C# Aurora v0.x Suggestions

[Steve Walmsley]

Bit of a niche use request, but a little check box on the production/colony management screen that allows us to mark a colony to be automatically abandoned once devoid of all population and installations would be kind of nifty. 

There is a button to delete all colonies that fall into that category.

[Kristover]

Looking at the various bonuses and admin HQ types, is it possible to have add an 'Intelligence' Admin Command type with 25% bonus to Intelligence and Reaction or Engineering as the bonus types?  This would facilitate creating our own intelligence directorates for our Fleets.  I want my Section 31.

[Conscript Gary]

I seem to be spending a lot of time rearranging systems on the galactic map to please my aesthetic sensibilities, so could we please have a box to specify the XY coordinates of systems on the galactic map when moving them around? It's a bit of a hassle right now. Actually, since the Real Stars catalogue in the game already include the XYZ coordinates of all stars, an option to snap them to their actual positions on the map would also work.

Except the map is 2D and the coordinates are 3D

I'll take a look at this but probably post-release,

I believe he means a way to set the position of a system in the map's 2d coordinate system, not converting the 3d stellar coordinates into anything. An input box that moves a selected system to that map spot exactly.

[amram]

So I'm playing a game of 7.1, and caught myself doing the same thing over and over, that I've often done, but hardly ever think of.

When I am designing ships and technology, I create two techs for every single component design where its new to my current game or a different size/needs than prior parts have.  One is just a component like any other, used like any other, to be researched and produced as regular ship components.

The other is a "prototype" part, and under a house rule, is not produced, which I instant research, so it can be used to design with, I put "prototype" in front of the name to indicate that.

This lets me fully design a ship, missile, or turret all the way to the point of being able to produce it, without having to wait for potentially months or years of research to finish before I can find out I'm a dolt and need to rework my design.  I simply do not produce them until I have done the research on the parts along the way, but I gain the ability to spot the need to make changes before I have wasted the time researching them.

I'm sure many of us have been here before.  You want a new warship with a turreted weapon, lets say, gauss guns for PD.  You pick a type, research it.  Then you make the turret, research it.  Then you go to make the ship, and only one turret fits, two is so close but not quite—the crew (or reactors for other weapons) cost you too much.  You could wait for the slipway to be enlarged, in which case the ship will need new/more engines or be slower because its bigger.  Or you wait for a slightly smaller turret that will fit to be researched, say by reducing turret armor, or reducing the turret tracking speed by a small amount to shrink it a little bit.

Or you design a gauss gun, get the tech for it, have the tech available as a prototype component so you can design the turret, which itself is available as a prototype component, and see before any time is wasted researching components that it needs to be made a little smaller, change it, and then begin research with a workable turret.


So, the request, if we could get two things:

A new button in the research window, to generate a prototype part from a research project, which would work on any technology which generates a component - so all the racial techs and things like damage control, ecm, fuel tanks, etc.  Only current research prjects should be available for prototyping—if all you have is 10cm lasers, then no prototyping 80cm advanced spinals yet, but you could prototype a 12cm laser since its the next project in the laser line of techs, and would be a currently available research project.

When the associated technology completes which yields the component that the prototype is substituting for, replace the prototype component in the design with the real one so players who are just getting started on a large construction project don't have many parts to track down and replace one by one.

[xenoscepter]

Hey... what if Plasma Carronades were like super-short ranged Particle Beams? In that they have no damage drop off? Particle Beams are longer ranged than Lasers and do full damage out to their maximum range, but lasers do more damage in close. So what if Plasma Carronades were the inverse of Particle Beams? The Carronade is way shorter range than comparable weight Lasers, but they do full damage out to that range. A 10cm Visible Light Laser goes out to 60k, but a basic tech Carronade only goes to 30k, so while the Carronade does 6 damage at 30k as compared to the 10cm Lasers 3, the Laser wielder can just kite the Carronade wielder... making speed essential and turning the Carronade into the hit and run weapon of choice.

EDIT: My maths is FUBARed; 15cm carronade is 200 Tons, six damage and 60k with 6 power needed to attain a 5s reload. It has one less crew requirement than a 10cm Laser, and equivalent range to a 10cm VL Laser. Still I thinlk the idea would work, considering it will fire twice as slow at the same Capacitor tech, weighs one entire HS more, and only does five more damage at the same range. Meanwhile a 12cm VL Laser Can fire nearly as fast on the same Capacitor Tech (30s for the Carronade and 20s for the 12cm Laser at Capacitor 1), but reaches out to 80k. The 12cm VL Laser is a better comparison as it's 200 tons, needs four more crew, but still less power than the 15cm carronade. A ship mounting the laser could still kite the carronade ship, but the carronade would outperform a low tech 10cm and outdamage a high tech one, while competing with 12cm damage output through the mid game. So the choice of carronade or 10/12cm laser becomes a matter of weight, rather than a clear cut choice.

EDIT: I was in a rush, sorry for typos.

[Steve Walmsley]

So I'm playing a game of 7.1, and caught myself doing the same thing over and over, that I've often done, but hardly ever think of.

When I am designing ships and technology, I create two techs for every single component design where its new to my current game or a different size/needs than prior parts have.  One is just a component like any other, used like any other, to be researched and produced as regular ship components.

The other is a "prototype" part, and under a house rule, is not produced, which I instant research, so it can be used to design with, I put "prototype" in front of the name to indicate that.

This lets me fully design a ship, missile, or turret all the way to the point of being able to produce it, without having to wait for potentially months or years of research to finish before I can find out I'm a dolt and need to rework my design.  I simply do not produce them until I have done the research on the parts along the way, but I gain the ability to spot the need to make changes before I have wasted the time researching them.

I'm sure many of us have been here before.  You want a new warship with a turreted weapon, lets say, gauss guns for PD.  You pick a type, research it.  Then you make the turret, research it.  Then you go to make the ship, and only one turret fits, two is so close but not quite—the crew (or reactors for other weapons) cost you too much.  You could wait for the slipway to be enlarged, in which case the ship will need new/more engines or be slower because its bigger.  Or you wait for a slightly smaller turret that will fit to be researched, say by reducing turret armor, or reducing the turret tracking speed by a small amount to shrink it a little bit.

Or you design a gauss gun, get the tech for it, have the tech available as a prototype component so you can design the turret, which itself is available as a prototype component, and see before any time is wasted researching components that it needs to be made a little smaller, change it, and then begin research with a workable turret.


So, the request, if we could get two things:

A new button in the research window, to generate a prototype part from a research project, which would work on any technology which generates a component - so all the racial techs and things like damage control, ecm, fuel tanks, etc.  Only current research prjects should be available for prototyping—if all you have is 10cm lasers, then no prototyping 80cm advanced spinals yet, but you could prototype a 12cm laser since its the next project in the laser line of techs, and would be a currently available research project.

When the associated technology completes which yields the component that the prototype is substituting for, replace the prototype component in the design with the real one so players who are just getting started on a large construction project don't have many parts to track down and replace one by one.

I've added prototype components (see below). Not exactly as you specify above, but it achieves most of what you suggested. I'll look separately at allowing prototype components to use tech that has not yet been researched.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg119332#msg119332

EDIT: Here is prototypes for future tech

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg119338#msg119338

[sloanjh (OP)]

So I'm playing a game of 7.1, and caught myself doing the same thing over and over, that I've often done, but hardly ever think of.

When I am designing ships and technology, I create two techs for every single component design where its new to my current game or a different size/needs than prior parts have.  One is just a component like any other, used like any other, to be researched and produced as regular ship components.

The other is a "prototype" part, and under a house rule, is not produced, which I instant research, so it can be used to design with, I put "prototype" in front of the name to indicate that.

This lets me fully design a ship, missile, or turret all the way to the point of being able to produce it, without having to wait for potentially months or years of research to finish before I can find out I'm a dolt and need to rework my design.  I simply do not produce them until I have done the research on the parts along the way, but I gain the ability to spot the need to make changes before I have wasted the time researching them.

I'm sure many of us have been here before.  You want a new warship with a turreted weapon, lets say, gauss guns for PD.  You pick a type, research it.  Then you make the turret, research it.  Then you go to make the ship, and only one turret fits, two is so close but not quite—the crew (or reactors for other weapons) cost you too much.  You could wait for the slipway to be enlarged, in which case the ship will need new/more engines or be slower because its bigger.  Or you wait for a slightly smaller turret that will fit to be researched, say by reducing turret armor, or reducing the turret tracking speed by a small amount to shrink it a little bit.

Or you design a gauss gun, get the tech for it, have the tech available as a prototype component so you can design the turret, which itself is available as a prototype component, and see before any time is wasted researching components that it needs to be made a little smaller, change it, and then begin research with a workable turret.


So, the request, if we could get two things:

A new button in the research window, to generate a prototype part from a research project, which would work on any technology which generates a component - so all the racial techs and things like damage control, ecm, fuel tanks, etc.  Only current research prjects should be available for prototyping—if all you have is 10cm lasers, then no prototyping 80cm advanced spinals yet, but you could prototype a 12cm laser since its the next project in the laser line of techs, and would be a currently available research project.

When the associated technology completes which yields the component that the prototype is substituting for, replace the prototype component in the design with the real one so players who are just getting started on a large construction project don't have many parts to track down and replace one by one.

I've added prototype components (see below). Not exactly as you specify above, but it achieves most of what you suggested. I'll look separately at allowing prototype components to use tech that has not yet been researched.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg119332#msg119332

Was going to put this in the changes discussion, but I think it goes here better.  Suggestion:

Allow prototypes to be researched.

If you do this, then you can probably get away with eliminating the old "un-researched design" components.  Basically, the old distinction between un-researched designs and researched components gets captured in the prototype flag.  This would also ease the workflow for changing a prototype class design into a "real" design - the state of whether the ship design has a (P) is a dependent value (e.g. a Property with a non-trivial get function that looks at the rest of the state) - when the last (P) component in the design is researched the class design automagically loses its (P) and is available for retooling.

John

[Hazard]

Was going to put this in the changes discussion, but I think it goes here better.  Suggestion:

Allow prototypes to be researched.

If you do this, then you can probably get away with eliminating the old "un-researched design" components.  Basically, the old distinction between un-researched designs and researched components gets captured in the prototype flag.  This would also ease the workflow for changing a prototype class design into a "real" design - the state of whether the ship design has a (P) is a dependent value (e.g. a Property with a non-trivial get function that looks at the rest of the state) - when the last (P) component in the design is researched the class design automagically loses its (P) and is available for retooling.

John

Nothing automagical about that. Clearly, the design bureau has some clue about the specifications and expected results of the component design, so they put some place holders in the design and when the components were completed integrated them properly after some refinement.

[SerBeardian]

Not sure if already suggested, but something struck me while recording today's Hypetrain episode:

Ships should be able to alter priority on recharge for beam weapons in-flight (if they lack the power to recharge all weapons fully).

Unless it's been changed, weapons recharge in ascending power draw, but what if I have a 40cm laser with 8 draw and a bunch of 10cm lasers with 3 draw, and am up against an armored battleship? I don't really care about my 10cm guns and really need that 40cm laser recharging as top priority for the higher damage and penetrating hits.

If not already mentioned/implemented, I propose being able to set a recharge priority for cannons within the combat screen, with "ascending power draw" being the default for any weapons without priority assignment.

[Steve Walmsley]

Was going to put this in the changes discussion, but I think it goes here better.  Suggestion:

Allow prototypes to be researched.

If you do this, then you can probably get away with eliminating the old "un-researched design" components.  Basically, the old distinction between un-researched designs and researched components gets captured in the prototype flag.  This would also ease the workflow for changing a prototype class design into a "real" design - the state of whether the ship design has a (P) is a dependent value (e.g. a Property with a non-trivial get function that looks at the rest of the state) - when the last (P) component in the design is researched the class design automagically loses its (P) and is available for retooling.

John

I've implemented this suggestion:

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg119347#msg119347

[Jorgen_CAB]

A small suggestion for missile combat... I would like to see both a minimum and maximum range for PD fire-controls.

For missiles you might want to ignore salvos when they get too close and focus on salvos further out, especially if you have very strong beam PD and shields on your ships. I suppose this should not be too difficult to code.

Also a question... what are the target priority for missiles. Will they always target the closest missiles that have not the correct number of missiles or the ones furthest out. In general I think you would want the ones furthest out as otherwise you will tend to get bigger salvos for the PD to deal with if your AMM can't intercept everything. In general it probably is better that salvos hit sooner but at an average lower amount. Or perhaps make it a choice on the PD fire-control setting perhaps.

Perhaps also teach some AMM strategies for the AI as well so they don't drain their AMM stores unnecessarily too soon.

[MasonMac]

If not already added, how about having Training slowly decrease over time as "crew rotate out, get rusty, or die?" However, recent battles will slow down this descent for quite a while, until it again returns back to normal.

[Father Tim]

Also a question... what are the target priority for missiles. Will they always target the closest missiles that have not the correct number of missiles or the ones furthest out. In general I think you would want the ones furthest out as otherwise you will tend to get bigger salvos for the PD to deal with if your AMM can't intercept everything. In general it probably is better that salvos hit sooner but at an average lower amount. Or perhaps make it a choice on the PD fire-control setting perhaps.

About a month ago Steve changed PD to target the largest salvo first.

[MJOne]

If not already implemented, it would be handy to have ”quick info” and ”quick orders” to a selected fleet on the system map. Like set heading & speed, activate AS/shields, fuel/ammo status, something along those lines... perhaps by right-clicking a fleet a menu will appear so we don’t clutter the map.

And for the future it would be great if we could set a destination(Ex. 10 systems away) to the captain through a quick-order. Search bar, perhaps + pathfinding routine. Perhaps only for colonies with Space Ports. So to narrow the list and exclude clutter colonies.

When your empire is 150-200+ years old, it takes awhile just finding the right fleet and the right destination.

Just some thoughts....

[Steve Walmsley]

If not already implemented, it would be handy to have ”quick info” and ”quick orders” to a selected fleet on the system map. Like set heading & speed, activate AS/shields, fuel/ammo status, something along those lines... perhaps by right-clicking a fleet a menu will appear so we don’t clutter the map.

And for the future it would be great if we could set a destination(Ex. 10 systems away) to the captain through a quick-order. Search bar, perhaps + pathfinding routine. Perhaps only for colonies with Space Ports. So to narrow the list and exclude clutter colonies.

When your empire is 150-200+ years old, it takes awhile just finding the right fleet and the right destination.

Just some thoughts....

All of the above is already in, except for set heading/speed as Aurora doesn't really operate in that way. Although you can set waypoints instead.

As an example, here is Fleet Auto-Route
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg106871;topicseen#msg106871

I suggest reading through the changes list:
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.0