New User: Thanks and Noob Questions

[StratPlayer (OP)]

Hi there.  I'm a new user around here.  

Again, thanks so much for all the great work!  I look forward to hours of fun!

[Hawkeye]

Hi there.  I'm a new user around here.  

Again, thanks so much for all the great work!  I look forward to hours of fun!

1. Very stable. Most updates (at least the major ones, i.e. requiring a new database) are to add new stuff while the core stays as it is.

2. In the long run? Probably not a lot. Steve often introduces new suprises in an update, but I don´t think there is a way to program a realy chalenging AI in a game that complex. You can give the AI a headstart (start with 1.000 to 1.500 million population and one or two NPRs at game start. Those NPRs will be based in strength on your race´s size. Then edit your population and economy down to some 500 millions)
The "Difficulty Modifier" in the start menue seems to be broken, atm, so I advice not to use it.
But as I said, in the long run, the human mind is unmatched in its capability towards thinking up ways to kill other beings

3. You don´t. Realy, there are no "victory conditions" or something similar. "The way is the goal", as the saying goes.

4. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2386&p=23108&hilit=Battle+Control+Window#p23089
I put a screen or two there which shows how to assign weapons to targeting systems and how to assign targets to targeting systems. I suggest using SM to create two races in a single system, design a few warships, create a fleet for each race using the Fast OOB (Shift + F9) and have a go at it.

5. Steve has said so several times (as this came up quite a few times), that he won´t change min res. BTW, I am playing on a laptop too, just have a secondary 22" monitor plugged in. If you haven´t got an extra monitor, have a look at: viewtopic.php?f=100&t=2033 for some solutions.

[The Shadow]

One thing I like about this game is that there *isn't* a victory condition, any more than in life.  You decide what your goals are and play toward them.

[Steve Walmsley]

Hi there.  I'm a new user around here.  . The strategic and tactical AIs are improving over time though as I refine them to deal with new player tactics.

(3.) Dumb Question:  How do I win? I didn't see an obvious mention of it in the "setting up a Game" tutorial.  Is it only by the elimination of the other NPR(s)?  Or is there more than one avenue to victory (diplomatic, amount of galactic territory under my control, technological, etc)?  

In many ways, Aurora is as much as role-playing game as a 4x game, with your Empire as the protaganist. Like a classic PnP role-playing game such as Runequest or AD&D, there is no final victory - there is just the ongoing story of your Empire (or main character). You can continue to expand and explore effectively forever as the only limit on the universe size is the limitations of Access and/or your PC. I like writing after action reports and the primary reason for Aurora was to enable me to write those reports. For me, I guess 'winning' is the creation of an interesting AAR

(4.) I didn't see a tutorial dedicated to actual battle.  Ship design on beams vs missles, absolutely, but not so much on how to engage and manage the tactical details during a battle.  I think this might be a great area for one -- a walkthrough of a small engagement, perhaps.  Is one in the works?

The tutorials are a work in progress so I'll add new tutorials as enthusiasm permits

(5.) As a guy who's done some VB programming in the past, I know it can be hard to get all the desired functionality onto one form, so I can easily see where the need for the higher screen resolution came from.  But I also know that it might be possible to redesign the interface to be based on more, smaller screens instead of fewer, larger screens, so that lower monitor resolutions could be supported.  Yes, I know that's also a HUGE re-design effort, so I can totally understand why you might not want to, but as a guy who's going to primarily play on a laptop which does not offer the 1240x1080 resolution, I would certainly welcome a version where I don't have to scroll to see the screens.  Please don't take this negatively, because in the overall scheme of things, I can live with the current version, but it never hurts to ask:  Any thoughts on the likelihood of a re-design to support lower screen resolutions ever happening?

Aurora is very much driven by my own enthusiasm for implementing particular functionality. If someone suggests an idea that piques my interest, I don't care how much effort is required to implement it as long as I will get some benefit from it. Unfortunately, changing all the larger windows around to fit a different resolution would make no difference to my own enjoyment of the game so it doesn't inspire me to put in the necessary effort. This is just a hobby for me. If I was trying to sell Aurora, I probably would spend some time on the resolution issue as that would open up the game to a wider audience. At the moment though, a large user base isn't something I am actively pursuing.

Steve

[StratPlayer (OP)]

Thank you very much for the detailed replies, guys.  

Another huge plus for Aurora:  An active board, with personal response from the developer!  

1.  Great to hear.  That's what my initial impression was, but being totally new, I didn't know if there was some point in the game where I'd run into some sort of "This Part Under Construction" sign.

2.  Also excellent to hear.  And given the depth involved and the fact that people have been playing this for years, it would have to be able to offer a continuing challenge, right?  And the more I look around, and based on your answers, the more I think a huge part of that is indeed because...

3.  ...there's no railroaded single-path to "winning."  Having an open-ended 'blank slate' approach makes for tremendous replayability, I think.  Getting to set up a wide variety of 'what-if' scenarios and then seeing how they play out is a tremendous boon for the game.  Too many games ultimately force you into one "best" way of playing, or have some scripted story-line stapled on that kills the replayibility, I think.  I much prefer the sandbox mode, and in Aurora, it sounds like that's the only mode there is.  Fabulous!  

4.  Thank you for your link, Hawkeye -- that gives some excellent battle-prep background.  And Steve, I think I've also discovered several "tutorials" that already do provide much of the walkthrough of tactical battles:  Your AAR fiction posts.  I read your Ad Astra campaign, and besides being entertaining, it gives some great detail on the intricacies of missile combat against the Precursors (all a newbie would ever need to make it a "tutorial" is a few "click this button on this screen" details here and there).  I'm looking forward to reading more of these from you and the others. And to go back to the answers to previous question, I have to agree with you -- they're much more fun than simply "winning" a game.

5.  OK.  I totally understand.  No problem: I'll be content with the edge-scrolling on my 1080 x 800 laptop, or use my desktop PC when at home.  I shall speak of it no further...  

Thanks again!

[randal7]

5.  OK.  I totally understand.  No problem: I'll be content with the edge-scrolling on my 1080 x 800 laptop

OK, how do you get this to work? My laptop just cuts off the bottom 20% or so of the window with no way to scroll. None of the suggested solutions work on my system.

[StratPlayer (OP)]

OK, how do you get this to work? My laptop just cuts off the bottom 20% or so of the window with no way to scroll. None of the suggested solutions work on my system.

Well, my laptop does not normally list 1280 x 1024 as optional resolution.  So what I did is:

-- Right click on the desktop and select "Properties" to bring up the display properties.
-- Go to the "Settings" tab.
-- Click on the "Advanced" button
-- Go to the "Monitor" tab
-- uncheck the "Hide modes this monitor cannot display" checkbox.
-- Click "OK" to close the Advanced display pop-up.
-- Now I can see the 1280 x 1024 option under the screen resolution slider.  I select it, and then click "OK"

Then my screen resolution changes to 1280 x 1024, but my monitor only shows 1080 x 800 of it at a time.  If I move my mouse to the top, sides, or bottom, the screen scrolls to the edges of the 1280 x 1024 screen.  If you can see the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, then you're at the edge of the screen -- move your mouse to the top of the window to scroll up to the limit at the top.  

If you've done all this and still can't get it to scroll down, then there may be something else going on:

-- Is your taskbar showing at the bottom of the screen, even if the bottom of the window is not showing?  If so, then maybe right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting "Properties" to change some of its settings may help:  Uncheck the "Lock the Taskbar", and maybe uncheck the "Keep the Taskbar on top of other windows" boxes to see if that helps.

-- Maybe the PC needs to be rebooted for the new resolution settings to take effect?

-- Try turning down the refresh rate.  Maybe the larger resolution conflicts with that -- set it down to 60 Hz and see if that helps.

-- Try setting the Aurora shortcut to Win 95 compatibility.  As a VB6 program, I don't think there should be any issues here -- there are no intensive First-Person Shooter graphics going on, after all. Right-click on the Aurora desktop shortcut (if you don't have one, create one on your desktop), and open the "Compatibility" tab and select the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" checkbox and select Windows 95.  This should also NOT have the "run in 640 x 480 screen resolution" option checked.

-- Maybe something specific to your graphics card is preventing the settings?  You'll have to investigate under some of the display properties tabs specifically dedicated to your graphics card.  See if there's anything obvious there.  

-- What version of Windows are you using?  All the above is specific to XP.  If you're using Vista or Win7, then there may be something else going on.  Sorry that I can't help much there...

Best of Luck to you!!!