Reach For The Stars - a C# Aurora 2.1.0 Forum Game - Hosted by Blue Emu

[blue emu]

Interesting...

It's a couple of hours later, and our scout is still alive. He's 60 or so million km from the Jerx planet, so you would expect missile fire by now. The only Jinx ship that we've seen outside planetary orbit is a Calgary class, which we encountered before in the previous Jinx system. It appears to be an unarmed (or barely-armed) AWACS vessel. It's giving our scout a wide berth, anyway, just as our scout is a bit leery of approaching the guarded planet too closely.

 

[blue emu]

OK, our scout ship just got vaporized by a 60-missile salvo of warhead-6 missiles. Seems a bit excessive, but yeah, he's gone.

Just wait, you Jerx!

 

[blue emu]

We've finished retooling a 3-slip shipyard for the Battle class 30,000-ton Battlecruisers. Now we just need to wait for the current round of builds to finish and the slipways to clear for new construction.

Battle class Battlecruiser 30,000 tons 716 Crew 5,891.7 BP TCS 600 TH 4,800 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 10-86 Shields 0-0 HTK 166 Sensors 6/11/0/0 DCR 14 PPV 105.86
Maint Life 1.13 Years MSP 1,841 AFR 480% IFR 6.7% 1YR 1,467 5YR 21,998 Max Repair 480 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 15 months Morale Check Required

Magneto-plasma Drive EP960.00 HS 60 1997 (5) Power 4800 Fuel Use 20.41% Signature 960 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,353,000 Litres Range 69.2 billion km (100 days at full power)

37.50cm C6 Far Ultraviolet Laser 1996 (1) Range 320,000km TS: 8,000 km/s Power 37-6 RM 50,000 km ROF 35
25.0cm C6 Far Ultraviolet Laser 1996 (8) Range 320,000km TS: 8,000 km/s Power 16-6 RM 50,000 km ROF 15
Triple Gauss Cannon R300-100 T20k 1981 Turret (1x9) Range 30,000km TS: 20000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 30,000 km ROF 5
Beam PD Fire Control R160-TS20000 1996 (1) Max Range: 160,000 km TS: 20,000 km/s 94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Beam Fire Control R320-TS10000 1996 (2) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor R18 1996 (2) Total Power Output 36.2 Exp 5%
Stellarator Fusion Reactor R6 (3) Total Power Output 19.2 Exp 5%

Civ-PD Active Search Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1
CIV Active Search Sensor AS39-R100 1985 (1) GPS 2100 Range 39.8m km Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

We are also now tooled-up for Animal-IIIs. Again, waiting for the slipways to clear for new construction.

Animal III class Escort Cruiser 18,750 tons 388 Crew 3,269.1 BP TCS 375 TH 2,880 EM 0
7680 km/s Armour 8-62 Shields 0-0 HTK 109 Sensors 6/11/0/0 DCR 12 PPV 71.72
Maint Life 1.42 Years MSP 1,307 AFR 234% IFR 3.3% 1YR 708 5YR 10,614 Max Repair 480 MSP
Captain Control Rating 2 BRG AUX
Intended Deployment Time: 14 months Morale Check Required

Magneto-plasma Drive EP960.00 HS 60 1997 (3) Power 2880 Fuel Use 20.41% Signature 960 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,828,000 Litres Range 86 billion km (129 days at full power)

37.50cm C6 Far Ultraviolet Laser 1996 (1) Range 320,000km TS: 7,680 km/s Power 37-6 RM 50,000 km ROF 35
Triple Gauss Cannon R300-100 T20k 1981 Turret (2x9) Range 30,000km TS: 20000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 30,000 km ROF 5
Beam PD Fire Control R160-TS20000 1996 (1) Max Range: 160,000 km TS: 20,000 km/s 94 88 81 75 69 62 56 50 44 38
Beam Fire Control R320-TS10000 1996 (1) Max Range: 320,000 km TS: 10,000 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Stellarator Fusion Reactor R6 (1) Total Power Output 6.4 Exp 5%

Civ-PD Active Search Sensor AS11-R1 (1) GPS 28 Range 11.2m km MCR 1m km Resolution 1
EM Sensor EM1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes

 

[Avernite]

Sounds like it'd make for a nice big boom!

 

[blue emu]

We have launched the last three Oceans (thus clearing the slipways) and taken the first three Animal-II class Gauss PD Escort Light Cruisers (ESN Gerbil, Mouse and Rat) into refit for conversion to the 37-BOOM armed Animal-III class Gauss PD Escorts.

 

[blue emu]

We have started construction on some small (Capacity 200,000 person) Orbital Habitat Stations. These Outpost-class Orbital Habitats are intended mostly as "markers", to validate our claims to any star systems that do not have useful planets to colonize. We'll just tow them into place.

Outpost class Orbital Habitat 537,783 tons 318 Crew 1,113.5 BP TCS 10,756 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s No Armour Shields 0-0 HTK 105 Sensors 6/11/0/0 DCR 1 PPV 0
MSP 1,001 Max Repair 200 MSP
Colonist Berths 200,000
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Maintenance Modules: 5 module(s) capable of supporting ships of 10,000 tons

Fuel Capacity 10,000,000 Litres Range N/A
Refuelling Capability: 80,000 litres per hour Complete Refuel 125 hours

CIV Active Search Sensor AS39-R100 1985 (1) GPS 2100 Range 39.8m km Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM1.0-11.0 (1) Sensitivity 11 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 26.2m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Space Station for construction purposes
This design is classed as a Colony Ship for auto-assignment purposes

They each cost about 20% as much as a Battlecruiser. They can support and overhaul one ship up to 10,000 tons (so, a scout ship) and carry ten million tons of fuel plus the necessary refueling apparatus to support scouting operations.

EDIT:

The first Outpost-class Orbital Habitat is now under construction at Earth, intended for the Barnard's Star system.

 

[blue emu]

Hmmm....

They seem to be pretty hardy and adaptable (not surprising, if they're robots).

 

[Avernite]

heh, 0 to 10 atm is still nice even for a robot!

 

[nuclearslurpee]

They each cost about 20% as much as a Battlecruiser. They can support and overhaul one ship up to 10,000 tons (so, a scout ship) and carry ten million tons of fuel plus the necessary refueling apparatus to support scouting operations.

This is actually a clever idea and I may steal it someday.

View attachment 895757

Hmmm....

View attachment 895758

They seem to be pretty hardy and adaptable (not surprising, if they're robots).

That's the Jerx for you! I think it is so they don't have any combat penalties on the range of worlds they could spawn on, since otherwise it is not as if they colonize or anything.

 

[blue emu]

We have finished construction of our first orbital Outpost-class exploration support base.

We'll have a Tug grapple onto it and let's see how hard these puppies are to drag around.

EDIT:

... and the verdict is... hard.

The best speed we can make with this sucker in tow is 264 kps. And the destination is over 9 billion km away.

That's... about 13 months. Do-able. Do-able.

We'll start dragging it away with our existing tug, and we'll design a bigger tug.

 

[Iche_Bins]

Wasn't there a way to chain tugs together?

 

[blue emu]

Wasn't there a way to chain tugs together?

There used to be, back in VB6 Aurora. But I'm under the impression that it doesn't work anymore in C# Aurora.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

There used to be, back in VB6 Aurora. But I'm under the impression that it doesn't work anymore in C# Aurora.

In all honesty, it might work but tugs in general are so insanely buggy (and Steve has seemed oddly reluctant to actually fix them, which suggests the bugs must be very tricky) that I'd generally just avoid trying to do anything cute with tugs. Pull a station or stranded ship from A to B and leave it at that, this way there will be no (or few) weird glitches.

 

[blue emu]

Time for an over-view?

April 17th, 1999 (year 39 of our game)

Known Space:

Note that every star system from V577 Monocerotis and Epsilon Eridani all the way through the Sol system and out to Groombridge 34 has been colonized (that's what the turquoise ring means). That includes the Barnard's Star system, which has no planets suitable for colonization at our tech level. Rather than wait until our Terraformers arrive and give one of the Venus-like planets a thorough working-over, we just (very slowly) dragged an Outpost out to Barnard's Star, loaded with 200,000 colonists, and parked it in orbit around the innermost planet, Barnard's Star A-I. That validates our claim to the system.

Efforts are now underway to set up new colonies in the Gamma Carinae and Psi Ceti systems, which will extend the claimed Human Space at both ends.

 

[Culise]

Rather than wait until our Terraformers arrive and give one of the Venus-like planets a thorough working-over, we just (very slowly) dragged an Outpost out to Barnard's Star, loaded with 200,000 colonists, and parked it in orbit around the innermost planet, Barnard's Star A-I. That validates our claim to the system.

And thus we bring validated parking to an entirely new level.

 

[blue emu]

Known Space, in the Fall of 1999

The turquoise circles represent colony sites, almost all of them being just a few token colonists sent there to claim the star system. Only the Alpha Centauri and V577 Monocerotis systems contain actively growing colonies.

The light blue dashed-circles represent locations that can maintain and overhaul a Scout ship. One fly in the ointment is obtaining a local source of maintenance parts, which have to be regualrly shipped in or else manufactured right on the spot (which requires the appropriate minerals, right on the spot).

Any colonized star system that lacks a habitable planet (represented by a light blue dot) has instead been claimed by towing in an Outpost-class Orbital Station. Examples are Barnard's star and Proxima Centauri.

 

[Avernite]

So when are you rollng over the next Prix?

 

[blue emu]

So when are you rollng over the next Prix?

I was going to use them to field-test those 37-BOOM spinal laser mounts. Currently under construction in our shipyards.

 

[nuclearslurpee]

The turquoise circles represent colony sites, almost all of them being just a few token colonists sent there to claim the star system. Only the Alpha Centauri and V577 Monocerotis systems contain actively growing colonies.

Note that the NPRs weigh your "right" to a system proportionally to how many colonists and how much infrastructure you actually have in-system - so a single OrbHab module may not have much persuasive power by itself, and may be in practice mostly a security blanket or roleplay tool.

The light blue dashed-circles represent locations that can maintain and overhaul a Scout ship. One fly in the ointment is obtaining a local source of maintenance parts, which have to be regualrly shipped in or else manufactured right on the spot (which requires the appropriate minerals, right on the spot).

Usually if you're not maintaining a large fleet, it's not too hard to ship in several thousand MSPs on a supply ship and dump them on the planet, which should allow you to overhaul scouts for a good, long while (as overhaul cost is 1/4 ship build cost per year of maint life rewind, IIRC).

 

[blue emu]

Currently, our main mineral shortage is Neutronium. We have only 30,000 tons of it stockpiled, and only one main source of ore.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of Corundium so we are free to build as many automated mines and as many orbital mining platforms as are required to straighten out the resource bottleneck.

We are also building a small commercial supply ship, to service the Orbital Hab maintenance shops.