Hmm. this spoils the surprise

[martinuzz (OP)]

I *think* I am about to have my first encounter with Precursors.
Since I'm still learning the game, I turned off Invaders, and Starswarm. I also set the number of NPR at start at zero. I do allow them to spawn when I discover systems though.
So far no luck, none of the systems I've entered so far, had any life. I found 1 lowsy alien ruin, with some robots who were soon decomissioned by my marines, but that was about all.

Just now, I found a jumpgate that I did not construct myself. Since there can be no NPR races in the game yet, I figure it will be a gate left by the precursors.

Now comes what spoils some of the surprise.
I enthousiastically opened the task group window, to order one of my scouts to fly by the planets in the system.
Then I noticed: When I clicked the inner planet, to order the scout to move there, I saw that in the possible commands, now appeared "refuel at colony", and "resupply at colony".

So bah
No more excitement factor of not knowing where exactly there's an alien colony in the system. The interface spoiled the surprise. Perhaps this should go in bug reports.

[welchbloke]

I *think* I am about to have my first encounter with Precursors.
Since I'm still learning the game, I turned off Invaders, and Starswarm. I also set the number of NPR at start at zero. I do allow them to spawn when I discover systems though.
So far no luck, none of the systems I've entered so far, had any life. I found 1 lowsy alien ruin, with some robots who were soon decomissioned by my marines, but that was about all.

Just now, I found a jumpgate that I did not construct myself. Since there can be no NPR races in the game yet, I figure it will be a gate left by the precursors.

Now comes what spoils some of the surprise.
I enthousiastically opened the task group window, to order one of my scouts to fly by the planets in the system.
Then I noticed: When I clicked the inner planet, to order the scout to move there, I saw that in the possible commands, now appeared "refuel at colony", and "resupply at colony".

So bah
No more excitement factor of not knowing where exactly there's an alien colony in the system. The interface spoiled the surprise. Perhaps this should go in bug reports.

That should only be an option when it one of your colonies.  Alien/Precursor colonies should not generate this order.  Have you found a Precursor colony on this planet?
Also, not all gates are left by Precursors and not all systems with gates will have Precursors in them.

[martinuzz (OP)]

It most certainly is not one of my colonies. I just entered this new system.

[martinuzz (OP)]

This is odd.
There are jumpgates in two more systems, linked to the system where I found the first jumpgate. However, the jumpgate path does not continue beyond that.

In two of these systems there are planets that my ships can be ordered to refuel or resupply from, just like the one I first reported.
However, there seems to be absolutely nothing on the planets. My scout, which has strenght 55 Thermal and strenght 70 EM passives, and a MR110-R50 active scanner, did not detect anything at all at any of those planets.

Who built those gates, and where did they go?
Like I said, there are no NPR yet in my galaxy. All systems I explored are fully surveyed, no NPR spawned so far.

[ZimRathbone]

Aurora is a random generated game, each system is only generated at the time that it  is first probed by someone.

Every time a system is created there is a chance that there will be ruins, precursors, jump gates etc created there.  There is however almost no causual links between systems (ie when exploring System 2 from System 1, what is in system 2 does not depend on what is in system 1).  There are two minor exeptions to this
(1) if a Jump gate is created at system generation, then whenever that jump point is explored there will be another Jumpgate at the other side ie  "Created" as opposed to player (or NPR) built jump gates are always effectivly paired.  

(2) Whenever a system is in a Nebula , any Jump Point probed has a higher chance than usual of ALSO leading to a system in a nebula.

So there's no particular logic in the game as to what may be next to you.  If however you're asking "what kind of story can I make up to explain these oddities" there's the old staple "Galactic War destroyed much of the jumpgate network, only a few isolated gates survived" or "The race of  Old Kings that was here decided that the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy was going to explode and left, taking their planet with them" or whatever a somewhat better imagination can come up with.

As to the planets that you can refuel from, are you sure that you haven't inadvertantly created 0 pop colonies there?  Actually come to think of it I'm not sure that you need a colony to issue the refuel order - you DO need it to action the order.  Unfortunately I just blew away my old campaign and setting up a new one so I'm not on the position to test this at the moment.

[martinuzz (OP)]

Ah, that explains the jumpgates, thanks.
I did some looking around. It seems, ALL bodies, except gas giants/ Super Jovians have the refuel/resupply command available. Guess it's normal.

[welchbloke]

"The race of  Old Kings that was here decided that the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy was going to explode and left, taking their planet with them" or whatever a somewhat better imagination can come up with.

Nice SFB link  

[boggo2300]

"The race of  Old Kings that was here decided that the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy was going to explode and left, taking their planet with them".

HEY!! a bit of prior warning if you're going to bring up SFB!!

Matt

[welchbloke]

"The race of  Old Kings that was here decided that the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy was going to explode and left, taking their planet with them".

HEY!! a bit of prior warning if you're going to bring up SFB!!

Matt

Jinx!

[boggo2300]

"The race of  Old Kings that was here decided that the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy was going to explode and left, taking their planet with them".

HEY!! a bit of prior warning if you're going to bring up SFB!!

Matt

Jinx!

lol

weird thing is, even though you posted 3 hours before me, your post didnt show for me until today

Honest

really

OK I admit it, I only ever played Klingons in SFB seeing things is highly suspect, and restricted to the convenient

Matt

[Erik L]

OK I admit it, I only ever played Klingons in SFB seeing things is highly suspect, and restricted to the convenient

Matt

ISC ftw! Nothing like a PPD barrage

[boggo2300]

ISC ftw! Nothing like a PPD barrage

Time to call out the Lyran allies then, ESG rams are too cool for school

Matt

[ZimRathbone]

My own prefernce is either Orions or Hydrans  (as some of my opponents have said neither really requires a lot of finesse, just good timing)

[Shinanygnz]

Hydrans or Feds for me.

Btw, I recently got back in to the whole SFU via Federation Commander.  For those who don't know, it's essentially SFB without the form filling.  
You get a bunch of energy at the start of the turn then decide how fast you're going (0, 8 16 or 24), and load any multi-turn weapons, and that's it.  The rest of the energy you spend during the turn to fire phasers, use transporters, speed up or slow down a hex, etc., etc. when you want to.
There's no ECM, carriers (except the Hydran hybrids), scouts and so forth (although these are planned to be added in the rather aptly named Borders of Madness expansion).  All drones are the same (type I for those in the know), so no spending ages deciding on load out.  Ships are fully refitted.  Only eight impulses and hence fire decisions.  Squadron and Fleet scales - sqdn is SFB ship, fleet is half size.  Shields leak (1 pt per volley if it's 10+ and the shield doesn't fall, ths applies to Andro PA panels too) & DAC is streamlined (1d6 roll on table deals with 10 points damage).  You can easily play a cruiser duel in 30 - 60 mins, even less if you roll as badly or well as we do.  The ship cards are laminated too, so it's wipe clean rather than find a photocopier.
With the recent War & Peace expansion, all the main races are now available too.
Briefing 2 had Middle Years ships (i.e. no refits), and is now available via e23.  There were no laminated cards in it (just a book) and rather than go to the expense and risk of producing them, ADB are now moving in to pdfs.  Hopefully we'll see more (like the Early Years) for FC there.

Highly recommended for all old SFBers (like me).
http://www.federationcommander.com/index.shtml
If you click the Free Demo link, you get a Fed CA and Klingon D7 and the basic rules as a pdf

Stephen

[welchbloke]

OK I admit it, I only ever played Klingons in SFB seeing things is highly suspect, and restricted to the convenient

Matt

ISC ftw! Nothing like a PPD barrage

ISC were always my favourites; I did have a soft spot for a good Fed fleet though.  Nothing like a Kaufman retrograde to upset someone's day