Print

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

[Flying Dice]

RPish blather below, feel free to ignore it all. 



I've reached my self-appointed date of 3 November, 2036, and have updated the designs of my main fleet elements, as well as designing a new Heavy Cruiser to act as the core of future TGs. I'm planning a new round of designing around 2040, when my few sensor, defence, and EW researchers will have completed enough tech for a stealth-based scout and fast laser destroyer. For now, I'll have to settle with this. TAN Galatea and Aurora have been laid down, and four of the 6 vessels of the 1st Frigate Squadron have begun their refits, all of which are expected to be completed in mid-2040. For these designs, I've created the much-upgraded Sabre 4b missile, which has a 65m km range advantage, while being 8k km/s slower and losing roughly 30% of its accuracy (leaving it at 88% CTH against targets moving at 10k km/s). The WH remains the same, at strength 4. This was deemed necessary for the sake of the lighter elements of the fleet, which do not possess the PD or armor to engage at close range.

Meanwhile, with the introduction of M-P drives, the standard fleet speed has been increased from 3k km/s to 5k km/s, an improvement which will greatly aid in future battles similar to the skirmish in Lalande 22185. While upkeep costs remain high, fleet ships largely remain based in Earth orbit, where they can be maintained by local facilities. Plans are in the works for fleet bases in key systems, but that remains a prospect for the future. As a stopgap measure, the second version of the Goliath PD Cruiser will carry large quantities of supplies, to aid allied ships on long deployments. In addition, plans have been laid for several classes of support vessel, though no shipyards are available to build them.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Galatea class Heavy Cruiser    34,400 tons     3025 Crew     7275.76 BP      TCS 688  TH 3440  EM 0
5000 km/s     Armour 8-94     Shields 0-0     Sensors 220/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 40     PPV 171.52
Maint Life 2.6 Years     MSP 2644    AFR 473%    IFR 6.6%    1YR 552    5YR 8279    Max Repair 840 MSP
Magazine 1168   

Magneto-plasma Drive E5 (43)    Power 80    Fuel Use 50%    Signature 80    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,170,000 Litres    Range 122.4 billion km   (283 days at full power)

Single Gauss Cannon R4-100 Turret (12x4)    Range 40,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
CIWS-200 (2x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Fire Control S03 24-15000 (3)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 15000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0

Size 4 Missile Launcher (16)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 20
Size 4 Box Launcher (40)    Missile Size 4    Hangar Reload 30 minutes    MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC110-R16 (2)     Range 110.9m km    Resolution 16
Sabre 4b (292)  Speed: 29,400 km/s   End: 45.4m    Range: 80.1m km   WH: 4    Size: 4    TH: 294 / 176 / 88

Active Search Sensor MR369-R16 (1)     GPS 13440     Range 369.6m km    Resolution 16
Active Search Sensor MR92-R1 (1)     GPS 840     Range 92.4m km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH20-220 (1)     Sensitivity 220     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  220m km

ECCM-1 (2)         ECM 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Code: [Select]

Sentinel II class Missile Destroyer    10,400 tons     940 Crew     1972.52 BP      TCS 208  TH 1040  EM 0
5000 km/s     Armour 5-42     Shields 0-0     Sensors 66/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 13     PPV 38
Maint Life 1.8 Years     MSP 356    AFR 288%    IFR 4%    1YR 137    5YR 2058    Max Repair 252 MSP
Magazine 552   

Magneto-plasma Drive E5 (13)    Power 80    Fuel Use 50%    Signature 80    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 425,000 Litres    Range 147.1 billion km   (340 days at full power)

CIWS-200 (2x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 20000 km/s     ROF 5       Base 50% To Hit
Size 4 Missile Launcher (8)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 20
Size 4 Box Launcher (10)    Missile Size 4    Hangar Reload 30 minutes    MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC110-R16 (1)     Range 110.9m km    Resolution 16
Sabre 4b (138)  Speed: 29,400 km/s   End: 45.4m    Range: 80.1m km   WH: 4    Size: 4    TH: 294 / 176 / 88

Active Search Sensor MR110-R16 (1)     GPS 4032     Range 110.9m km    Resolution 16
Thermal Sensor TH6-66 (1)     Sensitivity 66     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  66m km

ECCM-1 (1)         ECM 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Code: [Select]

Goliath II class Point Defense Cruiser    12,000 tons     905 Crew     2250.6 BP      TCS 240  TH 1200  EM 0
5000 km/s     Armour 6-46     Shields 0-0     Sensors 11/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 13     PPV 83.52
Maint Life 5.26 Years     MSP 3352    AFR 384%    IFR 5.3%    1YR 202    5YR 3035    Max Repair 280 MSP

Magneto-plasma Drive E5 (15)    Power 80    Fuel Use 50%    Signature 80    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 455,000 Litres    Range 136.5 billion km   (315 days at full power)

Single Gauss Cannon R4-100 Turret (12x4)    Range 40,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 24-15000 (3)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 15000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0

Active Search Sensor MR30-R1 (1)     GPS 280     Range 30.8m km    Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km

ECM 20

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Code: [Select]

Vulcan II class Missile Frigate    5,000 tons     402 Crew     1091.86 BP      TCS 100  TH 588  EM 0
5880 km/s     Armour 4-26     Shields 0-0     Sensors 11/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 15.6
Maint Life 2.03 Years     MSP 205    AFR 133%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 66    5YR 993    Max Repair 252 MSP
Magazine 288   

Magneto-plasma Drive E5.5 (7)    Power 84    Fuel Use 55%    Signature 84    Armour 0    Exp 7%
Fuel Capacity 175,000 Litres    Range 114.5 billion km   (225 days at full power)

Size 4 Missile Launcher (50% Reduction) (6)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 100
Size 4 Box Launcher (6)    Missile Size 4    Hangar Reload 30 minutes    MF Reload 5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC110-R16 (1)     Range 110.9m km    Resolution 16
Sabre 4b (72)  Speed: 29,400 km/s   End: 45.4m    Range: 80.1m km   WH: 4    Size: 4    TH: 294 / 176 / 88

Active Search Sensor MR110-R16 (1)     GPS 4032     Range 110.9m km    Resolution 16
Thermal Sensor TH1-11 (1)     Sensitivity 11     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  11m km

ECCM-1 (1)         ECM 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Edit: Ladies and mentlegen, I now have another example of why Aurora is best game:

[PTTG??]

THEY CAN TAKE OUR LIVES BUT THEY CANNOT TAKE OUR SPACESHIPS!

[Sirus]

THEY CAN TAKE OUR LIVES BUT THEY CANNOT TAKE OUR SPACESHIPS!

Yeah, because the spaceships are normally in a billion pieces when they take our lives

[forsaken1111]

unless they boarded you.

[PTTG??]

Oh, we wait for them to board us... then we break out the broadswords!

[Sirus]

I can't help but feel that pikes (or a futuristic equivalent) would be a superior anti-boarding weapon. You have reach, and the enemy literally cannot go anywhere else but through your porcupine defense.

[Flying Dice]

"Sir, the enemy has formed a pike and shield wall in the corridor leading to the bridge!"

"What are they, space Romans? You have a plasma caster, marine, use it!"

Yeah, don't think that would work, unless it was an AU with schizo tech.

[Sirus]

Not in the corridors, no. I'm talking at the breach point, where the enemy drop-ship lets the marines out. It's a major chokepoint, and marines would probably be hesitant about cutting holes in their only method of escape.

[Flying Dice]

Somewhat reasonable, but that assumes that a) the crew will know exactly where the enemy marines are boarding quickly enough to deploy there before the enemy can get a foothold and b) that pikes would be a more efficient way to clear a large number of enemies out of a chokepoint than, say, a grenade, or a long spray of flechettes, etc.

[forsaken1111]

Personally my breaching pods would deploy a storm of antipersonnel munitions in through the breach before any marines stepped out, shredding any close-in defenders.

[Sirus]

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I blame KotOR for re-introducing swordfights to my sci-fi.

[Zangi]

Not in the corridors, no. I'm talking at the breach point, where the enemy drop-ship lets the marines out. It's a major chokepoint, and marines would probably be hesitant about cutting holes in their only method of escape.

The thing is, boarding vessels in Aurora are 1 way... they either take the ship or they die/surrender.  And technically they don't use boarding vessel....

'Pike+shield'... you would need shields/whatever capable of taking ranged fire, frags and whatever other fancy explosions that can be thrown at ya to justify placing so many soldiers/crew members in 1 nice spot in direct fire for long periods of time.
Either way, 'pikes' here would probably be ranged weapons too...

As for finding the breach points, if you had ship sensors that could track things putzing about the hull... you can at least be semi-prepared.   Boarding time tics every... what... 5 minutes? 60 seconds?  I don't remember... 

The way Aurora mechanics really work is that the marines are individually launched at the ship.  If they miss, they float in space, lost forever.  Those who land work on cutting a hole into the hull, where they all enter and then assault the ship.  (Unless that has changed since last I checked...)  That means, you need to down the shields and keep it down, while your dropships have to be way faster then the target ship... or you'd lose too many marines to space...
Ship shields I guess fry the boarding party if they are still on the hull.

[Flying Dice]

To be honest, I've never bothered with boarding actions. Either the enemy ships are too low-tech to be useful and I'd scrap them anyways, in which case just blowing them up saves the yard time to take them apart, or they're too high-tech to make that sort of op either safe or possible.


But yeah, "Boarding party" is possibly the most dangerous occupation in the Auroraverse, apart from "Dice's FAC crews", as you're basically doing the same thing as dropping the marines onto a planet, except you're firing the droppods at a fast-moving starship at such high velocities that if they miss, they're lost in space until their life support runs out, and if they don't match velocities on the way in, or the target shields are up, they're smears on the armor, and then they get to fight to the death with the crew, as they have no way to retreat.

[PTTG??]

Armor-piercing weapons (of conventional nature) detonate shaped charges at close range, more like a very hot blast from a blowtorch than a generic explosion. As such, it burns a narrow tunnel through the armor and then blasts plasmated armor, weapon debris, and hot gas into the inner crew chamber. In tanks, that's generally bad for the crew. In starships, there's presumably more space, though the new hull puncture is probably bad.

[forsaken1111]

Starships will also have more electronics and volatile substances inside.