NC Part 15: January 2049 - October 2049

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

8th January 2049
A new Artemis II is laid down with an estimated completion date of August 2050.

27th January 2049
The gravitational survey of Thasos is completed, revealing one new jump point. All four ships of the First Gravitational Survey Squadrons converge on its location.

8th February 2049
Menelaus transits the new jump point in Thasos and discovers a system with a K5-V primary and three class L brown dwarves. The primary is orbited by eight rocky planets, six of them terrestrial size, and four gas giants. One planet has a breathable atmosphere as well as acceptable gravity and an extensive ice sheet but it is far too cold at -140 degrees. The first dwarf orbits at six billion kilometers with its own small planetary system while the second and third orbit as a pair 450 million kilometers apart at a distance of 180 billion kilometers from the primary. Rear Admiral Ayres names the system Calliste and orders his squadron to begin their survey.

22nd February 2049
Our sources on the Gitanyow homeworld report that the Gitanyow have launched a second gravitational survey ship and have begun work on a cruiser-sized hull that may be their first jump-capable ship.

27th February 2049
Commonwealth scientists complete their research into improving the construction rate of our shipyards. This should result in a fifteen percent reduction in build times. As agreed with the Gitanyow, our scientists now turn their attention  to fighter speed.

2nd March 2049
The Fast Colony Fleet returns to Earth and unloads 240 tons of Gallicite. With a regular supply of the mineral now established, the Gallicite shortage is effectively over and our shipbuilding, refitting and overhaul program can start to return to normal. Currently under construction are the jump gate construction ship Argo, two Artemis II colony ships and three Themistocles II class freighters, one of which will be ready in the next few days. Helios, one of the Apollo class missile cruisers, is undergoing an overhaul.

An Artemis II that was constructed in 2045 is removed from the colony fleet for its first overhaul. In addition, the four Achilles class gravitational survey ships currently in mothballs are taken into the shipyards to be upgraded to the Achilles B (shown below). The primary changes are the addition of a third ion engine and a 200% increase in supply capacity.

Achilles B class Survey Ship    2250 tons     200 Crew     551 BP      Signature 45-180
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/0/3/0     Damage Control 0-0
Supply 600  
Ion Engine (3)    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Passive Sensor S2-6 (1)     Strength 6     Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km     Detect Signature 100: 6m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points

The Fast Colony Fleet begins loading seven newly constructed automated mines, two manned mines and 200,000 colonists.

7th March 2049
A Themistocles II class is constructed on Earth. As the Fast Colony Fleet has only just left, the freighter is loaded with a tracking station and sent in pursuit. A new design, the Menelaus B survey cruiser, is laid down in the available shipyard. The original Menelaus, currently leading the First Gravitational Survey Squadron, has been a success and the newer version is a minor update with improved speed and range, allowing it to keep pace with the Udaloy II and Artemis B survey ship designs. It is also ten percent smaller than its predecessor as the cargo hold has been removed. Both the original and B versions are shown below.

Menelaus class Jump Cruiser    5000 tons     400 Crew     982 BP      Signature 100-360
3600 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 15/0/6/0     Damage Control 0-0
Cargo 5000   Supply 600  
Ion Engine (6)    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Passive Sensor S5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km
Advanced Gravitational Sensors (3)   6 Survey Points

Menelaus B class Jump Cruiser    4500 tons     405 Crew     984 BP      Signature 90-360
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 15/0/6/0     Damage Control 0-0
Supply 800  
Ion Engine (6)    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Passive Sensor S5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km
Advanced Gravitational Sensors (3)   6 Survey Points

29th April 2049
The gravitational survey of Calliste is completed. No new jump points are found. Rear Admiral Ayres orders the squadron to head for the jump point to Thasos. Once assembled, the squadron will head back toward Thebes.

13th May 2049
The four Achilles survey ships are refitted to the B version and two new Themistocles II class freighters are completed. Both freighters will join the Fast Colony Fleet when it returns to Earth in a few days. The Achilles will remain in mothballs for now.

16th May 2049
We now have twelve Themistocles II class freighters but only five colony ships, one of which is undergoing overhaul. This is creating a situation where we can transport more factories and mines to Thebes than colonists to man them. Therefore, once our construction factories complete their current task of building more jump gate components, they will begin work on converting manned mines to automated mines. While the total cost of building a manned mine and then converting it to an automated mine is 13% more expensive than simply building an automated mine in the first place, the manpower shortage on Thebes necessitates a rapid increase in our number of automated mines. The conversion process requires only 63% of the new build cost of an automated mine.

As the infrastructure on Thebes can now support a population of 6.6 million and the population is only five million, the construction factories on Thebes will also begin conversion work, albeit at a much slower pace than on Earth.

19th May 2049
The Fast Colony Fleet leaves Earth orbit with 200,000 colonists, three automated mines and nine manned mines.

28th May 2049
The Asian Alliance appears to be still desperate for Gallicite. They have created new trade offers on the planetary mineral market, offering Sorium at 2-1 and Tritanium at 4-1. Existing offers include Corbomite and Vendarite at 2.5-1. At the moment, our only potential shortage is Mercassium as we require almost 400 tons for every Artemis and only 1300 tons remain in our stockpile. There is no Mercassium on Thebes or Toronto so this will become a problem in the near future. We also have no source of Vendarite or Corundium, although we have over 5000 tons of each stockpiled on Earth. While we do not want the Asian Alliance to be strong, we also do not want them to be desperate so Prince Arthur allows an exchange of 200 tons of Gallicite for 500 tons of Vendarite. The skill of our Marco Polo trade team reduces this to 184 tons of Gallicite for the 500 tons of Vendarite.

15th June 2049
A second Atlas is laid down. At some point within the next few months, it is likely we will need to setup new mining colonies in the systems near Thebes as our mineral stockpiles begin to run low, so a fast jump cruiser will be required to escort the freighters transporting the mines.

18th June 2049
The Islamic Alliance have laid down a new hull estimated at 5000 tons. It is possible that they have completed their jump drive research and this is their first jump-capable ship.

5th July 2049
The First Gravitational Survey Squadron returns to Earth. Menelaus immediately enters the shipyards for an overhaul and for a refit to the Menelaus B class. Although the three Udaloys were overhauled only two years ago, they enter the shipyards too as they are not going anywhere until Menelaus is available.

18th July 2049
The Jump Gate Construction Ship Argo is launched from our orbital shipyards. Once the Fast Colony Fleet returns to Earth and five freighters are available, her first mission will be to establish a jump gate on each side of the Sol

[Michael Sandy]

A couple of comments:

I think that using Theban construction to convert Manned mines to automated mines is a mistake.  If they have excess construction capability, it should go into starting the shipyard.  Going from Manned to automated costs Duranium, something that is a bit limited right now.

It is a natural decision for the Commonwealth to make, as there is a certain inertia in decision making processes.

Converting manned mines on Earth to ship makes much more sense, as they have excess construction capabilities at the moment.

Also, I have a question about the mechanics for discovering alien civilizations:

A huge number of double and triple and more systems have been discovered.  The far systems are generally not explored, but they have planets.  It should be only a matter of time before a civilization is discovered orbiting the further star.  So far, both alien civilizations have been discovered within easy reach of the warp point.

Even at 180 Billion miles, communication exchanges could still be accomplished.  That is, what, 16,000 light minutes, 11 light days or so?

edit:  Oops, kilometers, not miles.  whatever

[Michael Sandy]

At this point, Commonwealth production is and should be geared towards moving stuff off planet instead of permanent stuff on planet.  So converted manned to automated factories is a tolerable decision.  And will help later when the automated factories are then moved to exploit other deposits that limit Commonwealth growth.

Does the Commonwealth now have sufficient Jump gate components for both sides of the first warp point in the chain to Thebes?  If so, that will add some flexibility in terms of colony and freighter schedules, which in turn allows more flexibility in terms of shipyard space too.  If ships are leaving and arriving throughout the season, when a new ship is completed, there should be a newly arriving ship that could be refitted.

Of course the Commonwealth will probably just get the bugs out of their program to most efficiently expand and exploit Thebes just as a new confrontation with an alien race forces them to revise their production strategy.

And, oh bonus?  If the new race proves hostile, the Asians may get a new homeworld after all.

[Michael Sandy]

Question:  why aren't the new Jump Cruisers and refitted grav survey ships not using the Ion IB engines?  These aren't combat ships, they have no shields, so why worry about battle damage issues?

[rmcrowe]

What a place to break the story!  However, we must give the Spacemaster time to create the new folks, and their background.

robert

[MWadwell]

A couple of comments:

I think that using Theban construction to convert Manned mines to automated mines is a mistake.  If they have excess construction capability, it should go into starting the shipyard.  Going from Manned to automated costs Duranium, something that is a bit limited right now.

It is a natural decision for the Commonwealth to make, as there is a certain inertia in decision making processes.

Converting manned mines on Earth to ship makes much more sense, as they have excess construction capabilities at the moment.

The problem is, that the shortage of Duranium will affect converting manned mines to automated mines  regardless of where they are located - on Earth or on Thebes.

But let's have a look at what is needed to address this shortage....

To mine more Duranium, you need either:
1) automated mines; OR
2) manned mines PLUS free population.

As there is a shortage of free population on Thebes, using automated mines is probably the best solution to the duranium shortage.

Perhaps a better solution is to use a combination of both manned and automated mines. However, the problem with this solution is that at some point in time, you are going to need free population on Thebes for other items - such as shipyards/ordanance factories/etc.

[Michael Sandy]

The difference is the limitation in shipping.

Well, the difference is the limitation on shipping from Earth to Thebes.  There is lots of capacity for shipping from Thebes to Earth.

What is limited is Theban manpower.  So use Earth manpower in factories to free up Theban manpower for either mines or construction.

In order to alleviate the shipping bottleneck, the Commonwealth needs more (or faster) shipyards.  Good timing on that tech advance, by the way.  Rather than build a shipyard where it will be destroyed, the next shipyard pretty much has to be in Thebes.

So using Theban production to convert manned mines to automated is Theban production that could have gone to making a shipyard.  On the other hand, by shipping automated mines and colonists, they boost the manpower available for Construction Factories, and therefore, faster shipyard building.

[MWadwell]

The difference is the limitation in shipping.

Well, the difference is the limitation on shipping from Earth to Thebes.  There is lots of capacity for shipping from Thebes to Earth.

You are right in that there is a large limitation on shipping from Earth to Thebes - but the limitation is in the number of colonists - not in the amount of items (i.e. mines/factories).

For example, the Commonewealth has only 5 colony ships - but it has 12 freighters. And so the Commonwealth is in the situation where it can transport more items than the population needed to man the items....

What is limited is Theban manpower.  So use Earth manpower in factories to free up Theban manpower for either mines or construction.

Agreed - which is why the Commonwealth is starting to automate the mines already on Thebes, as well as the mines being transported to Thebes.

Look at it this way - for every manned mine already on Thebes that is automated, frees up 50K colonists - exactly the same as if 50K colonists were sent to Thebes. (In fact, it frees up more population on Thebes, as when the population on Thebes increases, the percentage of population on Thebes devoted to service tasks also increases.....)

For example, using the approx 40 factories on Thebes to build infrastructure (using 320 BP for a population increase of 1.6M colonists - or approx 22 factories) leaves 18 factories free for automation/new construction. Using the 18 factories allows approximately 1.6 manned mines to be automated, freeing up an extra 80K colonists - or a effective increase of 5% on the number of free population (ignoring the increase in service population due to the extra 1.6M colonists. If this is taken into consideration, then the figure of 5% is actually on the low side....)

In order to alleviate the shipping bottleneck, the Commonwealth needs more (or faster) shipyards.  Good timing on that tech advance, by the way.  Rather than build a shipyard where it will be destroyed, the next shipyard pretty much has to be in Thebes.

Agreed - but for different reasons.

The next shipyards constructed has to be on Thebes, simply from the reason that any shipyard constructed on Earth will be destroyed when Nemesis arrives - not because Thebes is a better location. After all, from Thebes to Earth is only a 1 month trip!

So using Theban production to convert manned mines to automated is Theban production that could have gone to making a shipyard.  On the other hand, by shipping automated mines and colonists, they boost the manpower available for Construction Factories, and therefore, faster shipyard building.

Building a shipyard on Thebes now, is not necessarily a good thing. Using the construction factories on Thebes to automate the manned mines is a way to increase the amount of infrastructure on Thebes while getting around the colonist shipping bottleneck.

At this point in time, the Commonwealth needs to get the most amount of infrastructure on Thebes as possible, while at the same time leaving enough free population to support the new items, AND leave enough free population to support other future items - such as shipyards....

[Michael Sandy]

I agree with building and shipping automated mines.  That will mean that the extra manpower, as well as Theban population growth, can go into Construction.

However, I think that converting manned mines already on Thebes is a waste of effort.  The goal, I think, should be to ship a mix of colonists, automated mines, and more construction factories because the Commonwealth is rapidly moving from resource limited in terms of growth to construction limited.

Construction factories on Earth can be gainfully employed converted manned mines to automated mines, building jump gate components, and building terraforming thingies.

As long as the increasing mines on Thebes can keep up with the Gallicite and Duranium the factories on Earth can be kept fully employed, I think.  The Mercassium shortage has to be dealt with soon.

It seems that Aurora will continually be a game of trying to anticipate the next shortage but not going so overboard that you create a shortfall somewhere else.

Ideally, the Commonwealth needs enough Mercassium mines to produce 800 tons of Mercassium a year, or two colony ships a year, pretty soon.  Mercassium demands will probably increase from there, especially as Theban construction gets fully online, producing more research bases eventually.  The more population that can be shipped, the sooner more construction factories can be employed at Thebes, the sooner a new shipyard could be build there.

Also, with respect to shipyards, new production of colony ships and freighters should still be done at Earth.  The first shipyard at Thebes could be used to save travel time for exploration ships needing refits, getting an extra couple of months of work per refit by doing them at Thebes.

So maybe the next colony convoy should just carry population to Thebes, with the automated factories going to somewhere that has Mercassium deposits.

[MWadwell]

I agree with building and shipping automated mines.  That will mean that the extra manpower, as well as Theban population growth, can go into Construction.

However, I think that converting manned mines already on Thebes is a waste of effort.  The goal, I think, should be to ship a mix of colonists, automated mines, and more construction factories because the Commonwealth is rapidly moving from resource limited in terms of growth to construction limited.

Well, we both agree that freeing up population on Thebes is necessary.

However, we disagree on automating the manned mines. But let me ask you this, what else can the factories be used for?

At present, only a touch more than half are necessary to build new infrastrtucture for the arriving colonists.

There is no need for ordanance factories, missile silos, or more construction factories (after all, there are plenty available on Earth). The only possible need is for a shipyard. And at the moment, there is only a temporary shipyard shortage (see more in another post).

Construction factories on Earth can be gainfully employed converted manned mines to automated mines, building jump gate components, and building terraforming thingies.

Agreed - with the exception of the Jump Gate components, and Terraforming Installations (TI) - at the moment there is no need for additional jump gate components (as the first gate will take 6 months to assemble), and with both Thebes and Herakleia both having a habitility of "1", there is no need for TI's either....

As long as the increasing mines on Thebes can keep up with the Gallicite and Duranium the factories on Earth can be kept fully employed, I think.  The Mercassium shortage has to be dealt with soon.

There is plenty of Mercassium around - the only problem is that it has low accessability.... For example, in Mycenae (the system between Corinth and Thebes) there is over 18 million tons - but at accessibility 0.1.

To get the 800 tons of Mercassium/year from a planetary body like that requires 450 mines. Not very realistic.....

Of course, another option is to use the automated mines on the asteroids which have an accessibility of around 1.0. If you found asteroids with accessibility of 1.0, then you would only need 46 mines.....

It seems that Aurora will continually be a game of trying to anticipate the next shortage but not going so overboard that you create a shortfall somewhere else.

[MWadwell]

19th September 2049
In recent weeks, the Commonwealth has gone from a shortage of resources to a shortage of shipyard space. All twelve  Commonwealth shipyards are active and a number of ships are waiting for overhauls. Two Artemis class colony ships, a Themistocles II class freighter, a Menelaus B survey jump cruiser and an Atlas jump-capable freighter are all under construction. Currently undergoing overhaul are Menelaus, Atlas, Agamemnon, an Udaloy II survey ship, an Artemis II colony ship and two Themistocles II freighters.

I think that the shipyard shortage is as a result of the "convoy" system imposed by the need to use jump carriers, and the recent shortage of Gallicite.

Looking in the ver 0.1 database, the Commonwealth has a fleet (not counting ships under construction) of 25 404 BP. As an overhaul takes up 20% of a ships BP, this translates into a fleet overhaul cost of 5080 BP.

Now, if a ship is overhauled every 3 years, this means that you need approx 1700 BP/year for the fleet overhaul program. The 12 Commonwealth shipyards produce approx 6300 BP/year - which means that the fleet overhaul prgram uses about 27% of the available shipyard BP.


That is what I mean by shipyard shortage is as a result of the "convoy" system/shortage of Gallicite - only 3 of the shipyards (or 25%) should be in use overhauling ships, but on the 19th of September, there were 7 ships undergoing overhauls, with others ships waiting for their turn.....

Perhaps now that the Gallicite shortage has been addressed, ships can be overhauled on a scheduled basis (rather than when Gallicite is available), which would result in a more consistent shipyard usage.

[Michael Sandy]

The other useful thing that the construction factories on Thebes can do is make more construction factories.

Then more colonists could be shipped to Thebes to man them, while the automated factories go somewhere with Mercassium.

As for Terraforming, I thought "colonizable" meant colonization costs were less than twice the optimum, not that the ratio was 1.

I am looking forward to the explanation as to why the Commonwealth is experiencing only a temporary shipyard shortage.  Especially with the possibility of a new alien race and conflict.

[Michael Sandy]

There are a couple of fixes to the convoy problem.

1)  Jump Gates all the way to Thebes and back.  All ships go at their own speed, which result in dispersal, so ships do not all arrive at the same time.

2)  Jump cruisers all the way to Thebes.  This option is a bit faster to accomplish, but costs more supply.

I note that the speed differences are only going to get worse with the new engine technology in a couple of years, as well as IB engines that generate more power at the cost of being more likely to explode when hit.

If starting from scratch, building a whole bunch of minimum size jump cruisers (75 HS), with smaller freighters and colony ships might be more economical.

I like the idea of a jump cruiser with passive and active sensors, and huge supply, and maybe some shields.  Not very fast, because it basically acts like a self-deploying jump gate, and just shuttles back and forth across a warp point.

The disadvantage is that you need more jump cruisers, the advantage is that you don't need to put so many engines on them, and you get continuous communications as a bonus.

Another advantage is that you can build somewhat slower freighters, saving gallicite, and faster colony ships, conserving mercassium.

A freighter with 50 HS of hold and 30 HS of engine will deliver approximately the same amount of cargo over time as one with 40 HS of hold and 40 HS of engine, but will be much cheaper.

A colony ship with 30 HS of corpiscle bays and 50 HS of engine will also be cheaper and deliver about the same number of colonists as 40 HS of corpiscle bays and 40 HS of engine.

But the convoy system forces less economical designs for both types of ships.

And the more freighters and colony ships you are talking about per jump cruiser, the greater the incentive to go with stationary deployment of jump cruisers.

In other news, I have discovered a major math error on my part.

I thought that if it would take 8.5 years for a single construction factory to build another construction factory, and 8.5 years for a single construction factory to build another mine that it would take 17 years to double the economy.  Oops.

Multiply that by about .73  What factor did I ignore?  Compound interest.  How embarassing.  12.5 years to double, because each month new mines and factories would starting producing.  (This assumes high accessibility Duranium, and population growth sufficient to supply the mines and factories)

[TrueZuluwiz]

What I'm waiting to see is an automatic automatic factory factory.

[MWadwell]

The other useful thing that the construction factories on Thebes can do is make more construction factories.

2 points:
1) Why do you need more construction factories? The Commonwealth shortage is in minerals - not factories.
2) There is the issue of who are you going to get to man the factories.

Then more colonists could be shipped to Thebes to man them, while the automated factories go somewhere with Mercassium.

What is an "automated factory"? Do you mean an "automated mine" instead?

As for Terraforming, I thought "colonizable" meant colonization costs were less than twice the optimum, not that the ratio was 1.

From what I've remember, you can only place a population down on a planet with a habitability index of 4 or less. The index is also the cost multiplier w.r.t. the amount of infrastructure needed.

All Terraforming does, is to make one of the 2 changable factors (water and oxygen - as gravity is unchangable) more habitable, which then reduces the multiplier.

I am looking forward to the explanation as to why the Commonwealth is experiencing only a temporary shipyard shortage.  Especially with the possibility of a new alien race and conflict.

The problem is, that due to the Gallicite shortage, there was a time period there where the shipyards were totally vacant. As a result, there is an inevitable period where the shipyards are overworked to try and catch up.....