Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Metalax]

You can't put shields on a PDC, and they will be stripped off if you change the class type from ship to PDC on an existing design.

At one point it was possible to put them on PDC's but they would not fuction if the body they were on possesed any atmosphere. They were removed from being allowed somewhere in the late 4.x - early 5.x version.

[RedKing]

Wonder if Steve would ever consider putting in a planetary shield generator installation? Could be like the DSTS, where it scales up with levels, but sucks up fuel like a mofo.

[LoSboccacc]

And a slow first charge time so that fuel consumption matters

[Wrex]

So, does this game have a victory condition, or is it more "Derp around in space and do things until spees mahreens kill you"?

[Bremen]

So, does this game have a victory condition, or is it more "Derp around in space and do things until spees mahreens kill you"?

I consider it, like Dwarf Fortress, to be sort of "story simulators". They don't have victory conditions, or right ways to play, but have a lot of details that let the game develop it's own sort of narrative. Which is why I think they both work so well for succession and community games.

[Shooer]

They both also have great and horrible ways for the game to end on terms of its own.  HFS for DF and spoilers for Aurora.

[Wrex]

So, I started the game, fumblingly figured out how to make mines, construction yards and the like, and now I have no idea what to do, and the tutorial dosen't help that much.

[EuchreJack]

They both also have great and horrible ways for the game to end on terms of its own.  HFS for DF and spoilers for Aurora.

And they both also have a very common and irritating ways of having the game end.  FPS decreasing to single digits in DF and 5-sec turns ad-infitium for Aurora.

[Flying Dice]

Oh no, not the five second turns. You can burn through those on autoturn or delete the problem. It's the 1-day turns that'll murder you, where things (mainly spoilers) get into endless stern chases and constantly do intercept checks.


But yeah, Aurora is first and foremost a storytelling aid. That happens to double as a xenocide simulator.

[Aboth Ber]

I consider it, like Dwarf Fortress, to be sort of "story simulators". They don't have victory conditions, or right ways to play, but have a lot of details that let the game develop it's own sort of narrative. Which is why I think they both work so well for succession and community games.

So true... You just need imagine what your objective is (or self-imposed challenge), using various scenario like:
1. Human Crusade! Annihilate all non-human lifeforms by all means. (NPR difficulty 200%)
2. Chlorocracy! Environments law says: No planetary bombardment allowed, planets are captured by ground troops.
3. No capital ships, only use fighters.
4. Jump gate everywhere, 10 random systems, 5 NPRs, Mid-Tech. Can you survive the gauntlet?
5. The Human Invader! Invade and capture alien planet intact, turn their spesies into human using Genetics Science!
6. Woe befall Earth in 2060... The Earth perish in nuclear warfare, turning the planet into giant radioactive balls. The Independent Mars Colony and Galilean Jupiter Alliance now dispute the riches of asteroid belt.
7. The year is 2025, the Earth are undergoing TN mineral crisis, the Solar Systems are TN-Mineral poor man.  Humanity must expand to other systems if they want to grow. (Only Earth had TN deposit).
8. Since the 1800s, Human already know that Mars and Venus had indigenous civilization. By pure chance of luck, the Venus, Earth. and Mars civilization archive space flight capabilities. Now, the 3 species are using the whole systems as battlefield, feuding for mineral deposits. (empire in Mars, Venus, and Earth. TN-Start. No Alliance allowed.)
9. Since time immemorial, Humans, Elf, Dwarves and Goblins share the same planet. But in the last FEROCIOUS CONFLICTS, the Goblin was exiled from The Burning Eye systems into her twin The Gloom Ray system. Now as the war over can the Dwarves of Communion of Mountains fulfill the ancient Urist Spacerunner vision of JUMP GATE and construct the legendary 10.000.000 tons MAGMASTAR? Beware the treacherous elves and opportunistic humans, and keep your eye open for the repugnant Goblins! (Non-Sol start, Binary Star. Dwarves, Human and Elves start on different planet on same star systems (the A), the goblins start at the other star systems (the B).)
10. SOLVE EVERYTHING WITH MAGMA NUCLEAR TIPPED MISSILE. MAKE YOUR OWN MISSILE THAT SHOOTING OUT MISSILES THAT SHOOTING MORE MISSILES. LET IT BURN!!!! (use only missile with second stage for everything!)
and else... use your imagination...

[Calech]

So, I started the game, fumblingly figured out how to make mines, construction yards and the like, and now I have no idea what to do, and the tutorial dosen't help that much.

From a viewpoint of pure mechanics only - at some point you'll probably want to make ships, because if you don't explore then you will eventually run out of minerals to build stuff.

Of course 'make ships' is the shorthand for...

- Design your ship systems in the design page (located somewhere along the bottom of the Research screen)
- Research the ship system you've just designed (assign it as a research project to one of your lead scientists)
- Once you have (at least) engines designed, go into the Ship Design screen
- Add components to your ship (if you have no engines you tend not to move quickly, or indeed at all)
- Retool a shipyard to the plans for your ship
- Set it to build one (or more if desired) of your new design
- Wait 0.6-1.5 years for it to finish construction

Some good first ships are:

- a geological survey vessel (allows you to survey for mineral deposits) - just add 2 (vary to taste) Geological Survey Sensors and Engines to desired speed on top of the basic 'new ship' framework - once it's built, you can assign it to a Taskgroup and set it up with the 'special order' to 'Survey Nearest Body' / 'Survey Next 5 Bodies', and it'll do its thing. (You may also want to set a conditional refuel order)
- a cargo freighter - add 5 Cargo Bays, probably about 5-7 Engines, 1-2 Cargo Handling Systems and you'll probably need an extra Crew Quarters as well (it'll tell you in the design if you lack life support for crew). If you have a valid 'commercial freighter' design, civilian shipping lines will build them as well (even if you don't!), which is important for a couple of reasons.

You may also at some point need:

- a civilian transporter/colony ship - As 'cargo freighter' above but with Cryogenic Storage Bays instead of Cargo Bays. Civilian shipping companies will build these too if you design them, so you never (normally) have to worry about moving colonists manually (unless you want to)
- a gravitational survey ship - As 'geological survey' above, except that these are always classed as Military vessels, and so are subject to Maintenance if you have that option set in the game options. These will survey the area around the system to find Jump Points which will allow you to explore new systems.
- some sort of warships - there is, in fact, life outside our solar system, and most of it is armed to the tooth-analogues with missiles and lasers and stuff. You can try a peaceful approach and attempt communication and diplomacy, but first contact usually involves communication via missile, so it's a good idea to at least have some sort of missile defence setup on your ships as well as a good few layers of armour.

--

From the viewpoint of non-mechanics based - Aurora doesn't have a 'win condition', so you may find yourself encountering various levels of DF-style fun on your journey - how you play the game from there is up to you. You could try achieving peace with all alien empires through diplomacy and tactful communication, or you could achieve peace with all alien empires through annihilating their ships, bombing their colonies from orbit and using a terraformer fleet to pump sulphur dioxide into their homeworld's atmosphere. Plus there's a few spoiler-based encounters too along the lines of DF's HFS, which can mix things up a bit.

[RedKing]

I consider it, like Dwarf Fortress, to be sort of "story simulators". They don't have victory conditions, or right ways to play, but have a lot of details that let the game develop it's own sort of narrative. Which is why I think they both work so well for succession and community games.

So true... You just need imagine what your objective is (or self-imposed challenge), using various scenario like:
1. Human Crusade! Annihilate all non-human lifeforms by all means. (NPR difficulty 200%)
2. Chlorocracy! Environments law says: No planetary bombardment allowed, planets are captured by ground troops.
3. No capital ships, only use fighters.
4. Jump gate everywhere, 10 random systems, 5 NPRs, Mid-Tech. Can you survive the gauntlet?
5. The Human Invader! Invade and capture alien planet intact, turn their spesies into human using Genetics Science!
6. Woe befall Earth in 2060... The Earth perish in nuclear warfare, turning the planet into giant radioactive balls. The Independent Mars Colony and Galilean Jupiter Alliance now dispute the riches of asteroid belt.
7. The year is 2025, the Earth are undergoing TN mineral crisis, the Solar Systems are TN-Mineral poor man.  Humanity must expand to other systems if they want to grow. (Only Earth had TN deposit).
8. Since the 1800s, Human already know that Mars and Venus had indigenous civilization. By pure chance of luck, the Venus, Earth. and Mars civilization archive space flight capabilities. Now, the 3 species are using the whole systems as battlefield, feuding for mineral deposits. (empire in Mars, Venus, and Earth. TN-Start. No Alliance allowed.)
9. Since time immemorial, Humans, Elf, Dwarves and Goblins share the same planet. But in the last FEROCIOUS CONFLICTS, the Goblin was exiled from The Burning Eye systems into her twin The Gloom Ray system. Now as the war over can the Dwarves of Communion of Mountains fulfill the ancient Urist Spacerunner vision of JUMP GATE and construct the legendary 10.000.000 tons MAGMASTAR? Beware the treacherous elves and opportunistic humans, and keep your eye open for the repugnant Goblins! (Non-Sol start, Binary Star. Dwarves, Human and Elves start on different planet on same star systems (the A), the goblins start at the other star systems (the B).)
10. SOLVE EVERYTHING WITH MAGMA NUCLEAR TIPPED MISSILE. MAKE YOUR OWN MISSILE THAT SHOOTING OUT MISSILES THAT SHOOTING MORE MISSILES. LET IT BURN!!!! (use only missile with second stage for everything!)
and else... use your imagination...

I've done #1 before (under a Belligerent Theocracy government. Stomping alien scum in the name of Jesus!)

#3 would be limiting without carriers. You could build jumpgates to solve the FTL problem but you'd either need hellaciously fuel-efficient engines, or a ton of refueling depots to have any kind of range.

I really like #8, especially if you start everybody at the bare minimum for TN. Kind of like the Space:1899 setting.

I've done a variant of #5 before: Start as an alien race with an extreme home planet (say, oxygen pressure of 0.5 atm and/or high gravity and/or very hot/cold). No terraforming or infrastructure allowed. To colonize, you either bioengineer an offshoot of your own race, or (the preferred route) find and conquer an alien race(s) and use them for your bioengineering stock. Works best if you start as methane-breathers, because I don't think the game will generate a methane-breathing NPR race. So then your races winds up colonizing the frozen snowballs in the outer parts of systems, while your tweaked slave races live in the inner systems.

If that gets boring after a while, you can always SM some of your slave races into rebellious factions.

[Wrex]

Is there anything to warn you away from HFS?

EDIT: Also, is it possible to send  Alien Colonies Magma Exports via mass driver? 

[Felius]

Nope. First warning you will get will be the stable wormhole. And then it will be already too late.

[Bremen]

Is there anything to warn you away from HFS?

EDIT: Also, is it possible to send  Alien Colonies Magma Exports via mass driver? 

The HFS is disabled by default.

You can only send packets at a colony of yours with the means to receive them. It used to be possible to forget freighters were on repeat and remove all your mass drivers while the rocks were in flight, but now the game will check for that before loading.