The dev started posting an AAR over at Wargamer:
http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=364594
Excerpt:
QuoteNew London was one point seven billion kilometres from the Sol jump point and the Sol - London jump point was three billion kilometres from Sol, which made immediate reinforcement difficult. Nevertheless, the fact the aliens sensors had been detected so far out meant that Sparta was only five hundred million kilometres further away from New London than the alien ships. The Fleet Admirals made the decision to send all the available battle fleet units at 4500 km/s, leaving Sparta to be guarded by nine Arleigh Burke V destroyers and three Sentinel class missiles bases. Four Peter the Great class battlecruisers, six Tribal III class escort cruisers and eight Trafalgar III destroyer escorts raced to the rescue. Each of the four battlecruisers was loaded with one hundred and ninety SS-N-3 Scarabs. The collier Castletown followed at 3000 km/s with an extra two hundred and seventy-four SS-N-2 Sunburns.
The alien sensor contacts were on a course that would take them through the inner system but they were not on a direct course for New London. It soon became apparent they were on an intercept course for the civilian freighter en route to Roma, presumably because of its transponder emissions. While it was tempting to order the ship to disengage its transponder, if the aliens continued to track its course they would be pulled away from the centre of the system and the tempting target of New London, possibly for long enough for the task group from Sparta to arrive. For the moment, the transponder stayed active.
Twenty-five hours after the aliens were first detected in London, Fleet Headquarters was contacted by Commander Benjamin Gosselin, captain of the Arleigh Burke IV class destroyer Fitzgerald and overall commander of the small two-ship force picketing the jump point to the Tulan home system. After the Tulan asked the Commonwealth to leave their system in 2042, a force of nine older destroyers was stationed at the Sol - Vienna jump point to guard against any Tulan incursion. Over the next five years, with no sign of the Tulan, the destroyers were gradually withdrawn and scrapped until only the two Arleigh Burke IVs remained. The two Arleigh Burke IVs were laid down in 2030, before the final war on Earth, and despite delays to their construction caused by the war were eventually completed in 2033. By 2047 they were virtually obsolete. With a top speed of 2500 km/s and armed with missiles that had a maximum range of twenty-two million kilometres, they were severely outclassed by the warships of the modern Commonwealth Navy. In the near-panic after the alien contacts were reported in London, the two old ships were not even considered as a possible response force. However, as Commander Gosselin acidly pointed out to the staffers at headquarters, the Vienna jump point was only five hundred and fifty million kilometres from the London jump point and the Fitzgerald and the Cole could be there within sixty hours, compared to a week for the battle fleet units en route from Sparta. In fact, they could have been almost halfway there if an immediate order had been sent to them as soon as the aliens were detected. The communication from Commander Gosselin was passed upward to the Fleet Admirals who realised their own oversight and ordered the two destroyers to head for London.
At 12:57 on April 23rd, thirty-nine hours after initial contact, a civilian colony ship transited into London from Sol and headed for New London to deliver its cargo. The commercial shipping of the Commonwealth was outside of military control so there was little that Rear Admiral Toyota Tetsuhiko, the governor of New London and senior officer in the London system, could do except warn it of the danger. The colony ship was much closer to New London than the aliens and the civilian captain was more interested in completing his task and heading home than worrying about alien threats. The alien contacts continued to follow a course towards the civilian freighter halfway between the Sol and Roma jump points. By this time they were three point five billion kilometres from New London and four point three billion from the freighter.
Fitzgerald and Cole arrived in London at 11:14 on April 25th and set course for New London. Eight hours later, planetary sensors on New London detected a fifth alien active sensor two hundred million kilometres astern of the first four. The fifth active sensor was less powerful, with a range of eighty million kilometres, which explained why it had only been picked up several days after the initial contact. Yaguar, the Molniya-S class scout, was closing in and was six hundred and fifty million kilometres from the four larger contacts. She was ordered to try and establish contact with all five known alien ships, even if that meant staying in their general location much longer and switching her active sensor on and off as required.
Her CO was Captain Eusébio Gonçalves, a conscientious and reliable officer who had spent most of his career in missile bases and PDCs as part of the officer corps of the Union of South American Nations. He was now more interested in promoting the fast attack concept and the technical abilities of his ship then climbing the promotion ladder. In any event, at 57 he was unlikely to advance any further in rank. Captain Gonçalves used the speed advantage of his ship to guide it around the alien contacts and approached from the aliens' port quarter. His small, difficult to detect corvette slipped inside the theoretical alien sensor range without incident and continued to close. Finally, at 17:09 on the 26th, with Yaguar just fifty-five million kilometres from the group of four alien contacts and the aliens two point five billion kilometres from New London, he ordered his tactical officer to activate the Voskhod MR-800. The active sensor detected four 12,500 ton ships, larger than anything in the Commonwealth Navy. Based on the detailed scan, they were identified as ships of the alien race in Archangelsk, or the Angels as they had become commonly known, and one ship was a different class than the other three. Yaguar disengaged her sensors less than five seconds after she activated them, then changed course to intercept the fifth contact. The alien ships did not even deviate from their course so it was possible they had not even detected the scan.
The size and speed of the alien ships, plus their powerful active sensors, suggested they were at least a match for the Commonwealth in terms of technology. The battle fleet task group, still eighty hours from London, would have its hands full, even if it arrived in time. Four hours after the close approach to the first group of ships, Yaguar moved within fifty-four million kilometres of the trailing contact and engaged its sensors once more. The fifth alien vessel was a new class of 6250 tons. As before the aliens did not react to Yaguar so Captain Gonçalves ordered his tactical officer to leave the sensors active. Still there was no response. Concluding that the aliens did not have EM sensors capable of detecting the MR-800, Captain Gonçalves suggested to the Rear Admiral Toyota that his ship maintain active sensors and pursue the larger group of aliens, moving no closer than fifty-five million kilometres. The admiral concurred. An hour after Yaguar turned to chase the large group, the single trailing alien ship changed course. At first Rear Admiral Toyota thought it had spotted Yaguar but their courses diverged and it was soon clear the alien was on an intercept course for the civilian colony ship en route to New London.
QuoteThe Angel raid into London had been extremely costly for the Commonwealth. As well as twenty-three million dead, Commonwealth material losses included a space station with two 14,000 ton capacity slipways, one hundred mines, fifty maintenance facilities, three deep space tracking stations, an Arleigh Burke V class destroyer and a Sentinel class Missile Defence Base. Due to radiation and atmospheric dust caused by the bombardment, New London had dropped out of the ideal habitable range. In addition, an amount of ordnance equal to six months production by the factories on Eden was either expended or destroyed, including:
60x SS-N-3 Scarab
96x SS-N-2 Sunburn
301x SA-N-2 Gauntlet
1145x SA-N-1 Grail
192x Trident ASM
1096x Dagger AMM
Angel losses in the battle were one 12,500 cruiser and a 6250 ton destroyer, as well as minor damage to three more cruisers, although if the First Striking Force had arrived an hour sooner or had jump ship support, the other three cruisers would very likely have been destroyed. The corvettes had proven their worth as system defence ships, despite the fact that the lack of modern missiles had robbed them of much of their potential effectiveness. Only thirteen Molniyas and six Molniya-S were in service, although new construction was underway in the Xiamen-Kan shipyards. Even so, without missiles they were no use and missile production continued to be a major issue. The populations of the other colony worlds were terrified by the fate of New London and demanded far more protection than was currently assigned. On May 19th 2047, the deployments of the military forces of the Commonwealth on a system by system basis were as follows:
Washington
Populated World: Sparta
9x Arleigh Burke V DD
3x Sentinel MDB
1x Molniya-S CT
Xia
Populated World: Xiamen-Kan
4x Peter the Great II BC
3x Scharnhorst CA
6x Tribal III CLE
4x Nagato DD
8x Trafalgar III DE
3x Arleigh Burke V DD
3x Molniya CT
3x Molniya-S CT
Sol
Populated World: Mars
2x Arleigh Burke IV DD (London JP)
5x Molniya CT (London JP)
3x Guardian PDC (400 Sabre ASM)
New York
Populated Worlds: Eden, New York IV
1x Arleigh Burke V DD
2x Sentinel MDB
5x Molniya CT
1x Molniya-S CT
Lisbon
Populated World: Lisbon V
1x Arleigh Burke V DD
1x Sentinel MDB
Hannover
Populated World: Hannover-B II
2x Sentinel MDB
London
Populated World: None
4x Peter the Great II BC
6x Tribal III CLE
8x Trafalgar III DE
1x Molniya-S CT
Given the events in London it was obvious that defences were generally too light, especially for certain key worlds such as Mars. Unfortunately, the only immediate way to increase that protection was to disperse units of the two Striking Forces and that would completely sacrifice the initiative to the Angels and to the alien race in Zagorsk. In the short-term, production of Molniya class corvettes would be increased in the hope that enough missiles would be available to arm them. In the longer term, a warship that did not rely on missiles was desperately needed. Regrettably, the Commonwealth was bereft of any senior officers with expertise in energy weapons so the railgun was the best option as a primary non-missile weapon. A host of supporting technologies was required however, including beam fire control and capacitor recharge so development of such a warship would be neither quick nor easy. Sparta was in the midst of developing Stellarator Fusion Reactor technology as a pre-requisite to a new and more powerful drive so any weapon development would fall on the small research colony on New York IV, which had just six research facilities.
On June 13th in the Smolensk system, the Arleigh Burke V destroyer Forrest Sherman was on a mission to test the new recon drones. She moved within two hundred million kilometres of the Zagorsk jump point and launched a single SR-N-1 Raven. The drone took eighteen hours to cover the distance at 3000 km/s and found no sign of any alien ships. Whichever alien vessel had pursued Littorio toward the Zagorsk - Smolensk jump point had either left Smolensk or had moved somewhere else within the planetless system. Forrest Sherman headed for the Smolensk - Archangelsk jump point to carry out a second Raven launch.
Meanwhile, in London, the Fleet Support Vessel Aconcagua and the colliers Castletown and Ramsey had rendezvoused with the First Striking Force forty-eight million kilometres from the Budapest jump point. Andrea Doria was still en route, one billion kilometres away. All the battlecruisers were brought up to their full loadout of Scarabs, except for Tsar Alexander II which included four SS-N-2 Sunburns in its magazines, while three Tribals received a total of eight hundred SA-N-3 Gauntlets, partially replenishing the anti-missile missiles used in the last engagements. Castletown, which carried a further two hundred and seventy SS-N-2 Sunburns, remained with the fleet while Ramsey, her magazines empty, headed back to Sparta.
Andrea Doria arrived at the First Striking Force late on June 16th. Rear Admiral Scott detached two Tribal IIIs as escorts and sent her ahead to the Budapest jump point while the rest of his force moved to a point five million kilometres away. Close enough to the jump point to react quickly to any attack but far enough away to avoid any attack by beam-armed warships. At 01:49 on the 17th, Andrea Doria and her escorts jumped into Budapest. They arrived sixteen thousand kilometres from the jump point and the jump cruiser detected a single thermal contact on the jump point with a strength of 800. The Angel cruisers that had raided London had a thermal signature of 1120 so this was a different class of ship. All three Commonwealth had active sensors but they were still suffering from the effects of the jump and could remain inoperable for up to a minute.
Within a few seconds of the three Commonwealth ship jumping into the system, the contact at the jump point moved away at 4761 km/s. The two escorts were only armed with anti-missile missiles, which would have to be used in considerable numbers to harm a ship, and for the moment fire controls were as useless as active sensors. Commodore Valéria Mendoça, captain of the Tribal Shawnee and the senior officer of the small task group, ordered her ships to the jump point. The unknown ship continued moving away and showed no sign of firing on the Commonwealth force so she decided to hold position until active sensors were available. Forty-five seconds later Andrea Doria's Voskhod MR-800 came on line, revealing a new class of Angel ship with a size of 8400 tons. No other contacts were detected within fifty-seven million kilometres of the jump point. Leaving the two escorts in Budapest, Andrea Doria jumped into London, reported the situation and then transited back into Budapest.
Twenty minutes later, Aconcagua, Peter the Great and Tsar Alexander II jumped into Budapest. By this time the Angel ship that had been on the jump point was six million kilometres away. Aconcagua jumped back into London to bring the next two battlecruisers while Peter the Great and Tsar Alexander II waited for their fire control systems to recover from transit effects. Forty seconds later, they each fired ten SS-N-3 Scarabs at the fast retreating ship. The missiles took just eight minutes to reach their target, which immediately vanished from Commonwealth sensors, replaced by the beacons of life pods. This Angel ship was plainly less well protected than the cruisers that entered London. The destroyer Orion was dispatched to pick up any Angel survivors. In the meantime, Aconcagua and Andrea Doria escorted the rest of the First Striking Force into Budapest.
The game's site is:
http://aurora.pentarch.org/
Quite honestly, just looking at the screenshots and the info in them makes my head spin and explode. Screenshots in this forum (no direct linking of attached screens, it seems):
http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewforum.php?f=20
Yes, map sucks.
It has super detailed planet management, super detailed planet systems (with planets, moons etc.), super detailed ship design and combat (seemingly akin to Harpoon or, if you remember it, Rules of Engagement), leaders, carrier combat (boarding still missing).
Regarding invasions:
QuoteThere are planetary invasions, ground-combat between two populations on the same planet and ground assaults on planetary defence centres. There is no boarding combat yet but it is on the (long) to do list. Ground forces are organised into divisions, with each one having the option for a commander who can boost it's combat strength. The types of ground units include Heavy Assault (strong attack and defence), Mobile Infantry (with good defence and weaker attack), Assault Infantry (the reverse), Garrison (good defence, no attack) and Headquarters (no attack, weak defence)
The commander of the senior Headquarters on a planet provides a bonuses to all troops on the planet. Using a different bonus, the HQ commander can also train other divisions, increasing their capability over time. There are also low-tech infantry and low-tech armour divisions, which represent our current military capability in a game that starts with our existing tech base. Finally, there are Replacement Divisions, which I'll explain below.
Each type of ground unit has a base attack and defence strength which is modified by the unit's readiness, it's morale, the ground combat bonus of it's commander and the senior HQ commander and the general ground combat tech level of the parent Empire. Both readiness and morale are reduced by combat, although in certain circumstances combat can also result in a rise in morale. If readiness reaches zero the unit is destroyed. Morale returns relatively quickly but readiness returns very slowly unless you have a replacement division. In the latter case, readiness returns much more quickly and the readiness of the replacement divisions fall by an equivalent amount until it is eliminated. Morale can also be raised above 100% by training (as mentioned above)
Ground combat is not always necessary as you can bombard enemy ground forces from orbit. However, orbital bombardment causes considerable collateral damage to industry and results in enviromental damage in terms of radiation and atmospheric dust. Also, if a ground unit is in a well-protected planetary defence centre it is going to take a lot of firepower to dig it out. As long as you don't plan on using the planet afterwards, that isn't a huge problem. However, if you want to capture the population for its industry, research facilities, etc, as well as it's potential wealth generating capacity once it finally gets used to the occupation, then ground combat is a much better option.
Specialised Troop Transport modules exist so an assault ship or troop ship can be designed around them.
As with everything else in Aurora you can rename divisions so if you want to take the 1st Marine Division into space, you can :)
Looks interesting; certainly lots of detail it seems. I found where to get the game from, on the forum. A bit confusing perhaps - seems you can download the entire game without paying anything?
Has anyone tried this game?
Yeah, it's a lone developer doing this for fun. Some guys on Wargamer are trying it, but I lack the time and focus right now, but I thought some folks here might be interested.
Quote from: Syt on August 07, 2009, 12:12:56 PM
Yeah, it's a lone developer doing this for fun. Some guys on Wargamer are trying it, but I lack the time and focus right now, but I thought some folks here might be interested.
Kind of how the game Stars! was developed. Fun game, a bit tedious, but had some novel ideas and game interfaces/configurable windows to it.
hmm...looks a bit better than dwarf fortress, not all dossy at least.
May give it a look but will probally not be able to figure anything out.
I liked Imperium.
Quote from: KRonn on August 07, 2009, 12:11:35 PM
Looks interesting; certainly lots of detail it seems.
Interesting is an understatement. It looks like something I could waste months and forget to eat playing.
Thanks, Syt, for making me slimmer. :P :hug: :lol:
Glad to help, Norgs. :P
Post an AAR if you get into it. :)
Just need to play the death out of HoI3 first.
And, you know, maybe get some canned goods and some frozen foodstuffs.
I'm going to give it a crack.
Hope its a bit more user friendly than dwarf fortress...
Has anyone tried this game? I dl'ed it yesterday and poked around at it a bit, but am having a hard time figuring out how to do anything.
Quote from: sbr on March 03, 2010, 04:43:06 PM
Has anyone tried this game? I dl'ed it yesterday and poked around at it a bit, but am having a hard time figuring out how to do anything.
No, my laptop's resolution is too small. There was a longer thread on Wargamer somewhere, and I hear the Aurora forum itself is pretty helpful.
This fucking game makes the Space Empire series look like farmville.
blue emu started an AAR thread on this over at EUOT the other day and I decided to give it another shot. I have not been this sucked into a game in a long, long time. I spent most of the nicest weekend of the year inside playing this. If you can deal with the text and menu driven game it is really interesting once you figure out what the hell is going on.
Quote from: sbr on May 01, 2011, 10:09:38 PM
blue emu started an AAR thread on this over at EUOT the other day and I decided to give it another shot. I have not been this sucked into a game in a long, long time. I spent most of the nicest weekend of the year inside playing this. If you can deal with the text and menu driven game it is really interesting once you figure out what the hell is going on.
Asshole, don't tempt me into downloading it. <_<
Quote from: Fireblade on May 01, 2011, 10:35:25 PM
Quote from: sbr on May 01, 2011, 10:09:38 PM
blue emu started an AAR thread on this over at EUOT the other day and I decided to give it another shot. I have not been this sucked into a game in a long, long time. I spent most of the nicest weekend of the year inside playing this. If you can deal with the text and menu driven game it is really interesting once you figure out what the hell is going on.
Asshole, don't tempt me into downloading it. <_<
Do eet, you know you want to.
I was reading his AAR as well. If I had downloaded this cold, there would definitely have been a learning curve of a month or so. :P
http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Links
Your links are broken. This one works.
Quote from: Slargos on May 02, 2011, 04:12:09 PM
http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Links
Your links are broken. This one works.
Yeah they must have moved the wiki and forums in the last year. Here is the new link to the forums
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php#3
Jesus Fucking Christ on a Interstellar Posicle.
A bit of the tutorial on creating your first warship:
Quote
Now open the Create Research Project window and change the Project Type to Lasers. There are four background technologies for Lasers. Laser Focal Size determines how large the laser is, how much damage it causes, how much power it requires and the base range. Laser Wavelength modifies the range, with longer wavelength lasers having greater range. Capacitor Recharge Rate determines how fast the laser's power can be recharged and therefore determines its rate of fire. Reduced Size Laser technology, which we won't be examining in this tutorial, creates more compact lasers that have slower rates of fire. When you first select lasers, the program will select the best available background technology in each category, which should create a laser design that looks like this:
15cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 6 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 180,000 km Laser Size: 4 HS Laser HTK: 2
Power Requirement: 6 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 4
Cost: 29 Crew: 40
Materials Required: 5.8x Duranium 5.8x Boronide 17.4x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 290RP
Lets go through some of the terminology. Damage Output is the maximum damage caused by the laser, usually at point blank range. The Rate of Fire is how often the laser fires, assuming sufficient power is provided to the weapon. Rate of Fire is always rounded up to the nearest 5 seconds as that it is smallest time increment in Aurora. Range Modifier is the wavelength of the weapon. Damage falls off with range and the Max Range is equal to the maximum damage multiplied by the Range Modifier multiplied by 10,000 km. In this case, 6 x 3 x 10,000 = 180,000 km. Laser Size is the physical size of the laser in hull spaces (1 hull space = 50 tons). Laser HTK is the hits-to-kill for this system. If it receives two points of damage it is automatically destroyed. If it receives one point of damage it has a fifty percent chance of bring destroyed. The Power Requirement is the amount of energy that must to be sent to the weapon by power reactors before it can fire. Power Recharge is the maximum amount of power that can be sent to the weapon in 5 seconds. The rest are similar to previous systems.
Note that the rate of fire is 10 seconds because only four power can be sent to the weapon every 5 seconds and it needs 6 power. If your capacitor recharge rate technology was 6 instead of 4, you could build a 15cm laser that fired every 5 seconds. We are wasting power a little here as we are using a capacitor that allows 8 power to the laser every 10 seconds and we only need 6. If you change the capacitor recharge rate dropdown to 3 instead of 4 then the laser will still fire every 10 seconds but it will be a little cheaper to manufacture.
Press Create for the laser then change the focal size to 10cm. Now you have a laser that should appear as below. This 10cm laser only does half the damage of the 15cm per shot but fires every 5 seconds so the overall damage output over time is the same as the 15cm. Its damage output per hull space over time is actually greater as it is only 75% of the HS.. Because it only has half the range, an equal speed or faster ship equipped with a 15cm weapon would stay out of range and the 15cm has more crunch effect as hits from that weapon will penetrate more armour. The 15cm is superior as an anti-ship weapon. However, fast firing beam weapons make good point defence weapons. In the case of point defence, overall rate of fire becomes more important than damage per hit. Therefore press Create for this weapon too so we have two different lasers. Go to the Research tab of the Economics window and Instant our new weapons.
10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 3 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 90,000 km Laser Size: 3 HS Laser HTK: 1
Power Requirement: 3 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 3
Cost: 15 Crew: 30
Materials Required: 3x Duranium 3x Boronide 9x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 150RP
Fire Control Systems Next, we will create some beam fire control systems. Once again we need to Instant some technology before we begin the design process. Go to the Research tab and give yourself Beam Fire Control Range 16,000 km, Beam Fire Control Range 24,000 km, Fire Control Speed Rating 2000 km/s and Fire Control Speed Rating 3000 km/s. Now open the Create Research Project window and select Beam Fire Control. There are seven different parameters, although we don't need to bother with the last three for now. The first two will show the best available technology for beam fire control range and tracking speed and there is no need to change these. Most of the decision making for standard ship-based fire control systems is in the third and fourth dropdowns. At the moment the beam fire control should appear as below.
Fire Control S01 24-3000
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km Tracking Speed: 3000 km/s
Size: 1 HS HTK: 1 Cost: 11 Crew: 5
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Materials Required: 2.75x Duranium 8.25x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 110RP
The 50% Accuracy at Range at 24,000 km simply means that any beam weapon linked to this fire control will have a base chance to hit of 50% at 24,000 km. At shorter ranges the base chance to hit will increase at a linear rate, reaching 100% at 0 km. At longer ranges the chance to hit will decrease at a linear rate, reaching zero at twice the 50% range, in this case 48,000 km. In effect, every beam fire control you design will have its own to hit chart which is shown when you add the fire control to a class design. Our 15cm Laser has a max range of 180,000 km but linked to this fire control as it currently stands, it would be ineffective beyond 48,000 km because it wouldn't be able to hit anything. The Tracking Speed of 3000 km/s means that the fire control will be able to track any target moving at 3000 km/s or less without any penalty to the base to hit chance. Against targets moving faster than 3000 km/s, the base chance to hit is modified by (Tracking Speed / Target Speed). For example, against a target moving at 4000 km/s, the base chance to hit would be modified by 3000/4000 or 0.75.
At the moment the fire control is only 1 hull space. By using the third dropdown, Fire Control Size vs Range, we can increase the range of the fire control by increasing its size. Change this dropdown to read "Fire Control 2x Size 2x Range". The fire control is now two hull spaces and the 50% accuracy at range has doubled to 48,000 km. Change it to "Fire Control 4x Size 4x Range", so it appears as below. With a 50% range of 96,000 km, the max range is 192,000 km so it will match up with our 15cm Laser. Change the name if you like and Create this fire control system.
Fire Control S04 96-3000
50% Accuracy at Range: 96,000 km Tracking Speed: 3000 km/s
Size: 4 HS HTK: 1 Cost: 43 Crew: 20
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Materials Required: 10.75x Duranium 32.25x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 430RP
The 10cm laser is intended for use against missiles so the 3000 km/s tracking speed of the above fire control will be of no use to us. Even against a missile travelling at just 15,000 km/s the base chance to hit will be divided by 5 (3000/15000 = 0.2). Therefore we need to increase the tracking speed considerably. You can do this in the similar way to increasing the range. Change the Fire Control Size vs Tracking Speed to "Fire Control 4x Size 4x Tracking Speed". Now we have a problem. Although the tracking speed is 12,000 km/s, which is much better, the fire control is now 16 HS, which is huge. This is because the multipliers for size and range are cumulative. However, as this fire control is intended to engage missiles at very close range, we no longer need the range multiplier so reduce that to the original "Normal Size Normal Range" setting. Our beam fire control should now look like this:
Fire Control S04 24-12000
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km Tracking Speed: 12000 km/s
Size: 4 HS HTK: 1 Cost: 43 Crew: 20
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Materials Required: 10.75x Duranium 32.25x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 430RP
The tracking speed of 12,000 km still isn't enough to avoid any penalty to the base to hit chance if you are shooting at a 15,000 km missile, but as you will likely engage missiles at a range of 10,000 km, just before they strike the ship, the base chance to hit will be fairly high anyway. To build a faster tracking fire control, you would need to research the next level of fire control tracking technology. Go to the Research tab of the Economics window and Instant our new fire control systems.
Time to get started on our warship design. Open the F5 Class Design window and press New. Add one each of the two lasers and two fire control systems. Your design should appear as below.
Ark Royal class Cruiser 1050 tons 133 Crew 177 BP TCS 21 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 1-9 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 7
Annual Failure Rate: 8% IFR: 0.1% Maintenance Capacity 105 MSP Max Repair 43 MSP
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range N/A
15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 3000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 1
10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 90,000km TS: 3000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 3 ROF 5 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
Before I go into detail on the information, change to the Full Summary tab. For the lasers the information presented includes the name, how many of that system are in the design, the range, the tracking speed, the power requirements in terms of power to fire and power required per 5 sec, the range modifier, the rate of fire and the damage output in 10,000 km steps. We'll get back to why weapons (as well as fire controls) have a tracking speed in a moment. The fire control information includes the name, how many of the system are in the design, the maximum range, the tracking speed and the chance to hit in 10,000 km steps. On the right hand side of the Full Summary tab there is a section called Range Bands. If you change the Range Band to 20,000 km then the ten damage steps following each of the lasers and the ten to-hit chances following the fire controls will change from 10,000 km steps to 20,000 km steps. Compare the following to the original above.
15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 3000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10 6 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 90,000km TS: 3000 km/s Power 3-3 RM 3 ROF 5 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
If you choose other range bands, the damage and to-hit chances will change accordingly. Underneath Range Bands is Target Speed. If you change Target Speed it will affect the to-hit chances of the fire control systems. For 1000 km/s, 2000 km/s and 3000 km/s there should be no change as the both fire controls can handle those target speeds. the 5000 and 10,000 km/s steps should change the to-hit chances for the S04 96-3000 fire control as that is only designed to handle targets up to 3000 km/s but the faster tracking fire control will be unaffected. At 20,000 km/s the other fire control is affected too because its max tracking speed is only 12,000 km/s. The Range Bands and Target Speed settings allow you to check how your weapon and fire control designs would perform against targets at different ranges and different speeds.
Earlier I mentioned that weapons have a tracking speed as well. While the fire control tracking speed is mainly concerned with tracking the target and calculating where to fire the weapons, the weapon tracking speed is the capability of the weapon to fire instantly in that direction when ordered to do so by the fire control. The base weapon tracking speed is equal to either the speed of the ship or your Empire's best Fire Control Speed Rating tech, whichever is greater. Your best Fire Control Speed Rating is 3000 km/s at the moment and as that is higher than the current ship speed of 1 km/s (it has no engines), then 3000 km/s is the weapon tracking speed. Try adding eight of our nuclear thermal engines to the class (remember to use the military version). It should appear as below. Note that because the ship speed is now 3174 km/s, that is higher than the Empire's Fire Control Speed Rating of 3000 km/s so the weapon tracking speed is now 3174 km/s. In essence, a faster ship has a better chance of quickly pointing its weapons in the right direction.
Ark Royal class Cruiser 3150 tons 333 Crew 283 BP TCS 63 TH 200 EM 0
3174 km/s Armour 1-19 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 7
Annual Failure Rate: 79% IFR: 1.1% Maintenance Capacity 56 MSP Max Repair 43 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (8) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 28.6 billion km (104 days at full power)
15cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 180,000km TS: 3174 km/s Power 6-3 RM 3 ROF 10 6 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0
10cm C3 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 90,000km TS: 3174 km/s Power 3-3 RM 3 ROF 5 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04 96-3000 (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Fire Control S04 24-12000 (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 58 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes
When a fire control tries to direct a weapon, the lowest tracking speed of the fire control or the weapon is used to calculate the chance to hit the target. In other words, it is no use having a fast fire control tracking speed if the weapon can't point in the right direction quickly enough and it is no use having a fast weapon tracking speed if the fire control can't make use of it. You need to match weapons with appropriate fire control systems as part of your class design process.
I cannot decide if this is fucking awesome or terrifying.
I think it also lets you design missiles by range, speed, payload, guidance system ... I may try this again when my new laptop with higher resolution arrives.
This is starting to get addictive. It makes WitP-AE look simple, but things seem to make sense.
Looking at the ship design stuff, I am getting a Traveller High Guard flashback.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 04, 2011, 02:59:12 PM
Looking at the ship design stuff, I am getting a Traveller High Guard flashback.
Looking at it, I'm getting epilepsy. :D
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 04, 2011, 02:59:12 PM
Looking at the ship design stuff, I am getting a Traveller High Guard flashback.
WHy'd you have to say the T word.
Now I'll have to take a look at this...
Quote from: Barrister on May 04, 2011, 04:23:10 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 04, 2011, 02:59:12 PM
Looking at the ship design stuff, I am getting a Traveller High Guard flashback.
WHy'd you have to say the T word.
Now I'll have to take a look at this...
Don't bother. I loaded it up and was underwhemed. Excel looks like more fun.
What Ed said.
It is complicated for the sake of being complicated.
Quote from: Tyr on May 04, 2011, 07:23:40 PM
What Ed said.
It is complicated for the sake of being complicated.
Not "for the sake of being complicated," of course, but because simplicity isn't one of the designer's goals, and so he brute-forces most of his solutions.
It isn't to everyone's tastes, of course, and I use every simplifying option the game has and still see it as an order of magnitude more "fiddly' than it needs to be, but it has a number of interesting features to it.
I don't know how well the AIs will hold up when combat comes, but so far the AI seems to be doing what it is supposed to be doing. Enemy empires seem to build ships, explore, and expand about as they should, with no visible cheats.
Spent some more time with the game, and concluded that it is just too fiddly to be fun. The author doesn't seem to realize that, for a game to be fun, the decisions must be interesting. In Aurora, 99.8% of the decisions simply are not interesting.
Example: I want to build some weapons to put on a ship. I have to decide which kind of weapons I want to use: laser, mass weapon, missile, etc. That's an interesting decision. Then I have to decide what kind of laser to build (i.e. the frequency i want it to use). I don't really care. Then I have to decide which scientist will research that tech. I don't care. Then, I have to decide whether to mount the weapon in a turret. That's interesting. Then I have to decide which scientist will research the turret. I don't care. How fast the turret will tun? I don't care. What kind of power cells will I use? I don't care. Who will research those? I don't care. What kind of fire control will I use? I don't care. Who will research that? I don't care. What kind of reactor will power those cells? I don't care. Who will research the reactor? I don't care. Who will research the resulting ship? I don't care.
The decisions that matter and are interesting just get drowned in the decisions that any competent staff would take care of.
An interesting failure, but a failure nonetheless.
Actually, the designing weapons never really appealed to me much in those games. I always felt that as Space King, my job was to decide who we should point our guns at. Not the specifics of what the guns do. The exceptions being super weapons.
I don't know why, but I've had an email notification that after years the Aurora C# version is now out.
Quill18 video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFNFFfaX-I
Official website (huh, looks familiar): http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php