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

[blue emu]

"Also, if our leaders graduate with zero skill, can we then sack the academy teachers? Clearly they're incompetent."

Actually... THAT's a possible job for you...

The Director of the Military Academy determines what sort of education the new officers will get. Using a Scientist as Director will slightly bias the education toward the sciences, using a Naval Officer as Director will slightly bias the education toward fleet operations, and so on.

 

[Wagonlitz]

View attachment 1075171

Oh. For some reason I mixed him up with Marcus Marshall. Might be the orange.

" And can't those new leaders just level up in admin over time, like the rest? - Admin just controls how large a planet (for Governors) or how many Labs (for Scientists) that character can manage."
Oh. Does some of our scientists manage many labs and hence work faster?

" Ah. So the N and C at teh shipyards denoted whether they can produce civilian or naval ships? No shipyard can do both? - Correct. And when it comes to jumping from one star system to another (faster-than-light drive) Civilian ships require Civilian jump drives and Naval ships require Military jump drives."
Why aren't you allowed to put in whichever jump drive you like?

What's star gates?

" Why did we limit to 6 comets, but have that many asteroids? - We have no control over the number of asteroids. For the Sol system, that's based on Steve's own research. For other systems, it's procedurally driven (pseudo-random)."
Why not have more comits then, though?
Or is it to avoid the game slowing down too fast?

" Didn't you already have a 20k yard, though? Also, if the large yards aren't building anything anyway, why not use it for some colony ships? - Only the one that was building Tugs. Since I'm going to need more shipyards anyway, why would I stop making Tugs with that one, spend months (and minerals) re-tooling it for Colony ships... only to then build an NEW yard and re-tool it for Tugs? Isn't that very wasteful? It takes TIME and MINERALS to re-tool shipyards."
Oh. Didn't realise you had to spend TNs to retool.

" Oh. Had i been in charge then I'd have been exploring for exploration sake, as why not. And colonising as many places as possible. - Our #1 priority is to locate new mineral sources. The game ends (for practical purposes) if we run out."
We can't recycle stuff to regain some?

" Why would anybody not make that law, then? As in, why's it in the game then, if it's a no brainer. - I wouldn't bother forcing them out of the market if they were just sitting on a mid-sized deposit. But they've got a monopoly on the best deposit in the Sol system (so far)... and I want it."
Ah. So there are downsides to forcing them out?
Also, are there any upsides to allowing them to contorl smaller deposits, or is it just a way to make the game harder?

 

[blue emu]

Back to the game!

July 30th, 1957

It's nearly ten years since the space race began. Our researchers are now shifting from studying the techs required for exploring and exploiting the Sol system, to the techs that will be required for breaking out into the galaxy and exploring (and exploiting) the nearby star systems.

These necessary techs include several Interstellar Drive theory techs (upward of half a dozen of them) before we can start researching practicals and actually design and build some hardware. Much of the game works this way... your scientists must alternate between basic research (theory techs), implimentations (practicals) and actual hardware design (prototyping specific components).

Our immediate goal (immediate being "less than ten years") is to put together a survey craft / scout ship that can do everything the Beetle class can do but also travel to other star systems (and hopefully, return in one piece).

 

[Wagonlitz]

The Director of the Military Academy determines what sort of education the new officers will get. Using a Scientist as Director will slightly bias the education toward the sciences, using a Naval Officer as Director will slightly bias the education toward fleet operations, and so on.

Ah. I'll be head mistress then. And I'll be a scientist. To bias teh education towards teh sciences. Those who don't comply can get a day in th black hole of Calcutta!
Yes, I'll rule this school with an iron fist. It's my way or the oubliette...

 

[Wagonlitz]

Our immediate goal (immediate being "less than ten years") is to put together a survey craft / scout ship that can do everything the Bettle class can do but also travel to other star systems (and hopefully, return in one piece).

The return in one piece, is that only with regard to hostiles, or can it get lost even without hostiles?

 

[blue emu]

Oh. For some reason I mixed him up with Marcus Marshall. Might be the orange. - The color just indicates that Marcus Marshall is sick. Everyone else is healthy.

" And can't those new leaders just level up in admin over time, like the rest? - Admin just controls how large a planet (for Governors) or how many Labs (for Scientists) that character can manage."
Oh. Does some of our scientists manage many labs and hence work faster? - Exactly. A scientist who can manage 25 labs has far more potential (potential!) than one who can manage 5 labs. Of course, we need to build enough labs to take advantage of his high Admin. And labs are horribly expensive. 31% of our entire budget is spent just on MAINTAINING our existing Labs, not including building them. It used to be over 50% (!) until our big expansion of Industry (2.5 times as much as at game start).

" Ah. So the N and C at teh shipyards denoted whether they can produce civilian or naval ships? No shipyard can do both? - Correct. And when it comes to jumping from one star system to another (faster-than-light drive) Civilian ships require Civilian jump drives and Naval ships require Military jump drives."
Why aren't you allowed to put in whichever jump drive you like? - Your jump drive must match your engine type. It draws power from the same power system that runs your engine. So a ship with Naval engines must use a Naval Jump Drive.

What's star gates? - A big gate that sends you to the next star system. Ships that have their own Jump Drives don't need to use Star Gates. But a freighter would use them.

" Why did we limit to 6 comets, but have that many asteroids? - We have no control over the number of asteroids. For the Sol system, that's based on Steve's own research. For other systems, it's procedurally driven (pseudo-random)."
Why not have more comits then, though? - The number I used was 10, AFAIR. Why not a hundred? Because the number I put in applies to EVERY star. 750 stars times 100 comets each would be 75,000 extra objects that the computer must calculate orbital positions for, every game impulse. I'm seeking a balance between "more minerals" and "a game that takes forever to play".
Or is it to avoid the game slowing down too fast? - Correct!

" Didn't you already have a 20k yard, though? Also, if the large yards aren't building anything anyway, why not use it for some colony ships? - Only the one that was building Tugs. Since I'm going to need more shipyards anyway, why would I stop making Tugs with that one, spend months (and minerals) re-tooling it for Colony ships... only to then build an NEW yard and re-tool it for Tugs? Isn't that very wasteful? It takes TIME and MINERALS to re-tool shipyards."
Oh. Didn't realise you had to spend TNs to retool. - Nearly EVERYTHING costs TNs. Even ground troops. Weapons. Ships. Space Stations. Shipyards. Buildings. Mines. Jeeze... mines... that's why Corundium is absolutely vital. Mines are made out of Corundium. And then you use the Mines to mine MORE minerals, of all types. Freaking MISSILES cost TNs. When you shoot at an enemy, you are spending minerals. Nearly everything has a cost.

" Oh. Had i been in charge then I'd have been exploring for exploration sake, as why not. And colonising as many places as possible. - Our #1 priority is to locate new mineral sources. The game ends (for practical purposes) if we run out."
We can't recycle stuff to regain some? - Only a little. 25%?

" Why would anybody not make that law, then? As in, why's it in the game then, if it's a no brainer. - I wouldn't bother forcing them out of the market if they were just sitting on a mid-sized deposit. But they've got a monopoly on the best deposit in the Sol system (so far)... and I want it."
Ah. So there are downsides to forcing them out?
Also, are there any upsides to allowing them to contorl smaller deposits, or is it just a way to make the game harder? - Mostly roleplay. And I don't need to pay any of MY Corundium for THEIR mines.

 

[blue emu]

The return in one piece, is that only with regard to hostiles, or can it get lost even without hostiles?

It will necessarily be a Military ship (some of the required Sensors are military) so that means that it can break down.

... that's another advantage of civilian ships over military... they can't break down unless they get damaged by something (generally, an enemy).

 

[blue emu]

 

[blue emu]

Now that we have both Laser and Armor techs, we can design our first TN ground units.

We'll start with Garrisons. We'll need riflemen, machine gunners, artillerymen, anti-tank and anti-aircraft troops, resupply units, forward observers for the artillery, an HQ to command the unit...

Note that the last three units... HQ, Supply and Forward Observer... are all marked as "avoid combat".

We'll need to research those techs before we can proceed to the next step: combining them into a new military unit.

 

[blue emu]

Happycat inspects some comets, and our first Grinder-class Orbital Mining Platform pops out of the shipyard.

Too bad our Tug is still under construction.

---

Blaaat suffers a maintenance failure, but repairs it from on-board stores. That only used up 10% of his maintenance supplies, so I won't bring him back home yet.

Our shipyards are still expanding. One Naval yard is actually big enough to build Fleet Carriers or Battle Management Vessels. Given the right techs.

 

[blue emu]

November 5th, 1957

Our shipyards are still expanding, both in size and (more slowly) in number.

The yard that we were using to build Mule-class Freighters has finally reached our target 110,000 tons, and is now being converted to building Refinery-class Orbital Refining Platforms instead of Mules. The figure of 110,000 tons is about 90% arbitrary. Any standardization would have worked more-or-less as well.

 

[blue emu]

With the techs needed for Ground Troops almost done, we set up a few more projects:

An HQ unit large enough to command a full Brigade (the previous one was just a Battalion HQ)...

The Geo-teams can search a planet on foot (but only if an orbital survey indicates that potential) while the Engineer teams can act as a very weak Factory, and can help other ground units entrench. Their most important use is to dig up any Ruins that our Xenology teams might find (we're still researching that tech).

 

[blue emu]

Our Tug is ready, so...

First we decide where we want to deploy that Orbital Mining Platform we built. It will need to be a comet, moon or asteroid of 125 km diameter or smaller, because our techs don't yet support the orbital mining of larger bodies. The most important mineral for expansion (assuming already you have a secure supply of fuel) is Corundium... to build more mines to mine more Corundium to build more mines to mine more Corundium to build more mines to mine more Corundium... and so on. So we want to send our OMP (Orbital Mining Platform) to a small body rich in Corundium. Other minerals in addition would be nice.

So we set our Survey Report to list the bodies that meet those criteria:

... and Comet Crommeln looks like the winner. 76 thousand tons at 70% purity, plus three other minerals that will be mined as by-products.

So... orders for Tug TG-01 Strongman:

Take on a fuel load, go to the shipyard, tractor onto OMP-01 Grinder 001, drag it out to Comet Crommeln, drop it off in orbit, then return to Earth and refuel.

 

[blue emu]

Having researched all the required components... small arms, machine guns, light artillery, manpads, AT-missiles, forward observers, HQ units... we can now finally design our first ground unit.

This is a Garrison Battalion, massing in total just under 5000 tons with equipment and supplies. That 5000-ton figure is not arbitrary. A standard hold on a Troop Ship is 25,000 tons. A Brigade HQ can command its own unit (the HQ itself) plus four subordinate units. So if I make all the units in the formation 5000-tons each, that totals 25,000 tons (HQ + four subordinates, all 5000 tons each) which is exactly the capacity of a ship's hold.

The Garrison Brigade HQ.

Let's build a few.

 

[blue emu]

Our first ground unit is complete!

It's only a Garrison unit... but it demonstrates that we know how to research and build ground units.

As our tech advances, we will want to periodically re-research these units... to upgrade to modern equipment.

 

[blue emu]

We have completed research on "Maximum Orbital Mining Diameter 160 km" (up from 125) and that adds more options for our deployment of OMPs.

Halley's Comet is now an attractive mining target. Basically a one-trick-pony (nothing but Corundium)... but it's quite a trick.

---

In other news, we have expanded the Earth Garrison force to a full Brigade.

We might as well build a second Brigade to guard our planned colony on Mars.

 

[Blaaat]

View attachment 1075222

Huh so you have to create survey teams armies these days instead of creating a team of scientist that magically get transported to the planet like in the old version.

 

[blue emu]

Huh so you have to create survey teams armies these days instead of creating a team of scientist that magically get transported to the planet like in the old version.

Yup.

Survey teams are now Battalion-sized units instead of five officers. And you need to actually transport them to their destination.

 

[blue emu]

Our current ship designs, as of May 19th 1959.

---

Spoiler: New Hope class Colony Ship

New Hope class Colony Ship 20,181 tons 114 Crew 716 BP TCS 404 TH 320 EM 0
792 km/s Armour 1-66 Shields 0-0 HTK 37 Sensors 6/6/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 50,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 2
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months

CIV NT Engine EP80.00 1954 (4) Power 320 Fuel Use 8.94% Signature 80 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 550,000 Litres Range 54.8 billion km (800 days at full power)

CIV Search Sensor AS20-R100 1955 (1) GPS 1000 Range 20.3m km Resolution 100
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
CIV Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

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

---

Spoiler: Mule class Freighter

Mule class Freighter 35,888 tons 113 Crew 434.9 BP TCS 718 TH 480 EM 0
668 km/s Armour 1-96 Shields 0-0 HTK 45 Sensors 6/6/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 7 Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 25,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 2
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months

CIV NT Engine EP80.00 1954 (6) Power 480 Fuel Use 8.94% Signature 80 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 56 billion km (970 days at full power)

CIV Search Sensor AS20-R100 1955 (1) GPS 1000 Range 20.3m km Resolution 100
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
CIV Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

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

---

Spoiler: Refinery class Fuel Harvester Station

Refinery class Fuel Harvester Station 109,204 tons 410 Crew 1,414.2 BP TCS 2,184 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 217 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 8 Max Repair 30 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Fuel Harvester: 40 modules producing 1,920,000 litres per annum

Fuel Capacity 8,000,000 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 Fuel Harvester for auto-assignment purposes

---

Spoiler: Grinder class Orbital Mining Platform

Grinder class Orbital Mining Platform 107,183 tons 1,060 Crew 2,868 BP TCS 2,144 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 138 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 16 Max Repair 120 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Orbital Miner: 21 modules producing 252 tons per mineral per annum

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 Orbital Miner for auto-assignment purposes

---

Spoiler: Beetle class Survey Craft

Beetle class Survey Craft 2,437 tons 48 Crew 323.1 BP TCS 49 TH 80 EM 0
1641 km/s Armour 1-16 Shields 0-0 HTK 17 Sensors 6/6/0/2 DCR 1-4 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.70 Years MSP 207 AFR 48% IFR 0.7% 1YR 15 5YR 230 Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Morale Check Required

CIV NT Engine EP80.00 1954 (1) Power 80 Fuel Use 8.94% Signature 80 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 123.8 billion km (873 days at full power)

CIV Search Sensor AS20-R100 1955 (1) GPS 1000 Range 20.3m km Resolution 100
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
CIV Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour

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

---

Spoiler: Gaia class Terraforming Station

Gaia class Terraforming Station 101,229 tons 410 Crew 2,160.7 BP TCS 2,025 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 54 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 13 Max Repair 500 MSP
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Terraformer: 4 modules producing 0.001 atm per annum

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 Terraformer for auto-assignment purposes

---

Spoiler: Strongman class Tug

Strongman class Tug 19,773 tons 166 Crew 548.1 BP TCS 395 TH 800 EM 0
2022 km/s Armour 1-65 Shields 0-0 HTK 71 Sensors 6/6/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 100 MSP
Tractor Beam
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months

CIV NT Engine EP80.00 1954 (10) Power 800 Fuel Use 8.94% Signature 80 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres Range 508.6 billion km (2911 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 100 hours

CIV Search Sensor AS20-R100 1955 (1) GPS 1000 Range 20.3m km Resolution 100
CIV EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
CIV Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 1955 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

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

 

[Nikolai II]

Yup.

Survey teams are now Battalion-sized units instead of five officers. And you need to actually transport them to their destination.

So no transporter rooms or redshirts?