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Is there boarding operations in this game?

Yes, but it only works against very slow ships (and the Prix are extremely fast), and we don't have either the required tech or the proper types of ships built for boarding.

EDIT: Looks like we're going to get a chance to try out those new-model missiles I designed! In a burst of optimism, I sent for the wreckers at the same time as I sent for the fleet.

EDIT: Looks like my animation story won POTM, by one vote.
 
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The fleet is arriving in the Wolf 294 system. We will soon have another skirmish with the Prix.

Our scientists have completed research on Gauss Cannon Launch Velocity 3 and Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire 3. We can now design improved Gauss Cannon turrets for intermediate range point defense. I will look into developing a specific lass of escort ship for this role.

EDIT: we will have faster Fire Control tracking researched in eight more months... I will defer any new PD-vessel designs until then.
 
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The fleet has arrived on-station, and the recce vessels fan out in front of it in an attempt to locate the elusive enemy.

G044_Game.jpg
 
The fleet is arriving in the Wolf 294 system. We will soon have another skirmish with the Prix.

Our scientists have completed research on Gauss Cannon Launch Velocity 3 and Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire 3. We can now design improved Gauss Cannon turrets for intermediate range point defense. I will look into developing a specific lass of escort ship for this role.

EDIT: we will have faster Fire Control tracking researched in eight more months... I will defer any new PD-vessel designs until then.

I'm looking forward to the skirmish, but I'm curious to see what the Prix ship has in store for us since it seemed to ignore everything we've done so far in the system.

I've actually just finished spread sheeting calculations for gauss cannon PD defences for my own designs. So far the most apparent thing is it's usually worth increasing the range of the FC even for PD, at least at low tech. Since the accuracy is a function of the range as compared to the FC range, it pays to have a longer ranged FC, even if it means tripling or quadrupling FC size, rather than investing in a lot of extra barrels and turret gear space that goes with that.
 
I've actually just finished spread sheeting calculations for gauss cannon PD defences for my own designs. So far the most apparent thing is it's usually worth increasing the range of the FC even for PD, at least at low tech. Since the accuracy is a function of the range as compared to the FC range, it pays to have a longer ranged FC, even if it means tripling or quadrupling FC size, rather than investing in a lot of extra barrels and turret gear space that goes with that.

One of our main weaknesses at the moment is tracking speed. Our FC techs are very poor in that regard, and we need oversized FCs to compensate.
 
One of our main weaknesses at the moment is tracking speed. Our FC techs are very poor in that regard, and we need oversized FCs to compensate.

Yeah, even with all research in tracking speed completed it only goes up to 25,000 kps, and that takes millions of RP. We're always going to have to put a size multiplier on for tracking speed, but at the tech level we're at now we'll also have to put on a multiplier for range to be effective, even if it means a 12 or 16 HS FC. An effective gauss cannon area defence system takes a lot of space, and is near useless in a small fleet, but you get to a point where it can provide a 99% effective defence if you have enough of them, even at low tech. If you tell me what your FC range and target speed will be, I can tell you how much hull space you might be looking at for a defence against a number of missiles at a certain speed - at the moment I've set it up for three 70000 kps missiles per salvo, but it's just a matter of changing inputs.
 
For a basic, size-1 FC, my current base range is 24k, base FC tracking speed is 4k, and base turret tracking speed is 5k.

I'm not all that concerned about stopping his 68,000 kps size-1 PD missiles. I'll settle for stopping his somewhat slower ASMs.
 
For a basic, size-1 FC, my current base range is 24k, base FC tracking speed is 4k, and base turret tracking speed is 5k.

I'm not all that concerned about stopping his 68,000 kps size-1 PD missiles. I'll settle for stopping his somewhat slower ASMs.

With that tech, the most HS efficient way to have a 95% chance of fully stopping one salvo of four 40,000kps missiles (what we encountered at Wolf 294) is a maxed out 16 HS fire control and seven barrels of full sized gauss cannons. This would take approximately 91.6 HS, depending on how those barrels were split up and thus how much rounding was involved in turret gear allocation.

So a touch over 4500 tonnes of weapon space to have a very likely chance of fully stopping a single salvo. This can be reduced if we assume missile PD reduce salvo size, or we allow a higher chance of penetration.
 
With that tech, the most HS efficient way to have a 95% chance of fully stopping one salvo of four 40,000kps missiles (what we encountered at Wolf 294) is a maxed out 16 HS fire control and seven barrels of full sized gauss cannons. This would take approximately 91.6 HS, depending on how those barrels were split up and thus how much rounding was involved in turret gear allocation.

So a touch over 4500 tonnes of weapon space to have a very likely chance of fully stopping a single salvo. This can be reduced if we assume missile PD reduce salvo size, or we allow a higher chance of penetration.

Are all seven under a single FC, to tackle one salvo at a time? I'm assuming one triple and two dual turrets, yes? Or a triple and a quad. I might be able to fit all that into a Destroyer's displacement, assuming no PD missiles, no magazine, no jump drive.
 
Are all seven under a single FC, to tackle one salvo at a time? I might be able to fit all that into a Destroyer's displacement, assuming no PD missiles, no magazine, no jump drive.

Yep, all seven under one FC to take on one salvo. Less flexible, but it reduces the overhead cost of FCs. If you can get that on one ship, it would mean as long as you had one destroyer per incoming salvo you could pretty much leave PD to the gauss cannons. Alternatively, you could make assumptions about how many missiles will be left in a salvo after your missile PD, and reduce your gun defences to match that.

Edit: Note that the expected number of missiles destoyed by that battery would be seven. This design is the number required to have a very high likelihood of at least destroying four, the expected salvo size. It is possible to reduce the battery if we accept a higher risk of penetration, leaving some to CIWS, shields or armour.
 
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The fleet has reached the spot where the Prix ship was spotted... and he's not there anymore. It appears that he withdrew further out into the hinterland as we approached. With his speed of 9400+ kps, we don't seem to have any way to force him to battle.
 
I would guess that this Prix ship is either unarmed (ie: a Commercial ship), or out of ammo. Certainly it's not acting like a warship. They don't normally hide from us. We'll remain on station for a while to see if he comes back.
 
This game-week is taking a dreadfully long time to play, since two NPRs elsewhere in the galaxy seem to be fighting a major war, and I've been down to five-second turns for what seems like days.

Still no sign of that elusive Prix ship.
 
Is this the big honker who fled in the first battle?
 
Nope, we got him when we took the planet. This is a completely new sighting, quite probably commercial since it ignored all of or expeditions and excavation efforts.

Yeah, I figure it's an unarmed ship. I obviously can't catch it with 4000 kps ships, and it runs when I approach... so I might as well send the fleet home again.
 
Yeah, I figure it's an unarmed ship. I obviously can't catch it with 4000 kps ships, and it runs when I approach... so I might as well send the fleet home again.

You can't even get it with fighters? Is it still on your sensors?
 
You can't even get it with fighters? Is it still on your sensors?

No, it buggered off as soon as my fleet entered the system... while I was still a couple of billion km away from it. Even if I knew where it was, our Fighters are still 200 kps slower than the Prix. We have faster, Magneto-Plasma Fighters designed, but not built.
 
If it knew to flee when you were billions of kms away, perhaps it's a Prix take on an AWACS ship? Either that, or there's another Prix ship with sensors near the jump point, or the Prix are cheaters. If it is an AWACS ship, that would explain it keeping its distance.