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I was thinking on somethng.
The rocks did draw a lot of fire upon them.
But so did the fighters.
Is it worth to develop a very cheap and small fighter to draw enemy fire upon themselves?
Actually I´m not sure that is a good idea even myself. But I just wanna mention it anyway.

I think it might be worthwhile. I've been thinking, and it's become more and more apparent that we must use missiles as strike weapons, because Prix beams would almost certainly murder us; but our missiles would almost certainly be useless against Prix missile PD systems. And I mean useless - 0 hits. Our only hope is to completely exhaust the enemy's PD missile magazines before we attempt to do damage, as happened at Wolf 294. Given that they outrange us, we can't do so by firing off a string of individual missiles for them to target with excessive numbers of PD missiles (unless we design a size 1 or smaller missile/drone with extreme range and almost no warhead and engines? Actually, that sounds like a good idea...), since they'll already have targeted our fleet with their PD. But we can launch a bunch of fighters pretty easily to offer them a huge number of targets to waste missiles on.

Edit: Actually, that sounds a great idea. Can you fit 2 size 0.5 missiles in the space of a size 1? Regardless, design the smallest, cheapest missile/drone you can with range absolutely crucial. Give it a size 1 warhead at most, and carry a couple of thousand. Start launching them, 1 missile per salvo only but with as many salvos as possible, until the enemy has no more PD missiles left. Speed is unimportant as you don't care if they get taken out.
 
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This is probably the smallest effective fighter that we can develop with our current tech. We can make it smaller when we have command modules researched.

Mosquito class Fighter 256 tons 6 Crew 44.48 BP TCS 5.12 TH 36 EM 0
7031 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.32
Annual Failure Rate: 5% IFR: 0.1% Maint Capacity 11 MSP Max Repair 12 MSP Est Time: 5.41 Years
Magazine 4

FTR Ion Engine E800 (1) Power 36 Fuel Use 8000% Signature 36 Armour 0 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.4 billion km (17 hours at full power)

Size 4 Missile Launcher (33% Reduction) (1) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 2400
Missile Fire Control FC21-R100 (1) Range 21.6m km Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
 
See my idea about using missiles/drones in the same role.

Good plan... but we would need a purpose-built ship to launch them. That would delay the project by a minimum of three to four years (including waiting for a slip, retooling and building it... NOT including training the crew). Can we afford that delay? Will some bastard come along and steal our wrecks in the meantime?

EDIT: Each Mountain-II can carry 16 of the above Fighter (actually, a modified, slightly smaller version), instead of 10 to 11 of the current models.
 
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Good plan... but we would need a purpose-built ship to launch them. That would delay the project by a minimum of three to four years (including waiting for a slip, retooling and building it... NOT including training the crew). Can we afford that delay? Will some bastard come along and steal our wrecks in the meantime?

You should be able to do it with current ships, if you use size 1 (or preferably smaller) missiles and launch them from your rapid fire PD tubes. Sure, it won't have the range that we'd really want due to FC limitations, but that's something we're already hoping to fix with ECCM or better FC tech. Actually, does ECM reduce missile range or missile FC range? The former would be great, but too much to hope for.

The only part of the plan that's crucial is that the enemy detects the missiles before our fleet enters their PD range. If we can achieve that, we just need to keep their PD busy until it's empty. I'm not sure what it would take to get our FC up to that job, but it's all we need to do - no need for new ships.
 
You should be able to do it with current ships, if you use size 1 (or preferably smaller) missiles and launch them from your rapid fire PD tubes. Sure, it won't have the range that we'd really want due to FC limitations, but that's something we're already hoping to fix with ECCM or better FC tech. Actually, does ECM reduce missile range or missile FC range? The former would be great, but too much to hope for.

The only part of the plan that's crucial is that the enemy detects the missiles before our fleet enters their PD range. If we can achieve that, we just need to keep their PD busy until it's empty. I'm not sure what it would take to get our FC up to that job, but it's all we need to do - no need for new ships.

ECM affects FC range, not Missile range.

I still don't think this will work without new ships... or at least, new sensors and FCs. Bear in mind that by the time the first missile arrives, the last ones have probably already been launched (and of course, already targeted). We won't SEE any missiles until they are within about 2 m-km, by which time, he has probably emptied or nearly emptied his magazines already.

Did we even SEE him before he turned on his sensors and fired? We certainly didn't detect his active sensor emissions, and he never came within our missile range.
 
We can get ranges in excess of 100 m-km with a size-1, allowing a 1-damage warhead... but can we fire them, even at way-points, if our FC doesn't reach that far?
 
Have you estimated the range of their PD systems, based on the time between interruptions starting, missiles impacting and missile speed? That, plus the time it takes for our missiles to arrive, would let us know just how much range we'd need for it to work. It probably wouldn't be ready in time for mopping up Wolf 294, but it's certainly something to think about as we look to solidify our plans for the third generation fleet before taking on our next target.

I'd be interested to know if we could just fire the missiles at way points, but it seems to exploitish.
 
Have you estimated the range of their PD systems, based on the time between interruptions starting, missiles impacting and missile speed?

No... I was busy :p and that whole battle is just a blur in my memory. He certainly never came within our missile range. I'm under the impression, though, that Khan 001 (the big bastard that fired then ran away and still survives) is NOT the PD-storm ship. Wasn't that first bombardment with a massive strike of size-6 warheads? The PD-storm came later, and it came from dead ahead (ie: from Bandit-1).

I suppose we could check the thread itself...
 
No... I was busy :p and that whole battle is just a blur in my memory. He certainly never came within our missile range. I'm under the impression, though, that Khan 001 (the big bastard that fired then ran away and still survives) is NOT the PD-storm ship. Wasn't that first bombardment with a massive strike of size-6 warheads? The PD-storm came later, and it came from dead ahead (ie: from Bandit-1).

I suppose we could check the thread itself...

I'm not sure you recorded the times for those events, though you did mention them. It's likely that you'd either need a new ship or new tech though, so it can wait.

The way I see our next generation fleet shaping up:

We need to know where the enemy is:
Sensor buoys - No Pearl Harbour repeats, thank you all the same. Mine layers can also lay mines and carry special munitions.
Scouts - Crucial. Fast, good sensors, doesn't matter if we lose them as long as we can take the initiative with fleet disposition. Fighters might fill this role better than full ships for fleet operations.
Command vessel - Provides long range resilient sensors for the fleet once stealth is unnecessary, and provides heavy PD as secondary role.

We need to stop the enemy from hitting us:
Speed lets us take the initiative, long range missiles keep us away from nasty beams.
Decoy ships - the Rocks are proven; we need an equivalent for enemy PD. Perhaps recon fighters could double as this, since they're already flying at the enemy? Longer term, missiles waste less lives and resources.
PD ships - we have this sorted long range; beam turrets are needed for short range defence. Not important if our decoys are effective, but still needed.

We need to hit the enemy:
Missiles keep us out of range of the enemy, and fighters even more so, but need to get past PD. At the moment our only option is to empty enemy PD magazines; hopefully we can achieve this through decoys. Our current combination of missile cruisers and fighter wings is satisfactory if this is so; otherwise we need a lot more tubes and multiple magazine ships.
 
I just checked the thread... and yes, the first series of attacks was all 6-warhead stuff. The PD storm came later.
 
I just checked the thread... and yes, the first series of attacks was all 6-warhead stuff. The PD storm came later.

Yeah, but I don't think the Khan turned tail until after the PD storm. If we had missile decoys, the ideal time to have started firing them from our PD tubes would be after their ASMs stopped, and before their PD started. If it was Bandit 1 launching the PD, that's great news, because it means their PD has considerably shorter range than their ASM and that there is potential for us to get our FC to that standard on normal ships. If it was the Khan firing from Bandit 2/3 several million kms behind Bandit 1, it would take a dedicated ship with large fire control just in case their PD ship is with their main squadron next time. Perhaps the command ships would have the space for that?
 
I think what I'll do... is build a few dozen long-range size-1 missiles (100 m-km range), take the fleet out beyond Earth's deep-space detection radius (let's say... into the Ross 248 system) and SEE if I can hit a way-point that's 100 m-km away, or if my missiles self-destruct when they get beyond FC range.

That should resolve the question.

EDIT: They are incredibly cheap... 65 CENTS each (0.65 bucks).
 
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Just read the whole thing through (ie, the posts by Blue Emu) to get the proper sequence of events...

(Numbers are post number in this thread, not time)

3225 - First time increment increase.
3228 - Second time increment increase
3232 - Khan 001 detected, 48 m-km away.
3236 - Khan 001 headed toward us
3250 - Turn increment chopped again.
3261 - Now at 20 seconds "action imminent" turns.
3263 - Khan 001 turn away from 49 degree (original, toward us) to 210 degrees. No sign of active sensors at this point.
3285 - Khan 001 now beyond detection range
3288 - Salvo of 15 Palang anti-ship missiles arrive.
3294 - Bandit 01 (Mughal 001-003, Beki 001-002) appears on our scan. Salvo of 12 missiles detected.
(Several new missiles are detected)
3389 - Blue Emu indicates that he believes two ships of the five Bandit-01 ships are the ones firing at us.
3411 - Bandit 2 (Khan 001 again, Genghis 001, Temujin 001-002) appear at long range.
3442 - Blue Emu again indicate that he believes Bandit 1 is firing at us.
3527 - Bandit 2 split off, Genghis and Khan now identified as Genghis 3.
3541 - Turn increments now switch to 5 seconds again.
3558 - Bandit 1 now 3.5m KM out of nominal range. No signs of the missiles indicated by 3541.
3564 - Bandit I now 19.9m KM away, 3mkm out of range. Bandit 2 is more than twice as far away.
3587 - Bandit I in range of our missiles.
3610 - Bandit I split in two groups flying parallel.
3613 - 19 size I missiles at extreme range. Initial estimate is that they're from Bandit I.
3648 - Salvoes start hitting our fighters.
3771 - No more salvoes.
3870 - Khan 001 turn away again.

And I have no bloody clues what was actually going on. In the first sequence of event Khan 001 turned away long before the first missiles were even detected - in fact I think before we even went to 5 seconds turn. In the second sequence of event, Khan was virtually as far out as any Prix - and turned away long after the last missile was fired, in fact long after it hit.

I'm tempted to concur with Emu's initial in-battle assessment that all the missile hail came from Bandit-I...in which case Khan's action still make no bloody sense.

Also interesting to note that during the battle, the size-6 missiles came in salvoes of 12 except the first (15), these salvoes of 12 being split in three groups of four missiles apparently (from the screenshot when we detected Bandit-I. The last one had far fewer missiles. The second wave consisted of 19-missile salvoes.

Also of interest - I checked, of 62 waves of anti-missile fired, the first 10 targeted the Rocks (5/5 split), and all after went for the fighter.
 
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In theory, this battle log out to help us figure it out... but I'm still just as confused as ever. Did Khan 001 fire at us, or not? Have we already killed the "PD missile storm" ship, or will it be waiting for us at Wolf 294?

EDIT:

Was Khan 001 just a munitions ship, carrying missiles out to the Bandit groups? Then where did that first salvo of 15 Palangs come from?
 
I think what I'll do... is build a few dozen long-range size-1 missiles (100 km range), take the fleet out beyond Earth's deep-space detection radius (let's say... into the Ross 248 system) and SEE if I can hit a way-point that's 100 m-km away, or if my missiles self-destruct when they get beyond FC range.

That should resolve the question.

EDIT: They are incredibly cheap... 65 CENTS each (0.65 bucks).

Sounds like a good plan. The whole idea is to have more of them at a cheaper price than the enemy PD, so 0.65 is great considering how many we need... Actually, I'm not sure we'd need 1:1 with their PD, we don't know how many missiles the Prix use against missiles. It may be 1:2, or hopefully 1:19 :)

The other question will be whether the Prix will even fire at a targetless missile, assuming this works.
 
What about homing missiles? Is that worth trying? Or is the run-out-to-range delay going to be so large that we'll never manage to put one within homing lock-on range of a ship moving at 9715 kps anyway?
 
One thign that intrigue me is that you reported the initial salvo of the first wave of missiles as a 15-missiles wave. All subsequent one were 12-missiles (except when they ran out of ammo).

...wait a sec!

That first 15-missile salvo was not the same missile types as all the 12-missiles ones that immediately followed

You can see the second missile wave on this screen. Squinting, you can (barely) make out their designation: Size 4 missile x 4 : http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a155/blueemu/G_189_Prix.jpg
Whereas we initially faced 15 size 6 missiles.

1. The initial wave: One salvo of 15 size 6 missiles. Designating Vampire 1 for intel purpose
2. The second wave. Several salvo or 12 size 4 missiles. Designating Vampire 2 for intel purpose
3. The third wave. Sixty-two (I think) salvo of size 1 missiles. Designating Vampire 3 for intel purpose
 
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One thign that intrigue me is that you reported the initial salvo of the first wave of missiles as a 15-missiles wave. All subsequent one were 12-missiles (except when they ran out of ammo).

...wait a sec!

That first 15-missile salvoes was not the same missile types as all the 12-missile waves that came after it

1. The initial wave: One salvo of 15 size 6 missiles. Designating Vampire 1 for intel purpose
2. The second wave. Several salvo or 12 size 4 missiles. Designating Vampire 2 for intel purpose
3. The third wave. Sixty-two (I think) salvo of size 1 missiles. Designating Vampire 3 for intel purpose

My gut feeling is that if Khan 001 was responsible for ANY of them... and that's still an open question... it was Vampire 1.
 
That's my reading too. Vampire 2 and 3 fit Bandit 1 much better than Khan-001.
 
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