I started my first game in Aurora v6. 21. I played in v5. 7 but stopped for a few months. The settings are mostly the same as the default Space 1899 game, with some spoiler races disabled and my government type changed to Authoritarian. I set the starting year to 1 so I could keep better track of time. I turned on Real Stars for the first time and am impressed with it. It's sad to hear that black holes aren't implemented in it.
My Sol had 3 JPs, but I've only explored extrasolar systems. I had a lot of early problems with fuel; it used to be that 500,000 litres could take me to the galactic center and back with enough to make a stop at Space McDonald's on the way. I've lost a lot of early freighters and survey ships to fuel problems, as well as tankers who wouldn't have enough fuel themselves to refuel a fleet and make it back home. I'm still having fuel issues, but that's not my biggest worry now.
I found an NPR two jumps from Sol. They had contacts waiting right by the jump point, and it took about 20 seconds for my unarmed and sensorless scout to get back through the jump point. Thankfully they were neutral, and after assigning a diplomatic team to the race, our relations are good. I think. Is +169 relations good? The number is growing quickly as my diplomatic team quickly gained a lot of skill.
My geo teams were horrible, though. They would find nothing on several good mining asteroids and were just worthless. I now finally have a team with a skill higher than a hundred, so hopefully they can pick up the slack.
The final main issue are my scientists. I have a lot of good scientists, but almost all of them are focused either in Biology, P&P, or Logistics. Curse them! I need Construction scientists, not more P&P. I'll never have enough research labs to approach their maximum limits either.
I'm currently trying to find good sources of Duranium. The best long-term source is a low-availability planet in the buffer system between the NPR and myself. It has a colony cost of only x0. 77, but millions of various ores. Sadly I'll just have to deal with the poor availability unless my now-competent geo teams can find something on Sol.
Does anyone know why this forum insists on automatically adding spaces after each period I enter, after I preview or submit my post? This happened the last time I posted too, and I think it's messing up my image.