Author Topic: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?  (Read 263540 times)

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Offline Starmantle

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #765 on: January 23, 2015, 01:44:42 AM »

Ground combat on Eris against the Separatists:

September 15th, 2054

General Stephanie Forster and her Hovertank Division Alpha, the first brigade of Hovertank Division Beta, a brigade of Garrison troops, and 11 replacement battalions, successfully land on Eris.  The big and vulnerable Broadsword class Troop Transports move back 5m km from the planet's surface because of rumors of short-range anti-ship missiles held by the separatist army.  Two Abjurer class Area Defense Cruisers remain in low orbit to respond to any threats.

Enemy forces include 8 conventional armor divisions, 16 conventional infantry divisions, 1 mobile infantry battalion, and 2 garrison battalions.

So the Separatists have over 24 divisions and the Commonwealth has about 2 divisions, but separatist forces are almost entirely low-tech conventional units.  Militia forces, really, with tanks constructed from heavy tracked mining vehicles and fitted with laser drills.  Meanwhile the Hovertank forces represent the pinnacle of Combine technology.  They have the best commanders, the best training, and the best equipment.  Forster also wants to make an example of the Separatists both to dissuade other colonies from declaring independence and to ensure funding streams for ground forces that are often ignored in favor of Fleet Command. 

Eris is an interesting and hazardous battleground.  It's just 1/4 of 1% of the Earth's mass, and less dense, honeycombed with artificial and natural underground caverns and facilities.  It also contains a population of about 1.3 million humans. 

Eris has an escape velocity of just 1.38 km/s, less than the muzzle velocity of a conventional rifle, and far less than the Gauss and railgun weaponry used by the Commonwealth.  Traditional "Over the horizon" artillery attacks aren't possible because of the weak gravity, and the horizon is always surprisingly close on all sides.  The anti-gravity capability of Hovertanks is carefully calibrated by engineers to keep the armored and shielded units fast and nimble, but well-grounded.

Both sides experiment with making direct attacks through the planet itself, targeting enemy units over the horizon by firing through the rock of the planet.  Occasionally, this is effective and occasionally it his and destroys critical underground infrastructure or mining facilities under the surface. 

It quickly becomes obvious that the "front" in the engagement can be fluid.  Flanking maneuvers cutting a different way around the planet's surface, or even straight through the center are common for the separatists.  They're occasionally able to isolate the comparatively vulnerable replacement battalions and inflict casualties before Hovertanks can come to their aid.

As the battle wages on, the fatwave video broadcasts from Eris, long laughed at by people on Earth, become filled with unfiltered images of wildly successful Hovertank Divisions... and grim and up-close images of the civilian and military casualties on the side of the Separatists.

These are not faceless robot battalions from a vault under the red surface of Mars.  These are the sons and daughters, friends and colleagues of Commonwealth citizens. 

Media on Earth begins to play footage of the alien attack on the corporate transport en route to WX Ursae Majoris that killed 50,000 humans in cryogenic sleep - a terrible atrocity committed by an alien intelligence these separatists sided with, but images of death don't cancel out images of death in the minds of Commonwealth citizens. 

The fighting is bloody and many citizens and politicians of Earth call for it to stop, but the Separatists do not surrender.

They truly believe that the Commonwealth is doomed to fall to the Ancients and to again fall under the banner of Earth means doom for the people of Eris.

After 3 months of fighting, all Separatists ground forces are destroyed.  The Combine has only lost the equivalent of about 1 full battalion of replacement troops and many of its units and commanders are now grizzled veterans.

When the armistice is finally signed, only 480,000 colonists are still still alive out of the original 1.3 million.

The military has successfully showcased its abilities, but military and civilian leaders are now under immense scrutiny for their inhumane actions, something that will weigh heavily in the next elections.

Resources reabsorbed into the Commonwealth include 7 construction factories, 6 conventional industry, 18 auto mines, 1 GFTF, 2 tracking stations, and a total of 44,000 tons of TN material. 

The training facility is immediately put to use building a local garrison out of Commonwealth loyalists and 2 Apollo freighters leave Earth orbit to bring out 2 mass drivers to start bringing these materials back to Earth.

Most people in the Commonwealth seem hasty to put the horrors of Eris behind them.  Some redouble the efforts to colonize distant systems and leave memories of the Sol system behind.
 

Offline xeryon

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #766 on: February 05, 2015, 03:19:35 PM »
All these years playing Aurora and this was a first:

Played a nice slow conventional start from a custom Quad system.  48 years in my people explore their first JP (and only JP in the home system) only to find the next system over only has one JP leading back to the first system.  Damn.  Rather small sandbox game I have going on here.
 

Offline Zed 6

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #767 on: February 05, 2015, 05:26:29 PM »
The Farnsworth Parabox!
 

Offline MarcAFK

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #768 on: February 05, 2015, 09:22:44 PM »
Happened to me before, only with 2 systems both linking back to sol. At least one of them had planets, anyway this is a good use for SM mode if anything.
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline iceball3

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #769 on: February 05, 2015, 11:03:26 PM »
I decided to make an SM race and do a conventional start...
50 years in the game.. ugh, i just want to start over again. Trans newtonian it is. Really, being low on research labs really hurts progress, and having like thirty researchers, fifty civilian administrators, and several hundred naval commanders all twiddling their thumbs really hurts my soul. At least this has taught me patience. Or something like that.
 

Offline MarcAFK

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #770 on: February 05, 2015, 11:05:07 PM »
SM in more labs, you don't have to play entirely with what you're given at the start.
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline Bryan Swartz

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #771 on: February 06, 2015, 12:47:22 AM »
I'd say you have too many academies.  My conventional start is 65 years in, and we have four or five of them.  Just recently went over 200 naval officers.  I've never had 50 total civilian administrators, never mind that many extra -- the current 45 is a high for us.  Only train what you need is my motto.  The research thing is interesting.  A fifth to a third of industrial capacity has been constantly devoting to building more labs(it was a pop-nerfed start so even less than the default I think) and we've never reached the point where we've had 'enough' for the existing scientists.  Usually it's about 30-40% labs behind what we need.  Someday, perhaps, we'll reach the utopia of not constantly reprioritizing inadequate supplies and production capacity to furthering our woefully inadequate operations :)

Or else ditch it and go TN, but you don't have to have a personnel glut like that. 
« Last Edit: February 06, 2015, 12:54:56 AM by Bryan Swartz »
 

Offline xeryon

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #772 on: February 06, 2015, 08:29:07 AM »
It's all preference.  I personally like the slower starts.  As in my current game I imagined that my home planet was an extra-solar colony that humanity was developing when there was some sort of 'incident' and no further transmissions or ships came from Earth.  The cut off colony had some conventional factories but no naval capabilities or other infrastructure.  I only researched science fields for the specialists that I had.  It was a good 25 years before I got a Power scientist.  My early craft have great sensors and armor though!  I opted for a 50m population start.  Even though 50m is kind of high for a 'space colony' I didn't want this game to take 5 centuries to get to being a space faring race.  500,000 or even 5000 would be more realistic but I don't have the patience for that.....

Come to think of it maybe I do.  Work is pretty slow today.

The key for these population handicapped starts is to cultivate civilian administrators that have population growth bonuses and to remember that population growth is very high on lesser populated bodies.  With the slower non-TN starts you get to know your leaders intimately too.  You don't have the selection and roll-over you do in larger empires.
 

Offline iceball3

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #773 on: February 06, 2015, 11:20:23 AM »
The reason i build so many military academies is because i like having specialists in all feilds. Turns out the RNG hates me anyway as i get five biologists in a row.
 

Offline 83athom

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #774 on: February 08, 2015, 09:20:53 PM »
The reason i build so many military academies is because i like having specialists in all feilds. Turns out the RNG hates me anyway as i get five biologists in a row.
Same here. I'm producing 2 every month (15 years in) and I still have no Bio, Sensors, or Power researchers. I only have a few Kinetic, but they are extremely high level (40%+ bonus with 35 lab minimum each).
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 

Offline Steve Walmsley

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #775 on: February 09, 2015, 01:01:27 PM »
Same here. I'm producing 2 every month (15 years in) and I still have no Bio, Sensors, or Power researchers. I only have a few Kinetic, but they are extremely high level (40%+ bonus with 35 lab minimum each).

Don't forget any researcher can manage any project. You just get a larger bonus when he works in his own field.
 

Offline 83athom

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #776 on: February 09, 2015, 01:19:00 PM »
Don't forget any researcher can manage any project. You just get a larger bonus when he works in his own field.
I know that and I am using other researchers to fill those fields, but I don't have researchers that get those massive bonuses and can get exponentially better. Its just I have so many that speciallise in CP, Logistics, ect but no one with the massive boosts to Bio, Sensors, or Power. Right now I have a MK researcher researching an engine, which seems logical and illogical, because someone who designs missiles should know the basics of an engine but at the same time I wouldn't want someone who designs explosives designing the engine in my car (just RP things).
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 

Offline Bryan Swartz

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #777 on: February 09, 2015, 03:05:35 PM »
Interesting discussion and one that shows how different people and playstyles will interpret even the same situation differently in Aurora.  It would drive me nuts if I had really good researchers in every field before having a wide-ranging empire.  The 'weak fields' have vacillated over time but right now it's missiles & kinetics which basically means no significant military tech progress as that's the only kind of weapon that can potentially hurt the more advanced aliens in my game.  This means the military option is basically off the table.  Progression goes in spurts, some fields advancing more quickly than others, which I think is great for the story/RP. 

.02 
 

Offline Vortex421

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #778 on: February 09, 2015, 05:14:03 PM »
The scientist who I consider the 'mother of jump engines' along with every other major engine discovery has just announced she has a long-term illness.  In my campaign, I've played it as she is going to see Ion Drive technology completed before she dies, because she has no successor to speak of.  Some of my fields are very weak, so I'm being forced to backstop them with scientists from other departments. 

(Doesn't help that I wound up in a war with a neighboring NPR after entering their system while exploring a jump point... discovered my military forces were woefully under-tech.  So, now, the military technology is on the front burner...)
 

Offline xeryon

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #779 on: February 12, 2015, 07:55:00 AM »
I just discovered the quaintest little quadrinary system you ever did see.  3 T7's and a T9 all orbiting inside the range of Jupiter's orbit.

Being that close together would have been a hoot if it had been full of real estate.  Sadly, only a couple loose asteroids and one gas giant to be found.