Oh damn, really? I must have missed that changelog. Guess that explains why the Invaders I ran into were firing missiles.
But if you're still curious, GO, here's the gist of it: plasma torpedoes were Invader-only. Functionally they were hybrids of EW and missiles: they used the power recharge mechanic rather than ammunition, but they created persistent tracking projectiles like missiles. They had damage which scaled down across their range, similar to lasers: initially the torpedoes would be whatever the launcher's power rating was, but their strength would drop off until it eventually either impacted for 1 damage or dissipated at maximum range. This created a very distinctive signature in combat where you'd appear to be taking missile fire but the strength of the hits would vary at different ranges; this was one of the three major identifiers of Invader ships (the others being the
wormholes and distinctive properties of their shields).
Basically they were the main incentive to include Invaders in a campaign despite them formerly being game-killers by way of slowdown (since Invaders and Swarm + Precursors would constantly sensor-check each other but IIRC didn't actually fight, and Invaders could appear in any genned system, so even a single active NPR could spawn enough to generate infinite interrupts). Most of the benefits of missiles (albeit weaker and shorter ranged) with no ammo requirement. IIRC they were also pretty difficult to shoot down, and lasers
might have been more effective against them than other PD.
That said, there's no reason to not play with Invaders on now thanks to the interrupt reform; they're still a good challenge and their other piece of unique tech is worth picking up.
Oh, and speaking of Invaders, my campaign was lost when I fixed an error, so I had to start a new one. Ended up getting lucky with my starting researchers and didn't start running into things until ~35 years in, so my tech is much higher than before.
Blue/Yellow/Red is Invaders, Green/White is Precursors, and Black/Yellow/Red is a large, friendly NPR. I've got a substantial early warning post in Levinor, but that system itself is sorta fucked; two of the four stars (including the garden world) are about 40b km out from the primary, so I've got no clue what's out there.
At any rate, I've also got better defenses. I've got two of each of the first two in Earth orbit with two of the third in production.
Armageddon class Orbital Weapon Platform 40,000 tons 775 Crew 9863.6 BP TCS 800 TH 0 EM 9000
1 km/s Armour 21-104 Shields 300-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 54 PPV 160
Maint Life 2.29 Years MSP 3699 AFR 533% IFR 7.4% 1YR 958 5YR 14374 Max Repair 1800 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 3680
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range N/A
Taurus Defence Industries Xi R300/360 Shields (60) Total Fuel Cost 900 Litres per hour (21,600 per day)
Ortan-Vitellus Heavy Industries CIWS-250 (5x8) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Paidar Megacorp Size 4 Missile Launcher (50% Reduction) (80) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 200
Mkvenner-Boruta Technology Missile Fire Control FC386-R20 (2) Range 386.4m km Resolution 20
Javelin-4 II (920) Speed: 21,900 km/s End: 251.2m Range: 330.1m km WH: 6 Size: 4 TH: 219/131/65
Tridon Syndicate Active Search Sensor MR643-R20 (1) GPS 36000 Range 644.0m km Resolution 20
ECCM-1 (2) ECM 10Resilience class Orbital Weapon Platform 40,000 tons 675 Crew 11055.8 BP TCS 800 TH 0 EM 9000
1 km/s Armour 21-104 Shields 300-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 50 PPV 476.96
Maint Life 1.28 Years MSP 3455 AFR 640% IFR 8.9% 1YR 2202 5YR 33024 Max Repair 1800 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 1
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range N/A
Taurus Defence Industries Xi R300/360 Shields (60) Total Fuel Cost 900 Litres per hour (21,600 per day)
Twin Valefar Heavy Industries Gauss Cannon R4-100 Turret (16x8) Range 40,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gordian Heavy Industries FC-PD S02 24-20000 (4) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 20000 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Prometheus-Mikelus Sensor Systems Active Search Sensor MR144-R1 (1) GPS 1800 Range 144.0m km MCR 15.7m km Resolution 1Resilience II class Orbital Weapon Platform 60,000 tons 1060 Crew 18950.2 BP TCS 1200 TH 0 EM 15000
1 km/s Armour 34-136 Shields 500-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 56 PPV 600
Maint Life 1.14 Years MSP 5231 AFR 1086% IFR 15.1% 1YR 4067 5YR 61005 Max Repair 1800 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 0
Cryogenic Berths 1000
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres Range N/A
Taurus Defence Industries Xi R300/360 Shields (100) Total Fuel Cost 1,500 Litres per hour (36,000 per day)
Twin Valefar Heavy Industries Gauss Cannon R5-100 Turret (24x10) Range 50,000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 5 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Maladon Incorporated FC-PD S02 32-25000 (6) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 25000 km/s 84 69 53 37 22 6 0 0 0 0
Lorien Limited AMS MR252-R1 (1) GPS 1800 Range 252.0m km MCR 27.4m km Resolution 1
Prometheus-Mikelus Sensor Systems Active Search Sensor MR144-R1 (1) GPS 1800 Range 144.0m km MCR 15.7m km Resolution 1
ECM 10If it wasn't obvious, I had my kickass P&P and Defense research leads hogging all the labs for something like twenty years. I'm waiting for a bit more work to finish before I start designing stealth corvettes to poke the Invaders with.
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Topic: Aurora - The Dwarf Fortress of 4X Games (Read 2848222 times)