Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread: C# Edition

[nuclearslurpee]

You can have multiple salvoes travelling as one group, and each different salvo can be targeted separately. For example when I have a group of fighters launch missiles, I get say, a group of 40 missiles, made up of 10 salvoes of 4 missiles. Each fighter can have targeted a different ship, but for PD purposes it's a blob of 40 missiles.

Actually, for PD purposes the salvo size and number has an important impact. While each fire control can target any number of salvos, each weapon can only fire at a single salvo which is important for multi-shot weapons - railguns, Gauss cannons, and twin+ turrets. This can lead to wasted shots due to overkill effects, as if a salvo is killed by the first few shots from a weapon, any remaining shots will have no impact. Not usually a big deal, but it does mean that full-size Gauss quad turrets are prone to wasting a lot of shots against numerous small salvos.

For missile warfare that means that you like to have your missiles spread into a large number of small salvos rather than a single large salvo (or a single large salvo per ship), to take advantage of any potential overkill effects and get more leakers through the enemy PD.

As far as terminology, I am usually careful to say "volley" or "wave" to describe a bunch of missiles arriving in a single group, which may be composed of multiple salvos. It can get a bit confusing otherwise.

[boolybooly]

Actually, for PD purposes the salvo size and number has an important impact. While each fire control can target any number of salvos, each weapon can only fire at a single salvo which is important for multi-shot weapons - railguns, Gauss cannons, and twin+ turrets. This can lead to wasted shots ...

You can have multiple salvoes travelling as one group, and each different salvo can be targeted separately. For example when I have a group of fighters launch missiles, I get say, a group of 40 missiles, made up of 10 salvoes of 4 missiles. Each fighter can have targeted a different ship, but for PD purposes it's a blob of 40 missiles. I think you can do the same thing on a single launching platform by using multiple MFCs.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=12523.0

"Fixed bug that caused 2-stage buoys without targets to self-destruct."

Thanks, interesting point about small salvos. Are you saying that salvos targeting the same ship arriving in the same interval are not treated as simultaneous, allowing spare salvos to retarget?

I do have multi-MFC box designs, even a couple offers flexibility and can double the rate of work in game time. These designs were originally intended to break small early game spoiler incursion fleets.

I am still learning the combat controls and find setting these up to fire in early-mid game against larger fleets (eg 55 spoilers of a different variety today) requires patience. The assign all / fleet / sub-fleet buttons are very handy but I am having trouble getting "auto assign FC" to do anything apart from clear all assignments. Maybe I am missing a necessary step in the sequence?

I have not dared try the fire at will button!

[Snoman314]

As far as terminology, I am usually careful to say "volley" or "wave" to describe a bunch of missiles arriving in a single group, which may be composed of multiple salvos. It can get a bit confusing otherwise.

That terminology makes sense to me.

Thanks, interesting point about small salvos. Are you saying that salvos targeting the same ship arriving in the same interval are not treated as simultaneous, allowing spare salvos to retarget?

I think all the missiles in one volley all hit simultaneously. I don't have an enemy fleet handy to shoot at, but from memory they don't all have to be targeted on the same ship in the target fleet. That will let you spread the love and solve your overkill problem.

[Andrew]

Provided all your ships are in one fleet and fire missiles with the same speed in the same 5 second tick (Synch fire can be useful for this) and none of those ships are set up as escorts away from the main body and the targets are ships in one fleet (not escorts detached from that fleet if it is another player fleet) then they will all hit in the same 5 second tick and only be engaged once by point defense fire.
If you some how coordinate different speed missiles fired from ships at different ranges to hit in the same 5 sec window they will only be engaged once by point defense , if ship movement casues missiles which are not arriving at the same time to arrive within the same 5 sec window they will be engaged once (rare but if for instance you are flying towards AMM spam it can happen)

Otherwise the point defense gets to engage a full set of targets each 5 sec window if the guns recharge every 5 sec

[Borealis4x]

If you want to slow research down so tech eras last about a decade or more, should you slow down research speed or pick the option that nerfs scientists' admin?

I did both, reducing tech to 10% and nerfing admin while starting conventional, but I think that's too much. It will take me over 50 years to research Trans-Newtonian tech, and you can't build mines as a conventional, so you can't really expand other than build useless colonies.

Do you think it would be best to increase tech rate, un-nerf scientist admin, or start with Trans-Newtonian tech already unlocked? I feel the key to a good, slow tech progression lies with one or a combination of those options.

[Froggiest1982]

If you want to slow research down so tech eras last about a decade or more, should you slow down research speed or pick the option that nerfs scientists' admin?

I did both, reducing tech to 10% and nerfing admin while starting conventional, but I think that's too much. It will take me over 50 years to research Trans-Newtonian tech, and you can't build mines as a conventional, so you can't really expand other than build useless colonies.

Do you think it would be best to increase tech rate, un-nerf scientist admin, or start with Trans-Newtonian tech already unlocked? I feel the key to a good, slow tech progression lies with one or a combination of those options.

With the admin limit, you can keep the science at 100%. If you were to keep it standard you have 2 option, both very valid:

reduce to 25% to 10%
Make your own admin limit rules. I use the 1 to 5 rule, meaning you can allocate 1 lab every 5 admin. So a scientist with 15 labs capacity will be possible to be assigned only 3

[Borealis4x]

If you want to slow research down so tech eras last about a decade or more, should you slow down research speed or pick the option that nerfs scientists' admin?

I did both, reducing tech to 10% and nerfing admin while starting conventional, but I think that's too much. It will take me over 50 years to research Trans-Newtonian tech, and you can't build mines as a conventional, so you can't really expand other than build useless colonies.

Do you think it would be best to increase tech rate, un-nerf scientist admin, or start with Trans-Newtonian tech already unlocked? I feel the key to a good, slow tech progression lies with one or a combination of those options.

With the admin limit, you can keep the science at 100%. If you were to keep it standard you have 2 option, both very valid:

reduce to 25% to 10%
Make your own admin limit rules. I use the 1 to 5 rule, meaning you can allocate 1 lab every 5 admin. So a scientist with 15 labs capacity will be possible to be assigned only 3

Think I'll keep admin nerfed and bring research up to 50%. Maybe SM Trans-Newtonics as well so I can actually do something while still starting with pre-TN stuff.

Really the biggest thing are mines being locked by TN tech. I know its hard to mine something you don't know exist, but that doesn't stop Conventional Industry. Personally I think mines should be around for Conventional Empires while removing the ability to mine with Industries.

[nuclearslurpee]

The reduced admin option is great because it doesn't slow down your overall science, but it slows down tech rushes greatly and pushes you to diversify your research considerably and build up a lot more quality scientists.

With reduced admin I usually think 100% research is fine for TN starts, because you can't rush propulsion techs so even your starting techs are probably good for 10-20 years before you need fleet-wide refits (especially if you start out trying to research more economic techs). For conventional starts I think 50% or 25% research is good depending on how long you want to spend in the super-janky early game era. I always SM Trans-Newtonian Technology in a conventional start game because there is no point in waiting around for 5,000 RP to complete unless you do a very low-population start with only 5-10 labs anyways.

[Pury]

In one of the Naval Bombardment post Steve explained how STO targeted after being detected Are easier to hit:
"...When firing at Detected STO units, the two-third reduction in to-hit chance is not applied, as the STO units have given away their general location."

Does any one know, if this "detected" state expires? And if it is universal to all factions. (If Raiders detect your STO after being fired at, NPR also has it visible once it gets close enough to see them on their Active sensors)
From what I saw, It seems that it does not expire and is universal among factions, but I just want to make sure.

[Borealis4x]

The reduced admin option is great because it doesn't slow down your overall science, but it slows down tech rushes greatly and pushes you to diversify your research considerably and build up a lot more quality scientists.

With reduced admin I usually think 100% research is fine for TN starts, because you can't rush propulsion techs so even your starting techs are probably good for 10-20 years before you need fleet-wide refits (especially if you start out trying to research more economic techs). For conventional starts I think 50% or 25% research is good depending on how long you want to spend in the super-janky early game era. I always SM Trans-Newtonian Technology in a conventional start game because there is no point in waiting around for 5,000 RP to complete unless you do a very low-population start with only 5-10 labs anyways.

Admin cap plus 50% tech is the sweet spot. Also did what you said and started conventionally but SM'd TN tech right away. Makes the game move a lot more naturally without being stuck with nothing to do.

[nuclearslurpee]

Admin cap plus 50% tech is the sweet spot. Also did what you said and started conventionally but SM'd TN tech right away. Makes the game move a lot more naturally without being stuck with nothing to do.

Yup. With normal admin I can see the case for researching TN tech, since you can probably put 25 or 30 labs into it and be done in a year even without any bonus from the scientist, but with reduced admin you can spend a suitable time building ships with conventional tech while you develop NRE engines, TN cryogenics, etc. so you do get a fair few early-tech ships for flavor but the game moves along at a reasonable pace.

[Borealis4x]

A few questions:

1. Will tracking speed and fire control range for ground units automatically update or do you have to make new units to get the bonuses?

2. what is the 'optimal' size for a Deep Space Scanner? I understand that they get less efficient the bigger they are.

3. What governs automatic promotions? It seems my officer corp eventually balances out to the point anyone above the lowest level of officer is only promoted to fill a specific role that needs a high ranked officer, meaning I have hundreds of lowest level officers and maybe 20 guys above that before I seriously start fleshing out my navy with flag bridges. Is it supposed to work like this?

3.5 Also, what governs retirements? I recently when through a 'death wave' of my scientists which left my research crippled and I think my guys are retiring too fast in general to have interesting careers. If possible, I'd like to raise the minimum retirement age far above where it is gradually over the course of the game to account for new medical technology keeping people in top shape longer.

4. Can I automate Sector Governors and Academy Commandants?

[nuclearslurpee]

1. Will tracking speed and fire control range for ground units automatically update or do you have to make new units to get the bonuses?

Pretty sure it does not upgrade, since the STOs are modeled as a weapon + BFC + sensor + reactor so it doesn't make sense for any of those components to upgrade magically.

2. what is the 'optimal' size for a Deep Space Scanner? I understand that they get less efficient the bigger they are.

It is a trick question. The area of space scanned by a DSTS group is proportional to the number, which means the range varies as the square root. If you need maximum range then building more DSTS is probably not the best approach, and you want to place passive buoys/traffic monitors/patrol routes along that line. If you want to know about threats from any direction then just build as many DSTS as you can justify in the annual budget meeting.

3. What governs automatic promotions? It seems my officer corp eventually balances out to the point anyone above the lowest level of officer is only promoted to fill a specific role that needs a high ranked officer, meaning I have hundreds of lowest level officers and maybe 20 guys above that before I seriously start fleshing out my navy with flag bridges. Is it supposed to work like this?

Automatic promotions are on-demand as of v2.0, which means that low-level officers will only promote if there is an opening at the next-highest rank.

Part of the way to handle this is to be more liberal with your use of naval admin commands (maybe roleplaying 2-3 commands where you might otherwise just have 1 in some cases) and using the auxiliary command stations in your larger ships (AUX, CIC, ENG, SCI, etc.) to give more jobs for low-ranking officers. I also tend to make liberal use of the "Require Senior C.O." checkbox in class designs so that larger/more-prestigious ship types have higher-ranking officers, which also helps to stagger out the promotions a little bit.

Note also that the rate of generating naval and ground commanders has approximately doubled, in large part to help motivate the use of the auxiliary command modules.

In short this means in v2.0+ we have to actually craft a promotions structure that facilitates development of a robust officer corps instead of the game just auto-promoting people out of a job. The nice thing is we are no longer tied to rigid rank ratios so force structure is much more flexible and natural.

3.5 Also, what governs retirements? I recently when through a 'death wave' of my scientists which left my research crippled and I think my guys are retiring too fast in general to have interesting careers. If possible, I'd like to raise the minimum retirement age far above where it is gradually over the course of the game to account for new medical technology keeping people in top shape longer.

Since scientists don't have ranks I think there is a minimum of 30 or 40 years and then a 20% chance each year thereafter, which is halved(?) if they have an active project. This assumes that they follow the same mechanics as military commanders, which is presumed from Steve's post on the topic but it's a bit ambiguous.

4. Can I automate Sector Governors and Academy Commandants?

No.

[Borealis4x]

3. What governs automatic promotions? It seems my officer corp eventually balances out to the point anyone above the lowest level of officer is only promoted to fill a specific role that needs a high ranked officer, meaning I have hundreds of lowest level officers and maybe 20 guys above that before I seriously start fleshing out my navy with flag bridges. Is it supposed to work like this?

Automatic promotions are on-demand as of v2.0, which means that low-level officers will only promote if there is an opening at the next-highest rank.

Part of the way to handle this is to be more liberal with your use of naval admin commands (maybe roleplaying 2-3 commands where you might otherwise just have 1 in some cases) and using the auxiliary command stations in your larger ships (AUX, CIC, ENG, SCI, etc.) to give more jobs for low-ranking officers. I also tend to make liberal use of the "Require Senior C.O." checkbox in class designs so that larger/more-prestigious ship types have higher-ranking officers, which also helps to stagger out the promotions a little bit.

Note also that the rate of generating naval and ground commanders has approximately doubled, in large part to help motivate the use of the auxiliary command modules.

In short this means in v2.0+ we have to actually craft a promotions structure that facilitates development of a robust officer corps instead of the game just auto-promoting people out of a job. The nice thing is we are no longer tied to rigid rank ratios so force structure is much more flexible and natural.

So I guess I'll go back to my system of adding auxiliary commands on commercial ships for no reason.

All the more reason they should do something for commericals in the next updates imo. Like having a Science Module in a terraforming ship contribute the officers terraforming skill.

Any ideas on how to get 'liberal' with Admins? I'm planning to put Naval Headquarters on Europa and Titan to make distinct military 'sectors' in the Sol system which will be modeled using admin commands.

[nuclearslurpee]

So I guess I'll go back to my system of adding auxiliary commands on commercial ships for no reason.

It depends on your navy, but I usually don't have a lot of problems if I use the full set of modules, senior C.O.s, etc.  If you have too many low-rank officers, probably a part of the problem is that you either have too many academies or the ones you do have should be specialized towards other commander types (ground commanders in particular are pretty effective for this, and if you have too many ground commanders you've done something weird).

All the more reason they should do something for commericals in the next updates imo. Like having a Science Module in a terraforming ship contribute the officers terraforming skill.

I think the problem with that (i.e., why Steve doesn't just add it) is that there's no decision to be made - of course you put a SCI station on every terraforming ship you ever build, no-brainer once you have the tech because it would be cheap for an obvious bonus.