3.0 New Items

[Erik L (OP)]

Steve,

Maybe you could explain what the new items are that have squeeked in without notice?

Command Modules, the new active sensor options, the difference between railguns and gauss cannons, etc.

[Brian Neumann]

How about the cloaking systems as well

Brian

[Steve Walmsley]

Steve,

Maybe you could explain what the new items are that have squeeked in without notice?

Command Modules, the new active sensor options, the difference between railguns and gauss cannons, etc.

Command modules are a really small crew quarters, suitable for fighters. Active sensors are now the basis for search sensors and missile fire control. Missile Fire Controls have three times the range but no search function while search sensors can detect objects but can't guide missiles. This means that missile fire controls take account of resolution and therefore need to be designed with the type of target in mind. Gauss cannon are a short range point defence weapon that are also useful for fighters whereas railguns are a longer-ranged offensive weapon. Here is the thread where I describe the gauss cannon and the difference from the railgun

http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?t=1000

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

How about the cloaking systems as well

I forgot I left that in  

The Cloaking Device is a piece of tech that reduces the target cross section of a ship, making it harder for active sensors to detect. They are designed in a similar way to a jump drive, so you have an efficiency in terms of size and a particular cloaking device will have a maximum size of ship on which it will work. This won't reduce thermal or EM sensors so if you go zipping about at high speed with active sensors on, you will still get detected on those type of sensors. However, you can use thermal reduction tech to reduce the thermal signature of your engines and avoid EM detection by not using either shields or active sensors.

A word of warning though. I was meaning to remove this before release because it isn't tested yet.

Steve

[Kurt]

How about the cloaking systems as well

I forgot I left that in  

The Cloaking Device is a piece of tech that reduces the target cross section of a ship, making it harder for active sensors to detect. They are designed in a similar way to a jump drive, so you have an efficiency in terms of size and a particular cloaking device will have a maximum size of ship on which it will work. This won't reduce thermal or EM sensors so if you go zipping about at high speed with active sensors on, you will still get detected on those type of sensors. However, you can use thermal reduction tech to reduce the thermal signature of your engines and avoid EM detection by not using either shields or active sensors.

A word of warning though. I was meaning to remove this before release because it isn't tested yet.

Steve

Steve -

I don't know if you ever got around to testing this, but if you haven't it seems to be screwed up.  I designed a cloaking device with efficiency level 3 and sensor reduction 80%, for a max 4000 ton size ship, and developed the resulting design.  When I incorporated the resulting design into my proto-type troop transport, it increased the sensor cross section from 51 to 79, which is not what it is supposed to do, if I understand correctly.  It had no other effect, as far as I could tell.

Also, I noticed that when I created the cloaking device design on the create research project window, I changed the name from  "Cloaking Device: 81-80%" to "Cloaking Device: 81-80% (4050 tons)" and then hit the create button.  However, when I went to the research screen to begin researching the system, I noted that the name had reverted back to the original "Cloaking Device: 81-80%".  This has happened with several of the new tech branches you've added lately.   For example, the Gauss Cannon branch does this very same thing, reverting to the original name, no matter what you've put in for your chosen name.  

Kurt

[Steve Walmsley]

I don't know if you ever got around to testing this, but if you haven't it seems to be screwed up.  I designed a cloaking device with efficiency level 3 and sensor reduction 80%, for a max 4000 ton size ship, and developed the resulting design.  When I incorporated the resulting design into my proto-type troop transport, it increased the sensor cross section from 51 to 79, which is not what it is supposed to do, if I understand correctly.  It had no other effect, as far as I could tell.

The increase in size (TCS) was probably as a result of the size of the cloaking device. Although the actual TCS on the class display wasn't reduced, I think it was still working in terms of actual cloaking. I was overcomplicating it though by having a TCS and a separate cloaking modifier. In v3.1, the cloaking mod is built directly into the class cross-section without a separate sensor modifier. Likewise, unless damaged the cloaking device is built into a ship cross-section. It should now be a full working system for v3.1.

Also, I noticed that when I created the cloaking device design on the create research project window, I changed the name from  "Cloaking Device: 81-80%" to "Cloaking Device: 81-80% (4050 tons)" and then hit the create button.  However, when I went to the research screen to begin researching the system, I noted that the name had reverted back to the original "Cloaking Device: 81-80%".  This has happened with several of the new tech branches you've added lately.   For example, the Gauss Cannon branch does this very same thing, reverting to the original name, no matter what you've put in for your chosen name.  

Both of these were cut and paste problems that I have corrected for v3.1. If you spot any others, please let me know.

Steve