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Would I be correct in assuming that they get points based on our practicals as well as our theoreticals, but can skip all the practicals except the most recent?

Not sure. I'm not even sure it's based on our research, might be economy or population size instead.

Practicals are usually cheap though. With the exception of jump drives, that is.
 
Not sure. I'm not even sure it's based on our research, might be economy or population size instead.

Practicals are usually cheap though. With the exception of jump drives, that is.
How often do you need new jump drive practicals?
 
How often do you need new jump drive practicals?

That depends on your design philosophy. You can give everyone and their dog a jump drive, or you can go for dedicated jump tenders where the tech is less important than what size ship it allows you to jump through. Or even ignore jump drives completely and build gates everywhere.
 
How often do you need new jump drive practicals?
Jump drive research is no use to you unless you actually BUILD the drives... which requires researching the practicals.

To minimize the research costs, standardize your ship tonnages.

If you only build 10,000-ton, 20,000-ton and 40,000-ton ships, then you only need three models of jump drive.
 
Newer jump drive tech tends to make them smaller or allow for bigger ship tonnages. But if you have a dedicated jump tender the size of the drive isn't that important. And if you standardize on, say, 30.000 tons for the fleet you won't need new ones for a long time.
 
Jump drive research is no use to you unless you actually BUILD the drives... which requires researching the practicals.

To minimize the research costs, standardize your ship tonnages.

If you only build 10,000-ton, 20,000-ton and 40,000-ton ships, then you only need three models of jump drive.
I more meant whether we needed to keep researching jump drive practicals.
 
I more meant whether we needed to keep researching jump drive practicals.

No. Not really. You could, when you advance the tech line, but in general this is something you only do when you need to.
 
I more meant whether we needed to keep researching jump drive practicals.
I don't understand the question.

I mentioned 10,000, 20,000 and 40,000-ton models of jump drive. That's three practicals.



There are a few different design philosophies regarding jump drives.

1) No jump drives at all. Just build Jump Gates instead. This has the major disadvantage that you cannot project power beyond your own jump gate network. So you cannot conquer star systems from (for example) the Prix, because they'll just kill your jump gate constructor before it has a chance to complete the gate. This doctrine is basically a non-starter.

2) Jump drives only on jump tenders, not on warships. This is also a pretty weak doctrine for combat purposes, since you cannot make Squadron Jumps using a jump tender, so you always will enter each new star system suffering from the maximum length of jump shock. You'll get ambushed a lot.

3) Jump drives on about 1/4 of your warships. This is the best doctrine for combat purposes, since it allows you to split up your fleet into squadrons and then Squadron Jump with each detachment. This gives your whole fleet the minimum length of jump shock. The drawback is that you need either a great many large jump-capable ships (enough to squadron jump your entire fleet) or you must research jump drives in each size category... in the above example, 10k, 20k and 40k tons.
 
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I don't understand the question.

I mentioned 10,000, 20,000 and 40,000-ton models of jump drive. That's three practicals.



There are a few different design philosophies regarding jump drives.

1) No jump drives at all. Just build Jump Gates instead. This has the major disadvantage that you cannot project power beyond your own jump gate network. So you cannot conquer star systems from (for example) the Prix, because they'll just kill your jump gate constructor before it has a chance to complete the gate. This doctrine is basically a non-starter.

I think the idea there is to build a one way gate, then send in a fleet to clear out the system. And then wait half a year or so for the other side of the gate to get build.
Of course your survey ships still have jump drives..
 
I think the idea there is to build a one way gate, then send in a fleet to clear out the system. And then wait half a year or so for the other side of the gate to get build.
Of course your survey ships still have jump drives..
Yeah... but again you pay a cost. No squadron jumps through a Gate, so you'll always suffer the maximum length of jump shock. And the requirement to wait half a year before extraction limits the sort of ships you can send to fleet elements. Half a year exceeds the endurance of our Sabres and other high-performance ships.

Tenders are an option, of course. Big ones.
 
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The main Modron fleet is firing at us, but is headed towards the logistical train of Tugs, Freighters and Colony Ships that has been bringing in reinforcements for Harmony.

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The jump point is still about two weeks away at Civilian speeds, so none of these non-military ships can be expected to survive.

Meanwhile, the first full salvo of missiles is closing in on Harmony.

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As the missiles approach within a few million km, we launch our Fighters.

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Our AMMs (point defense missiles) reach out to try and intercept some of the incoming enemy missiles.

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Fifteen enemy missiles shot down by AMMs so far... that's about 10%... and they're about half-way deep into our PD envelope.
 
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The outcome:

Our AMMs (anti-missile point defense missiles) shot down 31 of them. That's a lot better than I expected.

Our Gauss Cannon point defense shot down 54 of them.

Another 48 missed, which is hard to credit considering that they were shooting at a space station. A sitting duck.

The good news: Out of that whole salvo of 140 incoming missiles, they only got seven hits. Seven. That's 5%.

The bad news: That was enough to destroy three targets.

More good news: None were Naval vessels. All the targets were civilian space station modules... all of them were components of the Harmony Naval base.



Well... THAT hardly hurt us at all!
 
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How many waves still incoming?
 
How many waves still incoming?
We've survived the first big salvo. Four more 140-missile waves incoming plus several small 14-missile waves.

It's just about time for the sixth salvo to be launched, too. Assuming they have the ammo...
 
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If they run out of ammo, is it worth making a run for the jump point with anything that survives?
If they run out of ammo?

Tempted to make a raid into Mechanus to destroy their home-planet shipyards instead.

Pearl Harbor them!
 
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