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

[Wagonlitz]

I've caught up with the thread!
Or, caught up with where the thread was on Tuesday, when I came back.
Now to read the replies to my posts.

Two more Fighter strikes would erase these clowns...

Honestnly is a shame you did that, isnetad of killing them with lasers. Meant we had absolutely no chance of salvaging any tech from teh rakhas.

Yup.

View attachment 1136557

I'm afraid Klendathu isn't much of a vacation spot. Not after that orbital bombardment.

Radiation: 17,650

Atmospheric Dust : 33,296

Are there any survivors?
Anything we can salvage?

So… terraforming via nukes…? well, find the silver linings where you can, right?

Once you raise the temp you'd end up with the CO2 coming back, though.
In fact, once the dust dissipates, the temp should rise again on its own.


Does the dust disappear just like the radiation? And if so, at what rate?

Huh. The bug didn't happen. The Collier transferred missiles to both ships just as its supposed to.

---

You might think that the "5-second increment rounding error" explanation covers it... but what about the periods when our Sabres were out of combat, re-stocking with spare parts inside their tenders, and I was advancing the clock an hour at a time? The Colliers STILL didn't transfer anything to the Carriers.

But it works fine here in the Sol system? Just like the "Alien Emu" bug went away as soon as we towed the shipyard back into the Sol system?

Could it be because it was a contested system?
Perhpas the carrier was thoguht too close to comabt to be restocked safely.

View attachment 1136752

View attachment 1136751

Can it also decontaminate witout that commender trait?

Those 100 vehicles from that other post would reduce that to 22-ish years, but after that the rate would be essentially flat - another 10 years to get it down to 0.
If we however spam a 1000 vehicle fleet at it, the rate goes up to 30% and we'd reach that same 1000 radiation after just 9-ish years.

You're forgetting the bonus from the vehicles also applying after it reaches 100. That bonus is static.
So with 1000 vehicles it'd only take 5 years to go from 1000 to 0. Now, would having 1000 such vehicles be worth it? Quite possibly not.
Though, if 872 BP for 100 vhicles is cheap, then perhaps.
Is 872 BP cheap? And does it require maintenance?

 

[blue emu]

Are there any survivors? - None. You cannot capture Hazards, like Swarm, Precursors or Rakhas.
Anything we can salvage? - Nothing. We basically blasted the planet right down to bedrock. Exposed a nice mineral deposit, though. 11 million tons at 100%.

Once you raise the temp you'd end up with the CO2 coming back, though.
In fact, once the dust dissipates, the temp should rise again on its own. - Yup. I just thought it was funny.

Does the dust disappear just like the radiation? And if so, at what rate? - Yes. I don't know how fast.

Could it be because it was a contested system?
Perhpas the carrier was thoguht too close to comabt to be restocked safely. - I suspect just a temporary bug. We've had a few of them, such as my evil twin.

Can it also decontaminate witout that commender trait? - Yes.

You're forgetting the bonus from the vehicles also applying after it reaches 100. That bonus is static.
So with 1000 vehicles it'd only take 5 years to go from 1000 to 0. Now, would having 1000 such vehicles be worth it? Quite possibly not.
Though, if 872 BP for 100 vhicles is cheap, then perhaps.
Is 872 BP cheap? And does it require maintenance? - All ground units require maintenance. Not a lot, though. A new shipyard costs 1200 BP.

 

[randakar]

So with 1000 vehicles it'd only take 5 years to go from 1000 to 0. Now, would having 1000 such vehicles be worth it? Quite possibly not.

The 9 years is just the 10% decay thing, until it reaches 1000. I'm explicitly not calculating what happens after that.

Though I should be able to do the math and come up with the exact formula...

 

[Flockingbird]

I think someone may have said this earlier, but it bears repeating: reading this thread is like taking a master class with a very skilled and patient teacher!

Is education one of your fields of expertise, Emu?

 

[randakar]

Agreed. The man has patience as well as skill

 

[blue emu]

Less than two months until the Gate opens and we can bring (what's left of) the boys home!

I think someone may have said this earlier, but it bears repeating: reading this thread is like taking a master class with a very skilled and patient teacher!

Is education one of your fields of expertise, Emu?

I taught chess for many years. I was a mentor at the Canadian Army's Combined Arms Tactics School for a couple of years. Mentoring civilian contractors, not uniformed personel. I also worked as computer systems analyst at the same installation.

They let me play with the toys!

 

[Wagonlitz]

> What's grade points? - Crew Quality.
Ah. Is there a maximum to that, or can we just keep getting hither and higher numbers?

> Is there a reason Xi-Bootis-A wasn't an option? - A super-Jovian with no moons. Nowhere to put the base except in orbit.
Aren't orbital grinders in orbit, though? Or is this a case of the planet being too big for grinders, and mines can't be placed there as it has no surface?

> Each layer of penetration overlaps one block to left AND one block to the right, so it goes 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 etc. That's why I was talking about "perfect squares". Because 1+3 = 4, and 1+3+5 = 9, and 1+3+5+7 = 16, and so on. Perfect squares.
Ah. If you do 5 damage, would you then damage one extra tile in the outer layer, so 1+4?

> Begs teh question, what is it now. - 38% - sb-934.jpg
Nice.
We now make more on taxing civvies than civilians.

Does money spread across teh empire, or are they system confined like resources, so if you need money to run stuff on another planet you need to ship in money?

> So even if artmies are damaged, they won't have new gear supplied as replacement? - Yes, but old gear, at the old tech.
So if the old gear isn't produced anymore, they plain out wouldn't get replacements from damage?

> I take it that was permanently it was stationed there, right? - Semi-permanently.
So we plan on moving it eventually?

> Is it really guaranteed that it's a rich planet? - No. But it will only take a year or so to terraform it to Class 0.
Is that always the case, of could some Rakha planets be very inhospitable?

> What's Jeune Ecole? - Lots of small ships instead of fewer big ones. But I was joking when I said it, because the actual doctrine that we've been using (ie: out-range and out-shoot, use our high speed to choose the most favorable range, run away from anything too scary) is a Battle-Cruiser Doctrine. Jeune Ecole is more of a Convoy Interdiction Doctrine. Someone... RobbieAB, perhaps?... pointed that out in the thread.
Ah. So the Kriegsmarine hunts for convoys would be Jeune Ecole?
Would using battleships be Battle-Cruiser doctrine too?

> What does maintenance support per facility 3200 entail? - Each facility raises our local space ship support cap by 3,200 tons.
So, with enough of those techs our space stations could support 9 Sabres without us modifyinf anything, but the stations?

> Nw that sounds super cool. I love the idea of laser battleships. - This seems to be a Battle-Cruiser type game so far.
So no battleships?

> I wonder what the allow NPRs to generate aether rifts does. - Pretty sure only Raiders can use Rifts.
Just seems weird to ahve NRP can trigger rifts as well as can encounter raiders.
Unless it's whether they can even get raided and then whether they can trigger the raiders in the first place, as well as be raided. Or perhaps trigger tehm, but not be able to be raided themselves, in case rift is flagged, but raider one isn't.

> So huge guns that track enemy ships will get a big tonnage benefit from stacking four big guns in a turret, and will require little traversing gear because their targets move at only moderate speed.
Why can't yu have huge guns target fast enemies?

> Is Alpha Centauri so huge it can be worth it to go the ring route around to get form Sol to Luytens? - Nice idea, but that would mean seven jumps instead of two. I'm almost sure that the direct route through Alpha Centauro is quicker. Nice idea, though.
Might be worth meassuring, though? Like, jumps themselves, aren't those fast? So if teh JP are close together, it'd be faster.



Also, can enemies have bases in the same system? Like, you coud you and an enemy colonise planets in th same system, or does the game prevent you colonising something in a system somebody else already has a colony in?



> Does it fire mesons or something? - Yes. Armor is partly transparent to Mesons; you don't need to punch through his armor before you start scoring internal hits. The higher your tech level, the easier it is to shoot right through his armor. Meson Cannons are very short ranged, though. Again, higher tech means longer range.
Ah, so if you just stay far enouhg away, meson enemies can't harm you?

Definition of SOUPED-UP

enhanced or increased in appeal, power, performance, or intensity; also : elaborate, embellished… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Thanks.
Was very different form what I would have imagined. If you'd asked me ot guess I'd have guessed it was an engine that was malfunctioning in some way or perhaps even broken.

 

[randakar]

So the Kriegsmarine hunts for convoys would be Jeune Ecole?

The Kriegsmarine's submarine strategy looked a lot like it, I guess. Underwater torpedo boats instead of above-water ones.
Note though that they also build a few ridiculously huge battleships which ended up doing very little in a practical sense, except be a huge waste of resources.

 

[randakar]

Less than two months until the Gate opens and we can bring (what's left of) the boys home!

I taught chess for many years. I was a mentor at the Canadian Army's Combined Arms Tactics School for a couple of years. Mentoring civilian contractors, not uniformed personel. I also worked as computer systems analyst at the same installation.

They let me play with the toys!

View attachment 1137742

Looks like you had a great time

 

[blue emu]

> What's grade points? - Crew Quality.
Ah. Is there a maximum to that, or can we just keep getting hither and higher numbers? - I don't know.

> Is there a reason Xi-Bootis-A wasn't an option? - A super-Jovian with no moons. Nowhere to put the base except in orbit.
Aren't orbital grinders in orbit, though? Or is this a case of the planet being too big for grinders, and mines can't be placed there as it has no surface? - Grinders are limited to small bodies. Most moons are already too big, let alone planets.

> Each layer of penetration overlaps one block to left AND one block to the right, so it goes 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 etc. That's why I was talking about "perfect squares". Because 1+3 = 4, and 1+3+5 = 9, and 1+3+5+7 = 16, and so on. Perfect squares.
Ah. If you do 5 damage, would you then damage one extra tile in the outer layer, so 1+4? - Exactly. Extra damage is always useful, it always removes some armor, but only perfect squares add a new level of armor penetration.

> Begs teh question, what is it now. - 38% - sb-934.jpg
Nice.
We now make more on taxing civvies than civilians.

Does money spread across teh empire, or are they system confined like resources, so if you need money to run stuff on another planet you need to ship in money? - No, money is shared. Minerals are local.

> So even if artmies are damaged, they won't have new gear supplied as replacement? - Yes, but old gear, at the old tech.
So if the old gear isn't produced anymore, they plain out wouldn't get replacements from damage? - I don't know.

> I take it that was permanently it was stationed there, right? - Semi-permanently.
So we plan on moving it eventually? - If we no longer needed it.

> Is it really guaranteed that it's a rich planet? - No. But it will only take a year or so to terraform it to Class 0.
Is that always the case, of could some Rakha planets be very inhospitable? - I don't know. This is my first v2.5 game. Their planets have to be able to keep Rakhas alive.

> What's Jeune Ecole? - Lots of small ships instead of fewer big ones. But I was joking when I said it, because the actual doctrine that we've been using (ie: out-range and out-shoot, use our high speed to choose the most favorable range, run away from anything too scary) is a Battle-Cruiser Doctrine. Jeune Ecole is more of a Convoy Interdiction Doctrine. Someone... RobbieAB, perhaps?... pointed that out in the thread.
Ah. So the Kriegsmarine hunts for convoys would be Jeune Ecole? - Jeune Ecole was A convoy interdiction doctrine. It wasn't ALL of the convoy interdiction doctrines.
Would using battleships be Battle-Cruiser doctrine too? - If the Battleships could out-run their expected opponents.

> What does maintenance support per facility 3200 entail? - Each facility raises our local space ship support cap by 3,200 tons.
So, with enough of those techs our space stations could support 9 Sabres without us modifyinf anything, but the stations? - No modifications needed. Each time we pop one of those techs, all of our maintenance stations suddenly work a bit better, at every Naval base. You could look at it as software changes, or procedural changes.

> Nw that sounds super cool. I love the idea of laser battleships. - This seems to be a Battle-Cruiser type game so far.
So no battleships? - Depends on what we run up against.

> I wonder what the allow NPRs to generate aether rifts does. - Pretty sure only Raiders can use Rifts.
Just seems weird to ahve NRP can trigger rifts as well as can encounter raiders.
Unless it's whether they can even get raided and then whether they can trigger the raiders in the first place, as well as be raided. Or perhaps trigger tehm, but not be able to be raided themselves, in case rift is flagged, but raider one isn't. - Raiders don't enter the game until we've explored a certain number of star systems. Maybe that option allows the NPR explorations to count towards triggering them.

> So huge guns that track enemy ships will get a big tonnage benefit from stacking four big guns in a turret, and will require little traversing gear because their targets move at only moderate speed.
Why can't yu have huge guns target fast enemies? - By "Fast Moving", I mean missiles. Ships might typically move at less than 10,000 kps. Missiles faster than 50,000 kps are pretty common. Why use heavy guns to shoot at missiles? They would be terrible at it... very slow rate of fire.

> Is Alpha Centauri so huge it can be worth it to go the ring route around to get form Sol to Luytens? - Nice idea, but that would mean seven jumps instead of two. I'm almost sure that the direct route through Alpha Centauro is quicker. Nice idea, though.
Might be worth meassuring, though? Like, jumps themselves, aren't those fast? So if teh JP are close together, it'd be faster.

Also, can enemies have bases in the same system? Like, you coud you and an enemy colonise planets in th same system, or does the game prevent you colonising something in a system somebody else already has a colony in? - Opponents can both colonize the same system.

> Does it fire mesons or something? - Yes. Armor is partly transparent to Mesons; you don't need to punch through his armor before you start scoring internal hits. The higher your tech level, the easier it is to shoot right through his armor. Meson Cannons are very short ranged, though. Again, higher tech means longer range.
Ah, so if you just stay far enouhg away, meson enemies can't harm you? - If mesons are all they have, yes. But typical Meson-armed enemier are fast, too.

 

[Wagonlitz]

> I'm guessing researching ground units that can actually take on these clowns would help not ruin the planet in the first place ;-) - Yes. Most of the radiation and dust is from the missile warheads. If we could take the planet without bombardment, it would be in much better shape.
Well, teh destruction, isn't that mostly from warheads too?

> Also, is thre a limit to how much fuel we can store? And is it better to store sorium or fuel, once you have a lot of fuel? - No limit. We should also have some non-refined Sorium in stockpile, because it's used for other things as wall as making fuel.
What other stuff is it needed for?

> How was it you could see on the map whether the administrator on earth can handle a planet or not? Like, wasn't there a limit, after which you need to sector? - CDR = Commander, CDRE = Commodore. - Each star system requires a commander who is higher ranked than the people assigned as subordinates. If he has a Commander as a subordinate, then he needs to be a Captain. You need to sector in order for the Fleet Bonuses spreading from a Naval HQ to apply. Not to get the bonus from a planetary governor, who is already right on the spot.
Ah. When do we need to have a second Naval HQ and hence need a new sector?

Is a commodore above or below a captain? If it follows normal ranks, then I'd presume he's above a captain, so it does commander, captain, commodore. Correct?

> Speakinf of, have we moved refineries a lot, or are we still getting fuel from the same sources? E.g. is Jupiter still giving fuel? And how is it looking compared to when we started? As in, how much is left and how much was there initially and at what acc compared to initially. - We haven't moved any refineries yet. I expect our current sources will last for decades or even centuries.
So basically we stroke luck and can get fuel from Jupiter essentially all game?

> I thoguht you said that the minimum size tech 8 meant a minimum size of 400 tonnes. - "Minimum Size" is a tech line, and we've advanced since then.
So the minimum size is the minimum size you can cloak at the current tech. So whne it was 400 you couldn't cloak anything less than 400 tonnes?

> And can all transported minerals be salvaged, or will some dissipate into the emptiness of space before wreckers arrive? - None of the transported minerals can be recovered. When a Freighter is destroyed, its cargo is lost.
Very weird. Makes me wonder where the cargo goes, when it goes poof. Perhaps space whales ate it.

> Now, this was close to Sol, but say it'd happened at the fringes. Would there then have been time for a colony ship to arrive in time to rescue the pods? - No. Any ship nearby could pick them up and drop them off at the nearest population, though. I use Colony ships when possible because they have cold sleep tanks.
What's teh advantage of cold sleep tanks?

> The game prevents them having some kind of defences? - The only warships on our side are directly controlled by me. No civvie warships.
Ah. Is that the game making it so, or is it a choice you made, to avoid civil wars, etc.?

> What's the maximum range to PD? - Depends on the type of weapon (Gauss, Laser, Railgun, etc) and on the tech level. And on Beam Fire Control range, of course. Ours is currently 90,000 km with Laser PD.
So basically for PD we get the base range, without the x4 modifier we get for non PD?

> So 10 damage hit would have 9 internal layers penetrated? - It depends on the weapon. Lasers tend to focus all of their damage on a narrow section of armor. So a three point Laser hit would be one block wide and three deep, while a ten-point Laser hit would be two blocks wide and five deep. Missiles bite out a wedge-shaped chunk of armor. A nine-point missile hit does five points to the outer layer, three points to the second layer, and one point to the third layer.
What determines how wide the laser hit is? Like, would a 15 hit be say 2 x 7 or 3 x 5?

> I wonder if their resources could deplete enough that the script can't spawn more ships. - I seriously doubt that the Jerx ships are built from resources. The game is complicated enough already. The almost certainly just magically appear out of nothing. Why not? There is no way we can every see the Jerx home system. We can't catch them cheating.
True. Makes me wonder whether they actually have a home system at all, then.



How many ships can a shipyard be tooled for at the sam time?
Like, will it stop being tooled for a ship if too many new shiops are tooled for? Or would we in prinsiple still be tooled for the beetle or whatver it was our first exploring craft was called.


> What is the explosion percentage? The chance of an engine exploding in case of a hit? - Yes.
Ah. Does that chance go up or down as engine tech progresses?

> Why do we have maintenance facilities outside of Earth? - To produce spare parts locally.
So basically for naval stations, such that we don't ned to ship in spares too often?

> Does the DSPs move around the system, or do they stay stationary? - Stationary, except for those orbiting gas giants, which stay with the planet.
Ah, so a DSP can't orbit a comet?

> Scientist Wagonlirz improved the Gadget's output, so now one Gadget will support the stack.
Woo!
So I take it we then had to take the gadgets back to earth for upgrades, one at a time?

> What are the genders of our characters, btw? - There's no easy way to find out. It isn't listed on the character's info sheet.
Ah. You just seemed to know it for some characters, hence why I asked.

> Mars type. That means it should be perfectly possible to colonise with some terraforming. - Yes. Or even just with infrastructure.
Isn't terraforming always better, though, as you avoid having to permanently have infrastructure and have part of tejh population work in lif support.

> I'll be nearly 90!
For some reason I actually thoguht you were in your 70s already. Might be confusing you with RELee.

 

[Wagonlitz]

> Does the intelligence point gathering depend on how close you are to the target, or can you be right at the edge and get just as much as if you were right next to the target? - You just need to be close enough to monitor their signals. There is no additional bonus for being closer than that. Remember that planets MOVE, though.
So sitting on a moon is ideal, as that moves with the planet?

> Sounds like long range ships are needed, then. - Our capabilities are steadily increasing. We've already got a ship part-way to Planet X in the Sol system. That's... like... 120 billion km away.
Speaking of: When is that expected to arrive?

> Why would you get troop transports that early? - Garrisons. To guard your colonies and repress unruly population.
How big a problem is that really, though?
Lik, have we had any problems needing repression?

> Won't old research also be cheaper to do, if you do it late? - No.
Ah, so it'll only seem faster because it keeps its old cost, but you get more research points as better reesarch rate and more labs?

> A class of None? What? - "Do not auto-assign any Leaders to this ship".
Ah, so all other ships automarically has aleader assigned if you don't assign one?
Is it a randomly generated one, or a preexisting one?

> (Would be hilarious if we actually have met them since where I am, which is early 2008. Another 25 pages to go, but only 21 to catch up to where it was yesterday.
We're in 2009 now, right? Means that 25 pages of thread covers less than 2 years. Almost certianly due to the battle.

> The spy ships can't fly that far on their own? - They have lots of life support but limited fuel. They are intended to sneak into position and lurk.
Why transport them then, instead of just letting them fly the entire way on their own?

> Just how long does aurora games last? By the sounds of it, a millennium or more. - Until we get tired of it, or we hit a bad bug, or Steve releases a new version.
So thre's not really any end game? Not even once the invaders are defeated? or can they come multiple times?

> What's promotion points? - When a higher rank is needed (eg: to run a new Battleship) the game decides who to promote. People who distinguish themselves are more likely to receive that promotion. Medals can be awarded that give bonus promotion points, so a decorated officer is more likely to get that promotion.
Ah. Are medals awarded manually only, or does the game award some automatically too?

> I thoguht they for instance didn't give any valuable tech. - And not very much minerals, either. The Pirates are there to spice up the game and to force us to guard stuff.
Ah. So we only send int eh wrecker if it has nothing else to do and basically only to keep the systems tidy?
Do we at least get more minerals than we spend fuel?

> If it was immobilised, wouldn't it then be much closer to the rhakkhas planed? - Yeah, I'm not sure what happened to it. But the planet MOVES remember. The Achernar might have been very close to the planet, but two or three orbits ago.
So the orbit itself moves around the system?
Because otherwise then planet 2 never would get close to the Achenar.

> What do you do if you can't fit into troop transports? Split the unit in two and transport it in multiple goes? - You mean a unit is too big for the transport? It goes nowhere.
So it's not possible to split it over two transpors? Like, one transport taking 25k tonnes and the othr 25k tonnes, in case of a 50k tonnes unit.
As long as no individual pieces are over 25k tonnes, shouldn't it then fit?

 

[randakar]

Ah. Is that the game making it so, or is it a choice you made, to avoid civil wars, etc.?

Civilian companies can only build ships that are a) classified as civilian, and b) explicitly designated as available for civilian companies. The latter is just a checkbox in the class design window you can tick, essentially. (If that bit hasn't changed, at least.)

What ship is classified as civilian depends on the components in the design, which is not something you determine - the game does. Some examples:

- Ship engines must be the maximum size and not use certain engine techs to classify as civilian.
- Passive sensors must be minimum size - 1 HS - in order to qualify as civilian.
- Active sensors, almost all weapons, almost all fire controls, and a lot of other war tech is always military
- .. one big exception being the smallest version of the gauss-cannon+sensor+fire-control combination known as a CIWS, a defensive weapon that shoots down incoming missiles at point blank range.. if it's still in the game, that is.
But that one is extremely limited in it's capability, needless to say.

If any of the components in the design - anything at all - classifies as military, it's a military ship and civilian companies cannot build it.

Note that troop transport bays and the associated shuttle bays are in fact civilian. Which is why I wondered if the civvies would ever build them if you made a design utilizing them available.

Makes me wonder whether they actually have a home system at all, then.

I highly doubt it.

 

[blue emu]

> I'm guessing researching ground units that can actually take on these clowns would help not ruin the planet in the first place ;-) - Yes. Most of the radiation and dust is from the missile warheads. If we could take the planet without bombardment, it would be in much better shape.
Well, teh destruction, isn't that mostly from warheads too? - Yes. But missiles were all that we had that could actually score hits. General Mayhem, writing in his memoires: "It was necessary to destroy the planet in order to save it".

> Also, is thre a limit to how much fuel we can store? And is it better to store sorium or fuel, once you have a lot of fuel? - No limit. We should also have some non-refined Sorium in stockpile, because it's used for other things as wall as making fuel.
What other stuff is it needed for? - Ship's jump drives, for one.

> How was it you could see on the map whether the administrator on earth can handle a planet or not? Like, wasn't there a limit, after which you need to sector? - CDR = Commander, CDRE = Commodore. - Each star system requires a commander who is higher ranked than the people assigned as subordinates. If he has a Commander as a subordinate, then he needs to be a Captain. You need to sector in order for the Fleet Bonuses spreading from a Naval HQ to apply. Not to get the bonus from a planetary governor, who is already right on the spot.
Ah. When do we need to have a second Naval HQ and hence need a new sector? - Not sure. We could just enlarge the Earth HW, in order to spread the radius.

Is a commodore above or below a captain? If it follows normal ranks, then I'd presume he's above a captain, so it does commander, captain, commodore. Correct? - Yes.

> Speakinf of, have we moved refineries a lot, or are we still getting fuel from the same sources? E.g. is Jupiter still giving fuel? And how is it looking compared to when we started? As in, how much is left and how much was there initially and at what acc compared to initially. - We haven't moved any refineries yet. I expect our current sources will last for decades or even centuries.
So basically we stroke luck and can get fuel from Jupiter essentially all game? - A large part of the game. Pretty average luck, though. Four gas giants in the outer system, one had Sorium.

> I thoguht you said that the minimum size tech 8 meant a minimum size of 400 tonnes. - "Minimum Size" is a tech line, and we've advanced since then.
So the minimum size is the minimum size you can cloak at the current tech. So whne it was 400 you couldn't cloak anything less than 400 tonnes? - When it's 400 we can't build a cloaking device smaller than 400 tons. Only 400 tons or larger. At 90% cloaking (our current progress in that tech line) that means we can cloak a 4,000 ton ship. Bigger ships require bigger cloaking devices. Smaller ships cannot be cloaked, until we advance further in that tech line.

> And can all transported minerals be salvaged, or will some dissipate into the emptiness of space before wreckers arrive? - None of the transported minerals can be recovered. When a Freighter is destroyed, its cargo is lost.
Very weird. Makes me wonder where the cargo goes, when it goes poof. Perhaps space whales ate it.

> Now, this was close to Sol, but say it'd happened at the fringes. Would there then have been time for a colony ship to arrive in time to rescue the pods? - No. Any ship nearby could pick them up and drop them off at the nearest population, though. I use Colony ships when possible because they have cold sleep tanks.
What's teh advantage of cold sleep tanks? - With cold sleep, the rescued people ADDED to your ship's crew don't over-load the capacity of your life-support system.

> The game prevents them having some kind of defences? - The only warships on our side are directly controlled by me. No civvie warships.
Ah. Is that the game making it so, or is it a choice you made, to avoid civil wars, etc.? - Game. Cannot arm civilians. That's why they are "civilians".

> What's the maximum range to PD? - Depends on the type of weapon (Gauss, Laser, Railgun, etc) and on the tech level. And on Beam Fire Control range, of course. Ours is currently 90,000 km with Laser PD.
So basically for PD we get the base range, without the x4 modifier we get for non PD? - We can choose the range settings for designing our ship's fire controls. On-mount STO Fire Controls are handled differently. For our ships, we can design a new FC with Range anywhere from x1 to x4, and Tracking Speed anywhere from x1 to x4. The more bells and whistles, the more massive the fire control. I tend to use( x2 Range, x4 Tracking Speed) for PD fire controls, and (x4 Range, x2 Tracking Speed) for anti-ship fire controls.

> So 10 damage hit would have 9 internal layers penetrated? - It depends on the weapon. Lasers tend to focus all of their damage on a narrow section of armor. So a three point Laser hit would be one block wide and three deep, while a ten-point Laser hit would be two blocks wide and five deep. Missiles bite out a wedge-shaped chunk of armor. A nine-point missile hit does five points to the outer layer, three points to the second layer, and one point to the third layer.
What determines how wide the laser hit is? Like, would a 15 hit be say 2 x 7 or 3 x 5? - Steve probably has it hard-coded.

> I wonder if their resources could deplete enough that the script can't spawn more ships. - I seriously doubt that the Jerx ships are built from resources. The game is complicated enough already. The almost certainly just magically appear out of nothing. Why not? There is no way we can every see the Jerx home system. We can't catch them cheating.
True. Makes me wonder whether they actually have a home system at all, then. - Who can you trust? Who?

How many ships can a shipyard be tooled for at the sam time? - One. But some designs are so similar to each other that tooling for ship A allows you to build either ship A or ship B in that yard.
Like, will it stop being tooled for a ship if too many new shiops are tooled for? Or would we in prinsiple still be tooled for the beetle or whatver it was our first exploring craft was called. - Only he most recent tooling counts.

> What is the explosion percentage? The chance of an engine exploding in case of a hit? - Yes.
Ah. Does that chance go up or down as engine tech progresses? - I believe smaller engines are more vulnerable, as are super-charged high-power engines. Haven't noticed any trend based on tech level.

> Why do we have maintenance facilities outside of Earth? - To produce spare parts locally.
So basically for naval stations, such that we don't ned to ship in spares too often? - Exactly.

> Does the DSPs move around the system, or do they stay stationary? - Stationary, except for those orbiting gas giants, which stay with the planet.
Ah, so a DSP can't orbit a comet? - Correct. I just built a base on (or in) the comet itself.

> Scientist Wagonlirz improved the Gadget's output, so now one Gadget will support the stack.
Woo!
So I take it we then had to take the gadgets back to earth for upgrades, one at a time? - Those ship-borne maintenance modules upgrade automatically as the new tech is researched. You could think of it as a combination of improved workflow procedures and improved software.

> What are the genders of our characters, btw? - There's no easy way to find out. It isn't listed on the character's info sheet.
Ah. You just seemed to know it for some characters, hence why I asked. - Some had gendered names before I renamed them to Forum members.

> Mars type. That means it should be perfectly possible to colonise with some terraforming. - Yes. Or even just with infrastructure.
Isn't terraforming always better, though, as you avoid having to permanently have infrastructure and have part of tejh population work in lif support. - Yes.

> I'll be nearly 90!
For some reason I actually thoguht you were in your 70s already. Might be confusing you with RELee. - 68 this September.

 

[Wagonlitz]

> So much for our stealth. - Stealth is more for moving around in a contested star system without being intercepted by warships or being targeted by long-range missiles. It's for confusing long-range RADAR and missile fire controls. Missiles can in theory kill a ship up to billions of km away (seriously), and I've seen it happen at 150 million km (one AU). Stealth is to protect you against that. Against STO beam weapoms at a range of less than 600,000 km, all that stealth will actually do is make you harder to hit.
Ah. Can you get so stealthed that even end game tech can't missile hit you at 1 billion km distance?

> Their tonnage is determined by my Minimum Cloaking Device Size tech. The smaller I can build a Cloak, the smaller the ship I can fit it into.
Oh, so that minimum size is the size of the cloak itself.
Does the minimum size cloak have full cloaking efficiency?

> What do you mean by farm status? That they're basically slaughter animals? - Basically. Too bad the wrecks aren't more valuable. We should get rid of the wrecks anyway, because the Swarm will lay eggs in them if they invade us.
Oh. Better to have no wrecks, then.

If a wreck with eggs in it is harvested, will the eggs then spread to whereever the harvested materials are taken?

> Do you specify the ship model yourself? And if so, was it then also you who gave the goons the star destroyer as their ship model? - Aliens get a random model. Hazards (like the Goons or the Galapagonians) have specific models assigned by Steve. We can change them, if we want.
Ah. Did Steve set the Rakhas flag too?
What was the ship model for teh Galapagoans, btw?

> Won't they know where the JP is if you launch from it, as they'll know where teh missile came from? - If they can see a size-6 missile at billions of km away. They must have end-game tech.
Still, they'd know the direction it came from.

> Does it have fulll sensitivity at 101 million km? - It has R11 granularity. Tuned for objects of 550 tons or larger. So that's a cloaked 5,500-ton ship. Or bigger.
Wjhat I meant was, can it spot the 550 tonnes ship already at 101 million km, or can it only spot the 550 tonnes ships way closer? As in, does the sensitivity decrease linearly with distance?

> Also, Rakhas were super advanced before they lost spacecraft, weren't they? - They spread all through this sector, so they were an interstellar race. The Beaam tehc that they've gor left is far in advance of ours.
Beam tech? As in the laser tech?
Do we know whether the precursors came before or after teh Rakhas? I wonder whether perhape the Invadors are the reasont eh Rakhas lost their grip on teh sector.


> Are divisions the largest unit size you can have in the game, or can you also have say corps or armies or even army groups? - One hierarchy level per military rank level. Because you always need a superior officer for the new level.
So with enough officers you could have army groups?

 

[blue emu]

> Does the intelligence point gathering depend on how close you are to the target, or can you be right at the edge and get just as much as if you were right next to the target? - You just need to be close enough to monitor their signals. There is no additional bonus for being closer than that. Remember that planets MOVE, though.
So sitting on a moon is ideal, as that moves with the planet? - Yes.

> Sounds like long range ships are needed, then. - Our capabilities are steadily increasing. We've already got a ship part-way to Planet X in the Sol system. That's... like... 120 billion km away.
Speaking of: When is that expected to arrive? - Three years?

> Why would you get troop transports that early? - Garrisons. To guard your colonies and repress unruly population.
How big a problem is that really, though?
Lik, have we had any problems needing repression? - Unrest reduces output. Colonies are often established for mines. We haven't had problems, but I've guarded everything all along, and that reduces unrest.

> Won't old research also be cheaper to do, if you do it late? - No.
Ah, so it'll only seem faster because it keeps its old cost, but you get more research points as better reesarch rate and more labs? - Exactly.

> A class of None? What? - "Do not auto-assign any Leaders to this ship".
Ah, so all other ships automarically has aleader assigned if you don't assign one?
Is it a randomly generated one, or a preexisting one? - A pre-existing one. So it's limited by my pool of on-hand leaders, plus new Naval College graduates.

> (Would be hilarious if we actually have met them since where I am, which is early 2008. Another 25 pages to go, but only 21 to catch up to where it was yesterday.
We're in 2009 now, right? Means that 25 pages of thread covers less than 2 years. Almost certianly due to the battle.

> The spy ships can't fly that far on their own? - They have lots of life support but limited fuel. They are intended to sneak into position and lurk.
Why transport them then, instead of just letting them fly the entire way on their own? - Why expend the Spy ship's resources, when I can expend resources from something that won't be exposed to the enemy?

> Just how long does aurora games last? By the sounds of it, a millennium or more. - Until we get tired of it, or we hit a bad bug, or Steve releases a new version.
So thre's not really any end game? Not even once the invaders are defeated? or can they come multiple times? - Don't know.

> What's promotion points? - When a higher rank is needed (eg: to run a new Battleship) the game decides who to promote. People who distinguish themselves are more likely to receive that promotion. Medals can be awarded that give bonus promotion points, so a decorated officer is more likely to get that promotion.
Ah. Are medals awarded manually only, or does the game award some automatically too? - Manually, but you can set a type of medal to be automatically awarded to everyone who fulfils the conditions. Just a little bit of automation.

> I thoguht they for instance didn't give any valuable tech. - And not very much minerals, either. The Pirates are there to spice up the game and to force us to guard stuff.
Ah. So we only send int eh wrecker if it has nothing else to do and basically only to keep the systems tidy?
Do we at least get more minerals than we spend fuel? - typically, yes.

> If it was immobilised, wouldn't it then be much closer to the rhakkhas planed? - Yeah, I'm not sure what happened to it. But the planet MOVES remember. The Achernar might have been very close to the planet, but two or three orbits ago.
So the orbit itself moves around the system?
Because otherwise then planet 2 never would get close to the Achenar. - The planet is moved along in its orbit once every five-day build cycle. It is moved a distance equivalent to five days orbital travel. BUT if its orbit isn't an even multiple of five days, (eg: 251 days instead of 250) then its positions on orbit 2 will not overlap with the positions on orbit 1. And the positions on orbit 3 will again be entirely different. The Achernar might have been within PD range of the planet on a previous orbit.

> What do you do if you can't fit into troop transports? Split the unit in two and transport it in multiple goes? - You mean a unit is too big for the transport? It goes nowhere.
So it's not possible to split it over two transpors? Like, one transport taking 25k tonnes and the othr 25k tonnes, in case of a 50k tonnes unit.
As long as no individual pieces are over 25k tonnes, shouldn't it then fit? - No. Ground units are indivisible. That's what makes them a "unit" instead of a "Formation".

 

[Wagonlitz]

> Is it a tech that gives us that x4 in range? If so, can that x4 then become higher as we progress in tech? - No. x4 is the maximum multiplier possible. Spinal mounts give the Lasers an additional +25% range, but do not increase Fire Control range.
If FC isn't increased, can that +25% then actually be use... Oh, that +25% can't be used to extend range, but rather will increase damage, right?

> Also, how did you know its name before you reached it? - How would we know the planet's name AFTER we reached it? Ask it?
I meant before you could see it. or could you see it all game, just couldn't reach it?

> Also, why would the artifiucial LP go to Jupiter? We can't have one go to Earth's own LP? - It connects to all existing LPs. I just mentioned the one that exists at game start.
No LP exists at Earth at game start?
Also, presumably it's only LPs in a sysstem, right? Or could you use it to jmp to an LP in a neighbour system too?

> That sounds like way way too few. At best that's 32k troops, at worst 9600 troops. No way that's enough to take an entire planet. Like, the US invaded Iraq with like 150k men. That's around two army corps, or around 10 ish divisions. - There was only a small settlement of them on the planet. Thermal 7. The population of Earth is Thermal 101,000 and EM 370,000. Just for comparison.
Oh. I thoguht the Rakhas numbered in teh billions.
So basically it's just small, fragmented groups surviving. Not actually larger societies?


Good to see how well I'm doing. Lol at the lack of self esteem. I feel, haven't I had very poor health since forever?

> Increased firing range. Which improves the to-hit at all ranges
Is the to-hit chance also linearly dependent on your distance to the target, like the damage dealt?

> How long do the probes last? - Forever. In previous game versions, they would time out after a few months, with longer life-times as your Reactor tech improved.
Ah. Perhaps we should dismantle them, then, to avoid the swarm laying eggs in them?

> Will that damage the rakhas? - The pops? I'm not sure there were any left by this stage. All their civilians vanish when we take the planet. You can't capture Hazards. AFAIK.
So teh civilians just poof? They don't even try and resist, form resistance movements in the outback, etc.?

> And the formula A^2 / (A^2 + B^2)
Oh. That's my bad. Missed the /. So didn't realise it was being divided. Thguht it was just a sum of squares, hence my confusion.

> Are those guilded missiles nuclear too? - All missiles are nuclear.
Ah. But the guided ones only have a 1 damage warhead?

 

[blue emu]

> So much for our stealth. - Stealth is more for moving around in a contested star system without being intercepted by warships or being targeted by long-range missiles. It's for confusing long-range RADAR and missile fire controls. Missiles can in theory kill a ship up to billions of km away (seriously), and I've seen it happen at 150 million km (one AU). Stealth is to protect you against that. Against STO beam weapoms at a range of less than 600,000 km, all that stealth will actually do is make you harder to hit.
Ah. Can you get so stealthed that even end game tech can't missile hit you at 1 billion km distance?

> Their tonnage is determined by my Minimum Cloaking Device Size tech. The smaller I can build a Cloak, the smaller the ship I can fit it into.
Oh, so that minimum size is the size of the cloak itself.
Does the minimum size cloak have full cloaking efficiency?

> What do you mean by farm status? That they're basically slaughter animals? - Basically. Too bad the wrecks aren't more valuable. We should get rid of the wrecks anyway, because the Swarm will lay eggs in them if they invade us.
Oh. Better to have no wrecks, then.

If a wreck with eggs in it is harvested, will the eggs then spread to whereever the harvested materials are taken? - Don't know. That would be a very "Aliens" way to handle it.

> Do you specify the ship model yourself? And if so, was it then also you who gave the goons the star destroyer as their ship model? - Aliens get a random model. Hazards (like the Goons or the Galapagonians) have specific models assigned by Steve. We can change them, if we want.
Ah. Did Steve set the Rakhas flag too? - Yes, AFAIK.
What was the ship model for teh Galapagoans, btw?

> Won't they know where the JP is if you launch from it, as they'll know where teh missile came from? - If they can see a size-6 missile at billions of km away. They must have end-game tech.
Still, they'd know the direction it came from. - That doesn't reveal it to them. And why would they assume that our probe traveled in a straight line? Why would it do so? It has a rocket engine. It can change course to mask its origin direction.

> Does it have fulll sensitivity at 101 million km? - It has R11 granularity. Tuned for objects of 550 tons or larger. So that's a cloaked 5,500-ton ship. Or bigger.
Wjhat I meant was, can it spot the 550 tonnes ship already at 101 million km, or can it only spot the 550 tonnes ships way closer? As in, does the sensitivity decrease linearly with distance? - No. The R-factor aspect of sensitivity depends ONLY on the wavelength used (so that the RADAR beam doesn't just "step over" the enemy ship without bouncing off it), not on beam intensity. The intensity of the beam is determined by your tech level and by the size (in Hull Squares) of your transmitter and receiver.

> Also, Rakhas were super advanced before they lost spacecraft, weren't they? - They spread all through this sector, so they were an interstellar race. The Beaam tehc that they've gor left is far in advance of ours.
Beam tech? As in the laser tech? - Yes. And Fire Control techs. They opened up on us at 600,000 km. Our longest ranged Laser reaches 320,000 km and can't hit anything at that distance.
Do we know whether the precursors came before or after teh Rakhas? I wonder whether perhape the Invadors are the reasont eh Rakhas lost their grip on teh sector. Don't know.


> Are divisions the largest unit size you can have in the game, or can you also have say corps or armies or even army groups? - One hierarchy level per military rank level. Because you always need a superior officer for the new level.
So with enough officers you could have army groups? - With enough rank-levels in your officer career structure, yes.

 

[blue emu]

> Is it a tech that gives us that x4 in range? If so, can that x4 then become higher as we progress in tech? - No. x4 is the maximum multiplier possible. Spinal mounts give the Lasers an additional +25% range, but do not increase Fire Control range.
If FC isn't increased, can that +25% then actually be use... Oh, that +25% can't be used to extend range, but rather will increase damage, right? - It isn't much use to you unless your FC tech is ahead of your Laser tech.

> Also, how did you know its name before you reached it? - How would we know the planet's name AFTER we reached it? Ask it?
I meant before you could see it. or could you see it all game, just couldn't reach it? - I could see it but not reach it.

> Also, why would the artifiucial LP go to Jupiter? We can't have one go to Earth's own LP? - It connects to all existing LPs. I just mentioned the one that exists at game start.
No LP exists at Earth at game start?
Also, presumably it's only LPs in a sysstem, right? Or could you use it to jmp to an LP in a neighbour system too? - Only connects to other LPs in the same star system.

> That sounds like way way too few. At best that's 32k troops, at worst 9600 troops. No way that's enough to take an entire planet. Like, the US invaded Iraq with like 150k men. That's around two army corps, or around 10 ish divisions. - There was only a small settlement of them on the planet. Thermal 7. The population of Earth is Thermal 101,000 and EM 370,000. Just for comparison.
Oh. I thoguht the Rakhas numbered in teh billions.
So basically it's just small, fragmented groups surviving. Not actually larger societies? - That's what it seems. Of course, we've only met one group. Perhaps the next will be millions of primitives?

Good to see how well I'm doing. Lol at the lack of self esteem. I feel, haven't I had very poor health since forever? - Decades, yes. Can't kill you with a crowbar, though.

> Increased firing range. Which improves the to-hit at all ranges
Is the to-hit chance also linearly dependent on your distance to the target, like the damage dealt? - Not sure if it's linear, but it certainly scales up.

> How long do the probes last? - Forever. In previous game versions, they would time out after a few months, with longer life-times as your Reactor tech improved.
Ah. Perhaps we should dismantle them, then, to avoid the swarm laying eggs in them? - Don't know if they can, since they are "missiles" and not "ships" or "stations".

> Will that damage the rakhas? - The pops? I'm not sure there were any left by this stage. All their civilians vanish when we take the planet. You can't capture Hazards. AFAIK.
So teh civilians just poof? They don't even try and resist, form resistance movements in the outback, etc.? - Apparently.

> And the formula A^2 / (A^2 + B^2)
Oh. That's my bad. Missed the /. So didn't realise it was being divided. Thguht it was just a sum of squares, hence my confusion.

> Are those guilded missiles nuclear too? - All missiles are nuclear.
Ah. But the guided ones only have a 1 damage warhead? - All missiles are guided in the sense that they self-destruct if the ship's Fire Control that launched them goes out of contact (destroyed, or out of range). You can add different types of on-board guidance to missiles... one type just improves the to-Hit (by quite a bit) while still leaving the missile dependant on external control. Another type provides terminal guidance even if the launching ship goes out of contact. Other types allow the missile to actively seek Infra-Red or EM targets... like a Heat-Seeking missile or an Anti-RADAR missile. Still another type allows the missile to retarget on other enemy ships in the same fleet if the target is destroyed before the missile arrives. Naturally, every new toy uses up mass and volume.

 

[Wagonlitz]

> Anything we can salvage? - Nothing. We basically blasted the planet right down to bedrock. Exposed a nice mineral deposit, though. 11 million tons at 100%.
Ah. So without the blasting we might not have known tehre were those minerals? Or would the deposit have been visible with geo survey anyway?

> Is 872 BP cheap? And does it require maintenance? - All ground units require maintenance. Not a lot, though. A new shipyard costs 1200 BP.
Ah. 872 BP sounds like a lot, then.

> Aren't orbital grinders in orbit, though? Or is this a case of the planet being too big for grinders, and mines can't be placed there as it has no surface? - Grinders are limited to small bodies. Most moons are already too big, let alone planets.
And it's not possible to have normal mines or automines be in orbit around a planet with no surface?

> Ah, so if you just stay far enouhg away, meson enemies can't harm you? - If mesons are all they have, yes. But typical Meson-armed enemier are fast, too.
Just need ot be faster, then. Or is the swarm like 50k km/s fast?

> What other stuff is it needed for? - Ship's jump drives, for one.
Ah, to build them, or does it burn raw sorium when it jumps?

> Ah. When do we need to have a second Naval HQ and hence need a new sector? - Not sure. We could just enlarge the Earth HW, in order to spread the radius.
Wont' there be a limit, though, after which we can't keep extending the radius?
Also, is teh radius by number of jump points, or radial distance in light years?

> So basically we stroke luck and can get fuel from Jupiter essentially all game? - A large part of the game. Pretty average luck, though. Four gas giants in the outer system, one had Sorium.
So normally you can expect one to have as much sorium as Jupiter had this game?

> So basically for PD we get the base range, without the x4 modifier we get for non PD? - We can choose the range settings for designing our ship's fire controls. On-mount STO Fire Controls are handled differently. For our ships, we can design a new FC with Range anywhere from x1 to x4, and Tracking Speed anywhere from x1 to x4. The more bells and whistles, the more massive the fire control. I tend to use( x2 Range, x4 Tracking Speed) for PD fire controls, and (x4 Range, x2 Tracking Speed) for anti-ship fire controls.
Ah. With tech, can we then get more than x4?

> Ah, so a DSP can't orbit a comet? - Correct. I just built a base on (or in) the comet itself.
So no comet can be too small for a base?

> For some reason I actually thoguht you were in your 70s already. Might be confusing you with RELee. - 68 this September.
Definitely must be confusing you with RELee or somebody else, as no way you were in uni in the early 70s then.

> Lik, have we had any problems needing repression? - Unrest reduces output. Colonies are often established for mines. We haven't had problems, but I've guarded everything all along, and that reduces unrest.
Ah. With enoug unrset, could you then see an outright rebellion ala the one in Total Recall?

> Is it a randomly generated one, or a preexisting one? - A pre-existing one. So it's limited by my pool of on-hand leaders, plus new Naval College graduates.
Ah. Can the rate by which new peoepl graduate be sped up, or is it just tough luck if we find ourselves lacking commanders?

> Ah. Are medals awarded manually only, or does the game award some automatically too? - Manually, but you can set a type of medal to be automatically awarded to everyone who fulfils the conditions. Just a little bit of automation.
Ah. Do we do that automatic rewarding of medals? Or do we only hand them out manually?

> Because otherwise then planet 2 never would get close to the Achenar. - The planet is moved along in its orbit once every five-day build cycle. It is moved a distance equivalent to five days orbital travel. BUT if its orbit isn't an even multiple of five days, (eg: 251 days instead of 250) then its positions on orbit 2 will not overlap with the positions on orbit 1. And the positions on orbit 3 will again be entirely different. The Achernar might have been within PD range of the planet on a previous orbit.
Oh. Ohhh. So basically a result of the granulatity of the increments, not due to some physical effects making the orbit rotate around.