This forum is enigmatic

[Vandermeer (OP)]

I would probably playtest this a lot, because all I read about it around these forums seems totally awesome! However, it is like you people speak in a cryptic language, like I can not decipher a single strand of consistent topic pattern. "Wouldn't it be great to add singularities, but then don't forget to make laser cannons 15 tons heavier, and hey, how does the gross national product calculate when we include mark 2 missiles to MIRVS given battles calculate automatically, and the core world is dry (1-5%)?"
It has all the keywords to jump me, but for an outside reader, there is no structure or starting point to it.

What is this, where can I get it, and why do some people speak about it like it's a book, when otherwise coding terms are discussed? There is not a single screenshot to be found; it's all just myth I tell you!! A myth about a perfect 4x game, where everybody just continues to randomly add a comment about a functionality they would wish it to have. This is how this works, yes?
Man, in my last game, when my most talented engineering officer perished from sickness amidst battle on a production interval, he took the whole shield bonus of my frontline capital ship with him, making it so the enemies' low tech broadsides could suddenly overcome resistance and inflict damage. On page 156 it says that officers can not be transported instantly, and need a couple days to arrive on new positions with assumed invisible mini-shuttles, but I was still able to get a reserve there instantly by relocating directly from another ship instead from HQ. Should be fixed in next version maybe!

[Sematary]

It's a game being developed by our wonderful for him hos it's a game being developed by our wonderful forum host Erik,  and you can currently buying them drive through RPG for think it's a dollar. They'll if you spring and get two dollars you can also get an RPG games set in the same setting. Those of us who played the game and know what we're talking about in the same way that when the rest of us talk about Aurora we use words and phrases that are not known to people who don't.

[Erik L]

The origins of Astra Imperia actually predate Aurora by a couple of years. Steve was still doing Starfire Assistant. While I enjoyed Starfire, it and all of the other games in the genre proceeded at an incredible tech speed. Modern day to Post-ST:TNG in 5 years. That always broke my immersion. So I started working on a set of rules I called Astra Imperia. It culled things from Starfire, Star Fleet Battles, Renegade Legion, and others that I forget.

The initial version was published in 2006. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with it, so I immediately started on v2. That has languished in development hell since. It does borrow slightly from Aurora in that weapons are componentized and very customizable. Other suggestions that have been posted to this forum have made it into the game (with permission of the original idea holder) However, it retains its origins with 30 day month/turns, 30 second tactical turns, and elements like that. As Boggo and I am sure Sematary have found out, game setup is a bit on the intense side.

And as Sematary has said, it is available at dtrpg.com for $1 US, or $1.50 US gets you the wargame and rpg in a bundle.

[Sematary]

It is intense, but worth it. System generation takes a long time especially since gas giants can have realistic numbers of moons and if they are above a certain size they follow a slightly truncated planet gen set up but once it's set up you never have to touch it again and Erik is working on a system generation program that already helps a ton. The only other thing is ship design but that gets a lot easier the more you do it.

[boggo2300]

to break it down;

It's all Eriks fault

though to be fair, my setup issues are pretty much my own fault for pushing the boundaries of what's sane by jamming 10 empires with populations ranging from 200-1000 million people onto Earth.

oh,  and it's a pen and paper game like Starfire, only much much crunchier

and 1-5% is Arid (actually its 1-25% is Arid,  26-50% is dry  )

[Vandermeer (OP)]

Those of us who played the game and know what we're talking about in the same way that when the rest of us talk about Aurora we use words and phrases that are not known to people who don't.

I of course know that very well, and the joke targeted exactly this irony of having Aurora players baffled by technicality. (..after re-reading - maybe came not as obvious as intended)

One thing stays real though: Where Aurora has installation forum, and a blinking button for 'download here' on top of it all, there is no starting point on this game, and not even picture proof that it exists at all, so that brought me to this "maybe it doesn't".
I belong to the ever growing generations of people who grew up with computers so much, that they toss any manual that comes with devices or programs directly into garbage and rather figure things out by intuition and trying directly.(yay for scientific method) Yet I find me saying that it would have been nice to know a starting point for once, even though I have always ignored these topics on every other occasion since.
I wouldn't have needed some expansive "how to get started" guide, but some "download here" link and a picture maybe would have done the trick. There is simply no entry for the uninitiated, except for those who are energetic enough to later extend their research beyond the forum and start searching on google too, where you would actually find it.(though I wasn't even sure if it really was the same thing before)

It is intense, but worth it.

The more there is to learn, the more there is to have fun about later on. I miss times before a lot of my previously favorite franchises started to dumb their complexity down.

@Erik: Thank you, I will look into this definitely once I have more time.(I presume shortly after christmas) I will enroll to the testing legion, and then maybe provide threads with some picture decoration here and there already.o,,o

oh,  and it's a pen and paper game like Starfire, only much much crunchier

and 1-5% is Arid (actually its 1-25% is Arid,  26-50% is dry  )

Never played Starfire though, so I didn't even get the references in Aurora before.

The dry could have been the older version generator that I downloaded for test, yes, definitely not my fault ever. 

[Sematary]

I of course know that very well, and the joke targeted exactly this irony of having Aurora players baffled by technicality. (..after re-reading - maybe came not as obvious as intended)

I was pretty sure that was what you were getting at but played the straight man.

One thing stays real though: Where Aurora has installation forum, and a blinking button for 'download here' on top of it all, there is no starting point on this game, and not even picture proof that it exists at all, so that brought me to this "maybe it doesn't".
I wouldn't have needed some expansive "how to get started" guide, but some "download here" link and a picture maybe would have done the trick. There is simply no entry for the uninitiated, except for those who are energetic enough to later extend their research beyond the forum and start searching on google too, where you would actually find it.(though I wasn't even sure if it really was the same thing before)

Yeah, I don't think there is a direct link on the forum to the game, and maybe there should be.

The more there is to learn, the more there is to have fun about later on. I miss times before a lot of my previously favorite franchises started to dumb their complexity down.

I agree with you there, and this game is a great example of it. I just don't want to be accused of making people spend money on the game who then quit because of how steep the learning curve is.

[Erik L]

I'd grade the learning curve of Astra Imperia between Aurora and mainstream games. All of the rules are right there in your hand. Or PDF.

The drawback (and this is the same with most table top 4x games) is all of the book keeping. I use Excel and Word mostly. Even though I am in the midst of writing a program similar to SFA for Astra Imperia.

Links -
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131614/Astra-Imperia-2 Astra Imperia 2
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131615/Astra-Imperia-Via-Astrum-Playtest-BUNDLE AI/VA bundle
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131428/Via-Astrum-Playtest Via Astrum

[boggo2300]

The dry could have been the older version generator that I downloaded for test, yes, definitely not my fault ever. 

Well I do believe Erik recently changed that...

see, I said it was all his fault!

[boggo2300]

The more there is to learn, the more there is to have fun about later on. I miss times before a lot of my previously favorite franchises started to dumb their complexity down.

Well I think I've been doing my part to prevent that happening,  I've been throwing complications at Erik pretty thick and fast for quite a while now  ;DD

Just be thankful the majority of the minutia of new rules discussion have been mostly in pm's!

[Vandermeer (OP)]

It has been a while, but I finally found some time now to go to above links and purchase what was there. Seriously, I was this short believing that I still misunderstood this all, and it was yet a book after all. I suspected this before, but after the talk here I genuinely thought I would get the game on the page of dtrpg, yet there was none to be found again, as I received rulebook pdfs. From the quick look I took, it will be an interesting read, but it is still not a game.
I came here and searched and read one more time, and found again basically no support that made sure it was a game and not a book/tabletop rules, as most threads could be read in such way that people just tried to apply the rules there on either paper or excel.
If it was not this one, this one thread where someone posted a cutout of an error message, claiming it came from 'build nr.1536', I would have given up, believing it was indeed just tabletop.
...And that is after even this clarification thread that I had started.

Even now, basically reaffirmed that there must be a game somewhere, I can still not figure out where these supposed builds are hiding. Forum search: Nothing. Google search, first general, then focused on pentarch: Nothing either.
A note of the "Astra Imperia Lite" announcement says it could be found under docs in the download section. Where is this mysterious fabled land?
It is like one has to solve 3 ancient riddles to be deemed worthy of the complexity of this game and arrive at the end of the path where the treasure lies. If genuine curiosity and some time of research didn't carry me there, then there is basically no chance to ever have this picked up by someone with a passing interest only.(not that they would stand a chance anyway) It kind of reminds me to this now:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/KaMiZoTo_Creator/there-is-no-game

...So, where can I find these builds after all?

[Erik L]

It is just table top. There is a computer program similar to the original SFA in development, but I'm not as single-mindedly dedicated as Steve

[boggo2300]

yeah sorry I thought we'd been clearer,   Astra is a pen and paper tabletop game,  NOT a computer game,  Erik is working on an assistant program that will help with bookkeeping for the game, but still won't be a game in it's own right.

however, it's still all Eriks fault

[Vandermeer (OP)]

yeah sorry I thought we'd been clearer,   Astra is a pen and paper tabletop game,  NOT a computer game,  Erik is working on an assistant program that will help with bookkeeping for the game, but still won't be a game in it's own right.

however, it's still all Eriks fault

Indeed, as my real first name is also Erik.

It is just table top. There is a computer program similar to the original SFA in development, but I'm not as single-mindedly dedicated as Steve

Though that is still surprising after all, I am not mad. Yesterday evening I read through basically all Astra Imperia 2, and then the first third of Via Astrum. The only somewhat similar Pen and Paper game that I owned of this type so far was Star Frontier, but that was never good enough.

Was there ever an endeavor to do this in "multiplayer" here?

[Erik L]

At least you spell your name correctly

There have been a couple of attempts to run a community game here, but seem to last as long as the Aurora ones