Am I hitting some kind of misanthropic easter egg?

[Baughn (OP)]

I've been trying to learn Aurora (in order to suck ideas off it, I'll admit) for the last few days, with only modest success so far. Learning curve is more of a learning cliff, I'm afraid.

I'm having Fun, though. Which is to say, I die a lot. I'm used to that from dwarf fortress - no need for trout.

Of late, there's one particular problem that's killing me. I like to use a conventional start, so I'll know exactly what I've got researched; I also set the NPR bonus to 10%, which AIUI should lead to the AI being completely pathetic but not actually nonexistent.
[spoiler:1fagg7r0]However, for the last two games (where I've done that), this happens: Immediately after starting, a wormhole opens in sol. A few months later, a single scoutship comes through it. A few months after that, three other ships come through, hit earth, and start killing everyone.

They're moving at 10Mm/s (is that the right unit?), which strikes me as plainly impossible. I can't design a ship like that even if it's all engine. So, some kind of easter egg trying to punish me for wanting an easy game?[/spoiler:1fagg7r0]

Other issues I'd appreciate some input on, if possible:
[spoiler:1fagg7r0]- In the second game, I tried building some missile PDCs to defend myself. Three launchers each.. no missile storage, couldn't find that option... missiles with a 50Gm range, and fire control with much less than that. Eheh, not the most balanced design, I know. But I couldn't figure out how to fire them; opening the combat window, there were no targets shown, and apparently no way to turn on the fire control, or whatever I need to do. Even once the things were orbiting me. The PDCs did survive one salvo (which blew through four layers of armor, cratering it to near nonexistence - conventional armor), which is nice.[/spoiler:1fagg7r0]
- Do I really need to control the PDCs individually? If so, I'll just build a few /really big ones/.
- There seem to be a lot of errors. Null exceptions and other things. I keep having to click on error windows to make them go away now please, after which the game plays normally.. for a little while, at least.
- I've got several hundred asteroids. I'd like to mine them. Is there any way to automate this process, so my miners will move to another asteroid when the first is depleted?

[Baughn (OP)]

Oh yes, and I'm on windows 7, if that matters.

[The Shadow]

I'm not familiar with the [spoiler:1drrdy4g]new wormhole aliens[/spoiler:1drrdy4g] yet, as I haven't had much time to play of late.   But I can take a stab at some of these.

First off, did you build active sensors on any of your PDC's?  Without active sensors, you can't hit anything.  And, do your active sensors have enough range to reach the bad guys?

I don't understand the combat window very well myself, but the individual ship windows have buttons to turn sensors on and lock on targets.

Don't know why you're getting so many errors.

Yes, you can automate asteroid mining.  Check out the default and conditional orders lists - there's one for 'move to mineral source' and I think another to dump the stuff at a colony when full.

[Baughn (OP)]

I've got fire control on them. Is there some separate active sensor system needed, then?

I don't think I have time to research all the components needed for a missile and yet another branch of technology. Maybe if I start with more than fifteen research labs. :/

[The Shadow]

I've got fire control on them. Is there some separate active sensor system needed, then?

Yep.  Active sensors locate the target, then fire control shoots the missiles.  Without active sensors, your PDC's are really expensive paperweights.  Think of it this way:  Active sensors are the radar that lets you locate the bad guys;  then fire control is what 'locks on' to them and feeds the info to the missiles.

Now, they don't all need an active sensor.  One would work for all of them... but if you go that route, make sure the sensor PDC has A LOT of armor.  Because if it gets taken out, all the rest are blind.

I don't think I have time to research all the components needed for a missile and yet another branch of technology. Maybe if I start with more than fifteen research labs. :/

You get some active sensor tech for free.  (Not very good, of course, but sufficient.)  You just need to build an actual sensor with it.  Actually, several, at different resolutions.

Like, you'll want one at the resolution of the enemy ships, so you can see and hit them as far away as possible.  And you'll want one at zero resolution, to be able to hit missiles.

EDIT:  The reason why you might want a dedicated sensor PDC is so you can build *really big* sensors with lots of range.

[Andrew]

I've got fire control on them. Is there some separate active sensor system needed, then?

I don't think I have time to research all the components needed for a missile and yet another branch of technology. Maybe if I start with more than fifteen research labs. :/

A conventional start should really be called a primitive start, the start with TN Technology is a more standard start and will be much easier and if you choose your own technology rather then letting the prgram choose it you will still know exactly what you have.
[spoiler:3p16futn]If you want to avoid any risk of alien incursions while learning, create 0 NPR at start and turn of precrsors you can always add NPR's and turn on precursors later.[/spoiler:3p16futn]
Read one of the many threads about what you need to build a warship , it appears you have neglected to install an active sensor on your planet so you cannot target anything, this is the same technology used to build missile fire controls. I think the FAQ covers this.
[spoiler:3p16futn]I have not encountered the new aliens or want to know anything about them , but their speed is not unreasonably fast for ships built with more advanced technology and should not be impossible to engage with missiles[/spoiler:3p16futn]

[ZimRathbone]

I've been trying to learn Aurora (in order to suck ideas off it, I'll admit) for the last few days, with only modest success so far. Learning curve is more of a learning cliff, I'm afraid.

I'm having Fun, though. Which is to say, I die a lot. I'm used to that from dwarf fortress - no need for trout.

Of late, there's one particular problem that's killing me. I like to use a conventional start, so I'll know exactly what I've got researched; I also set the NPR bonus to 10%, which AIUI should lead to the AI being completely pathetic but not actually nonexistent.

[spoiler:13ih5slz]However, for the last two games (where I've done that), this happens: Immediately after starting, a wormhole opens in sol. A few months later, a single scoutship comes through it. A few months after that, three other ships come through, hit earth, and start killing everyone[/spoiler:13ih5slz].

[spoiler:13ih5slz]New feature steve added for 5.1x[/spoiler:13ih5slz]

[spoiler:13ih5slz]They're moving at 10Mm/s (is that the right unit?), which strikes me as plainly impossible. I can't design a ship like that even if it's all engine. So, some kind of easter egg trying to punish me for wanting an easy game?[/spoiler:13ih5slz]

[spoiler:13ih5slz]not specifically - but they probably do have (much) higher tech tham you[/spoiler:13ih5slz]

Other issues I'd appreciate some input on, if possible:
[spoiler:13ih5slz]- In the second game, I tried building some missile PDCs to defend myself. Three launchers each.. no missile storage, couldn't find that option... missiles with a 50Gm range, and fire control with much less than that. Eheh, not the most balanced design, I know. But I couldn't figure out how to fire them; opening the combat window, there were no targets shown, and apparently no way to turn on the fire control, or whatever I need to do. Even once the things were orbiting me. The PDCs did survive one salvo (which blew through four layers of armor, cratering it to near nonexistence - conventional armor), which is nice.[/spoiler:13ih5slz]

[spoiler:13ih5slz]Did you have an active sensor capable of picking up the bogies?[/spoiler:13ih5slz]

- Do I really need to control the PDCs individually? If so, I'll just build a few /really big ones/.

Not really - set up targeting etc for 1 PDC and copy to all others in the Task Group - but small numbers of big bases is a viable strategy for the homeworld - not so much for colonies as they take a long time to build

- - There seem to be a lot of errors. Null exceptions and other things. I keep having to click on error windows to make them go away now please, after which the game plays normally.. for a little while, at least.

Thats not my experience - then again I havent upgraded to 5.1x yet - having way too much fun in the current campaign

- I've got several hundred asteroids. I'd like to mine them. Is there any way to automate this process, so my miners will move to another asteroid when the first is depleted?

I doubt that you'll find that more than a small proportion have minable resources - most times I've found its not that much of an issue - then again you can always wait to see if the civilains will mine it for you!

[The Shadow]

Oh, right, forgot you were doing a conventional start.  You *will* have to research active sensor tech.

I recommend turning Precursors off until you're further along.  That, or play a TN start.

EDIT:  And the conventional start is, as mentioned, really a more advanced sort of game.  The Trans-Newtonian start is the standard.

[Baughn (OP)]

Thanks, I think that will do nicely.

Now it's time to start a new game so I can die horribly in some other fashion.

[sloanjh]

Hi All,

  I've taken the liberty of putting spoiler tags into the parts of this post (and the replies) that are related to 5.1 changes.  The original poster appears to not realize that he was snerking, being a new player.

John

[sloanjh]

BTW, the 5.14 patch should solve the problem you had with conventional starts....

John

[ChubbyPitbull]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but the question seemed relevant to this discussion.

Can a high enough level deep space tracking station be a sufficient substitute for a PDC active sensor, or do PDC's need one in addition to planetary tracking stations so the fire control's can lock onto targets?

IE: Could you have:

Deep Space Tracking Station Detects an Enemy Ship
PDC Fire control with sufficient range locks on to Enemy Ship
PDC's launch missiles or open fire

Or does it have to be:

Deep Space Tracking Station Detects an Enemy Ship
PDC Active Sensor is turned on
PDC Active Sensor detects enemy ship
PDC Fire control with sufficient range locks on to Enemy Ship
PDC's launch missiles or open fire

As I understand it planetary populations are largely detected due to their thermal signatures. Do PDC Active Sensors have large EM signatures like ship based Active Sensors? Do Deep Space Tracking stations have similar EM signatures?

[sloanjh]

B

You can only lock onto active contacts.  Otherwise there would be no incentive for players to build active sensors at all - they'd only need passives.

DST are passive sensors, and thus do not have an EM signature.  As you surmised, Active sensors are emitting "EM" (name needs to be changed), and so can be detected by EM passives.

John

[ChubbyPitbull]

Righto, thank you.