Author Topic: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses (Read 4509 times)

Iestwyn · « **on:** November 27, 2020, 02:22:47 PM »

Definitely not an Aurora expert here, but I thought I could offer something that might help newer players. If you're like me, one of the more intimidating aspects of the game is the variety of trans-newtonian minerals (TNMs) and all their uses. It took me way too long to learn what each one was for, and how important each was (and then things got switched up a bit when we moved to C#, but that's a whole other thing).

I wanted to share the uses of each mineral (both the ones that make sense with their theme and the ones that are a bit unusual) and how I remember them. If I get something wrong here, please let me know and I'll edit this post (especially the mnemonics).

Duranium
Mnemonic - "Durable"
Uses - Almost everything; getting low on Duranium is one of the most crippling shortages in Aurora
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Neutronium
Mnemonic - "Neutron star," the densest substance known to man
Uses - Heavy industry like shipyards, construction, maintenance, mass drivers
Unusual Uses - Damage control, railguns, and troop transport components
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Corbomite
Mnemonic - "Cordon right," someone setting up cordons to direct crowds at an event
Uses - Installations and components that control the flow of resources: cargo, finances, command and control, cloaking and ECM/ECCM, etc.
Unusual Uses - Genetic modification centers, shields
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Tritanium
Mnemonic - "Trident," a thrown three-pronged spear for fishing
Uses - Missiles
Unusual Uses - Military academies and recreational modules (what do these people do for fun???)
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Boronide
Mnemonic - "Turn on"
Uses - Anything that involves a lot of power; terraforming, spaceports, cargo/fuel/ordnance stations, energy weapons, power plants
Unusual Uses - Naval headquarters and sector command, fuel storage, recreational module (again, what're they doing in there??)
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Mercassium
Mnemonic - "Your catch? Yum!" Terrible, but meant to sound like people enjoying the rewards of a fishing trip
Uses - Life support and biology, such as infrastructure, genetic modification centers, research facilities, cryogenic transports, crew quarters, etc.
Unusual Uses - Tractor beams, sector commands
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Vendarite
Mnemonic - "Defender," a guardian
Uses - Fighter and ground unit production (as well as other small trans-newtonian vehicles, like cargo shuttles)
Unusual Uses - Gauss cannon
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Sorium
Mnemonic - "Soaring"
Uses - Starship fuel and jump technology
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Uridium
Mnemonic - "You reading 'em?," a sensors officer surprised at what he's seeing
Uses - All sensors, including those for scanning the interior of one's ship (damage control) and deep space (tracking stations, military commands, naval HQs, diplomacy modules)
Unusual Uses - Maintenance supplies
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Corundium
Mnemonic - "Core under 'em"
Uses - Mining installations/modules and energy weapons (suggesting that mining in Aurora is done with energy tech)
Unusual Uses - Military academy
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Gallicite
Mnemonic - "Gallop," like horsepower
Uses - Engines for both ships and missiles
Unusual Uses - Maintenance supplies
All Uses -

Off-Topic: show

Parting note: While using Duranium, Uridium, and Gallicite for maintenance supplies technically ignores many of the minerals involved in ship construction, it still makes sense because they're the most common minerals used. It's simplified to preserve sanity.

And there we go! Please let me know if I got anything wrong or if you have a better idea for anything.

xenoscepter · « **Reply #1 on:** November 27, 2020, 03:50:38 PM »

- I've always read Tritanium as "Tri-titanium" or, "This is stuff is like Titanium, but like... at least three times as strong. At least." Good for missiles since they would conceivably have poorer cooling systems then ships, and Titanium is known for it's ductility. Furtherore Tritanium reminds me of the pilot episode of Megas XLR where the future lady states that their mechs armor is made of the latest Tritanium alloy. I believe Tritanium was mentioned in Star Trek as well at some point, but don't quote me on that. At any rate Dilithium was used in powerful warheads, so maybe Steve used Tri-tanium instead of Di-lithium because plagiarism is for tossers.

- I've always remembered Boronide as a play on Boron. I just did a quick glance at wikipediea ad it turns out that Boron has applications in semiconducters, nuclear shielding, magnets and metallurgy. Neat.

I've remembered Corundium as Corundum, which a quick google search turns up as being used in grinding wheels and glass cutters. I always saw Uridium as Urea, but that's because I have the comedic maturity of a 12 year old.

RougeNPS · « **Reply #2 on:** November 27, 2020, 07:55:15 PM »

Lol. I remember them by some of the more common materials in Star Wars since i play this game like the Galactic Empire.

DIT_grue · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:40:30 AM »

Huh. I've never set out to create mnemonics, though I did try the same exercise of putting together all their uses so as to work out their themes back in VB6 days. I associate Mercassium with Maxwell's demon (probably because of the campaign I was putting together at the time), which stretches its theme a little wider.

Wouldn't "gallop" be a better base for a gallicite mnemonic?

I strongly disagree that Maintenance supplies are an unusual use; the reason those elements were chosen, and the proportions they are consumed in, are deliberately intended to reflect the usage of spare parts that MSP are an abstract representation of. (So just as "Ordnance (engines)" are in-theme for gallicite, so are "spare parts (engines)"; and similarly for uridium in sensors.)

Iestwyn · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2020, 02:38:25 AM »

Gallop would make MUCH more sense; thanks!

Using those minerals for MSP is odd in my opinion because it seems so divorced from what they're used for. If a ship lacked sensors, it would use the same supplies; at the same time, many compliments which use other minerals would apparently be forced to be repaired by the same supplies. A laser, which uses Boronide and Corundium, would surely be repaired with those same minerals, right?

Steve Walmsley · « **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2020, 05:30:52 AM »

Quote from: Iestwyn on November 28, 2020, 02:38:25 AM

Gallop would make MUCH more sense; thanks!

Using those minerals for MSP is odd in my opinion because it seems so divorced from what they're used for. If a ship lacked sensors, it would use the same supplies; at the same time, many compliments which use other minerals would apparently be forced to be repaired by the same supplies. A laser, which uses Boronide and Corundium, would surely be repaired with those same minerals, right?

Duranium, Gallicite and Uridium are used for MSP because they are the most common materials in ship construction.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg116381;topicseen#msg116381

Zap0 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 28, 2020, 05:48:27 AM »

It used to be the case that the passive maintenance draw of ships was actually dependent on the costs of a ship, a ship with big lasers would use lots of Corundium and stations no Gallicite. The thing was that that made establishing far-off maintenance points ass to manage as microing 11 types of minerals that get consumed at different rates was annoying. A single MSP pool is much easier to manage, but I also gripe about their generalized cost sometimes.

My mental image of Tritanium is not that of a material for warheads as it seems to be implied in Aurora. Tritanium is an especially strong, but relatively rare/expensive to manufacture metal alloy used for high-performance structures - like torpedo casings that must be able to withstand great speeds. It's used in ordnance factories because you need very strong and durable precision manufacturing tools to work it which are, in turn, also made from Tritanium.

Generally I associate different colors and different qualities with the minerals.

Duranium is a lighter grey or silver, as it's a basic steel-like material.
Neutronium is a dark grey. It's a hard and brittle material used for massive industrial superstructures like shipyards.
Corbomite is a shining white or almost white substance for CnC functions. FTL communication maybe?
Tritanium is a strong orange-brown metal alloy for military high-performance structures.
Boronide is a dull lighter green material used for mediating power flows, such as in fuel tanks, reactors or civilian anti-grav infrastructure.
Mercassium
Vendarite is a strong dark purple/blueish metal, but not quite as strong or easy to work as duranium or neutronium. It's used for ground unit equipment because, unlike duranium, neutronium or tritanium especially, it or it's alloys are not poisonous to humans and therefore suited for military equipment in direct contact with squishy biological creatures.
Sorium is a white powder, in it's solid form, and has a very high energy density.
Uridium is a bright green mineral used for high-performance TN computers, such as those required to filter out faint ship signatures from raw sensor data or calculate firing solutions in extremely fast and extremely long range (10k km is the minimum range!) space battles.
Corundium is a slightly orange yellow crystalline structure used in both military and mining lasers.
Gallicite is everyone's favorite dark green engine mineral. It's the only substance with the right characteristics able to handle the strong energy flows needed for creating the energy fields involved in Aether propulsion. Larger and efficient engines can distribute the energy flow over more area and material and can stretch the Gallicite with other, cheaper materials. A smaller or boosted military engines require smaller coils or stronger energy flows and need to be made out of a much higher Gallicite concentration.

Iestwyn · « **Reply #7 on:** November 28, 2020, 07:38:32 AM »

Quote from: Steve Walmsley on November 28, 2020, 05:30:52 AM

Quote from: Iestwyn on November 28, 2020, 02:38:25 AM
Gallop would make MUCH more sense; thanks!

Using those minerals for MSP is odd in my opinion because it seems so divorced from what they're used for. If a ship lacked sensors, it would use the same supplies; at the same time, many compliments which use other minerals would apparently be forced to be repaired by the same supplies. A laser, which uses Boronide and Corundium, would surely be repaired with those same minerals, right?

Duranium, Gallicite and Uridium are used for MSP because they are the most common materials in ship construction.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg116381;topicseen#msg116381

Ah, simplifying for sanity; fair enough.

Quote from: Zap0 on November 28, 2020, 05:48:27 AM

My mental image of Tritanium is not that of a material for warheads as it seems to be implied in Aurora. Tritanium is an especially strong, but relatively rare/expensive to manufacture metal alloy used for high-performance structures - like torpedo casings that must be able to withstand great speeds. It's used in ordnance factories because you need very strong and durable precision manufacturing tools to work it which are, in turn, also made from Tritanium.

Generally I associate different colors and different qualities with the minerals.

Duranium is a lighter grey or silver, as it's a basic steel-like material.
Neutronium is a dark grey. It's a hard and brittle material used for massive industrial superstructures like shipyards.
Corbomite is a shining white or almost white substance for CnC functions. FTL communication maybe?
Tritanium is a strong orange-brown metal alloy for military high-performance structures.
Boronide is a dull lighter green material used for mediating power flows, such as in fuel tanks, reactors or civilian anti-grav infrastructure.
Mercassium
Vendarite is a strong dark purple/blueish metal, but not quite as strong or easy to work as duranium or neutronium. It's used for ground unit equipment because, unlike duranium, neutronium or tritanium especially, it or it's alloys are not poisonous to humans and therefore suited for military equipment in direct contact with squishy biological creatures.
Sorium is a white powder, in it's solid form, and has a very high energy density.
Uridium is a bright green mineral used for high-performance TN computers, such as those required to filter out faint ship signatures from raw sensor data or calculate firing solutions in extremely fast and extremely long range (10k km is the minimum range!) space battles.
Corundium is a slightly orange yellow crystalline structure used in both military and mining lasers.
Gallicite is everyone's favorite dark green engine mineral. It's the only substance with the right characteristics able to handle the strong energy flows needed for creating the energy fields involved in Aether propulsion. Larger and efficient engines can distribute the energy flow over more area and material and can stretch the Gallicite with other, cheaper materials. A smaller or boosted military engines require smaller coils or stronger energy flows and need to be made out of a much higher Gallicite concentration.

This is pretty interesting; it helps to have a mental picture of them, too. I'm going to add this to my personal notes. Although I think Tritanium still makes sense as a warhead; I don't think any minerals are associated with actual combustion, so it seems sensible to have a TN explosive.

Zap0 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 28, 2020, 08:18:31 AM »

Quote from: Iestwyn on November 28, 2020, 07:38:32 AM

Although I think Tritanium still makes sense as a warhead; I don't think any minerals are associated with actual combustion, so it seems sensible to have a TN explosive.

True - I just can't picture them like that after being used to Tritanium in Star Trek and who knows how many other games/series/universes be a metal. Somebody had an example of a mech armored with tritantium, which is much more in line with my mental image.

Sorium, on the other hand, is an explosive substance used in quantum torpedoes and weapons of mass destruction in other games I play :-)

Iestwyn · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2020, 09:28:17 AM »

Quote from: Zap0 on November 28, 2020, 08:18:31 AM

Quote from: Iestwyn on November 28, 2020, 07:38:32 AM
Although I think Tritanium still makes sense as a warhead; I don't think any minerals are associated with actual combustion, so it seems sensible to have a TN explosive.

True - I just can't picture them like that after being used to Tritanium in Star Trek and who knows how many other games/series/universes be a metal. Somebody had an example of a mech armored with tritantium, which is much more in line with my mental image.

Sorium, on the other hand, is an explosive substance used in quantum torpedoes and weapons of mass destruction in other games I play :-)

That makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe it is Sorium, but it's used in such trace amounts that it's not even counted as an ingredient?

TheTalkingMeowth · « **Reply #10 on:** November 28, 2020, 10:18:32 AM »

Missiles require tritanium in proportion to the size of the warhead...so the tritanium is probably the bit that goes boom.

I think this actually was different in VB6, since I remember needing way more tritanium and way less gallicite for missile manufacturing. Shrugs.

Iestwyn · « **Reply #11 on:** November 28, 2020, 01:54:48 PM »

Quote from: TheTalkingMeowth on November 28, 2020, 10:18:32 AM

Missiles require tritanium in proportion to the size of the warhead...so the tritanium is probably the bit that goes boom.

I think this actually was different in VB6, since I remember needing way more tritanium and way less gallicite for missile manufacturing. Shrugs.

Hadn't noticed that; guess that settles the debate.

Author Topic: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses (Read 4509 times)

Iestwyn (OP)

Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

xenoscepter

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

RougeNPS

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

DIT_grue

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Iestwyn (OP)

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Steve Walmsley

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Zap0

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Iestwyn (OP)

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Zap0

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Iestwyn (OP)

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

TheTalkingMeowth

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses

Iestwyn (OP)

Re: Aid for remembering C# mineral uses