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[EuchreJack]

Honestly, it might be more interesting if we can capture *cough* one of their ships that uses that type of missile, which would give us that sort of limited missile capability wrapped in a rather nice strategic problem.

I totally and completely agree with this.  Let my boys take over one of their ships instead of building any missile capability ourselves.

Then General EuchreJack will defect to the Navy and fly that badboy!

[Flying Dice]

Honestly, it might be more interesting if we can capture *cough* one of their ships that uses that type of missile, which would give us that sort of limited missile capability wrapped in a rather nice strategic problem.

I totally and completely agree with this.  Let my boys take over one of their ships instead of building any missile capability ourselves.

Then General EuchreJack will defect to the Navy and fly that badboy!

Of course, by 'capture', I mean 'SM in, RP the reason', because if we try boarding a Precursor ship with what we have, all those 'rines are either going to splat on the hull or go flying off into space, and if we weaken one enough to board it, it will be a complete wreck, assuming we even manage to toe the line well enough to cripple one without killing it or being killed by it.

[Bremen]

I'm not going to cheat! We'll just have to damage enough engines to successfully board. On the plus side, one of those 7,750 ton ships would fit nicely into a Lexington's carrier bay.

Which is good, because if we capture a precursor ship it will start falling apart within a week.

[Flying Dice]

Heh. I was just teasing. There lies the real challenge: keeping a ship running when it was designed to not care about fuel or maintanence. My real suggestion would be scrapping the missiles for the wealth boost. No point having missiles if we don't use them, and no point building ships around shitty computer designed missiles that probably don't follow the Law of Squares. 

[Twi]

missiles that don't follow the Law of Squares.

*Gasp*
HERESY!



Seriously, though, MIRV drones then, but stick with the 'no new ordinance factories' rule. Or just scrap everything, your choice.
Or, long-range high-speed AMMs, to make vague attempts to defend our gunboats with from the carrier group. I mean, it seems impractical enough to me, assuming it's at all possible

[Bremen]

April 7, 2024: The Outreach completes work on a two way jump gate to Barnards Star. Earth now has jump connections to all four neighboring systems. This is a great boon to mining, though only Hope and Barnards Star have particularly rich mineral deposits. Taking advantage of that fact, freighters immediately begin transporting Automated mines from Earth to the third moon of the system's seventh planet, which posseses rich deposits of Duranium, Neutronium, Corundium, and Gallicite.


Key

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dark blue dots are Class L and M planets
Light blue dots are Class K planets
Orange dots are unexplored jump points
Red circles indicate a system is not completly surveyed for jump points
Percentages are the extent of geological (mineral) surveys.
Orange connections have jump gates

A meeting of UHF leadership is held to determine the future focus for expansion, now that the adjacent systems are all claimed. A group consisting mostly of civilian and government leaders push for expansion of the gate network to Ross 128 and the habitable Class K planet there, but survey reports show the system is exceedingly mineral poor. Critics ask what good another world will do if the UHF does not possess the minerals to run the two it already has.

Another group, comprised mostly of scientists and industrialists, wish to expand through Barnard's Star. The system's six new jump points promise a great deal of mineral wealth as well as 4 Class K planets. Though Barnard itself has only a Class N ice planet unsuitable for colonization, engineers claim that it should be possible to set up remote fuel refining and maintenance bases in the system if necessary. But the navy cautions that exploration in that area is still ongoing and that a large nexus system could present difficulties when defending.

Still a third faction, mainly consisting of the Naval officers, wishes to expand through Lacaille 9352. Epsilon Eridani possesses sizeable mineral deposits, a Class K planet, and is secure with no known jump points except the one leading back to Earth. Luyten 726 possesses another Class K and the promise of further exploration through two new jump points.

After a lengthy debate, an agreement is struck with compromises for every group. The Outreach will begin construction of a jump gate leading into Epsilon Eridani, but in exchange more survey ships will be built to expedite the survey of the Barnards Star Nexus, and construction will begin on a second Outreach so that Humanity can expand to additional planets without compromising its search for new minerals.

As part of the program, a new gunboat class is developed to allow survey carriers to search for new jump points

Code: [Select]

Einstein class Gravsurvey Ship    800 tons     69 Crew     206.5 BP      TCS 16  TH 184  EM 0
11500 km/s     Armour 1-7     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 5.57 Years     MSP 81    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 4    5YR 66    Max Repair 100 MSP

GB Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 184    Fuel Use 780%    Signature 184    Armour 0    Exp 36%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 57.7 billion km   (58 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Since apparently real life astrophysists don't have a classification system for habitable extra-solar planets (What do we pay them for? ), I decided to use the classification system from Star Trek. No real reason other than it seemed to be available and well documented. Feel free to imagine that the UHF scientists are all trekkies.

Class K require domed colonies, and are mostly planets with little to no atmosphere. Mars was a Class K originally, but human terraforming efforts have made it more or less a Class L and will soon make it M. Class K worlds will require large amounts of infrastructure and/or fairly hefty terraforming efforts.

Class L are planets that have at least marginally breathable atmosphere, but are not habitable due to temperature or pressure concerns. Humans can live on the planet with technological support, and often need less infrastructure to support a given population. Hope is a Class L, and the only known naturally occuring one. They are much faster to Terraform than Class K.

Class M are planets where humans can survive without assistance. The only known Class M world is Earth.

Class N worlds are brutal places, with toxic atmospheres, extreme temperatures, and/or crushing pressures. Venus and Mercury are Solar System examples. They can usually be terraformed, but with far more difficulty than even Class K. 

[Bremen]

I kind of like the idea of a small, steady trickle of missiles from salvaged factories only, but if that were the case and it were up to me I'd probably use them in a planetary defense role; no sense squandering a precious resource like that just to blow up ships before the gunboats close.

However, one thing I want to make clear is I like using ideas from the thread, whenever possible. Partially because it's less like playing against myself, but mostly because it's just fun .

Sorry for the short updates the last few days, I've been busy. But I definitely plan to update as often as possible.

[Flying Dice]

IIRC, blue is < 1.00 col cost, cyan is < 2.00 col cost, not the class of planet.

missiles that don't follow the Law of Squares.

*Gasp*
HERESY!

You have no idea. Thankfully, that might be going away when Steve finishes the first release of Newtonian Aurora.

[Twi]

IIRC, blue is < 1.00 col cost, cyan is < 2.00 col cost, not the class of planet.

missiles that don't follow the Law of Squares.

*Gasp*
HERESY!

You have no idea. Thankfully, that might be going away when Steve finishes the first release of Newtonian Aurora.

I do have idea, actually. I'm only 74 out of 200 (BIG) pages through the main Aurora thread.
But yesh. HERESY!

[EuchreJack]

I thought the Aurora thread had 666 pages.

I guess if capturing a precursor ship is impossible or exceedingly unwise, then Planetary Defense is also ok.

One important point about trying to use precursor ships to launch precursor vessels: There is no guarantee the ship we capture will have missile tubes large enough for all types of Precursor missiles we currently have.

[Bremen]

IIRC, blue is < 1.00 col cost, cyan is < 2.00 col cost, not the class of planet.

Yeah, the game doesn't actually track classes since they're just some flavor I made up. But it's close enough.

Capturing a precursor vessel wouldn't be impossible, but we'd have to get a little lucky in taking out most of its engines without blowing up the ship. The next time I encounter them I will definitely try to capture at least one.

[Flying Dice]

I thought the Aurora thread had 666 pages.

It does, if you use default settings like either of us.


And yeah, if you can cap a Precursor ship, do it, but otherwise just scrap the missiles for the extra wealth.

[RaySmuckles]

If there's anybody available with psychological problems (in pretty much any rank/role), they would love to be Raymond Smuckles.

Great LP... helping me get into Aurora.

[Sheb]

Well, I like the idea of getting a precursor ship. Otherwise, I'd suggest you design a "General Purpose Launching Platform", a 15,000 tons ships with large-ish (Size 12 ?) box launchers. It allow us to shoot any precursor missile, and to move our missile capability around as needed. I think the Box Launchers are a cool flavor, because the ship would be designed to shoot any kind of missiles we can get our hands on, so you couldn't design reloading mechanisms.

[Bremen]

April 17, 2024: Engineers on Alpha Centauri manage to restore an old atmospheric dome in the ruins. Entrepreneurial companies immediately start selling tickets on private colony ships to those hoping to see the alien ruins.

August 13, 2024: With the military shipyards currently idle, the UHF is running a massive budget surplus. The decision is made to resume purchasing minerals from some civilian mines, particularly those that produce Duranium.

September 26, 2024: Construction of two Opportunity class and two of the new Einsteins are completed, and four more of the obsolete Cornwallis class carriers are moved over to survey duty. The four remaining light carriers will be scrapped and the materials used to build new Strike Carriers.

October 28, 2024: CVL Cornwallis arrives at an unexplored jump point in the Groombridge system and, according to standard procedure, launches a Comet to make the transit and report back. The Comet disappears from the Groombridge system and suddenly finds itself being sucked into a black hole.



Luckily the Black hole is small as such objects go, and even a Cornwallis' engines would be sufficient to remain at the jump point; for the Comet it is hardly even a challenge. The Comet jumps back and the system is marked as a hazard to navigation.

November 14, 2024: Engineers on Alpha Centauri-A I report that all intact structures are recovered. In total there were 3 research labs, 1 terraforming installation, 2 genetic modification centers, 1 automated mine, 1 normal mine, 1 fighter factory, 1 construction factory, and 2 high tech assemblers that seem to be designed to produce the missiles used by the Automaton craft. Though there is currently no use for the assemblers, they will be saved for later; it has been suggested that if the Marines can capture one of the automaton craft the ability to create ammunition for them would give the Navy a valuable skirmish capability.

May 30, 2025: Two notable breakthroughs are achieved in the month of May. Early in the month, Ali Mckeighan develops a new laminate composite material for armor, which promises improved protection for new ship designs. Later, Homer Bickford successfully tests his new Tokamak fusion reactor, which promises to provide concentrated power for shipboard beam weapons. New groups are formed to develop improved active sensors and to duplicate the internal confinement fusion drives used by Automaton ships.

August 23, 2025: Scientists develop a new design for UHF mines that will considerably increase their output. Their next project is to further improve the civilian economy to ease the constant budget problems.

September 28, 2025: In a highly televised event, a terraforming technician on Mars steps outside without protective gear or breathing apparatus. He doesn't look completely comfortable, as the temperature and air pressure are equivalent to near the top of Mount Everest on Earth, but he manages to smile for the Camera. Mars is now a Class M world.

The Terraforming fleet, now numbering 33 Genesis class ships, will move on to the planet Hope. Hope's atmosphere is already breathable, but the entire planet is well below freezing. The terraformers will add a laboratory developed safe greenhouse gas to the atmosphere and attempt to raise the temperature to something humans can survive in.

January 1, 2025: It has been a peaceful and prosperous year for the UHF. The economic and mineral problems seem well on their way to correcting themselves, and (limited) naval construction has resumed. The UHF's greatest goal right now is expansion into other systems, and for that reason more resources have been focused in the areas of exploration and jump gate construction.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Mostly just economic expansion right now, everything seems quite peaceful. I'm sure that will change sooner or later.

In the meantime, feel free to suggest major civil or military projects to wreck use the new prosperous economy on.