Aurora 4x
C# Fiction => Steve's Fiction => Federation Campaign => Topic started by: Steve Walmsley on December 12, 2023, 10:07:09 AM
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Please post any comments on this campaign in this thread.
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I love that new campaign smell in the morning.
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Love the unique lore choice of the Minosians to represent the Precursor origins!
There is no ‘United Federation of Planets’ and Earth is about to start exploring the galaxy, but with a larger and more capable fleet than in that series. The major alien races are also starting from their own home worlds.
I am curious to see if you will be able to leverage the diplomacy tools to form the UFP in this timeline. Or perhaps more accurately, I look forward to seeing what new and exciting diplomatic tools you will add to the game to make such things possible! ;D
Ten starting NPRs in specific systems, mainly between 11 LY and 160 LY, plus one outlier at 325 LY,
Will be interesting to see how this works out, 160 LY is a loooooot of space between NPRs. On the other hand with ten NPRs, even the improved processing speed in 2.4 may have its work cut out, plus there is a high chance that an NPR might meet another (starting or generated) and start a war complete with constant interrupts.
• Sol has a minimum of four jump points.
• Survey Speed is 25%.
• Limited Research Administration is on.
These are the correct game settings. (https://i.imgur.com/Z3wSg01.gif)
Design Principles, as set by the Federation Council
These look very cool and should lead to some interesting and more importantly terrible (by Aurora mechanics) designs. ;D
The commercial designs are actually rather interesting to me, the sizes with intrinsic jump drives are quite different than the usual, e.g. 57,000-ton freighters instead of 45,000. Out of curiosity, have you ever tried playing with colony ships that have colonist + cargo capacity to move infrastructure and population in the same ship? I enjoy the different dynamic of this approach although it is a less flexible ship design for sure.
The majority of the ground elements available to Starfleet are intended for engineering and planetary surveys, with four Geological Survey Expeditions, four Xenoarchaeological Expeditions and eight Starfleet Engineer Detachments. In total, these non-combat formations comprise more than eighty percent of the ground forces available to Starfleet.
Interesting... I usually don't even find use for more than one ground survey and xenoarcheology formation apiece, although the construction units are always in demand. Not sure what you'd need four of each for...
Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out! Though I'm torn between wanting a long game for an interesting story to develop, and a short game so 2.4 can release before Christmas (it would be perfect timing! ;D )...
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Looking forward to this campaign! I suspect that Starfleet might want to develop some sort of colonial security/militia/police force design just for keeping future colonies calm. They probably won't have any permanent military fleet forces stationed in-system, given the limited number of ships in Starfleet and their main role as explorers rather than picket ships.
Also, was this an oopsie or just typos?
MK I Point Defence Phaser (12x4) Range 20,000km TS: 4,000 km/s
Hyperion D-80A Point Defence Fire Control (2) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 4,000 km/s
MK I Point Defence Phaser (4x4) Range 20,000km TS: 4,000 km/s
Hyperion D-80A Point Defence Fire Control (1) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 4,000 km/s
etc.
IE all your PD phaser turrets - and their fire controls - have the same TS as the regular phasers, surely the turrets and FCs should have 4x tracking speeds instead?
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I'm guessing the "PD Phasers" are railguns rather than turreted lasers or gauss, which would make sense with the tracking speed.
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Yes the "phasers" are railguns. Steve does this sort of thing with weapon names a lot, for example in his WH40K games "lascannons" are reduced-shot railguns.
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Ohhh okay! That makes more sense now, though Starfleet using something as ...unrefined as kinetic weapons vs the elegance of shiny laser or particle beams? Tsk tsk. What are they, Klingons?
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Ohhh okay! That makes more sense now, though Starfleet using something as ...unrefined as kinetic weapons vs the elegance of shiny laser or particle beams? Tsk tsk. What are they, Klingons?
Use your imagination!
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They can't be railguns, Steve stuck them on the Stationary defense platforms. Surely they must be turreted?
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They can't be railguns, Steve stuck them on the Stationary defense platforms. Surely they must be turreted?
Weapons will track at the higher of racial tracking speed or ship speed. Even turrets designed to track at lower than racial tracking speed.
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Intrepid class having only 1 torpedo launcher really grinds my gears (just kidding [mostly]), otherwise great set up, cant wait to see some action!
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Use your imagination!
Never! *shakes fist*
...well, I suppose...
More seriously, this did remind me in the old Star Fleet Battles some races' ship designs had what was called a phaser-G, a gatling-style phaser that fired four weak short ranged phaser shots. Effective against missiles and fighters of course, but also surprisingly good at knife-fighting passes against larger ships too. Not that they would be as good point defense weapons in this game as the reskinned railgun arrays.
Further speculating, if you wanted to emulate Klingon-type disruptors you could maybe use plasma carronades or particle beams. And yes, the old VB6 SPOILER weapon would have been just perfect for the Romulans! ;D But I don't think those are coming back, probably too much hassle to code just for a single unique weapon.
Hope there's more soon!
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The important thing is that this story got the traditional trope done nice and early;
An invasion of the Russian Far East by China drew a nuclear response.
China got nuked. And in the second sentence of the AAR, which may well be a new record.
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The important thing is that this story got the traditional trope done nice and early;
An invasion of the Russian Far East by China drew a nuclear response.
China got nuked. And in the second sentence of the AAR, which may well be a new record.
Hahaha, yes yes yes, the tradition remains alive! ;D
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Use your imagination!
Never! *shakes fist*
...well, I suppose...
More seriously, this did remind me in the old Star Fleet Battles some races' ship designs had what was called a phaser-G, a gatling-style phaser that fired four weak short ranged phaser shots. Effective against missiles and fighters of course, but also surprisingly good at knife-fighting passes against larger ships too. Not that they would be as good point defense weapons in this game as the reskinned railgun arrays.
Further speculating, if you wanted to emulate Klingon-type disruptors you could maybe use plasma carronades or particle beams. And yes, the old VB6 SPOILER weapon would have been just perfect for the Romulans! ;D But I don't think those are coming back, probably too much hassle to code just for a single unique weapon.
Hope there's more soon!
They are railguns and their first name was 'Gatling Phaser', before I changed it to Point Defence Phaser. I thought the former didn't sound very Starfleet :)
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Use your imagination!
Never! *shakes fist*
...well, I suppose...
More seriously, this did remind me in the old Star Fleet Battles some races' ship designs had what was called a phaser-G, a gatling-style phaser that fired four weak short ranged phaser shots. Effective against missiles and fighters of course, but also surprisingly good at knife-fighting passes against larger ships too. Not that they would be as good point defense weapons in this game as the reskinned railgun arrays.
Further speculating, if you wanted to emulate Klingon-type disruptors you could maybe use plasma carronades or particle beams. And yes, the old VB6 SPOILER weapon would have been just perfect for the Romulans! ;D But I don't think those are coming back, probably too much hassle to code just for a single unique weapon.
Hope there's more soon!
They are railguns and their first name was 'Gatling Phaser', before I changed it to Point Defence Phaser. I thought the former didn't sound very Starfleet :)
Photon cannons in shambles.
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Use your imagination!
Never! *shakes fist*
...well, I suppose...
More seriously, this did remind me in the old Star Fleet Battles some races' ship designs had what was called a phaser-G, a gatling-style phaser that fired four weak short ranged phaser shots. Effective against missiles and fighters of course, but also surprisingly good at knife-fighting passes against larger ships too. Not that they would be as good point defense weapons in this game as the reskinned railgun arrays.
Further speculating, if you wanted to emulate Klingon-type disruptors you could maybe use plasma carronades or particle beams. And yes, the old VB6 SPOILER weapon would have been just perfect for the Romulans! ;D But I don't think those are coming back, probably too much hassle to code just for a single unique weapon.
Hope there's more soon!
They are railguns and their first name was 'Gatling Phaser', before I changed it to Point Defence Phaser. I thought the former didn't sound very Starfleet :)
If I remember correctly, Starfleet Battles featured gatling phasers. The Feds got them in later eras.
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They are railguns and their first name was 'Gatling Phaser', before I changed it to Point Defence Phaser. I thought the former didn't sound very Starfleet :)
If I remember correctly, Starfleet Battles featured gatling phasers. The Feds got them in later eras.
Yes, that's where I got the idea for the original name.
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A fairly short update, not surprising if the goal is to hurry up and start playing with the aliens.
I'd say the Council is making a serious mistake in pressing for a foothold in Luyten's Star. Even if it is a nice jump nexus, it will be a while until the Federation has a need or practical ability to exploit systems which are 25-30 billion km away, round trip. Meanwhile, aggravating the cough cough 61 Cygni aliens accomplishes nothing but risking war and there is no guarantee here that such a war can be ended by anything less than total defeat of one side, particularly if the shooting starts before communications are established.
Better to hold at Meridian and patrol Psi Herculis I think. With any luck we would make friends and Meridian could become a thriving trading planet. ;D Though even becoming a fortress world is probably better than the 'real' Meridian...
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After a quick trip to the Star Trek Wiki, I can't say I've ever heard of the Tellarites, but they sound peaceful enough - well, assuming there wasn't a Federation stronghold going up right outside their front door.
I have to agree that the Federation Council seems rather more aggressive than I'd expect - Steve, you sure you're not still roleplaying the Imperium of Man?
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Maybe the Federation was secretly infiltrated by Terran Empire agents from mirror universe. ;D
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After a quick trip to the Star Trek Wiki, I can't say I've ever heard of the Tellarites, but they sound peaceful enough - well, assuming there wasn't a Federation stronghold going up right outside their front door.
The Tellarites were one of the four founding members of the Federation, along with the Vulcans and Andorians. They were in the original series, Star Trek Enterprise and Star Trek Discovery, two of the movies (IV and VI), Picard and all three animated series (original, Lower Decks and Prodigy), although their appearance changes quite a bit between different series. They tend to be stubborn, argumentative and impatient.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tellarite
I have to agree that the Federation Council seems rather more aggressive than I'd expect - Steve, you sure you're not still roleplaying the Imperium of Man?
The Federation Council is economically aggressive, rather than militarily, which is something for which a lot of other races criticize the Federation.
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
I suspected that would be an issue with the great dispersion of the NPRs. Perhaps even more so with the increased size of the Real Stars database.
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
I suspected that would be an issue with the great dispersion of the NPRs. Perhaps even more so with the increased size of the Real Stars database.
I met a second NPR and the Raiders, but the second NPR (Andorians) was peaceful and the first one (Tellarites) was easily beaten back into its home system, so I had several years of just building up colonies but no real challenge or threat. It happens quite often that I just lose the enthusiasm for a campaign and move on. I will likely come back to this though, as I have done quite a lot of background work. Maybe I'll go and try something unusual - like WH40K? :)
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
I suspected that would be an issue with the great dispersion of the NPRs. Perhaps even more so with the increased size of the Real Stars database.
I met a second NPR and the Raiders, but the second NPR (Andorians) was peaceful and the first one (Tellarites) was easily beaten back into its home system, so I had several years of just building up colonies but no real challenge or threat. It happens quite often that I just lose the enthusiasm for a campaign and move on. I will likely come back to this though, as I have done quite a lot of background work. Maybe I'll go and try something unusual - like WH40K? :)
My personal feeling is that 2.4 is in a great place to commit to a long multiple-player-race campaign, which is my plan over the holidays. I'm not saying you should do such a thing, but I'm not not saying you should do such a thing. ;)
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
I suspected that would be an issue with the great dispersion of the NPRs. Perhaps even more so with the increased size of the Real Stars database.
I met a second NPR and the Raiders, but the second NPR (Andorians) was peaceful and the first one (Tellarites) was easily beaten back into its home system, so I had several years of just building up colonies but no real challenge or threat. It happens quite often that I just lose the enthusiasm for a campaign and move on. I will likely come back to this though, as I have done quite a lot of background work. Maybe I'll go and try something unusual - like WH40K? :)
My personal feeling is that 2.4 is in a great place to commit to a long multiple-player-race campaign, which is my plan over the holidays. I'm not saying you should do such a thing, but I'm not not saying you should do such a thing. ;)
I quite agree! Thanks to Steve for releasing 2.4! I've been bouncing around ideas for a new campaign, and this sounds like a good place to start.
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I wasn't expecting 2.4 today, best Christmas gift ever, thank you Steve!
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Yeah I was greeted by the (in my perception) early release of 2.4.0, but it is cool to see you do a Star Trek AAR. I'm a huge Enterprise nerd so I did a United Earth / UESPA start for mine and based ships off the early warp delta designs eventually leading up to Enterprise. Was pretty neat, but also stagnated. I have a hard time roleplaying peaceful nations early on since I need to find pretense to make weapons, so I just added a pirate player faction with some rules for them, but the new raider stuff seems neat for that as well.
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I have a hard time roleplaying peaceful nations early on since I need to find pretense to make weapons, so I just added a pirate player faction with some rules for them, but the new raider stuff seems neat for that as well.
I think it's not too hard to justify weapons, after all, "if you want peace prepare for war" is a common and arguably correct saying. IMHO, the harder part of playing peacefully is that NPR diplomacy is very limited, even if you find relatively peaceful NPRs there is no way to get them to recognize or negotiate borders, for instance, besides claiming a system and hoping they will accept the claim. Pretty much any more complex treaty is right out, nor can there be some coordination of fleets between allies.
With multiple player races this is all a moot point, of course, but I do dream of a more complex NPR diplomacy system someday...
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I'm probably not going to continue this campaign now, but I will leave it up for the ship designs, etc. I played about seven years and it allowed me to test the v2.4.0 changes, but never seemed to really take off.
Perhaps, could be a good time to release patch 2.4.1 then ::)
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I have a hard time roleplaying peaceful nations early on since I need to find pretense to make weapons, so I just added a pirate player faction with some rules for them, but the new raider stuff seems neat for that as well.
I think it's not too hard to justify weapons, after all, "if you want peace prepare for war" is a common and arguably correct saying. IMHO, the harder part of playing peacefully is that NPR diplomacy is very limited, even if you find relatively peaceful NPRs there is no way to get them to recognize or negotiate borders, for instance, besides claiming a system and hoping they will accept the claim. Pretty much any more complex treaty is right out, nor can there be some coordination of fleets between allies.
With multiple player races this is all a moot point, of course, but I do dream of a more complex NPR diplomacy system someday...
Yeah I understand all that, it's not so much from the "peaceful among other nations" but more about first contact. Once I find ruins or precursors or such it's bets off, which can some takes a surprisingly long time. But I think it would be a bit strange if we developed warp drive tomorrow and immediately starting strapping lasers to our space probes, given what we currently know about the universe.
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But I think it would be a bit strange if we developed warp drive tomorrow and immediately starting strapping lasers to our space probes, given what we currently know about the universe.
It would indeed be strange, but only because we'd be too busy strapping missiles to them instead. :P
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Sad to see this one go, but looking forward to the next one. Especially if it's a Colonial Wars, Aftermath or NATO vs Soviets campaign remake... :D