C# Aurora v0.x Questions

[Hazard]

To be honest, unless you've got a definite space side advantage any landed forces that cannot hold their ground are doomed anyway, because withdrawing them is extremely risky unless you unquestionably hold the orbitals.

And in such cases it'd be more likely to fail because you didn't bring enough forces in to hold the beachhead at the start than anything else, and if that happens you weren't doing an assault. You were doing a recon in force with a disposable unit to get a look at how much boom the enemy has in place to reject an attack.

[Expy]

As I understand it you aren't interested in donations, but do you have a preferred charity for people to donate to instead when they get their hands on the C# version?

[Steve Walmsley]

As I understand it you aren't interested in donations, but do you have a preferred charity for people to donate to instead when they get their hands on the C# version?

Good idea. The British Legion would be my preferred charity.

[Garfunkel]

To be honest, unless you've got a definite space side advantage any landed forces that cannot hold their ground are doomed anyway, because withdrawing them is extremely risky unless you unquestionably hold the orbitals.

And in such cases it'd be more likely to fail because you didn't bring enough forces in to hold the beachhead at the start than anything else, and if that happens you weren't doing an assault. You were doing a recon in force with a disposable unit to get a look at how much boom the enemy has in place to reject an attack.

Well it's possible that you as the attacker underestimated the defender tech level and/or size, and you might suffer a bunch of bad random rolls, leading to a situation where you know it's extremely unlikely for you to win but the defender is also unlikely to abandon their fortifications to come attacking you, giving you time to evacuate at least a chunk (if not most) of your troops. Sure, your rear guard has to be sacrificed but at least you can get the surviving expensive units out. Kinda like the Aurora version of Gallipoli.

[Hazard]

Well it's possible that you as the attacker underestimated the defender tech level and/or size, and you might suffer a bunch of bad random rolls, leading to a situation where you know it's extremely unlikely for you to win but the defender is also unlikely to abandon their fortifications to come attacking you, giving you time to evacuate at least a chunk (if not most) of your troops. Sure, your rear guard has to be sacrificed but at least you can get the surviving expensive units out. Kinda like the Aurora version of Gallipoli.

Size is something you can detect from orbit and how much the fortification modifier adjusts that is something that is known per planet type, so you should have some idea of how large an enemy force on planet is.

I'll give you the tech level though. It's harder to get information on that.

[SevenOfCarina]

Steve, regarding the tracking speed bonus for missiles, is it additive or multiplicative? If I have a turret tracking at 16,000 km/s and a tracking bonus of 6%, will the speed to-hit modifier be 59.3% (additive, 53.3% + 6%) or 56.5% (multiplicative, 53.3% * 1.06) against a target moving at 30,000 km/s?

[Steve Walmsley]

Steve, regarding the tracking speed bonus for missiles, is it additive or multiplicative? If I have a turret tracking at 16,000 km/s and a tracking bonus of 6%, will the speed to-hit modifier be 59.3% (additive, 53.3% + 6%) or 56.5% (multiplicative, 53.3% * 1.06) against a target moving at 30,000 km/s?

The tracking bonus applies to the tracking speed, not the to-hit chance.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg115708;topicseen#msg115708

[SevenOfCarina]

Steve, regarding the tracking speed bonus for missiles, is it additive or multiplicative? If I have a turret tracking at 16,000 km/s and a tracking bonus of 6%, will the speed to-hit modifier be 59.3% (additive, 53.3% + 6%) or 56.5% (multiplicative, 53.3% * 1.06) against a target moving at 30,000 km/s?

The tracking bonus applies to the tracking speed, not the to-hit chance.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg115708;topicseen#msg115708

I phrased that poorly. I understand that, but is it additive or multiplicative? Does the effective tracking speed become 17,800 km/s (16,000 km/s + 6% of 30,000 km/s) or 16,960 km/s (16,000 km/s * 1.06) against a 30,000 km/s target?

[Zhatelier]

Just out of curiosity, are there going to be any changes to commercial engines? I couldn't find any information on the changes list about it, but considering that the starting tech engine max size is 25 HS and the min engine power modifier is 0. 5x: Does this mean there is a single commercial engine type available for research at the start or has the min engine size been modified/removed?

[Kristover]

Question:  Been spending some time looking at dedicated ground support fighters and noted in earlier posting on changes list that they can be outfitted with air-to-air fighter pods.  Will/can ground support fighters engage each other?    I noted in a subsequent post Steve had a place holder for possible CAP missions and wonder if that had been coded?   

[Steve Walmsley]

Steve, regarding the tracking speed bonus for missiles, is it additive or multiplicative? If I have a turret tracking at 16,000 km/s and a tracking bonus of 6%, will the speed to-hit modifier be 59.3% (additive, 53.3% + 6%) or 56.5% (multiplicative, 53.3% * 1.06) against a target moving at 30,000 km/s?

The tracking bonus applies to the tracking speed, not the to-hit chance.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg115708;topicseen#msg115708

I phrased that poorly. I understand that, but is it additive or multiplicative? Does the effective tracking speed become 17,800 km/s (16,000 km/s + 6% of 30,000 km/s) or 16,960 km/s (16,000 km/s * 1.06) against a 30,000 km/s target?

If the tracking speed is 16,000 with 6% bonus, it will be 16,960 km/s.

[Steve Walmsley]

Just out of curiosity, are there going to be any changes to commercial engines? I couldn't find any information on the changes list about it, but considering that the starting tech engine max size is 25 HS and the min engine power modifier is 0. 5x: Does this mean there is a single commercial engine type available for research at the start or has the min engine size been modified/removed?

If you don't research larger engines, then you will only be able to create a 25 HS commercial engine.

[Father Tim]

Is there a quick way -- on the galactic map or a separate window --  to highlight all the {insert empire here} colonies that my empire knows about?  Is there a "Show me the Martians" button or setting or summary window?

[Desdinova]

Yeah, it be a good idea to add NPR colonies to the intel window. It's relatively easy to lose track of something like a precursor listening post, and you might never find it again.

[Steve Walmsley]

Yeah, it be a good idea to add NPR colonies to the intel window. It's relatively easy to lose track of something like a precursor listening post, and you might never find it again.

Alien populations are already on the intel window.