What's Going On In Your Empire: C# Edition

[Kiero]

In anticipation for 2.0, I started a new game. After several decades, in the third system I entered, I discovered an alien race.
Their level of technology was not much different than mine. Not very comfortable, but acceptable.

A few days later I came across another ship, but belonging to a different race. Hm... In a system with four suns, that's not impossible.

What was my surprise when I discovered the third race in this system?

Do you think that's the end of this?

Well, two of those three races lived on the same planet!!!

Aurora always has a surprise for me when I play.

[smoelf]

We are well on the way to refitting the entire fleet of attack craft, even before they have seen a single day of battle. This means 25 2000t Prowlers and 75 1000t Condors. While not ideal, the tech gained from exploring and excavating a nearby abandoned colony of some ancient, alien race has resulted in numerous major breakthroughs that were not anticipated in the planning of the fleet. This does delay the expected forays into nearby systems to secure them from hostiles and enable further exploration, but they will be the better equipped for it. Some of the findings we do not quite understand yet, but give it time. The admirality also looks with anticipation on the first prototypes of cloaking devices. They need more research to find their place in the fleet, but hopefully they will be ready after the first few missions of the main fleet.

[Kashada]

I'm about 140 years into my high pop and high earth minerals game.

Following the unification of Earth under the flag of the Terran Alliance a number of simulations (past games) were run exploring the possible paths of development following the discovery of trans-Newtonian elements. The results of which showed that early expansion into space was unnecessary which Earth having just large reserves of the new elements and expanding without a solid technological base would cause problems down the line.

As such the first 60 years after the discovery were dominated by an "Earth First" policy, the goal of which was to drastically increase the industrial capacity of the planet resulting in a much higher quality of life for all. While the population of Earth climbed ever closer to the maximum sustainable limit the Terran Alliance government quietly grow the orbital construction capacity against future needs while carrying out extensive research projects designing a standard set of components for every ship system in a number of sizes, in addition to designing a full set of ships to meet every need.

This first 60 years saw not a single ship launched into space however as space on Earth started to dwindle public interest in exploring space increased. At this point the Terran alliance opened the flood gates by triggering it's "Sol Second" policy that called for the massive shipyards to begin construction of ships ranging from personnel shuttles to entire carrier groups. First of the line were a small fleet of highly capable survey cruiser which made short work of exploring the Sol system.

An intact alien city was found on Mars and a second ruined city found on Mercury, while these ruins were explored they remained off limits to the public forcing colonization to focus on luna, Ganymede and Europa. Government mining operation spread to 30 bodies across the system, although there need was minimal due to Earths reserves. Mankind's largest engineering project was completed with the successful construction of 5 terraforming stations each around 2.5m tons which quickly transformed Mars, Mercury, luna, Ganymede and Europa into perfect Earth like worlds.

Following the exploration of both ruins and the Terraforming of the best worlds for Mankind attention was turned to the specialization of each world.

Earth - Construction and shipbuilding capital
Mars - Research World
Mercury - Ground Forces training World
Luna - Financial World
Ganymede - Ordnance production World
Europa - Small craft/fight production world

Meanwhile the small fleet of Survey Cruisers explored 20 systems on the other side of Sol's only jump point, finding the galaxy much more favorable to human colonization than expected with atleast 30 bodies found with a colony cost of 2.0 or less which the Terran Alliance had already shown to be terraformable. Due to the presence of two ruins in the Sol system of which one had been clearly been destroyed from orbit every system that contained a planet science considered even remotely habitable had an active probe launched at it from extreme range to ensure any first contact situation would be conducted at a distance. This exploration doctrine resulted in much slower exploration but seemed to be validated when in the Gathalon system 5 jumps from Sol 2 functioning space stations of alien design were discovered.

A diplomatic mission was sent to make contact however these aliens refused to establish communications in any form. Over the 20 years of attempted contact the population of the Terran Alliance began to refer to the enigmatic aliens as "Precursors" mainly due to the apparent age of the stations. The diplomatic and later surveillance ships never closed to within 10m KM of the alien world and the alien stations made no aggressive moves after shooting down the original probe launched at their world. As such the Terran Alliance moved on with it's life cycling diplomatic and later surveillance ships as needed incase the aliens decided to make contact and having their escorts remain outside the system at the point point incase needed.

The enigma of the Precursors only grew when 20 years after first contact, active probes found identical alien stations in orbit of another world called Tarantis also 5 jumps from Earth in the complete opposite direction. In addition to the previous discovered station a new station design and multiple frigate sized ships (7-10k ton) were found in this new system. The presence of ships excited the Terran Alliance as the possibility of actual communication was deemed higher in this new system, as such a new diplomatic mission was launched. This new fleet would be escorted into the system with a number of PD Patrol Cruisers with the hope the aliens would be less threatened by the relatively slow purely defensive ships while not leaving the diplomates defenseless, ASM equipped Patrol Cruisers would remain just outside the system incase required.

The traditionally unresponsive Precursors displayed a strong but equally enigmatic to the presence of the diplomatic mission. Passive sensors detected all 7 Precursors frigates charging at the fleet, they refused all attempts to communicate and would not break off their rapid advance. Their max speed was shown to be around 20% higher than that of the ships in the Terran Alliance combat fleets and as such was around 5 times faster than that of the patrol ships.

The decision was made for the escorts to continue on towards the Precursors fleet while the diplomatic burned for the jump point and the surveillance ship would burn for the black before cutting engines to rely on stealth while the ASM Cruisers would jump in to provide cover. Just before the Precursors frigates would enter active sensor ranges their signal completely disappeared without warning, all ships except the surveillance ship (which remained to gather intel) successfully evacuated the system with no shoots fired. Naval command is still unsure how the frigates disappeared like that as it is believed even with stealth systems they should have been visible at that range.

The Terran Alliance has decided this was an attempt by the Precursors to communicate Human presence in their systems is no longer welcome and any future systems found to have a Precursor presence will be avoided.



 

[smoelf]

Colonization of Ciutric is finally underway, decades after finishing the construction of a jump gate. The encounter of hostile forces in neighboring systems put colonization efforts to a halt as it was a little too close for comfort. However, since the successful second foray into Lankashiir with a new generation of attack crafts, the mobile hostile ships has been dealt with and it seems safe for the time being to start shipping the infrastructure. This will provide a much needed boost in corundium for our mining efforts.

Meanwhile, the fleet has undergone a much needed, complete overhaul. Recent breakthroughs in propulsion technology has paved the way for a new generation of engines.

Diplomatic endeavours with the Tarsis Empire is progressing at a steady pace. Diplomatic ships from each side have met at the Dorin-Pakuuni jumppoint and a temporary neutral ground has been established until embassies can be set up. We are considering expanding the network of jumpgates to meet the Tarsis efforts and allow for trade access. However, this will require the thorough elimination of the Palanhi aliens. Hostile from the beginning, they repelled our first efforts to subdue them, but once we have finished training the new set of elite raiders, designed specifically to fight in the cold, desert landscape of Palanhi-A III, we will set out once again. This time we even have the aid of the mighty Frost Wyrms, captured on our own poles and tamed for battle. This will be a spectacle for a generation.

[Garfunkel]

Trying a new layout for galaxy map this time. As you can see, Terran Confederation has not ventured outside of Sol yet, except for survey operations. I thought this would make jump paths easier to see, with them on the "same" level but it is getting really crowded. I'll probably have to go back to the usual spiderweb style.



Sol itself is a pretty busy place even with civilians hidden! There's a big mining operation strip-mining Oumuamua bare and Jupiter is providing fuel. Cloud City floating just above Venus is a prime tourist spot. Jump Stations monitor the outgoing JPs while construction ships are stabilizing inter-system jump points to make the outer system more accessible. Jupiter and Saturnus already have their LPs, and Uranus and Neptune will soon have theirs. It will take a couple of year before Venus and Earth get theirs.



With a new generation of engines on the horizon, the TCN will soon have to go through a series of upgrades. I'm also trying a new method of organizing the navy, using class-specific divisions and then, as needed, swapping ships from these to the two Task Groups for detachment if necessary. Otherwise, the Task Force of course operates as a single entity.



Colonization of Sol is about to enter its final phase with Titan being terraformed. With humans living on Mars and in the clouds of Venus, plus large colonies on the moons Luna, Europa, Io, Ganymede and Callisto, the large moon of Saturn will be the last body to be terraformed in Sol. The first target for extra-Solar expansion has been identified as Barnard's Star system with two planets and four moons as promising candidates. This operation will start once Titan colony is up and running and the Terran Confederation Navy is confident of being able to defend the colonists.



This is my "time-waster" campaign while waiting for 2.0 as I don't want to make the situation in my Aurora 1890 campaign any more complicated as I will have to manually recreate it in Aurora 2.0 once that comes out.

[nuclearslurpee]

Trying a new layout for galaxy map this time. As you can see, Terran Confederation has not ventured outside of Sol yet, except for survey operations. I thought this would make jump paths easier to see, with them on the "same" level but it is getting really crowded. I'll probably have to go back to the usual spiderweb style.

A very visually interesting approach, though sadly like you say I don't think it would be viable for much longer. Even leaving aside that the galactic map tends to expand as 2^N as you get N jumps from Sol, at some point you're going to have to deal with things like a closed warp point from 116 Herculis to 61 Hydrae, or some such.

I've always rather liked how Steve's maps turn out, somehow he has a nice balance of the default map placement settings and just enough human adjustment as new loops and nexus systems are discovered.

This is my "time-waster" campaign while waiting for 2.0 as I don't want to make the situation in my Aurora 1890 campaign any more complicated as I will have to manually recreate it in Aurora 2.0 once that comes out.

Since you're still in one system that's probably reasonable, but personally my plan for Duranium Legion is to keep it in 1.12 - updates are slow but I do intend to keep it updated even if/when I start a 2.0 AAR.

[Garfunkel]

And not just one system but the fact the only colonies are extremely small and on Luna, with very small fleets and ground forces. That makes it doable, even if it's still going to be a PITA. No way would I ever try to recreate an ongoing campaign with multiple systems active.

[ExChairman]

Found a system with multiple planets for relative easy terraforming, in total some 350+ billions can inhabit that system... Our Empire total population is less than 22 billions now...
And a ruin...
And lots of raw materials...
Just need to build infrastructures to that system, train troops and build weapons to safeguard any population...

[skoormit]

Trying a new layout for galaxy map this time....

A galactic tree map! I love it.

Bonus points if you keep the entire thing sorted by system name.

[Viridia]

I started playing C# in earnest a few months ago after upgrading to a bigger monitor and finally had my first hostile contact. One of the planets I was surveying was home to a large force of Rakhas.

I knew I was going in with a smaller force, but with all the orbital bombardment support upstairs from two assault ships and two destroyers, plus a preliminary bombardment of 120 missiles, I thought I had it handled. Boy was I wrong.

[skoormit]

I started playing C# in earnest a few months ago after upgrading to a bigger monitor and finally had my first hostile contact. One of the planets I was surveying was home to a large force of Rakhas.

I knew I was going in with a smaller force, but with all the orbital bombardment support upstairs from two assault ships and two destroyers, plus a preliminary bombardment of 120 missiles, I thought I had it handled. Boy was I wrong.

Welcome to the Show, kid.

[nuclearslurpee]

I knew I was going in with a smaller force, but with all the orbital bombardment support upstairs from two assault ships and two destroyers, plus a preliminary bombardment of 120 missiles, I thought I had it handled. Boy was I wrong.

Orbital bombardment really isn't effective unless you bring a large mass of fire. A large railgun-based fleet usually works pretty well once you take out any STOs.

Even then, it usually will work better as preliminary bombardment, since for ground forces support the ships only fire one per GC tick so the rate of fire is still very low and not impactful.

[ExChairman]

Oh crap! 

The menace dubbed Hive Fleet Behemoth have landed troops at our outpost on one of the moons of 67 Andromeda.

Estimations are around 25000 enemy troops, after a tense 7 minute battle of our static space defenses we managed to kill their transports and escorting ships, sadly that's some 6 minutes to late for the ground assault units that were dropped onto the moon.

The human defenses, located in a valley with high mountain walls at their flanks and back has 4 lines of static bunker defenses, in total 24 antipersonnel bunkers and 8 antitank bunkers, each line supported by a infantry battalion, in turn supported by 3 regiments of the newest infantry units, new order battalions and some tanks, in total some 25000 infantry, a 20 tanks and several 100 IFVs, after a tense 5 hour wait, they came running over the the open terrain in front of the human defenders, they opened up with everything they got 1st throe 3rd line were more or less overrun, by the enemy swarming foot soldiers, then suddenly from underground and from above other units started to appear inside the human defenses, killing wherever they could...

In the first hour of fighting we seems to have lost some 5000 defenders, a few of the bunkers seems to have been destroyed or at least silenced, then they pulled back, strangely enough they seems to attack our IFVs, most of them are in a supply units, and are supposed to resupply the units in the frontlines, almost 120 have been killed, now some 90 remains...

Giving us the opportunity to reorganize and search for wounded, there were few, very few wounded humans, most were hacked or torn to pieces...

There were few, almost none of the enemy dead's at the battle site, perhaps 50 bodies, many riddles with wounds that would have killed a human 10 or 20 times over...

Now we wait for the next attack

[ExChairman]

4 more waves hit us and our defenses are falling apart, falling back towards the main base and its space cannons, no one is giving commands, it seems that General Markson have been killed with all his staff, but suddenly the a voice is heard over the com net!

"This is General Fortunato Tirado to all surviving units, fall back to main base perimeter, we will try and use our remaining space guns  to target the enemy units with, we need clear lines of fire!"

Less than 6000 men and women's are alive at this point... 

Nothing works the enemy is killing our troops, when a new voice is heard over the com net, the troop transport TFN Dufilho has returned over the planet, its empty after leaving several small colony defense cannons on the planet 24 hours earlier.

"To all Terran soldiers defend the spaceport, we are landing our shuttles, only troops are being lifted of this planet, when embarking leave your weapons and ammunition to the defenders, we will try and get you all off this hell hole!"

After several landings, there is no more to do, in the last wave everything is loaded, survivors, equipment and ammunition, the last part is dropped on the still fighting bunkers, a few preciously defender is buying time for the rest to get away. Several shuttles are lost to enemy flak's but at 10 minutes past eight in the evening, 2225 they leave orbit, with less than 1600 demoralized survivors, in less than 30 hours this proud army has been totally routed.

Enemy losses have been estimated to less than 500 of all types, their Swarm warriors, had a thick carapace that gave them an standard armor value of 180...

[StarshipCactus]

Enemy losses have been estimated to less than 500 of all types, their Swarm warriors, had a thick carapace that gave them an standard armor value of 180...

It sounds like a dedicated AT Battalion is required. Either that or a serious tech up.