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

[Jos de trol]

For Christ's sake...

The Pratt Carrier line has set up a tourist route, using Luxury Liners to ship rich AND VERY STUPID tourists out to El Dorado, where they go wandering across the battlefield, into the ruined city, poking into sealed vaults and trying to buy souveneirs from the homicidal killer robots. Naturally, most of them get their heads ripped off, and then they complain.

... well... the ones that DIDN'T get their heads ripped off complain. The ones that DID get their heads ripped off don't say very much.

OK, that's it. I'm placing this planet under interdict. No more tourists. WILL ALL OF YOU IDIOTS JUST GO HOME???

I went into SM mode, removed the tourists to a different planet, and flagged El Dorado as a source of colonists instead of a destination. Since it has zero population, that should keep people away.

Idiots.

Very realistic! Eldorado is the new Troy!

[blue emu]

The combined Fleet has arrived in 82 Eridani. The two Blink class Fast Recon ships are out in front of the fleet, scouting with their 1 b-km active sensors. When and if they encounter the Prix, their 10,000 kps speed should whisk them to safety while the fleet engages the enemy.

Eldorado is the new Troy!

Did tourists visiting the ruins of Troy get their heads ripped off by homicidal killer robots?

[Cromelex]

Nice. Time to get rid of some more prix!

[Capt. Kiwi]

Excellent, time to see how our latest generation of weapon systems do against the Prix scourge.

Are you sure Syber died, or did he simply suffer some interesting side effects from his cloaking technology research?

[blue emu]

Tactical:



We are advancing inward, in the general direction of the inner system.

[Capt. Kiwi]

Charlie really wanted to survey those planets, didn't he? You have to give him credit for persistence.

Is there anything at all we can gain from Charlie wrecks (other than raw materials)? I'm not sure whether we've got everything useful via research sharing, or if they have older tech that's still better than ours.

[Vonyx]

Do you want one of the Fast Recon vessels... they can actually outrun the Prix. Or you could wait a few months and take a warship... whichever you prefer.

Whichever is the deadliest!

[blue emu]

Charlie really wanted to survey those planets, didn't he? You have to give him credit for persistence.

Is there anything at all we can gain from Charlie wrecks (other than raw materials)? I'm not sure whether we've got everything useful via research sharing, or if they have older tech that's still better than ours.

Yeah, research sharing only shares NEW techs, discovered after the treaty has come into force. They might have a few old ones that we don't yet know. It's the to-be-created Prix wrecks that will be valuable, though.

Found some Prix ships... five of them. The sensors work exactly as designed... we picked up the Prix ships right on the outer edge of our sensor range. I will continue towards them with the scouts for a bit, so that we don't lose them when we reverse course.

Whichever is the deadliest!

The Recon vessels have no weapons... so I assume that you want a warship.

[Reilnur]

Phew, finally caught back up. I stopped reading for about a week after the First Battle of Wolf 294.

[Capt. Kiwi]

All hands, this is your captain speaking.

Many of you were with me on this very ship when we fought the Prix at Wolf 294. We were ambushed, trapped with no hope of escape, yet we held firm. Our courage and faith in the Emu saw us through to a great victory, one that gave us the world of El Dorado and a wealth of resources and technology.

This time, we have the upper hand. Our fleet is larger, faster, better protected. Our tactics are more refined. And this time, we have the element of surprise. We have the Prix on our scopes, and we are now moving to engage.

I expect every man and women on this crew to live up to the good name of the ESN Suspicious. We must perform to the highest standard. The Prix are hurting, and a wounded animal is at its most dangerous. But we will prevail.

[randakar]

Phew, finally caught back up. I stopped reading for about a week after the First Battle of Wolf 294.

.. just in time for the start of the battle for 82 Eridani

So, 3 Qara and 2 Yuan class vessels so far. Do we know what type of vessels these are? The Beki class was responsible for firing the 19 salvo shots, so are these beam ships perhaps?

Also I'd definitely would want to salvage some of the charlie ships. At worst it will give us some idea of their tech level ;-)

[blue emu]

Phew, finally caught back up. I stopped reading for about a week after the First Battle of Wolf 294.

Not a great deal has happened since then, in terms of interstellar war at least. We've made a lot of peaceful progress since then, allying with three races and doubling our science output.

You're just in time for a new battle!

The five-ship Prix squadron is roughly 2.3 b-km from our Fleet. We have altered course to intercept. Our high-speed scouts are still in no danger... if he has weapons that can hurt them from 950 m-km away, then we're in the wrong star system... so they will continue on course to see if there's anything coming up close behind him.

[Lord Martin]

Excellent!

Are my ship, ESN Vega in the strike force?

[blue emu]

Excellent!

Are my ship, ESN Vega in the strike force?

Yes, everybody is present except ESN Medway and ESN Wolf 294, which are in drydock being refitted up to Battle-II standards.

[blue emu]

Reversing course with the scouts... our recce vessels have only a 600 kps speed advantage over the Prix, so they should be able to keep the Prix squadron within sensor range while withdrawing behind the advancing fleet. It occurrs to me that these scouts will make excellent battle-management vessels against typical Prix opponents, since we can paint them from over 950 m-km away.

[blue emu]

Our main fleet is closing on the Prix squadron at about 50 m-km each hour. They seem to be chasing our scouts instead of heading for our main fleet. We will launch our 92 Streak Fighters at about half-a-billion km. The 42 Gnats will need to be carried about twice that close before launching.

[blue emu]

While the battle is in progress, a report has come from El Dorado announcing the discovery of another techology in the ruined city... another +20% to mining efficiency.

[blue emu]

Tactical:



EDIT: Huh... 82 Eridani IX might be the best Sorium-bearing Gas Giant that I've ever seen... over 1.5 million tons at 100% concentration. Looks like we'll colonize this system after crushing its Prix occupants.

[Count Lake]

Tactical:



EDIT: Huh... 82 Eridani IX might be the best Sorium-bearing Gas Giant that I've ever seen... over 1.5 million tons at 100% concentration. Looks like we'll colonize this system after crushing its Prix occupants.

Sweet mineral bounty to go along with the soon to be created Prix Wrecks!

[Count Lake]

Additionally, that 69,000 ton has got to be some sort of Charlie freighter right?