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Posted by: GrandNord
« on: January 09, 2025, 03:44:23 PM »

I just discovered a 6th star swarm 60 years into my current game ...
Three of them are between 3 and 5 systems from sol. I've had to beat quite a few FAC fleets already, though right now they're more or less staying put.

I've been able to defend against their fighters for some time but I still haven't managed to kill a single broodmother (I did manage to hurt a 130 000t one pretty good though). Recently destroyed two cruisers from one of them also, so this is nice at least.

I'm rolling out my next generation of carriers though so hopefully things should change, but I've been pretty limited in my expansion. I've been able to get only 4 systems away from Sol in one direction out of four. I shouldn't run out of minerals for 100-200 years at least so there is that.
Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: January 06, 2025, 12:51:52 PM »

It is unusual but not possible. I have never encountered a shared planet in my games, for example, but several people have posted about such a thing over the years. In any case, you are correct that it is best to watch from a safe distance.
Posted by: Bezz
« on: January 05, 2025, 03:41:12 PM »

Interesting, thanks Ragnarsson, so not unusual to share a planet, slightly surprising though.
As it happens, 1 race established communications - and told me to get out. As I saw  they now had over 400 ships I did or rather tried. The other race, also with in excess of 300 ships opened fire. They have speed 65,000 missiles and lots of rail guns. They took out my grav and geo survey ships and my sensor mine on the jump point but not (yet) the sensors on the lagrange point and the unexplored jump point which are near the home world. A system to watch from a safe distance I think.
Posted by: Ragnarsson
« on: January 05, 2025, 02:46:53 PM »

Three years in and I find a system 2 jumps from Sol. In the system are two NPRs on the same planet. Each population seems to be huge and each race has around 100 ships each in the system, thats 200 plus ships in system. Quite a few of those ships have been observed travelling at more than 10,000km/s. They appear to be peacefully cohabiting the same system and planet and no sign of any aggression towards me either. Anyone else come across what appears to be two alien home worlds on the same planet or is this unusual? Hoping they remain peaceful as it will be interesting to see how it develops.
I've had that happen in my games several times, though it's not terribly common. Those two races may be peacefully co-existing for the moment, but I would expect some rather violent fireworks between them fairly quickly. NPR's don't take a heavy military presence in what they consider to be "their" system kindly - and they'll both consider it to be theirs.
Posted by: Bezz
« on: January 05, 2025, 01:12:49 PM »

Three years in and I find a system 2 jumps from Sol. In the system are two NPRs on the same planet. Each population seems to be huge and each race has around 100 ships each in the system, thats 200 plus ships in system. Quite a few of those ships have been observed travelling at more than 10,000km/s. They appear to be peacefully cohabiting the same system and planet and no sign of any aggression towards me either. Anyone else come across what appears to be two alien home worlds on the same planet or is this unusual? Hoping they remain peaceful as it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Posted by: db48x
« on: December 10, 2024, 10:46:31 AM »

I decided it was too much effort messing around with the Explorers :)

What was causing the extra effort, specifically? Is there no way to improve the UI to reduce the amount of effort? They were a really cool idea, though I doubt you would ever have a second shipyard that big.
Posted by: Steve Walmsley
« on: December 08, 2024, 06:17:38 AM »

IIRC, one of the primary missions of the B5 Explorer ships was to build jump gates in remote areas.  Perhaps a gate stabilization module?

In the post above, I mentioned I considered it. Even added one to the design a couple of times and then removed it.

BTW, once I started playing for a while, I decided it was too much effort messing around with the Explorers :)  I went back to my post-setup DB backup, used Regen JP and Regen Minerals and then replaced the explorers with a dozen 12,500-ton survey cruisers and four maintenance bases. Now I'm playing the restarted campaign.
Posted by: Kurt
« on: December 07, 2024, 04:33:28 PM »

I've just finished designing a ship for my new Babylon 5 campaign, inspired by the Explorer class. It is intended as a very long duration survey vessel that can operate far from home. It can harvest its own fuel and support a strikegroup of up to 40,000 tons, including 32,000 military tons. As well as six 4000-ton jump-capable survey ships, it carriers an 8000-ton light troop transport, a 1000-ton AEW craft to overcome the limitations of commercial sensors, twenty energy-armed fighters, two recon shuttles that can launch drones, 60+ drones and buoys in storage and 30,000 tons of various ground force formations. I did consider adding a stabilisation module but decided that was a step too far.

I'm not sure how efficient it will be, but it was fun to design :)

Magellan class Explorer      500,000 tons       3,739 Crew       14,022.4 BP       TCS 10,000    TH 16,000    EM 0
1600 km/s    JR 3-50(C)      Armour 1-561       Shields 0-0       HTK 866      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 1-0      PPV 0
MSP 25,017    Max Repair 1,250 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 40,000 tons     Troop Capacity 30,000 tons     Magazine 400 / 0    Tractor Beam     
Captain    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Flight Crew Berths 800   
Fuel Harvester: 25 modules producing 1,000,000 litres per annum
Maintenance Modules: 20 module(s) capable of supporting ships of 32,000 tons

Orpheus-5000C Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 500000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3

Beigie-Bryant-400C Particle Thrust Engine  (40)    Power 16000    Fuel Use 2.24%    Signature 400    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 8,179,000 Litres    Range 131.4 billion km (950 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour     Complete Refuel 163 hours

Theia Sensor Buoy (46)    Speed: 0 km/s    End: 0m     Range: 0m km    WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 0 / 0 / 0
Argus Sensor Drone (20)    Speed: 4,000 km/s    End: 6.3d     Range: 2,173.5m km    WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 400 / 800 / 1,600

Oracle-30N Active Sensor (1)     GPS 1920     Range 31.5m km    Resolution 120
EM-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
TH-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

Strike Group / Ground Forces
2x Kestrel Shuttle   Speed: 3200 km/s    Size: 10
20x SF-1A Starfury Fighter   Speed: 10001 km/s    Size: 6
1x Charon Light Troop Transport   Speed: 1000 km/s    Size: 160
6x Icarus Survey Ship   Speed: 1750 km/s    Size: 80
1x Delphi Early Warning Craft   Speed: 4000 km/s    Size: 20
1x Engineer Battalion
2x Geosurvey Detachment
1x Marine Battalion
2x Xenoarchaeology Detachment

Icarus class Survey Ship      4,000 tons       109 Crew       870.2 BP       TCS 80    TH 140    EM 0
1750 km/s    JR 3-50      Armour 1-22       Shields 0-0       HTK 28      Sensors 8/8/3/3      DCR 2-5      PPV 0
Maint Life 3.43 Years     MSP 271    AFR 64%    IFR 0.9%    1YR 35    5YR 526    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Morale Check Required   

Orpheus-40M Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3

Beigie-Bryant-140E Particle Thrust Engine (1)    Power 140    Fuel Use 20.29%    Signature 140    Explosion 7%
Fuel Capacity 419,000 Litres    Range 92.9 billion km (614 days at full power)

Oracle-30N Active Sensor (1)     GPS 1920     Range 31.5m km    Resolution 120
EM-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
TH-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

IIRC, one of the primary missions of the B5 Explorer ships was to build jump gates in remote areas.  Perhaps a gate stabilization module?
Posted by: paolot
« on: December 06, 2024, 05:02:24 PM »

Quote
I've just finished designing a ship for my new Babylon 5 campaign, inspired by the Explorer class. ...

A moving station!!
Considering the heap of things that it stores, its crew is rather small, and the speed still acceptable for its mass.
A bit more of armour?
And maybe did you forget a couple of colony ships?  ;D
Posted by: Steve Walmsley
« on: December 06, 2024, 10:19:36 AM »

I've just finished designing a ship for my new Babylon 5 campaign, inspired by the Explorer class. It is intended as a very long duration survey vessel that can operate far from home. It can harvest its own fuel and support a strikegroup of up to 40,000 tons, including 32,000 military tons. As well as six 4000-ton jump-capable survey ships, it carriers an 8000-ton light troop transport, a 1000-ton AEW craft to overcome the limitations of commercial sensors, twenty energy-armed fighters, two recon shuttles that can launch drones, 60+ drones and buoys in storage and 30,000 tons of various ground force formations. I did consider adding a stabilisation module but decided that was a step too far.

I'm not sure how efficient it will be, but it was fun to design :)

Magellan class Explorer      500,000 tons       3,739 Crew       14,022.4 BP       TCS 10,000    TH 16,000    EM 0
1600 km/s    JR 3-50(C)      Armour 1-561       Shields 0-0       HTK 866      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 1-0      PPV 0
MSP 25,017    Max Repair 1,250 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 40,000 tons     Troop Capacity 30,000 tons     Magazine 400 / 0    Tractor Beam     
Captain    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Flight Crew Berths 800   
Fuel Harvester: 25 modules producing 1,000,000 litres per annum
Maintenance Modules: 20 module(s) capable of supporting ships of 32,000 tons

Orpheus-5000C Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 500000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3

Beigie-Bryant-400C Particle Thrust Engine  (40)    Power 16000    Fuel Use 2.24%    Signature 400    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 8,179,000 Litres    Range 131.4 billion km (950 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 50,000 litres per hour     Complete Refuel 163 hours

Theia Sensor Buoy (46)    Speed: 0 km/s    End: 0m     Range: 0m km    WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 0 / 0 / 0
Argus Sensor Drone (20)    Speed: 4,000 km/s    End: 6.3d     Range: 2,173.5m km    WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 400 / 800 / 1,600

Oracle-30N Active Sensor (1)     GPS 1920     Range 31.5m km    Resolution 120
EM-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
TH-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

Strike Group / Ground Forces
2x Kestrel Shuttle   Speed: 3200 km/s    Size: 10
20x SF-1A Starfury Fighter   Speed: 10001 km/s    Size: 6
1x Charon Light Troop Transport   Speed: 1000 km/s    Size: 160
6x Icarus Survey Ship   Speed: 1750 km/s    Size: 80
1x Delphi Early Warning Craft   Speed: 4000 km/s    Size: 20
1x Engineer Battalion
2x Geosurvey Detachment
1x Marine Battalion
2x Xenoarchaeology Detachment

Icarus class Survey Ship      4,000 tons       109 Crew       870.2 BP       TCS 80    TH 140    EM 0
1750 km/s    JR 3-50      Armour 1-22       Shields 0-0       HTK 28      Sensors 8/8/3/3      DCR 2-5      PPV 0
Maint Life 3.43 Years     MSP 271    AFR 64%    IFR 0.9%    1YR 35    5YR 526    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Morale Check Required   

Orpheus-40M Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3

Beigie-Bryant-140E Particle Thrust Engine (1)    Power 140    Fuel Use 20.29%    Signature 140    Explosion 7%
Fuel Capacity 419,000 Litres    Range 92.9 billion km (614 days at full power)

Oracle-30N Active Sensor (1)     GPS 1920     Range 31.5m km    Resolution 120
EM-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
TH-8 Passive Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour
Posted by: GrandNord
« on: December 02, 2024, 05:16:37 PM »

The United Terran Federation Navy just succesfully concluded operation Roadblock, aimed at Conquering a Rakha held planet and opening up the Altair system for survey (because I absolutely did NOT feel like manually telling my survey ships what to do not to get blasted by STOs).

The operation involved Task Group 12-3, of the 1st Fleet, the 3rd Troop Transport fleet and the 2nd Marines Division.

Task Group 12-3, expressely formed from reserve units and taken from other task forces for this mission :
- 1 Mogami class CG, 24 740t (hybrid anti-fighter/anti-ship missile cruiser)
- 4 Pelagian class CA, 23 400t (laser heavy cruisers)
- 8 Sevastopol class CL, 15 700t (laser anti-fighter/anti-ship cruisers)
- 1 St Nazaire class CV-AUX, 13 600t (small support carrier for scouts, rescue boats, jump scout pods, anti-stealth boats, etc)
- 1 Red Cloud class SF, 7400t (Scout Frigate with buoy, probe and missile launching capabilities)
- 2 tankers

3rd Troop transport fleet and escorts:
- 6 Troop Transports, totaling 300 000t of transport capacity (not drop capable)
- 1 Perseus class CVL, 29 900t (fighter support)
- 1 Mogami class CG
- 2 Oregon class DDG, 11 800t (anti-ship missile destroyer)
- 1 Red Cloud class SF
- 1 tanker

Task Force 12-3 was to arrive a few days before the Troop transports, laying siege to Altair II to destroy the STOs down on the ground and allow the Transport to unload the Marines division.

This task was carried out excellently by every man involved and Altair II's defenses were reduced to rubble with only minimal armor damage within a few hours.
Once the orbital space was secured, the 2nd Marines Division was put to work. Ensued 6 months of gruelling combat against an entrenched enemy. Losses were mounting, as power armored marine after power armored marine fell in combat.
The enemy forces subissed losses too, but every dead enemy warrior or tank required more than one dead human. However, thanks to the heroism of the men of the 2nd Division, the line held on until the enemy ran out of supplies and the operation became a simple, but time consumming task of mopping up the still thousand strong army left almost helpless.

After almost a year long operation, the Altair system was opened up and search could begin for galicite and vendarite deposit, which were severely lacking in the space available to the Federation (I am boxed in by two star swarms, my options are pretty limited)
Posted by: nakorkren
« on: December 01, 2024, 07:33:02 PM »

While waiting for the next release (TM), I started my 2nd ever multi-player-race and my 1st ever with both player races starting on Earth. I was lazy and just called them "Western Civilization" and "Eastern Civilization" because I'm not ready to invest a ton of world building into a pre 2.6.0 game that I'm not sure will have legs. I'm mostly just interested in getting a feel for how the game plays when you share a home world/system.

Both civs are just starting out surveying and the Westies just discovered that Mars has 2.8M Acc 0.9 Neutronium, 1.5M Acc 0.7 Trit, .8 Acc 0.4 Vendarite, and 11M Acc 0.9 Corundium. Boys and girls, hold on to your hats because there's about to be a good old fashion gold rush!

Also, I'll have to see how I decide to play out the diplomacy side of things. I was planning on a house rule that "We don't fight on Earth anymore, since then everyone loses", but I'm not sure how/whether that's going to extend to Mars or other planets inside the solar system.
Posted by: Kiero
« on: December 01, 2024, 11:49:35 AM »

I do not know what happened.
But on that day a new medal was created.

Dishonorable Discharge

Posted by: nuclearslurpee
« on: December 01, 2024, 10:58:01 AM »

Another cool RP moments:



Unsuccessful coup attempt?

Unsanctioned underground boxing club gone a wee bit overboard.
Posted by: Kurt
« on: December 01, 2024, 09:32:28 AM »

Another cool RP moments:



Plotters attempting to overthrow the government eliminating unreliable officers.