Aurora 4x
Fiction => Kurt's Fiction => Aurora => The Corporate Federation => Topic started by: Kurt on May 02, 2018, 09:47:19 PM
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Please place any comments or questions here. Thanks!
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New Kurt campaign? Hooray! Reading right now.
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New Kurt campaign? Hooray! Reading right now.
Its been a while, I know. I should have more time these, days, though, and I've been spending some of my new-found time on Aurora. Steve tells me that it will be a while before the new version of Aurora is out, so I decided to do a campaign in the current version. I'll be posting fairly regularly for a while, as I'm nine years out in the campaign timeline so far.
Kurt
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I predict an independence movement on Mars. Only question is, when?
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Oh-oh, things are heating up!
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I am enjoying this :)
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I'm glad you guys are enjoying this campaign! It's been a while since I've written anything, and I thought I'd start a nice little - simple - campaign to get back into the swing of things. This one kind of sucked me in though. I never intended for it to go as far as its gone. More to come!
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Well that is certainly a busy start!
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Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've gone down a Hearts of Iron IV rathole, and just came up for air. On the bright side, I might be able to use some of the HOI 4 campaigns I just fought out as background for new Aurora or Starfire campaigns, so its not a complete waste of time.
I should have another update for this campaign shortly.
Kurt
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Oh damn, that was intense. Things are looking bad!
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Oh damn, that was intense. Things are looking bad!
It seems someone was a bit over confident. I deny that it was me. It was all Admiral Law!
<G>
Kurt
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Poor ol' Earth can't catch a break! And Luna can't stop surrendering to aliens (who couldn't care less). . . .
So even with the improved AMMs they're still getting through. Is the new design still not fast enough, or is it a problem of not enough missiles getting launched in time?
Would trying to build a bunch of cheap emergency PDC's with meson turrets for final fire defense be worthwhile? Related, how's Earth's industry doing?
Thanks again for the LP!
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Poor ol' Earth can't catch a break! And Luna can't stop surrendering to aliens (who couldn't care less). . . .
So even with the improved AMMs they're still getting through. Is the new design still not fast enough, or is it a problem of not enough missiles getting launched in time?
Would trying to build a bunch of cheap emergency PDC's with meson turrets for final fire defense be worthwhile? Related, how's Earth's industry doing?
Thanks again for the LP!
The primary problem in the latest attack was that there were very few AMM's left after the last several battles, and so the defenders couldn't saturate the incoming missile waves with enough defensive missiles. The defenders are doing their best, and with full production turned to producing more and better AMM's the situation should improve steadily. Earth is in for a tough time, though...
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Yeah, you can say that again! Many would have abandoned and restarted the game, kudos for sticking with it Kurt.
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Yeah, you can say that again! Many would have abandoned and restarted the game, kudos for sticking with it Kurt.
To be honest, when the situation turned sour I seriously considered abandoning this campaign, saying something along the lines of "Humanity lost, and will spend eternity toiling in the Dregluk Empire's spice mines", and just move on to a new campaign. But then I thought about how interesting it would be to actually play out the fall of humanity's civilization, and then I saw a potential way forward. Several of the Dregluk attacks have been tedious, but I'm finding it interesting, and I hope everyone else is too!
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The updates are not showing for some reason. : ???
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The updates are not showing for some reason. : ???
I posted the last update on the 18th. Can you not see that one, or any of them? And is anyone else having this problem?
Kurt
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Something nuked the settings.php which necessitated me reinstalling SMF. Most everything seemed to come through okay, except a log of the fiction.
The body content is there. I think last time this happened, I had to change the encoding.
Let me dig around some and see if I can find what I did.
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Something nuked the settings.php which necessitated me reinstalling SMF. Most everything seemed to come through okay, except a log of the fiction.
The body content is there. I think last time this happened, I had to change the encoding.
Let me dig around some and see if I can find what I did.
Aaaaand we're fixed. Nothing to see here. Move along. These are not the droids you are looking for.
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Something nuked the settings.php which necessitated me reinstalling SMF. Most everything seemed to come through okay, except a log of the fiction.
The body content is there. I think last time this happened, I had to change the encoding.
Let me dig around some and see if I can find what I did.
Aaaaand we're fixed. Nothing to see here. Move along. These are not the droids you are looking for.
Thanks Erik!
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Your Planetary Defence Centre "Final Line" has box launchers. Never tried these in a PDC. What is the reload time for them? Manual or Hangar?
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Holy cow, the pounding that Earth is taking.
And poor Lunar & Martian colonists!
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Your Planetary Defence Centre "Final Line" has box launchers. Never tried these in a PDC. What is the reload time for them? Manual or Hangar?
They are standard box launchers, so Hangar reload is 120 minutes, MF reload is 20 hours. Obviously they can only be used once per attack. They are an unusual design for me. While I have used box launchers on PDC's before, usually I'll build one or two with lots of box launchers, to handle massive attacks. These were a desperation move, to add additional surge capacity to my missile bases, when I thought that the Dregluk were going to try to bull their way through my missile envelope and attack at short range with particle beams. Each Final Line base was small enough that it could be built in one five-day turn increment, meaning that I could complete them before the main Dregluk fleet arrived. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the Dregluk instead have attacked with missiles and the Final Line bases have never been used. Especially as they can't use the latest Bludgeon LRASM's as their fire controls have a max range of around 40,000,000 kilometers.
Kurt
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Holy cow, the pounding that Earth is taking.
And poor Lunar & Martian colonists!
Humanity has taken it on the chin, that's for sure. I don't think I've ever had a race take this much of a pounding and continue on.
Kurt
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Your Planetary Defence Centre "Final Line" has box launchers. Never tried these in a PDC. What is the reload time for them? Manual or Hangar?
They are standard box launchers, so Hangar reload is 120 minutes, MF reload is 20 hours.
Sorry, wasn't clear in my last post, what I wanted to know. I read that those are the reloading times, but was unsure, which of both is chosen for the box launchers in a PDC. 120 minutes or 20 hours?
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Your Planetary Defence Centre "Final Line" has box launchers. Never tried these in a PDC. What is the reload time for them? Manual or Hangar?
They are standard box launchers, so Hangar reload is 120 minutes, MF reload is 20 hours.
Sorry, wasn't clear in my last post, what I wanted to know. I read that those are the reloading times, but was unsure, which of both is chosen for the box launchers in a PDC. 120 minutes or 20 hours?
I ran a test on this, as I wasn't completely sure of the answer. As I suspected, the box launcher will recharge in 120 minutes. If the PDC was on a planet, moon, or asteroid without maintenance facilities then I suspect it would use the 20 hour figure.
Kurt
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Looks to me like things are reaching a stabilization point though, you seem to have dialed in on the AMM tactics needed and can even do a little bit of damage now if the enemy isn't careful, all you really need is time to build missile stocks and then the massive investment to rebuild all the damage.
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Looks to me like things are reaching a stabilization point though, you seem to have dialed in on the AMM tactics needed and can even do a little bit of damage now if the enemy isn't careful, all you really need is time to build missile stocks and then the massive investment to rebuild all the damage.
Yes, that's pretty much true. The one real problem is the lasting problems caused by the radiation from the bombardment. I'd like to begin moving things to another colony, like Mars, to avoid the industrial penalty from radiation, but right now I can only defend Earth.
Kurt
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Your Planetary Defence Centre "Final Line" has box launchers. Never tried these in a PDC. What is the reload time for them? Manual or Hangar?
They are standard box launchers, so Hangar reload is 120 minutes, MF reload is 20 hours.
Sorry, wasn't clear in my last post, what I wanted to know. I read that those are the reloading times, but was unsure, which of both is chosen for the box launchers in a PDC. 120 minutes or 20 hours?
I ran a test on this, as I wasn't completely sure of the answer. As I suspected, the box launcher will recharge in 120 minutes. If the PDC was on a planet, moon, or asteroid without maintenance facilities then I suspect it would use the 20 hour figure.
Kurt
Okay, this isn't right. After launching, the Final Line's box launchers show that they will take 120 minutes to reload, but in reality they take 20 hours, as they should given they are not in a hanger and are using maintenance facilities (MF) to reload. Aurora displays the incorrect time to reload, but it takes them 20 hours so Aurora is doing it correctly, even if it isn't displaying it right.
Kurt
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Political machinations at a time of crisis? Humanity shows its best side once again ;D
Honest question - do you really think you can stop the Dregluk without SM assistance, at least with radiation/dust levels on Earth?
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Political machinations at a time of crisis? Humanity shows its best side once again ;D
Honest question - do you really think you can stop the Dregluk without SM assistance, at least with radiation/dust levels on Earth?
The way things are going, I think I can stop them. Whether I can ever take the fight to them is an entirely different question. I'm going to have to get a bunch of people off of Earth to get my economy going, but I can't while the Dregluk have the ability to roam the Solar system and strike wherever they want, as long as they stay outside the range of Earth's PDC's. If I can get to mid-2136 or so, newly developed tech should change the situation radically and allow me to secure the Solar System. As long as the Dregluk don't come up with something new. By then, though, I will have worn away a lot of their fleet, if things continue on as they have.
Kurt
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Political machinations at a time of crisis? Humanity shows its best side once again ;D
Honest question - do you really think you can stop the Dregluk without SM assistance, at least with radiation/dust levels on Earth?
Also, times of crises are often the best time for political machinations! After all, everyone is distracted and, if you are successful, will essentially be forced to rally around you for common defense against the real enemy. By the time the emergency is over you can consolidate your power and might just be a hero for winning the war. Maybe. If everything goes right and your machinations don't cause the final collapse. Then you just say "Oops!" and flee, perhaps to Argentina.
Kurt
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Or to the secret U-Boat base in Antarctica :P
In any case, kudos for sticking with this, it has been a thrilling ride and definitely out of the ordinary for Aurora fiction. Two thumbs up and keep it going!
Also, it makes me feel like a loser that I gave up so easily with my War of the Worlds scenario, since my Earth hadn't been pounded nearly as hard by the Martians as your Earth has been by the Dreklug.
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A lot of times in my games I'll find a nearby habitable planet in a dead-end system and I HAVE to settle it and name it "Refuge" or "Redoubt" or something along those lines, for just such a situation as this one.
Naturally it only ends up as rp fluff since whenever I do it I never get extinction-level alien invasions like you do.
Lucky!
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Great update today! It says something about your game that losing 3. 5 million people on Earth can be considered a victory. . . ;D
Now it seems there's a bit more of a choice when constructing missiles, because you've got two ways to stop the alien attacks - the Aegis IV AMMs to destroy the incoming waves, or the Bludgeon II LRASM to kill off the attacking ships themselves. And, in the future, a possible third way - missile-based mines to (presumably) seed the jumpoint.
Interesting opportunity costs for your ordinance order. Do you concentrate on known safety (AMMs), gamble a bit and be more pro-active (ASMs to hopefully kill them before they launch or at least attrit the fleeing ships) and/or try to kill them all in one fell swoop? (jumpoint defense with mines mines and more mines)? A combo of all three? And in what ratio? Pros and cons to all these choices.
Can't wait to see what happens next!
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Great update today! It says something about your game that losing 3. 5 million people on Earth can be considered a victory. . . ;D
Now it seems there's a bit more of a choice when constructing missiles, because you've got two ways to stop the alien attacks - the Aegis IV AMMs to destroy the incoming waves, or the Bludgeon II LRASM to kill off the attacking ships themselves. And, in the future, a possible third way - missile-based mines to (presumably) seed the jumpoint.
Interesting opportunity costs for your ordinance order. Do you concentrate on known safety (AMMs), gamble a bit and be more pro-active (ASMs to hopefully kill them before they launch or at least attrit the fleeing ships) and/or try to kill them all in one fell swoop? (jumpoint defense with mines mines and more mines)? A combo of all three? And in what ratio? Pros and cons to all these choices.
Can't wait to see what happens next!
Yeah, that was a hard decision, The Bludgeons are a known factor and a safe bet, but won't work against Dregluk BB's launching their best ASM from max range. And of course, if I short the AMM's the world ends. So no pressure there...
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Just recently jumped on this read. Quick question: is this an NPR that is attacking you, or the usual spoilers?
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Just recently jumped on this read. Quick question: is this an NPR that is attacking you, or the usual spoilers?
The Dregluk are a regular NPR. I hadn't played Aurora in a while, and I wanted an easy play-through to get back into it, so I set up a game with one player race, the Corporate Federation, the spoilers, and either one or two NPR's (I can't remember). I played the Federation as rather peaceful explorers, until they got attacked.
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Nice update! Now that the AMMs are keeping the Earth safe (mostly), it's time to start hitting back!
"Begun, the Terran Crusade has!"
BTW are the mines going to be laid by ships at the JPs (I assume), or large carrier missiles from Earth, or?
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Nice update! Now that the AMMs are keeping the Earth safe (mostly), it's time to start hitting back!
"Begun, the Terran Crusade has!"
BTW are the mines going to be laid by ships at the JPs (I assume), or large carrier missiles from Earth, or?
Well, the plan was to have ships lay them close to the jump point. You'll see how it works in the next installment. I should be able to post it tomorrow.
Kurt
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It's a Dreglukian standoff - they can't (quite) get enough missiles to kill off Earth, Earth can't quite get enough ASmissiles to kill them off!
BTW did you figure out what was wrong with the mines? I've never really used them because I'm dumb and figuring out the whole stage+separation+sensor distance+phase of the moon magic formulae to set them up properly is too much for my tiny brain.
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It's a Dreglukian standoff - they can't (quite) get enough missiles to kill off Earth, Earth can't quite get enough ASmissiles to kill them off!
BTW did you figure out what was wrong with the mines? I've never really used them because I'm dumb and figuring out the whole stage+separation+sensor distance+phase of the moon magic formulae to set them up properly is too much for my tiny brain.
No, its an enduring mystery in the Corporate Federation universe! I'm pretty sure I missed something, or that I misunderstand something about mine design/deployment, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I haven't spent a lot of time trying, its true, but in any case, as you will see, things are improving for humanity even without the mines.
Kurt
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Yeah I think you are pretty much out of danger unless the Dregluk decide to send their entire mobile fleet at you and they have full magazines. The dozen or less partially damaged, somewhat loaded ships with a mix of old and new missiles at a time aren't gonna cut it anymore.
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Yeah I think you are pretty much out of danger unless the Dregluk decide to send their entire mobile fleet at you and they have full magazines. The dozen or less partially damaged, somewhat loaded ships with a mix of old and new missiles at a time aren't gonna cut it anymore.
I think you are right, but the constant attacks are making it difficult to get anywhere, and the ecological damage is mounting. I don't think I've ever continued a campaign where my primary race had suffered this much damage and had 25% radiation on its only really populated world.
Kurt
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Glad to see you're able to start building meson PDCs to start taking some of the pressure off your ordinance factories - even though they're too slow like you said enough quantity can substitute for quality. Then the freed-up production can go towards more Bludgeons, heh heh heh...
How's the mineral situation? Are you experiencing any bottlenecks, considering how much you've had to turtle on Earth and just churn out missiles and ordinance factories?
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Glad to see you're able to start building meson PDCs to start taking some of the pressure off your ordinance factories - even though they're too slow like you said enough quantity can substitute for quality. Then the freed-up production can go towards more Bludgeons, heh heh heh...
How's the mineral situation? Are you experiencing any bottlenecks, considering how much you've had to turtle on Earth and just churn out missiles and ordinance factories?
The mineral situation is okay for now, but long-term the Republic is going to be behind the curve in moving its mining facilities off of Earth before the final depletion of the resources there. As for the mesons, there really isn't any excuse for not building them right away, except that I didn't really think that Earth was going to pull through, and just didn't think of it. In game terms, the chaos of the bombardment has caused much confusion in the upper command staff of the Republic, leading to a nearly constantly changing strategy that is only now settling down and firming up.
Kurt
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Sol is clear!
Oh wait, four more battleships...
Incoming!
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It seems that the tide has turned!
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Yeah, the perfidious aliens' days are numbered! Probably a LOT of numbers, to be fair, but still!
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Have never played with an NPR yet - except once. They plastered everything with jump gates and explored systems like crazy. Is there an overview of experiences with NPRs? Do they research quickly? I mostly refrained from using NPRs because I like a more "slow" research and "slow" buildup over centuries rather then rushing everything with 100+ research centers.
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Bludgeon III LRASM
Speed: 31,200 km/s
Range: 395.6 mkm’s
Warhead: 20
Armor: 1
ECM: 2
Any particular reason for such an unusual warhead size?
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Bludgeon III LRASM
Speed: 31,200 km/s
Range: 395.6 mkm’s
Warhead: 20
Armor: 1
ECM: 2
Any particular reason for such an unusual warhead size?
Unusual how? Having said that, the reason is that it was the largest warhead I could fit on the missile and still have the range, ECM, armor, and sensors that I felt I could cram into the basic frame.
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Bludgeon III LRASM
Speed: 31,200 km/s
Range: 395.6 mkm’s
Warhead: 20
Armor: 1
ECM: 2
Any particular reason for such an unusual warhead size?
Unusual how? Having said that, the reason is that it was the largest warhead I could fit on the missile and still have the range, ECM, armor, and sensors that I felt I could cram into the basic frame.
I would say the unusual damage comment is due to how missiles normally work. Due to their damage pattern missiles are most efficient when they have a square number for warhead amount. A strength 20 warhead will pierce the same amount of armour layers as a strength 16 warhead.
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That is, what I meant. Thanks for the explanation.
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That is, what I meant. Thanks for the explanation.
I understand now. I usually design missiles by determining the speed I'll need, then adding the other things I think the missile needs, then finally putting the remaining space into the warhead. If the warhead isn't big enough, then I rebalance the design (usually by reducing my soaring expectations) and come up with a warhead that will work. I knew there were break-points for warhead strength based on the way the armor worked, but I usually don't let that affect my designs too much.
Kurt
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Looks like the Federation got caught in a little bit of a time loop! ;)
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Amusingly enough, there is a strong chance that my current game will develop to resemble this one. I only have minimal Fleet built and the enemy - right next door to Sol - seems to out-number, out-tech and out-mass me significantly. Following Kurt's example though, I've built loads and loads of PDCs to defend Earth, so we'll see.
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Looks like the Federation got caught in a little bit of a time loop! ;)
Groundhog Day? Maybe?
Ummmm...Oops?
Kurt
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That last ship exploding maybe an example of shock damage in action? or a lucky pair of missile hitting the same armor columns and a magazine maybe?
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That last ship exploding maybe an example of shock damage in action? or a lucky pair of missile hitting the same armor columns and a magazine maybe?
That's certainly possible. I can't remember if there were internal explosions listed for this battle. This very thing has happened several times, confusing me, until I noticed the internal explosions. Eventually I realized that all of the Dregluk ships I killed early on had already fired all of their missiles and thus had empty magazines, thus no internal explosions. Several times Mammoth class BB's, which I know to have thick armor and to be very difficult to kill, have blown up after much fewer hits than it should take. When I looked at the log I realized that in every case there was a massive internal explosion, or even several explosions.
Kurt
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So, today I was going through some of the stuff I've posted and I noticed that while I had set up a thread for ship designs, I was posting ship designs in the update thread. Oops. I've moved both ship design posts to the ship design thread, and, additionally, I've reformatted them so that hopefully they are a little bit more readable. I noticed that if I left the ship descriptions in with the design that they didn't word-wrap. Instead the descriptions were there as one long line running off to the right side of the screen. Sometimes far off the right side of the screen, making them difficult to read. Hopefully the new versions are more legible and easier to read.
Kurt
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They are indeed, thanks for doing that.
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Just in case you've forgotten, remember to set the initiative as high as possible for the Attack ships when you detach them from the main TG. Or for any beam combatant really, because ships move in reversed initiative order. So if the Obscura ship had a higher initiative than the Attack ship, it would explain how it kept remaining outside firing range.
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Just in case you've forgotten, remember to set the initiative as high as possible for the Attack ships when you detach them from the main TG. Or for any beam combatant really, because ships move in reversed initiative order. So if the Obscura ship had a higher initiative than the Attack ship, it would explain how it kept remaining outside firing range.
I'll have to check that. I was pretty sure that that was what was happening, but I didn't check to see what the initiative was set at.
On another subject, I'm going to have to rename the Patrol Cruisers. They aren't really either Patrol ships or Cruisers, and the class designation is very peaceful seeming for ships that are intended to close with a bigger enemy and rip their guts out, all while taking missile fire.
Kurt
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The "Human Purity Act" from the last update is a bit ominous sounding. With Earth still being fairly dusty and radioactive I would have imagined a lot of people turning to implants to help cope with the consequences.
And then what happens why the HPP start noticing the consequences of all that radiation on "purity" of the rest of the population. Seems like the sort of thing that needs nipping in the bud, not encouraging in the Senate.
If nothing else it's an interesting break from the routing of space battles and research. :)
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On another subject, I'm going to have to rename the Patrol Cruisers. They aren't really either Patrol ships or Cruisers, and the class designation is very peaceful seeming for ships that are intended to close with a bigger enemy and rip their guts out, all while taking missile fire.
Kurt
Sounds like a Strike ship to me - maybe a Strike Destroyer or Frigate?
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The "Human Purity Act" from the last update is a bit ominous sounding. With Earth still being fairly dusty and radioactive I would have imagined a lot of people turning to implants to help cope with the consequences.
And then what happens why the HPP start noticing the consequences of all that radiation on "purity" of the rest of the population. Seems like the sort of thing that needs nipping in the bud, not encouraging in the Senate.
If nothing else it's an interesting break from the routing of space battles and research. :)
Hmmm...no foreshadowing here. Nothing to see here, everyone move on.
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On another subject, I'm going to have to rename the Patrol Cruisers. They aren't really either Patrol ships or Cruisers, and the class designation is very peaceful seeming for ships that are intended to close with a bigger enemy and rip their guts out, all while taking missile fire.
Kurt
Destroyer seems appropriate honestly.
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Hunter-Killers! The universe needs more good ol' HuKs!
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Ooh, the plot thickens! I've never seen that sort of connection between Precursors and a "brainless" NPR, what a brilliant idea!
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Damn, those logs. We often just skip over the fate of hapless surveyors who get stranded in systems with spoilers. Probably for the best, since it's a pretty chilling thought to imagine yourself in their place.
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Damn, those logs. We often just skip over the fate of hapless surveyors who get stranded in systems with spoilers. Probably for the best, since it's a pretty chilling thought to imagine yourself in their place.
I really thought I came up with a way for them to survive, but then, during their final approach to the marginally habitable planet, they stumbled on the listening post. Ugh. Bad luck!
Kurt
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Finally caught up with the reports. I think it is worth mentioning that the new AI in C# Aurora will avoid the Dregluk tendency to feed their forces piecemeal into the grinder :). The new NPRs should come in force or not at all.
Thanks to Kurt for our discussions that helped me build this concept into the new AI.
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Finally caught up with the reports. I think it is worth mentioning that the new AI in C# Aurora will avoid the Dregluk tendency to feed their forces piecemeal into the grinder :). The new NPRs should come in force or not at all.
Thanks to Kurt for our discussions that helped me build this concept into the new AI.
Steve and I had several conversations about this when I saw the way my campaign was going, but I have to admit, my original point to him was that I thought that the NPR (Dregluk) was going to feed their fleet into my PDC's piecemeal, and thus my woefully unprepared Feds were going to prevail even though they didn't deserve to. Instead, of course, they managed to bombard Earth partway to the stone age, or at least to the ice age, and did a lot better than I thought originally.
Still, if the Dregluk had been a player-controlled race they would have wiped out the Federation pretty easily. From what Steve says, C# is going to go a long way towards correcting that. I'm really looking forward to its release!
Kurt
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Yeah it's pretty clear that at this point the Dregluk aren't more than a nuisance, I do look forward to you dealing with their home system though. And all the time spent on them means that certain other NPR's and certain spoiler presences, if they are turned on, have time to build up forces and possibly be a challenge for you later on.
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Yeah it's pretty clear that at this point the Dregluk aren't more than a nuisance, I do look forward to you dealing with their home system though. And all the time spent on them means that certain other NPR's and certain spoiler presences, if they are turned on, have time to build up forces and possibly be a challenge for you later on.
It's interesting that you should say that...
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Think you could post a galaxy map at some point? I'm having some trouble keeping track of which systems are which.
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Think you could post a galaxy map at some point? I'm having some trouble keeping track of which systems are which.
I would love to, if I could just remember how to post pics! A little help?
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You can use imgur.com to host the pictures. You don't need to register. Just click on the
(https://i.imgur.com/y32xnPP.png)
New Post button, drag the image to your browser and let it do its work. Once ready, select the
(https://i.imgur.com/CtNZXHw.png)
down arrow to open the menu, click Get Share links and finally click Copy behind the "BBCode (For Forums)" text. Then come back here and Paste the link into your post. You don't need to give your post a title or tags, and don't share it to the gallery.
And it'll look exactly like the pictures here.
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Done, and thanks for the help!
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Geez, your space is packed with evil alien scum! Lets hope this bunch fire less nuclear warheads at Earth 😁
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Geez, your space is packed with evil alien scum! Lets hope this bunch fire less nuclear warheads at Earth 😁
All aliens are threats, and if given the chance will surely attack perfidiously. That is the Republic's mantra.
Kurt
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Things are heating up again!
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Seems that Mankind has stabilized and are things are under control.
For now... :D
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Raptor Class Area Denial Unit
What's this now? A fighter design for Bastion colony protection? Planet or orbital based? Inquiring minds etc. etc. !
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Raptor Class Area Denial Unit
What's this now? A fighter design for Bastion colony protection? Planet or orbital based? Inquiring minds etc. etc. !
The actual design will be posted in an upcoming fleet design post. Current Republican thinking is orbital based, transported to Bastion by Fleet Docks. Which could, if pressed, become ad-hoc carriers. Unfortunately, while I was initially excited for this design, as always, my excitement was crushed by reality. :). Currently, the Republic has no fighter construction factories, and it will be some time before industry can be diverted to build some, largely because of the on-going depopulation of Earth.
Kurt
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Raptor Class Area Denial Unit
What's this now? A fighter design for Bastion colony protection? Planet or orbital based? Inquiring minds etc. etc. !
The actual design will be posted in an upcoming fleet design post. Current Republican thinking is orbital based, transported to Bastion by Fleet Docks. Which could, if pressed, become ad-hoc carriers. Unfortunately, while I was initially excited for this design, as always, my excitement was crushed by reality. :). Currently, the Republic has no fighter construction factories, and it will be some time before industry can be diverted to build some, largely because of the on-going depopulation of Earth.
Kurt
Does that mean that the Interceptors are actually 1000 ton small-craft? I had thought that they were fighters, but was confused when they were able to sortie into another system and follow the main fleet.
Could you not stay with Interceptors and have a squadron based at Bastion?
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Raptor Class Area Denial Unit
What's this now? A fighter design for Bastion colony protection? Planet or orbital based? Inquiring minds etc. etc. !
The actual design will be posted in an upcoming fleet design post. Current Republican thinking is orbital based, transported to Bastion by Fleet Docks. Which could, if pressed, become ad-hoc carriers. Unfortunately, while I was initially excited for this design, as always, my excitement was crushed by reality. :). Currently, the Republic has no fighter construction factories, and it will be some time before industry can be diverted to build some, largely because of the on-going depopulation of Earth.
Kurt
Does that mean that the Interceptors are actually 1000 ton small-craft? I had thought that they were fighters, but was confused when they were able to sortie into another system and follow the main fleet.
Could you not stay with Interceptors and have a squadron based at Bastion?
The Interceptors are 1,000 ton FAC's, with enough fuel for 4 days at full speed. They were designed and built during the difficult years early in the war, and intended to attack Dregluk ships coming through the jump point. Therefore they had enough fuel to get from Earth to the jump point to Washington and back, and enough life support to sit at the jump point for several months, if necessary. The Area Denial Unit design I'm playing around with would be around 210 tons and mounts missiles, but would be dependent on an external sensor source. That wouldn't be an important limitation in a planetary defense situation, as any human population is going to have numerous PDC's defending it.
Kurt
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Ha! Promotion to Vice Admiral! At long last.
Kurt
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Ha! Promotion to Vice Admiral! At long last.
Kurt
Two more ranks to go. And for the record, neither Steve nor I qualify for the final rank yet.
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At exactly 1000 posts as well!
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Ha! Promotion to Vice Admiral! At long last.
Kurt
Two more ranks to go. And for the record, neither Steve nor I qualify for the final rank yet.
Five thousand and ten thousand posts?
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A merry and non-genocidal Christmas to all from the Unified Republics of Earth.
Kurt
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That is one wide-spread alien empire! So Dregluks were the NPR from game creation, right?
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That is one wide-spread alien empire! So Dregluks were the NPR from game creation, right?
Yes, probably. They started out in a better position than the player race, and expanded faster. Darned Dregluks.
Kurt
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That's definitely one of the upsides of having game creation NPR, seeing as the Dregluk are really far-flung. I'll have to try that in C#, though not sure if I want to do it with the multi-Earth start game or not. This cat-and-mouse game of scouting towards their homeworld is great.
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That's definitely one of the upsides of having game creation NPR, seeing as the Dregluk are really far-flung. I'll have to try that in C#, though not sure if I want to do it with the multi-Earth start game or not. This cat-and-mouse game of scouting towards their homeworld is great.
It was really kind of touch and go, as the Republic doesn't have grav survey ships yet, so the only way they can advance into Dregluk space is to follow their ships. There are grav survey ships under construction, but they are taking a along time as they have special low-profile engines to reduce their thermal signature, and cloaking devices to reduce their cross section for active sensors. Humanity lost too many survey ships to the Obscura and the Dregluk. They are going to do everything they can to ensure that their survey ships are survivable, but all of that makes them way more expensive and difficult to construct.
Kurt
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So the message is going to be something like "don't bother invading, just nuke them from orbit" right?
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So the message is going to be something like "don't bother invading, just nuke them from orbit" right?
Hmmm...I guess you are just going to have to wait for the next thrilling installment of "Those Darned Dregluks!"
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So the message is going to be something like "don't bother invading, just nuke them from orbit" right?
Hmmm...I guess you are just going to have to wait for the next thrilling installment of "Those Darned Dregluks!"
Okay, so I telegraphed this one.
Kurt
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Yeah, not a massive surprise. You did write the latest update well, the argument is sound. Genocide is something nobody can undo.
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The suspenseful question was never "will they do it?" but "how far will they go?"
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I think the HPP could do much worse things than killing all of the Dregluks. They could use them as slave labour on inhospitable planets, for example say there is a lot of duranium on San Francisco V, however SF V is an ice world that is constantly at -200 degrees, now you could ship in automated mines however those are expensive so insteed what they do is dump a bunch of Dregluks along with some cheep mines on the planet (along with some troops to keep order), yes the Dregluks will die but not before mining a bunch of resources for humanity (now this will be done very inefficiently population wise however after capturing their homeworld there will be plenty of Dregluks for humanity to exploit)
edit: well I didn't expect the extra radiation missiles to be used, a great start to the Young administration rendering potential colonies uninhabitable for years if not decades
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I'm surprised at how well your logistics is holding up operating a missile heavy campaign so far from Sol. How are you not running out of fuel?
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I'm surprised at how well your logistics is holding up operating a missile heavy campaign so far from Sol. How are you not running out of fuel?
That's a good question. Logistics have been an issue from the start, especially as the earlier Republican designs are short ranged and don't have much endurance. I've made it work by expanding slowly and building logistics bases as I go. For example, I had to build a full-on base in the Washington system to secure that system because the Republic's designs were so short ranged. By the time that was done I had more ships with better range and endurance, but I still had to build a fueling station mid-way between Bastion and the Houston system. And, in the end, to prosecute the war into the Austin system I had to build up a fuel and maintenance base in the Houston system as well.
To support all of these fleet operations and base building, I had to build up my support wing. Currently, the Republic has three main support ship types, a fuel-carrying design capable of carrying 25,000,000 liters of fuel; an ammunition ship capable of carrying 1530 points of missiles, as well as ample fuel and maintenance supplies; and a Fleet Dock design capable of taking two frigates or five missile boats into its bays and reloading their missile boxes. The Republic currently has five fueling ships, seven ammunition ships, and seven fleet docks, and they have been indispensable in keeping the fleet in action so far from Earth.
As for fuel, that's another interesting situation. The Federation accumulated a vast amount of fuel on Earth during its rule, as it was producing a lot and only using a little. The Republic found itself forced to shut down the fuel refining industry on Earth due to lack of workers. This was an easy decision to make because there was so much fuel available. In addition, the Federation had built a group of refinery ships, which have been busily refining fuel in orbit over Uranus since before the fall of the Federation, and the Republic has added as many ships to the refinery fleet as it could. Currently, there are 34 refinery ships in orbit over Uranus, with a combined refining capability of over 62 million liters per year. Unfortunately, that is not enough to meet need and the Republic has been living off the stocks built up by the Federation. Eventually the Republic is going to run out of fuel at the current rate of expenditure, although there are eight slipways over Ganymede devoted to building fuel refineries and they can each build about two per year. There is increasing pressure on both the Consul and Admiral Wallace to end the war as soon as possible so that the Republic has time to deal with the upcoming shortage of fuel.
The same thing goes for TN resources. The Republic has been living off of a large surplus built up by the Federation. While they haven't stopped mining, expenditures are way ahead of income. Eventually the Republic is going to have to stop building ships and focus on getting more mines off of Earth, which has dwindling resources, and out to newly discovered deposits in the surrounding systems.
All told the Republic is in a strong position, but it feels the ground eroding out from under it. If the Republic isn't careful and can't end the campaign against the Dregluk soon then its economy is going to become a major issue.
Kurt
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Wow, 34 refinery ships and eight slipways, guess that explains it! Its amazing what a difference having decent Sorium on one of the Sol gas giants makes to gameplay.
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I am looking forward to the eventual assault into Austin! Fingers crossed for a major battle at the JP.
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Hmm, are there two BC Mars? A command version with the home fleet, and the original one with the First Fleet?
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Hmm, are there two BC Mars? A command version with the home fleet, and the original one with the First Fleet?
Good catch. It's fixed now, the Mars in the Home Fleet should have been the Venus.
Thanks!
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Latest update, when you're talking about planetary diameter, you wrote:
The planet has a diameter of 4,800 thousand kilometers
and
The planet has a diameter of 15,000 thousand kilometers
Maybe it's because I'm not a native speaker, but that seems very wrong to me. Do you mean that they are 4 million 800 thousand km and 15 million km by diameter? Or you accidentally used both numbers and words, ie the planets are 4,800 km and 15,000 km?
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Latest update, when you're talking about planetary diameter, you wrote:
The planet has a diameter of 4,800 thousand kilometers
and
The planet has a diameter of 15,000 thousand kilometers
Maybe it's because I'm not a native speaker, but that seems very wrong to me. Do you mean that they are 4 million 800 thousand km and 15 million km by diameter? Or you accidentally used both numbers and words, ie the planets are 4,800 km and 15,000 km?
Um...oops? Those would be really big planets, and I guess its good I have a non-native speaker to double check my writing <G>.
I'll fix it right away. Hopefully without adding any new errors, which sometimes seems to be how my life works.
Kurt
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Man, I'm not sure if I would sign-up for that colony in the Houston system. On one hand, escape from the radiation on Earth, yay! On the other, a real risk of Dregluk missiles screaming from the sky.
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Man, I'm not sure if I would sign-up for that colony in the Houston system. On one hand, escape from the radiation on Earth, yay! On the other, a real risk of Dregluk missiles screaming from the sky.
<G> Houston is currently the system with the largest concentration of Republican warships in the game. If something happens to that, well, then, everyone needs to worry. Of course, a lot is going to happen over the next game-year. Hint!
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I think Aurora is deviously engaging in meta-gaming activities to drive me insane to assist the Dregluk in their struggle against the Republic!
This is the situation (hypothetically):
I have a force of Republican ships sitting off of a Dregluk population (never mind which one, right now <G>). They are waiting for another force to join them, ETA approximately 4 days. It is taking forever to advance the time enough for the new force to join the party, and I just assumed it was Aurora being Aurora. When I actually started paying attention to why I was getting so many interrupts, I noticed a pattern. A single Dregluk freighter was repeatedly entering and leaving thermal contact range. I changed the settings on the system map and checked, and sure enough that little bugger is sitting right on the line which marks the range at which my fleet can detect a target with a thermal signature of 1000. It is just sitting there, moving back and forth across the line, repeatedly, and has been doing so for the last 32 hours, every seven and a half hours. All of the other freighters fled, and are still moving away. All except this one, which is sitting right where it can cause an interrupt. Now, either the Dregluk have gained more sentience in real life than they have ever evidenced in my game, or Aurora itself is screwing with me, because there is no earthly reason for that ship to sit there, in that spot, moving back and forth.
I'm tempted to send a couple of HuK's to kill it, but I suspect it is within AMM range of the planet and that will result in the HuK's being swarmed by AMM's. I'm fairly certain I can defeat the Dregluk, eventually, but I don't think I can defeat a self-aware Aurora. Steve, what have you done?
Kurt
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And he is programming an even better AI for Skyn... C# Aurora ;D
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I think Aurora is deviously engaging in meta-gaming activities to drive me insane to assist the Dregluk in their struggle against the Republic!
This is the situation (hypothetically):
I have a force of Republican ships sitting off of a Dregluk population (never mind which one, right now <G>). They are waiting for another force to join them, ETA approximately 4 days. It is taking forever to advance the time enough for the new force to join the party, and I just assumed it was Aurora being Aurora. When I actually started paying attention to why I was getting so many interrupts, I noticed a pattern. A single Dregluk freighter was repeatedly entering and leaving thermal contact range. I changed the settings on the system map and checked, and sure enough that little bugger is sitting right on the line which marks the range at which my fleet can detect a target with a thermal signature of 1000. It is just sitting there, moving back and forth across the line, repeatedly, and has been doing so for the last 32 hours, every seven and a half hours. All of the other freighters fled, and are still moving away. All except this one, which is sitting right where it can cause an interrupt. Now, either the Dregluk have gained more sentience in real life than they have ever evidenced in my game, or Aurora itself is screwing with me, because there is no earthly reason for that ship to sit there, in that spot, moving back and forth.
I'm tempted to send a couple of HuK's to kill it, but I suspect it is within AMM range of the planet and that will result in the HuK's being swarmed by AMM's. I'm fairly certain I can defeat the Dregluk, eventually, but I don't think I can defeat a self-aware Aurora. Steve, what have you done?
Kurt
Aurora continues to outwit me. I went into designer mode and changed the freighter's orders, sending towards the outer system and away from the impending battle. All was well for a short period of time, but then Aurora sent a second freighter to replace the first, hovering at that same position, moving back and forth across the detection line, causing interrupts. I what its doing here, and I will not submit! Humans will not submit to machines!
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maybe a diplomat that is sending "we are surrendering" nonstop? ;D
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That reminds me of the ghost North-Korean PDC in one of my earliest games back in 5.x that caused endless amounts of interrupts - despite me using SM to delete it. For some reason, it just remained there on Earth and made the game basically unplayable because every 5 seconds it would cause a NEW HOSTILE CONTACT IN SOL interrupt.
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Ah, the classic impenetrable wall of fire PD of NPRs returns! This will be fun :P
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Yeah that's rough, I guess you are probably gonna have to take your licks from any AMM those stations have.
Does the Federation have any plans to invest in energy weapons tactics? It doesn't seem like this use of missiles is long term sustainable.
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Yeah that's rough, I guess you are probably gonna have to take your licks from any AMM those stations have.
Does the Federation have any plans to invest in energy weapons tactics? It doesn't seem like this use of missiles is long term sustainable.
Funny you should say that...
As you will see in 2144 the Republic begins to question its chosen strategy. Of course, a lot of things happen in 2144.
Kurt
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Yeah that's rough, I guess you are probably gonna have to take your licks from any AMM those stations have.
Does the Federation have any plans to invest in energy weapons tactics? It doesn't seem like this use of missiles is long term sustainable.
Funny you should say that...
As you will see in 2144 the Republic begins to question its chosen strategy. Of course, a lot of things happen in 2144.
Kurt
Okay, now I'm responding to my own posts. That says something about me, but I'm not sure what. A demonstration of efficiency? Independence? Or a cluttered mind?
Anyway, to expand on the above situation encountered by the Republic, they were shocked that the Dregluk were able to put up a wall of defensive fire that was able to stop their missile attack in its tracks. The Federation, and its successor the Republic, had played around with gauss cannon turrets, but had never been too impressed with the results and so by this point they have been completely phased out of the fleet. With their successful use by the Dregluk, the Republic is going to have to reassess their effectiveness. After all, the Dregluk were able to stop a massive salvo of war-winning ASM's launched mostly from box launchers. I can't overstate this. The Bludgeon IV and Thunderbolt IV are the pinnacle of ASM technology as far as the Republic is concerned. They have demolished the Dregluk fleet and driven them back to the Dregluk home world with these missiles, and to have them fail now, in such a dramatic way, is going to cause a big reassessment.
The Republican Fleet's next attempt will be to try and launch a coordinated attack, timed so as to ensure that the Thunderbolt and Bludgeon ASM's, which have different speeds, will arrive at the target simultaneously in an attempt to overwhelm the planet's defenses. This is cheap and easy, as it just means building and transporting enough missiles, not fundamental changes. However, if this attack fails then it is back to the drawing board.
Building more missile ships to launch a larger salvo is problematic, as the Earth's economy can't support the current expenditure of missiles. Sending more ships to support the next offensive is possible, but would mean stripping the home system of mobile units, which isn't politically viable and probably just not smart in general. In any case, it isn't clear that it would work anyway. Were the Dregluk defenses at their limit and close to failure? Or did they have plenty of reserve capacity? There is no way to know at this point.
One thing is sure, Earth's economy is creaking, and TN resources are going to start running out. The Republic has been effectively blockading the Dregluk in their Home System for some time now, but the Republic's leaders are beginning to worry that a day of reckoning for their economy is approaching. If their economy tanks, and they can't build enough missiles to supply their fleet, how long until Dregluk ships return to the Solar System?
Kurt
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A potential middle ground could be to produce MIRV-style special bombardment missiles, sacrificing individual warhead strength for multiplying salvo size dramatically. Still expensive, but not as much as a total doctrine shift
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A potential middle ground could be to produce MIRV-style special bombardment missiles, sacrificing individual warhead strength for multiplying salvo size dramatically. Still expensive, but not as much as a total doctrine shift
That is possible, but the Republic (meaning me <G>) hasn't had much luck with multiple stage missiles. A missile re-design for a dedicated planetary assault missile using already developed components is likely the answer here, if the next attack fails.
Kurt
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The Dregluk decided to get competent for a battle, that was brutal. The Republic is learning some hard lessons about energy weapon use.
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Whoa. I was sure the Dregluk were beaten but that just goes to show how things can change! Quite a tense battle.
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Those Gauss cannons are surprisingly effective against those fast missiles of yours. Turretted? I assume so. Now im wondering if it is viable to give a fleet so much pd fire that missiles are ineffective against it.
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Proceeding with the attack after again witnessing the potency of Dregluk point defense? Maybe this big salvo will score some hits, but I'm expecting the bulk of the orbital defenses to remain in place.
A good thing for the soul of humanity that the new administration's genocidal plans seem to be infeasible.
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. . . Now im wondering if it is viable to give a fleet so much pd fire that missiles are ineffective against it.
Absolutely!
(Unless you have a tech disadvantage.)
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You could just reload all your heavier launchers with Thunderbolt IVs you know. . . ;D
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You could just reload all your heavier launchers with Thunderbolt IVs you know. . . ;D
I could, but...#1, I don't have that many Thunderbolt IV's. Missile stocks are shockingly low, and the Home Fleet is currently mostly armed with Thunderbolt III's and Bludgeon III's just to keep the 1st Fleet stocked with the more advanced missiles. #2, the Bludgeon's are better missiles all around. While a bit slower, they have armor, ECM, and on-board sensors. At 15 MSP's they'd better be good!
Kurt
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Whoa. I was sure the Dregluk were beaten but that just goes to show how things can change! Quite a tense battle.
I thought so too! Pretty much the best battle against the Dregluk since some of the early ones. Because this is VB6 Aurora, I'm pretty sure it was an accident that the Dregluk managed to put together an effective squadron, with both missile defenses and offensive strength. The Republic (meaning me, of course) had gotten over-confident because of their long string of victories, and this one set them back a bit, especially losing that HuK. Those three ships are heroes to the people back home. The people back home are somewhat numb to losses at this point, but this won't endear the Dregluk to the average citizen of the Republic.
Kurt
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The Dregluk decided to get competent for a battle, that was brutal. The Republic is learning some hard lessons about energy weapon use.
Very much so. The failure of the first attack on Dregluk Prime, and now this very difficult battle, is leading the Admiralty towards re-evaluating beam and gauss weapons in a big way. Of course, the coming economic hardships and the difficultly of manufacturing enough missiles to feed a missile-heavy fleet is also having a big effect.
Kurt
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Those Gauss cannons are surprisingly effective against those fast missiles of yours. Turretted? I assume so. Now im wondering if it is viable to give a fleet so much pd fire that missiles are ineffective against it.
Yes, they were very effective. Shockingly so, given the previous effectiveness of the Republic's missiles. Having said that, remember that the Dregluk CA's are over 18,000 tons, so they are pretty big ships, especially compared to the Republic. The Republic's frigates are 6,000 tons, while its DD's are 10-12,000 tons.
Still, Those three Dregluk CA's managed to stop everything the fleet threw at them. And the Dregluk home world's defenses stopped a very large missile salvo. I really, really, didn't expect that. Very interesting development.
Kurt
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I'm pretty skeptical of the chances of this fast missile plan too. Even if the fleet lands some hits, will they actually do enough damage to degrade the orbital defenses?
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I'm pretty skeptical of the chances of this fast missile plan too. Even if the fleet lands some hits, will they actually do enough damage to degrade the orbital defenses?
The only other alternative that I (AKA: The Republic's Admiralty) could think of was either the armored missiles, or complete change in fleet design strategy. The fast missiles will be easy, designed with off-the shelf components and built in existing munitions factories and fired from existing missile ships & pods. It will only take a few months (okay, maybe a bit more than a 'few'), but if they fail the only other alternative is to build up a beam-armed fleet to challenge the Dregluk defenses at short range. That is going to take some time and effort.
However, the fast-missile option doesn't have to score a complete kill on the defenses to be a winning strategy. If the first attack with fast missiles can degrade the defenses, even a little, then the follow-on attack should be decisive.
Kurt
Kurt
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well, the Republic could try to overwhelm the AMM defence with it's own AMM in attack mode... hoping that the defence own AMM are concentrating on shooting down AMM instead of the bigger boys...
also the attacking fleet could move way into the AMM radius of the defenders (just short of the energy weapons) to shorten the range and so the number of AMM attacks the attacking missiles have to survive.. this could and would most possible lead to an attack from the planet with AMM themself but the attacking fleet would have to take the damage to make sure it's own missiles reach the target... without the AMM a large enough missile wave (maybe beefed up with size 1 AMM too) could penetrate the defence...
I guess the Republic just should take the losses - it is used to win without looses.. at the beginning at the war they understood to take the looses if necessary.. guess they are a little bit self-satisfied :D
and... having to change doctrine to energy-weapon ships would mean to take those looses non the less...
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Yeah I think turning it into an AMM fight might end up being the easiest option if your fast missiles don't work, for that matter a dedicated anti-ship size one missile might be useful anyway.
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I'm just glad that Kurt isn't cheesing it with the old "move into range, spot missiles in flight, get out of range" trick, to exhaust the Dregluk missile stores. Much more enjoyable, as a player and as a reader, to defeat an enemy honourably!
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I'm just glad that Kurt isn't cheesing it with the old "move into range, spot missiles in flight, get out of range" trick, to exhaust the Dregluk missile stores. Much more enjoyable, as a player and as a reader, to defeat an enemy honourably!
Yeah, if I was playing against a human, even myself, that would be a fair tactic. It just doesn't seem sporting against an AI that can't really adapt to my tactics. Had I wanted to, I could have forced the Dregluk to exhaust their missiles during every attack they launched on the solar system by sitting on the jump point to Sol in the Washington system and waiting until they launched against my fleet, then jumping out. I think I allowed myself to do that once, but after that a human would have learned caution in that situation, so I didn't want to keep doing it when another human wouldn't have fallen for it. Probably. Well, some humans I know...
Kurt
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Yeah I think turning it into an AMM fight might end up being the easiest option if your fast missiles don't work, for that matter a dedicated anti-ship size one missile might be useful anyway.
The Republic is very risk adverse with its fleet, as others have noted. Humanity came really close to getting wiped out, and that has taught them to be cautious and not take risks. Coming into AMM range of the planet counts as a big risk. If forced to go with the beam option, then the missile ships will close with the beam ships, and then cover them with AMM and ASM launches until they get into range, but that is definitely not the Admiralty's first choice. They prefer to stay out of the enemy's range and bombard them, then rely on their faster ships to withdraw and reload.
The real question is - what's going to happen when they meet someone that has faster ships? That will really cause problems for the Republic's missile ships.
Kurt
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Interesting designs! Check the code tags though, there's a slip-up that left the Missile Ship introduction inside the code block for one of the ship designs.
And man, those beam combatants are fast. Can't wait to see them in action!
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I note that the Agamemnon(G) retains an assigned 'Class Loadout' of 188 Raptor ASUMs, even though the launchers & magazines have been removed.
And as Garfunkel noted, the Nautilus class Fast Frigate has a broken and/or missing close-code tag.
I eagerly anticipate seeing these new designs in action. Let the photons fly!
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I note that the Agamemnon(G) retains an assigned 'Class Loadout' of 188 Raptor ASUMs, even though the launchers & magazines have been removed.
And as Garfunkel noted, the Nautilus class Fast Frigate has a broken and/or missing close-code tag.
I eagerly anticipate seeing these new designs in action. Let the photons fly!
Fixed, and thanks to both of you for the catch!
And the beam combatants are going to get quite the workout, just not in the way I expected. <G>
Kurt
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First off, please understand that this is not a complaint. I understand that this is a known issue, and, as I understand it, was one of the motivating factors for C# Aurora.
Having said that, I'm going to whine. Err…explain. The Corporate Federation campaign has been going for twenty years of game time, having started in January, 2125. To cover that game-time, I have had approximately 92 campaign-related posts, either story, maps, or ship designs. For most of that time I have been playing out events 1-2 years ahead of the events I post to the board. This allows me to catch and fix mistakes, and to, hopefully, tell a better story by building up events before they happen. Also, I tend to use the time Aurora takes while processing turns to write the stories and fill in the timeline. Unfortunately, Aurora is getting slower and slower.
Out of curiosity, this morning I timed a couple of Aurora turns, and found out that it is taking an average of 10 minutes to process a time advance (anything over around 3 hours will take at least this long). As there are an average of 4.7 time interrupts between five day economic turns, it is taking an average of 47 minutes per 5 day economic turn. Plus whatever time it takes me to issue orders to various fleets and keep R&D and construction going. As I said, I fill some of this time with writing, but there is still a lot of slack time to spend(waste).
I have filled this time with useful pursuits, such as re-watching "Legends of the Galactic Heroes", but the time it is taking to get anywhere is beginning to wear on me. I will finish this campaign, one way or another, but I've decided that I won't do another large-scale campaign in VB6 due to the time it takes to get things done. I may do some small campaigns, if I can come up with something interesting, or I may do a Starfire campaign. We'll see. I anticipate this campaign taking several more years to wrap up at this point, so it will be continuing for a while.
Kurt
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Fully understandable and the Dregluk menace makes for a good, self-contained story anyway. You've already made it farther than any of my stories, as they've always succumbed to DB issues and such.
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How did you calculate the positions for the fleets so that the missiles would reach Drekluk Prime at the same time, taking into account that it is an orbiting target? Or... I see, the position of the planet is only calculated by the game every five days, right? So five days would be your window of opportunity, I guess... .
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How did you calculate the positions for the fleets so that the missiles would reach Drekluk Prime at the same time, taking into account that it is an orbiting target? Or... I see, the position of the planet is only calculated by the game every five days, right? So five days would be your window of opportunity, I guess... .
Yes, I didn't have to worry about orbital motion. That was handy this time, but has been problematic in other campaigns.
Basically, all I did was pick a range at which the shorter ranged missiles (in this case the faster missiles) would be launched at. I then calculated the time it would take them to reach the target. I then calculated the distance that the slower missiles would travel in that same amount of time, and positioned my missile ships equipped with the slower missiles at that distance from the target. The only really difficult thing was timing the launches to be simultaneous. I was fortunate that the launch went off without a hitch. I felt like you should be able to do something like that in real life relatively easily, with experienced forces, but Aurora doesn't make something like that easy.
Kurt
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Well, it seems my pessimism was unfounded. Well done solving the tactical problem.
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Yeah I wasn't expecting fast missiles to work so well.
I think logistics are still going to fore your fleet redesign, but at least you don't need a new fleet for the planetary attack.
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Yeah I wasn't expecting fast missiles to work so well.
I think logistics are still going to fore your fleet redesign, but at least you don't need a new fleet for the planetary attack.
Exactly right. The Admiralty (I) realized before this attack that their current missile fleet was right at the limit that their economy could supply with missiles, and perhaps past that limit, given the ongoing shift of population away from Earth and the worker shortages the Republic as a whole faces. Resource depletion will become an issue within the next few years as well, and, in fact, more and more of the Republic's cargo tonnage is being devoted to moving automated mines away from Earth to forestall this possibility, or at least reduce its effects. Once Dregluk Prime is secured by ground troops the Republic will have way more industrial facilities than they can provide workers for, and that will be true for years, more probably a decade at least.
Given all of that, the Admiralty has gone whole-heartedly for the beam equipped fleet to supplement their missile fleet. Eventually there will probably be more beam ships than missile ships.
Kurt
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If the Federation wasn't so genocidal then taking over the Dregluk homeworld would solve a lot of manpower problems, oh well. This is why role playing is cool.
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If the Federation wasn't so genocidal then taking over the Dregluk homeworld would solve a lot of manpower problems, oh well. This is why role playing is cool.
Yes, all those Dregluk workers are very tempting, given the fact that even without the Dregluk industry, the Republic is currently short 133 million workers. Even the moderate politicians in the Republic aren't advocating the incorporation of the Dregluk within the Republic, as they would outnumber humanity by a significant margin. Or they would until the radiation on their home world reduces their population.
Kurt
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Ahahaha, the plot thickens with Invaders now present!
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Ahahaha, the plot thickens with Invaders now present!
It gets worse. Nuff said.
Kurt
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It seems to have got better so far with the change in leadership, a question: what faction is consul Payne in?
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It seems to have got better so far with the change in leadership, a question: what faction is consul Payne in?
The Fiscal Realists. She was brought in to govern Earth when the Republic was losing money and in danger of going negative. The Interim Government and then the early Republic spent the vast treasury that the Corporate Federation had built up, and was running out of money quickly. Thanks to her skill in raising funds, several changes in the way the Republic was doing things, and the refocusing of R&D onto fiscal matters, she managed to stave off insolvency and has remained the governor till now. The Realists are one of the smaller parties in the Senate, but have several prestigious members and have generally taken no position on the genocide of other races. They merely point out that humanity needs its house in order to deal with anything else. She was really a compromise candidate, no ones first choice, but no one really objected to her either.
Kurt
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So more questions (feel free to ignore them). What are factions are there in the senate, how are senators elected? (electorates? planet wide?) and how many senators are there? (if you have said already and I have just missed it I do apologize)
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So more questions (feel free to ignore them). What are factions are there in the senate, how are senators elected? (electorates? planet wide?) and how many senators are there? (if you have said already and I have just missed it I do apologize)
I haven't said it, so you didn't miss it. At the formation of the Republic there were 215 autonomous regions on Earth, each with two Senators. In addition, at that time, there were five Senators for off planet colonies, so there were a total of 220 Senators. Since the formation of the Republic the demographics of the Republic have changed quite a bit, given the forced migration to Mars and Ganymede. Currently, there are still 220 Senators, but the bulk of the Senators now originate on Mars.
The Senate is divided into many parties, some official and some that are more relaxed, transitory, or casual. The Human Purity Party, led by Senator, then Consul, Young, was one of the largest, although it has been losing support as the Dregluk became less of a threat, and as more and more people left Earth. The Human Purity Party was fully in support of the war and the genocide of the Dregluk. In addition, the HPP was against any technology that modified baseline humans, such as implant tech or genetic modification. In part, the HPP, and the Human Purity Church, which backed the party, gained so much power and respect because one of their primary focuses were remediation of radiation damage to Earth, and medical assistance for those affected by the radiation from the bombardment.
The Fiscal Conservatives, also called the Fiscal Realists, are a smaller but influential party that advocates for sound fiscal and economic policies. They believe that a strong military must be supported by a strong economy, and that without that economy the strong military will smother and ultimately destroy the state. While most other parties respect the Fiscal Conservatives for their desire to build up the Republic's economy, they also think of them as somewhat naïve for their dogged desire to look to the economy first, last, and always.
The War Hawks are a large party primarily focused on the military and the war, and have long been allied to the Human Purity Party. This alliance was thrown into disarray when the information from Eden was given to the Senate, and this more than anything forced Consul Young to step down.
There are numerous minor parties that form and dissolve constantly. There are nationalists, who want to return to the old days of nation states, religious groups formed around ancient religions, and planetary groups representing the particular interests of their specific colony.
Kurt
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Oh wow. That's a massacre!
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Just an update. You may have noticed that I took a break from posting for a while. This is largely related to my computers infection with a pernicious case of HOI4 that just doesn't seem to want to go away. I'll probably be getting back to a more regular posting schedule now. Probably.
Kurt
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I played HoI3 so much, especially with mods, that I just can't get into HoI4.
Is this the final end of the Dregluk or is there still some die-hard elements hiding in the deep dark?
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over a billion units of fuel? I think your empire might have resolved it's fuel crisis at any rater
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I played HoI3 so much, especially with mods, that I just can't get into HoI4.
Is this the final end of the Dregluk or is there still some die-hard elements hiding in the deep dark?
You never really know. Of course, all of the Dregluk colonies encountered to date were dysfunctional, so I don't think the Republic is very worried. There are other aliens out there, though.
Kurt
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I just want to say that this has been great. Although I started my current campaign before I found yours, you've given me a lot of inspiration. It's also provided a lot of insight (and feelings of dread) in terms of what to expect should I encounter an NPR that is bigger and badder than humanity. Of course you are also quite a good storyteller, and that makes it ten times better. I've really enjoyed following Admiral Foster's exploits and watching how humanity managed to hang on by the skin of its teeth.
I also really like how your ship designs tend to be multi-purpose affairs, and that even your Jump Tenders have teeth. I feel that this is how proper military ships should be, as it gives then extra capability and character. :) But I digress; on the point of design I do have a question. I've noticed that most of your main combat designs tend to have only 3-5 layers of armor. Speaking solely for myself this is half of what I tend to run on equivalent designs, so I'd like to hear your philosophy on that issue.
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I just want to say that this has been great. Although I started my current campaign before I found yours, you've given me a lot of inspiration. It's also provided a lot of insight (and feelings of dread) in terms of what to expect should I encounter an NPR that is bigger and badder than humanity. Of course you are also quite a good storyteller, and that makes it ten times better. I've really enjoyed following Admiral Foster's exploits and watching how humanity managed to hang on by the skin of its teeth.
I also really like how your ship designs tend to be multi-purpose affairs, and that even your Jump Tenders have teeth. I feel that this is how proper military ships should be, as it gives then extra capability and character. :) But I digress; on the point of design I do have a question. I've noticed that most of your main combat designs tend to have only 3-5 layers of armor. Speaking solely for myself this is half of what I tend to run on equivalent designs, so I'd like to hear your philosophy on that issue.
Thank you for your kind words! This campaign isn't over yet, I intend to take it out a little bit more then wrap it up, but I've been trying to form the Holy Roman Empire in Hearts of Iron 4 and that's been distracting me.
In general, my "standard" design philosophy, which tends to creep into most of my campaigns, is for light ship types, DD's and CL's, to have light armor, max'ing out at around 5. This is for several reasons, first, most of my campaigns tend to be a low to mid tech levels, which, to my mind, discourages heavy armor on all but the largest ships. In addition, in my thoughts, the smaller ships prioritize speed and sensors over armor. This campaign has gone in a direction that seriously affected the design strategy as well. The Republic's Navy has succeeded largely because it was faster than the Dregluk, which mandated a fleet-speed of 5000-6000 kp/s, which at low to medium tech means relatively light armor to achieve the needed speed. Speed is life!
In general, I tend to favor shields over armor in most cases, because shields regenerate and fixing armor means a time-consuming shipyard visit. This is the mind-set that I brought over from Starfire, and while it gets modified by events in each campaign, it is the ideal that I tend to drift towards.
Kurt
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Just an update. You may have noticed that I took a break from posting for a while. This is largely related to my computers infection with a pernicious case of HOI4 that just doesn't seem to want to go away. I'll probably be getting back to a more regular posting schedule now. Probably.
Kurt
The case of HOI4 was worse than we feared.
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Just an update. You may have noticed that I took a break from posting for a while. This is largely related to my computers infection with a pernicious case of HOI4 that just doesn't seem to want to go away. I'll probably be getting back to a more regular posting schedule now. Probably.
Kurt
The case of HOI4 was worse than we feared.
It was a rather pernicious case. Thought I shook it, but then I felt an overwhelming need to form the Holy Roman Empire and, well, I guess I lost some time there.
I'm pretty well burned out at this point, so I'm taking some time to read and do some other things, then I'll be back to finish up this campaign. I can feel the urge to write growing, but I need some down time first.
Kurt
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yay, it's back. I feel like a lot of Dregluk from prime are not going to make it to secundus. It is in the best interests of the federation to keep them alive though, they can help alleviate the worker shortage
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Hey Kurt, are you still interested in this campaign?
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Hey Kurt, are you still interested in this campaign?
Yes, I plan on finishing it out, but I've been having a bit of a problem getting back into it. I am feeling the urge to finish this, though, so I'll probably start writing on this one again in the next week or so.
I tend to totally immerse myself in my universes when I get them going, and once I'm out it's sometimes hard to get back in.
I'm playing with the idea of running a Starfire campaign next, to bridge the time until Steve gets C# ready. Aurora and Starfire campaigns have different 'feels' to them, and I've been working on a couple of backgrounds that might work better in Starfire. We'll see.
Kurt