Suggestions Thread for v2.0

[Kiero]

Drones (no crew), with an associated tech that can incise their size.

[Gabrote42]

Drones (no crew), with an associated tech that can incise their size.

Sadly, more than 10 messages like this one exist:

It is a very flavorful idea, but the concept has come up many times and the general sense is that Steve does not want to remove the need to man ships with a crew as a resource that is managed and balanced by current mechanics. Adding robotic/drone crews basically bypasses several mechanics which isn't really a design pattern that works well for Aurora.

While I would love the inclusion, I don't think it's going to happen.

[Jorgen_CAB]

Drones (no crew), with an associated tech that can incise their size.

Sadly, more than 10 messages like this one exist:

It is a very flavorful idea, but the concept has come up many times and the general sense is that Steve does not want to remove the need to man ships with a crew as a resource that is managed and balanced by current mechanics. Adding robotic/drone crews basically bypasses several mechanics which isn't really a design pattern that works well for Aurora.

While I would love the inclusion, I don't think it's going to happen.

While I agree it does not fit well within the design philosophy of the game mechanics I could see a reason to include it at least for fighter craft sized ships... this would be great for RP reasons in my opinion. Of course you can't use officers for such crafts either so it will mostly be useful for scout crafts. But I could see swarms of beam armed fighter crafts as drones being a thing from a RP standpoint.

Some sort of crew reduction technology could be interesting though... you don't have to make this into a 100% crew reduction so full automation. If this was included we could start with say twice the current crew requirements and then some techology that reduce the needed crew to about from 100% down to about 20% from that high... or something.

I also always argued that bigger ships should need less crew in general... so there should be some mechanic that reduce the crew requirement based on the amount of crew that all the components of a ship require. larger crews will be able to better cross train in different fields or work in rotational schedueles and so on. It probably should be based on an S curve formula.

[KriegsMeister]

We already have warheadless missiles that are capable of doing everything we would want drones to do and are often times RP'd as such. The only problem with them is they are not recoverable. Would it be oh so terrible to have drones be built using the current missile designer, but controlled like a ship. Possibly with a new Drone bay module that works pretty much like a magazine/hangar hybrid. Maybe as a balancing feature have a new FC tech line called Drone Director that limits how far away the drones can be operated from their mothership

[Froggiest1982]

Detaching a fleet to retain the Standing orders.

In this way, we could just set up the first GEO or GRV ship and then just split without multiple clicks. It can be used also in many other instances.

[Vandermeer]

Detaching a fleet to retain the Standing orders.

In this way, we could just set up the first GEO or GRV ship and then just split without multiple clicks. It can be used also in many other instances.

In VB Aurora we used to be able to copy conditional orders by simply starting all survey parasites as one fleet, setting orders there, and then hit a "split fleet" button which would turn them into individual ships, but retain all conditional orders.
So bringing back either split fleet would solve this problem the same way as copying conditionals from the mothership would, and make survey carriers viable once more.

[papent]

Detaching a fleet to retain the Standing orders.

In this way, we could just set up the first GEO or GRV ship and then just split without multiple clicks. It can be used also in many other instances.

In VB Aurora we used to be able to copy conditional orders by simply starting all survey parasites as one fleet, setting orders there, and then hit a "split fleet" button which would turn them into individual ships, but retain all conditional orders.
So bringing back either split fleet would solve this problem the same way as copying conditionals from the mothership would, and make survey carriers viable once more.

It still possible to do so by using the Divide Fleet into Single Ships order, The fleet will split into individual ship fleets and retain the conditional and standing orders.

That's how I set up my Survey ships and Auto Colony Ships.

[Vandermeer]

In VB Aurora we used to be able to copy conditional orders by simply starting all survey parasites as one fleet, setting orders there, and then hit a "split fleet" button which would turn them into individual ships, but retain all conditional orders.
So bringing back either split fleet would solve this problem the same way as copying conditionals from the mothership would, and make survey carriers viable once more.

It still possible to do so by using the Divide Fleet into Single Ships order, The fleet will split into individual ship fleets and retain the conditional and standing orders.

That's how I set up my Survey ships and Auto Colony Ships.

Ahh, so it is an order now, good to know.

Old VB was also able to copy orders down from the lead ship of the parasites to the rest, so re-docking survey ships was just as easy as spreading them. There is already a "land on assigned mothership" conditional order, but it is lacking a trigger of the kind "no standing orders left to do" to make it work here. If that could come however, it would be an even superior solution to the VB setting, since it would run completely without clicks.

[papent]

Ahh, so it is an order now, good to know.

Old VB was also able to copy orders down from the lead ship of the parasites to the rest, so re-docking survey ships was just as easy as spreading them. There is already a "land on assigned mothership" conditional order, but it is lacking a trigger of the kind "no standing orders left to do" to make it work here. If that could come however, it would be an even superior solution to the VB setting, since it would run completely without clicks.

That would be an awesome addition to the standing orders.

Another useful order to add would be a shore leave conditional order.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

We already have warheadless missiles that are capable of doing everything we would want drones to do and are often times RP'd as such. The only problem with them is they are not recoverable. Would it be oh so terrible to have drones be built using the current missile designer, but controlled like a ship. Possibly with a new Drone bay module that works pretty much like a magazine/hangar hybrid. Maybe as a balancing feature have a new FC tech line called Drone Director that limits how far away the drones can be operated from their mothership

You could just build a tiny ship and call it a drone. I don't think there is a need for a new type of object between missile and ship.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Regarding #11, you can work around this by splitting your STO formation into smaller batteries and building them separately, then combining them once all are built. Not ideal but helps with the build time problem. Really the long-term solution should be changing ground forces training to be the same as every other factory type, you get the same total BP either way so it is not a huge change IMO.

This change is already in v2.2.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13090.msg162293#msg162293

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

2.  When a troop transport is loading troops from a planet with lots of different types, the list is very cluttered, and the "2nd Surveyor Team" comes below the "21st" through "29th Archaeology Team".  The list presentation in "GU / Stockpile" is a lot better to navigate, because the unit's short designation is prefixed.

3.  Not sure if you consider it cheating, but maybe an indicator for whether or not I should "Disassemble" a looted alien part.  Perhaps an indicator for parts which I've already disassembled and learned nothing.

15.  Currently the ordering of the "History" tab of a task group shows the earliest dates first, and I have to scroll down to the newest dates.  Because my main usage of this tab is a reminder of what these ships are up to, it would save clicks if this ordering was reversed so the most recent dates are on top.

Added the following

• On the Naval Organization, the list of ground units for loading will be shown with unit type abbreviation and displayed by hierarchy, then by abbreviation and then by unit name.
• On the GU/Stockpile tab of the Economics window, any components that can be disassembled to gain tech knowledge will be shown in green text.
• The Fleet History tab now shows movement in reverse order, so the latest executed orders are at the top.

[nuclearslurpee]

This change is already in v2.2.
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13090.msg162293#msg162293

I can't believe I forgot about such a groundbreaking change!!   

[Jorgen_CAB]

Some things I would like added to formation order and escorts would be that formation orders are remembered for Squadrons not just for sub-fleets. When I order recalling escorts they only join as Sub-fleets not as squadrons... they should then default to "Land on Assigned Mothership/Squadron" instead of "Join as Sub-Fleet".


You should also be able to set sub-fleets as anchor points and they would automatically default to the parent fleet when in the fleet... if a sub-fleet is detached then all currently deployed escorts would update its anchor to the newly detached sub fleet as it now is a proper fleet.


It might also be good if I was warned about scouts having low fuel or if the conditional order of low fuel could trigger and land the parasite on it's assigned mothership.

I frequently use recon scouts that is in a ships hangar.... most often I also have ships in their own sub fleets so I can name them properly if I detach them from the fleet they are in. Currently it is just easier to have them as sub fleets to the ship rather than as squadrons for that reason (or both). I also have to continually monitor their fuel levels so I can dock them with the carrier to refuel and send out another recon scout in it's place... so allot of manual labour that could be automated with just a few new tools in the toolbox.

What I really would like to have is a more robust formation and escort tool where I can assign escorts to certain areas around a fleet and then escorts would rotate in and out for refuel automatically... I could also assign say two or even more scouts to the same mission but only one will be on station at any one time. As soon as one need to head back for fuel a new one would automatically launch to cover the now empty spot.

[Rook]

Drag-and-drop Ground Units for Transport

One of the current difficulties is sorting and loading numerous combat formations on a fleet. If you want specific units on specific ships, you have to move a ship out of a formation, give them an order to load specific units, then repeat the process for each ship in the fleet. While this works, it is an extremely tedious endeavour. Unless I'm missing something.

Some examples, where the current system is good and bad.
Situation A (awesome)
You're moving a garrison brigade from point A to point B, using large troop transports. With this situation, it is rather convenient with the current system. In fleet orders, you instruct the fleet of transports to load the highest level HQ and all subordinate formations. You don't care about load times, or which subordinate formations are on which ship. Just cram on there and go when ready. You're needed to bash some heads on the unruly Colony of Yap, I don't care how you get there, just get there.

Situation B (for bad)
You have units designed for specific roles, with specific Table of Equipment needs, Chain of Command, and Order of Battle, that necessitates specific units being on ships with each other during the deployment phase. If you have a Division designed to the Battalion level, or heck, an Army Corps designed to the Regimental level, you're going to be sifting through the orders and ships for a long time, to make sure that everyone is where they need to be for the cruise and deployment phase of the operation. Don't get me started on Platoon or Company sized Fleet Marine Forces (I try to make sure all of my combat ships have some contingent of Marines onboard).


My suggestion would be to add a drag-and-drop functionality somewhere in the interface (probably the ground force section), where you can drag-and-drop units onto ships in orbit (or expected to be in orbit?). This drag-and-drop functionality could then automatically generate load orders, that, when completed, would have all units loaded onto their respective ships.

Thoughts:
The load order wouldn't be a standard load unit order, the order would automatically generate a load-time based on the number (and size?), of units being transferred, and the number of ships involved in the transfer. A generic "embarkation" order would then be submitted to the fleet(s) when they next arrive in orbit of the planet where the ground units are awaiting pickup, or immediately, if the ships are already in orbit. An additional thought, this Embarkation menu would have a "submit" button. So, you could start dragging and dropping troops, to plan the load, then press a submit button. This would then queue the embarkation order for the ships involved.

This same menu could be used to deploy ground forces for invasion. By selecting a destination, the player could select which units are going to be dropped/disembarked for combat, then submit the order. As soon as the ships are in orbit, the order is given and carried out. Allowing the player to easily plan waves for their invasion.

I know there are some issues with this suggestion. Some I probably haven't even thought, or have the experience to consider. But it's been bouncing around my head for a while and I wanted to get it out before it consumes me.

There is so much room for detail in Aurora, but sometimes there aren't tools for easy handling of the details.

Alrighty, take care.

  - Rook