in detail. Alpha Centauri will keep us busy for decades.

 

[blue emu]

What's the green line? - That's the orbit that the second star is following. Our colony (Claymore) circles the main central star in Luhman 16. So does a secondary star, with its planets. Look near the bottom of the green circle.
Also, shouldn't we cover the Sol jump point ideally too? As aliens could come from some of the other jump points as well, after all, so knowing if somebody sneaks into Sol would be useful. - The Sol jump point leads to a spot that we can already see (in the Sol system)... inside the orbit of Venus.

What does GYO stand for? - GTO weapon = Ground To Orbit weapon. We can't fight them in Space, but we might be able to make any planetary siege very expensive.

The reason for wanting that instead of a gate is to make it harder for them to exploit? - Yes. They can destroy it, but they can't USE it unless we are allies.

 

[Wagonlitz]

Once we have Grinders for all sites in alpha centauri might we then not just start putting them in thise kther systems too? Like is there a catch to mining as much as possible as fast as possible?

So if its been a Snargate they could use it without beinfallies?

That jump sling, can that jump freighters and other non diplo ships top?

 

[blue emu]

Once we have Grinders for all sites in alpha centauri might we then not just start putting them in thise kther systems too? Like is there a catch to mining as much as possible as fast as possible? - See below

So if its been a Snargate they could use it without beinfallies? - Yes Star gates don't have friends or enemies. They are neutral to all.

That jump sling, can that jump freighters and other non diplo ships top? - No. I deliberately restricted its size so that it is useless except for diplomacy. It built faster that way.

Mining as much as possible as fast as possible does NOT equal putting Grinders on all mineral sites. And it also doesn't sound like our best option.

First off:

The number of Grinders that we get per year depends on a few factors such as the number of shipyards and slipways we devote to the task, our tech level (there is a repeating tech that increases shipyard through-put), the skills of the governor of the planet at which the shipyards are located, the cost of the Grinders in BP's... not sure if any other factors are involved.

But assuming that we hold the number of Grinders constant across the span of our Gedankenexperiment:

Where to put the Grinders is not a simple question, and it has no single best answer.

Each Grinder represents (or contains) 21 robot mines. That is not a large number. It is a SMALL number.

The amount of refined ore produced by a single mine of any type IN A YEAR is 10 * TechModifier * Purity. Calculated seperately for each mineral present.

,,, so if a single Grinder (representing 21 mines) at starting tech level were working a comet that had Duranium at 80%, Sorium at 70% and Corundium at 100%, then it would collect about 520 minerals PER YEAR, or less than 50 minerals per month.

And that's with three minerals present! One of our best sources of Corundium (required for building more mines and Grinders) has ONLY that one mineral. So at 100% purity, that mine (at starting tech level) offers a single Grinder only 210 mineral per year. Less than 20 per month. We USE thousands of minerals per month.

Obviously if we want to maximize through-put, we need to STACK Grinders in order to achieve anything. A couple of dozen of them would not be excessive.

But where? On the mineral deposits that have the largest variety of minerals? That maximizes the raw numbers of minerals that we get per month... but are they the minerals we NEED? A few examples:

Duranium is needed for lots of things, including spaceships, shipyards, and several types of buildings...
Neutronium is used for spaceship armor, for ground troops and ground troop training facilities...
Mercassium is used for research labs, spaceship life-support...
Sorium is the only source of rocket fuel, and is used for spaceship engines...
Corundium is used to make mines of all sorts, including Grinders...
Boronide is used to make financial centers and terraformers...
Gallicite is needed for missile warheads...

... and others.

But we don't need all these things in similar quantities. Our #1 need at the moment (until we met the Galapa-Goons, anyway) is Corundium so that we can continue expanding our resource base and continue snowballing. But we need all the other stuff, too. And bear in mind that ship maintenance and ground troop maintenance is paid in both money and minerals. So (just one example) you must pay Neutronium maintenance on all of your space-ships every five days, because of the armor.

So the question of where to put the Grinders and how many to stack at each location CANNOT be answered just by adding numbers together. It requires prioritizing different demands. and right now, Corundium is very much in demand.

 

[blue emu]

... so what I've actually been doing is splitting the difference, and stacking a bunch of grinders on that 100% Corundium source (even though it's the only mineral present and therefore our TOTAL numbers look bad), and stacking a bunch more on mineral sources that have a wide variety of different minerals (including Corundium!) at good concentrations.

 

[Wagonlitz]

The mining explanation names sense.


When Earthbruns out of TNs will we then convert the mines there to something else?



Can the jump.sling be expanded to be bigger?

 

[blue emu]

@Wagonlitz : Here is a read-out of what we are mining per year, and where we are getting it.

Notice that Earth itself is just about our only source of Mercassium, Sorium and Gallicite.

When Earthbruns out of TNs will we then convert the mines there to something else? - Exactly. Either ship them out to another mineralized planet where the population can run them, or convert them into Robot Mines (Automines) and send them anywhere. That costs extra Corundium, of course.

Can the jump.sling be expanded to be bigger? - Meh. If I need a bigger one, I'll just build a bigger one. They're cheap and quick to build. No engines.

 

[Wagonlitz]

@Wagonlitz : Here is a read-out of what we are mining per year, and where we are getting it.

Notice that Earth itself is just about our only source of Mercassium, Sorium and Gallicite.

View attachment 1076744

That looks dire, honestly, given how Sarth is about to run out

Albeit if you can just reuse mines (I thought you had to scrap them, as mines aren't something you'd imagine being movable, being holes in the ground after all) then I guess it's not as bad as expected. As we will just ship them out to e.g. alpha centauri.

Perhaps some more mines on Jupiter for Soriym?

 

[Wagonlitz]

Will it eventually, when Sol is depleted, be worth jt to only develop other planets and no longer ship resources to Earth due to the time it takes freighters to move there?

 

[blue emu]

Will it eventually, when Sol is depleted, be worth jt to only develop other planets and no longer ship resources to Earth due to the time it takes freighters to move there?

When Earth is completely depleted of minerals, it can still offer a HUGE population. Far,far higher than any colony world. As the mines are shipped out (or as they are converted to Automines and shipped out) this large population can be used for other things. Research. Financial Centers. Ground Forces Training. Shipyard workers.

Generally, in a long game the empire will gradually stratify into concentric shells, like an onion. The outermost shell will just be outposts and trip-wire defenses, to warn you of incursions. Inside that, a shell of struggling young colonies, orbital miners, and some scouting and patrol bases for refueling passing ships and offering overhauls to small vessels. Inside that, a shell of growing colony worlds where major overhauls and repairs can be conducted, and where orbital miners and automines are fully exploiting the resources of the star systems. Near the core of the empire there will be a volume of worlds which have switched to a post-mineral economy, and which are receiving mineral shipments from the outer shells while focusing on research and finance.

That looks dire, honestly, given how Sarth is about to run out - It would indeed be dire if we didn't have literally millions of minerals in stockpile. Instead of dire, it is merely serious.

Albeit if you can just reuse mines (I thought you had to scrap them, as mines aren't something you'd imagine being movable, being holes in the ground after all) then I guess it's not as bad as expected. As we will just ship them out to e.g. alpha centauri. - Yes, it's nice (if rather puzzling) that mines are mobile.

Perhaps some more mines on Jupiter for Soriym? - Those are space stations... and yes, we've expanded that shipyard up to five slipways... five simultaneous constructions.

 

[blue emu]

Thirty-three refineries in position at Jupiter, with five more building.

Space-fuel production totals 78 million litres per year.

 

[blue emu]

All of the star systems adjacent to Sol have now been thoroughly analyzed for jump points (red rims gone).

Note how common barren star systems (no planets or moons) are to Rimward of us.

 

[blue emu]

The Martian climate is getting close to tip-over. The ice sheet has just melted. The atmosphere should turn breathable within a year or so, and then we can focus on giving Mars a proper ocean.

---

We have brought the Galapagonian jump point within sensor range of our Deep Space Tracking Stations based on Claymore in the Luhman 16 system.

... of course, that indicated range is vs a 1000 Thermal or 1000 EM target. The ship that escorted us was significantly hotter than that. Very much so.