First alien contact

[Barkhorn (OP)]

Just met my first aliens.  They jumped into Sol from Proxima Centauri.  PC is totally empty so they must've originally come from another system.

Anyways, it was one ship weighing in at 70k tons according to TCS and ~2000 thermal signature.  No EM signature.  Kinda sounds like a freighter to me, its big enough, and would probably want big, hot engines to maintain a reasonable speed.

Shadowed it with my fleet of 4 ASM armed destroyers and 4 AMM armed escorts at max ASM range, and began diplomacy.

The alien ship just chilled at the jump point for a few months, then left.

Its size scared me at first, its my destroyers weigh in just under 7k tons.  Do aliens tend to scout with freighters?

[Sematary]

I haven't seen it before, but thats not to say they don't...

[sublight]

Did it build a jump gate? My first though is that you found a NPR gate construction ship.

[Barkhorn (OP)]

how do I tell if it built a jump gate?

If it did, can I take it down?  I don't have any presence in Proxima Centauri, so a JG there would be an easy way into my territory.

[PSI]

how do I tell if it built a jump gate?

If it did, can I take it down?  I don't have any presence in Proxima Centauri, so a JG there would be an easy way into my territory.

A red square around a jump point indicates that it has a jump gate.

From what I know, you can't destroy them, but perhaps somebody could elaborate on that...

[Wolfius]

Jumpgates can't be destroyed, the only way to remove them is with SM mode, so you could do that and pretend your fleet blew it up or something.

Or you could station a picket on the other side of the jump point, say, and just accept it.

I'm not sure if it's actually that much of a recurity risk; it's not really any different than sending a large fleet through using a jump tender, unless the sensor blindness is shorter? I haven't really played with gates much.


Assuming it actually was a jumpgate builder, of course, but it fits the MO.

[Barkhorn (OP)]

A red square around a jump point indicates that it has a jump gate.

From what I know, you can't destroy them, but perhaps somebody could elaborate on that...

Ah, so its definitely a jump gate then.

Why would they scout with a jump-gate builder?  Seems pretty stupid to me.

[Haji]

First, it is possible that a smaller ship have entered the system, but you simply haven't noticed it.
Second, the AI in Aurora is not actually all that good. I don't know if you have read any AARs, but entering unknown or even hostile system with gate builder is pretty much standard. In one of the campaigns, played by the creator of Aurora no less, one AI was sending wave after wave of scout ships and gate builders into enemy territory, despite the fact that they were being destroyed as soon as they crossed the jump point. Meanwhile an eighty ship strong fleet was just chilling on their homeworld.
The biggest danger posed by NPRs isn't their intelligence, but the potential that they will simply outbuild you.