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

[Stuckenschmidt]

brilliant.

I hereby award myself the Tom-Lehrer-Memorial-Award in Silver.

[Will Lucky]

Read it all over the last day, fantastic truly fantastic...I say we invade the Seals and take the money.

[stamasd]

I hereby am founding the East Kuiper Company, and humbly ask Our Most Benevolent Avian for an exclusive charter of trade with our newest protegees, the Salamis. In related news, yard sale tomorrow. I will be offering all of my, err... study material in erotica for coloured beads and shiny pebbles.

[blue emu]

Read it all over the last day, fantastic truly fantastic...I say we invade the Seals and take the money.

I hope to persuade The Council that this is indeed the best course of action. Naturally, it will take years to prepare... we have no Assault Carriers, and neither the tech nor the unoccupied slipways to build them, at the moment.

Exploration of the barren EG 290 system has led Commander Arnold Kiwi Rimmer in ESN Maxwell to the new Gliese 190 system. An M5-V Red Dwarf primary, with five rocky planets, four gas giants, 49 moons and 366 asteroids. One of the planets is Mars-like, another somewhat less habitable. The ESN Maxwell is returning to EG 290 to finish mapping that system.

I hereby am founding the East Kuiper Company, and humbly ask Our Most Benevolent Avian for an exclusive charter of trade with our newest protegees, the Salamis. In related news, yard sale tomorrow. I will be offering all of my, err... study material in erotica for coloured beads and shiny pebbles.

The main problem from my selfish point of view is that Trade generates revenue mostly for the Civilian company. Even under the best of circumstances... when all of the exports are from our own Imperial worlds, and all of the goods are carried in our own carriers... the Government of Earth will get only 10% of the value of the trades: 5% export tax and 5% shipping tax. The Civilian company keeps the rest. This is good for long-term growth; they can use it to buy more ships. But it won't solve our desperate financial crisis. Only seizing the Salami treasury will do that.

[Galleblære]

Typically, you either bombard them from orbit (which tends to muck up the ecosystem), or drop on them with Space Marines. Or both.

The space marines being individual named characters right? They really should abstract larger army forces and vehicles in some way. How is it now, you land 10 marines on a world with no defending marines of their own, and you occupy it?

[stamasd]

The main problem from my selfish point of view is that Trade generates revenue mostly for the Civilian company. Even under the best of circumstances... when all of the exports are from our own Imperial worlds, and all of the goods are carried in our own carriers... the Government of Earth will get only 10% of the value of the trades: 5% export tax and 5% shipping tax. The Civilian company keeps the rest. This is good for long-term growth; they can use it to buy more ships. But it won't solve our desperate financial crisis. Only seizing the Salami treasury will do that.

Ok then... I will withdraw to peruse my study material in peace.

[blue emu]

The space marines being individual named characters right? They really should abstract larger army forces and vehicles in some way. How is it now, you land 10 marines on a world with no defending marines of their own, and you occupy it?

No... the player characters are the commanding officers of various Space Marine units, which vary in size from Battalions (~1000 men) to Brigades (~3000 men).

Seli's Xeno-Archeology team has reported in from Sigma Draconis. The ruins have been analyzed... and are found to have belonged to a race of aliens called "The Thorndale Freehold". Their language and symbology have been translated, and seven potential dig sites have been identified. Now we need to get the Engineers to the spot, along with some guards to protect the colony against the possibility that the ruins might be guarded.

EDIT: June 17th 2031. Money down to $551, and -$20 per day. Bankruptcy approaches.

[Seli]

No... the player characters are the commanding officers of various Space Marine units, which vary in size from Battalions (~1000 men) to Brigades (~3000 men).

Seli's Xeno-Archeology team has reported in from Sigma Draconis. The ruins have been analyzed... and are found to have belonged to a race of aliens called "The Thorndale Freehold". Their language and symbology have been translated, and seven potential dig sites have been identified. Now we need to get the Engineers to the spot, along with some guards to protect the colony against the possibility that the ruins might be guarded.

Nice, that was a quick analysis this time, I hope it means the sites will be higher quality as well.

We should at least start with a presence in the Seal-Salami system. We just have to protect them from interference by evil alien influences

[blue emu]

Nice, that was a quick analysis this time, I hope it means the sites will be higher quality as well.

We should at least start with a presence in the Seal-Salami system. We just have to protect them from interference by evil alien influences

There are four planets in that system that could be colonized at our current tech level, not including the one they occupy. However... I'd like to wait for the new year and see how much difference that +20% income tech makes, before we commit ourselves to another expensive colonization project.

[calestos]

Bankruptcy or the +20% income, what arrives first?

[blue emu]

Bankruptcy or the +20% income, what arrives first?

Bankruptcy is only weeks away. The tech is six months away.

[Iche_Bins]

What about reducing research for a few months, just take some RL away from the unimportant projects...

[ForzaA]

What about reducing research for a few months, just take some RL away from the unimportant projects...

Shame that there are no unimportant projects that have any RL assigned...

[blue emu]

I think it will be necessary to go into deficit financing. There isn't enough play in the research budget to really make a difference. I'll have to wait for my current round of shipyard modifications to finish, and defer any further shipyard expansions. I'll also need to get the new Fighters and Missiles built, and then shut down those factories again. We'll probably be about $5,000 to $10,000 in the hole before I can stabilize the budget.

[trajan]

I wasn't going to admit this, but I might as well come clean...

Just after posting that screen-shot, I mis-clicked, in-game. Instead of sending the Scout-ship out on a reciprocal course, as intended, I actually BUZZED the planet, passing closer to it than the Moon is to Earth. Nothing happened. Nobody fired a shot at the ESN Agassiz, and they safely pulled away from the planet and exited the system. They are now in the Groombridge 1618 system, headed off on their next mission.

From: Commander Trajan
To: Crew of ESN Agassiz

"Sorry Goose, but it's time to buzz the tower."

[Velko]

There's a new joke circulating among the crew of ESN Hutton. It begins: "The Salamis Federation walks into a club..."

[Stuckenschmidt]

There's a new joke circulating among the crew of ESN Hutton. It begins: "The Salamis Federation walks into a club..."

[ForzaA]

If we intend conquest, just make sure it doesn't turn into a second battle of Salamis.

[BwenGun]

There's a new joke circulating among the crew of ESN Hutton. It begins: "The Salamis Federation walks into a club..."

Bravo sir, bravo!

[GrimPagan]

Not to rain on the parade, but if these guys just pop'd into existance, they probably won't have that much money. Might as well keep them around as trading partners and an example of human benevolence towards it's lesser.