Rocks will take much longer to build than these little buggers. One of the reasons to go with this design.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Rocks will take much longer to build than these little buggers. One of the reasons to go with this design.
As someone who will presumably be in one of these things, I vote very much for imagining a year's worth of production if not more. Otherwise, I'm not sure if even the collective good luck of every shiny penny I found will get me through this.
- 1
- 1
- 1
When I land STO to defend a planet, I can bring up a drop-down list and choose a tactic for the STO... "Fire on largest ship", or "Fire on closest ship", or "Fire on weakest ship", or "Fire on random ship" etc.
I suspect that the AI rolls randomly off a similar (but weighted?) list. That would allow Steve to just re-use the same code.
- 2
- 1
With 8 produced per month, a year's production would be close to 100 Partystarters.
Especially after you factor in the additional Fighter Factories in our build queue.
I would prefer to have more than that. Two or three times as many, in fact.
We want to send in enough of them that (1) any player-characters involved have a decent statistical chance to avoid being targeted, and (2) the enemy won't have time to kill a signifigant number of them before the rest come out of jump shock and start firing missiles.
- 2
- 1
Yeah, these things cost only about 60% as much as a Fighter. No engine.
Fighter: 250 BP.
Partystarter: 140 BP.
Rock: 11,850 BP.
Having said that, I will use a few Rocks if we can complete them in time.
Let's continue the test.
How long does the jump shock + inexperienced crew fire delay last?
- 2
- 1
We set all 24 of the Partystarters to fire one missile each at the waypoint...
... and step forward five seconds...
... and everybody fires instantly, with no delay at all. Not even the mandatory 11-30 seconds of jump shock delay.
OK, obviously that's NOT what would really happen in a battle. So what's messing up our test?
I'm going to assume that firing at a waypoint has its own rules, different from the rules that apply to firing at an enemy ship.
Apparently you can fire at a waypoint while in jump-shock, or in inexperienced crew fire delay.
So if we want to continue the test, we'll need an enemy ship.
We could
(1) Re-load our Partystarters back into the Tender
(2) drag over one of those immobilized Creuse class Freighters and place it on the jump point
(3) hand it over to the Modrons or the Jerx
(4) run the whole test again, with a live target.
... and step forward five seconds...
... and everybody fires instantly, with no delay at all. Not even the mandatory 11-30 seconds of jump shock delay.
OK, obviously that's NOT what would really happen in a battle. So what's messing up our test?
I'm going to assume that firing at a waypoint has its own rules, different from the rules that apply to firing at an enemy ship.
Apparently you can fire at a waypoint while in jump-shock, or in inexperienced crew fire delay.
So if we want to continue the test, we'll need an enemy ship.
We could
(1) Re-load our Partystarters back into the Tender
(2) drag over one of those immobilized Creuse class Freighters and place it on the jump point
(3) hand it over to the Modrons or the Jerx
(4) run the whole test again, with a live target.
- 2
- 1
It will take a few days to drag an immobilized Creuse out to the test site at the Sol => Sirius jump point.
Since the Partystarters were never meant to float around in open space for days, we'll gather them up into the Tender and re-run the test when the Creuse arrives.
Mount Hood gathers up the Partystarters.
Now we just need to wait for our crash test dummy to arrive. It's under tow.
Since the Partystarters were never meant to float around in open space for days, we'll gather them up into the Tender and re-run the test when the Creuse arrives.
Mount Hood gathers up the Partystarters.
Now we just need to wait for our crash test dummy to arrive. It's under tow.
- 4
Why wait? Don't we have a bunch of Sabres around? Surely we can
- 3
I would give it to the Jerx. We wouldn't want to give the Modrons advance warning of what we want to do to them.
- 2
- 1
In a player vs player situation, I would agree. Do you really think the AI can learn and adapt from our test?
- 1
They learn classes, but the implications of the design? Doubtful.
However it doesn't hurt to be careful.
However it doesn't hurt to be careful.
- 1
For role-play purposes we aren't giving the target ship to anyone... we're just activating the auto-pilot and taking off the crew.
Do you even need the auto-pilot? I mean, a stationary target works for “jump in, acquire target lock, and fire”.
- 1
How do you do thaf?
And do we really want to waste engines? Like, we really want their engine tech.
- 1
The freighters engines aren’t technically interesting
- 1
There's a menu selection for handing over task forces.
The reason I mentioned using a Creuse is that they are NOT a tech level ahead of us. For some reason the Modrons built them using an obsolete tech.
So they aren't any use for reverse-engineering engine tech or power system tech. Conceivably they might help with fuel efficiency tech. Or not.
- 3
The auto-pilot can be two pieces of duct tape. Big ones.
- 2
- 1
The ESN Mount Hood has finished recovering the Partystarters and has returned to the Sol system in preparation for the second, "live fire" version of the test.
The Tug ESNR Fat Man 006 is on the way with an immobilized Creuse Freighter in tow. It'll be a few days.
The Tug ESNR Fat Man 006 is on the way with an immobilized Creuse Freighter in tow. It'll be a few days.
- 3