The BackgroundIn the early 21st century, experimental mining operations obtain samples of new elements from deep within Earth's core. These new elements do not obey the currently understood laws of physics; they act as if space is a viscous fluid, can generate energy almost out of thin air, ignore gravity, and many other exotic feats. Thus they are named Trans-Newtonian Elements.
TNEs revolutionize the world as we know it; suddenly the energy crisis is the thing of the past, and building a spaceship is no more difficult than building a car; at least provided you have the extremely rare elements needed. Scientists caution that the amount of elements in Earth's core is limited, and suggest we will eventually have to look elsewhere for supplies. The new space race has begun, and only intensifies when scientists announce a theoretical "Jump Drive" using TNEs.
With the frightening potential of TNEs rapidly destabilizing the world power balance, all the nations of the Earth ratify the Geneva Security Accords; no act of war may take place within 25 million kilometers of Earth, and no vessel engaged in acts of violence may approach within that radius. Expiring in 2050, the GSA risks unintended side effects; with civilian populations no longer at risk and a desperate search on for deposits of TNEs, it opens the possibility of a limited space war.
Four terrestrial powers are prepared to stake their claim on the riches of space. And the specter of 2050 is always on the horizon.
Welcome to this multiplayer LP of the space strategy game AuroraAurora is an incredible game. Well, actually it's more of a simulator. The AI doesn't work too well, but it's an incredibly detailed space empire building game. One just ends up lacking enemies to fight... so let's try it multiplayer!
Since Aurora doesn't support online multiplayer (maybe someday), I'll be controlling each side for all players. It's probably not feasible to give me exact orders (though you're welcome to try), so instead I'm looking at general guidelines. As a general guideline, I suggest something like this:
Space Goals/ship based actions: IE, "Ship automated mines to Pluto" or "Bombard China's Mars colony with the 6th task force"
Production Goals: Examples would be "Build more factories on Alpha Centauri A II" or "keep the shipyards turning out more carriers"
Technology Goals: There's a (somewhat outdated) list of research projects at
http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Research_Required_RP, but general suggestions are fine, like "Develop jumpdrives" or "focus on improving our missile ships".
Other Goals: Because the only certainty is something unexpected will happen
Since I'll be playing all sides, knowledge of Aurora is not required. Additionally, multiple posters can give orders for the same nation; I only ask that each poster pick a nation and stick with it. If there's a consensus, I'll use that, if there's not I'll go with whoever posted first for that turn. Consider this a democracy style LP that just happens to be playing four sides at once.
Similarly, we wont be doing things by PM (though feel free to post orders for a nation as a spoiler, labeled with what nation it refers to). My primary reason is that this makes a really boring read. If it helps, just assume that every nation is horribly infested with spies for the other nations. I may make an exception for initial glimpses of other star systems.
I've tried to make it so all nations have something to be gained from diplomacy and negotiation, so I do hope players for each nation will try to strike deals with other nations. Diplomacy-style backstabs are possible as well.
Current Treaties/Rules1) Geneva Security Accords: No armed conflict within 25 million km of Earth until 2050. This shouldn't cover any other planets, but does include the moon.
2) No shooting civilian shipping for now. It's not really possible for a nation to guard, and also there used to be a bug where Civs would declare war on you and start building PDCs. Let's not take chances. I believe that civilians will do work for all nations, so consider them a neutral party.
3) We will not be using geosurvey teams. Too much micromanagement, and hard to coordinate in multiplayer. Similarly, no fleet training.
The Thranx Directive: No building a jump gate chain back to Sol until a system has been completely surveyed
The Yoda Guidelines1. In the situation of a colony in the process of being terraformed, in order to occupy that planet, you must meet the terraformer:population ratio of the initial occupier, and keep up with their ratio as they set it. They are under no obligation to meet your ratio if it is higher.
2. In the situation of a colony not being terraformed, anyone is free to settle it. The first person to begin a legitimate, long term terraforming process sets the ratio.
3. In the situation of a mining colony in Sol, a cap on the number of mine per nation shall be discussed and agreed on by the Security Council. Default caps (Can be extended by the SC) are of 50 mines for an asteroids, 100 mines for a comet, 200 mines for a moon and 500 mines for a planet. This include manned mines, automated mines and ship-borne mines. This does not apply to the Earth. A separate mine cap on Earth can be discussed by the SC.
4.The situation of extrasolar colonies shall be decided by the SC should humanity ever cross the interstellar voids.
With that, onto the choices of sides!
European Union Population: 501 million
Yearly Income: 10,020 megacredits
Economy: The European Union has the largest GDP on Earth, giving it great wealth. Unfortunately, bickering between member states has resulted in it it being slower to adapt to Trans-Newtonian industry than the other powers, and some of its industry still uses conventional technology. Many of its member nations are not fully industrialized, giving it spare workers for future expansion.
Military: Though smaller than the US military, the EU Space Force possesses a number of medium and small combat craft, supported by earth based gunboats with the range to act outside of the treaty exclusion zone. EU ships are primarily laser armed, with their heavier ships also using long range missiles to make up for their lack of fighters.
Technology: In addition to their laser and missile technology, the EU has sensors and armor more advanced than their rivals. The engines used by their gunboats are also a closely guarded design.
Nihon-kokuPopulation 128 million
Yearly Income: 5,472 megacredits
Economy: Of the four major Earth powers, Japan is probably the worst off economically. Though fully industrialized, its small population leaves it with production and wealth issues. Partially as a result, Japan has converted all of its mines to robotic operation, both easing labor troubles and providing mines which can be moved offworld without supporting population. Thanks to a recent forward looking immigration policy, the population of Japan is now growing, and it has the best research sector in the world.
Military: Japan's military is based around advanced cruisers armed with particle beam weapons and energy shields. Thanks to advanced engine technology, they are also faster than other nation's warships. Unfortunately, their ships do not make use of long range weaponry, and are very vulnerable while closing the range.
Plans to raise the Yamato from the ocean bottom and use it as a space battleship were examined but found unfeasible.
Technology: Japan is ahead of other nations with its engines and power plants, and also has developed longer range fire control to make better use of its particle beams. Shields are a unique technology that so far only Japan has pursued, though whether they have an advantage over armor remains to be seen.
People's Republic of ChinaPopulation 1.34 billion
Yearly Income: 5,360 megacredits
Economy: China's massive population and industry makes it the world leader in production and mining, though its low GDP means that fully utilizing production risks plunging the nation into debt. More progressive economists in the nation have suggested attempting to offset costs by selling products and production capacity to other powers.
Military: Rather than constructing major orbital shipyards like other powers, China instead took the low tech, low cost solution of outfitting a fleet of ballistic missile submarines with Trans-Newtonian tech and space drives. The resulting ships are slow, fragile, and have limited weaponry, but are capable of launching a devastating missile salvo. They also have mysterious new weapons capable of firing from inside the hull without harming the ship. Their conversions are supported by smaller, purpose built escort and scout craft.
Technology: While China's missile technology is nothing to write home about, it gets the job done (With something of a brute force approach; Chinese missiles are five times as large as though used by the EU, and fired out of ICBM launch bays). Their solution of turrets mounted inside the hull gives Chinese weapons a tracking speed the envy of other nations, and their conversion program has left them pursuing missile launchers that sacrifice reload speed for greater salvo capacity.
United States of America Population 311 million
Yearly Income: 8,086 megacredits
Economy: With the second highest GDP of the four powers, the US is quite wealthy despite its fairly low population. However, it has few workers to spare, with almost all available populace busy running the current economy, and expansion is limited by the rather slow birthrate. Though the GDP is lower than that of EU, the GDP per capita is actually higher, and the US stands to benefit greatly from population growth and new colonies.
Military: The United States has the most powerful space fleet of the four powers, built on the model of its terrestrial navy: powerful carriers with smaller support ships. Their ships and fighters are armed with a variety of rail- and coil-gun weapons of various calibers, including powerful point-defense. Thanks to the construction program for their military, they also have the largest shipyards on(off) Earth.
Technology: Most of America's research has been devoted to developing space fighters; a difficult but ultimately successful project the other powers will not be able to duplicate for several years at a minimum. Their other research has fallen slightly behind, though, and their projectile weapons lack the range of other nations advanced energy weapons. Though powerful in a point defense role, an American taskforce stripped of its fighters risks being destroyed from outside the range of its own weapons.
Updates January 1st, 2020 February-April 2020 April-August, 2020 August-December, 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 Current Status Current Technologies
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Topic: Let's Play Aurora Multiplayer: International Tensions in Space (Read 52989 times)