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[Paul]

Since my other Aurora LP was so much fun, I'm going to try another one. Monday afternoon is probably a bad time to start a thread like this, but the other LP just ended so I might as well.

This time I'm thinking a conventional start - but even that is up for debate. I'm going to try and get more community involvement in this one if there is enough interest. Thats what makes LPs fun after all. Same basic rules apply as in my other one - ships have to have another ship or a jumpgate network to relay information to the capital. So if a survey ship dies all alone in a distant system, all you guys will know is it disappeared, and military ships will only react to alien threats after their position has made it back to them.

Heres the initial plan:

Game version 5.52, database version 5.50 but with a slightly modified Sol system - gravity of some of the moons were adjusted to be more realistic. So no more Titan with higher gravity than Mars, which means the only liveable bodies in Sol are Earth, Mars, Mercury - and technically Venus but with a crazy high col cost until you remove all the atmospheres.

The settings (want me to change something? post!):

• Year 2100 - I kinda like a nice round starting year
• Conventional start - this means we get no tech, and have to research very basic things like trans-newtonian technology before even building construction factories. We'll also be behind the tech curve on NPRs, which should make things interesting.
• Republic government - this means a bit better diplomacy and less militancy, plus an easy way to work forum input into the story
• 120% difficulty modifier - this means NPRs get 20% more population. It might affect their research rates too? One tooltip says it does, other just says pop. Either way, it should make NPRs more challenging. I could increase this even further if anyone thinks its a good idea.
• Real star systems off - I kinda like the total randomness, but I can switch this back on if you folks would prefer it.
• Commander political bonuses off - I like using the automated assignment and realistic promotions as a way to autoassign the best officers to the more important ships, and this throws that off by promoting incompetents so I always disable it.
• No overhauls needed on - this would be the first game I play with this, but I was thinking of doing it. Ship designs would still be made as if it was on, it would just let me ignore that aspect of micromanagement.
• Sol jump points 6 - I like having Sol be a bit of a crossroads.
• All other settings at default - which means 1 NPR at start and the standard species tolerances.

Naming themes, empire name, empire color, and empire flag are all up for discussion. I was thinking of going with something like United Earth Alliance or Republic of Earth or something, but I'll go with whatever as long as it fits the setting. I usually just leave the naming themes default as well.

I'll be wanting input on where to steer us technology and design wise - things like missiles or beams, focus on engines for speed or armor for durability - or maybe a balanced approach. The empire training level is another setting we can set from the start. I tend to go with fewer, highly trained crew - and just use conscripts on non-military ships.

I can also put people into the game as officers or scientists or whatever if anyone wants that after the game is going - I'd just need to know what kind of officer or scientist so I can find an appropriate one to rename. I could do personality traits too, but I don't think they actually affect anything.

I plan to start as soon as I get some community input - which could be tonight, tomorrow, or next month depending entirely on how much interest this draws. And I intend to keep it going until community interest dries up, or we're wiped out (losing is fun!). In the wiped out case I'll be happy to start anew as long as theres enough interest to keep it going. Updates would probably be every few days if I can keep it up, possibly every day if I have the free time and enough thread activity to get community decisions on things fast enough. When an important decision comes up - like contact with an alien race, or news of an enemy fleet - I'll post the details and wait for a few opinions on what to do.

One caveat: I'll steer the game to make things interesting. This means I won't follow advice to turtle up in Sol for 50 years - as soon as we have basic combat and exploration ships we'll be exploring. This may get everyone killed, but losing really is fun. I'll also be making backups after every session, just in case the next session bugs out terribly - it doesn't happen very often, but just in case Aurora breaks beyond repair I'll have something to go back to. This only applies to bugs of the software kind - if alien bugs blow up everyone on Earth that doesn't count and there won't be a do-over.

[Sheb]

Well, go with a Roman republic. Also, I'd like Real Stars, it's more fun to have real names. As for design, going with a "Roman" philosophy of heavily armored Legionnaire ships sporting beam weapons escorted by various auxiliaries. Missiles should belong to the auxiliaries and serve msotly to soften up the target before closing in for the kill.

Finally, I'd like a commander. The admiral.

[LostCosmonaut]

I like this idea, especially the real stars. However, in addition to the heavily armored beam ships, my personal preference is usually to include a large number of stupidly fast, small (4-5k ton) missile boats.

[Sheb]

Those are auxiliaries for you.

Another cool idea could be taken from Steve Astra Imperia campaign: each legion got both a land and space component, and operate together.

[Akigagak]

Considering the Roman theme, Dux would likely be used instead of Admiral in this situation. I dunno how steve has it set up, as I've never used the roman themes.

I'd like to stake a claim as the CO of the first survey ship into space. Akigagak might be a bit out-of-setting, but I doubt anyone else will be making adjustments to their names. 

[LostCosmonaut]

Ah, I see.

Of course, part of what we do should be based on what researchers we get at the start. For instance, If somebody with a 40% bonus in EW shows up with a 40 lab limit, our weapon development path is fairly obvious for the next few years.

[Sheb]

I meant the head of the Fleet HQ, whatever its real title.

[Paul]

Ok, so we're going with real stars and using the Roman theme. Any other input on starting options?

As far as the beam ships, heavily armored beam ships don't really fare that well in Aurora unless you have a big tech advantage. Beam weapons require you to close the distance, which means your ships need to be fast. Heavy armor, especially at early tech levels, is going to mean a slow ship. Enemies could just kite you around with missiles. If we focused on engine and armor tech and piled on the engines we might make it work, but it wouldn't leave much room for armament.

A heavily armored carrier with strong beam PD and a strike force of beam fighters might work better. Could have the Legion main carrier ships with Legionary fighters. Even at fairly low tech levels you can make pretty fast fighters. 150 tons for the beam weapon, 50 tons for the engine. Throw in a small reactor, a reduced size beam fire control, and a few layers of armor and you have a ship that can get in close fast and cause some damage. The heavily armored carrier could provide the active sensors.

I'll try to make it work either way. If our early ships get steamrolled we can always go back to the drawing board

What beam weapon to actually get would have to be decided too. Lasers, particle beams, and railguns are all solid choices for long range weapons on large ships. Mesons are a solid choice for fighters since their ability to close in makes up for range and the shield/armor penetration is nice (they also work on planets). Gauss can be a great point defense weapon, and can work on fighters too. Microwaves are nice for quickly blinding ships, but only damage electronics.

I like the ground and space forces working in unison, that could be interesting. We could have boarding ships (FACs or fighters) with the auxiliaries and troop transports to carry them until we need them. They could move in and board disabled ships.

[Sheb]

Yeah, it means lots of ground troops. I like your carrier idea. Auxiliaries should be the missiles ships, both ASM and AMMs.

[Paul]

Oh wow, I just tried the Roman themes. Can you say long names?

Introducing:
Decturion Qunitus Cassianus Lovernianus.

And his friend:
Primus Sextus Sepurcius Briganticus.

I also notice that every single officer, civilian administrator, scientist, and ground force commander is male. Might as well call our empire the United Earth Patriarchy.

[MonkeyHead]

Posting to follow. Tried so very long and hard to get into this game with no joy as of yet.

If I wanted to "be" a scientist (so art could imitiate life...), would I have any responsibility?

[Paul]

Posting to follow. Tried so very long and hard to get into this game with no joy as of yet.

If I wanted to "be" a scientist (so art could imitiate life...), would I have any responsibility?

Nah, you could just pick a field and I'd try to find a scientist with that field and name him what you wanted. Then everyone could giggle when I reported that MonkeyHead just completed his research project.

If one wasn't available then I could just make a note to rename the next one recruited.

And considering the names the Roman theme will give us, I dare say that most any name on the forum would be an improvement. At least they would be shorter and easier to say.

[MonkeyHead]

Oh good. Well, I am a Physicist. So, anything that would fall under that umbrella please

[Paul]

Physics is pretty broad. Most of the fields ingame would fit under that - Missiles/Kinetic Weapons, Power and Propulsion, Energy Weapons, Defensive Systems. Probably even Sensors and Fire Control.

I guess I'll go ahead and get this started soon, at least generated so I can post what kind of scientists we got and such. Any input on an empire name or altered starting conditions before I do?

[Sheb]

Empire Name: Roman Empire.