Class Design For Dummies...

[Jarhead0331 (OP)]

I am slowly learning this game...the tutorials that exist, I find, are quasi-adequate until you start designing ships.  I mean, I say this with the most respect, but tutorial number 3 is more useless than breasts on a nun.  It doesn't explain the UI at all.  It essentially just says, "these are my designs" but it fails to explain how you even develop the class so you can actually start designing the vessel.  I've been tinkering with the F5 menu, but I'm not making much progress.  Everytime I click on the 'new' button in the bottom, it just creates the same basic cruiser class vessel.

Can one of you pros please create a step-by-step tutorial on how to design classes and individual ships...if this has already been done, please point me in the right direction.

I'm not trying to be a pain in the behind, but as I've already expressed to Steve in another forum, the lack of a manual in a game this complex is severely hampering the growth of this great game's community.  Speaking personally, I'm no stranger to a steep learning curve...after all, I used to fly Falcon...but without proper instructions/manuals, the learning curve on Aurora is not steep...its a friggin' brick wall.

Semper Fi

[lakers1]

I am slowly learning this game...the tutorials that exist, I find, are quasi-adequate until you start designing ships.  I mean, I say this with the most respect, but tutorial number 3 is more useless than breasts on a nun.  It doesn't explain the UI at all.  It essentially just says, "these are my designs" but it fails to explain how you even develop the class so you can actually start designing the vessel.  I've been tinkering with the F5 menu, but I'm not making much progress.  Everytime I click on the 'new' button in the bottom, it just creates the same basic cruiser class vessel.

Can one of you pros please create a step-by-step tutorial on how to design classes and individual ships...if this has already been done, please point me in the right direction.

I'm not trying to be a pain in the behind, but as I've already expressed to Steve in another forum, the lack of a manual in a game this complex is severely hampering the growth of this great game's community.  Speaking personally, I'm no stranger to a steep learning curve...after all, I used to fly Falcon...but without proper instructions/manuals, the learning curve on Aurora is not steep...its a friggin' brick wall.

Semper Fi

Agree totally with Jarhead's sentiments.

I discovered this (what seems like) great game a couple of days ago. I am not at all used to this sort of game but there is something incredibly compelling about it and I have surprised myself with what I have been able to figure out so far. But I too am struggling big time with the class design.

Thanks in advance for any help

[Erik L]

Re-reading the Tutorial 3, it is woefully out of date. Prior to building ships, you need to develop the technology. This should be covered in the thread titled Tutorial 2. Steve is in the process of updating the tutorials, and his method is more inclusive than the one I took.

A general flow of the pre-game setup is create race/system (covered in Steve's tutorial part 1). Allocate research (either randomly or by design). This should be in Tutorial 2 (not Steve's). For new players I would suggest random for the first few games until you've gotten a feel for what the tech areas relate to. After you've allocated research areas, you need to create the tech items. This is accomplished on the same screen as research (F2, Research tab). There should be a button called "Design" (or something like that). This allows you to go through each major section and create the components that are installed onto the ships. Make sure you create something for each area that you can. After this, you need to either research the components, or use the SM Mode to automatically give yourself the components.

Now, you get to design a ship. The first portion, asking about how you plan on using the ship I feel is still relevant to ship design. However, in Aurora if you get 4 players together and ask "Design me a missile cruiser", you'll get 8 different designs. Ship design is more of an art than a science in Aurora.

I hope this helps somewhat, and I realize it does not include any screenshots, but I've been up all night working on the wiki backend.

I'm unsure if there are any screenshots in the gallery for ship design. I would check there first.

[Jarhead0331 (OP)]

Erik...thanks for your efforts.

I think what I'm struggling with is the lack of information on the user interface.  Having been a sci-fi/naval enthusiast since I was a zygote, I'm well versed (I think) in the "art" of ship design.  My problem is that the instructions available for ship design (indeed many things in this game) start at 'A' and jump straight to 'Y' or 'Z'...we're missing all the in-between.  I've managed to work my way successfully (I think) from game creation through to research.  When I say this, I've learned how to automatically distribute my starting research points and 'gift' starting racial techs to my people.  Its my understanding that with all the racial techs, I will have all the basic components to start building my first vessels...is this an accurate assessment?  The available techs seem to be pretty thorough, I'm not sure why one would need to create/design any new research projects at the beginning of the game, but I digress.

So assuming you have the necessary tech, assuming you have the necessary shipyards with the necessary slipways, and assuming you've asked yourself all those questions about what kind of ship you want to build, now you're ready to start designing ships in new game, but what the heck comes next?  This is what I think we're all looking for in terms of step by step class design instructions.  

ie.  Step 1 - Hit F5...this takes you to the class design interface.  On the left side of the screen you'll notice 'x', 'y' and 'z'...this controls 'a', 'b' and 'c'.  In the middle of the screen is the 'n' and 'm', and on the right is the 'p', 'q' and 'r' buttons.  On the bottom are the controls for 'd', 'e' and 'f'.  'd', does this, 'e' does that and 'f' is important for 'blank'.

     Step 2 - Begin creating a new class  by clicking the 'New' button on the bottom left of the interface...next...etc. etc.

I hope this clears up what is...uhhh...unclear, so to speak.  I have looked at screen shots, but most of them have no explanation.  Just screen shots...unfortunately, like out of date, rudimentary instructions, these are pretty useless.

Again, thanks for the patience of those in the know.  I'm a stubborn SOB and intend to master this game.  I suspect many people start, are overwhelmed and then quit. I'm a former Marine...I do not quit.  So I'm sorry my annoying inquiries are here to stay.  My wish/goal is to master this game and help create a comprehensive, user-friendly instruction manual...with the permission of the powers that be, of course.

S/F

[laz]

Like others on here I too have been struggling my way through learning the game. However last night I did manage to get a knack of how the design process works and developed several designs for Geo survey, Grav survey, Asteroid mining and jump ships. My main questions for this game are the economic side what kind of strategy for expansion into other star systems or colonies you need to consider.

In my game setup i started with no random tech point distribution because i want to learn the tech as i develop it.

Basically you need to research an engine type. This represents scientists learning the technique/method of propulsion so usually its nuclear-pulsed engines, a more advanced propuslion is the Ion engine. Once you have this researched you have to design the COMPONENT first and you access this through the design button on the industry/research window at the bottom. You also have seperate design menues for turrets and missiles.

When you design the component (in this case the engine) if you've researched more efficient fuel use or power output or creating more compact forms of the engine they are all available to you. You can also choose to create a civilian version or a military version of the engine. Civilian means the component is less expensive, less efficient and available to the public not just your government. I haven't really explored that side of things but apparently you can have indepdent civilian traders going around? but ive not got that far yet to know how that works. Also bare in mind you have either civilian or naval shipyards. In my startup I only have one naval yard the rest are commercial. If you have a ship with ANY component that is military it can only be built at a shipyard designated naval. (N on the shipyard tab)

Once you click create the component is now listed in the research screen under whatever tech it originates from (sensors/fire control are in sensors, Engines/reactors are in power etc) You now have to RESEARCH the COMPONENT. So this represents a prototype being created and tested in laboratory settings and tooling up industry to produce the component i guess.

When you design a ship and click new you will have the generic template of a basic layout already put in place (crew quarters, bridge, engineering etc) you can get rid of these default parts if you've researched smaller crew quarters for example and your creating a small design or a fighter.

On the left hand side is a summary of the crafts statistics such as the engine output the energy needs and how many crew can be sustained. It won't let you put the design into production if you can't sustain the crew for example.

You add an engine to give a craft its speed measured in KM/s
You add fuel storage to give it a greater fuel tank, longer range before refuelling at a colony unless you have the tech to refuel from gas giants or refuel ships or bases.
You add a reactor to give a craft energy, Engines give you a small amount. I found I didn't really need reactors early on unless your building energy based weapons (lasers etc)
You add maintainence storage for more spare parts for the crew to fix the ship while in deep space.

The more you add components the bigger the ship becomes, the more it costs in minerals to produce.
If the ships mass exceeds your shipyards slipway capacity then its too big for you to build bare in mind as well you usually have only one "NAVAL" ship yard the rest are commercial shipyards

In the design screen you can filter commercial components only to prevent this happening.

There are 3 other tabs in the design screen one lists ordance/smaller craft this is if your building a ship that requires ammunition or fighters and basically how you store them etc not really explored it much
Theres another for designating what kind of officer commands the ship (I think?)
Another is a list of components and the 4th one is the summary of the ship

When you have a design ready to go you LOCK the design and it becomes ready to be built. To build one you have to re-tool your shipyard to build the design. Once the shipyard is retooled it can build as many ships at once as you have slipways. I.e. mine has 3 slipways so I can build three ships of the same class at once.

When your ships are built they go into the shipyards  task force and you can organise them from there. Going off topic if i go into that side of things

[Steve Walmsley]

Again, thanks for the patience of those in the know.  I'm a stubborn SOB and intend to master this game.  I suspect many people start, are overwhelmed and then quit. I'm a former Marine...I do not quit.  So I'm sorry my annoying inquiries are here to stay.  My wish/goal is to master this game and help create a comprehensive, user-friendly instruction manual...with the permission of the powers that be, of course.

I am working on a tutorial for class design at the moment. I will post it in a hour or two. Your inquiries and obvious desire for more detailed information have actually got me off my butt and creating a proper tutorial so many thanks from me and probably from a lot of other people!

Steve

[Jarhead0331 (OP)]

I am working on a tutorial for class design at the moment. I will post it in a hour or two. Your inquiries and obvious desire for more detailed information have actually got me off my butt and creating a proper tutorial so many thanks from me and probably from a lot of other people!

Steve

Bravo! You rock the party that rocks the party...

As an aside, I've always been an excellent motivator!

[Steve Walmsley]

The basic class design tutorial is up in the Tutorial thread

Steve

[Erik L]

The basic class design tutorial is up in the Tutorial thread

Steve

And updated to the Wiki.

[ussdefiant]

A question that could probably stand to be covered: Just what determines what classes you can build on any particular slipway once it's been tooled up? Less than 10% of the parts being different or something?

[Steve Walmsley]

A question that could probably stand to be covered: Just what determines what classes you can build on any particular slipway once it's been tooled up? Less than 10% of the parts being different or something?

You can build any class to which you could refit the current class for less than 20% of the current class build cost.

Steve

[waresky]

Welcome to all into this Crazyest Dream Game made ever before:).

months by months everyone can advance into knowest procedure..

errr..apologies for my bad english..but at last: Welcome:)

[laz]

Can I have some feedback on my first military ship. Its intended to guard my colonies near Earth not going off into deep space pursuing enemies.

Repulse class Frigate    8600 tons     745 Crew     931.4 BP      TCS 172  TH 300  EM 60
2325 km/s     Armour 4-37     Shields 2-450     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 11     PPV 62
Annual Failure Rate: 591%    IFR: 8.2%    Maintenance Capacity 1068 MSP    Max Repair 86 MSP

Tokamak Pulsed Nuclear Engine (10)    Power 40    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 30    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 800,000 Litres    Range 167.4 billion km   (833 days at full power)
Beta R450/15 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  15 Litres per day

Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 4-1     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Twin Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser Turret (2x2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 8-2     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Zulu Series Ion Torpedo Mk2  (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 7-1    ROF 35        3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Samsung Precision Beam Control (2)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
Nissan Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  (2)     Total Power Output 9    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor S5-R1 (1)     GPS 5     Range 50k km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH0.33-1 (1)     Sensitivity 1     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  1m km

[Steve Walmsley]

Can I have some feedback on my first military ship. Its intended to guard my colonies near Earth not going off into deep space pursuing enemies.

Repulse class Frigate    8600 tons     745 Crew     931.4 BP      TCS 172  TH 300  EM 60
2325 km/s     Armour 4-37     Shields 2-450     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 11     PPV 62
Annual Failure Rate: 591%    IFR: 8.2%    Maintenance Capacity 1068 MSP    Max Repair 86 MSP

Tokamak Pulsed Nuclear Engine (10)    Power 40    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 30    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 800,000 Litres    Range 167.4 billion km   (833 days at full power)
Beta R450/15 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  15 Litres per day

Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 4-1     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Twin Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser Turret (2x2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 8-2     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Zulu Series Ion Torpedo Mk2  (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 7-1    ROF 35        3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Samsung Precision Beam Control (2)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
Nissan Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  (2)     Total Power Output 9    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor S5-R1 (1)     GPS 5     Range 50k km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH0.33-1 (1)     Sensitivity 1     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  1m km

A good idea for displaying ships is to use the code brackets so the forum software doesn't wipe out a lot of the spaces that make the design more readable. Like this:

Code: [Select]

Repulse class Frigate    8600 tons     745 Crew     931.4 BP      TCS 172  TH 300  EM 60
2325 km/s     Armour 4-37     Shields 2-450     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 11     PPV 62
Annual Failure Rate: 591%    IFR: 8.2%    Maintenance Capacity 1068 MSP    Max Repair 86 MSP

Tokamak Pulsed Nuclear Engine (10)    Power 40    Fuel Use 100%    Signature 30    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 800,000 Litres    Range 167.4 billion km   (833 days at full power)
Beta R450/15 Shields (1)   Total Fuel Cost  15 Litres per day

Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 4-1     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Twin Sovetsky Series 12cm Ultraviolet Laser Turret (2x2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 8-2     RM 3    ROF 20        4 4 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0
Zulu Series Ion Torpedo Mk2  (2)    Range 64,000km     TS: 3000 km/s     Power 7-1    ROF 35        3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Samsung Precision Beam Control (2)    Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 3000 km/s     84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
Nissan Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  (2)     Total Power Output 9    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor S5-R1 (1)     GPS 5     Range 50k km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH0.33-1 (1)     Sensitivity 1     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  1m km
It looks like a pretty good attempt for your first one. Ship design in Aurora is not easy and publishing your designs is a great way to get feedback and learn. Please bear in mind that some responses will just list their ideas of how a design can be improved and it may look like criticism but people are just trying to help.

The ways I would suggest you could improve the design are as follows:

Every ship has an inherent thermal and EM sensor strength of 1, so you could either remove the strength-1 thermal sensor or make it larger so it improves on the ship's inherent rating.

A single shield with a strength of 2 will only prevent one hit, or part of one hit. Any shields are still useful but you might want to consider their overall strength. A lot of my own designs don't even bother with shields until higher tech levels. Armour level is fine.

You have some lasers and torpedoes with a tracking speed of 3000 km/s and you have a matching fire control with a tracking speed of 3000 km/s which is great. However, you also have lasers in a turret with a tracking speed of 10,000 km/s. If you link them to the existing fire control, you will lose the benefit of this high tracking speed because the tracking speed used in combat is the lower value of the weapon and the associated fire control system. You can create high speed beam fire controls by selecting the various options on the Fire Control Size vs Tracking Speed dropdown. A beam fire control with both long range and high tracking speed would be very large so beam fire controls are often specialised for one or the other. High tracking speeds for weapons and beam fire controls are necessary if you want to engage fast targets, such as missiles, with beam weapons

I am just guessing here but it looks like you went for perhaps just one or two engineering spaces and added a maintenance storage bay. Engineering spaces don't use hold maintenance, they also reduce the chance of system failure so it would probably be best to remove the storage bay and add more engineering spaces. The maintenance storage bay is more appropriate for supply ships or perhaps a jump cruiser filled with extra fuel and maintenance to it can act as a support ship.

Finally, the active sensor only has a range of 50k. The resolution means it can track missiles so that would be fine if the ship is intended to tackle missiles as part of a fleet. For independent operations, you will need a long range sensor as well. If you create a sensor with a larger resolution it will be able to see a lot further. For example, a resolution 100 sensor of the same size would have a range of five million kilometers. You probably should try and make it larger as well so you can get the range out to perhaps 30-40 million km at least.

Steve

[Charlie Beeler]

Steve's observations are bang-on.  

Here are some of the things that I notice.

You've installed 6 beam weapons in pairs of 3 different types but only 2 beam fire controls.  I'd at least at a third so that each weapon type pair can be assigned to an FC and reduce the need to switch assignments during battle.

Your capacitors are limiting your rate of fire (ROF) severly.  The capacitor assigned during weapon build dictates how much power the weapon can store during a 5sec cycle.  So your lasers are 4-1 meaning that they require a total of 4 power stored before firing but can only store 1 per 5sec cycle giving you a 20sec cycle ROF.  

2 reactors that generate 9 points each for a total 18 points per 5sec cycle.  The beams only need 8 points per cycle.  Assuming that this was for redundency.  

My suggestion is to cut back to 1 offensive weapon type (2 or 3 mounted) with single FC (maybe a second for battle damage redundancy) and add CIWS if available.  Down grade the reactor size so that 1 reactor can supply a single mount and then add a needed to supply all mounts with maybe an extra 1 or 2 for bdr.

The fuel capacity and beams tend to support extended long range patrol.  But that is more of a personal flavor thing.

The armor belt is actually fairly good for the ship size.  I'd drop the single shield generator though, as Steve points out it only stops a single hit and not a very big one.