Twelve Colonies Comments Thread

[nuclearslurpee]

All the major warships have res-1 sensors, as do all the small craft and fighter designs. The Skywatch stations are for monitoring transits, although I agree adding a small res-1 sensor is a good idea.

In the class description for the Skywatch stations, I noted that the BRG component was still listed in the C&C line, so probably you can swap that for a RES-1 sensor in future iterations to keep about the same size.

[Warer]

ALL HAIL THE FIGHTER MAFIA! Praise be to Squadrons and other QoL changes!
XD Now I just need to name a character and or craft Pierre Sprey for the lulz in a campaign when 2.0 comes out.

Good luck with the campaign, fighters guide your way to gloriously microlicous victory.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

A few things worth noting in this campaign.

1) I am using the limited research admin option - based on nuclearslurpees house rule - and it works really well. You really appreciate the individual scientists, even the 2nd or 3rd best in each field, and a 20% 5 lab scientist is valuable. You also start to appreciate the 'lesser' techs, as you are researching far more techs simultaneously. While overall research is reduced to some extent (due to the greater use of lower % scientists), the 'main' techs, such as propulsion, proceed much more slowly, giving the campaign a more long-term feel.

2) Large hybrid carriers. I finally have got a good Battlestar Galactica campaign running and the most apparent impact vs a 'normal' campaign is how much you value the individual ships when you have so few of them. I started with six 'warship' Battlestars and four 'survey' Battlestars. That has now grown to ten and eight. When you only have ten major warships, you really care about each one, which adds to the overall roleplay of the campaign.

3) Squadrons. Managing large strikegroups is so much easier with the squadron options. I've been doing some tweaks in the UI, especially around detachment and movement orders, but it is really working well now.

[Sebmono]

2) Large hybrid carriers. I finally have got a good Battlestar Galactica campaign running and the most apparent impact vs a 'normal' campaign is how much you value the individual ships when you have so few of them. I started with six 'warship' Battlestars and four 'survey' Battlestars. That has now grown to ten and eight. When you only have ten major warships, you really care about each one, which adds to the overall roleplay of the campaign.

This is awesome to hear! How are you finding the RP trickling down to the fighter pilot/officer level? I've always been disappointed in that part of my carrier-fighter based campaigns due to the minimal and random survivability of fighters and found myself wishing that officers with high right combat skills also had improved survivability so I could have at least a few "aces" in my squadrons that both had some kills and also were harder to shoot down, maybe through some element of the skill reducing hit % against them

[Bremen]

2) Large hybrid carriers. I finally have got a good Battlestar Galactica campaign running and the most apparent impact vs a 'normal' campaign is how much you value the individual ships when you have so few of them. I started with six 'warship' Battlestars and four 'survey' Battlestars. That has now grown to ten and eight. When you only have ten major warships, you really care about each one, which adds to the overall roleplay of the campaign.

This makes me wonder, and I apologize since I know this is like the 100th "it would be nice if it was a toggle box in game setup" suggestion and I understand not wanting to go overboard with those, but if it would be interesting to have a toggle box for "Self only jump drives." As I see it the main reason not to use a smaller number of big ships is the need for enormous jump drives on each of them, and if every ship needed its own jump drive I feel like that would go a long way towards making for fewer, more impactful ships instead of large fleets. Or maybe just the option to design self only jump drives that were half the size of a normal drive, so that it was still less efficient than a squadron jump ship but not by such a huge degree.

The first option might also, thinking back to the recent fighters thread, be an interesting way to buff fighters without giving them a specific mechanical advantage - if every ship normally needs a jump engine, then fighters would have a relative advantage in not needing to haul their jump drive along with them into combat.

Edit: Giving it 5 minutes thought I realized it would actually be a fairly major change if it changed NPR design, so maybe not.

[nuclearslurpee]

Or maybe just the option to design self only jump drives that were half the size of a normal drive, so that it was still less efficient than a squadron jump ship but not by such a huge degree.

If you're okay with not forcing everyone else to use jump drives on every ship, in other words you're okay with enforcing a house rule for the player race(s) only, you can cut the size of jump drives by modifying the jump drive efficiency techs in the DB - FCT_TechSystem table, TechTypeID=8, and then double (or triple, etc.) the values in the AdditionalInfo column. Again, this won't force self-jump only (you'll have to house-rule this) but you can use it to role-play without screwing up the tech progression as much as if you SMed to efficiency 12 or 15, and the small buff to NPRs is not a bad thing given the many, many struggles NPRs face in the Aurora universe.

Standard disclaimer RE: bug reporting applies, of course.

[Icekiller]

1) I am using the limited research admin option - based on nuclearslurpees house rule - and it works really well. You really appreciate the individual scientists, even the 2nd or 3rd best in each field, and a 20% 5 lab scientist is valuable. You also start to appreciate the 'lesser' techs, as you are researching far more techs simultaneously. While overall research is reduced to some extent (due to the greater use of lower % scientists), the 'main' techs, such as propulsion, proceed much more slowly, giving the campaign a more long-term feel.

What rule is this?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

1) I am using the limited research admin option - based on nuclearslurpees house rule - and it works really well. You really appreciate the individual scientists, even the 2nd or 3rd best in each field, and a 20% 5 lab scientist is valuable. You also start to appreciate the 'lesser' techs, as you are researching far more techs simultaneously. While overall research is reduced to some extent (due to the greater use of lower % scientists), the 'main' techs, such as propulsion, proceed much more slowly, giving the campaign a more long-term feel.

What rule is this?

New option in v2.0
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=12523.msg158198#msg158198

[Fattymac04]

Cant wait!  seeing the squadrons and the new update in action make me want to do my babylon 5 setup even more

[unkfester]

The first Virgon class Salvager was launched on January 13th 2302. It was larger than its Commonality equivalent, with twice the salvaging capacity, although slightly slower. The immediate problem was a lack of freighters, 

I put Cargo space on mine, I didn'tknow you could use freighters.

[TallTroll]

You need cargo space in the same location. That can be freighters or cargo bays on the salvage ship, with each having its own pros and cons

[Migi]

The advantage of in-built capacity is that you can't forget to send a freighter with it.

[nakorkren]

Steve, despite how disastrously my first foray into fighters went (in 1.13), your fiction makes me strongly consider giving it another go. You are a terrible influence!

[Migi]

The Stave are keeping quiet, I wonder if they found a new expansion route or if they are just building up for a big push.

It might be a nice improvement to make NPR's re-examine their fleet orders whenever a system claim is accepted, if those orders involve travel to/through the newly claimed system. It would prevent the Battle of New Orleans.

The Cobra is an interesting design, it's too big to be built as a fighter so there's a cost in building the shipyard. Personally I'd try and make it at 900T with 2 weapons, although you need to squeeze in the larger BFC and reactor so that might not be possible. That would give you 33% more firepower per ton.
I noticed that the Cobra has fuel for ~27 hours but the deployment time is only ~21 hours.

RIP Jormungandr, lost after first contact with a Toaster.

[Drakale]

Having used long ranged fighter myself, firepower per ton is not the real limitation. Their MSP and speed is the real factor since they can do their damage over an arbitrarily long amount of time for no cost since they are intended to kite the opponent at no to little risk. You won't want to risk them in enemy effective range unless you really have no other choice. Very good for finishing off stragglers with no long range or lower tech opponents at no risk.