Race to the Stars - Comments Thread

[nuclearslurpee]

Surprise continuation after 1.5 years!

Clearly you are suffering from El Pip's disease. For a disease about slow posting of updates it certainly spreads rapidly.

This is...actually quite a long post. Certainly a worthy comeback.

Hopefully the 43k tons of ground pounders and tanks they carry will be able to make sure this will be the last expedition needed to secure the system.

Such wishful thinking on the part of the Callisto faction. I mean, it worked out okay, but still.

That was good, that meant alien wars could stop somewhere before they became total and genocidal.

I'm very confused, I thought this game was Aurora?

The PRL is in negotiations with the Japanese regarding the sale of their share of the Qian interceptors captured on Procyon's Rest. PRL escorts don't use interceptor missiles, so they have little use for them. It is in the PRL's interest to see the Japanese navy, whom they see as a likely ally against alien threats, survive, so providing them with defensive weapons makes sense. There has been some difficulty finding something the Japanese can offer in return, though.

That problem is solved when a PRL survey cruiser shows up near Neo-Kobe in Grand Bourg and transits into Sukabumi space, the location of the JP already known to the PRL due to an intelligence coup in 2138. This happened over Japanese objections, as they had always refused to share the precise location of the JP with the other powers for fear that they might provoke the aliens. The next day, the PRL negotiation head let the Japanse know they were prepared to release the interceptors to them in the interest of good relations. It was unlikely they Japanese would have agreed to give them access to the JP, but sometimes it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. The move had demonstrated two things: That the PRL was the one to dictate the terms, and that they do not need assistance to take what they want.

That is certainly one way to close a deal, though I think the Japanese resentment might cause problems later...

Mighty Dolphins

Top ten ship class/squadron names right here. 

In the end and in true democratic fashion a compromise is reached

Indeed, there could be no other resolution, even in states which are not chained to the dictates of the democratic system such a status quo remains in effect after all.

[StarshipCactus]

Awesome! I get the feeling the Humans might want to think about creating mutual defence treaties before poking the alien hornets nest, that is a lot of ships.

[Garfunkel]

Nice to see this updated!

[Zap0]

Nice to see much of the crowd from a before is still around and kicking :-)
Not sure how frequent updates are going to be going forward. I've certainly reached my goal of a hundred-year campaign.

Such wishful thinking on the part of the Callisto faction. I mean, it worked out okay, but still.

It helped that they had bombarded most of the troops beforehand, and the crew here was just on clean-up duty. This was the smallest size of Precursor outpost, if it was just one or two sizes bigger (like the Quanzhou one) they probably wouldn't have been able to take it.

I'm very confused, I thought this game was Aurora?

NPRs sure are weird sometimes. I've come up with successor game ideas from time to time, and mostly resolved to play at least a significant portion of extrasolar empires myself. That means starting different factions in different systems, which is it's own kind of fun! Had a VB6 game like that before and it was pretty fun as well.

Indeed, there could be no other resolution, even in states which are not chained to the dictates of the democratic system such a status quo remains in effect after all.

I'm sure you can picture most vividly all the arguments and shenanigans that go on on the naval conference where such decisions are made

Awesome! I get the feeling the Humans might want to think about creating mutual defence treaties before poking the alien hornets nest, that is a lot of ships.

Due to our luck with NPRs there hasn't really been a concrete external threat to force something like that to happen yet, but it'd totally be up the PRLs alley.

[StarshipCactus]

NPRs sure are weird sometimes. I've come up with successor game ideas from time to time, and mostly resolved to play at least a significant portion of extrasolar empires myself. That means starting different factions in different systems, which is it's own kind of fun! Had a VB6 game like that before and it was pretty fun as well.

That does sound fun!

[nuclearslurpee]

I keep hoping for someone (Steve??) to do something basically like this, maybe not with 8+ Earth factions but playing multiple races from multiple systems as they all expand, interact, and beat each other up. I don't think we've really had a game like that in Aurora, whereas this is the bread and butter of the old Starfire AARs (and the current one too!). So I would fully support this sort of shenanigan if Zap0 felt up for it.

I'd do it but I barely have enough time for one player race as it is.

[StarshipCactus]

I tried playing a multi faction game in 1.12 and it needs a lot of work. There are so many SM tools and abilities missing so you have to crawl through the DB all the time to get anything done.

[Zap0]

That's unfortunately true. 2.0 added some of that missing functionality, like the ability to transfer ships between races. In this game (1.11), I'm making do with SM-ing boarding ships and boarding parties, which can be a bit of a hassle. Transferring tech is a reasonably easy DB edit, but moving components ingame is only possible through invasion, which involves setting two empires hostile to another and that has it's own baggage. It not being easy is one of the unfortunate reasons why there hasn't been much trade between the various nations.

Time isn't as plentiful as it was before, but I do like this game and keep coming back to it. Half the fun comes from being in a game state where everybody has expanded and has their own set of strengths and weaknesses already. That's a reason to continue to play an existing game, even if it's also full of many unrelated threads of micromanagement one needs to keep in mind and keep tabs on.

[rainyday]

full of many unrelated threads of micromanagement one needs to keep in mind and keep tabs on.

I feel you there. I've done a similar setup (inspired by this AAR, actually) in Sol at least twice now. The longest running one started with 5 races, and one had, I think, 8, and honestly, I don't know how y'all keep up with it. By the time I get jump drives, I am desperately consolidating down to 2-3.

I have two player races in my current AAR who are actively expanding in different areas, and it's been pretty manageable. Maybe even a bit easier than having them in the same system. The different maps and limited interaction make it almost like playing two games at the same time. Probably a bit too much like that, because I have 100+ systems in my database explored by 4 different races (including NPRs and Spoilers) and zero natural overlap points. My third player race is about to build their first jump drive and I'm curious to see how much that complicates the game. Their starting system was trash, so all I've really needed to do for them is manage build queue/research/etc.

I don't remember when it was added but "Show All Race Events" on the map has been huge. A bit of judicious color coding makes it pretty quick to read and process the turns without needing to juggle windows.

[nuclearslurpee]

Now to go and model the intricate federal democracy of the Interstellar League...

Overly complicated dozen-power AAR that breaks the game in increasingly improbable ways when? 

CALLED IT!!!   

With that increase in valuable long-distance trade there is also a corresponding increase in piracy. The new routes are long and scarcely protected, but with the recent INL victories against Terran privateers and INL listening posts active in both routes towards the Burzaco colonial area the situation remains under control.

Is this piracy something you are actually playing out in-game, or mostly a roleplay conceit?

The Terran Primacy blatantly ignored the old treaties, having landed a modern armor corps (25kt) ostensibly to protect their laboratories last year mid-2152.

Since 25 kt seems small for an armor corps, I am now very interested in how these forces are organized!

Terran Forces on Procyon. Each armored brigade consists of 37 tanks, putting the total on Procyon to 148 at the start of fighting. The total tonnage is 50k Terran vs. 35k Mars/INL.
Corps = 25k tons, Division = 10k tons, Brigade = 5k tons

Ask and ye shall receive... 

These are all quite small sizes compared to the usual, which I suppose speaks to the harsh realities of military provisioning out here on the cold, hard frontier. It's a lot harder to support 20 kt brigades and 100 kt divisions when the nearest logistics base is over 20 billion km distant.

I also note the sneaky use of SP and RE positions to limit the scale of conflict, very nice.

With the opportunity there and the conflict on Procyon providing pretext, the always aggressive Terran command gives the go. Best case, Martian ship numbers get thinned. Worst case, these ships get scrapped ahead of schedule.

I am sure the officers and crewmen aboard these ships share this perspective.

Oct 10: The Terran squadron arrives near the Salto JP in Wuhan, scanning the busy civilian traffic - unaware of the slow INL troop transport that just slipped by a few days prior

The best laid plans... forgive me for snickering here!

Jump shock is a lie told to you by Big Jump to sell more expensive jump drives.

Jump shock basically uses the exact same mechanics as fleet training, which means a ship with 100% fleet training is effectively immune to jump shock. I consider this an unfortunate side effect of the implementation.

Four months later the troop convoy finally arrives in Procyon. Shortly after pulling into orbit and launching their first landing craft, the troop transports come under fire from the surface - the Terrans have managed to sneak STO weapons onto the planet alongside the armor! They have managed to avoid detection and achieve total surprise on the unprepared transport ships, which hurriedly engage their engines to break orbit.

Ouch!! What a sudden turn of events! I guess it still works out for the Martians in the end, but that's a steep price to pay.

A worthy return to action. I eagerly awat the continuation in December 2028. 

[Zap0]

Now to go and model the intricate federal democracy of the Interstellar League...

Overly complicated dozen-power AAR that breaks the game in increasingly improbable ways when? 

CALLED IT!!!   

You did! I keep coming back to this game. I've worked on this installment at a couple occasions over the past year or so. I've also got a few more nuggets to put out soon.

Is this piracy something you are actually playing out in-game, or mostly a roleplay conceit?

In this case it's just roleplay. The Terran raiders being stopped by an INL destroyer a few years back was the only piracy scenario I played out, but I do want it to be a thing ingame to provide a reason to expand monitoring and maintenance infrastructure and to have them cooperate on building more patrol ships.

Terran Forces on Procyon. Each armored brigade consists of 37 tanks, putting the total on Procyon to 148 at the start of fighting. The total tonnage is 50k Terran vs. 35k Mars/INL.
Corps = 25k tons, Division = 10k tons, Brigade = 5k tons

Ask and ye shall receive... 

These are all quite small sizes compared to the usual, which I suppose speaks to the harsh realities of military provisioning out here on the cold, hard frontier. It's a lot harder to support 20 kt brigades and 100 kt divisions when the nearest logistics base is over 20 billion km distant.

I'm imagining my ground forces as a bit bigger in size than most players. I find it weird that planet-spanning wars would be fought with so few soldiers. So in my universe, one infantry unit is not an invidiual soldier, but already several. A 10kt infantry division would represent 10k soldiers, or even more.

I also note the sneaky use of SP and RE positions to limit the scale of conflict, very nice.

The three SP armor brigades were the ones suppressing unrest in the domes. One was quite enough to tear apart the Mars/INL garrisons!

Oct 10: The Terran squadron arrives near the Salto JP in Wuhan, scanning the busy civilian traffic - unaware of the slow INL troop transport that just slipped by a few days prior

The best laid plans... forgive me for snickering here!

I don't plan such occurrences, they just happen organically and I roll with it. This element of the unexpected happening keeps such action interesting, even if you're just playing against yourself. And this game has a tradition of the unexpected happening during campaigns, all the way back to the first engagement in the Battle of Mars. It does require you to evaluate the situation separately from each side, looking up what information they each have available to them, but it's worth it.

Jump shock basically uses the exact same mechanics as fleet training, which means a ship with 100% fleet training is effectively immune to jump shock. I consider this an unfortunate side effect of the implementation.

The PRL always had plans to build a jump assault cruiser but never put it into action as it doesn't actually seem needed. If it really is just the fleet training then most ships in this game will be immune as they often get to be decades old.
I'm pretty sure the San Rafael in the 2150 installment was just out the docks and could immediately engage after jumping though...

A worthy return to action. I eagerly awat the continuation in December 2028. 

We will see! I hope to play some more, but no promises.