Author Topic: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread  (Read 7760 times)

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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #30 on: July 14, 2024, 06:49:50 AM »
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a mining colony on the eighteen moon of Scimitar III
Was that interspecies CMC vs CMC garrisons combat?  Private Military Company warfare on the frontier gold rush.

Yes, I think so :)
 
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Offline nuclearslurpee

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #31 on: July 14, 2024, 11:15:18 AM »
Seeing the troop transports mentioned leads me to think - Steve, is there a "---- Maru" theme you're using, is it in the game or will be in 2.6? I'd love to have it instead of having to go look up Japanese transport names myself.

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The Main Force closes to within 85,000 km before coming under fire. Three different battleships are struck by a total of fifty-nine strength-1 energy impacts. All eight ships return fire and within a couple of minutes, all the surface-based railguns are eliminated,

Given the low tech level and use of railguns, it looks like these bases could also have been attacked by armored drop transports pretty effectively. Certainly more effectively than a moon defended by higher-tech/longer-range weapons that can penetrate armor more easily, I've had mixed experience with drop transport invasions and it depends a lot on what kind (and quantity) of STOs there are.

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If the Empire of Japan had waited before attacking the Scimitar system, the result may have been quite different.

Is losing maybe 2-3 ships really that different though? I'm confident that the Empire would have won the day regardless.  :)

Interesting to see the NPRs adapt their tactics to those of the human player. A shame they ran out of the ordnance needed to get some results out of it, but it is an encouraging sign nevertheless, more challenging NPRs can only be good for the game.  ;D

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That home world has suffered considerably as a result of the recent bombardment. The thermal signature of the population has fallen by forty percent and the EM signature has dropped by twenty percent, indicating significant damage and loss of life.

After such an intense bombardment, it is good to see that a significant majority remains intact to be captures, although it remains to be seen how much collateral damage might result from the ground combat part of the show. The 80% reduction in collateral damage seems to have been a very good change!

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14th June 1975
All remaining Scimitaran forces have been eliminated and the population has surrendered to the victorious Japanese forces. Despite sixty percent casualties among all the combat divisions of the Imperial Army, this glorious victory is the most significant in the history of the Empire of Japan.

Finally in my lifetime Steve has done a NPR homeworld invasion in C#!  ;D ;D ;D

Now the question is what have we learned from this and how will we apply these lessons in the future? I speak both of the IJA and of the game developer.  ;)

Those 802 captured mines will probably be best converted to automines given the Empire's manpower crisis, hopefully this will help to address the mineral problems elsewhere.

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Scimitar I - Moon 4 Survey Report

I'm genuinely shocked that the stockpiles remain so high, since this NPR has been around for a long time you would think they've mined out the homeworld by now...  ???

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Infrastructure to support the necessary population will be moved from the Scimitaran home world, where it was built to counteract the freezing temperatures caused by dust from the recent bombardments. This may result in some Scimitaran deaths at the aphelion of their parent superjovian’s orbit, but there are well over a billion Scimitarans and the most extreme situation is only a colony cost of 0.27, so the relative loss will be minor. Over time, as the dust settles, the effect will decrease.

The Empire continues to maintain its unique branding in the face of an ever-changing galaxy.

The demise of Forster Ores is darkly amusing, truly one of those look-before-you-leap life lessons we can be sure the other capitalists will refuse to learn from.  ;D

Glad this one is still going with many twists and turns, seems like there is still a lot more interesting stuff to come before this one gets played out. It's great to have a real long-form C# campaign, hopefully this will come to rival some of the longer VB6 ones!
 
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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #32 on: July 15, 2024, 02:32:21 AM »
Seeing the troop transports mentioned leads me to think - Steve, is there a "---- Maru" theme you're using, is it in the game or will be in 2.6? I'd love to have it instead of having to go look up Japanese transport names myself.

No, I am using this website, which has a recognition manual for all WW2 Japanese merchant ships. I'm also trying to use some themes in the naming, even though it isn't obvious. Troop transports or replenishment ships tend to have historical troop transport and oiler names. The colony ship naming is based on a passenger liner. For the tugs, the first two were historical tugs and after that I used names that have the same last character in Japanese, which is common in Japanese destroyer classes. So some naming was research based and some from the merchant ship database.

https://maritime.org/doc/id/oni208j-japan-merchant-ships/

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Interesting to see the NPRs adapt their tactics to those of the human player. A shame they ran out of the ordnance needed to get some results out of it, but it is an encouraging sign nevertheless, more challenging NPRs can only be good for the game.  ;D

I have been tweaking the NPR AI code as I play, trying to adapt to my own tactics :)

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That home world has suffered considerably as a result of the recent bombardment. The thermal signature of the population has fallen by forty percent and the EM signature has dropped by twenty percent, indicating significant damage and loss of life.

After such an intense bombardment, it is good to see that a significant majority remains intact to be captures, although it remains to be seen how much collateral damage might result from the ground combat part of the show. The 80% reduction in collateral damage seems to have been a very good change!


Yes, agree.

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14th June 1975
All remaining Scimitaran forces have been eliminated and the population has surrendered to the victorious Japanese forces. Despite sixty percent casualties among all the combat divisions of the Imperial Army, this glorious victory is the most significant in the history of the Empire of Japan.

Finally in my lifetime Steve has done a NPR homeworld invasion in C#!  ;D ;D ;D

Now the question is what have we learned from this and how will we apply these lessons in the future? I speak both of the IJA and of the game developer.  ;)

Yes, I was fortunate I had a tech edge. I need to have a much larger force next time, which means some serious building up of the IJA. I think from a game perspective it was about the right difficulty. I used every combat unit I could scrape together, but I could have built more - I was building engineers for a while instead to help build labour camps on New Osaka :) plus I have a large number of shore batteries distributing among various colonies. Also, I could have built more ground force construction complexes, but I was low on Duranium.

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Scimitar I - Moon 4 Survey Report
I'm genuinely shocked that the stockpiles remain so high, since this NPR has been around for a long time you would think they've mined out the homeworld by now...  ???

The game has only been running for 15 years, so it isn't that long.

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Infrastructure to support the necessary population will be moved from the Scimitaran home world, where it was built to counteract the freezing temperatures caused by dust from the recent bombardments. This may result in some Scimitaran deaths at the aphelion of their parent superjovian’s orbit, but there are well over a billion Scimitarans and the most extreme situation is only a colony cost of 0.27, so the relative loss will be minor. Over time, as the dust settles, the effect will decrease.

The Empire continues to maintain its unique branding in the face of an ever-changing galaxy.

The demise of Forster Ores is darkly amusing, truly one of those look-before-you-leap life lessons we can be sure the other capitalists will refuse to learn from.  ;D

Glad this one is still going with many twists and turns, seems like there is still a lot more interesting stuff to come before this one gets played out. It's great to have a real long-form C# campaign, hopefully this will come to rival some of the longer VB6 ones!

Yes, this is a fun campaign with plenty to do yet, I'm trying to maintain a WW2 Japan approach, without making it too dark :)

The CMC incident was one of those weird situations that will probably only happen once (I had to conquer the system and have 10m pop but never actually do a geosurvey or check the planets and have a suitable CMC site chosen by both me and the conquered race), but fun nonetheless.
 
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Offline alex_brunius

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #33 on: July 15, 2024, 05:43:32 AM »
The CMC incident was one of those weird situations that will probably only happen once (I had to conquer the system and have 10m pop but never actually do a geosurvey or check the planets and have a suitable CMC site chosen by both me and the conquered race), but fun nonetheless.

It's a bit odd/immersion breaking that capturing the main colony and interrogating prisoners from the entire Navy did not reveal the existence of all colonies even in the same system IMHO.
 
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Offline Kaiser

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #34 on: July 23, 2024, 09:02:04 AM »
There we are guys, the jump capable Yamato, amazing!

I have a question, the Type 32 Go-31E Turret Fire Control (3)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s    ECCM-2 is paired with the Twin Kentaro-Sakura KS-12B Laser Turret (12x2)    Range 200,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 8-8    ROF 5 for PD purposes yes? Why you did you not use an extended range FC intead of 80000 Km only?     
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #35 on: July 23, 2024, 09:10:09 AM »
There we are guys, the jump capable Yamato, amazing!

I have a question, the Type 32 Go-31E Turret Fire Control (3)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s    ECCM-2 is paired with the Twin Kentaro-Sakura KS-12B Laser Turret (12x2)    Range 200,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 8-8    ROF 5 for PD purposes yes? Why you did you not use an extended range FC intead of 80000 Km only?     

The turrets are linked to the fast tracking fire controls for point defence and the long-ranged fire controls for attacking ships. However, I am thinking of creating a single, expensive, fast-tracking, long-range fire control for defence against laser torpedoes.
 

Offline Kaiser

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #36 on: July 23, 2024, 09:24:52 AM »
There we are guys, the jump capable Yamato, amazing!

I have a question, the Type 32 Go-31E Turret Fire Control (3)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s    ECCM-2 is paired with the Twin Kentaro-Sakura KS-12B Laser Turret (12x2)    Range 200,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 8-8    ROF 5 for PD purposes yes? Why you did you not use an extended range FC intead of 80000 Km only?     

The turrets are linked to the fast tracking fire controls for point defence and the long-ranged fire controls for attacking ships. However, I am thinking of creating a single, expensive, fast-tracking, long-range fire control for defence against laser torpedoes.

Yeah I mean, having an FC of 120.000 Km for example, instead of 80.000 Km, does not increase the hit chance beside the tracking speed?
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #37 on: July 23, 2024, 09:44:28 AM »
There we are guys, the jump capable Yamato, amazing!

I have a question, the Type 32 Go-31E Turret Fire Control (3)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 20,000 km/s    ECCM-2 is paired with the Twin Kentaro-Sakura KS-12B Laser Turret (12x2)    Range 200,000km     TS: 20000 km/s     Power 8-8    ROF 5 for PD purposes yes? Why you did you not use an extended range FC intead of 80000 Km only?     

The turrets are linked to the fast tracking fire controls for point defence and the long-ranged fire controls for attacking ships. However, I am thinking of creating a single, expensive, fast-tracking, long-range fire control for defence against laser torpedoes.

Yeah I mean, having an FC of 120.000 Km for example, instead of 80.000 Km, does not increase the hit chance beside the tracking speed?

A little. 80,000 km engaging point blank (10,000) suffers a 12% drop in accuracy, while 120,000 km only suffers an 8% drop. Also bear in mind its only 4% of the chance, not 4% absolute. So a 25% chance to hit a missile becomes 26% for example. The question is whether the difference is worth the extra cost and mass that you could use for something else. It's the opportunity cost, rather than the direct cost.
 
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Offline nuclearslurpee

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #38 on: July 27, 2024, 11:56:02 AM »
Now that I think about it, it is kind of weird that the Zuijin (cough cough) conduct fuel harvesting operations, since they have virtually no need for a large fuel stockpile. Though I suppose it does give the player some incentive to attack their systems sooner if they want to get any use from the gas giant reserves.

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13th October 1977
The size of the Zuijin armada continues to grow, with the discovery of a massive fleet in the Takeda system, seven transits from Sol at the end of the Aomori Chain. There are ten orbital bases and fifteen Obliterator class heavy cruisers of 28,923 tons, supported by twenty-six other warships and twenty Ghost fast attack craft. The total tonnage is over nine hundred thousand tons, more than double that of any other Zuijin fleet. Whatever this immense force is guarding, it must be extremely important to the Zuijin.

I hope the assuredly massive ruins they are guarding do not turn out to be TL1, that would be rather a disappointment after all the work needed to secure the system.  :P

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13th March 1978
In the past, the Kido Butai (mobile force) has been a fleet formed for each individual operation and then disbanded afterwards. With the availability of new ships, built with the resources gained from the Scimitaran Conquest, the Kido Butai will now become a permanent formation, assigned the task of attacking and destroying those Zuijin fleets and ground forces to which the Empire of Japan has direct access. To enable more sustained operations, the Kido Butai is organised into four different formations, each with its own commander, while the overall fleet is commanded by Kaigun-Shōshō Kurosawa Rai from the flag bridge of the Yamato.

At this point, I'd like to note that once the four forces of the Kido Butai are separated, only the Main Force would benefit from the flag bridge of Kaigun-Shosho Kurosawa, meanwhile the force commander will never be of any benefit unless Yamato is blown apart. I suppose it works fine for pure roleplay but I wish the chain of command had a bit more weight and impact at the forces-and-fleets level, mechanically.

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The second and third wave of laser torpedoes achieve similar results. A fourth wave of sixty torpedoes, arriving less than a minute after the third and almost certainly launched by a group of twenty Ghost fast attack craft, detonates at sixty thousand kilometres, bypassing the fighter screen, and scores sixteen hits on Hyūga. The fifth wave, once again a hundred and fifty-eight laser torpedoes, unexpectedly closes to 82,500 km before detonating. Fortunately, that is still within range of the fighters’ cannon but their accuracy is reduced. Fifty-eight torpedoes strike Nagato and Hyūga and their damage is increased to strength-4 due to the reduced range. Nagato’s shields are down to almost half strength. If the attack had been focused on one of the heavy cruisers, the damage would have been considerable. Somehow, the Zuijin have modified their torpedoes to detonate at varying ranges. Kaigun-Shōshō Kurosawa orders the fighters to drop to 90,000 km ahead of the Main Force.

I assume this is the bug that got fixed?

And the updates end on a sad note as fleet operations will as usual be curtailed by resource availability. Somehow, we always know these things will happen, yet we are never able to build enough fuel harvesters to address the problem when it arrives. Strange, isn't it?  ;)
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #39 on: July 27, 2024, 03:12:34 PM »
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The second and third wave of laser torpedoes achieve similar results. A fourth wave of sixty torpedoes, arriving less than a minute after the third and almost certainly launched by a group of twenty Ghost fast attack craft, detonates at sixty thousand kilometres, bypassing the fighter screen, and scores sixteen hits on Hyūga. The fifth wave, once again a hundred and fifty-eight laser torpedoes, unexpectedly closes to 82,500 km before detonating. Fortunately, that is still within range of the fighters’ cannon but their accuracy is reduced. Fifty-eight torpedoes strike Nagato and Hyūga and their damage is increased to strength-4 due to the reduced range. Nagato’s shields are down to almost half strength. If the attack had been focused on one of the heavy cruisers, the damage would have been considerable. Somehow, the Zuijin have modified their torpedoes to detonate at varying ranges. Kaigun-Shōshō Kurosawa orders the fighters to drop to 90,000 km ahead of the Main Force.

I assume this is the bug that got fixed?

No, the bug was fixed very early on. This is a new option for laser torpedoes to prevent me negating their effectiveness by stationing fighters at the detonation point.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13463.msg170737#msg170737
 
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Offline randakar

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #40 on: July 31, 2024, 04:27:45 AM »
Another stellar update. Damn, the empire of Japan has a lot of factions to contend with. Multiple instances of the swarm, even. Didn't know that was possible.

Seems like there will be alliances at some point whether the empire wants them or not, simply because there are so many hostile races and targets of opportunity to contend with that you don't have time to antagonize everyone;)

How is Japan dealing with pirate incursions at the moment? Any thoughts on how to keep established systems safe?
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #41 on: July 31, 2024, 04:54:42 AM »
Another stellar update. Damn, the empire of Japan has a lot of factions to contend with. Multiple instances of the swarm, even. Didn't know that was possible.

Seems like there will be alliances at some point whether the empire wants them or not, simply because there are so many hostile races and targets of opportunity to contend with that you don't have time to antagonize everyone;)

How is Japan dealing with pirate incursions at the moment? Any thoughts on how to keep established systems safe?

I had one campaign (without an AAR) where I was faced with seven different swarm races :)

Pirates are not too bad. Only two engagements so far because they can attack NPRs too. However, I maintain one or two light cruisers at every significant colony, plus STO batteries plus some fighters for the larger colonies.
 
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Offline Garfunkel

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #42 on: August 08, 2024, 05:49:10 PM »
Easy victory and a cliffhanger ending!
 

Offline randakar

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #43 on: August 08, 2024, 07:31:55 PM »
Very exciting update indeed.
I would love to see what those rifts end up doing.

A question. I saw you were doing archeology on one of the planets that has an Ancient construct on it. Can those things be destroyed or.damaged in any way?
 

Offline minnowguy

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Re: Empire of the Stars - Comments Thread
« Reply #44 on: August 08, 2024, 08:16:31 PM »
Re WW2 Japanese merchant and transport names ...

I used to play a lot of _War in the Pacific, Admirals Edition_ which seems to have a comprehensive and well-researched database (especially some of the player-created mods) of ships on both sides.  I'll ask about mining the game files for names in their forum.

Anyone who likes this game will probably also like WITP-AE. :)
 
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