Ad Astra! ... an Aurora Forum Game, run by blue emu

[Inostra]

A lot of inpolite aliens flying about, in a universe where everyone flings around nukes as if it was nobody's business.

[blue emu]

A lot of impolite aliens flying about, in a universe where everyone flings around nukes as if it was nobody's business.

I'm all in favor of friendly relations... but if they want to do something friendly, they can keep their ships away from our colonies until we've got a treaty in place.

After sniffing around our colony planet, they cruised off to examine our moon. It's just a scout ship. Landing Fighters.

[Cromelex]

Commodore Cromelex is assigned to command the Constellation class Fleet Carrier ESN Pegasus, with an Air Group of 57 Streak Fighters.

Uh, nice

"Commodore Cromelex sounds rather good! I like it.
I'll take good care of the ESN Pegasus, and thank you, oh generous emucrat overlord!
We are at your service, ready to kick some prix arse and expand your avian empire"

[blue emu]

... an Air Group of 57 Streak Fighters (should be 47)

You may recall that in our recent battle in 82 Eridani, I was using the Streak squadrons in pairs... "Tambora-Thera Strike"... and since those Mountain-IIs carried 23 Streaks each, that meant that each combined strike was 46 aircraft. My above post was incorrect... each Constellation carries 47 Streaks, not 57. Which still means that a single Constellation can launch an airstrike somewhat larger than two Mountain-IIs working together.

The six Constellations, working as a Task Force, can put nearly 300 Streak Fighters on-target.

[blue emu]

The Blink class Fast Recon Vessels ESNR Alacrity and ESNR Velocity have been launched and are now available for Forum members.

[TheLoneGunman]

Our carrier fleet is now nearly unstoppable. We'll just need to make sure that the Constellations are well protected.

[blue emu]

Here is a possible design for the refit of Mountain-II class Light Carriers into Mountain-III class Assault Carriers:

Mountain III class Assault Carrier 14,900 tons 999 Crew 2897 BP TCS 298 TH 836 EM 450
5610 km/s Armour 4-53 Shields 15-250 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 15 PPV 6
Annual Failure Rate: 118% IFR: 1.6% Maint Capacity 1823 MSP Max Repair 175 MSP Est Time: 3.7 Years
Hangar Deck Capacity 5000 tons Magazine 312 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10

Magneto-plasma Drive E8.4 (19) Power 88 Fuel Use 84% Signature 44 Armour 0 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 750,000 Litres Range 107.8 billion km (222 days at full power)
Delta R250/17.5 Shields (6) Total Fuel Cost 105 Litres per day

CIWS-200 (1x6) Range 1000 km TS: 20000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 1 Missile Launcher (6) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile PD Fire Control 2049 FC14-R1 (50%) (2) Range 14.8m km Resolution 1

Active PD Search Sensor 2046 MR15-R1 (70%) (1) GPS 140 Range 15.4m km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Lots of changes:

1) Hangar Deck expanded from 4,000 to 5,000 tons in order to allow the class to carry five of the largest-sized Assault Shuttles (FACs are limited to a maximum of 1,000 tons, and a Brigade is five units: four Battalions plus an HQ unit).

2) Armor replaced by modern Ceramic Composite Armor, and increased from two layers to four.

3) New shields, 25% stronger and 20% faster recharge rate.

4) Modern engines raising the speed from 4,000 kps to 5,600 kps.

5) Improved CIWS system, improved PD active sensor and PD fire control gear.

6) Greatly expanded fuel storage using the new Compressed Fuel System tech.

7) Tractor-beam Cargo Handling System installed to speed loading of the Assault Shuttles.

... all on the same 15,000-ton displacement.

[Count Lake]

It's really awesome that you can keep your old ships upgraded to modern standards in this game. It would be perfectly hilarious to have a ship survive for multiple centuries, always on the cutting edge of technology.

[blue emu]

It's really awesome that you can keep your old ships upgraded to modern standards in this game. It would be perfectly hilarious to have a ship survive for multiple centuries, always on the cutting edge of technology.

Of course... it's expensive.

Building a new ship from scratch would cost 100% of the minerals and 100% of the cash, and take 100% of the time; and we would end up with two ships, the old one and the new one.

Rebuilding the old ships to new designs takes about 110% of the minerals, 110% of the cash, 110% of the time... and we only end up with one ship, the rebuilt one.

Still... I prefer to do it this way, because it keeps the crack crews together.

[blue emu]

We now have 274 of the 282 Streak Fighters built for the Constellation Air Groups. The Carriers should be ready for active service by the time they emerge from overhaul.

[Forgiven]

And it does reduce upkeep costs to not have old model ships lying around...
...though I prefer keeping ships so active they eventually meet their ends in combat, but, ah well.

[blue emu]

We have found another research lab on El Dorado, and another free tech, which would improve our Salvage rate if we were to bother translating the tech into a refit for our Wreckers. Not much point in doing that as long as there are other uses for the slips, though.

EDIT: Streak Fighter production completed. All Constellation Air Groups are now at full strength.

[blue emu]

Found yet another free tech on El Dorado... improving our Mining efficiency by another +20%. That's three iterations of that tech that we've found in the ruins. It looks like the Prix are real honest-to-God diggers.

[Velko]

I'd like to apply to one of the free Light Cruiser posts when their captains move on to the heavier fellows. Actually, a Star-III destroyer escort would do fine also. Frankly the ESN Iguana feels like a three-legged sloth with polio trying to swim butterfly in a bowl of custard compared to the newer designs.

And since I'm an old-school fan of blazing guns and broadsides, I'd be more than happy to command a beam-ship when and if those will be available

[TheLoneGunman]

Found yet another free tech on El Dorado... improving our Mining efficiency by another +20%. That's three iterations of that tech that we've found in the ruins. It looks like the Prix are real honest-to-God diggers.

So what system will our next military campaign be the target of?

I'd like to see how the new carriers perform.

[blue emu]

I'd like to apply to one of the free Light Cruiser posts when their captains move on to the heavier fellows. Actually, a Star-III destroyer escort would do fine also. Frankly the ESN Iguana feels like a three-legged sloth with polio trying to swim butterfly in a bowl of custard compared to the newer designs.

And since I'm an old-school fan of blazing guns and broadsides, I'd be more than happy to command a beam-ship when and if those will be available

Sure, no problem... you'll get your new ship later this year.

Our TKFS Geology team has finished their work on the new colony of Remagen, with considerable success. Remagen now contains ten of the eleven Trans-Newtonian minerals, and even the smallest deposit is over 900,000 tons. Unfortunately, concentrations are generally low, with half of the minerals present in 10% concentration.

I have dispatched the Geology team to our other new colony site, the jungle world of Tropico.

[Count Lake]

Scorch the Belizards for their hostile actions against our peaceful colony! Make the skies of their homeworld rain fire and laugh at their lamentations.

[Cromelex]

So what system will our next military campaign be the target of?

I'd like to see how the new carriers perform.

Wasn't there another prix infested system right next to Eridani 82 ? A jump away from Gliese 229? "Kapteyns Star" if I can read the map correctly..

It gets my vote, it's the exact same situation as before, just like Eridani 82, it's quite close to our home system.

[blue emu]

So what system will our next military campaign be the target of?

I'd like to see how the new carriers perform.

First we'll wipe the Prix presence off those three Prix-occupied worlds in the 82 Eridani system, then I suppose we should just hit the next nearest Prix-controlled system... Kapteyn's Star is only two jumps from 82 Eridani.

[TheLoneGunman]

First we'll wipe the Prix presence off those three Prix-occupied worlds in the 82 Eridani system, then I suppose we should just hit the next nearest Prix-controlled system... Kapteyn's Star is only two jumps from 82 Eridani.

Sounds good mighty Emu!