National Updates Comment Thread

[Person012345]

This is probably a good place to change as by now, to use Churchill's phrase, we have reached the "End of the Beginning".

plzno, I am triggered.

[mrwigggles]

Ahh...yes, but...  There's always a but.

Humans are not all rational thinkers.  Bias, prejudice, discrimination, heritage, emotion and many other purely internal inputs go into the decision making process.  The same rationalization could be applied to our modern world as well and look at what we have now.    The irrational decision making of human actors is what makes almost every story arc interesting.

The world is growing more open, more transparent, tolerant, less dpangerious, the standard of living is on the rise everywhere and has been for a long time, and for at least industrialized countries, all crimes have been going down since the 80s. Your access to bad things happening, isn't the same as more bad things happening.

[Sheb]

MrWiggles, don't argue with real-life data about what is happening in a fantasy timeline.

Also, how come no one is pumping anti-greenhouse gas on Earth?

[Felixg]

I am guessing because no one wants to use their much needed terraformers on something that would benefit others. If I were the caliphate though I would be sweating bullets and trading for someones terraformer to come to the rescue xD

[83athom]

The world is growing more open, more transparent, tolerant, less dpangerious

Would you like me to provide examples that go against what you say?

[Nyvis]

Would you like me to provide examples that go against what you say?

You could, but it would be missing the point.  The world is statistically growing the way he hints at.  But since we tend to notice the things going badly more than the ones going well, we do not perceive it this way.

MrWiggles, don't argue with real-life data about what is happening in a fantasy timeline.

This is one of the worst fallacies in writing fiction.  The world still works similarly and is modelled around Earth.  Taking real life data with a pinch of salt, sure.  Throwing them out just because you're writing fiction is ridiculous though.  Especially when writing fiction taking root in our own world or an alternate/future version of it.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I'm sorry to see you change formats. I know why you're doing it but I have to admit I loved how the nation-by-nation report gave every single player a spotlight, even if it was just a glorified way of saying 'nothing to see here, move along'. Than again I'm mostly a builder when it comes to strategy games so for me seeing those simple struggles of small powers to stay relevant was as satisfying, if not more so, than reading about battles.
Thank you for the ongoing reports and I hope you have enough fun with this campaign to continue it for a long time to come, as it's quite a good one.

I'll still try to put in national-related reports regarding the economy, etc.. It was just getting more complex to keep everything separate. For example, in the last set of reports I reversed the order of the Commonwealth and Centauri reports from the normal alphabetical because the Centauri received ships built by an alien race the Commonwealth had defeated. I couldn't report the former without spoiling the latter.

[formicae]

The countries with logistics problems, how much have they been able to contract with civilians to help with that?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

The countries with logistics problems, how much have they been able to contract with civilians to help with that?

Russia and Japan are both using civilians to move things around at the moment.

[Felixg]

Russia and Japan are both using civilians to move things around at the moment.

Any reason those with fuel shortages arent trading minerals and wealth for fuel?

[TheDeadlyShoe]

/imagines military press conference

"Our ships arn't laid up for lack of fuel!  They're engaged in, ahem, military exercises. We are unquestionably strong and secure in every way.  Next question."

[Nyvis]

/imagines military press conference

"Our ships arn't laid up for lack of fuel!  They're engaged in, ahem, military exercises.  We are unquestionably strong and secure in every way.   Next question. "

They could just say they're buying for their state commercial shipping rather than for the military arm.  Or say they have a strategic stockpile but do not want to expand it outside emergency.  Or just buy from a nation they're friendly with.  There is some wiggle room.

Of course, people may choose not to sell.  But having the opportunity for a expansion-locked nation to turn towards fuel extraction and sale (or wealth trading) to compensate for resources they can't have would be interesting.  We could imagine having long term exchange treaties rather than punctual trade.  The caliphate may be interested in reconverting!

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Any reason those with fuel shortages arent trading minerals and wealth for fuel?

There is some trading going on, although not specifically for fuel. The main problem is that the nations with a fuel shortage need to trade something the other side wants and they need to trade with someone who isn't happy to see them struggling. Those factors can make it difficult to find a deal.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm dying! When is there going to be another national update post? ^^

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I've got a little distracted by two things.

1) Adding a major alien empire called The Imperium. Example ship spoilered below:

Lunar class Cruiser    32,000 tons     966 Crew     7641.68 BP      TCS 640  TH 4000  EM 2700
6250 km/s     Armour 8-89     Shields 90-300     Sensors 22/28/0/0     Damage Control Rating 21     PPV 193.12
Maint Life 2.04 Years     MSP 3134    AFR 390%    IFR 5.4%    1YR 1009    5YR 15135    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 792   

Vulkan-Gavinus VG-1000 Internal Fusion Drive (4)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 25%    Signature 1000    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,030,000 Litres    Range 23.2 billion km   (42 days at full power)
Void Shields (30)   Total Fuel Cost  450 Litres per hour  (10,800 per day)

Particle Lance (4)    Range 320,000km     TS: 6250 km/s     Power 55-5    ROF 55        18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18
Defence Turret (2x8)    Range 40,000km     TS: 25000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
25cm Weapon Battery (2x4)    Range 250,000km     TS: 6250 km/s     Power 15-5     RM 5    ROF 15        5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 2 2
Defence Turret Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 25000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Energy Weapon Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 384,000 km   TS: 6250 km/s     97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Fusion Reactor (4)     Total Power Output 32    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Torpedo Launcher (6)    Missile Size 12    Rate of Fire 75
Torpedo Fire Control (1)     Range 128.8m km    Resolution 120
Vortex Torpedo (18)  Speed: 50,000 km/s   End: 22.7m    Range: 68m km   WH: 36    Size: 12    TH: 166/100/50
Maelstrom Torpedo  (30)  Speed: 70,000 km/s   End: 12.7m    Range: 53.3m km   WH: 24    Size: 12    TH: 233/140/70
Tempest MWH Torpedo (18)  Speed: 7,500 km/s   End: 103.4m    Range: 58.5m km   WH: 0    Size: 12    TH: 25/15/7

Torpedo Detection Augur Array (1)     GPS 28     Range 3.9m km    MCR 427k km    Resolution 1
Cruiser Active Augur Array (1)     GPS 20160     Range 257.6m km    Resolution 120
Thermal Augur Array (1)     Sensitivity 22     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22m km
Electromagnetic Augur Array (1)     Sensitivity 28     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  28m km

ECCM-2 (1)         ECM 20

2) I finally started C# Aurora . This is a very long-term project but it occurred to me that rather than reading while the turns were processing, I could be programming. The problem has always been that I didn't think I could maintain enthusiasm for such a large project, especially when I could be playing or working on VB6 Aurora instead. However, doing it this way allows me to rewrite in C# without actually giving up playing time. The downside is that is will take a long time and I might never get there but at least I finally started.