Post by: Hyfrydle on April 01, 2010, 03:09:52 AM
Built a mass driver on Earth but at the moment Mars has no pop is it possible to create a small mining operation on Mars if so can anyone give me some pointers.
I created a design for a jump ship and managed to build one this was then teamed up with a geo and grav survey ship and sent as one fleet to explore the nearest jump point. We jumped and then I had to create three seperate fleets so the geo and grav ships could start surveying. Is it possible to give ships in one fleet individual orders? I saw mention of parent ship not sure if this has something to do with it.
Another quick one how do I use active sensors?
Really enjoying the game the anticipation when a new system is discovered is unlike any other 4X I've played. The scale is also very impressive. Not experienced combat yet so I have lots to look forward too.
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 01, 2010, 06:08:09 AM
As you currently likely have a good amount of pop on earth, I would build manned mines and ship existing Automints to Mars, Mercury, and Venus, whereever you have a good amount of minerals.
Also, start building Infrastructure on Earth and ship it to Mars.
Once you have a sufficient amount to support a million or so, start transferring colonists. (If you can produce and ship Infrastructure the same speed as you can bring colonists, you can start right now, though)
As far as I know, you need a new fleet for every own task, so no, you can'tmake parts of a fleet do different things.
You can activate active sensors either at some targetable place, with an Order, for Example, "Mars, Active Sensors ON", or you can do that in the ship description or maybe combat settings, can't quite remember.
Parent fleets are mainly used for combat as far as I recall.
It's adviseable to build Jumpgates
Also, you can use Jump ships as jump tenders, place one on the point and use 'Standard Transit'.
Post by: randal7 on April 01, 2010, 06:24:21 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Played last night and slowly but surely things are making sense. My geo and grav survey ships in Sol ran out of targets in range so I guess that means I need bigger fuel supplies onboard or would hyperdrive tach be useful?
Actually this means your system is surveyed, unless you skipped surveying asteroids, which I usually save for much later. In rare cases there may be a distant companion outside this range. If no LPs for in-system jumps are present, you will need to build hyperdrive-equipped ships to reach these in a reasonable time.
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Built a mass driver on Earth but at the moment Mars has no pop is it possible to create a small mining operation on Mars if so can anyone give me some pointers.
Build infrastructure and move it to Mars. Whatever the colonization cost is, that much infrastructure allows 10k pop. Transfer colonists. Try to get pop to 3mil, because at that point civilian shipping will start moving infrastructure and pop for you (slowly at first). Add mines as desired; 50k pop needed to run a mine.
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
I created a design for a jump ship and managed to build one this was then teamed up with a geo and grav survey ship and sent as one fleet to explore the nearest jump point. We jumped and then I had to create three seperate fleets so the geo and grav ships could start surveying. Is it possible to give ships in one fleet individual orders? I saw mention of parent ship not sure if this has something to do with it.
Fleets have to stay together. You might want to build your survey ships with their own jump drives. I think this will cut down on your micromanaging of their duties quite a lot.
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Another quick one how do I use active sensors?
Go to the TF screen (f5), doubleclick the ship to open the ship screen, click the combat settings tab (I think), then click the "on" button for active sensors. These really only have a function if you have encountered aliens. If you do have a first encounter, turn them on immediately, because in my experience missile impacts follow closely after thermal detections.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 01, 2010, 06:42:46 AM
Managed to explore Ross 154 and Alpha Centauri last night hope to explore some more jump points and hopefully find some good terrestial planets.
Regarding the survey ships I don't think they have surveyed all the planets and moons in the Sol system although I did notice they where surveying asteroids. I presume I can turn this off.
Is there a list of how many pop are required per installation so I can plan my building at the moment things are a bit random as I don't really know what everything does. One example how do I upgrade my military academy and other upgradeable installations?
Sorry for all the questions but I hope to learn and help out other newbies when I can.
Again thanks for all your help I nearly gave up on Aurora this is my fifth attempt at learning the game.
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 01, 2010, 07:04:04 AM
Btw, once you have two sufficiently large colonies(including the home planet), having a commercial spaceport on each is surely helpful.
Post by: sloanjh on April 01, 2010, 08:37:00 AM
Quote from: "randal7"
Try to get pop to 3mil, because at that point civilian shipping will start moving infrastructure and pop for you (slowly at first).
Not quite true. If you have infrastructure or population (and there are civie shipping lines), then the civies will start moving them to the new colony. 3mil is the threshold for a colony to start producing and demanding trade goods, which the civies will carry for you generating tax revenue.
John
Post by: Hawkeye on April 01, 2010, 11:06:49 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Is there a list of how many pop are required per installation so I can plan my building at the moment things are a bit random as I don't really know what everything does. One example how do I upgrade my military academy and other upgradeable installations?
Research Labs need 1 million workers
Terraformer need 250.000 workers
Pretty much anything else needs 50.000
Commercial Spaceports, Military Academies, Deep Space Tracking Stations, Automated Mines, Ground Force Training Facilities, Mass Drivers and Sector Command HQs don´t need personnel
Be aware, however, that the worse the living conditions on a planet/moon the more percentage of the population is busy just keeping the infrastructure running, that´ll keep your colonists alife. Also, the larger the population, the larger percentage of people will work in the service industries.
This means, the larger the population and the worse the conditions, the less "free" workers for your mines/factories/shipyards/... will be available (percentage wise, that is)
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 01, 2010, 01:09:55 PM
Quote
Build infrastructure and move it to Mars. Whatever the colonization cost is, that much infrastructure allows 10k pop. Transfer colonists. Try to get pop to 3mil, because at that point civilian shipping will start moving infrastructure and pop for you (slowly at first). Add mines as desired; 50k pop needed to run a mine.
How do I move infrastructure to Mar I can't see an option?
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 01, 2010, 02:31:31 PM
If you don't have any, it's hard to transport it.
Then, you use freighters.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 01, 2010, 02:43:43 PM
Quote
First, you need to build it on Earth.
If you don't have any, it's hard to transport it.
Then, you use freighters.
According to my summary screen I have 291 infrastructure on Earth and I have a freighter so what order do I need to use?
Post by: Bobarossa on April 01, 2010, 03:21:54 PM
Post by: sloanjh on April 01, 2010, 07:06:58 PM
Quote from: "Bobarossa"
If you want to do this a bunch of times, click the "Repeat button". Each time you click should double the number of orders. Don't forget to add a return to Earth at the end (if you want to end up there).Or give one set of orders (including return & refuel at Earth) and then click the "cycle orders" box. That will copy an order to the bottom of the list whenever it completes, resulting in the TG running a standard route until you tell it to stop.
Quote
Also, 50,000 cargo will pick up 20 Infrastructure.To put it a different way, a freighter that can carry 1 factory (or mine, or automine, or ....) can carry 10 infrastructure.
John
Post by: Brian Neumann on April 01, 2010, 09:22:50 PM
Quote from: "sloanjh"
There is a problem with using the cycle order button if the total time it will take to go through all of the orders is less than the time incremented. The easy way to get around this is a combination of both. Have a set of orders, copy them a couple of times. Once you have a set that will take more than 30 days to complete then click on the cycle order box. At this point it usually works fine no matter how long the time increments.Quote from: "Bobarossa"If you want to do this a bunch of times, click the "Repeat button". Each time you click should double the number of orders. Don't forget to add a return to Earth at the end (if you want to end up there).Or give one set of orders (including return & refuel at Earth) and then click the "cycle orders" box. That will copy an order to the bottom of the list whenever it completes, resulting in the TG running a standard route until you tell it to stop.QuoteAlso, 50,000 cargo will pick up 20 Infrastructure.To put it a different way, a freighter that can carry 1 factory (or mine, or automine, or ....) can carry 10 infrastructure.
John
Brian
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 02, 2010, 12:53:16 AM
Quote from: "Brian"
There is a problem with using the cycle order button if the total time it will take to go through all of the orders is less than the time incremented. The easy way to get around this is a combination of both. Have a set of orders, copy them a couple of times. Once you have a set that will take more than 30 days to complete then click on the cycle order box. At this point it usually works fine no matter how long the time increments.I thought I had fixed that one. Are you still having problems?
Steve
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 02, 2010, 05:06:04 AM
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 02, 2010, 05:29:25 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Where do the ships in task group go when I delete a task group they don't seem to show up anywhere in game?If you delete a task group, you delete all the ships as well. When you pressed delete, you should have seen a confirmation popup that read: "Are you sure you want to delete this task group? All ships in the task group will also be deleted".
Steve
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 02, 2010, 06:01:00 AM
Didn't get a pop-up but all ships have now gone. It's only a test game though so no harm done. I guess I'm learning from my mistakes
Also I all of a sudden can't build anymore ships the add task button in the shipyard screen is greyed out and I can't see any reason why.
Post by: Andrew on April 02, 2010, 06:08:23 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Hi SteveThat is a known bug, I beleive if you select a new option to expand the shipyard it will reset the screen and allow you to build the ship
Didn't get a pop-up but all ships have now gone. It's only a test game though so no harm done. I guess I'm learning from my mistakes
Also I all of a sudden can't build anymore ships the add task button in the shipyard screen is greyed out and I can't see any reason why.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 02, 2010, 06:09:45 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Hi SteveIt's an intermittent bug in the current version that is fixed for v5.1. Try selecting a different shipyard or a different construction option and then try again.
Didn't get a pop-up but all ships have now gone. It's only a test game though so no harm done. I guess I'm learning from my mistakes
Also I all of a sudden can't build anymore ships the add task button in the shipyard screen is greyed out and I can't see any reason why.
Steve
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 02, 2010, 06:43:30 AM
Post by: sloanjh on April 02, 2010, 08:18:45 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Where do the ships in task group go when I delete a task group they don't seem to show up anywhere in game?
You know that Star Trek episode where they beam the monster into deep space......?
As far as I know, they are deleted from the database, the crews disintegrated into their constituent bits (and bytes).
John
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 02, 2010, 08:22:19 AM
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 02, 2010, 08:39:41 AM
Also, groud forces can reduce unrest.
Build a Troop transport, and get a garrison battalion over there.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 02, 2010, 08:46:36 AM
Post by: Bobarossa on April 02, 2010, 03:18:52 PM
I think there is a minimum colony population that is needed before they start requesting protection. Ground troops will keep people in line if the requested protection isn't present at the colony.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 02, 2010, 03:30:30 PM
Quote from: "Bobarossa"
On the summary screen for your colony is a line titled "Requested Protection Level". It is the amount of PPV (? Protection Value?) that your colony wants to feel safe. There is an "Actual Protection Level" below the requested level that tells you how much is present. In the summary view of your ship class designs will be a value for PPV. It's on the right side of the second line. I believe it is based on your ship's offensive capability.The min pop level is ten million. Above that the colony demands protection and gets upset when you don't provide it. Any ship or PDC in the same system will be included in the actual protection level.
I think there is a minimum colony population that is needed before they start requesting protection. Ground troops will keep people in line if the requested protection isn't present at the colony.
Steve
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 05, 2010, 12:18:08 PM
Can anyone give me a simple explanation for how the various sensors work and also design guidelines or point me in the right direction to find this info I have done the tutorials and checked the wiki and still feel lost.
Also a guide to what systems need designing for the different weapon systems for example how do fire controls work for missiles?
One thought I had was that the academy thread on the forum could be better organised especially if it's designed for new players. It currently consists of numerous newbie threads asking there own questions maybe a better idea would to be have threads devoted to sections of the game and any newbie can then check or post in the relevant thread this would make finding information much easier.
The learning curve on Aurora is not related to the game it's related to the lack of information when starting out and trial and error is the only viable way to learn to play. This is ok for people who persevere and don't mind numerous false starts but this is not the majority of people.
I am glad I kept trying and now can admit to been addicted. No other space 4X is this deep and the AAR's really bring to life the possibilities.
Well hopefully someone will help me with my issues so I can start getting a military force together to deal with the inevitable confrontation when I meet a hostile force out amongst the stars.
Post by: The Shadow on April 05, 2010, 12:41:32 PM
Active sensors are a little more complicated. You have to paint a ship with an active sensor to be able to fight it. The catch here is that resolution is involved as well. Basically, the higher the resolution of the sensor, the bigger its range... but any ship or missile under its resolution will have its detection range sharply curtailed.
To hit missiles, you have to use zero resolution, which means the active sensor range is quite short.
Is this helping so far?
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 05, 2010, 12:46:38 PM
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 05, 2010, 12:56:43 PM
http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2446#p23984
The short version:
Yes, all ships require an activated active sensors to find targets, and NO, you don't need them on all ships in your fleet, they share them.
A common tactic is to have a "fleet scout" to provide multi-resolution sensor coverage for the entire fleet.
Backup sensors, especially R1 Actives on your Escort ships, do of course always help.
Post by: Father Tim on April 05, 2010, 04:37:42 PM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Hi Shadow yes this is very helpful do all ships require active sensors?
No. No ship requires active sensors. However, no ship or PDC may fire at an enemy* unless at least one unit on the same side has the enemy on active sensors.
*Missiles and drones can be fired at waypoints (or system bodies) without an active sensor lock, and may (also) mount their own sensors.
Post by: AndonSage on April 05, 2010, 04:55:53 PM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Is there a list of how many pop are required per installation so I can plan my buildingThis was mostly answered but they left out one thing:
Shipyards: 1,000,000 + (100 x total tonnage) (1/10 of total tonnage if a commercial shipyard)
So if you have two shipyards, one naval shipyard with two 5000 ton slipways, and one commercial shipyard with three 72,000 ton slipways, the amount of population required would be:
(1,000,000 x 2 shipyards) + (100 x (2 x 5000)) + (100 x (3 x 7200)) = 5,160,000 population
Hope this helps
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 06, 2010, 06:36:12 AM
Thermal sensors are used to detect ships and industry on planets and are passive linked to this how do you know if the sensors detect something do you get a message?
EM sensors detect shields, active sensors and industry these are also passive.
The research upgrades for the above increase the range.
Active sensors have two criteria range and resolution the range is a circular range around the ship or installation that can detect ships etc. The resolution is the size of the object that can be detected the lower the resolution the shorter the range of detection and the smaller the object. The higher the resolution the longer the range of detection and the larger the object but at high resolutions smaller objects are not detected.
Is this correct?
Also can anyone list what designs are required to develop the different weapon systems. Missiles are especially confusing.
Sorry for all the questions but I'm slowly getting the hang of things so hopefully less questions will come to mind.
Post by: AndonSage on April 06, 2010, 07:02:56 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Is this correct?As far as I can tell, yes.
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Missiles are especially confusing.I agree. However, I found this OpenOffice spreadsheet for easy missile design (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2096) thread to help me understand the Missile Design screen at least, after I started playing around with the spreadsheet. Maybe it will help you also. There are other threads on missiles if you search, but it would be nice if we got a Tutorial from Steve, Erik, or one of the other long-time players. Hint, hint
I posted an "Understanding sensors" thread while you were posting your message above, and it's also asking questions.
Post by: AndonSage on April 06, 2010, 08:03:53 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Thanks for the link to the missile design spreadsheet it made missile design much clearer. The only problem I have now is once a missile is designed and constructed what tech is required to design a launcher and how on earth do fire controls work.I've found some good threads, and although the information is scattered, these threads should help. Date of first post is also listed.
- Mar 22, 2010: Interesting info about Guided Missiles (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2410)
- Mar 18, 2010: Just don't get battles at all... (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2386) (this one has some great annotated screens)
- Feb 3, 2010: Missile Design Guide Desired (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2150)
- Nov 1, 2009: Missile Series (http://www.aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1733)
- Jan 19, 2009: Missile and Bouy designs (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1394)
- Nov 3, 2008: Sensor Buoys and Mines (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1312)
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
I really think this academy thread needs some organisation maybe a thread for each area of the game where questions and answers can be posted. Then overtime each thread can be condensed into a tutorial or maybe even an ongoing manual. Not sure how to implement this but what do you think of this kind of idea. It will help newbies and cut down on the same questions in multiple threads.Yeah, I've seen other game forums do this. The problem is that it requires someone knowledgeable putting all the information together. I'd think that expanding the AuroraWiki (http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page) would be better, but the information needs to be kept current. There's really two problems... 1) the game is so complex, that there's not many people who really understand how everything works, and 2) Steve keeps making changes to the game, so information becomes outdated quickly. I think Steve also prefers programming over writing articles/tutorials, so it would need to be someone else.
Anyway, I've been keeping notes as I stumble along. Hopefully I can add what I put together to an FAQ sometime in the future.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 06, 2010, 05:49:20 PM
The weapons used in the attack are unknown.
Now I guess I need to start getting together a military with some basic intel I hope to design some effective weapon systems.
One quick question is it possible to scrap outdated designs and gain minerals?
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 06, 2010, 06:18:26 PM
Just slightly outdated ships can also be refitted with newer components (to a newer class) in a shipyard that could also build that new ship.
It might take longer, but you save material and maybe even experienced crews.
Post by: Octavian30 on April 06, 2010, 10:55:05 PM
Post by: welchbloke on April 07, 2010, 02:21:30 AM
Quote from: "Octavian30"
I refit my ships all the time - currently refitting my PD corvette escorts to version 3 having (Ion Drives) as they come through Sol... I can't see the point of having a fleet composed of a miss-mash of old and new designs all moving in different speed brackets - the above Archer Class did 2300 odd km in version 1 and nearly 4000 now... and are bigger (3750 ton as opposed to 3200) due to jump Tech improvement and carry 3 missile control vs 2 and 6 size 2 launchers as opposed to 4 and 3 times as many missiles... and so on - fleet homogony is important I feel......This is pretty much the philosophy I used to follow; however, recently, I have drifted towards using outdated designs for local system defence. I have moved to only refitting the designs that I feel are cost effective.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 07, 2010, 02:33:55 AM
Post by: AndonSage on April 07, 2010, 03:07:06 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
For a refit do you need to design a new ship the same with upgraded parts or will the game automatically upgrade the existing design to the latest tech level?Refit to is one of the "Task Type" options for your shipyards. You need to design a new ship class, and retool a shipyard to build the new design. In the "Refit From" dropdown choose the old class design, and the "Ship Name" dropdown will have a list of any ships of that class at the planet. Choose one to refit. Choose the new class in the "New Class" dropdown. Then click Add Task. I'm pretty sure that there is a maximum difference between old and new class in build points beyond which you can't refit a design, but I don't know what the percentage is offhand.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 07, 2010, 03:42:42 AM
Right it's question time again!!!
In my current game I'm starting to amass a fair few ships and the survey ships as noted in the tutorials work well alone not in a fleet so I now have ships all over the place. Is there anyway to organise things better and what methods do other people use? I know you can see what the ships are up to in the Tactical display but this doesn't allow you to select and go straight to the the ship which would be a good feature.
Now finally is this a fair description as to how missiles work.
Missiles are designed with various different components which are tech based these affect the damage done on impact the speed, range and maneauvrability. These are the main components but sensors can also be added to make the missiles able to track targets. Each component in a missile takes up space which governs the size of the missile and the size of the launcher.
The next required component is the launcher which governs the reload speed linked to this is the magazine which is the number of missiles that are available to fire.
Missiles are manufactured in ordnance factories and can then be loaded onto ships. I presume the ships need to be docked to load missiles.
The final requirement is fire control and this is the part I don't understand so any help would be appreciated.
Each area can be improved by research.
So in a combat situation the sensors detect a craft and the range is given on the system map the trick then is to get within range to fire. The missiles can fire on any target as long as it is on sensors of a craft in the same fleet. So the best case scenario is to have sensors that have a range at least as far as the range of the misiles.
Missiles come in two main varieties anti-ship and point defense with the only difference been the way the fire controls are setup.
Well that's my understanding so far please enlighten me if it's incorrect.
Post by: AndonSage on April 07, 2010, 04:31:31 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
In my current game I'm starting to amass a fair few ships and the survey ships as noted in the tutorials work well alone not in a fleet so I now have ships all over the place. Is there anyway to organise things better and what methods do other people use? I know you can see what the ships are up to in the Tactical display but this doesn't allow you to select and go straight to the the ship which would be a good feature.If you go to the F12 Task Groups screen you can pick the ship you want from the Name dropdown box. If you have the "Centre Map on Fleet" box checked, the F3 System Map will center on that ship. If you have so many ships that you're scrolling the dropdown box list a lot, then try using the Ctrl-Y Class Deployments screen (Main Menu Bar -> Empires -> Military Organization -> Class Deployments). Ships are grouped by class, and within class by Task Group, and within Task Group by individual ship. Double click a Task Group and it will bring the TG up in the F12 Task Groups screen. Double click an individual ship and it will bring up the ship on the F6 Individual Unit Details screen.
Someone else with better understanding of missiles should answer those questions
Post by: Father Tim on April 07, 2010, 06:54:03 AM
Quote from: "AndonSage"
I'm pretty sure that there is a maximum difference between old and new class in build points beyond which you can't refit a design, but I don't know what the percentage is offhand.
There is no maximum difference between what you can refit from and refit to - which has led to a few people accidentally refitting 36,000 ton battleships into 1000 ton gunboats. There's now a pop-up message to help prevent you from doing that.
The more systems you change the more expensive the refit - particularly if you're increasing the displacement. You can easily end up with a refit that costs more than a brand new ship.
Perhaps what you're thinking of is that a shipyard can build any design whose 'refit current design to' cost is within 20% of its tooled class - which is why most cryo transport yards can build equivalent freighters (cryo hold --> cargo hold = cheap refit) but freighter yards can't build equivalent cryo ships (remove cheap cargo holds, add expensive cryo holds = expensive refit).
Post by: Deutschbag on April 07, 2010, 08:02:44 AM
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 07, 2010, 09:15:17 AM
Set target Destination Earth.
Have a Mass Driver on Earth to catch the Packets.
Post by: Hawkeye on April 07, 2010, 10:43:08 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
The final requirement is fire control and this is the part I don't understand so any help would be appreciated.
Each area can be improved by research.
So in a combat situation the sensors detect a craft and the range is given on the system map the trick then is to get within range to fire. The missiles can fire on any target as long as it is on sensors of a craft in the same fleet. So the best case scenario is to have sensors that have a range at least as far as the range of the misiles.
Missiles come in two main varieties anti-ship and point defense with the only difference been the way the fire controls are setup.
Well that's my understanding so far please enlighten me if it's incorrect.
Re. Missile Firecons:
You need a missile firecon to fire at a target, that has been "tagged" by your active sensor (duh)
Your missile firecons (MFC from here on) are designed quite similar to active sensors (they are even on the same tab for desiging system as sensors are)
Like Sensors, MFCs have a resolution. If you want to use a MFC against enemy missiles (i.e. point defense) your MFC should have a resolution of 1.
If you expect enemy gunboats, a resolution of 15 to 20 is advisable, while against enemy ships resolution 50+ should be used.
After an engagement with the swarm, I am now in the process of refitting my missile ships with an additional, res-16 MFC, so I can engage them at long range.
You can engage a small enemy ship with a MFC with a larger resolution, but the same formula as for sensors applies (Range x ((Target size) / (Resolution))^2)
I.e. If your target is half the size of your resolution, you can engage it at only one quarter the MFCs maximum range.
The maximum range is also affected by enemy ECM. ECM-10 reduces range by 10% and so on. This can be countered by ECCM.
If, for example, your enemy mounts ECM-30 and your ship has an ECCM-20 assigned to the MFC, the total malus to range is 10%
ECM does not add, so only one per ship is needed, ECCM, however, only works on the single Firecon it is assigned to, so if you have 3 MFCs and want all of them to have ECCM, you need 3 ECCM.
Hope this helps.
Post by: Deutschbag on April 07, 2010, 11:42:48 AM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
Use a mass Driver.
Set target Destination Earth.
Have a Mass Driver on Earth to catch the Packets.
Alright. Do I need one mass driver on Earth for each one on the mining colony in question?
And what if the colony is in a system other than Sol but I still need to get it to Earth? Same question as before. Do I need to set up a route with my freighters manually, or will civilians do it for me? Is it possible to set up mineral contracts in a similar way as it is possible to set up installation contracts? Also, can mass drivers fire packets through jump gates?
Edit: Oh, one more unrelated question. When you send a xenology team to recover a ruin and it comes back with the name, what does the "TL#" after the name mean? For instance, I recovered a ruined settlement, and the name of the empire to which it belonged was "Sivor Protectorate", and in the colony summary screen, it says "Sivor Protectorate - TL1" under the abandoned installation count. Does it perhaps mean "Technology Level"? And if so, what's the difference between, say, TL1 and TL2?
Post by: Brian Neumann on April 07, 2010, 12:15:27 PM
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"Use a mass Driver.
Set target Destination Earth.
Have a Mass Driver on Earth to catch the Packets.
Alright. Do I need one mass driver on Earth for each one on the mining colony in question?
And what if the colony is in a system other than Sol but I still need to get it to Earth? Same question as before. Do I need to set up a route with my freighters manually, or will civilians do it for me? Is it possible to set up mineral contracts in a similar way as it is possible to set up installation contracts? Also, can mass drivers fire packets through jump gates?
Edit: Oh, one more unrelated question. When you send a xenology team to recover a ruin and it comes back with the name, what does the "TL#" after the name mean? For instance, I recovered a ruined settlement, and the name of the empire to which it belonged was "Sivor Protectorate", and in the colony summary screen, it says "Sivor Protectorate - TL1" under the abandoned installation count. Does it perhaps mean "Technology Level"? And if so, what's the difference between, say, TL1 and TL2?
1.) You will need one mass driver on the recieving end and at least one per mining point. You may need more if the mining point generates enough minerals, generally around 60 minerals per month if you have all 11 minerals in the same location.
2.) Mass drivers only work within the system. They do not go through warp points. I have not tried to set up a civilian contract to handle the jp yet. Usually what I do is to find the nearest piece of rock to the wp, put a mass driver on it and have all the others in the system send it to there. My ship comes by and picks up from this location therby saving me lots of time in system.
3.) The TL listed is an indication of how high tech the systems recovered will be. TL1 will be the first generation of equipment. TL 5 is the highest I have seen and will get you 5th generation equipment, For example you can get Nuclear pulse engines for TL2 and Capaciter 2 weapons. TL 5 systems would be ECCM-5, 25cm Far UV Laser with a Capaciter 5. The higher the TL the better the equipment that you will find. The tech you get sometimes from reactivating a reasearch lab is different. It will be a random tech that you could currently reasearch, or one of the "advanced" techs that are only available from these labs.
Brian
Post by: Deutschbag on April 07, 2010, 01:29:32 PM
Quote from: "Brian"
Quote from: "Deutschbag"Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"Use a mass Driver.
Set target Destination Earth.
Have a Mass Driver on Earth to catch the Packets.
Alright. Do I need one mass driver on Earth for each one on the mining colony in question?
And what if the colony is in a system other than Sol but I still need to get it to Earth? Same question as before. Do I need to set up a route with my freighters manually, or will civilians do it for me? Is it possible to set up mineral contracts in a similar way as it is possible to set up installation contracts? Also, can mass drivers fire packets through jump gates?
Edit: Oh, one more unrelated question. When you send a xenology team to recover a ruin and it comes back with the name, what does the "TL#" after the name mean? For instance, I recovered a ruined settlement, and the name of the empire to which it belonged was "Sivor Protectorate", and in the colony summary screen, it says "Sivor Protectorate - TL1" under the abandoned installation count. Does it perhaps mean "Technology Level"? And if so, what's the difference between, say, TL1 and TL2?
1.) You will need one mass driver on the recieving end and at least one per mining point. You may need more if the mining point generates enough minerals, generally around 60 minerals per month if you have all 11 minerals in the same location.
2.) Mass drivers only work within the system. They do not go through warp points. I have not tried to set up a civilian contract to handle the jp yet. Usually what I do is to find the nearest piece of rock to the wp, put a mass driver on it and have all the others in the system send it to there. My ship comes by and picks up from this location therby saving me lots of time in system.
3.) The TL listed is an indication of how high tech the systems recovered will be. TL1 will be the first generation of equipment. TL 5 is the highest I have seen and will get you 5th generation equipment, For example you can get Nuclear pulse engines for TL2 and Capaciter 2 weapons. TL 5 systems would be ECCM-5, 25cm Far UV Laser with a Capaciter 5. The higher the TL the better the equipment that you will find. The tech you get sometimes from reactivating a reasearch lab is different. It will be a random tech that you could currently reasearch, or one of the "advanced" techs that are only available from these labs.
Brian
1. Alrighty.
2. Good idea, I hadn't thought of that... But then I haven't had more than one extra-solar mining colony in a single system yet, haha.
3. Alright, cool. I did in fact recover some ECCM modules from the settlement, which was a pleasant enough surprise. If you recover artifacts which you don't yet have the tech to reproduce on your own, can you reverse-engineer it in some way?
Post by: The Shadow on April 07, 2010, 01:32:33 PM
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
3. Alright, cool. I did in fact recover some ECCM modules from the settlement, which was a pleasant enough surprise. If you recover artifacts which you don't yet have the tech to reproduce on your own, can you reverse-engineer it in some way?
You can disassemble the components, giving you a 1-in-40 chance of each one to figure out the tech.
In 5.1, I understand that will change; each component disassembled will instead give you 1-5% of the research points you need for it.
Post by: Brian Neumann on April 07, 2010, 01:36:55 PM
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
3. Alright, cool. I did in fact recover some ECCM modules from the settlement, which was a pleasant enough surprise. If you recover artifacts which you don't yet have the tech to reproduce on your own, can you reverse-engineer it in some way?Yes. On the Industrial tab of the Population on Production screen (F2) you can dissasemble any components that you have found. You will need to go to the stockpile of components. The button is on the left about 2/3 of the way down the screen. You then select the component you want to dissasemble and press the dissasemble button. Currently you have 1/40th chance per background tech to get something. As of the next version (5.1) Steve has said it will be about 1-5% of the research points for a background system. This is important as you will want to take the components to a planet with reasearch labs to finish the reasearch.
Brian
P.S. You need to have a single ship with enough cargo capacity for the entire item to be shipped. A system that is individually to big will not be moved by ship.
Post by: Deutschbag on April 07, 2010, 05:31:41 PM
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 08, 2010, 02:34:27 AM
Due to the discovery of an alien race we are starting to concentrate on defense so a Missile Cruiser has been designed. On the design the missile launchers state 5 missiles is this per salvo?
Also still having trouble keeping track of all my ships what do you guys do to help keep track and organise things?
Also what about starting a newbie story telling thread where we can all update the events in our empires and ask questions as they arise this would be a kind of learning by play kinda thing. If anyone fancys joining up with me and starting a thread please let me know.
Post by: AndonSage on April 08, 2010, 03:42:00 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Also still having trouble keeping track of all my ships what do you guys do to help keep track and organise things?Did you try my suggestion when I answered you previously, on page three of this thread?
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 08, 2010, 03:56:22 AM
Maybe it's just me been very unorganised but I can see this becoming more of a problem as the number of ships, fleets and colonys grow.
Post by: waresky on April 08, 2010, 04:16:43 AM
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2337 (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2337) (Squadroon Concept and Imperial Naval Doctrine" read..if u like this:)
Squadroon task concept.
When am build up a "specified Squadroon for specified task" am follow simple rule:
R Escort? so am build and TRAINING toghter the "Escort" task ships.
r Carrier?same above and so on.
am never join different task Squadroon because the situation goes very boring and badly to follow and left all ships alone..
ES 1 = Escortron squadroon 1 (and all ships inside never left the squadroon..to the death:)
when more squadroon need at same point am send all but never groupping all togheter.
this is my Naval doctrine.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 08, 2010, 04:27:31 AM
Only problem with doing the above is having to keep renaming the fleets here is an example:
Say I have a survey fleet of 2 grav survey ships, 2 geo survey ships and a jump tender this fleet is called survey 1. When I arrive in the system to be surveyed I need to detach all the ships and give them orders to survey individually. When the ships detach they are renamed whatever name the ship has. I leave the jump tender by the jump point just in case.
Once the system has been surveyed all ships then reform into the fleet and for some reason the now empty task groups are still in the list which is very confusing especially if I detach again because then duplicate names appear which causes error messages.
Is there a quick one click solution to reform a fleet of all ships at a location and also a way to keep orders for detached fleets this would make things much easier.
Hope this makes sense I think part of the problem is trying to learn the game as I go along so organisation has not been top of my agenda.
Post by: waresky on April 08, 2010, 04:54:03 AM
yes am know damn very well what u mean..
and r same problem of mine.
Survey,detach and regroup arent so clear.And arent easy to manage'them.
Steve can resolve or answer.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 08, 2010, 07:48:34 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
In my current game I'm starting to amass a fair few ships and the survey ships as noted in the tutorials work well alone not in a fleet so I now have ships all over the place. Is there anyway to organise things better and what methods do other people use? I know you can see what the ships are up to in the Tactical display but this doesn't allow you to select and go straight to the the ship which would be a good feature.Assuming you are using the latest version, the easiest way to organise and maintain an overview of your fleets is to use the Naval Organization tab on the F12 Fleet window. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2250 (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2250)
The F12 window also allows you to centre the map on each fleet as you select it so you can cycle through and see what every fleet is doing
Another way is to use the F11 Galactic map, which shows which systems contain ships. If you make sure the OOB sidebar view is selected then clicking on a system will list the ships within that system.
Steve
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 08, 2010, 07:54:39 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Due to the discovery of an alien race we are starting to concentrate on defense so a Missile Cruiser has been designed. On the design the missile launchers state 5 missiles is this per salvo?Not sure what you mean by 'state 5 missiles'. Below is a missile launcher design. The max missile size is exactly how it sounds - you can fire missiles of up to size 5 from this launcher. A size 6 missile would be too large. it take 50 seconds to reload and the size of the launcher is 5 hull spaces.
Code: [Select]
Maximum Missile Size: 5 Rate of Fire: 50 seconds
Launcher Size: 5 HS Launcher HTK: 2
Cost Per Launcher: 30 Crew Per Launcher: 50
Materials Required: 7.5x Duranium 22.5x Tritanium
Development Cost for Project: 300RPSteve
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 08, 2010, 08:02:44 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Yes and I'm still having trouble seem to be constantly renaming fleets and having to reassign orders. Is there a way to group all ships at one location into a single fleet then move them to the location where there required and ungroup them to carry out tasks?If you had 5 grav survey ships for example, you could initially combine them all into one fleet by using 'Join Fleet ' orders or manually using the "Combine with other Task Group" on the the second tab of the Fleet window. Once they are together, you could give them an order to transit into a new system and then divide automatically into single ships. Assuming you are using a survey order for your primary default order, you could set up a secondary default order to return to entry jump point and a conditional order to join parent fleet in same location. In this way, once you give the transit and divide order (which passes on default orders to the individual ships) they will go off and automatically survey the system, then automatically return to the entry jump point and automatically combine into one fleet again.
Maybe it's just me been very unorganised but I can see this becoming more of a problem as the number of ships, fleets and colonys grow.
Steve
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 08, 2010, 08:49:19 AM
Quote
If you had 5 grav survey ships for example, you could initially combine them all into one fleet by using 'Join Fleet ' orders or manually using the "Combine with other Task Group" on the the second tab of the Fleet window. Once they are together, you could give them an order to transit into a new system and then divide automatically into single ships. Assuming you are using a survey order for your primary default order, you could set up a secondary default order to return to entry jump point and a conditional order to join parent fleet in same location. In this way, once you give the transit and divide order (which passes on default orders to the individual ships) they will go off and automatically survey the system, then automatically return to the entry jump point and automatically combine into one fleet again.
Wow this sounds like just what I'm looking for will try it tonight haven't had chance to look at all the ship orders so that might be why I missed this thanks for pointing it out.
Quote
Not sure what you mean by 'state 5 missiles'. Below is a missile launcher design. The max missile size is exactly how it sounds - you can fire missiles of up to size 5 from this launcher. A size 6 missile would be too large. it take 50 seconds to reload and the size of the launcher is 5 hull spaces.
The 5 missiles are the magazine which I presume can be improved by research. With one launcher I have 5 missiles with two I have 10. I have produced 1000 missiles on my home world so should have plenty. I thought the 5 missiles meant 5 missiles were launched at a time.
Quote
Assuming you are using the latest version, the easiest way to organise and maintain an overview of your fleets is to use the Naval Organization tab on the F12 Fleet window. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2250
The F12 window also allows you to centre the map on each fleet as you select it so you can cycle through and see what every fleet is doing
Another way is to use the F11 Galactic map, which shows which systems contain ships. If you make sure the OOB sidebar view is selected then clicking on a system will list the ships within that system.
More fantastic info I tend to play the game from the system map but the galactic map would let me see the bigger picture and allow me to concentrate on one sector at a time. Along with the other tips hopefully things should improve.
Thanks for taking the time to reply and let me say I'm extremely impressed with Aurora the exploration and not knowing what's out there lift it above all other 4X games I've played. Just wish I could read a manual to learn all it's secrets but I guess that's part of the fun.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 08, 2010, 09:10:24 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
QuoteNot sure what you mean by 'state 5 missiles'. Below is a missile launcher design. The max missile size is exactly how it sounds - you can fire missiles of up to size 5 from this launcher. A size 6 missile would be too large. it take 50 seconds to reload and the size of the launcher is 5 hull spaces.
The 5 missiles are the magazine which I presume can be improved by research. With one launcher I have 5 missiles with two I have 10. I have produced 1000 missiles on my home world so should have plenty. I thought the 5 missiles meant 5 missiles were launched at a time.
If you mean the Magazine line on the class summary display (see below) then that is the total size of missiles your magazine can hold. So if this said Magazine 10, it would mean you could hold two Size-5 missiles or ten Size-1 missiles. You get free magazine capacity equal to the size of your missile launchers (effectively assuming that one missile is loaded into each launcher). Beyond that you have to design magazines and add them to your ship to be able to carry reloads. Magazine techs include the Feed System Efficiency, which is how much actual storage space you have compared to the mechanism for moving missiles to the launchers, and Ejection System, which is the chance that a damaged magazine will eject any stored ordnance when it is hit. If it doesn't eject stored ordnance there will be a magazine explosion with potentially catastrophic results for your ship. You can also choose to increase the HTK (Hits to Kill) value of a magazine, which reduces internal space but increases the chance it won't be destroyed when hit (effectively adding internal armour).
Code: [Select]
Asgard class Destroyer Escort 8000 tons 718 Crew 1345.68 BP TCS 160 TH 660 EM 0
4125 km/s Armour 3-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 20
Annual Failure Rate: 128% IFR: 1.8% Maint Capacity 421 MSP Max Repair 189 MSP Est Time: 1.37 Years
Magazine 596
Ion Engine (11) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 75.0 billion km (210 days at full power)
PD Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
PD Missile Fire Control (4) Range 1.5m km Resolution 1
Sentinel Anti-missile Missile (596) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 1.1m Range: 2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 180 / 108 / 54
LR Missile Detection Sensor (1) GPS 189 Range 1.5m km Resolution 1Steve
Post by: waresky on April 08, 2010, 12:29:57 PM
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
OMG,..ive been missed this tricky Info!!!!!Quote from: "Hyfrydle"Yes and I'm still having trouble seem to be constantly renaming fleets and having to reassign orders. Is there a way to group all ships at one location into a single fleet then move them to the location where there required and ungroup them to carry out tasks?If you had 5 grav survey ships for example, you could initially combine them all into one fleet by using 'Join Fleet ' orders or manually using the "Combine with other Task Group" on the the second tab of the Fleet window. Once they are together, you could give them an order to transit into a new system and then divide automatically into single ships. Assuming you are using a survey order for your primary default order, you could set up a secondary default order to return to entry jump point and a conditional order to join parent fleet in same location. In this way, once you give the transit and divide order (which passes on default orders to the individual ships) they will go off and automatically survey the system, then automatically return to the entry jump point and automatically combine into one fleet again.
Maybe it's just me been very unorganised but I can see this becoming more of a problem as the number of ships, fleets and colonys grow.
Steve
am dummy Commodore,.,.
"ehy Ensign,,YES u!..u where r near ths SUN..omg,have u finish to explore'em?..ok..c'mon..what" WHERE?"..HERE! on mY! MY positon..wait: P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N..do u undertand this? ok..am waitn for u..tic..toc..ticc..tooc..TIC..TOC.."what is?..CommSitRep pleas..WHAT is this TIC TOC?,,Errr,Commodore..am suppouse r some of,,"Missile Acquisition Signal"..O_O..."
Commodore default.
Post by: AndonSage on April 09, 2010, 12:31:39 AM
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
The only problem I see with this is that you could only have one type of survey ship (either grav or geo) in the fleet, not both types, as there aren't enough default orders to both set "Survey Nearest Survey Point" and "Survey Next Five System Bodies" (since you need the second default order to "Move to Entry Jump Point"). So you'll need to create one fleet for each survey type. I don't know if Hyfrdyle was using a multi-survey fleet, but just wanted to bring this up in case he was.Quote from: "Hyfrydle"Yes and I'm still having trouble seem to be constantly renaming fleets and having to reassign orders. Is there a way to group all ships at one location into a single fleet then move them to the location where there required and ungroup them to carry out tasks?If you had 5 grav survey ships for example, you could initially combine them all into one fleet by using 'Join Fleet ' orders or manually using the "Combine with other Task Group" on the the second tab of the Fleet window. Once they are together, you could give them an order to transit into a new system and then divide automatically into single ships. Assuming you are using a survey order for your primary default order, you could set up a secondary default order to return to entry jump point and a conditional order to join parent fleet in same location. In this way, once you give the transit and divide order (which passes on default orders to the individual ships) they will go off and automatically survey the system, then automatically return to the entry jump point and automatically combine into one fleet again.
Maybe it's just me been very unorganised but I can see this becoming more of a problem as the number of ships, fleets and colonys grow.
Steve
Only way to get around that problem would be to add a third Default Order.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 09, 2010, 02:15:57 AM
Any help much appreciated.
Also how do you define the parent fleet as mentioned in Steve's post.
Post by: The Shadow on April 09, 2010, 02:33:29 AM
EDIT: The 'Load Ordnance' command from the Task Group menu has always worked for me.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 09, 2010, 02:40:19 AM
Quote
Sorry if this is too obvious, but... Do you have the magazine space for more than two? I ask because I made that very mistake myself once.
Magazine space for each ship is 5 not sure how to increase this though. Seems strange that I can't stock 500 missiles on each ship.
Post by: AndonSage on April 09, 2010, 04:15:32 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Magazine space for each ship is 5 not sure how to increase this though. Seems strange that I can't stock 500 missiles on each ship.Did you read Steve's response (http://aurora.pentarch.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2440&p=24336#p24268) to your prior post, above?
Quote
If you mean the Magazine line on the class summary display (see below) then that is the total size of missiles your magazine can hold. So if this said Magazine 10, it would mean you could hold two Size-5 missiles or ten Size-1 missiles. You get free magazine capacity equal to the size of your missile launchers (effectively assuming that one missile is loaded into each launcher). Beyond that you have to design magazines and add them to your ship to be able to carry reloads. Magazine techs include the Feed System Efficiency, which is how much actual storage space you have compared to the mechanism for moving missiles to the launchers, and Ejection System, which is the chance that a damaged magazine will eject any stored ordnance when it is hit. If it doesn't eject stored ordnance there will be a magazine explosion with potentially catastrophic results for your ship. You can also choose to increase the HTK (Hits to Kill) value of a magazine, which reduces internal space but increases the chance it won't be destroyed when hit (effectively adding internal armour).
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 09, 2010, 04:40:35 AM
Where do I find the research item for magazines and while I'm at it missile warheads?
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 09, 2010, 05:18:50 AM
You can design magazines just like missile Launchers etc.
Post by: waresky on April 09, 2010, 06:06:43 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Great that means I need to redesign my missile cruisers so they can actually stock enough missiles so they can fire more than once. This game and lack of info is very annoying at times.HY..i will remember u a simple fact: THIS game arent commercial.
Where do I find the research item for magazines and while I'm at it missile warheads?
Are a merely game ONLY for STEVE's pleasure.
And Steve has give us the possibility to download and enjoy it.
BUT all r for Steve's use,not for us.
..So pls post suggestions,not too more voids..criticsm .
2 cents
Post by: randal7 on April 09, 2010, 06:13:54 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Great that means I need to redesign my missile cruisers so they can actually stock enough missiles so they can fire more than once. This game and lack of info is very annoying at times.
Where do I find the research item for magazines and while I'm at it missile warheads?
If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 09, 2010, 06:29:28 AM
Quote
If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.
Cool that should save me time just need to design a magazine with more than 2 missiles max.
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 09, 2010, 07:31:03 AM
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 09, 2010, 01:51:54 PM
Post by: Hawkeye on April 09, 2010, 02:24:11 PM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Do I need a separate magazine for each missile launcher if so how do I specify which launcher uses which magazine.
No, any number of magazins work. All magazines capacity is added up by the program. Each launcher will draw missiles from that total, no matter which magazine the missiles are in.
Post by: The Shadow on April 09, 2010, 04:42:04 PM
Quote from: "randal7"
If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.
I so totally did not know that. Thanks! The things you learn about this game...And Hyfrydle, magazines are a separate item to be researched in the new research project pop-up. They are pretty essential for missiles, yes - as I found out the hard way myself!
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 09, 2010, 05:16:47 PM
Post by: Father Tim on April 11, 2010, 07:43:17 PM
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
Hi, I've got a question. If I have a colony producing surplus minerals, and Earth is running a mineral deficit, do I need to manually tell my freighters to ferry the minerals,
Yes. Either 'Load <mineral name>', 'Load all minerals', or 'Load <mineral name> when X available'.
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
or will civilian freighters transport minerals from surplus to deficit colonies automatically?
No.
Quote from: "Deutschbag"
Or do I perhaps have to tell them to do it, with a contract or something?
Yes. On the Civilian Contracts window set your producing colonies to 'Supply X <mineral name>' and set Earth to 'Demand X <mineral name>'. If you set supply greater than the amount currently available you may get an error, but you can certainly set the demand higher and later add more supply orders when more of whatever mineral is available.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 12, 2010, 02:56:40 AM
I still have lots of questions and the best answers I have found in the fiction section the only problem with this is for a beginner some of the stories start with multiple races and are quite complicated. Is there an AAR or fiction from a beginners viewpoint? If not I'm going to start one which I will post and as I come across problems or questions I will post and hopefully my AAR will help other beginners like me this is the way I find easiest to learn a game.
Hope to start this tonight and it will include plenty of screenshots and by the end of it I hope to have a better understanding of gameplay I will take things slow.
I will post this in this forum in a seperate thread hope that's ok.
Post by: EarthquakeDamage on April 12, 2010, 09:59:59 AM
Quote from: "Father Tim"
On the Civilian Contracts window set your producing colonies to 'Supply X <mineral name>' and set Earth to 'Demand X <mineral name>'. If you set supply greater than the amount currently available you may get an error, but you can certainly set the demand higher and later add more supply orders when more of whatever mineral is available.
Actually, that's incorrect. While IMO we should be able to set up mineral contracts, they don't yet exist (or they're in a completely different window that I haven't seen). You can only set up installation contracts for shipping mines, infrastructure, factories, &c around.
Post by: Maximillian on April 12, 2010, 10:37:55 AM
Thanks,
Max
Post by: waresky on April 12, 2010, 10:54:13 AM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
Should be rather easy, seeing how the smallest magazine with maximum armor will probably have more missiles^^Better MAXIMUN magazine's armor than minimum.Everywhere.
Post by: Hawkeye on April 12, 2010, 01:32:33 PM
Quote from: "Maximillian"
How about Commercial Spaceports? Do they have to be built in place? I don't see a way to move them with civilian freighters. Are they still needed for trade in 5.x?
Thanks,
Max
Nope, they only help in loading/unloading and yes, they have to be build in place.
Note: the loading/unloading bonus can get quite large, especially in a system with several larger colonies and lots of commercial traffic going on (i.e. if loading/unloading time is a significant percentage of total transport time), , so they can pay for themselfs (in money at least) in such a case. In a system with only a single colony, they probably aren´t worth it.
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 12, 2010, 02:16:03 PM
Post by: Maximillian on April 12, 2010, 04:20:01 PM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
I'd always build a single level on any colony over 20m, no matter where, it halves the loading time, and it really isn't that expensive.
Thanks!
That brings up another question. I've settled a few planets with no minerals but haven't bothered to build them up other than with terraforming. How does everyone else handle these? Ship some CF there with minerals or mostly let them be?
Max
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 12, 2010, 05:29:20 PM
Post by: Maximillian on April 12, 2010, 06:00:11 PM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
Why do you settle them in the first place unless the system is strategically important?
'cause I can't not settle Mars!
Its just so... there. I have it terraformed fairly well and hadn't found any other planets with a colony cost hat low. Once the survey teams get ramped up I'm going to send them in and hope for the best.
Max
Post by: Decimator on April 12, 2010, 08:57:38 PM
Post by: sloanjh on April 12, 2010, 09:40:08 PM
Quote from: "Maximillian"
That brings up another question. I've settled a few planets with no minerals but haven't bothered to build them up other than with terraforming. How does everyone else handle these? Ship some CF there with minerals or mostly let them be?
I usually ship ship (or build) ~100 factories. That gives you enough manufacturing oomph to build things like a spaceport. And yes, I ship the minerals there - a LOT of minerals fit in the space required for a single factory/mine/whatever.
The main reason for doing this is that cargo space tends to be a limiting factor in empire expansion. Since bulk minerals usually require less space than the equivalent installation, it's cheaper in terms of transport cost to ship the factories to a planet then let the factory build stuff, even if minerals need to be shipped in. In this vein, the first thing I start building is usually more factories.
John
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 13, 2010, 12:33:36 PM
Quote
If you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.Once you update the class, you also need to go into the Ship window and select each existing ship of the class as well. Although some class-related information is held at the class level, each ship holds some data as well. Selecting each ship in turn will refresh that ship with the new class information. Just scrolling through the list of ships on the left hand side is enough.
Steve
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 13, 2010, 12:34:19 PM
Quote from: "EarthquakeDamage"
That's correct - there are no civilian contracts for minerals (yet).Quote from: "Father Tim"On the Civilian Contracts window set your producing colonies to 'Supply X <mineral name>' and set Earth to 'Demand X <mineral name>'. If you set supply greater than the amount currently available you may get an error, but you can certainly set the demand higher and later add more supply orders when more of whatever mineral is available.
Actually, that's incorrect. While IMO we should be able to set up mineral contracts, they don't yet exist (or they're in a completely different window that I haven't seen). You can only set up installation contracts for shipping mines, infrastructure, factories, &c around.
Steve
Post by: Steve Walmsley on April 13, 2010, 12:35:57 PM
Quote from: "UnLimiTeD"
Why do you settle them in the first place unless the system is strategically important?Because small colonies grow faster than large ones and they provide different trade goods. Establishing a few small colonies, even if the planets are not strategically important or contain a lot of minerals, will help wealth generation in the long term
Steve
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 13, 2010, 01:06:12 PM
Currently got a game with severe Uridium shortages, but over 30k income per year after expenses.
Post by: randal7 on April 13, 2010, 09:03:35 PM
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
QuoteIf you go into SM mode, unlock this ship design, and change it to how you want it, the already built ships of the original model will be changed also. This may be cheating, depending on your perspective. IMHO, since this was an honest mistake based on ignorance of the game mechanics rather than just a bad decision on your part, it's not a cheat. That's what I told myself when it happened to me, anyway.Once you update the class, you also need to go into the Ship window and select each existing ship of the class as well. Although some class-related information is held at the class level, each ship holds some data as well. Selecting each ship in turn will refresh that ship with the new class information. Just scrolling through the list of ships on the left hand side is enough.
Steve
Guess I know what I need to do first next time I have a chance to play...
Post by: UnLimiTeD on April 14, 2010, 03:25:48 AM
Granted a huge bunch of errors, but worked.
Post by: Hyfrydle on April 27, 2010, 06:37:12 AM
Post by: ZimRathbone on April 27, 2010, 07:47:27 AM
Quote from: "Hyfrydle"
Is there any point putting a geosurvey team on a civilian mining colony?If you are buying the mineral output, then yes definately, the might increase the amount of something you need, and (less likely) may increase avalaibilty (which would be a real plus as you get more minerals for the same cash outlay.
If you're taxing the CMC then its less helpful, but still good (it will usually extend the life of the tax base).
and in both cases the team will go up 5% every time it finds something.
best use IMHO is still on your own mining sites, and preferably planets as you are more likely to make a find on a planet than a smaller body.