Change to Jump Point Survey

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

This is a change I have been meaning to make for a long time and finally got around to it. Back in the Starfire days of Yore I remember reading about the cut-off survey force in The Shiva Option, searching for jump points to escape the pursuing Bugs. On a hunch, the Admiral made a decision to search the inner system for a Type 7 Warp Point (which in Starfire were warp points close to the system primary) rather than taking the safer option of surveying the outer system. Just in time they found the jump point and managed to escape; at least for a few days anyway. There are a few other instances in the background and the books where survey forces searched a particular part of the system for a warp point. However, in the Starfire rules you had to survey the whole system first and then you learned about all the warp points at once so you could never replicate that situation in-game. Although Aurora uses different survey mechanics to Starfire, the principle of completing a whole system survey and then having all the jump points revealed at once is the same. At least for v4.26 it is

In v4.3, each jump point will be revealed when you survey the closest survey location to that particular jump point. This means you could find jump points at any point during a survey and you will be able to decide whether to investigate immediately or continue the survey. If two races are competing to survey a system, they may find different jump points at different times. It also means that if you suspect an alien race has entered the system in a particular area or maybe along a particular bearing, you will be able to survey the survey locations in that area in an attempt to find an entry jump point. Finally, you will be able to replicate the exploits of the Shiva Option survey force (in Aurora terms anyway) and find an escape route on a hunch without having to survey a whole system.

When you survey a location and find a jump point, the location will be passed along to any races with whom you have a grav survey treaty.

Steve

[welchbloke]

This is a change I have been meaning to make for a long time and finally got around to it. Back in the Starfire days of Yore I remember reading about the cut-off survey force in The Shiva Option, searching for jump points to escape the pursuing Bugs. On a hunch, the Admiral made a decision to search the inner system for a Type 7 Warp Point (which in Starfire were warp points close to the system primary) rather than taking the safer option of surveying the outer system. Just in time they found the jump point and managed to escape; at least for a few days anyway. There are a few other instances in the background and the books where survey forces searched a particular part of the system for a warp point. However, in the Starfire rules you had to survey the whole system first and then you learned about all the warp points at once so you could never replicate that situation in-game. Although Aurora uses different survey mechanics to Starfire, the principle of completing a whole system survey and then having all the jump points revealed at once is the same. At least for v4.26 it is

In v4.3, each jump point will be revealed when you survey the closest survey location to that particular jump point. This means you could find jump points at any point during a survey and you will be able to decide whether to investigate immediately or continue the survey. If two races are competing to survey a system, they may find different jump points at different times. It also means that if you suspect an alien race has entered the system in a particular area or maybe along a particular bearing, you will be able to survey the survey locations in that area in an attempt to find an entry jump point. Finally, you will be able to replicate the exploits of the Shiva Option survey force (in Aurora terms anyway) and find an escape route on a hunch without having to survey a whole system.

When you survey a location and find a jump point, the location will be passed along to any races with whom you have a grav survey treaty.

Steve

Steve, that is very cool.  Any news on when 4.3 might hit the streets?  Or are you still building up the stellar DB?

[James Patten]

I notice from time to time that some jump points have jump gates (left over from precursors I'd imagine).  Wouldn't it be relatively easy to detect the jump gate mechanics while you are surveying?  Although I realize space is big (really big) and the distances involved are rather substantial, wouldn't finely tuned gravitational anomaly detectors be able to more easily find a jump gate?  Also I wonder if you should allow general active or passive sensors to detect a jump gate if passing within a certain distance of it.

[Paul M]

An active jump gate would stand out plain as day as it would need to dump heat from its power systems via radiators of some sort or another, so it would be spotted on thermals at the very least.  A gate in use probably has an EM signature as well.  One left over from the precursers can assumed to be a cold chunk of metal.  However, a ship passing close to it should notice it.  An active scan would pick it up as well (since the gate is presumably large).

What thermal and EM levels to assign to a gate are good questions.  I would imagine 100-500 would make sense.  I would imagine the gate has a size for active sensors of 600 HS given it takes 6 modules and I think they are each about the equivelent to 100 HS aren't they?

I keep thinking of the jump gates from fading suns at the moment all decorated with gargoyles and such.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I notice from time to time that some jump points have jump gates (left over from precursors I'd imagine).  Wouldn't it be relatively easy to detect the jump gate mechanics while you are surveying?  Although I realize space is big (really big) and the distances involved are rather substantial, wouldn't finely tuned gravitational anomaly detectors be able to more easily find a jump gate?  Also I wonder if you should allow general active or passive sensors to detect a jump gate if passing within a certain distance of it.

The occasional random jump gates are abandoned precursor gates. You should be able to pick up jump gates on active sensors. If that isn't happening I need to check the code.

Steve

[Sotak246]

Love, this idea.  It has always bugged me a little that you had to finish the whole system survey to find all the JP.  I've always wanted the ability to escape a system like in the Shiva Option, just seems so cool.

[waresky]

Damn am lov'it!!!

Am remember a strugle for survey WHOLE systems..are very realistic.
Agree on that.

good work,more intriguing now travel in a unknow and ever a "KNOW" system...

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Based on playtest, I have modified the new v4.3 survey mechanics a little. When you survey a location, you detect any jump points that are closest to that location and are also closer to the star than the survey location.

This means a jump point could actually be closest to a location in the inner ring, although slightly further from the star, but but won't be discovered until the nearest location is surveyed in the second ring. Without the additional qualifier, the first two rings of survey locations would reveal most of the jump points and even the six locations in the inner ring would reveal a significant portion. The updated version feels a lot more realistic and reveals the jump points at a more consistent rate. Due to the generation mechanics for jump points, they will always lie inside the outer ring of survey locations.

The other result of playtest is that I can see that some systems may end up not being fully surveyed because the surveying ships get distracted into newly discovered jump points; which will lead to the situation mentioned in the Starfire novels where jump points are found later in the game within well-established systems because the initial survey was incomplete.

Steve

[ShadoCat]

I notice from time to time that some jump points have jump gates (left over from precursors I'd imagine).  Wouldn't it be relatively easy to detect the jump gate mechanics while you are surveying?  Although I realize space is big (really big) and the distances involved are rather substantial, wouldn't finely tuned gravitational anomaly detectors be able to more easily find a jump gate?  Also I wonder if you should allow general active or passive sensors to detect a jump gate if passing within a certain distance of it.

Gates are small and may not radiate much when not in use.  Think of the trouble of finding another ship in a system.  

I suppose you should be able to see it if you trip over it though.