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

**CptJoker** · 29-05-2011 17:50

Full rations of rum for the finest crews of the empire!

Any idea on the total tonnage scuppered by our mighty wolfpack?

I also nominate that we form the remaining fighters into Rogue Squadron.

**Count Lake** · 29-05-2011 17:53

And so the fleet makes its triumphant return to the jump point, knowing that its first general engagement with the Prix ended in an overwhelming victory for the forces of Earth.

This fight was really spectacular blue emu and I was on the edge of my seat over the past few days. I hope that I can create another character that will seek to avoid the ideals that the last Count Lake stood for, namely ejecting, being captured and then dying in a nuclear fireball.

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 17:58

Originally Posted by GrimPagan

Are you sending one of the rocks to pick up surviors while everyone runs for the exit?

Unfortunately, the pursuing Prix Beam-Cruisers ran right through the area of the life pods, and there are no remaining survivors. We were able to pick up a bit more than half of them before Bandits 2 and 3 approached and drove off our Rocks... and the fact that the Prix got within 3/4 of a million miles of the Rocks before we finally destroyed them shows that we really did hang around rescuing survivors as long as possible. If we had picked up even one more life-pod, the Prix would have caught the Rocks and quite possibly destroyed them... and the survivors would either have been killed in the destruction of the vessel, or dumped out in life-pods with a Prix Cruiser standing already in Beam range.

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 18:02

OK, so I'm going to try and get us the #&(% out of here... and then we'll discuss the battle. AFTER we know whether our fleet makes it out safely.

**GrimPagan** · 29-05-2011 18:03

Remember to turn on time for the galaxy, if you turned it off for the battle.

**Iche_Bins** · 29-05-2011 18:04

Hm, after all the known threads are destroyed I would stay to rescue the survivers...

i would voluntere if my fighter has enough fuel to make it...

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 18:04

Originally Posted by Count Lake

And so the fleet makes its triumphant return to the jump point, knowing that its first general engagement with the Prix ended in an overwhelming victory for the forces of Earth.

This fight was really spectacular blue emu and I was on the edge of my seat over the past few days. I hope that I can create another character that will seek to avoid the ideals that the last Count Lake stood for, namely ejecting, being captured and then dying in a nuclear fireball.

What line of work are you interested in? Unfortunately, our only spare warship (a brand-new Star-II class Destroyer, built after the fleet left Earth for this mission) is ear-marked for our hot-shot pilot, Alice Bryant.

**Lord Martin** · 29-05-2011 18:06

This was a very fine, and unexpected victory, Especially since we learned that the Prix had at least nine vessels in the system.
I wanna point out some things:

* Our offensive missiles works well when they get into range.
* Our defensive systems are ok. We lack in mid. range defense. This should probably be a priority since the enemy are likely to make the first attack.
* The rocks are a splendid decoy, but we need to see and designed them as a ships who should be sacrificed if necessary.
* Even if we beat eight (?) ships. It wasn´t eight ships who fired upon us. We should not be over confident in the future.
* Our speed are a big disadvantage so far. Against the Prix we have no chance of fleeing if engaged. We must win or die.
* A close resupply of missiles is a big advantage. I believe it is worth to design new faster ammunition ships that could keep up with the main fleet.

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 18:07

Originally Posted by Iche_Bins

... I would stay to rescue the survivers...

Naturally we would not just steam away, leaving our men to die behind us. But there are no life-pods left. None. We picked up nine of them, and the Prix either picked up or destroyed the rest.

Originally Posted by CptJoker

Any idea on the total tonnage scuppered by our mighty wolfpack?

Eight vessels of 7150 tons each. 57,200 tons in total. So far. We're not home yet.

**Count Lake** · 29-05-2011 18:18

Originally Posted by blue emu

What line of work are you interested in? Unfortunately, our only spare warship (a brand-new Star-II class Destroyer, built after the fleet left Earth for this mission) is ear-marked for our hot-shot pilot, Alice Bryant.

I would be willing to get in line for a small warship command if possible.

**stamasd** · 29-05-2011 18:19

Tactical question: do you plan on leaving any part of the fleet on the other side of the jump point, in case the Khan makes a break for it? We know that Precursors are known for jumping out of their system of origin once they know where a jump point is - and they will certainly know when they see us transiting out.

Do we have any ships that can be spared and are suitable for jump point defense?

May I suggest that the minelayers could be adequate for the role?

(on a personal note, may I know if my character is still in charge of harvesting sorium, or was he pressed into active service as well?)

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 18:35

Originally Posted by stamasd

Tactical question: do you plan on leaving any part of the fleet on the other side of the jump point, in case the Khan makes a break for it? We know that Precursors are known for jumping out of their system of origin once they know where a jump point is - and they will certainly know when they see us transiting out.

Do we have any ships that can be spared and are suitable for jump point defense?

May I suggest that the minelayers could be adequate for the role?

(on a personal note, may I know if my character is still in charge of harvesting sorium, or was he pressed into active service as well?)

You are commanding a Grav-scout ship, which puts you in the career path for an eventual promotion to warship command.

I dislike splitting the fleet. The Mine-layers might be suitable for Jump-point defense, except that size-36 launchers take several minutes (not seconds) to reload, so they are basically an alpha-strike weapon, or for finishing off crippled ships. Also, they are badly in need of maintenance... over 1.2 years on their maintenance clock... so I'd rather not leave them in a system three jumps from Earth.

I was planning to turn off our active sensors as we approached the jump point, to avoid giving away its precise location. The jump point is more than 1.5 billion km from the Prix planet, and hopefully out of passive sensor range.

The fleet has formed up into cruising formation, with the Rocks millions of km in the rear and all the other ships (mine-layers included) massed into a single formation. The jump point is more than a week away. Let's all pray for a quiet, boring week.

**Guillaume HJ** · 29-05-2011 18:38

Do we have anything with buoys close at hand?

Because ideally at least we'd lay a few buoys at the exist of that jump point to *tell* us if Khan-001 follow after.

This battle has illustrated how crippling it is to go into action blind, after all.

**blue emu** · 29-05-2011 18:40

Originally Posted by Guillaume HJ

Do we have anything with buoys close at hand?

Good call. Yes, I brought along the last of the Buoys that we built. I will drop one on the Sigma Draconis side of the jump point... not on the Prix side, because that would give away the location.