Posted by: TK Thomas
« on: June 29, 2009, 12:49:56 AM »Glad to hear you'll be posting again. Just finished a vacation myself.
Posted by: ShadoCat
« on: June 28, 2009, 05:55:35 PM »Quote from: "Kurt"
Just got back from vacation, and I'm trying to catch up. I expect to do some writing tomorrow, and I'll probably post the results tomorrow evening.
Cool!
[happy dance]*
*It is not a pretty site. Be glad there isn't video.
Posted by: Kurt
« on: June 28, 2009, 03:32:50 PM »Quote from: "TK Thomas"
More fiction soon?
Just got back from vacation, and I'm trying to catch up. I expect to do some writing tomorrow, and I'll probably post the results tomorrow evening.
Kurt
Posted by: TK Thomas
« on: June 20, 2009, 03:18:12 AM »More fiction soon?
Posted by: Paul M
« on: May 13, 2009, 03:28:07 AM »Mea Cupia, Mea Cupia, Mea Cupia Maxima...es tut mir lied even over the confusion Kurt. At least your humans haven't blown up the planet...much.
I went cold turkey on the starfire list and don't regret it much, I miss the old starfire campaigns with the gang though. I tried to convince Alex about Aurora but I'm not sure it took. I'm glad your family (and you) are doing good.
Thanks for the updated blurb there. I tend to forget that the Alliance was into lasers since most of their last updates focused on their missile ships.
And you are completely correct in how much space even a small survey force can explore, the Draak are currently at 33 systems discovered, about half those fully surveyed and outside of the homesystem (which itself is far from "exploited") have four systems with colonies in them to the tune of say 3 million Draak outside the homesystem. The number is likely to be larger but I ran into a lvl 6 nebula that currently is 8 systems in extent and I've not found all the exits from it and that slowed my survey efforts a lot. And that from 12-16 ships organized into 4 groups. What astounds me the most is that it is getting typical for the survey missions to be around 5 years long.
As far as the missile bases this may be more related to Steve's campaign as I couldn't even begin to understand the Mongol's not deploying missile defences. Sounds like the Teddies might be from a nebula...have to see since you're being mysterious. I keep thinking to write up the Draak but the trouble is nothing much is happening beyond dealing with minearal stockpile shortages and colonization efforts. With the former hampering in a big way the latter.
I went cold turkey on the starfire list and don't regret it much, I miss the old starfire campaigns with the gang though. I tried to convince Alex about Aurora but I'm not sure it took. I'm glad your family (and you) are doing good.
Thanks for the updated blurb there. I tend to forget that the Alliance was into lasers since most of their last updates focused on their missile ships.
And you are completely correct in how much space even a small survey force can explore, the Draak are currently at 33 systems discovered, about half those fully surveyed and outside of the homesystem (which itself is far from "exploited") have four systems with colonies in them to the tune of say 3 million Draak outside the homesystem. The number is likely to be larger but I ran into a lvl 6 nebula that currently is 8 systems in extent and I've not found all the exits from it and that slowed my survey efforts a lot. And that from 12-16 ships organized into 4 groups. What astounds me the most is that it is getting typical for the survey missions to be around 5 years long.
As far as the missile bases this may be more related to Steve's campaign as I couldn't even begin to understand the Mongol's not deploying missile defences. Sounds like the Teddies might be from a nebula...have to see since you're being mysterious. I keep thinking to write up the Draak but the trouble is nothing much is happening beyond dealing with minearal stockpile shortages and colonization efforts. With the former hampering in a big way the latter.
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 12, 2009, 03:17:05 PM »Quote from: "Paul M"
Ah, I am getting confused between Steve's and your stories Kurt, as his human's have basically only missiles.
I’ve been thinking about this statement (above). It was shocking to me to discover that not everyone knows my campaign as well as I do. SHOCKING I say! A decided lack of effort on your part, sir!
In any case, a short refresher on the human governments may be in order. Read on:
The Alliance
The Alliance as originally completely focused on lasers for both offensive and defensive weapons, however, the advantages of the Reich’s missile heavy ships were too obvious to ignore. Since the start of the campaign the Alliance has upgraded its laser weaponry on its cruisers and destroyers at least once, but has mostly focused its efforts on developing and improving missile weaponry for its battlecruisers and dreadnoughts. Currently the Alliance Navy considers its primary offensive strength to be its missile-armed BC’s and DN’s, and the cruisers and destroyers are considered to be escorts, at best. There is a debate going on within the Alliance Navy as to whether the laser-armed ships should be phased out completely, or if a newer design should be developed and deployed. A strong faction is in favor of reducing the missile weaponry on existing capital ships in favor of including laser weaponry on all classes.
The Reich
The Reich’s navy, the Raumarine, is nearly completely focused on missiles for both offense and defense. Almost all of the Reich’ ship classes, from its frigates to its DN’s, mount missile weaponry exclusively, and the Reich has developed four different missile types for its mobile units. These four missiles include an anti-missile design and three offensive missiles, a long range missile, a short range missile, and the standard missile. In addition, the Reich has deployed several drone designs for use with its scout class. Lately, the Reich has developed and deployed two different designs optimized for nebula combat, after coming to the realization that its primary out-system colony is located in a nebula that rendered the entire existing Raumarine ineffective. One of the two designs is armed with rail guns and is intended for close-range combat, preferably at the warp point into the Hamburg system. The other is a light cruiser design armed with rail guns and gauss cannons and can be used either in the nebula or as an anti-missile escort for the Raumarine’s capital ships.
The USSR
The Soviet Navy has undergone massive changes since The Event, and currently no one else is sure what their capabilities are. Traditionally the Soviet Navy deployed cruisers equipped with rail guns as its primary fighting unit, supported by two types of frigates designed to engage in missile or anti-missile combat. Lately the USSR has undertaken a massive fleet refit, and Alliance and Reich intelligence believes that this refit is intended to mount new engines on the older designs. The new engines have appeared on Russian freighters, giving them a much higher speed, causing concern amongst all of the other human navies. So far the Russians have not deployed any new classes.
Japanese Empire
The Imperial Navy has deployed cruisers equipped with either missiles or laser weaponry as its main striking force. Most of its laser-equipped cruisers have been destroyed in prior battles, but the size of the missile-cruiser force has steadily increased over the last decade. The IJN’s primary escorts are destroyers with a twelve-centimeter laser turret.
The Indian Republic
The Indian Republic has seriously neglected its Navy in favor of its commercial fleet. The Indian Navy’s cruisers would be classified as escorts in most of the other navies, and wouldn’t be considered particularly effective escorts at that. Given the current events on Earth, and the threat represented by the Russians, the Indians are likely to change this situation, however, at the same time the government faces considerable pressure to increase the commercial fleet to speed the flow of colonists out of the solar system.
Kurt
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 12, 2009, 11:45:23 AM »Quote from: "Paul M"
The utility of torpedoes vrs inbounds struck me as likely to be small but on the other hand why not shoot? The worst thing that can happen is you miss and its better to try and fail then to not bother in the first place.
Ah, I am getting confused between Steve's and your stories Kurt, as his human's have basically only missiles. Still going up against those torpedoes at close range will be unfun, I've been on the recieving end of them and they did a lot of damage. And from the one time the plasma carronades were used in PB PD mode they had good chances to hit (even if they missed).
I'm slowly working out how a lot of the fire control, and power allocation stuff works...the joy of a lack of a manual to explain things. I've been inclined to stay with the thermals for the Draak's small ships since making a more effective weapon (higher rate of fire) is worth it.
I also find it confusing that the Teddies have so few survey assets, but on the other hand if they are methodical it makes sense also. I'm methodical but I still build 16 plus replacements DSSVs and the civilians built 3 of their own. What is going to matter I suspect in the end is the relative economies. The Draak for example are closest to say India in your game even though they are at +52 years from the start. The alliance is powerful and fairly high tech from what I can see.
The Abonai have relatively few survey ships because, as you note, they are very methodical about their expansion. I've noticed that even with a medium number of survey ships the number of surveyed systems compared to exploited systems seems to be pretty high.
Quote from: "Paul M"
As for the anti-missile bases this strikes me as only common sense since missiles (and asteroids and such) are the only weapons that work through atmosphere (outside of meson beams) then having defences against that seems wise.
Anyway I hope things are well for you and your family, been a while since we chatted, the last time must have been not long after Marvin ticked me off for the last time.
Anti-missile bases are only a good idea if missiles are a credible threat in the area where you are thinking about installing them. Whether or not the Abonai are right about missiles not being a credible threat is a different question. And a good one that will only be answered in time.
My family is fine, and every once in a while I miss the old Phoenix Campaign. I don't really miss the Starfire list, and to be honest I'm thinking about leaving the list. I haven't posted in a long time, and I've found lately that I'm not even reading any current posts, so I think its time.
Kurt
Posted by: Paul M
« on: May 12, 2009, 03:10:32 AM »The utility of torpedoes vrs inbounds struck me as likely to be small but on the other hand why not shoot? The worst thing that can happen is you miss and its better to try and fail then to not bother in the first place.
Ah, I am getting confused between Steve's and your stories Kurt, as his human's have basically only missiles. Still going up against those torpedoes at close range will be unfun, I've been on the recieving end of them and they did a lot of damage. And from the one time the plasma carronades were used in PB PD mode they had good chances to hit (even if they missed).
I'm slowly working out how a lot of the fire control, and power allocation stuff works...the joy of a lack of a manual to explain things. I've been inclined to stay with the thermals for the Draak's small ships since making a more effective weapon (higher rate of fire) is worth it.
I also find it confusing that the Teddies have so few survey assets, but on the other hand if they are methodical it makes sense also. I'm methodical but I still build 16 plus replacements DSSVs and the civilians built 3 of their own. What is going to matter I suspect in the end is the relative economies. The Draak for example are closest to say India in your game even though they are at +52 years from the start. The alliance is powerful and fairly high tech from what I can see.
As for the anti-missile bases this strikes me as only common sense since missiles (and asteroids and such) are the only weapons that work through atmosphere (outside of meson beams) then having defences against that seems wise.
Anyway I hope things are well for you and your family, been a while since we chatted, the last time must have been not long after Marvin ticked me off for the last time.
Ah, I am getting confused between Steve's and your stories Kurt, as his human's have basically only missiles. Still going up against those torpedoes at close range will be unfun, I've been on the recieving end of them and they did a lot of damage. And from the one time the plasma carronades were used in PB PD mode they had good chances to hit (even if they missed).
I'm slowly working out how a lot of the fire control, and power allocation stuff works...the joy of a lack of a manual to explain things. I've been inclined to stay with the thermals for the Draak's small ships since making a more effective weapon (higher rate of fire) is worth it.
I also find it confusing that the Teddies have so few survey assets, but on the other hand if they are methodical it makes sense also. I'm methodical but I still build 16 plus replacements DSSVs and the civilians built 3 of their own. What is going to matter I suspect in the end is the relative economies. The Draak for example are closest to say India in your game even though they are at +52 years from the start. The alliance is powerful and fairly high tech from what I can see.
As for the anti-missile bases this strikes me as only common sense since missiles (and asteroids and such) are the only weapons that work through atmosphere (outside of meson beams) then having defences against that seems wise.
Anyway I hope things are well for you and your family, been a while since we chatted, the last time must have been not long after Marvin ticked me off for the last time.
Posted by: Brian Neumann
« on: May 11, 2009, 04:03:16 PM »Quote from: "Kurt"
Quote from: "Brian"Dedicated fire control is not needed. The tracking speed is limited by the ship, most ships I design have a fire control speed to match the ship speed. Torpedo's in general do not make good point defense because they are large compared to other beam weapons. Railguns get 4 shots, lasers and mesons only get one, but they are about half the size of torpedo's and can be mounted in turrets. Carronades are like laser, just shorter ranged in general.
As far as the torpedo's go, I have usually found that the largest torpedo that fires every 5 seconds is usually more effective for damage output per ton of weapon. As a example the Dual Fusion torpedo's are 9hs and require 22 energy to charge for 9 damage. Assuming a capaciter 6 that would be 20 seconds. A thermal torpedo is 5hs and requires 5 energy for 2 points of damage every 5 seconds. In 20 seconds the thermal torpedo does 8 points damage at maximum, gets 4 shots so at long range is more likely to do so damage and is about half the space of the dual fusion torpedo. As a side benifit there will be almost twice as many of them that can help with point defense when not shooting at ships.
Brian
I think my comment would have been better phrased as follows: To be effective, they would need to be mounted in turrets (which they can't) and have a fast fire control. Or be small and fast firing. Even then they aren't going to be good, but you are correct, they are likely to be better than nothing. Maybe.
Kurt
You are correct about how usefull they are in general. The only time that I have found it usefull was when a large fleet armed with smaller fast firing torpedo's is trying to keep a smaller missile armed fleet from picking them apart. At that point the numbers of torpedo's that are being fired starts to have an impact. Particularily if the torpedo's can get more than one shot as the missiles close.
Brian
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 11, 2009, 03:17:16 PM »Quote from: "Brian"
Dedicated fire control is not needed. The tracking speed is limited by the ship, most ships I design have a fire control speed to match the ship speed. Torpedo's in general do not make good point defense because they are large compared to other beam weapons. Railguns get 4 shots, lasers and mesons only get one, but they are about half the size of torpedo's and can be mounted in turrets. Carronades are like laser, just shorter ranged in general.
As far as the torpedo's go, I have usually found that the largest torpedo that fires every 5 seconds is usually more effective for damage output per ton of weapon. As a example the Dual Fusion torpedo's are 9hs and require 22 energy to charge for 9 damage. Assuming a capaciter 6 that would be 20 seconds. A thermal torpedo is 5hs and requires 5 energy for 2 points of damage every 5 seconds. In 20 seconds the thermal torpedo does 8 points damage at maximum, gets 4 shots so at long range is more likely to do so damage and is about half the space of the dual fusion torpedo. As a side benifit there will be almost twice as many of them that can help with point defense when not shooting at ships.
Brian
I think my comment would have been better phrased as follows: To be effective, they would need to be mounted in turrets (which they can't) and have a fast fire control. Or be small and fast firing. Even then they aren't going to be good, but you are correct, they are likely to be better than nothing. Maybe.
Kurt
Posted by: Andrew
« on: May 11, 2009, 02:43:28 PM »The advantage of the Heavy torpedo's is that they blast a deeper hole in the armour of the target and so are more likely to inflict internal damage . A Ship with an armour of 5 can take a lot of 2pt torpedo hits before breaching but if I remember correctly any Dual Fusion torpedo hit inflicts some internal damage. Given the speed of incoming missiles by the time you have something like Dual fusion torpedo's their contribution to PD fire is negligible you need Faster tracking turrets and fire control
Posted by: Brian Neumann
« on: May 11, 2009, 01:23:25 PM »Dedicated fire control is not needed. The tracking speed is limited by the ship, most ships I design have a fire control speed to match the ship speed. Torpedo's in general do not make good point defense because they are large compared to other beam weapons. Railguns get 4 shots, lasers and mesons only get one, but they are about half the size of torpedo's and can be mounted in turrets. Carronades are like laser, just shorter ranged in general.
As far as the torpedo's go, I have usually found that the largest torpedo that fires every 5 seconds is usually more effective for damage output per ton of weapon. As a example the Dual Fusion torpedo's are 9hs and require 22 energy to charge for 9 damage. Assuming a capaciter 6 that would be 20 seconds. A thermal torpedo is 5hs and requires 5 energy for 2 points of damage every 5 seconds. In 20 seconds the thermal torpedo does 8 points damage at maximum, gets 4 shots so at long range is more likely to do so damage and is about half the space of the dual fusion torpedo. As a side benifit there will be almost twice as many of them that can help with point defense when not shooting at ships.
Brian
As far as the torpedo's go, I have usually found that the largest torpedo that fires every 5 seconds is usually more effective for damage output per ton of weapon. As a example the Dual Fusion torpedo's are 9hs and require 22 energy to charge for 9 damage. Assuming a capaciter 6 that would be 20 seconds. A thermal torpedo is 5hs and requires 5 energy for 2 points of damage every 5 seconds. In 20 seconds the thermal torpedo does 8 points damage at maximum, gets 4 shots so at long range is more likely to do so damage and is about half the space of the dual fusion torpedo. As a side benifit there will be almost twice as many of them that can help with point defense when not shooting at ships.
Brian
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 11, 2009, 11:24:09 AM »Quote from: "Paul M"
Hi Kurt,
I'm curious how an idea would work in practice. The use of torpedos as area defence. The Draak have the idea of using their torpedos in area mode and their carronades as last ditch point defence should they find themselves under missile attack (they have the Buckler's but I suspect in actual combat their magazines will be too small). Should your aliens need to do so I'd like combat feedback on if it works at all well.
I hadn't thought of using the torpedoes that way. I'll keep it in mind when the time comes. The torpedoes aren't likely to be good point defense weapons unless they have a decent (dedicated) anti-missile tracking capability.
Quote from: "Paul M"
The Alliance may find themselves in a nasty situation if they invest the JP too closely as those torpedos (dual fusion???-that is what the precursers fire) will be nasty. But if the alliance ships start 1-2 million from the jump point, the teddies are dead meat. They have slower shorter ranged ships, only if the alliance vessels run out of missiles are they in trouble (and only in the sense they will have to retire). Otherwise most battles should be fairly one sided unless the alien ships point defence is particularily good. In which case they can push the alliance ships out of the system fairly easy and once that happens the likelyhood of the alliance's missile heavy force surviving a combat transit is minimal. I'd imagine both sides will be needing to do refits and new builds after the first battle but unless the alliance goofs badly I can't see them loosing too many ships (in principle they should not loose any).
There are complicating factors here, and both sides are (eventually) going to have to put a lot of thought into this. The Alliance actually has a significant close-range combat capability, particularly in their heavy cruisers, which don't have missiles at all. However, the Alliance commander isn't tempted to mount a close-in defense of the warp point at all, given the absolute superiority that they appear to have in missile combat.
Quote from: "Paul M"
Attempting to bag the ship with such short ranged weapons though was problematical at best.
I hope the aliens are at least smart enough to have invested in PD bases for their homeworld/colonies.
Attempting to bag the explorer with short ranged weapons AND slower ships was problematic. In addition, the fact that Aurora isn't set up to allow a player to have that fine of control over a ship's movement just sealed the deal.
As for point defense bases for their planets, why would they do that when they don't have missiles (Apparently)?
Kurt
Posted by: Kurt
« on: May 11, 2009, 11:15:08 AM »Quote from: "Exsellsior"
Some familiar Ship names and ranks that the Abonai have. I almost expected to see a large feline instead of a Winnie the Pooh with attitude.
It's a classic match of short ranged weapons versus missiles. The Abonai lack of speed will really hurt them there. Still, missiles eventually run out, you just have to survive until they do. But with a substantial speed disadvantage how can they close or pursue? And with no missiles themselves, how good would their anti-missile defences be?
Better have thick armor or shields. Or ECM.
Well, the naming scheme is more indicative of the mental mindest of the Abonai, rather than their appearance.
As for the weapons matchup, the Abonai have some aces up their sleeve, and I'm interested to see how this all works out.
Kurt
Posted by: Paul M
« on: May 11, 2009, 07:22:03 AM »Hi Kurt,
I'm curious how an idea would work in practice. The use of torpedos as area defence. The Draak have the idea of using their torpedos in area mode and their carronades as last ditch point defence should they find themselves under missile attack (they have the Buckler's but I suspect in actual combat their magazines will be too small). Should your aliens need to do so I'd like combat feedback on if it works at all well.
The Alliance may find themselves in a nasty situation if they invest the JP too closely as those torpedos (dual fusion???-that is what the precursers fire) will be nasty. But if the alliance ships start 1-2 million from the jump point, the teddies are dead meat. They have slower shorter ranged ships, only if the alliance vessels run out of missiles are they in trouble (and only in the sense they will have to retire). Otherwise most battles should be fairly one sided unless the alien ships point defence is particularily good. In which case they can push the alliance ships out of the system fairly easy and once that happens the likelyhood of the alliance's missile heavy force surviving a combat transit is minimal. I'd imagine both sides will be needing to do refits and new builds after the first battle but unless the alliance goofs badly I can't see them loosing too many ships (in principle they should not loose any).
Attempting to bag the ship with such short ranged weapons though was problematical at best.
I hope the aliens are at least smart enough to have invested in PD bases for their homeworld/colonies.
I'm curious how an idea would work in practice. The use of torpedos as area defence. The Draak have the idea of using their torpedos in area mode and their carronades as last ditch point defence should they find themselves under missile attack (they have the Buckler's but I suspect in actual combat their magazines will be too small). Should your aliens need to do so I'd like combat feedback on if it works at all well.
The Alliance may find themselves in a nasty situation if they invest the JP too closely as those torpedos (dual fusion???-that is what the precursers fire) will be nasty. But if the alliance ships start 1-2 million from the jump point, the teddies are dead meat. They have slower shorter ranged ships, only if the alliance vessels run out of missiles are they in trouble (and only in the sense they will have to retire). Otherwise most battles should be fairly one sided unless the alien ships point defence is particularily good. In which case they can push the alliance ships out of the system fairly easy and once that happens the likelyhood of the alliance's missile heavy force surviving a combat transit is minimal. I'd imagine both sides will be needing to do refits and new builds after the first battle but unless the alliance goofs badly I can't see them loosing too many ships (in principle they should not loose any).
Attempting to bag the ship with such short ranged weapons though was problematical at best.
I hope the aliens are at least smart enough to have invested in PD bases for their homeworld/colonies.
