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

[blue emu]

I've had the Swarm turned on for more than six months... no sign of them yet, though.

Other progress:

I have been shipping people out to the colonies non-stop, to the point where the labor surplus on Earth is shrinking and I'm considering the possibility of using other planets as the source of colonists instead of Earth.

Mars is over 120 million pop. Dravar XV over 22.5 million. The Nexus over 16 million. Draco over 13.5 million, and terraforming. Tropico over 2.5 million. Remagen nearly 2.4 million. Pyrrhus over 1.75 million, and terraforming. Taurus (in 10 Tauri) over half a million. The three sister planets of Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto in 82 Eridani are up to 420,000; 380,000 and 350,000 respectively. El Dorado is up to 210,000 people. The Habs in Ross 248, Gliese 205 and Gliese 229 are all full-up at 50,000 people.

That's 16 human worlds... including Earth but not counting unoccupied mining worlds such as Moria.

We have been building prefab defenses and shipping them out to the colonies for assembly by Engineers... roughly half of the colonies now have missile or air bases.

 

[GaiusC]

Good job, great Avian Leader!


Swarm will only appear in newly created systems, so in areas we discover - or existing alien races discover. They can apparently move to other systems, but I suspect they would first exhaust their current system before doing it, so the first contact will probably be with a scout of ours.

 

[blue emu]

New Alien race encountered in Ross 248, only one jump from Earth. I have placed our fleet on alert.

 

[Boris ze Spider]

Could this potentially be the swarm?

 

[unmerged(36759)]

Any intel regarding ship size/speed/thermal?

 

[blue emu]

Could this potentially be the swarm?

One ship detected, Thermal 2100, sitting on the Ross 248 => Struve 3298 jump point. I'm sending the First fleet over to ping them and get a TCS reading for further analysis. Second Fleet is due out of overhaul in a week or two. Good timing.

 

[blue emu]

There is a civilian merchant ship already headed for that jump point... we'll soon see if the Aliens have peaceful or hostile intentions.

 

[unmerged(36759)]

There is a civilian merchant ship already headed for that jump point... we'll soon see if the Aliens have peaceful or hostile intentions.

Civilians are either constantly misinformed or simply suicidal it seems

 

[blue emu]

Sensor data indicates that the Alien ship is capable of 1,496 kps speed... the combination of high thermal and low speed sounds like a civilian ship. It's just sitting on the jump point, as if it were a Gate Constructor... but there is already a Gate there, so it can't be building one.

 

[blue emu]

Natya 001 has moved off the Ross 248 => Struve 2398 jump point and is headed for the jump point to TZ Arietis.

FYI no known Earth-like world lies in that direction.

 

[unmerged(36759)]

Natya 001 has moved off the Ross 248 => Struve 2398 jump point and is headed for the jump point to TZ Arietis.

FYI no known Earth-like world lies in that direction.

Any plans to tail it with a ship of sorts?

EDIT: plans* silly typo ¬¬

 

[blue emu]

A second Alien ship has been spotted in the Ross 248 system... a different class ship, and this one much closer to our colony.

This one looks more like a warship or scout, judging by the Thermal emissions. Won't know much more until we get close enough to paint it and get a TCS.

Any plants to tail it with a ship of sorts?

That WAS the plan, yes... but on discovering the second ship which looks more military, I've shifted to an intercept course in order to take a closer look at it and interpose between it and our Hab colony.

 

[blue emu]

Hecla 001 is Thermal 180 and moving at 3750 kps. Headed for the Struve 2398 jump point (to The Nexus). Definitely not a civilian design. Tentatively identified as a scout. We are moving in closer to get a TCS reading.

 

[blue emu]

Second Fleet is on course to intercept and inspect Hecla 001.

His displacement is obviously less than 5000 tons or so, or I would have a TCS by now. I suspect that he is a ~4000-ton scout.

 

[blue emu]

TCS 48, estimated tonnage 2,400 tons. Taken together with the Thermal 180 and the 3750 kps speed, it sounds like a Scout.

 

[blue emu]

We have closed to 30 m-km and looked him over... looks pretty harmless, despite the Military-style drive. Reversing course to head for the jump to TZ Arietis, to see if we can catch up with the first contact.

 

[blue emu]

First Fleet has completed its overhaul and has been deployed to the Ross 248 system to patrol there while Second Fleet attempts to follow the Alien contact.

The Alien race identifies itself as the Kirei Na Niwa Conglomerate. Relations still below zero.

 

[blue emu]

A third Alien ship has been detected in the Ross 248 system. They don't seem to be coming from the TZ Arietis jump point... not sure where they're from. When our scouts come out of overhaul, I will start re-exploring the Ross 248 jump connections to see if I can track down their home system.

EDIT:

The third ship is identical to the second (presumed Scout) ship... Thermal 180, TCS 48, 2400 tons, speed 3750 kps.

 

[GaiusC]

No wonder we still have negative relations, with these guys flying around in our own inhabited system. That's not good for relations - and they're lucky we're human, an alien empire would've shot them by now, I think.

So, could they come from some dormant jump point?

Still, from what you can see of their ships, it would be interesting to see if it's the fabled expanding NPR race, or if they're probably not advanced enough, and would then be some new race created when some other alien species jumped into their home system.
Then, if they seem to know where jump points are, deep inside our empire, could they be good buddies with some of our friendly alien races, and therefore benefit from their own maps of our empire?

 

[Boris ze Spider]

I hope they are not the fabled race, they seem awfully backwards.