Setting up a new campaign

[clement (OP)]

I have been brainstorming on a new campaign idea that I would like to work on after playing a couple games to get my bearings in Aurora.

I would like to set up 2 separate races in separate star systems so that I can set up their respective research, economies and ships. 
Is that feasible in SM mode? My explorations of the game and the forum seem to say no and that I would need to have access to Designer Mode.  Is that the case?

I do understand that Steve is hesitant to give out access to the Designer Mode due to the danger of bad bug reports due to mucking around with the internals.  (I've been in similar situations before, Software Engineer of 15 years. )

Thanks for any help or pointers.

[xeryon]

SM allows you to do exactly what you propose.

If you are familiar with how to start a non-sol start you basically follow the same path but then go back and create a second race marked as player controlled government.  Have you done a full custom start yet?

[clement (OP)]

I have done a couple of starts where I have let the game generate Sol system and I have handled the assignment of Research Points, the design of ships and created starting fleets in SM mode.

I have not done a non-Sol start yet but have read the page on the wiki about how to do it.  I had originally assumed that is how I would need to make the races, but I am not sure what you mean by "go back and create a second race" is that by using the "Add Extra NPR" option in the Space Master menu?

[xeryon]

Add extra NPR merely adds another independently controlled computer race.

Once you have created an initial system and empire go back and set your default race to the one you made, finish the rest of your setup how you want to start.  Now go back and choose SM as your default race and create a new system and generate a new empire in it as well.  If you want them to be next door to each other you will need to create the JP link between the two.

It will make more sense once you successfully complete a non-sol custom beginning with one race.

[Steven Kodaly]

Once you have created an initial system and empire go back and set your default race to the one you made, finish the rest of your setup how you want to start.   Now go back and choose SM as your default race and create a new system and generate a new empire in it as well.

Would this leave both races under player control, or could one be set to an automated state?  Essentially a customized Non Player Race?

[xeryon]

During Empire creation you specify if it is a Player Race or if it is a Computer Race via the government pull-down.

[clement (OP)]

Thanks for the info, I think I will start with just doing a non-Sol start and once I am comfortable there adding more NPRs in that manner.

[xeryon]

To further clarify, an NPR is not the same as a computer controlled alien civilization.  NPR's are empire building computer races which you have no control over and cannot alter via SM mode (aside from deleting their systems I guess), and then you have basic computer controlled alien civilizations you will encounter.  They are simpler and you can create, modify, take control of and relinquish control of them during the course of your game.  They are automatically generated when you explore the galaxy as determined by a setting you adjust when you launch your game.

[sloanjh]

A bit more clarification:

  There are four categories of races in Aurora:

1)  Player races:  These are you primary empire or empires.  For example in Nato vs. Soviet Union, Nato, USSR, China, etc. are all player races.  You can think of them as protagonists in a novel.  They are controlled by you (the human).

2)  Human controlled Non-Player-Races (NPR):  These are secondary, alien races that are typically discovered during the course of exploration.  In the early days of Aurora, there was no AI, so a human (the player/you) was needed to control the NPR that were generated.  Essentially there is no difference between a player race and a human-controlled NPR - it all comes down to the role playing.  This is also why the government types have a player race and everything else - the everything else is there for role playing.  You can think of these as minor characters in a novel.  There is a game setting that lets you pick whether discovered NPR are human or computer controlled.

3)  Computer controlled NPR:  These are like human controlled NPR, except the computer controls them   As xeryon says, they are invisible to you in SM mode.  Note that the AI isn't all that smart about long-term economic development, so some players like to play with all of their NPR human controlled (giving up fog-of-war for smarts).

4)  Monsters:  These are similar to computer controlled NPR, but they usually have special attributes (technology) of one sort or another.

John

[clement (OP)]

For the computer controlled NPRs, do they receive the same amount of research points and industry as a Player Race when the game generates them at the beginning of the game?

Also, where is the game setting that lets you pick whether the discovered NPR are human or computer controlled.

Thanks for the info.

[xeryon]

Ah ha, Thanks John for adding to that.  My info had significant holes in it.

[metalax]

For the computer controlled NPRs, do they receive the same amount of research points and industry as a Player Race when the game generates them at the beginning of the game?

From what I recall reading here yes, but computer NPR's also gain an increased amount of research points based on how long the game has been running.

Also, where is the game setting that lets you pick whether the discovered NPR are human or computer controlled.

When generating a new game it is the checkbox under where you can specify how many NPR's to generate at game start.

When loading a game it is the checkbox 'generate new races as NPRs'

[Garfunkel]

It is important to note that Category 2) NPRs are created when you enter a system for the first time, depending if there are any habitable planets and the percentile chance you defined at game start.

Category 3) NPR(s) are created immediately at game start and they actively develop and scout around, ie behave exactly like the player. It is entirely possible for them to active Category 2) NPRs when they are expanding.

The tech-level for the former can vary wildly, whereas the tech-level for the latter is generally somewhat similar to you because the starting point for both was the same. Exception is if you do a conventional start, as the AI NPR will still have a TN-start and thus a significant head start over you. Still, the AI ain't too smart in the long-run, so that's not a bad thing, really.

[sloanjh]

It is important to note that Category 2) NPRs are created when you enter a system for the first time, depending if there are any habitable planets and the percentile chance you defined at game start.

Category 3) NPR(s) are created immediately at game start and they actively develop and scout around, ie behave exactly like the player. It is entirely possible for them to active Category 2) NPRs when they are expanding.

The tech-level for the former can vary wildly, whereas the tech-level for the latter is generally somewhat similar to you because the starting point for both was the same. Exception is if you do a conventional start, as the AI NPR will still have a TN-start and thus a significant head start over you. Still, the AI ain't too smart in the long-run, so that's not a bad thing, really.

That's not quite the way it works.  If "computer-controlled is on", then all NPR that are activated are computer-controlled (category 3) NOT category 2.  In addition, the tech algorithm is straightforward: the populations get bigger and the tech goes up for newly activated NPR as time passes.  This makes conventional starts a bit challenging   More details below:

Both Category 2 and 3 NPRs are created in the same way - the algorithm is A) "Has an NPR been created?" then B) "Is it human or computer controlled".  If it's computer controlled, then it's category 3 and Aurora handles all the setup for you and controls the race after setup.  If it's category 2, then it's a much bigger pain -  you have to generate the NPR by hand (there's a wizard to do this).  Note that this happens in SM mode - this is one of the primary uses of SM.

There are three general situations for when an NPR is created:

A1)  As part of Aurora's auto-setup, by specifying the number of NPR.  Caveat:  I don't remember what happens if you choose a non-zero number of NPR in the setup screen by have computer-controlled NPRs "off"; the NPRs generated in auto-setup might only be computer controlled.

A2)  By hand.  At any time (usually during setup, after Aurora's auto-setup) you're free to generate a new race, whether it's player or NPR.  Typically this is used to generate a new human-controlled NPR with the wizard (category 2), but I think there's a way to generate a computer-controlled one (category 3) as well. 

A3)  During exploration.  Whenever a new system is generated with potentially habitable planets, a check is made for populations.  If there's a population, then depending on the "computer-controlled NPR" flag it will either be category 2 or 3.  If it's category 2 you'll need to use the wizard.

Note that there's no difference between human and (computer-controlled) NPR empires in terms of probability of NPR generation during exploration - the probabilities are the same.  In principle, if you switch the flag from "Generate computer-controlled NPR" to "Generate human-controlled NPR" half way through a game (where there are already computer-controlled NPR) then the populations that a computer-controlled NPR discovers should require you to set up their empires and control them.  I'm not sure what is actually the case here though - it may be that Aurora is set up so that any NPR activated (discovered) by a computer-controlled NPR (category 3) is itself computer-controlled.

John

[Thiosk]

That's not quite the way it works.  If "computer-controlled is on", then all NPR that are activated are computer-controlled (category 3) NOT category 2.  In addition, the tech algorithm is straightforward: the populations get bigger and the tech goes up for newly activated NPR as time passes.  This makes conventional starts a bit challenging   More details below:

That explains it.

 The first race I encountered had a population of 1.6 billion.  The second, 3 billion.  The third?  8.5 billion.

I have a lot of citizens now.