Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread: C# Edition

[Antonin1957]

How do you colonize Mars? Do you need to terraform first?

I've sent my first colony ship to the Red Planet, with orders to unload infrastructure and unload colonists. It has unloaded the 5 infrastructure, but I see no indication that any colonists have been unloaded after 20 days. The population of Mars still shows as "0".

I have included my ship design below. Any replies would be appreciated.



==========

CS New Earth 001  (New Earth class Colony Ship)      36,322 tons       68 Crew       316.1 BP       TCS 726    TH 168    EM 0
231 km/s      Armour 1-97       Shields 0-0       HTK 19      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 5    Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 30,000    Cryogenic Berths 400    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine  EP168.00 (1)    Power 168    Fuel Use 2.66%    Signature 168    Explosion 3%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres    Range 55.8 billion km (2794 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes

[Froggiest1982]

How do you colonize Mars? Do you need to terraform first?

I've sent my first colony ship to the Red Planet, with orders to unload infrastructure and unload colonists. It has unloaded the 5 infrastructure, but I see no indication that any colonists have been unloaded after 20 days. The population of Mars still shows as "0".

I have included my ship design below. Any replies would be appreciated.



==========

CS New Earth 001  (New Earth class Colony Ship)      36,322 tons       68 Crew       316.1 BP       TCS 726    TH 168    EM 0
231 km/s      Armour 1-97       Shields 0-0       HTK 19      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 5    Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 30,000    Cryogenic Berths 400    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine  EP168.00 (1)    Power 168    Fuel Use 2.66%    Signature 168    Explosion 3%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres    Range 55.8 billion km (2794 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes

It may take longer for the cargo to unload, however, you are dropping 400 colonists, I don't really think you will be able to see that in numbers. A give away could be the colony status. Populated colonies appear in a different group when you thick the "by function" as per below in the Economics Industry tab.

If there were no installation prior, you need to make sure that you drop installation before the colonists, or they will die. Once you have dropped installations, dropping more colonists that what installations can handle, will only result in overcrowding and unrest.



EDIT: Your ship has no issues.

[Steve Walmsley]

Stupid question, but did you load the colonists - check the Transported Items tab for the fleet?

[Kaiser]

Your ship can carry 400 colonists only, you have probably unloaded them but Aurora does not show numbers that are so low even if they are technically there.

You want usually colonize with numbers in hundreds thousands order.

[paolot]

...
The population of Mars still shows as "0".

Antonin, in the Summary tab of the Economics window, the minimum Population value shown is 10,000.
Even if you see a "0", the people are there, simply they are too few.
So, unfortunately, it takes at least 25 travels of your colony ship to see some population (less, if people start to reproduce; more, if they start starving and dying).

Suggestion: you can ask the civilian lines to bring structures (infrastructure at first) where you want/need, to prepare or expand your colonies.
In the Civilian/Flags tab, add a demand where you want the structure(s), and add a supply where you produce them (or where you have a surplus).

[Antonin1957]

Stupid question, but did you load the colonists - check the Transported Items tab for the fleet?

Yes, I did indeed load the colonists. It was suggested that I do not have enough people on the Martian surface to show up on the colony summary screen, so I will transport more people.

Thanks, everyone, for the replies!

[wutaur]

When designing a ship with Gravitational / Geological sensors, it says "This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes".

Now, if you want to include just a small boat bay (250tons) and add it to design - it will become "This design is classed as a Carrier for auto-assignment purposes".

And the question is, is there a possibility that this ship would still remain as Survey Ship for the purpose of auto-assignment to work?

[Steve Walmsley]

When designing a ship with Gravitational / Geological sensors, it says "This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes".

Now, if you want to include just a small boat bay (250tons) and add it to design - it will become "This design is classed as a Carrier for auto-assignment purposes".

And the question is, is there a possibility that this ship would still remain as Survey Ship for the purpose of auto-assignment to work?

Its a bug. I've fixed it for the next version.

[Antonin1957]

Can comets be mined from orbit?

I've designed a small orbital mining ship, just as an experiment. Right now I don't want to spend the resources to build a large orbital mining ship or an orbital mining platform. I sent the ship to mine the comet Schaumasse, but so far, it's not really clear that anything is happening. The mining screen seems to show that minerals are being mined, but where are they? They don't appear under the ship's "transported items" tab.     

I don't know where to look to see if the miner is actually doing anything. If it is mining, how do I return the minerals to Earth?

Reading on the forum about orbital mining, several posts seem to say you can only mine from orbit if the mining target is a colony. So I used the F9 key to designate Schaumasse as a colony, but is this really the correct way to do it? The idea of establishing a colony on a comet seems strange.
 
Here is my experimental orbital miner:

=======

Luna class Orbital Miner      163,282 tons       1,112 Crew       3,252.9 BP       TCS 3,266    TH 336    EM 0
102 km/s      Armour 1-266       Shields 0-0       HTK 155      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 12    Max Repair 120 MSP
Cargo 50,000    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   
Orbital Miner: 20 modules producing 280 tons per mineral per annum

Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine  EP168.00 (2)    Power 336    Fuel Use 2.66%    Signature 168    Explosion 3%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 10.3 billion km (1164 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour     Complete Refuel 4 hours

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes

[paolot]

Antonin, an orbital miner deposits the extracted minerals on the surface of the mined body, where a cargo ship can load them, or a Mass Driver can throw them to another MD.
Go to the Mining tab of that body, to see the mined quantity.
As your orbital miner has cargo space and shuttles, you can order it to load the minerals after mining, and bring them to a populated colony, where they can be used.

Then, you don't need a refuelling system on a miner, unless you want to use the ship as a tanker and refuel other ships.

Yes, a body must be designated as a colony to mine it.
A colony is simply a "territory" that you claim as yours. Not necessarily a populated location.
But a location that you want to exploit, must be previously set as a your colony.

Finally, also in other your designs, I have read this last sentence:
"This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes".
I don't know a "i" classification. What is it?
This class should be classed as an "Orbital miner".

[Garfunkel]

It means that the game doesn't know what to classify the ship as because it has many "conflicting" components.

[paolot]

Thanks, Garfunkel.
Never met before.

[Antonin1957]

Antonin, an orbital miner deposits the extracted minerals on the surface of the mined body, where a cargo ship can load them, or a Mass Driver can throw them to another MD.
Go to the Mining tab of that body, to see the mined quantity.
As your orbital miner has cargo space and shuttles, you can order it to load the minerals after mining, and bring them to a populated colony, where they can be used.

Then, you don't need a refuelling system on a miner, unless you want to use the ship as a tanker and refuel other ships.

Yes, a body must be designated as a colony to mine it.
A colony is simply a "territory" that you claim as yours. Not necessarily a populated location.
But a location that you want to exploit, must be previously set as a your colony.

Finally, also in other your designs, I have read this last sentence:
"This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes".
I don't know a "i" classification. What is it?
This class should be classed as an "Orbital miner".

Thank you! I will have to review the design to find out what components are "conflicting."

[Andrew]

 
Here is my experimental orbital miner:

=======

Luna class Orbital Miner      163,282 tons       1,112 Crew       3,252.9 BP       TCS 3,266    TH 336    EM 0
102 km/s      Armour 1-266       Shields 0-0       HTK 155      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 12    Max Repair 120 MSP
Cargo 50,000    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 6   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   
Orbital Miner: 20 modules producing 280 tons per mineral per annum

Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine  EP168.00 (2)    Power 336    Fuel Use 2.66%    Signature 168    Explosion 3%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 10.3 billion km (1164 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 60,000 litres per hour     Complete Refuel 4 hours

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a i for auto-assignment purposes

0 needs
Things it does not need and may be causing confusion. Refuelling system only a tanker (or fuel harvester which is a type of tanker ) needs this, it is for refeulling other ships and this has not got the fuel capacity to do that. This could be causing the confusion.
The Cargo shuttles and Cargo hold are probably also wasted.   You could load a mass driver into the hold to send the minerals home so there could be a use for it. Though probably only one hold per mining fleet. Otherwise send cargo ships as having your miners go back and forth to Earth is slow and wastes their time

[Kiero]

Was I Dreaming or did I see a post somewhere about random system names, when exploring?