Author Topic: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report  (Read 3766 times)

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Offline Kurt (OP)

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Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« on: April 06, 2007, 11:14:47 PM »
The race is the Church of Wasat.  I began on year 1 with the following:
Population = 150-200 million
SY = 3
Construction Factories = 100
Research = 10
Mines = 100
Automated Mines = 15
Research Points = 0

Wasat Home System
Primary: F1-IV
Terrestrial Planets: 1
Gas Giant Planets: 2
Super Jovian Planet: 1
Chunks: 3
Moons: 34

Wasat Prime is a moon of Wasat II, the innermost gas giant.  A moon of the other gas giant is habitable for the Wasatians, with a colony cost of 2.

As you can see, a very basic setup.  I like beginning with the basics and going up from there.  

The initial Wasatian goals were to survey their own system and research the systems they needed for warp travel.  The initial geo survey results for the Wasat home system were encouraging.  While several bodies had minor amounts of minerals, the second habitable moon had large amounts of minerals with moderate availability levels (I fudged a little as I wanted experience colonizing).  

While the Wasatians slowly and painfully researched warp travel they also built a colony ship and some infrastructure and began colonizing the other habitable moon.  By the time all of the warp travel tech was researched and the first jump ship was in the yards, a small colony supported by four engineer divisions had been placed on the second moon.  

The warp survey of the Wasat home system revealed no less than nine warp points.  As soon as the first jump ship was complete the First Survey Group set out to probe the warp points.  

The nine systems contained no less than eight habitable planets (Col cost 2 or less) and numerous bodies with mineral deposits.  The Wasatians decided to limit their expansion at that point and concentrate on developing the systems they had discovered.  

Note: I was amazed at the number of habitable planets, and for a short time I wondered if something was messed up.  However, in almost every other game I found very few habitable planets, so it balances out.  

The first system to be developed was the Hydrogen system.  After much research and development the Wasatians built a jump gate at the warp points between the home system and Hydrogen and then began building a colony on the sixth moon of the innermost gas giant.   Automated mining colonies were placed on the third planet, and one of the moons of the same gas giant as the colony.  For many years the Wasatians concentrated on developing their four extra-planetary colonies (tow inhabited, two automated mining colonies).  

It is now June of Year 78.  The population of the Wasat home planet is 1.07 Billion and has 220 factories and 235 mines.  The colony in the home system has a population of 26 million with 66 mines and 14 factories, while the colony in the Hydrogen system has a population of 9 million with 47 mines and 5 factories.  The two mining colonies in the Hydrogen system each have 100 automated mines.  

A freighter has been tasked with picking up the minerals mined by the two automated mining colonies in the Hydrogen system.  Periodically the freighter is diverted from its regular rounds and begins hauling mined resources from the main Hydrogen colony to the home planet.  To support the freighter in Hydrogen a fuel dump was created on the mian colony and a commerical freight facility was constructed.  The Hydrogen system is the template for all future Wasatian colonization and exploitation efforts in the nine known systems.  

The Wasat have completed a jump gate to the Flourine system and the colonization effort of Flourine IV, a terrestrial planet with a colony cost of .2 is underway.  

The Wasatian Navy is small, two Patrol Cruisers and a Battlecruiser.  The Navy is currently using advanced 10 cm lasers and torpedoes.  

Author's Note: This is not really an "official" campaign, just something I'm playing around with.  I'm focusing on the economic side of things in this campaign, at least so far.  I'm going to try to exploit all of the nearby systems that are worthwhile before expanding, jsut to see how long it takes and how hard it is to manage the economy as it gets bigger.

Steve - Having played around with this campaign for a bit, I have to say that I can't see an Aurora Campaign ever being anywhere near as big as an SA supported Starfire campaign.  Having said that, I'm not sure that is a bad thing.  Aurora tends to have more interresting systems, that are not just "more of the same thing", and Aurora's economy is much more complex, so I think that this is a case of "Smaller is better".

Kurt
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Kurt »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley

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Re: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2007, 02:58:47 PM »
Quote from: "Kurt"
Steve - Having played around with this campaign for a bit, I have to say that I can't see an Aurora Campaign ever being anywhere near as big as an SA supported Starfire campaign.  Having said that, I'm not sure that is a bad thing.  Aurora tends to have more interresting systems, that are not just "more of the same thing", and Aurora's economy is much more complex, so I think that this is a case of "Smaller is better".

I think it could get as big in terms of systems explored but probably not as big in terms of numbers of ships or numbers of colonies. However, as you say, there is a lot more detail and I hope more variety. The aim is to have interesting, varied campaigns that span a realistic timescale and do not get to a stage where they are more work than fun.

Steve
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Kurt (OP)

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Re: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2007, 04:16:01 PM »
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
Quote from: "Kurt"
Steve - Having played around with this campaign for a bit, I have to say that I can't see an Aurora Campaign ever being anywhere near as big as an SA supported Starfire campaign.  Having said that, I'm not sure that is a bad thing.  Aurora tends to have more interresting systems, that are not just "more of the same thing", and Aurora's economy is much more complex, so I think that this is a case of "Smaller is better".
I think it could get as big in terms of systems explored but probably not as big in terms of numbers of ships or numbers of colonies. However, as you say, there is a lot more detail and I hope more variety. The aim is to have interesting, varied campaigns that span a realistic timescale and do not get to a stage where they are more work than fun.

Steve


I can see already that a modified "Stay-at-home" strategy is possible.  In this campaign, because of the large number of warp points in my beginning system, I've limited my exploration to only adjacent systems and have been very successful at exploiting the local systems one-by-one.  By the time I've finished exploiting the local group, my military will be much more capable and much larger than it would have been earlier.  My economy will be much larger than it was, and much more capable of sustaining rapid expansion, whereas it was almost painfully slow to do anything at the start.  

While this strategy was only possible in this case because of the large number of warp points in the initial system, Aurora lends itself to this variation because the economic side is not so dependent on constantly finding new habitable planets to colonize.  

This strategy is not really possible in Starfire, because you miss out on so much if you don't explore.  Given an equal start in Starfire, a player trying this strategy, even with nine systems to exploit, would end up far behind the player that expanded as fast as possible, unless the expanding player ran into something really nasty.  

Kurt
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Kurt »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley

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Re: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2007, 06:36:02 AM »
Quote from: "Kurt"
I can see already that a modified "Stay-at-home" strategy is possible.  In this campaign, because of the large number of warp points in my beginning system, I've limited my exploration to only adjacent systems and have been very successful at exploiting the local systems one-by-one.  By the time I've finished exploiting the local group, my military will be much more capable and much larger than it would have been earlier.  My economy will be much larger than it was, and much more capable of sustaining rapid expansion, whereas it was almost painfully slow to do anything at the start.  
I have done something similar with my current campaign after running into a couple of precusors. Further expansion has been halted until my military can be increased.

Quote
While this strategy was only possible in this case because of the large number of warp points in the initial system, Aurora lends itself to this variation because the economic side is not so dependent on constantly finding new habitable planets to colonize.  

This strategy is not really possible in Starfire, because you miss out on so much if you don't explore.  Given an equal start in Starfire, a player trying this strategy, even with nine systems to exploit, would end up far behind the player that expanded as fast as possible, unless the expanding player ran into something really nasty.  

It is definitely a viable Aurora strategy, although you will need good supplies of all minerals close to home, which you may not always have. The downsides are lack of contact with (potentially) friendly alien races, not finding potentially rich geological sites that may aid economic growth, lower overall pop growth, because small colonies grow much faster than large ones, and lack of ruins, which might lead to technological discovery and potentially locating abandoned mines and installations. The considerable upside is a much stronger base economy and safety from precursors, if you are using them, and unfriendly aliens. I notice you started with a low population so if you wanted to skip the initial stay at home phase you could also start with a larger pop.

The maintenance facility also adds to ths stay at home strategy as you can build up a large fleet without having to maintain it, almost like the Bugs in In Death Ground I haven't decided yet if this is a good or bad thing for the game :)

Steve
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Kurt (OP)

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Re: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2007, 12:57:53 PM »
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
Quote from: "Kurt"
I can see already that a modified "Stay-at-home" strategy is possible.  In this campaign, because of the large number of warp points in my beginning system, I've limited my exploration to only adjacent systems and have been very successful at exploiting the local systems one-by-one.  By the time I've finished exploiting the local group, my military will be much more capable and much larger than it would have been earlier.  My economy will be much larger than it was, and much more capable of sustaining rapid expansion, whereas it was almost painfully slow to do anything at the start.  
I have done something similar with my current campaign after running into a couple of precusors. Further expansion has been halted until my military can be increased.

Quote
While this strategy was only possible in this case because of the large number of warp points in the initial system, Aurora lends itself to this variation because the economic side is not so dependent on constantly finding new habitable planets to colonize.  

This strategy is not really possible in Starfire, because you miss out on so much if you don't explore.  Given an equal start in Starfire, a player trying this strategy, even with nine systems to exploit, would end up far behind the player that expanded as fast as possible, unless the expanding player ran into something really nasty.  
It is definitely a viable Aurora strategy, although you will need good supplies of all minerals close to home, which you may not always have. The downsides are lack of contact with (potentially) friendly alien races, not finding potentially rich geological sites that may aid economic growth, lower overall pop growth, because small colonies grow much faster than large ones, and lack of ruins, which might lead to technological discovery and potentially locating abandoned mines and installations. The considerable upside is a much stronger base economy and safety from precursors, if you are using them, and unfriendly aliens. I notice you started with a low population so if you wanted to skip the initial stay at home phase you could also start with a larger pop.

The maintenance facility also adds to ths stay at home strategy as you can build up a large fleet without having to maintain it, almost like the Bugs in In Death Ground I haven't decided yet if this is a good or bad thing for the game :)

Steve


The maintenance facility definitely does what I had hoped it would, in that it removes the need for micromanagement and speeds the game along.  However, I do understand your last statement above, and I have been thinking about this alot in relation to my current game.

It isn't good that as long as you stay home maintenance doesn't cost you anything because you have a maintenance facility.  That just doesn't seem right.  On the other hand, I like the current set up where I don't have to worry about maintenance unless I'm actually fighting someone, or at least getting ready to fight someone.  I like having the limitation of having to worry about maintenance issues during military operations, and having to plan my ship designs around maiuntenance issues, at least to a certain extent.  

For example, in my current campaign the Wasatian Fleet is a home defense force.  Even the larger ships have limited spares and even limited fuel, because they only anticipate having to use the fleet either in the home system or in one of the adjacent systems.  This makes them more powerful than equivalent ships deisgned for long deployments, but it is a big tradeoff.

About the only change I would suggest would be to have the maintenance facility consume resources, as is being discussed in other threads.

Kurt
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Kurt »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley

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Re: Aurora v1.5 Campaign Report
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2007, 05:08:11 PM »
Quote from: "Kurt"
About the only change I would suggest would be to have the maintenance facility consume resources, as is being discussed in other threads.

Yes, I think something along these lines is going to be needed. Probably a set percentage of the ship cost (in minerals) for each supported ship. I considered having it based on the number of engineering systems because that will affect the time between overhauls. However, I think its easier to use a flat rate. An overhaul costs 40% of ship cost and will happen perhaps every 5-10 years depending on the ship, which is 8% - 4% of ship cost per year. As the maintenance facility is delaying this, perhaps it should consume minerals equal to 5% of the ship cost per year.

Steve
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Randy

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« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2007, 05:21:43 PM »
Quote
As the maintenance facility is delaying this, perhaps it should consume minerals equal to 5% of the ship cost per year.


make it simpler - it consumes build points at this rate. Thus a maint facility needs to be supported by a shipyard (or more).

  Forget the minerals - because the maint facility doesn't give you a free overhaul (ie doesn't reset the clock). It just delays it.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Randy »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley

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« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2007, 05:26:40 PM »
Quote from: "Randy"
Quote
As the maintenance facility is delaying this, perhaps it should consume minerals equal to 5% of the ship cost per year.

make it simpler - it consumes build points at this rate. Thus a maint facility needs to be supported by a shipyard (or more).

  Forget the minerals - because the maint facility doesn't give you a free overhaul (ie doesn't reset the clock). It just delays it.

In a sense it does reset the clock. If you had a ship on operations for five year and then gave it a major overhaul, it resets the clock by five years. If you left that same ship in orbit of a maintenance facility for five years, then the clock would also be put back by five years.

The problem with the shipyard idea is that a shipyard can't do anything without minerals and requiring a maintenance facility to have a shipyard goes back to the problem that the MF was designed to avoid, which is deciding what the effect is on a shipyard of maintaining ships.

Steve
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »