Post Annihilation observations

[Arwyn (OP)]

So, Terra just got glassed by a hostile NPR. So game over and on to the next game. I did have a couple of observations that came out of this last game.

New lessons;
1) Maintenance facilities are critical. I had a bad bottleneck between system failures, maintenance supplies, facilities, and fleet size. This is a much more important item in C# Aurora than in VB6. Lesson learned, build these fast and early!

2) Watch the diplomacy messages in the event log. When you see LOTS of communications, but no real success in translation, you had better be prepared for shooting to start! I found the NPR, got out of the system and sent a diplo ship. Sat on the warp point, and got zero progress, but lots of messages. Moved to the other side of the WP. They quickly followed me out and kept hitting me with messages. Zero progress. Moved to the warp point outsystem. More of the same. The NPR was constantly communicating, but I was making absolutly no progress in translation. Have a feeling this was high militancy and high xenophobia in action.

Lessons relearned through stupidity;

1) Have enough fire controls! Totally my fault. My cheap patrol frigates had one gauss turret and three railgun bays. Only had one fire control.... oops.

2) Get out and build early! I had a couple of leisurely games before this one. This time I ran into an NPR five years in and they went hostile fast. I wasnt ready for a fight and had no real defenses on my colony, and it was one jump from Earth. Fatal mistake.

3) Not enough freighters. I should have built more and gotten more things out in the field. The lack of freighters really hampered my development speed, which contributed to #2. I was so busy micromanaging my military ships, I neglected the commercial side.

[Geoffroypi]

This kind of story makes me want to play Aurora again.

[StarshipCactus]

Could you please share your military designs? What kind of tech did you start with?

[Arwyn (OP)]

I was up to nuclear pulse. I will go pull some of the designs and post tomorrow.

[Arwyn (OP)]

I was up to nuclear pulse. I will go pull some of the designs and post tomorrow.

Here are the designs, as requested. Couple of things, these were interim designs, and were a bit inefficient.

The late lamented frigates;

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Tribal class Frigate      9,574 tons       206 Crew       938.4 BP       TCS 191    TH 240    EM 1,800
2506 km/s      Armour 4-40       Shields 60-300       HTK 53      Sensors 6/6/0/0      DCR 5      PPV 11
Maint Life 2.06 Years     MSP 306    AFR 147%    IFR 2.0%    1YR 96    5YR 1,437    Max Repair 120 MSP
Sub Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Morale Check Required   

Stops Engines Limited Improved Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP160.00 (3)    Power 480    Fuel Use 44.27%    Signature 80.0    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 21.2 billion km (98 days at full power)
Beierle Defence Systems Beta S15 / R300 Shields (4)     Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.2 per second)

Dami Precision Arms 12cm Railgun V30/C2 (1x4)    Range 32,000km     TS: 2,506 km/s     Power 6-2     RM 30,000 km    ROF 15       
Goyette-Sprowl CIWS-80 (1x4)    Range 1000 km     TS: 8,000 km/s     ROF 5       
Dami Precision Arms 10cm Railgun V30/C2 (2x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 2,506 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 30,000 km    ROF 10       
Bresse Electronics Beam Fire Control R32-TS8000 (1)     Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 8,000 km/s     69 38 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Domangue-Ludeman Improved Pressurised Water Reactor R16-PB20 (1)     Total Power Output 15.6    Exp 10%

Lincourt & Thornton Active Search Sensor AS4-R1 (1)     GPS 12     Range 4.8m km    MCR 430.9k km    Resolution 1
Mergenthaler-Weider Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
Wuertz Electronics Industries EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km

The missile destroyers;

Boone class Destroyer      10,604 tons       231 Crew       1,152 BP       TCS 212    TH 240    EM 1,800
2263 km/s      Armour 4-42       Shields 60-300       HTK 57      Sensors 6/6/0/0      DCR 5      PPV 16
Maint Life 1.81 Years     MSP 339    AFR 180%    IFR 2.5%    1YR 129    5YR 1,939    Max Repair 144 MSP
Magazine 208   
Sub Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Morale Check Required   

Stops Engines Limited Improved Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP160.00 (3)    Power 480    Fuel Use 44.27%    Signature 80.0    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 19.2 billion km (98 days at full power)
Beierle Defence Systems Beta S15 / R300 Shields (4)     Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.2 per second)

Lachance-Casimiro Size 4.0 Missile Launcher (4)     Missile Size: 4    Rate of Fire 20
Haus Electronic Systems Missile Fire Control FC62-R100 (1)     Range 62.8m km    Resolution 100
Ezelle Armaments Anzac Anti-Ship Missile (54)    Speed: 9,600 km/s    End: 100.2m     Range: 57.7m km    WH: 4    Size: 4    TH: 38/23/11

Hickel-Ciesluk Active Search Sensor AS76-R100 (1)     GPS 14400     Range 77m km    Resolution 100
Wuertz Electronics Industries EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
Mergenthaler-Weider Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

Destroyer Escort;

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Brazwell class Destroyer Escort      9,957 tons       201 Crew       980.7 BP       TCS 199    TH 240    EM 1,350
2410 km/s      Armour 4-41       Shields 45-300       HTK 60      Sensors 6/6/0/0      DCR 5      PPV 36.24
Maint Life 1.78 Years     MSP 307    AFR 159%    IFR 2.2%    1YR 120    5YR 1,801    Max Repair 120 MSP
Sub Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Morale Check Required   

Stops Engines Limited Improved Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP160.00 (3)    Power 480    Fuel Use 44.27%    Signature 80.0    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 20.4 billion km (98 days at full power)
Beierle Defence Systems Beta S15 / R300 Shields (3)     Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.2 per second)

Kestler Armaments Twin Grishaber Armaments Company Gauss Cannon R300-100 Turret (2x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Bresse Electronics Beam Fire Control R32-TS8000 (2)     Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 8,000 km/s     69 38 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Lincourt & Thornton Active Search Sensor AS4-R1 (1)     GPS 12     Range 4.8m km    MCR 430.9k km    Resolution 1
Mergenthaler-Weider Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
Wuertz Electronics Industries EM Sensor EM1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
And the cruiser present;

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Texas class Cruiser      16,647 tons       413 Crew       1,753.8 BP       TCS 333    TH 400    EM 1,800
2402 km/s      Armour 4-58       Shields 60-300       HTK 99      Sensors 12/12/0/0      DCR 6      PPV 58.12
Maint Life 2.07 Years     MSP 795    AFR 369%    IFR 5.1%    1YR 247    5YR 3,706    Max Repair 120 MSP
Sub Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months    Morale Check Required   

Stops Engines Limited Improved Nuclear Thermal Engine  EP160.00 (5)    Power 800    Fuel Use 44.27%    Signature 80.0    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 24.4 billion km (117 days at full power)
Beierle Defence Systems Beta S15 / R300 Shields (4)     Recharge Time 300 seconds (0.2 per second)

Swim Kinetics Particle Beam-4 (4)    Range 128,000km     TS: 2,402 km/s     Power 10-2    ROF 25       
Dami Precision Arms 10cm Railgun V30/C2 (4x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 2,402 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 30,000 km    ROF 10       
Kestler Armaments Twin Grishaber Armaments Company Gauss Cannon R300-100 Turret (1x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Trax Warning & Control Beam Fire Control R32-TS4000 (1)     Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 4,000 km/s     69 38 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bresse Electronics Beam Fire Control R32-TS8000 (1)     Max Range: 32,000 km   TS: 8,000 km/s     69 38 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Trax Warning & Control Beam Fire Control R128-TS4000 (1)     Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 4,000 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Domangue-Ludeman Improved Pressurised Water Reactor R16-PB20 (5)     Total Power Output 78    Exp 10%

Lincourt & Thornton Active Search Sensor AS22-R100 (1)     GPS 1200     Range 22.2m km    Resolution 100
Lincourt & Thornton Active Search Sensor AS4-R1 (1)     GPS 12     Range 4.8m km    MCR 430.9k km    Resolution 1
Wuertz Electronics Industries EM Sensor EM2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  27.4m km
Mergenthaler-Weider Thermal Sensor TH2-12 (1)     Sensitivity 12     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  27.4m km

[Garfunkel]

Sounds like a good learning experience! 

[StarshipCactus]

Thanks for sharing the designs.

[Tikigod]

3) Not enough freighters. I should have built more and gotten more things out in the field. The lack of freighters really hampered my development speed, which contributed to #2. I was so busy micromanaging my military ships, I neglected the commercial side.

Don't really need a lot of freighters, more just ones large enough to haul a fair bit in a single trip and a speed that means it's not going to take them half a year just to drop off stuff and get back within the home system.

A early tech 350,000 ton freighter design with 2 large cargo bays tends to last me when using just 5 of them in a cargo fleet most of a campaign with just periodic engine upgrades at 20-30 year intervals, though I do use civilian shipping a lot for doing smaller hauling tasks as it's just so much easier to just mark the homeworld as being a supply source for hundreds of mines and such and then just set up colony demands as needed and having civilians handle the rest.

[Arwyn (OP)]

I do something similar, but since this was so early, my max slip size was only 88,000 to start, and was up to 98,000 by the time this war started.

Since I had smaller freighters, I really needed to build more to get all the mass drivers, automines, and infrastructure deployed. That really delayed  me.

[bankshot]

My initial freighters are designed around one standard size cargo hold and 3 size 60 engines.  I normally deploy them in fleets of 5 freighters so they carry as much cargo as one freighter built around a large hold.  The advantages are the flexibility to perform multiple small deliveries, quicker partial loading time (see bug http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=11565.msg136403#msg136403 ) and most importantly small jump size.  Keeping the freighters and colony ships under 40K tons means the jump engines on my jump tender/jumpgate construction ships don't have to be enormous to allow me to begin setting up a colony on a system before the jump gate is finished.

Plus it lets me use a smaller shipyard to do refits/rebuilds when drive tech improves. 

I do have the disadvantage of requiring more operating overhead, especially since I rarely break the freighters out of their 5 ship groups, so other than the special cases outlined above one large freighter would work just as well.  I haven't gotten far enough in C# to do so but in VB I'd assign a freighter to larger colony systems to shuttle minerals and infrastructure around as needed instead of sending a fleet from Sol for each job. 

[Ektor]

Those ships seem glacially slow to me. With beam ships you really should be making them at least 50% engine per total weight. So your 9000 size ships should be at least 4500 in engine.

[Arwyn (OP)]

Those ships seem glacially slow to me. With beam ships you really should be making them at least 50% engine per total weight. So your 9000 size ships should be at least 4500 in engine.

I had two challenges there. 1st, those were based on autogen designs I started the game with. 2nd, I was limited on max slip size the cruiser hulls were as big as I could handle.  I could have built new designs, but it was going to take a while vs. just swapping engines on the existing. I went with the swap to get as many hulls up as I could.