Author Topic: Newbie mechanics questions.  (Read 2886 times)

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Offline Zatsuza (OP)

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Newbie mechanics questions.
« on: March 02, 2013, 04:40:53 PM »
Hey again guys. I realise a lot of these questions might seem simple but trust me, I do have a good reason for asking them :P

1) Minaturized gauss cannons on fighters: Any use, or is the to hit multiplier so low it's not worth bothering? e.g, if I were to stick some of the absolute smallest would they be able to hit anything at all?

2) Point defence question. Single-turret or double/triple etc? would a quad turret be able to shoot down more missiles in a given salvo than a single turret, or would it be focusing all damage from the four cannons onto one missile in the salvo.

3) Again, point defence. Full sized gauss turrets better than a CIWS? of course, you could use manual control, but would the accuracy be a benefit?

4) Boarding question. How many enemy ship crewmen would a marine company be able to take out? I can see it depending on the ground strength research of each empire, but if both tech levels were the same?

I've forgotten quite a few, so I'll leave it at this for now.
 

Offline telegraph

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2013, 04:51:28 PM »
1. No idea, but that is what I am going to try. I believe that to-hit malus from cannon size and FC will be somewhat offset by crew grade and commander fighter bonus. I have not seen any numbers regarding crew grade input though, so I will see how good will it work.

2. It targets salvo, so the more guns you have - the more misslile in a salvo you will be able to hit. if you are being targeted with multiple salvos with synchronizaed time-on-target - you will have to throw in more FCs.
 

Offline TheDeadlyShoe

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2013, 05:21:12 PM »
1.)  They can be useful, but it all depends on the design.  Bear in mind that beam fighters still suffer from the limitations of beam warships; missiles are the primary warship armament for deep space combat. 

2.) It all comes down to technology and doctrine, though most favor triple and quad mounts when it comes to gauss weapons. 

3.) CIWS only defends the ship it is on, and you only get a 50% size reduction.  CIWS fills a very specific role: missile defence for commercial vessels and large, particularly valuable ships.  In terms of point defence, you will always be better off with actual gauss turrets as they are mutually supporting.    Or to put it another way: CIWS is twice as good as gauss pd when you only have 1 ship, about the same when you have 2, and worse in every way if you have 3 or more.     You will almost always have 3 or more.   

4.) It takes about 400 crew to be = to a marine company.  It takes a pretty large ship to have 400 crew in the current version though :)

you can see boarding combat information here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,1680.0.html
« Last Edit: March 02, 2013, 05:32:12 PM by TheDeadlyShoe »
 

Offline Zatsuza (OP)

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2013, 06:13:14 PM »
Again, thanks both of you  ;D

One last question for today: Where can I see the civilian shipping line ship designs? I know steve said they'd make their own craft but they're only making freighters that can haul 10 units of infrastructure at a time.
 

Offline Conscript Gary

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2013, 06:15:52 PM »
Bottom left of the Class Design window has a 'Show Civilian Designs' checkbox
 

Offline telegraph

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2013, 06:16:54 PM »
You can see design summary at Fast OOB view. You can actually add a civilian ship for your fleet or add military ship to civilian fleet there.
 

Offline Zatsuza (OP)

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2013, 05:28:11 AM »
Bottom left of the Class Design window has a 'Show Civilian Designs' checkbox
I think it's this, but I'm still not seeing the designs made by the shipping lines. Just to be sure I've obsoleted all of my old designs and made new ones, now I have better engine tech.

Another few question for today ;D

-- Can you give me a simple step by step tutorial on how to make both a bouy and a drone.

I've got standard missiles sorted and I think I understand drones but I'm still unsure-- and seeing a floating-point number in the reactor spot really messes with me. As for drones, I can't figure out how to get to the point where they have the fixed manouvre rating.

Also for sensors on missiles-- can anyone recommend a good size or resolution? It looks like they'd only be feasable on size 6 missiles and up.
 

Offline Conscript Gary

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2013, 05:45:46 AM »
Oop, sounds like you're looking at outdated sections of the wiki (I need to remember to ask about an account on ther).
I recommend looking at the change for v6.00 thread in the mechanics section to cover engine design and crew morale, but I'll quote the bits relevant to buoys and drones.

Quote
There are no longer missiles, drones and buoys. There are simply missiles. The flexibility in the new missile design process will allow you to cover the abilities of all three previous missile categories. The drone engine tech progression has been removed.

Missile sensors must be powered. The power requirement for any sensor is equal to its 20% of the sensor strength. So one missile size point (MSP = 1/20th of a HS) allocated to an EM Sensor using a base EM sensor strength of 8 would result in an EM sensor strength of 0.4 (8/20). This would require a reactor with a power output of 0.08 (0.4/5). The reactor space is allocated automatically but displayed as if it was added by the player. Ship-based sensors do not require reactors as their needs can be met from the general power generation of the ship. On a per HS basis, passive sensors are much less powerful than active sensors at the same tech level, which means missiles will require less reactor space per MSP of passive sensors compared to active sensors.

There is no longer a separate 'buoy' category but you can create the same effect by designing a missile with sensors and no engine. The necessary reactor space will be added automatically. Missile reactors have unlimited endurance so there will no longer be a need to replace buoys every few years. While unlimited endurance is unrealistic, modern naval reactors have a service life measured in decades so this is a compromise between realism and a desire to reduce micromanagement. I may add some form of failure during very long term deployment - a failing IFF system on a mine could be entertaining - but I haven't decided yet.

You can create a single stage missile with both an engine and a reactor, which means you can create a self-deploying 'buoy' without the need for a two stage missile, although there are situations in which you might still use a two-stage missile anyway.

...

Missiles that have sensors will now remain on the map forever, with two exceptions:

a) If a missile has geo sensors and no other type of sensor, it will self-destruct when the geosurvey of its target planet is completed.
b) If a missile has a warhead, it will self-destruct when its fuel runs out.
 

Offline Zatsuza (OP)

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2013, 06:01:14 AM »
Oop, sounds like you're looking at outdated sections of the wiki (I need to remember to ask about an account on ther).
I recommend looking at the change for v6.00 thread in the mechanics section to cover engine design and crew morale, but I'll quote the bits relevant to buoys and drones.


once again, thanks for the help man-- and yes, most of my information does come from the wiki. didn't realize it was quite this outdated before.

 It's the toggle info button on the missile/bouy design page, it still refers to drones so it confused me.
well, back to colonizing Alpha centauri. ;D
 

Offline Zatsuza (OP)

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2013, 12:39:26 PM »
Alright another question. :-X
Code: [Select]
30ECM, 1200 thermal, 1200 cross section Estimated 60kt. shield strength 18000-- looks like 600 shield points.
1000km/s.
x18 2RoF Meson turrets.

Five carriers just warped into sol from the third system I explored 21 years into the game. Didn't launch missiles, rammed my jump scout to death after I evacuated it back to earth (as in, they came to earth looking neutral, get to earth, ram my jumpship to death and then launch fighters.)
Fighters are all 9999km/s 1 Meson gunners.

Intelligence screen shows them with the swarm picture and they're austrailian-themed. Did not detect any large colonies in the target system.

So, NPR-- Precursor or Swarm?
 

Offline Conscript Gary

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2013, 01:25:23 PM »
Yup, you've got a swarm on your hands
 

Offline boggo2300

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2013, 03:01:36 PM »
Five carriers just warped into sol from the third system I explored 21 years into the game. Didn't launch missiles, rammed my jump scout to death after I evacuated it back to earth (as in, they came to earth looking neutral, get to earth, ram my jumpship to death and then launch fighters.)
Fighters are all 9999km/s 1 Meson gunners.

Intelligence screen shows them with the swarm picture and they're austrailian-themed. Did not detect any large colonies in the target system.

So, NPR-- Precursor or Swarm?

Strewth Cobber,  you're about to be busier than a 1 legged man in an @^$! kicking contest!
The boggosity of the universe tends towards maximum.
 

Offline Garfunkel

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2013, 11:24:34 AM »
Alright another question. :-X
Code: [Select]
30ECM, 1200 thermal, 1200 cross section Estimated 60kt. shield strength 18000-- looks like 600 shield points.
1000km/s.
x18 2RoF Meson turrets.

Five carriers just warped into sol from the third system I explored 21 years into the game. Didn't launch missiles, rammed my jump scout to death after I evacuated it back to earth (as in, they came to earth looking neutral, get to earth, ram my jumpship to death and then launch fighters.)
Fighters are all 9999km/s 1 Meson gunners.

Intelligence screen shows them with the swarm picture and they're austrailian-themed. Did not detect any large colonies in the target system.
Oh, how I would love for that to happen to me in-game. Sol has never been invaded, even though I always prepare for it!
 

Offline Konisforce

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2013, 11:52:16 AM »
4) Boarding question. How many enemy ship crewmen would a marine company be able to take out? I can see it depending on the ground strength research of each empire, but if both tech levels were the same?

Note of warning here if you haven't found it already - Marine Company is about = to 400 crew, like the Deadliest Shoe said, but getting a whole Marine Company over to the other ship is hard.  IIRC (it's in a thread somewhere) you need your boarding ship to be going 20x the speed of the other ship to be guaranteed a 100% success rate of boarders hitting the other ship.  Expect to lose 50% to 75% before you get in the door, even if you build dedicated assault shuttles.
Come take a look at Victoria Regina, an old-timey AAR
 

Offline Garfunkel

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Re: Newbie mechanics questions.
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2013, 12:05:11 PM »
No, to guarantee 100% success when transferring the Marines, you need to have 10.000 km/sec speed advantage - unless version 6+ changed it.