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

[randakar]

Right now my working theory is that this is an advanced version of the swarm. Very dangerous, but the good news is that they don't do research.

As in, we can not only catch up given time, we can exceed their designs.
But we do need to keep them out of our territory.

Plus Mesons are nasty. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The swarm has also been changed in recent versions and I'm not sure how much - but I do know every iteration of them is different nowadays, including speeds and weapon types, and these variables can be different every time a system containing them is generated.

 

[RobbieAB]

Particle lances are a bit shorter-ranged than our heavy Lasers, but do more damage at medium range (and at long range, if they can somehow score a hit).

How much damage does the 52.5cm laser do at 500,000km?

It might not be very fast firing, but it has enough of a range advantage over the smaller weapons it might have a use in the “two shots while the enemy is jump shocked” use case.

 

[blue emu]

How much damage does the 52.5cm laser do at 500,000km?

It might not be very fast firing, but it has enough of a range advantage over the smaller weapons it might have a use in the “two shots while the enemy is jump shocked” use case.

The problem is the to-Hit roll.

Your random roll to hit the target gets penalized (for Beam weapons) by two over-lapping constraints.

1) If your Beam Fire Control is not capable of tracking targets that move at that speed, you will suffer to-Hit penalties.
We are fine there. Rated for 25,000 kps targets.

2) If your ship is slower than the enemy's ship, then your to-Hit roll will be penalized in proportion to the difference in speeds.
The enemy are 20,000 kps. A space station is 1 kps.

The penalty for a slower ship can be avoided by turreted weapons, which use the traverse speed of the turret instead of the ship's speed.

But Spinal Mount weapons cannot be turreted.

This seriously devalues the use of this type of weapon on space stations.

Spinal Mounts belong on fast warships. Not on immobile stations.

 

[RobbieAB]

Ah, that is a valid problem. I was thinking in terms of turreted big guns for some reason. Spinal mount big gun probably isn’t useful, I completely agree.

 

[blue emu]

Ah, that is a valid problem. I was thinking in terms of turreted big guns for some reason. Spinal mount big gun probably isn’t useful, I completely agree.

Our biggest potentially-turreted weapon is 35cm.

We haven't actually made any yet.

We use multiple Quad 30cm turrets on the Emotions.

 

[GarfunkeL]

It's from the Harrington series. Given the discussion here - both "Basilisk" and "Manticore" are direct references to those books. Basilisk Station from the Manticore empire.

Books which apparently inspired Starfire *and* Aurora.

Other way around, actually.

Starfire the game already existed when David Weber and Steve White were contracted to write fiction and work on updated design if I remember correctly. Their first Starfire book, titled Insurrection, was published in 1990 and the second, Crusade, in 1992. The first Honorverse book, On Basilisk Station, was published in 1993. So, Weber got inspired by Starfire but did not want to share royalties with anyone else and began writing his own space opera. Naturally, he borrowed a lot of elements from Starfire 'lore', having been the main writer for most of it.

 

[randakar]

Other way around, actually.

Starfire the game already existed when David Weber and Steve White were contracted to write fiction and work on updated design if I remember correctly. Their first Starfire book, titled Insurrection, was published in 1990 and the second, Crusade, in 1992. The first Honorverse book, On Basilisk Station, was published in 1993. So, Weber got inspired by Starfire but did not want to share royalties with anyone else and began writing his own space opera. Naturally, he borrowed a lot of elements from Starfire 'lore', having been the main writer for most of it.

Well, I stand corrected. Thank you.

 

[blue emu]

Jump Point Transit Shock

When a ship transits a jump point, it will suffer jump shock. This temporarily disables active sensors, fire control systems and jump drives.

A ship making a standard transit will suffer a delay equal to: (120 seconds + Random 1 to 60 seconds) * Ship Bonus.
A ship making a squadron transit will suffer a delay equal to: (20 seconds + Random 1 to 10 seconds) * Ship Bonus.

The ship bonus is equal to: 2 - ((1 + Crew Grade) * Morale * Overhaul Factor).

For example, if a ship has 100% morale, an overhaul factor of 1 (which is normal) and crew grade of 10%, the ship bonus would be (2 - (1.1 * 1 * 1) = 0.9. So any delay would be multipled by 90%.

The length of jump shock for NPRs is halved. This is to compensate for the fact that humans can make much better decisions in this situation, in particular with regard to ensuring the right mix of jump ships and warships is available in the right place at the right time to take advantage of squadron transits. If I get around to coding more detailed strategic decision-making in this situation for NPRs (not a priority for V1), I'll make them the same as player races.

 

[blue emu]

There seems to be very little hard info available on the Swarm.

They will, however, be high tech. Nearly as high as the Invaders.

Starting Tech Points for NPRs and Spoilers

Currently, newly generated races ignore the research speed modifier for their starting tech points and apply it only for subsequent research. For v2.0, the research modifier will be applied to starting tech points for NPRs, Star Swarm, Rakhas and Aether Raiders

Regardless of modifier, the minimum starting points are 100k for Rakhas, 120k for NPRs, 400k for Raiders and 600k for Swarm (to ensure that key components and the essential nature of the threat are preserved). Precursors start with 600k tech points or 20% greater than the maximum player race starting points, whichever is higher. Invaders start with 1m tech points or 50% greater than the maximum player race starting points, whichever is higher.

This change won't make much difference to the early game (or to Precursors/Invaders for most games), but it will mean that later-game NPRs and Swarm in particular are not overpowered in low research rate games. If the early game is a concern, the options for minimum player systems can be used.

 

[blue emu]

Still cleaning up the mess in The Radiant.

That's how fast the game is moving...

 

[blue emu]

In the Flamsteed star system, hard up against the Neutral Zone, the Tugs start arriving with modules for the Harmony Naval Base.

The Mountain class FAC Tender that carries the Spy vessels is also arriving now.

 

[blue emu]

July 2029.

Lots of digging. Lots of new tech.

 

[randakar]

New fighter engines? Sounds useful. Weren't they already using solid core AM tech?

 

[blue emu]

Recall that our Penetrator anti-ship missiles are deployed by a bus (two warheads each) that is so slow that the Modrons could actually chase and overtake the missiles if their ships were just 1,500 kps faster.

Penetrator 2013 missile (still in service) - bus speed 21,000 kps.

Penetrator 2027 missile (recently entered service) - bus speed 28,000 kps.

This simply isn't going to cut it against opponents who move at over 20,000 kps. The missiles will obviously run out of fuel before they can catch their target.

So I have reluctantly made the harsh decision to drop the MIRV (multiple warheads) and have only a single warhead on each missile. That allows me to use the mass thus saved to more than double the size of the engine driving the bus.

Equalizer 2030 missile (in development) - bus speed 60,000 kps.

Note that the bus/warhead seperation takes place at 1.8 million km from the target. Beyond PD range. Five light-seconds is 1.5 million km.

 

[blue emu]

New fighter engines? Sounds useful. Weren't they already using solid core AM tech?

Yes, but I pulled one Box Launcher off the design, which allows me a bit of wiggle-room to stream-line the Fire Control and the Engine.

 

[blue emu]

... so our current Carrier-load of Fighters is 31 X-Wing VI each carrying three missiles. That's 93 missiles (186 warheads) per strike... but with very slow missiles.

With our streamlined X-Wing VII model, a carrier-load is increased to one unarmed AWACS Fighter and 37 X-Wing VII each carrying two missiles.

With only one warhead per missile on the Equalizer compared to two per missile on the Penetrator, that reduces our strike's total warheads from 186 to 74.

Tragic... but these new missiles are more than twice as fast, they seperate outside the opponent's PD range, and they have ECCM and active terminal guidance.

 

[blue emu]

I think I'll drag in a few Fighter bases and set them up in the Flamsteed (Harmony) star system.

No real point until we have some Fighters for them, though.

 

[blue emu]

Since we don't know what we are dealing with, I'm also designing a modern Air Superiority Fighter, to destroy enemy FACs.

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X-Wing VII-AS class Strikefighter 235 tons 1 Crew 253.9 BP TCS 5 TH 17 EM 0
30715 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 HTK 2 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 0-0 PPV 1.8
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 46% IFR 0.7% 1YR 25 5YR 378 Max Repair 180 MSP
Magazine 12 / 0
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1
Intended Deployment Time: 1.2 days Morale Check Required

2029 FTR Solid Core AM Drive EP144.00 (1) Power 144 Fuel Use 1006.23% Signature 17.28 Explosion 30%
Fuel Capacity 8,000 Litres Range 0.61 billion km (5 hours at full power)

Size 6.00 Box Launcher 1973 (2) Missile Size: 6 Hangar Reload 122 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
2018 Missile Fire Control FC92-R14 HS-1 (1) Range 92.3m km Resolution 14 ECCM-3
Penetrator 2027 (2) Speed: 28,000 km/s End: 67.9m Range: 115.8m km WH: 0 Size: 6 TH: 93/56/28

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

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

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Capable of engaging 700-ton targets at 90 m-km.

 

[blue emu]

Another barren star system is discovered, this one beyond DX Cancri.

 

[blue emu]

The first Maintenance Workshop has arrived at Harmony, and the construction of the base officially begins.

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In other news, the ESNS Charles Darwin (an old Scientist II class rust-bucket) finally enters drydock for conversion to Scientist V class.