Aurora 4x
New Players => The Academy => Topic started by: chrislocke2000 on June 17, 2011, 05:09:46 AM
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Hey all
So I'm about 50 years into my current game and have managed to explore about 85 systems out of the 500 total I set at the start of the game.
To date I've run into plenty of precursors and swarm and now have the tech to handle these without too much trouble.
I set the game to 4 NPRs to begin with and I think I have met one of those along with one generated on jump in to a new system. The first NPR seemed to be doing ok but then had a Duranium crash and I was able to take out his fleet and conquer his colonies without too much trouble at all. The second NPR seems confined to just the system I found them in and has a tech level well below mine so I suspect they are going to be a very easy target for me as well.
Do people think I am just having bad luck with what I'm finding to date or are there better ways to set up the game to make sure you get a reasonable number of NPRs that are likely to come after you and not die from their own economic collapse?
I was thinking of generating another NPR in SM mode at one of the more distant habitable planets I've found but not too sure I'm happy with that. Is there any way I can check on the health of the other NPRs in my game to see if they are going to be a worthy challenge when I eventually find them?
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Some people don't even start with NPRs, because the AI can't handle the duranium crash. Besides, they tend to get stuck in infinte loops. Eventually, you'll probably trigger something nasty when exploring a new star system. Also, turn on the option for "invaders" if it isn't already. You don't have to start a new game. That *should* tend to spice things up.
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At normal difficulty (100%) NPRs shouldn't suffer a Duranium crash - only if you up the difficulty setting.
The thing to keep in mind is that NPR strength is set relative to yours at the moment you generate them. After that, a human player is probably (almost always) going to be more efficient at developing their empire, so your strength should increase faster than theirs.
If even the Invaders aren't giving you trouble, it's time to claim victory and start a new game.
My suggestions would be:
1. Above all, turn off 'Real Stars'
2. Cut back on any (all?) 'exploit'-type actions you take (such as 'training up' Civ Admins & geo teams on rocks, or scientists on 1 RL projects
3. Try a non-TN (conventional) start
4. Use a five- or even seven-day build increment
and for the ultimate challenge:
5. No missiles. At all.
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5. No missiles. At all.
I'm in. I don't like missiles anyway.
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1. Above all, turn off 'Real Stars'
Why would turning off "Real Stars" help with this?
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I'm going to guess that it will make systems near NPC territory less-crappy.
A human player can handle logistics of long shipping lines and what not-- an ai cannot.
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Why would turning off "Real Stars" help with this?
Because the Real Stars option restricts the terrain to, well, real stars. No nebulae, no black holes, no weird stuff.
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Because the Real Stars option restricts the terrain to, well, real stars. No nebulae, no black holes, no weird stuff.
I haven't seen a blackhole yet... those really exist in the game?
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I havn't seen one specifically-- but there is a bodyless system that i hopped out of, the galactic map symbol is a... well... a big black hole. So who knows!
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I havn't seen one specifically-- but there is a bodyless system that i hopped out of, the galactic map symbol is a... well... a big black hole. So who knows!
That's the icon for a "starless warp nexus" (like K-45 in In Death Ground).
John
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woh that sounds like, ominous, and stuff.
i will sacrifice millions of souls to investigate.
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If I use SM mode to generate an NPR to shoot at, is there any assurance that it will generate connected to my explored warp chain? I mean, I don't want it to generate 500 warps away. I really need something new to shoot at to test out my new ship designs and I'm not finding anyone out there.
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If I use SM mode to generate an NPR to shoot at, is there any assurance that it will generate connected to my explored warp chain? I mean, I don't want it to generate 500 warps away. I really need something new to shoot at to test out my new ship designs and I'm not finding anyone out there.
You can generate a npr in an already explored system. While in the system view (F9) and in sm mode there is a box for create empire. In the top section there is a check box for making it an npr. Set the population and amount of reasearch points to what seems likely to give you what you want and go from there. You will not have any control of the npr once it is created.
Another option is to go to the jump point tab (F9 still). click on a jump point that is not connected to any other system and then click on the break connection button. When you click on the pulldown menu for the list of jump points to connect to know you will see a bunch with names which should be your systems, and a bunch with just a system number. Copy down all the current system numbers and then use the sm menu to create a new npr. When you go back to the same list you may need to break connections again, but the new system number should be there. That will be the system number for your new npr.
Good Luck
Brian
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Well lookie here, hershel!
Just as soon as I start wondering if I'm all alone in the galaxy, a survey vessel was reported missing. The coded SOS message burst showed the presence of no less than ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN thermal signatures. The scout had no idea they were coming-- but what reports did leak out show the alien weapons seemed to bypass armor and pop critical systems directly...
We've scrambled the fleet, the bulk of which was resting at earth for refits and overhauls after the Draconian campaign of '73. Search and rescue ships have been dispatched in an effort to recover the 81 survivors of the survey ship's destruction. Since the attack was likely small enemy fighters, the fleet commanders are nervous: we've not had to deal with such large numbers of contacts, and many in the command heirarchy wonder if battles will be fought with primarily short-range anti-missile weaponry. Making matters worse, the new sensor ships, with 1000 tons of dedicated fighter active scanner, arent expected to come online for nearly two years.
In any case, the fleet will gate to the Black Reach, and the surveillance ships will camp out in adjacent systems: if a determined carrier group comes through the alien-stabilized wormholes of Eta Leporis to the black reach, they could bomb their way through our tender colonies in short order.
Anti-fighter fighters are already on the drawing boards.
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At normal difficulty (100%) NPRs shouldn't suffer a Duranium crash - only if you up the difficulty setting.
The thing to keep in mind is that NPR strength is set relative to yours at the moment you generate them. After that, a human player is probably (almost always) going to be more efficient at developing their empire, so your strength should increase faster than theirs.
If even the Invaders aren't giving you trouble, it's time to claim victory and start a new game.
4. Use a five- or even seven-day build increment
Why does using five (or thirty) day increment help the NPRs vs human?
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Not the time advance button you click on the 'Population & Production' (F2) or 'System Map' (F3) screens, but the build increment on the game options screen. By default this is 430,000 seconds, but many people turn it down to 86,000 seconds, since failing to complete your Sooper Spacecroozer by half an hour and having to wait five more days is mighty annoying.
The point is, due to a quirk (bug?) in the program, more frequent build cycles result in more frequent improvements in Officer abilities and ground unit morale and so on. Since a new NPR has newly generated officers/ground units/etc. they won't have these monster bonuses - no bonus over 30% and no morale over 100 and so on.
So a slower build cycle means a slower rate at which existing empires pull ahead of newly-created ones.
Though clicking nothing but '30 day' increments means far more opportunity for your fleets to be surprised at point-blank range by your enemies, so i suppose in that way it does make the game harder. #:-]
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I've never actually fought any dangerous spoiler enemies, I have met some super strong in an NPR's system beating the hell out of the ~200 ships they had sent to attack them, and several other empires but no spoiler enemies.
I have had one of my systems stalked by a wormhole but nothing ever came out. I must be unlucky.
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I have had one of my systems stalked by a wormhole but nothing ever came out. I must be unlucky.
Yes very very lucky if the wormhole changed systems randomly before it spewed forth doom and gloom upon your humble empire. ;)
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Is there any real reason why I would not be able to see enemy contacts on the combat window? I found some more-primative aliens, and was going to shoot them... but there is nothing to target. Can shoot their planet, not their ships. Ship design attached. Don't think its ECM, i mean, they can only move about 2.5 km/s and have pathetic active sensors
Am I missing something? Perhaps a safety to prevent shooting at neutrals??
Scolesces Defender class Destroyer 5,250 tons 495 Crew 857.4 BP TCS 105 TH 800 EM 0
7619 km/s Armour 5-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 20
Maint Life 2.95 Years MSP 204 AFR 110% IFR 1.5% 1YR 35 5YR 524 Max Repair 60 MSP
Magazine 125
ICF Drive (8) Power 100 Fuel Use 60% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 85.7 billion km (130 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
Size 4 Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 120
Missile Fire Control AMM (Mark 1) (1) Range 6.1m km Resolution 1
Antiship MFC Mark 1 (1) Range 76.8m km Resolution 100
CrackerJack (24) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 45.8m Range: 82.5m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 160 / 96 / 48
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile (29) Speed: 36,000 km/s End: 2.8m Range: 6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 336 / 201 / 100
Small AMM Scanner (1) GPS 60 Range 4.8m km Resolution 1
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Don't make fun of the ship. It was built because I desperately needed something that could shoot missiles when I was surprised by first contact.
I have set them to hostile and turned off "show hostile contacts only" checkbox.
Scanner ship has the active contact.
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How far away are you and what size are the enemies? If they're small then your MFC may not be picking them up.
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Is there any real reason why I would not be able to see enemy contacts on the combat window? I found some more-primative aliens, and was going to shoot them... but there is nothing to target. Can shoot their planet, not their ships. Ship design attached. Don't think its ECM, i mean, they can only move about 2.5 km/s and have pathetic active sensors
Am I missing something? Perhaps a safety to prevent shooting at neutrals??
Scolesces Defender class Destroyer 5,250 tons 495 Crew 857.4 BP TCS 105 TH 800 EM 0
7619 km/s Armour 5-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 20
Maint Life 2.95 Years MSP 204 AFR 110% IFR 1.5% 1YR 35 5YR 524 Max Repair 60 MSP
Magazine 125
ICF Drive (8) Power 100 Fuel Use 60% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 85.7 billion km (130 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
Size 4 Missile Launcher (4) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 120
Missile Fire Control AMM (Mark 1) (1) Range 6.1m km Resolution 1
Antiship MFC Mark 1 (1) Range 76.8m km Resolution 100
CrackerJack (24) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 45.8m Range: 82.5m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 160 / 96 / 48
Size 1 Anti-missile Missile (29) Speed: 36,000 km/s End: 2.8m Range: 6m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 336 / 201 / 100
Small AMM Scanner (1) GPS 60 Range 4.8m km Resolution 1
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Don't make fun of the ship. It was built because I desperately needed something that could shoot missiles when I was surprised by first contact.
I have set them to hostile and turned off "show hostile contacts only" checkbox.
Scanner ship has the active contact.
Your Active Sensor only has a range of 4.8m km. The enemy vessels would need to be ridiculously close for you to see them. This is because your Active Sensor is designed to target very small things, like missiles, at very close ranges. If you want to target larger things, like vessels, at reasonable ranges, you need to invest in a second Active Sensor of a different design.
Your MFC is largely wasted. While it has a range of 78.6m km, your Active Sensor is nowhere near this. I advise designing a second Active Sensor with a range that roughly matches your MFC so that you can take advantage of the range of your MFC.
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My dedicated scanner vessel puts me well within range. I see the contacts, they are not populating the target list; I assumed this was because of neutrality.
Well within range-- I had actually closed to range=0 (i can do that because i dominate them in terms of engine technology) and they do not populate the list from point blank range.
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My dedicated scanner vessel puts me well within range. I see the contacts, they are not populating the target list; I assumed this was because of neutrality.
Well within range-- I had actually closed to range=0 (i can do that because i dominate them in terms of engine technology) and they do not populate the list from point blank range.
My apologies, I forgot about dedicated scanning vessel. In which case, with your range increments, I do not have an answer.
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My dedicated scanner vessel puts me well within range. I see the contacts, they are not populating the target list; I assumed this was because of neutrality.
Well within range-- I had actually closed to range=0 (i can do that because i dominate them in terms of engine technology) and they do not populate the list from point blank range.
It might be possible that your firecontrol isn't designed to target the ships at the range you're at.
Check List:
Turn active sensors on
Assign missiles to launchers
Assign launchers to firecontols
Assign firecontrols targets
Be in range to use said weapons
???
Profit.
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Check
Check
Check
There is no target on the target list.
Check.
Antimissile missles are firing normally in response to incoming attacks. Precursors in another system were likewise not populating the list.
I realized just now that I was on 5.41 and have upgraded to 5.42 without starting a new game. And I would hate to start a new game-- the resource rolls were so good I don't have to worry about duranium crashing ever
ALSO ALSO Note: the neutral alien ship sizes range between 6k and 25k. I went with a standard 5000 ton resolution MFC and this should be sufficient.
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Is it spitting out any particular warning or error in the events screen?
edit: Paste the ship design so we can see if there's any problems with the design.
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The ship design is noted above several posts. No error messages. I can target the alien population and a waypoint, but the ships are not on the list.
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I gotta bump this because i'm at a complete standstill. I'm doing something wrong, or something is wrong, and if I can't get this war started, my glorious infantry cannot burn the alien's homeworld to the ground. I must first ascertain whether what is happening is a bug or something else.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3747926/Troubleshoot%20image%201.png)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3747926/troubleshoot%20image%202.png)
As you can see, thats the target list for one of the Defender ships-- the MFC has the missiles... the missiles are in the tubes, but the only target is the population. I'm only 25 m km away.
This continues all the way to range = zero.
Is there some way to declare war that I'm not seeing? I can make the population vanish by clicking "show hostile contacts only" but nothing else is happening.
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Hm, according to your screenshot, you don´t seem to have an active scan.
I see your passives reading the enemy sensor emissions (the "Active Sensor S...." part)
and your passivess reading the enemy ships (the "2877 km/s part).
Don´t know what the 220m means, can´t remember to have seen something like this,
but I sure don´t see a size readings (i.e. 7.600 t, for example) which would indicate your active sensors seeing the enemy ships
As you said you had been at range 0 before without them showing up, I am at a loss here because them being extremely small ships and therefore not showing on the res-100 sensor would have been my only guess.
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Alrighty. I pulled into my AMM scanner range, and sure enough, up popped the tonnages. 13,000 kton, 20,500 kton, and 7 kton. Not tiny. Took screen refreshes. That was the trick, I had closed to zero, but didn't refresh the contacts. Phew. But what the heck is wrong with my huge active scan array?
Active Sensor Strength: 208 Sensitivity Modifier: 80%
Sensor Size: 13 HS Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 100 Maximum Range vs 5000 ton object (or larger): 166,400,000 km
Range vs 1000 ton object: 6,656,000 km
Range vs 250 ton object: 416,000 km
Chance of destruction by electronic damage: 100%
Cost: 208 Crew: 65
I don't see what the problem is. Are they stealthed? Makes no sense.
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And the other ships tonnages? Between 6k and 25k?
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For targets smaller than resolution, range drops like (size/res)^2. Your scanner has 166MKm vs. size 100. You say the range is 77 MKm, which is ~1/2 166MKm. So anything smaller than sqrt(1/2)*100 or ~70 Hull spaces will be missed by your scanner at that range. (Assuming I've read your screen shots correctly.)
My guess is that they're simply small targets. For example, against a size-20 FAC, your res-100 scanner will only have 4% of the range, or roughly 6.6MKm.
John
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Normally thats what i'd say, but these targets were all 7400 ton to 20,500 tons.
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Its possible you are suffering from the effects of sensor blindness because of a recent jump into the system. Standard jumps take longer to recover than squad based jumps. Also 5.5 has revealed some interesting information on how jump recovery is processed which is valid in your version. If the sizes you mentioned are accurate a 100HS resolution sensor should detect 5000+ kt vessals at your max range. Odds are its just the long sensor recovery. Usually it would take only hours but it works on your time increments so taking large time increments will keep you blind for longer.
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Im wondering if perhaps the ships entered my active scan range while blind, and then as i moved around after blindness ended their status didn't change.
Will have to test.
Edit: Nope! moved outside the large AMM scanner range and poof go the active tracking.
Something is wonky with the scanner i designed.
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If you're correct about the sizes then they are either using stealth or its your large sensor that is still blind. If it turns out to be neither then its a bug. Since you havn't posts a screen shot of their tonnage i'm just going by your word. But either way this probably isn't the thread for this talk. Its probably best to continue it in your warfleet of terra thead in Bureau of Ship Design thread.
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You said that you had a seperate Sensor ship in the fleet with a large active scanner.
Could you check the individual ships screen (F6) for that ship to ensure that it has sensors on (Combat Settings tab) & that its not suffered damage to the scanner? (Damage Control tab).
Also on the TG Screen (f12) it should show if the fleet is subject to sensor delay in the ship listings.
failing that I really cant speculate - never seen this before
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Heres what I think happened. I designed the ship-- but had insufficient crew to run that last big sensor. Built the ship with the fast ODB build points I began the game with, which allowd me to build it with insufficient crew.
So the sensor was on, but not "running." Am testing again with a new, constructed varient of the vessel.
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My suspicion is there may be a bug and the game is only checking the range of your lowest resolution sensor, have you tried turning off the antimissile sensor?
Alternatively it might be doing something similar with your fire control, and only checking your AMM FC range.
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Yes very very lucky if the wormhole changed systems randomly before it spewed forth doom and gloom upon your humble empire. ;)
I came from Dwarf Fortress, not getting stomped into the dirt then run over by a train is being unlucky for me.