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

[blue emu]

How about this for our first Fighter design?

X-Wing class Strikefighter (P) 260 tons 1 Crew 65 BP TCS 5 TH 63 EM 0
12034 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 0.9
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 51% IFR 0.7% 1YR 9 5YR 132 Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Magazine 6 / 0
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1.2 days Morale Check Required

FTR Ion Drive EP62.50 HS-2 1973 (1) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 1546.80% Signature 62.50 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.45 billion km (10 hours at full power)

Size 6.00 Box Launcher 1973 (1) Missile Size: 6.00 Hangar Reload 122 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
FTR Missile Fire Control FC74-R100 1974 (1) Range 75m km Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposes

Two engines, and carries a single missile. The idea is to make it as fast as possible while still keeping it as compact as possible (so that we present a smaller radar cross-section, and we can fit more strike fighters in a hangar). 12,000 kps gives us a signifigant speed advantage even over the Galapagonians.

EDIT:

Adding a second missile rack would slow the Strikefighter down by 2000 kps (nearly halving its speed advantage over the Galapagonians, from +4500 to +2500) and would increase the Fighter's bulk by 48 tons, reducing its stealth and also reducing the number of Strikefighters that a Carrier can hold.

 

[blue emu]

Of course, this will lower the surface temperature a bit since Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

---

RE: our Strikefighter design - We were close to gaining a Sensor tech, so I just waited for it. This allows us to design a more compact fire control system, which in turn should reduce our mass and therefore our radar signature. Design coming as soon as we finish the Practical.

EDIT:

X-Wing class Strikefighter 239 tons 1 Crew 64.4 BP TCS 5 TH 63 EM 0
13107 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 0.9
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 47% IFR 0.7% 1YR 8 5YR 120 Max Repair 31.25 MSP
Magazine 6 / 0
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1.2 days Morale Check Required

FTR Ion Drive EP62.50 HS-2 1973 (1) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 1546.80% Signature 62.50 Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.49 billion km (10 hours at full power)

Size 6.00 Box Launcher 1973 (1) Missile Size: 6.00 Hangar Reload 122 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
FTR Missile Fire Control FC74-R100 1974b (1) Range 74.4m km Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction
This design is classed as a Fighter for auto-assignment purposes

---

Smaller, faster, less expensive, longer ranged (a bit), harder to see and harder to hit.

 

[Nikolai II]

I guess for the mines then it's.all the infrastructure being mobile.

It's even in the name "grinder" - it's the actual extraction and conversion equipment - i.e. the tools needed to turn a patch of ground into a pile of rubble and some separated actually usefull minerals. (The hole is just a byproduct.)

Commander Nikolai II in the ESNS Wagonlitz has discovered a new star system to spinward... again, no planets or moons, just a scattering of comets.

When did I stop teaching at the academy? Did I produce any good redshirt commanders?

... it's also possible that they DO have missiles, and for some bizarre reason that makes perfect sense to a 40,000-year-old robot, they didn't fire them.

Least bizarre would be they waited until the ship was a potential threat (i.e. sensors could reach them) and then used the cheapest possible method available?

But it is an interesting data point to add to the previous first strike offense of a scouting vessel that got kindly escorted out of the system, while the diplomat ship (supposedly better at being diplomatic) got blown up.

 

[blue emu]

It's even in the name "grinder" - it's the actual extraction and conversion equipment - i.e. the tools needed to turn a patch of ground into a pile of rubble and some separated actually usefull minerals. (The hole is just a byproduct.) - Sounds reasonable.

When did I stop teaching at the academy? Did I produce any good redshirt commanders? - We have more than enough now, yes.

Least bizarre would be they waited until the ship was a potential threat (i.e. sensors could reach them) and then used the cheapest possible method available? - Yeah, it occurred to me that they waited until I was just about to detect them.

But it is an interesting data point to add to the previous first strike offense of a scouting vessel that got kindly escorted out of the system, while the diplomat ship (supposedly better at being diplomatic) got blown up. - Yup. That's the fly in the ointment. We'll need more encounters with them before we figure out their tactics.

 

[Deleted user]

So how often do the Precursors kindly escort you out of a system versus blowing you to kingdom come?

 

[Wagonlitz]

Btw, if we do mine in Barnard's star, do we then risk teh jump points changing, or are they a bit more resistant than what one could imagine?


Guess you just hadn't changed the Galapagoan system name yet in the screenshot I commented on.

Whoops... we were getting 5-second chops (turn interrupts) but they stopped. Somebody fighting somewhere else in the sector?

5 seconds was the shortest turn possible, right?

We'll send a tug, towing the jump tender, and the diplo-ship into Luhman 16 and set up for the jump to Galapagonia.

Now, it's dead, but assuming it hadn't been, how would it then have got back?

Our new Tugs look to be twice as fast as the old, but that's an illusion. When towing some standard mass (such as a 110,000 ton Grinder, Refinery or Terraformer) the new Tugs are FOUR times as fast, not twice as fast.

How does the maths for that work? Like, how does it get four times faster? Is it because it doesn't get the halving of speed when at load?

don't know why I can't find it in SM mode

SM mode? Some kind of masochistic difficulty?

The climate on Mars continues to shift towards Earth-like biomes. "Desert" (with a breathable atmosphere) might be as good as we can hope for, on Mars.

We won't be able to make it lush?

Spoiler

Hee.

Was it to create as big an explosion as possible, in case they destroyed it?

View attachment 1076801
View attachment 1076802

... looks like they don't want to talk.

We are now at war.

Honetsly, I'm not sure why it was we wanted to go with the diplo ship given we weren't at war before, but risked ending up at war.

Did the explosin cause harm to them?

Twenty-six ships in orbit, but a pathetically tiny colony.

View attachment 1076803

Thermal 65, EM 50? There can't even be any live PEOPLE on the planet, with readings that low. It must be just automatic machinery.

Precursors?

If so... we dodged a bullet there! Precursors are no threat to Luhman 16. They don't jump out unless they SEE you jump in.

Are we certain we got to scan all their inhabited planets in that system?

They could easily have killed us with missiles while we were still approaching. Well before we came into range to be a threat (if we had been armed). If they have missiles. Apparently they don't?

Could that be why we were allowed to go the other time? I.e. they never got in range for energy weapons?

Are they super-vulnerable to a Fighter strike?

Energy weapons can't hit at close range, or is it rather that the fighters will be able to blast them with missiles from far away?
Can't they just blow the missiles out of the sky?

Of course...

... it's also possible that they DO have missiles, and for some bizarre reason that makes perfect sense to a 40,000-year-old robot, they didn't fire them.

---

Either way, if these are the Precursors, we are no longer in mortal peril. Precursors can't find jump points unless they observe a transit. They won't be coming out.

That really takes the pressure off!

Why woulnd' ttheir sensors cover the entire system, though? So, like, are we certain they ddin't see us either of the times? Like, when they escorted us out they were close to us, so wouldn't they have seen where we jumped from then?

Most of the asteroids will be prohibitively far away.

Can't we just use slingshots to sling the minerals to a central collection hub?

Annoyingly, there is a good Lagrange point in the A-star system but none in the B-star system. Well... we'll just watch for a perihelion passage and BUILD one.

How on Earth do you build a Lagrange point?
Also, do we really need Lagrange points? As in, what do we need them for? I thought the only space stations we made were stuff like grinders which aren't in the Lagrange points.

Commander Happycat has found a nice mineral strike in the new AX Microscopii system... both Sorium and Mercassium in high concentration and large deposits. Those are two of the three minerals that we haven't found a good offworld source for yet.

... and a Destroyed Outpost!

View attachment 1076821

We shouldn't get too excited about this... a Destroyed Outpost will probably contain nothing of value... but it will offer role-play clues as to the races that formerly inhabited this part of the sector, before the great Invader vs Precursor war tens of thousands of years ago.

So that dstroyed outpost would be one of those ruins you talked about?
Woulnd't there be Rakha there too, then? Did Rakha have GTO?
And I take it that we'll be mining lots of sorium there, then?

Adding a second missile rack would slow the Strikefighter down by 2000 kps (nearly halving its speed advantage over the Galapagonians, from +4500 to +2500) and would increase the Fighter's bulk by 48 tons, reducing its stealth and also reducing the number of Strikefighters that a Carrier can hold.

How do we know they dn't have faster ships than the one that escorted us out?

Of course, this will lower the surface temperature a bit since Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

Ehm, how did that happen. Like, dont' we want there to be some CO2 in the athmosphere, rather than having ti be all depleted? Like, without any then there'll be no plants growing for instance.

Did I produce any good redshirt commanders?

What's that?

Least bizarre would be they waited until the ship was a potential threat (i.e. sensors could reach them) and then used the cheapest possible method available?

Seems weird as it risks them being discovered fully.

Did we get to get a full scan of them?
Also, when the precursors lived could they then enter the systems safely?
And would some hae lived on those ships/colonies?

 

[blue emu]

Btw, if we do mine in Barnard's star, do we then risk teh jump points changing, or are they a bit more resistant than what one could imagine? - No, jump points are fixed unless there are hidden (one-sided) jump points involved. They are rare.

Guess you just hadn't changed the Galapagoan system name yet in the screenshot I commented on. - Right.

5 seconds was the shortest turn possible, right? - Right. But even the shortest turn gets broken down into sub-pulses for actual resolution of movement and combat.

Now, it's dead, but assuming it hadn't been, how would it then have got back? - The ship (or space station) offering an assisted jump can be sitting at either end of the jump point. It doesn't need to be at the same end as the ship receiving the assist.

How does the maths for that work? Like, how does it get four times faster? Is it because it doesn't get the halving of speed when at load? - Figure it when towing equal LARGE masses. Strongman masses 20,000 tons and moves at 2000 kps, while Sumo masses 40,000 tons and moves at 4000 kps. They will both be towing a 110,000-ton mass. That towed mass is five and a half times the mass of the Strongman (for a combined mass of 6.5-to-1), so it slows it from 2000 kps to about 308 kps (6.5 to 1). For the Sumo instead, the same towed mass is only 2.75 times as massive as the tug alone, so it only slows the combination down by 3.75-to-1, to 1,067 kps. Between three and four times faster.

SM mode? Some kind of masochistic difficulty? - Space Master Mode. It lets you add or subtract, create / destroy / or move things around.

We won't be able to make it lush? - I think not.

Was it to create as big an explosion as possible, in case they destroyed it? - It was for role-play.

Honetsly, I'm not sure why it was we wanted to go with the diplo ship given we weren't at war before, but risked ending up at war. - Or ending up with a treaty. A tech-sharing treaty would advance our science hundreds of years within a few months. Also... we couldn't figure out that these were Precursors until we had some DATA to work with. A look at their 65-Thermal colony, for example. Do you really feel that you should criticize our decision based on info that we DIDN'T HAVE when we made it? If they weren't Precursors then they would be coming OUT soon. Shouldn't we try to make friends before that happened?

Did the explosin cause harm to them? - No.

Are we certain we got to scan all their inhabited planets in that system? - No. We know that we DIDN'T have a chance to scan the system. But the presence of the big fleet in orbit around an empty colony planet only makes sense if they are Precursors (or at least, robots). You can't MAINTAIN a fleet that size without population.

Could that be why we were allowed to go the other time? I.e. they never got in range for energy weapons? - They slowed down by four-to-one in order to escort us out. They didn't attack us the first time because they didn't aggro (didn't switch to their aggressive programming). Why? Maybe because they have a set "get closer than THIS and you die" distance, and we didn't cross the red-line last time?

Energy weapons can't hit at close range, or is it rather that the fighters will be able to blast them with missiles from far away?
Can't they just blow the missiles out of the sky? - The Fighters might be able to fire from outside the Precursors' sensor-lock range, since the ability to lock onto a target varies as the INVERSE SQUARE of the displacement difference. (Eg: if their sensors are tuned for 5000 ton targets, then a 250-ton Fighter - 20 times less massive - can get 400 times closer (!) before they can lock onto it). Our Fighters can CERTAINLY fire from outside the Precursors' weapon range... energy weapons are limited to a range that can be crossed in five secomds... so a maximum of 1.5 million km range, even at very top-tier tech. Yes, if we fired just one missile then of course they would simply shoot it down with an energy weapon. What if we launch 400 Fighters and ALL of them fire missiles?

Why woulnd' ttheir sensors cover the entire system, though? So, like, are we certain they ddin't see us either of the times? Like, when they escorted us out they were close to us, so wouldn't they have seen where we jumped from then? - They were 70 m-km away when we entered the jump point. We got a LOOK at their sensor emissions, remember? They had it turned on. It was a bit over 16,000 GPS. That is nowhere near strong enough to see us at that range. And their passives were WAY WAY out of range. I don't care how high their tech level is... we were BILLIONS of km away from any spot that might possibly be carrying passives, when we jumped.

Can't we just use slingshots to sling the minerals to a central collection hub? - It would take YEARS to drag the Grinders out there and set them up.

How on Earth do you build a Lagrange point? - With a Gate Constructor ship. You build a jump gate in orbit, so that it leads or follows the planet in its orbit, and tuned to automatically transfer ships to the OTHER Lagrange point.
Also, do we really need Lagrange points? As in, what do we need them for? I thought the only space stations we made were stuff like grinders which aren't in the Lagrange points. - Enter one Lagrange point, pop out the other. It's like a jump point. but instead of leading to a different star system it offers a short-cut within your own star system. Sometimes it shaves MONTHS OR YEARS off a trip.

So that dstroyed outpost would be one of those ruins you talked about? - Yes. A poor one.
Woulnd't there be Rakha there too, then? Did Rakha have GTO? - Could be. Should have shot at us, though. Yes, they have GTO.
And I take it that we'll be mining lots of sorium there, then? - We hope.

How do we know they dn't have faster ships than the one that escorted us out? - We don't. What would you suggest we base our tentative plans on, if not on the data we collected?

Ehm, how did that happen. Like, dont' we want there to be some CO2 in the athmosphere, rather than having ti be all depleted? Like, without any then there'll be no plants growing for instance. - Life produces CO2. Relax.

What's that? - Star Trek.

Seems weird as it risks them being discovered fully.

Did we get to get a full scan of them? - Passives only. They destroyed us in the first five seconds of combat, so no chance for an active sensor scan.
Also, when the precursors lived could they then enter the systems safely? - I assume that they had some sort of lock-out for the robots' aggression.
And would some hae lived on those ships/colonies? - On the colonies, yes. Not sure the ships are even habitable.

 

[blue emu]

So how often do the Precursors kindly escort you out of a system versus blowing you to kingdom come?

Never seen this behavior before. But then, my last game was four releases prior to v2.5

 

[Wagonlitz]

> Btw, if we do mine in Barnard's star, do we then risk teh jump points changing, or are they a bit more resistant than what one could imagine? - No, jump points are fixed unless there are hidden (one-sided) jump points involved. They are rare.
Even for Barnards star? I guess that limits how long the game can last, then.
The one sided ones are ones where you only can jump to ne side, but never the other direction, right?

> We won't be able to make it lush? - I think not.
What a shame. Would have been funny to have a green Mars.


> Do you really feel that you should criticize our decision based on info that we DIDN'T HAVE when we made it?
Wasn't criticising as such. Most contemplating if it wasn't a bit reckless, given it might cause war. Like, if they werne't precursors then it wasn't certain they'd move into Lyhman at any point.

> Are we certain we got to scan all their inhabited planets in that system? - No. We know that we DIDN'T have a chance to scan the system. But the presence of the big fleet in orbit around an empty colony planet only makes sense if they are Precursors (or at least, robots). You can't MAINTAIN a fleet that size without population.
Coulnd't that population be on one of the other planets int he system?

> Could that be why we were allowed to go the other time? I.e. they never got in range for energy weapons? - They slowed down by four-to-one in order to escort us out. They didn't attack us the first time because they didn't aggro (didn't switch to their aggressive programming). Why? Maybe because they have a set "get closer than THIS and you die" distance, and we didn't cross the red-line last time?
Could be. Makes me wonder how close to that red line we were given they activated active sensors. I'd assume prety close.


Curious why energy weapons are limited ot a 5 second range. Is there a reason for that or is it solely game balance?

If we destroy them, can we then scavenge tech from the wrecks?

> Why woulnd' ttheir sensors cover the entire system, though? So, like, are we certain they ddin't see us either of the times? Like, when they escorted us out they were close to us, so wouldn't they have seen where we jumped from then? - They were 70 m-km away when we entered the jump point. We got a LOOK at their sensor emissions, remember? They had it turned on. It was a bit over 16,000 GPS. That is nowhere near strong enough to see us at that range. And their passives were WAY WAY out of range. I don't care how high their tech level is... we were BILLIONS of km away from any spot that might possibly be carrying passives, when we jumped.
What does GPS mean in this case?

> Also, do we really need Lagrange points? As in, what do we need them for? I thought the only space stations we made were stuff like grinders which aren't in the Lagrange points. - Enter one Lagrange point, pop out the other. It's like a jump point. but instead of leading to a different star system it offers a short-cut within your own star system. Sometimes it shaves MONTHS OR YEARS off a trip.
Ah. And you can only do it at Lagrange points? Like, couldn't you just put it in its own orbit and then have it exit out at a jump point?
Could even be a fast way to get to those prohibitive asteroids?

Still, how do you build a Lagrange point if it doens't exist? Like, I get you cna build gates at them, but when the point itself doesn't exist...

> So that dstroyed outpost would be one of those ruins you talked about? - Yes. A poor one.
So we got unlucky on that one?

> And I take it that we'll be mining lots of sorium there, then? - We hope.
What could prevent it?

> How do we know they dn't have faster ships than the one that escorted us out? - We don't. What would you suggest we base our tentative plans on, if not on the data we collected?
True. I just have a tendency to play the devil's advocate at times.

 

[blue emu]

> Btw, if we do mine in Barnard's star, do we then risk teh jump points changing, or are they a bit more resistant than what one could imagine? - No, jump points are fixed unless there are hidden (one-sided) jump points involved. They are rare.
Even for Barnards star? I guess that limits how long the game can last, then.
The one sided ones are ones where you only can jump to ne side, but never the other direction, right? - You can only LOCATE them from one side. Searching from the other side reveals "no jump points" instead. But if you actually watch somebody else pop through it, THEN a search will find it.

> We won't be able to make it lush? - I think not.
What a shame. Would have been funny to have a green Mars. - Yes. Larry Niven has a book "Green Mars".


> Do you really feel that you should criticize our decision based on info that we DIDN'T HAVE when we made it?
Wasn't criticising as such. Most contemplating if it wasn't a bit reckless, given it might cause war. Like, if they werne't precursors then it wasn't certain they'd move into Lyhman at any point. - Would we leave a jump point in our home star system unexplored? It's hard to believe that the game AI would.

> Are we certain we got to scan all their inhabited planets in that system? - No. We know that we DIDN'T have a chance to scan the system. But the presence of the big fleet in orbit around an empty colony planet only makes sense if they are Precursors (or at least, robots). You can't MAINTAIN a fleet that size without population.
Coulnd't that population be on one of the other planets int he system? - That wouldn't do anything to maintain a fleet in orbit around a small colony. Maintenance facilities must be on the body that you are orbiting. That's why we leave our fleet in Earth orbit unless it's out doing stuff. Also, only the inner worlds were within the Goldilocks zone. Non-Player Races are always from worlds somewhere in the span from class 0 to class 2. Even with civilian sensors, we went deep enough into the inner system (the first time, with Commander Happycat) that we should have SEEN a home-world.

> Could that be why we were allowed to go the other time? I.e. they never got in range for energy weapons? - They slowed down by four-to-one in order to escort us out. They didn't attack us the first time because they didn't aggro (didn't switch to their aggressive programming). Why? Maybe because they have a set "get closer than THIS and you die" distance, and we didn't cross the red-line last time?
Could be. Makes me wonder how close to that red line we were given they activated active sensors. I'd assume pretty close. - That's my impression.


Curious why energy weapons are limited ot a 5 second range. Is there a reason for that or is it solely game balance? - Because the smallest game turn is limited to five seconds. So the hits and damage of Energy weapons are always resolved the SAME game turn they are fired, no matter how short the turns you are using. If you allowed them to fire at something... say... 25 seconds away, then you would have to TRACK their shot across the map turn after turn, just like a missile. EXACTLY like a missile, in fact. In what way would Energy Weapons then be different from missiles? Wouldn't you simply be eliminating the weapon category "Energy Weapon", and treating everything as if it were missiles? --- Long story short: Yes, it's a game-balance reason. To differentiate between weapon categories.

If we destroy them, can we then scavenge tech from the wrecks? - Yes indeed.

> Why woulnd' ttheir sensors cover the entire system, though? So, like, are we certain they ddin't see us either of the times? Like, when they escorted us out they were close to us, so wouldn't they have seen where we jumped from then? - They were 70 m-km away when we entered the jump point. We got a LOOK at their sensor emissions, remember? They had it turned on. It was a bit over 16,000 GPS. That is nowhere near strong enough to see us at that range. And their passives were WAY WAY out of range. I don't care how high their tech level is... we were BILLIONS of km away from any spot that might possibly be carrying passives, when we jumped.
What does GPS mean in this case? - Not sure what words the acronym stands for. It's a measure of sensor energy, which itself is a combination of shorter wavelength and more powerful transmitter. (more energetic individual photons multiplied by more photons per second)

> Also, do we really need Lagrange points? As in, what do we need them for? I thought the only space stations we made were stuff like grinders which aren't in the Lagrange points. - Enter one Lagrange point, pop out the other. It's like a jump point. but instead of leading to a different star system it offers a short-cut within your own star system. Sometimes it shaves MONTHS OR YEARS off a trip.
Ah. And you can only do it at Lagrange points? Like, couldn't you just put it in its own orbit and then have it exit out at a jump point?
Could even be a fast way to get to those prohibitive asteroids? - Only at Lagrange points, and only if the primary body is within a certain range of masses. You could put a Lagrange point in Jupiter orbit, but not in Mercury orbit. Too small.

Still, how do you build a Lagrange point if it doens't exist? Like, I get you cna build gates at them, but when the point itself doesn't exist... - In real life? Every orbiting body, whether as big as Jupiter or as small as Earth's moon, has five Lagrange points, traditionally named L-1 to L-5. Only L-4 and L-5 are stable or semi-stable, the other three are always unstable. You've never heard of a paper plan called "The L-5 Colony"? The in-game reason (called "techno-babble") why you can only build Lagrange points associated with larger bodies (Jupiter is OK, Mercury is not) is that the links formed when using small bodies do exist but cannot carry a SHIP, so they are worthless. Too unstable to other gravitational influences. You need MASS to smooth out the disturbances coming from other bodies and give you a stable link.

> So that dstroyed outpost would be one of those ruins you talked about? - Yes. A poor one.
So we got unlucky on that one? - Yup. It's good for role-play, anyway.

> And I take it that we'll be mining lots of sorium there, then? - We hope.
What could prevent it? - We're still exploring... who knows?

> How do we know they dn't have faster ships than the one that escorted us out? - We don't. What would you suggest we base our tentative plans on, if not on the data we collected?
True. I just have a tendency to play the devil's advocate at times.

 

[blue emu]

The climate of Mars continues to evolve, past desert to sub-arctic.

Well... I stand corrected on that point. (I thought Desert was just about as good as it was going to get)

EDIT:

Or is it going backwards (not forwards) because I sucked the Carbon Dioxide out of the atmosphere and reduced the greenhouse warming? But I'm now adding water vapor to form an ocean, and it's a greenhouse gas too. When you reach this particular part of the terraforming process (eliminating trace gasses and adding an ocean) the temperature always starts going up and down like a yo-yo.

---

Mars started the game at about class 2.25 (moderately eccentric, so higher at some parts of its orbit, lower at others).

By now, it's just under class 0.75 and slowly improving as the ocean continues to form.

 

[blue emu]

Hmmm... it appears that if I create an upgraded Scientist III class Survey Vessel that is identical to the Scientist II except for modernized engines (ie: no changes to the avionics or sensor suite, really a Scientist 2 1/2 class) then I can refit from the old to the new class WITHOUT first re-tooling the shipyard. Interesting.

---

Did somebody mention Sorium? Gallicite?

---

Our fuel refinery in orbit around Jupiter is now producing over one hundred million litres of space-fuel each year.

 

[Deaghaidh]

Why remove CO2 from Mars? Wouldnt it make more sense to leave it and add other gases until you hit the desired mix and pressure?

 

[blue emu]

Why remove CO2 from Mars? Wouldnt it make more sense to leave it and add other gases until you hit the desired mix and pressure?

The Colony cost remains 2.0 (or higher) until all non-breathable atmospheric components have been removed. Removing the Carbon Dioxide dropped the Colony cost to just under 0.75 which more than doubled the supported-pops-per-infrastructure and also allows me to directly track our progress towards 0.00 instead of trying to calculate it. Ocean coverage affects the minimum colony cost (you cannot get all the way down to 0.00 unless your ocean is 20% or more).

Carbon Dioxide is treated as unbreathable because any of it present above a certain (low) level triggers the hyperventilation reflex.

 

[blue emu]

May 18th 1974

Known Space :

The jump point branch Sol => Sirius => Barnard's Star is a dead end, just like the Sol => 61 Hydrae =>EZ Aquarii branch was.

I am thinking seriously of putting our exploration on pause (before we run into more uglies), and instead focusing on setting up more automines and orbital mines on all the richest ore sites.

Earth is gradually running out of minerals, and we want to address that issue head-on, not just kick the can down the road.

Opinions?

 

[blue emu]

Nearly all of our ship construction is for Infrastructure builds.

Five each of our fuel refineries, terraformers, orbital miners, plus two tugs and some refits: five freighters refitting from Mule => Mule II class, and two Survey ships refitting from Scientist II => Scientist III class.

 

[Yvanoff]

I don't think it hurts. Better to meet the aliens when we're better prepared

What's the advantage of exploring more ? Just being able to claim more systems before any neighbour take them for themselves? I'm the kind of player who'd rather build a strong base before expanding (to be strong enough to secure any further action expansion), rather than expand a lot but being rather weak if we run into anything.

But it's just my kind of thinking, I suppose

 

[Wagonlitz]

> The one sided ones are ones where you only can jump to ne side, but never the other direction, right? - You can only LOCATE them from one side. Searching from the other side reveals "no jump points" instead. But if you actually watch somebody else pop through it, THEN a search will find it.
Ah, so if you yourself use it you'd know it too, and hence be able to use it the other way as well?

> Coulnd't that population be on one of the other planets int he system? - That wouldn't do anything to maintain a fleet in orbit around a small colony. Maintenance facilities must be on the body that you are orbiting. That's why we leave our fleet in Earth orbit unless it's out doing stuff. Also, only the inner worlds were within the Goldilocks zone. Non-Player Races are always from worlds somewhere in the span from class 0 to class 2. Even with civilian sensors, we went deep enough into the inner system (the first time, with Commander Happycat) that we should have SEEN a home-world.
Ah, so if they did have an inhabited homeworld further in, then it'd not make sense to have the fleet around that colony?

> In real life? Every orbiting body, whether as big as Jupiter or as small as Earth's moon, has five Lagrange points, traditionally named L-1 to L-5. Only L-4 and L-5 are stable or semi-stable, the other three are always unstable. You've never heard of a paper plan called "The L-5 Colony"?
Oh, I do know what Lagrange points are. (Though haven't heard of L5 colony).
What I meant was that they always are tehre, so it was more why you needed to build them and what building them entailed.

And whether you could build them at asteroids, as those would have Lagrange points too. But they'd be too small then, it seems.

Mars started the game at about class 2.25 (moderately eccentric, so higher at some parts of its orbit, lower at others).

By now, it's just under class 0.75 and slowly improving as the ocean continues to form.

Eccentricity? As in, are you implying you're changing the orbit of Mars herself?

Did somebody mention Sorium? Gallicite?

I take it we'll get to mining that ASAP?
How much sorium is that compared to what Earth had at the start?

The Colony cost remains 2.0 (or higher) until all non-breathable atmospheric components have been removed. Removing the Carbon Dioxide dropped the Colony cost to just under 0.75 which more than doubled the supported-pops-per-infrastructure and also allows me to directly track our progress towards 0.00 instead of trying to calculate it. Ocean coverage affects the minimum colony cost (you cannot get all the way down to 0.00 unless your ocean is 20% or more).

Carbon Dioxide is treated as unbreathable because any of it present above a certain (low) level triggers the hyperventilation reflex.

What do you mean by cost? As in TNs required per turn?

I am thinking seriously of putting our exploration on pause (before we run into more uglies), and instead focusing on setting up more automines and orbital mines on all the richest ore sites.

Sounds like a good plan to focus on mines.
Albeit, the survey ships dont' really hinder that, do they? So, like, does having surveys continue mean you can't put up mines?

Also, would running into oher uglies necessarily put us under more threat than otherwise?

 

[blue emu]

I don't think it hurts. Better to meet the aliens when we're better prepared

What's the advantage of exploring more ? Just being able to claim more systems before any neighbour take them for themselves? I'm the kind of player who'd rather build a strong base before expanding (to be strong enough to secure any further action expansion), rather than expand a lot but being rather weak if we run into anything.

But it's just my kind of thinking, I suppose

After several games of Aurora, I feel about the same way.

The main thing that I'm trying to avoid isn't more aliens, though (although I'd like to avoid them, too).

The main problem is going cold turkey when Earth's minerals run out.

It's a TREMENDOUS shock to the whole Empire... and I'd like to start addressing it BEFORE it actually happens.

One could argue, of course, that a total focus on mining doesn't actually prevent us from exploring... to which I have to reply that my own attention (as Overlord) is also a limited resource. Pausing the scouting allows me to play turn after turn focused on nothing but increasing our mineral extraction capability.

 

[Wagonlitz]

Nearly all of our ship construction is for Infrastructure builds.

View attachment 1077008

Five each of our fuel refineries, terraformers, orbital miners, plus two tugs and some refits: five freighters refitting from Mule => Mule II class, and two Survey ships refitting from Scientist II => Scientist III class.

Why do we need terraformers if we're focusing on mines?
Also, does Mars keep needing more terraformers to keep progressing, or is the same amount enouhg to go all the way?