Aurora 4x

VB6 Aurora => VB6 Mechanics => Topic started by: oleg on July 13, 2011, 08:06:59 AM

Title: Ramming attacks
Post by: oleg on July 13, 2011, 08:06:59 AM
Need some help understanding what happened, I got 2 grav survey ships in a system and they encounter this ship:

23rd December 2083 01:40:16,Unknown,Sensor Data reveals that the alien ship class Shrike (Epsilon Eridani Aliens #1039) is capable of 1000 km/s

24th December 2083 15:10:16,Epsilon Eridani,New Thermal Contact!  Contact ID: Shrike 001, Class ID: Shrike, Race ID: Epsilon Eridani Aliens #1039, Strength 1200  Shields: 600 (Existing)  Active Sensor S336/R100 (Existing)

I set my ships to follow at 500 K to gather some intell via em and thermal and they both get rammed although they go 4722 km/s.

I expected them to keep their distance because of the speed gap but apparently not. Was I wrong in assuming this?
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Brian Neumann on July 13, 2011, 08:10:42 AM
You need to set the gap to more than the speed of the ships you are following.  If they move at 1000km/s then 6000km is about the minimum.  Otherwise what happens is that you move to the set range, then they move and close on you.  Movement is not simultaneous, it is in order of your initiative.  Initiative is set on the task force screen (F12) and is limited by your ship commanders.  If none is assigned then it is limited to 100.

Hope this helps you
Brian
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: oleg on July 13, 2011, 08:24:40 AM
Okay, never used that before. Thanks for the lesson :D
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Jacob/Lee on July 13, 2011, 12:05:02 PM
Is it possible for player ships to ram enemy ships like they do vice versa?
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Charlie Beeler on July 13, 2011, 12:36:54 PM
Is it possible for player ships to ram enemy ships like they do vice versa?

No.  This is NPR specific only.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: symon on July 13, 2011, 12:49:53 PM
(sigh).
I know Steve doesn't allow it for players yet for fear of allowing it to be too effective.
Still, my Organism would ram for sure when warranted. Everything is expendable in their eyes.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Jacob/Lee on July 13, 2011, 12:59:39 PM
No.  This is NPR specific only.
Damn, if only we could ram too.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: UnLimiTeD on July 15, 2011, 04:19:50 PM
Someone put up a suggestion.
It's only fair.  ::)
Well, mainly, it's good for the fluff.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Thiosk on July 15, 2011, 05:24:42 PM
I would build a ramming fleet and conquer the galaxy by simply headbutting the crap out of all the aliens.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Jacob/Lee on July 15, 2011, 09:41:20 PM
Yeah, you know when it's a bad day when some random precursor colony ship rams a geosurvey ship for 300 damage.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: ollobrains on August 21, 2011, 02:03:53 PM
do point defense cannons seem to have any effect ?
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: viperfan7 on August 21, 2011, 05:14:17 PM
along with the player ramming, I think it would be nice if we could use the exhaust of an engine as a weapon, higher the power to size ratio the more damage it does
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: ollobrains on August 21, 2011, 05:25:50 PM
along with the player ramming, I think it would be nice if we could use the exhaust of an engine as a weapon, higher the power to size ratio the more damage it does

should u be able to use it as a passive exhuast damage or a active light it with a match and watch the enemy burn( and perhaps side affect of area affect damage on youre own ships if they get to close)
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Thibaut on August 22, 2011, 06:13:06 AM
I got a grav survey ship rammed for 4000 (FOUR THOUSAND !) damage yesterday !

400 is small fish ;)
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Charlie Beeler on August 22, 2011, 07:48:47 AM
along with the player ramming, I think it would be nice if we could use the exhaust of an engine as a weapon, higher the power to size ratio the more damage it does

Aurora engines do not produce exhaust/thrust, so this is a nonstarter.  Engines produce a field around the ship and all movement is inertialess.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Jacob/Lee on August 22, 2011, 04:24:06 PM
Aurora engines do not produce exhaust/thrust, so this is a nonstarter.  Engines produce a field around the ship and all movement is inertialess.
Quote from: Steve
The cause of [the boarders] casualties will vary but could include missing the target and ending up within the exhaust plume
?
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,1680.0.html
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: sloanjh on August 22, 2011, 07:41:08 PM
Aurora engines do not produce exhaust/thrust, so this is a nonstarter.  Engines produce a field around the ship and all movement is inertialess.
Quote from: Steve
The cause of [the boarders] casualties will vary but could include missing the target and ending up within the exhaust plume
?
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,1680.0.html

I suspect Steve forgot his own physics when he was writing that small piece of techno-babble, or that the imagery was just too good to pass up :)  It is certainly the case that StarFire engines produce a field around the ship and all movement is inertialess (go read the Weber/White SF novels), and that Aurora engines are inertialess.  I've always assumed essentially the same mechanics (and I think I remember old posts that are lost in the sands of board crashes that support this), albeit with the power of engines vs. volume of ship controlling speed.  I know my reaction was identical to Charlie's - I just didn't bother to post it.

John
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: ollobrains on August 22, 2011, 08:10:11 PM
its a lot of power still
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Thiosk on August 22, 2011, 09:54:45 PM
haha i wasn't the only one to notice that exchange.  Didn't want to go through and cross reference, however ;)  Just shows I probably spend too much of my time perusing various documents on this forum.

As near as I can tell, canon is not rigorous until steve sets canon, so the human player/writer has their own leeway to call it whatever they want.  For instance, I play with jumpgates as the assumption that they are a stabilized, enlarged wormhole and not a mechanical construct.  You can play it however you want, however.
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: Charlie Beeler on August 23, 2011, 07:24:09 AM
?
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,1680.0.html

I suspect Steve forgot his own physics when he was writing that small piece of techno-babble, or that the imagery was just too good to pass up :)  It is certainly the case that StarFire engines produce a field around the ship and all movement is inertialess (go read the Weber/White SF novels), and that Aurora engines are inertialess.  I've always assumed essentially the same mechanics (and I think I remember old posts that are lost in the sands of board crashes that support this), albeit with the power of engines vs. volume of ship controlling speed.  I know my reaction was identical to Charlie's - I just didn't bother to post it.

John

If I Recall Correctly (hey I'm just another fallible human afterall), the idea that the engines produce a field goes all the way back to the Diary discussion mailing list and may never have been on the board.  And yes I'm fully aware that Steve had that bit in the techo-babble for ship to ship boarding, but it's the only instance that I'm aware of and shows up nowhere else. 

If Steve ever adds deltaV/vectored thrust movement the the concept of a drive bloom that could be used as a point blank attack because a viable option in my opinion. 
Title: Re: Ramming attacks
Post by: sloanjh on August 23, 2011, 08:33:04 AM
If I Recall Correctly (hey I'm just another fallible human afterall), the idea that the engines produce a field goes all the way back to the Diary discussion mailing list and may never have been on the board.  And yes I'm fully aware that Steve had that bit in the techo-babble for ship to ship boarding, but it's the only instance that I'm aware of and shows up nowhere else. 

The yahoo board is still out there - last month I started up with StarFire again, was trying to figure out whether I wanted to use SA 6.9 or 7.0, and found the old posts while googling....

John