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

[blue emu]

Might now be the time to switch from using one missile to two? Given the engine tech and box launchers I imagine that such a design would retain its high speed and relatively small size, whilst doubling the Alpha strike of the fighters.

It wouldn't double it, no. The two-missile version is somewhat larger, and we can't pack as many into a Carrier's hangar deck.

We have the choice of 22 one-missile Fighters (15,142 kps, which is a +5527 speed advantage over the Prix), or 18 two-missile Fighters (12,045 kps, which is a +2430 speed advantage over the Prix).

In other words, increasing our alpha-strike by 63% will reduce our speed advantage by 56%.

EDIT:

In other news, we have now exploited somewhat less than one-third of the El Dorado ruins.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

What advantages would the two missile design have over FAC? 300 kps? Ease of construction? I'm not seeing much else.

 

[CptJoker]

Our terraforming efforts have finally turned Mars into a Class-0 world! It took 21 years.

A second cradle for mankind has been added to our solar system. Congratulations!

 

[blue emu]

What advantages would the two missile design have over FAC? 300 kps? Ease of construction? I'm not seeing much else.

It presents eighteen targets instead of five... so it requires more hits to eliminate our striking power. It has a three-times-smaller thermal signature, and is harder to spot on radar. It can be built in a factory instead of a shipyard.

On the other hand, it requires nearly four times as many officers to run the Fighters, and the FACs have a 10% higher alpha-strike. They are also somewhat harder to kill, although the difference is probably not signifigant.

 

[Polar Mongoose]

Venus would be better I would guess...

Venus is extremely difficult to terraform, you need to remove almost all of the existing atmosphere, which is 100 times thicker than Earths. For Mercury you just need to add enough anti-greenhouse gas to cool it (0.65 atm of it IIRC) and then enough oxygen to breathe.

 

[blue emu]

There are a few other uses for FAC (or even Fighters) that we haven't explored... search and rescue, to pick up "downed" pilots. Air Superiority, armed with PD missiles. Recon. One-unit Drop-Ships, to form the first bridgehead on an enemy world, or to land raiding parties of marines to attack PDCs... or even for use as Boarding Shuttles to attempt to capture badly damaged enemy ships.

 

[Calantyr]

Something I try to do in every space 4x game is terraform as many planets and moons as possible in the Sol system, even if it's utterly stupid in a cost/benefit analysis. There's just something cool about making the home system of humanity into a paradise of Earth-like worlds.

And heck, it would be awesome to look up at the night sky and see oceans and forests on the Moon.

 

[TheLoneGunman]

I think once we develop larger carriers we can start to specialize our fighters even more.

 

[blue emu]

I think once we develop larger carriers we can start to specialize our fighters even more.

We are at the point where we can make some pretty effective designs, but each is a trade-off.

The 15,000+ kps version is optimized for speed, agility, and for packing as many as possible into the hangar deck, thus giving us as many simultaneous and seperate salvos as possible... at the expense of operating range and hitting power.

We could also design a slower but more heavily armed version, or a slower but longer-ranged version (more fuel). Lastly, we could pack a Carrier with five 12,000 kps FACs instead of 22 Fighters... giving almost twice the hitting power, but mounted on far fewer platforms, divided into fewer salvos, and somewhat slower.

I still favor the smallest, fastest fighter... perhaps with a FAC Carrier or two included in the Task Force as well. What are your views?

 

[CmdKewin]

What are your views?

I'd go with the more smaller more agile fighters. They also use less resources (to build and operate).
Besides we fighter pilots are expendable by definition, so survivability is not a problem.

 

[GaiusC]

And heck, it would be awesome to look up at the night sky and see oceans and forests on the Moon.

Well, that's not going to happen, whatever we try.

 

[Polar Mongoose]

Assuming our next major conflict is against Prix warships, I'd favour more of the smaller platforms to give them greater survivability.

 

[Cromelex]

I still think (like before) that the fastest fighters are the best option (and a bigger number of them!).

 

[blue emu]

Assuming our next major conflict is against Prix warships, I'd favour more of the smaller platforms to give them greater survivability.

After years of the Prix warships being more than 5000 kps faster than our fleet, it's nice to send a force after them that is more than 5000 kps faster than THEY are.

 

[Jos de trol]

how about colonizing Europa or Io? Although I'd favour a more outward expansion. It's better to start/develop a colony now that could function as a major manufacturing hub close to the front lines, and a big established presence further out would also allow us to push the frontlines much further forward in the first place.

 

[blue emu]

how about colonizing Europa or Io? Although I'd favour a more outward expansion. It's better to start/develop a colony now that could function as a major manufacturing hub close to the front lines, and a big established presence further out would also allow us to push the frontlines much further forward in the first place.

I'd like to terraform our existing colonies, meanwhile starting some new ones... but proximity to resources has to be a factor. Our resource base is still expanding more slowly than our opportunities are.

 

[Polar Mongoose]

how about colonizing Europa or Io? Although I'd favour a more outward expansion. It's better to start/develop a colony now that could function as a major manufacturing hub close to the front lines, and a big established presence further out would also allow us to push the frontlines much further forward in the first place.

Both are too low gravity without genetic engineering, although I think with the settings Emu used, Callisto (moon of Jupiter) should be a possibility, albeit a rather cold one.

 

[Darkrenown]

I like the fast fighters too. We need that to chase down Prix, and a faster fighter can head out, strike, and be recovered in less time.

 

[Gwalcmai]

Something I try to do in every space 4x game is terraform as many planets and moons as possible in the Sol system, even if it's utterly stupid in a cost/benefit analysis. There's just something cool about making the home system of humanity into a paradise of Earth-like worlds.

And heck, it would be awesome to look up at the night sky and see oceans and forests on the Moon.

It isn't all that easy. For instance, Titan, which is about third in the "nearest in suitability parameters for humans" list, seems to be impossible to terraform successfully (unless I screwed up some calculation, the hottest Titan can get is about -40C). Terraforming Venus would take forever, or require a massive amount of resources (the pressure of the Venusian atmosphere is 100atm, while a terraforming instalation/ship module, after a good deal of research into terraforming, can change the atmosphere by something like 0.003 atm a year).

* A land-based terraforming facility employs, IIRC, 1 million workers, while a shipbourne one takes up thousands of tonnes of displacement (I can fit 2 of them in an 80k ton ship).

 

[TheLoneGunman]

O Mightiest of the Emus,

What chances are there of us developing some new, larger warships now that we've been gaining so many techs?

I'm thinking we should be building some larger carriers since our fighters have proven they can be effective at engaging the Prix AND providing additional targets for Prix missiles.