Some questions about basics

[Miar (OP)]

Ensign Miar's personal log
Stardate 91458. 5

I had a lots of fun with this interesting 400 years old game about dwarfs, but now I discovered this perfect modern strategy simulator.  It is so complicated, yet everything makes sense.  I play it like 4th month and there are still some aspects that are unexplored.  Creators must have put a lot of effort into this one.  But even after imense study and searches trogh ship´s computer database, I stil have some questins to figure out. 

1) How much hull space should I designate to engines and fuel? How much TOTAL ship tonage are engines? I know that ratio for fuel:engine is 2:7, while some claim 1:3, 40%fuel etc, there is a lot of discusion about that on subspace chanels, but nowhere is the % of Engine+fuel vs total tonage. . .  I will stick with my curent uncalculated 25% for propulsion systems. 

2) I hate idea of jumpig to gravpoint hoping not to lose ship.  I want a probe.  But all manuals here I found are geosurvey probes, whose meaning I miss since I can fly there with craft, and mines.  Is there a way to throw something artifical through unexplored jump point and see on the other side? I really want to say "Launch the probe" and point at screen Picard style. 

3) I am little confused by milions and bilions, the seem to be like "synonms" here in some topics.  Is a range of 40. 6 bilion km for my geosurvey ship with jump drive enough?

4) What is practical use of gaus/meson canon? I understand that missiles are the key, altrough strategic/logistic vulnerability, Railgun is early laser. . .  I don't see why should I invest Time and resources to other weapon systems. . . 

5) What the hell is caronade?

6) Is it worth time and resources to build invasion crafts? (combat drop modules).  I dont see practical use, but i am short in the game.

7) Ground units are confusing.  What is batalion, what is company? How do I distinguish them and how do I work with them? How does ground units HQ works? How do I move them around? Do ground units contribute to planet defense value?

Is it worth teraforming Mars? How much teraformers will it need?

9) Should I keep an Eye on wealth?

Those are only basic questions about game I have to figure out.  It combines tactical and strategical element so well that I feel, I will stick with Aurora for a while. 

Miar out.

[Iranon]

1) Depends on the ship and its role, 25% on propulsion tonnage sounds reasonable many of my designs are far away from that, on either side. Against a certain beam-only threat that's annoying to fight in a fair way, you may have a ship that's mostly engine (to control the distance) with a longer-ranged beam weapon than theirs. A Jump Point Defence monitor may have a dinky little engine.

2) Not that I'm aware of, but you may want to probe with something cheap and expendable.

3) A billion is a 1000 millions in English-speaking countries, and the game follows this. Other countries use the "long scale" where this would be called a milliard, with a billion being a million millions.

4a) Gauss: Point defence with high volume of fire, unlike a railgun it can be turretet. At reasonable tech levels on reasonably fast ships, I prefer railguns.
4b) Mesons: If you can find a safe way to get into knife-fighting distance, they can endanger the most well-armoured or -shielded opponents. You can do really unfair things with them, but they require a plan.

5) Historically: Short-barreled cannon. In the game: Essentially a laser with a worse damage pattern and lacking most upgrade options but larger sizes at the same research investment. High damage at point blank range,  dropping off rapidly but ok total range. I don't like them.

6) For anti-ship use, they require quite a bit of support with weaponry that's not great in a straight fight, most don't bother. I suggest reading the wiki article on Ground Units.

7) See above.

Depends on the game. At least one of Mars or Luna is often worth terraforming.

9) Sometimes

[Miar (OP)]

Thank you very much, felow spaceman.  I totaly missed wiki section about ground units, that explained a lot.  Maybe one more question

11) Do you have 2 types of transports, one for peacefull transport of groud units, other for combat drops under enemy fire? Or 1 huge universal units transporter? Or even 3rd option, hangar ship and FACs with drop modules?

Thanks for answers. 

[papent]

11) depends on your overall war plans and design policy. me personally i have large civilian transports for divisions and brigade assault ships for 80% of my Space-Ground Task Force with the remaining 20% are battalion drop ships for special situations I use to have FAC sized dropships but I found a bigger/faster one was better for capturing ships.

division transport

Code: [Select]

Soldiery class Troop Transport    60,350 tons     374 Crew     1970.3 BP      TCS 1207  TH 3200  EM 0
2651 km/s     Armour 1-137     Shields 0-0     Sensors 18/18/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 20    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Troop Capacity: 15 Battalions   

Weirich-Mccartan 400 EP Commercial Magma Drive (8)    Power 400    Fuel Use 6.19%    Signature 400    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 24.1 billion km   (105 days at full power)

Venzke Ordnance CIWS-250 (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 25000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Liskey-Accosta ASY-160 R080 Scanner (1)     GPS 8000     Range 161.0m km    Resolution 80
Liskey-Accosta TH-18 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-18 Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

brigade drop ship

Code: [Select]

Torch class Assault Transport    4,500 tons     51 Crew     776.8 BP      TCS 90  TH 320  EM 0
3555 km/s     Armour 2-24     Shields 0-0     Sensors 18/18/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 1
Maint Life 1.79 Years     MSP 162    AFR 108%    IFR 1.5%    1YR 63    5YR 939    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Spare Berths 4   
Drop Capacity: 5 Battalions   

Corbi Turbines 160 EP Cruiser Magma Drive (2)    Power 160    Fuel Use 63%    Signature 160    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 260,000 Litres    Range 16.5 billion km   (53 days at full power)

Venzke Ordnance Single GsH-5010 Turret (1x5)    Range 50,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Liskey-Accosta BFC-030 6Mm/s Controller (1)    Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 6250 km/s     83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0

Liskey-Accosta ASY-160 R080 Scanner (1)     GPS 8000     Range 161.0m km    Resolution 80
Liskey-Accosta TH-18 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-18 Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 18     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  18m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

boarding/lander ship

Code: [Select]

Snekkja class Pinnace    2,300 tons     55 Crew     514.2 BP      TCS 46  TH 700  EM 0
15217 km/s     Armour 1-15     Shields 0-0     Sensors 3/4/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.34 Years     MSP 140    AFR 42%    IFR 0.6%    1YR 83    5YR 1243    Max Repair 350 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Spare Berths 5   
Drop Capacity: 1 Battalion   

Mell-Lachut 700 EP Super Magma Drive (1)    Power 700    Fuel Use 182.31%    Signature 700    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 10.7 billion km   (8 days at full power)

Liskey-Accosta ASY-016 R020 Scanner (1)     GPS 400     Range 16.1m km    Resolution 20
Liskey-Accosta TH-3 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-3.6 Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3.6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3.6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

obsolete dropship carrier

Code: [Select]

Normandy class Dropship Carrier    7,500 tons     117 Crew     1008.4 BP      TCS 150  TH 176  EM 0
2346 km/s     Armour 1-34     Shields 0-0     Sensors 3/4/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 1
Maint Life 1.03 Years     MSP 210    AFR 180%    IFR 2.5%    1YR 199    5YR 2987    Max Repair 132 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Flight Crew Berths 31   
Hangar Deck Capacity 5000 tons     

Corbi Turbines 176 EP Destroyer Magma Drive (2)    Power 176    Fuel Use 79.95%    Signature 88    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 15.0 billion km   (74 days at full power)

Venzke Ordnance Single GsH-5010 Turret (1x5)    Range 50,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 5    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Liskey-Accosta BFC-030 6Mm/s Controller (1)    Max Range: 60,000 km   TS: 6250 km/s     83 67 50 33 17 0 0 0 0 0

Liskey-Accosta ASY-036 R100 Scanner (1)     GPS 2000     Range 36.0m km    Resolution 100
Liskey-Accosta TH-3 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-3.6 Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3.6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3.6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

obsolete dropship

Code: [Select]

Mariana class Dropship    1,000 tons     16 Crew     255.8 BP      TCS 20  TH 70  EM 0
7000 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 3/4/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Life 7.96 Years     MSP 160    AFR 8%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 4    5YR 67    Max Repair 105 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 2 months    Spare Berths 3   
Drop Capacity: 1 Battalion   

Corbi Turbines 140 EP Craft Magma Drive (1)    Power 140    Fuel Use 269.41%    Signature 70    Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 3.3 billion km   (5 days at full power)

Liskey-Accosta ASY-080 R080 Scanner (1)     GPS 4000     Range 80.5m km    Resolution 80
Liskey-Accosta TH-3 Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3m km
Liskey-Accosta EM-3.6 Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 3.6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  3.6m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


[xeryon]

2) It is possible to make a fighter sized jump capable craft that are nearly disposable.  Place a hanger on a ship and a couple of these small scouts and it is the closest thing you can get to a probe.

4) Mesons ignore armor and shields but never do more than 1 point of damage with each hit.  They are an essential part of the rock-paper-scissors cycle of the game to prevent ships from just piling on ridiculous quantities of armor and being invincible.

5) In the early game a caronade is a fantastic jump point defense weapon.  Capable of dealing large amounts of damage at very short range.  It is a short tech tree and is quickly left behind by better weapon systems as you reach mid-game technology.

[Vandermeer]

11) Do you have 2 types of transports, one for peacefull transport of groud units, other for combat drops under enemy fire? Or 1 huge universal units transporter? Or even 3rd option, hangar ship and FACs with drop modules?

I myself stopped using conventional transport bays, and only use (cryo-)drop modules. There is no difference except that deployment is faster, so why should the other one ever be used? My favourite design is a large 106 battalion troop carrier for invasions and ruin recovery deployment. 106 is exactly 85 for a construction division (construction crew is 5x size of normal battalions) + 21 for one guarding division. However, you can also use it as 5x21=105 to deploy 5 divisions in war zones.

What was your question 10) ?

[papent]

I myself stopped using conventional transport bays, and only use (cryo-)drop modules. There is no difference except that deployment is faster, so why should the other one ever be used? My favourite design is a large 106 battalion troop carrier for invasions and ruin recovery deployment. 106 is exactly 85 for a construction division (construction crew is 5x size of normal battalions) + 21 for one guarding division. However, you can also use it as 5x21=105 to deploy 5 divisions in war zones.

What was your question 10) ?

how large is your 5 division cyro-transport? that seems like a thing that can be seen on thermals upon Jumping into the system
there difference between drop modules and transport bays are transport bay are civilian grade and drop modules are military

[Vandermeer]

Mhm, I think having extra civil transporters is not that useful, as you only need troop transport very rarely anyway. There are 4 purposes for transport: shipping platoons for colony defense, deploy ruin excavation and defense, boarding combat if you like it, and planetary assault. Since you need a good military drop invader for the last subject anyway, why not just have this one do all the other jobs too, instead of having it moth around in eternal maintenance until a new foe arises? I mean, you wouldn't save anything by having the very same thing built as civil craft again, or not?


I lost my last game where I had the specialized 5 division transporter, but I think it was like 120kt. Haha, ok, I notice most people here don't even build the shipyards for this, well, I guess then 42 Battalions is very viable too. You could transport 2 Divisions, or 1 Division + a Battalion of construction crew (4x5+1 is 21 too). Should still be around 40k tons if my above memory is correct. (I had some shields, many engineering sections and strong engines on those too, so those could be cut down.) I think though this cannot really be avoided as you will have to ferry construction crew anyway. I shipped them one by one in my first two games, but eventually found that too cumbersome. Bigger crafts are safer for war situations too.(loose all or nothing - if the enemy doesn't have the guns to obliterate a whole fleet, you won't loose anything)
My current game only has combined purpose crafts where I have the same capacity, but it also has hangars, weapons, gate building etc. etc. . Real motherships.

[Erik L]

If you have your troops in drop modules as opposed to troop transports, they will lose morale after a while.

[Vandermeer]

Not with cryo modules.

[Barkhorn]

Troop Transport bays are much lighter than drop modules, especially cryo drop modules.  So for shuttling troops between two safe destinations, these are preferable.  The ship will be lighter for the same transport capacity, which means it will build faster, and can either be faster or more fuel efficient.

[Vandermeer]

That might be good in the very beginning, but as soon as you start harvesting a good gas planet (just one), fuel isn't really a crucial resource anymore.(except if you mismanage, but that can always be done) Again, you need military transporters anyway, and they will just accumulate dust outside of the rare war times, so why not use them for all the (still few) transport jobs? If the only reason for civil transport is to save some fuel, then I think it wont pay of if you passed the first 20% of the game already. Those rich gas giants aren't even that uncommon, so this becomes the most abundant resource whose 'mining' you can always shape after your demands. In my current game I found a 50m Sorium Giant one system next to Sol (though in some games Jupiter or Saturn are already rich enough). After 250 years I still only mined half of that, and my fuel reserve on earth counts 70b liters. Two other giants of around 300m are still waiting further out to claim their rightful position, and I only explored around 30 systems total so far here.
Also a military design can always be faster, or save space with smaller engines if necessary.

---
I thought about the minimum size again, and actually you would just need 21 battalion space (around 25k tons maybe) for your minimum transport. It could carry one battalion of construction crew, or one division of else, and if you need two, you just build two. ...I tend to forget the advantage of fleet building, as I usually just build one big ship that fulfills all the demands by itself, ..like size 50 freighters as my standard cargo conveyors.

[ZimRathbone]

5) Historically: Short-barreled cannon.

Fired a very large ball - often known as a "smasher" in contemporary sources as well as in Napoleonic naval fiction (Alexander Kent's "Bolitho" series, possibly also the Hornblower series).  Very short range.  Constructed originally in the Carron Iron Works near Falkirk in Scotland, hence the name.  I believe I read somewhere (possibly in the museum in Falkirk?) that it was originally intended as a weapon for merchant vessels such as East Indiamen, and only later was used in naval vessels.

[NihilRex]

Also, Carronades were quick firing and easy to maneuver\aim.

[Cocyte]

Is it worth teraforming Mars? How much teraformers will it need?

9) Should I keep an Eye on wealth?

Those two questions are actually linked.

One of the major source of income is taxes on civilian freight and passengers. The more colonised worlds in your empire, then the more trade opportunities for civilian sector arises.

I always colonise most of the solar system for this reason, starting by terraforming Mars and Luna, then Mercury and the gallilean moons (Including Europa).
Titan is an oddball as it cannot be fully terraformed, making it a juicy place for all those civillian-produced infrastructure from the other worlds. I usually set a colony there once Luna and Mars are terraformed and start producing infrastructure as well.

With 8-9 populated bodies in the same system, you will rake on the cash. The only issue is that you will also have a *lot* of civvie ship running around - forcing you to desactivate the display of those ships.
(see http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5442.0.html for example )