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 This is what shows up when you run the Aurora executable. This dialog details the various settings available in the game, and allows you to change them for a game already in progress. I'll cover the specifics more thoroughly when walking through the New Game Screen. A quick note about Aurora: All game information, for all saved games, is stored in one database file. Depending on the dialog, there may or may not be a "save" button present. If there is, nothing is written to the DB until you press save. If there isn't, all changes are written to the DB in real-time as you make them. In this sense, Aurora works a lot more like an piece of enterprise business software (except that those usually include an "undo" button, which Aurora does not). This shouldn't be confusing, as the creator comes from an enterprise programming background. The Game Name dropdown contains a list of all saved games in your database. Selecting one displays the game options for that game. The New button on the bottom takes you to the New Game Setup screen, Save saves any changes to the options you may have made to the currently displayed game, Delete deletes the currently displayed game, and Select actually loads up the currently displayed game so you can play it.  This is what shows up when you select New from the Game Details dialog. It lets you set all the basic parameters for a new game of Aurora. I'll go through each one in turn. Game Name is the name you want to give this game and is what displays in the dropdown in the Game Details dialog. SpaceMaster Password The "SpaceMaster" in a game of Aurora has access to many world-building functions within the game itself, and has access to detailed information for each race. With SpaceMaster mode activated, you can add minerals to colonies, create whole new ships from nothing, alter the population of a colony, etc. It is basically "DungeonMaster" mode. You can set a password for it here, but that's mostly for multiplayer games between players who want a third-party as "referee". You won't have to worry about it for the most part in this LP, though I will note when something I do in-game requires its use. Basic Parameters Starting Year is the year the game starts in, and has no effect whatsoever on gameplay, other than for roleplaying purposes. Our game is starting in 2025. Maximum number of systems is the number of star systems generated at game start. We are playing a 1000-system game, though we're unlikely to see more than a fraction of that. Larger universes result in larger playtimes as the game goes on. Local System Gen. Chance (%) and Local System Gen. Spread control the layout of the generated map. It is greyed out in the above screenshot because the 'Real-Star Systems' option is checked. Basically, the higher the Gen. Chance and the smaller the Gen. Spread, the more tightly interconnected the resulting starmap is. With a low Gen. Chance and a large Gen. Spread, the generated map will have long chains of highly strung out system. We are playing with Gen. Chance 50% and Gen. Spread 15, the defaults. Difficulty modifier controls the starting population for any Non-Player Races generated during the game or at game start. The larger the population, the more starting goodies it gets, and the more difficult it might be to take on that race. Note that the population is actually selected based on a bell-curve centered on your race's population at the time of generation. This means new races scale to your own progress. We are playing at 100% difficulty. Non-player Race Generation Chance is the percentage chance that, upon new system generation (which occurs whenever one of your ships OR an NPR ship enters a new system for the first time), if an eligible planet is present, an NPR will be generated. A chance of 30% means that IF an eligible planet is created during system generation, there is a 30% chance that an NPR will be generated and placed on it. This means the actual generation chance is somewhat lower, since not all generated systems have eligible planets. We are playing with a 5% gen. chance, which should keep too many NPRs from being created. Too many NPRs slows down the game and can create bugs. Construction Cycle is the length of a 'tick' in this game. The default is 400000 seconds, but most players advocate playing with a construction cycle of 100000, which is a little more than one day. Basically every check in the game is made once per cycle, except for ship combat-related checks (movement, etc). There is a list here that details all the things that happen during the construction cycle, but it will suffice to say that construction, mining production, fuel production and similar tasks take place. The amount of production is scaled based on the actual amount of time in the construction cycle, which can vary slightly since not every increment will end at the exact boundary of a cycle. Minimum comets per system is what it says on the tin. Starting Empire Parameters for Earth-based Start These are all flavor options that only apply if "Generate Sol System and create starting Empire on Earth" is selected in the Starting Race section. Selecting the other option creates a game with a blank race, intending you to use SpaceMaster mode to set up the race's initial conditions. I won't be discussing this option. Empire Name, Species Name, and Homeworld Name are all pure flavor entries, and can be anything. Government Type allows a descriptive name for your form of government, which has only minor in-game effects. It sets a few roleplaying centered values for your empire, and also alters the starting values for your first population (ratio of population to shipyards and research facilities). We leave it on Player Race for the default values. Main Empire Theme and Commander Theme are basically name-sets built in to the game. Ship classes and star system names come from the Main Empire Theme, while the names of in-game characters come from the Comander Theme. Trans-Newtonian Empire vs. Conventional Empire is a major setting for the game. Trans-Newtonian empires already have access to Trans-Newtonian technology, and have a better starting position when compared to their population than Conventional Empires, which have to research Trans-Newtonian technology and start without any tech (tech in the game is considered to be technologies enabled or rendered practicable by Trans-Newtonian elements, for the most part). Conventional Empires also start with conventional industry and ground forces, which are much less efficient than their Trans-Newtonian equivalents. Both starting factions are starting as Conventional, since they have both only recently discovered Trans-Newtonian science (and it makes for a more relatable narrative to start in more familiar territory and introduce weird new poo poo incrementally). Species Tolerance These values set the physical parameters of your chosen species. Worlds inside the tolerance bands for all values can be colonized easily. Worlds outside the tolerance bands for oxygen pressure, temperature, or max atmosphere can be colonized more difficultly, and worlds outside the gravity tolerance cannot be inhabited by colonists at all. Starting Population The population of your homeworld can be set here, and depending on the combination of Trans-Newtonian vs. Conventional and Government Type, will alter the starting shipyards and starting Research Facilities. However, these calculated vales can be set to any number if so desired. Wealth Creation Rate and Industrial Percentage control the efficiency of your financial and manufacturing sector at game start and can be used as a handicap. We use the default 100%. No Missile Bases for Conventional Start allows the player race to start without a number of pre-made ICBM Launch Complexes. The default is to start with them, to reflect a society approximately as developed as ours. The number of starting bases depeneds on the initial population of the homeworld. Our game keeps the bases, and they are all fully stocked. Starting System Sol Jump Points specifies the number of Jump Points out of the initial system and thus its defensibility and access to neighboring star systems. We set it to 0 for Random, for some added spice. System body and Jump point survey completed allow the player to start with full geological knowledge of the bodies in the starting system, as well as knowledge of the location of all jump points. As neither starting faction in our game knows these things, we leave the boxes unticked. Starting Tech The game allows the player to jump start his technological base by assigning a number of tech points. The suggested number of alloted points is based on Government Type and Trans-Newtonian Empire vs. Conventional Empire. The suggested number of starting tech points for a Conventional start is 0, which is what is used in our game. All our tech has to come from scracth. This will put us at a disadvantage against the AI, who tends to start with more tech. Players tend to be smarter with their tech direction though, and manage to surpass the AI around mid-tech levels. Assign starting tech points automatically allows the user to automatically use the starting tech points to research tech, instead of manually specifying them once the game starts using SpaceMaster mode. Create ship systems and ship designs uses the AI ship design routines to come up with some pre-designed ships and systems for the player, to jump start the game a bit, and is only enabled if the former box is checked (and therefore there exists tech to base designs on). Since we don't have any tech anyway, we leave this blank. Starting Race was covered in the Starting Parameters for Earth-based Start section. Non-NPR Computer Oppnonents These are special empires that may show up in the game if enabled to give the player extra challenge. I've redacted the image to avoid spoilers. The text can be found below: Precursors: Ancient robot controlled ships, usually found guarding alien ruins. Dangerous. Extra-Galactic Invaders: Destroyed the original Precursor civilization during their last incursion. Extremely Dangerous. Star Swarm. An alien species of living ships that reproduce in space. Individually weak bt troublesome in numbers. I won't reveal the values I gave these options; we get to roll with the punches. Computer-controlled Empires (NPRs) The first two options allow the creation of non-player races at game start. These races are created at a comparable population and therefore industrial and tech level to the player (depending on the Difficulty Modifier). The third option lets the player specify whether the races generated when a new system is created will be NPRs or visible to the spacemaster and therefore modifiable by the player. All generated races in our game will be NPRs, fully AI-controlled. Additionally, I may or may not have started with an NPR present at game start. Optional Simplifications These are options that attempt to reduce some of the micromanagement available in the game. I find that removing micromanagement from a game practically predicated on it to be kind of silly. Additionally, leaving these options off allows me to show off the game features they get rid of, which are kind of interesting. Therefore, we leave both simplifications off. No overhauls needed means ships never break down and maintenance can be ignored. I find managing ship condition to be an integral part of managing a space navy, so we are keeping this option turned off. Jump Gates on all Jump Points would remove a key element of fleet positioning strategy that will become more clear later, so we keep this option turned off. Commanders These are "realism" options for dealing with our spave and ground force officers. Realistic Command Promotions means the game decides when an officer is promoted, based on various formulae that will be revealed later. We keep this on. Commander Political Bonuses adds a "political" value to an officer's stats that factors into their promotion formula, reflecting officers who get promoted based on more than just their skills. It's a harmless option that adds roleplay/narrative value, so I leave it turned on. Inexperienced Fleets Inexperienced Fleet Penalty requires that task forces and ships spend time training after they are commissioned to increase the crew grade. Crew grade determines various behavior efficiencies for ships, which will be discussed later. We leave this turned on. Real Star Systems uses a gigantic database of real stars to generate the galactic map. This includes star names, spectral types, and the orbital distances of the constituent stellar bodies. Planets and other bodies are randomly generated based on the spectral type. Links to other systems are loosely based on real world star positions. We leave this turned off, because I don't expect too many people to be familiar with the nearer stars, their relative positions, or their spectral types. Leaving it off adds a bit of randomness. Orbital Motion Because no game of this sort would be complete without an absurd attention to detail, it is possible to make planets, moons, and asteroids move in their orbits in the system map. We leave this on for planets and moons to create a minor strategic element in some systems, and leave it off for asteroids to keep turn times down. There you go, hit "Create Game," click through the inevitable errors (did I mention Aurora was buggy?), and your game will be ready to go. Now you can all go out and fumble blindly through the game! The next update will detail the UN's starting disposition and the global situation. bgreman fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 28, 2012 06:37
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Wow, this game is pretty detailed, can't wait to dive in.
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Mar 28, 2012 08:38
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State of the U.N., 00:00 1st January 2025 This is the Sol system at the beginning of 2025. The Oort cloud is clearly visible outside the orbit of Pluto. Actually, when you choose "Select" from the Game Details Dialog, what shows up is this unhelpful looking menubar. To get this system map to show up, drop down on "Empires" and choose "System Maps." Most windows in the game can be opened this way, but most people, I'd imagine, prefer to use the navigation bar at the top of the System Map or the keyboard shortcuts (listed in the submenus of the main game menu).  Zooming in some, we just fit in Jupiter's orbit, the asteroid belt, and the inner solar system. Zooming and panning the map are handled by the controls in the upper left of the System Map.  Here we see Earth and its moon, Luna, as well as an icon for the Missile Bases Task Group. This is, at heart, the most exciting the System Map gets until missiles start flying. The ugly tab container on the left side of the System Map contains various view filtering tools. I will cover these in a bonus update, since for the most part they're self-explanatory. Incidentally, the game names the Moon "Luna" automatically. I can change it if we want. Anyway, since we've seen most of what there is to see on the System Map, let's mash one of the buttons on the nav bar. The first one, naturally.  This "colony" summary contains a wealth of information about UN demographics and capabilities, which will be addressed bit-by-bit. The "Colony Summary" screen, accessed from the first button on the System Map, is typical of Aurora UI sensibilities. Dense, with multiple control paradigms throughout, and containing buttons that are the only way to access certain screens. The Empire dropdown contains all races accessible to the player or SpaceMaster. Races may be password protected. Dropdowns like this are present on many dialogs, and are how I switch back and forth between obeying your commands for the UN, and plotting your downfall as the Eurasian Federation. The Populated Systems treeview allows quick access to any colony belonging to the selected Empire. A system body may have multiple populations (say, of different species), which, for all intents and purposes, are separate colonies. Buttons at the bottom allow the user to hide colonies that only house Civilian Mining Complexes, and to group colonies by function (colonies containing only automated mining facilities, for example, would be categorized as "Automated Mining Colonies"). The Time Control at the top of the screen is a duplicate of the one on the System Map. Time in Aurora will be discussed the first time we get to advance it. The buttons on the bottom of the screen are a somewhat random collection. Capital transfers the Empire's capital to the selected colony, Rename Body does just that, but only for the selected race, Sectors opens the sector configuration dialog (which we'll discuss much later). Transfer transfers the colony wholesale to another Empire. Refresh All refreshes the screen in those odd (but not rare) instances when it hasn't refreshed itself. Geo Status opens the Geological Survey Report (also accessible from the System Map ButtonBar), Design opens the Create Research Project dialog (same). The next two buttons are the only way to access their respective screens: Turrets opens the Turret Design dialog (to be discussed later) and Missiles opens the Missile Design dialog (same). Finally, Abandon abandons the colony and all facilities on it, and Close ... you guessed it: closes the screen. The Planetary and Sector Governor boxes show the civilian administrators currently assigned to this colony (and the sector that contains it), as well as any stats they have that may apply. We'll go through leaders in a further update. The remainder of the control is a gridview that contains detailed information about the currently selected "colony", Earth. It is important to note that it only contains information about UN assets and capabilities, and makes no mention of Eurasian Federation facilities, population, or capabilities. To view those, the player could select the EF from the Empire dropdown and then click the Earth colony, or, as far as you're concerned, place an espionage team (teams and espionage will be covered later).  The estimated population of UN member nations is 2.5 billion people, increasing 1.47% annually according to the latest census information. Consisting of some of the richest economies in the world despite the energy crisis, the UN's discretionary spending budget approaches 50 billion euro. The 2.5 billion are divided roughly into an agriculture/environmental sector (state-subsidized farmers and global energy/conservation concerns) (125 million people), the service industry (1.875 billion), and the manufacturing sector (500 million). Political status describes the affiliation of the currently selected population, whether it is a native part of your Empire (Imperial Population, like us), or a subjugated species, or somewhere in between. Political status can improve over time for conquered populations. Species describes the species of the currently selected population. Planetary suitability gives a measure of how difficult it is to make that colony suitable for habitation by your species. In our case, the cost is 0, since Humans are well adapted to Earth's biosphere. Administration level required is related to the population of a colony, and describes the minimum administration rating a civilian administrator must have to govern this colony. Annual wealth creation is a measure of how much "wealth" this colony creates. Wealth is an abstract resource used for various purposes in the game including ship building, ship maintenance, research, and more. Wealth and trade will be covered in a later update. Population lists the actual population of the colony, and then breaks it down into several categories. Agriculture and Environmental - A percentage of the population of a colony are devoted to feeding the colony. This percentage is based on the colony cost (and thus the "habitability" of the colony). Additional agriculture/environmental workers are required to run any terraformers that might be present at the colony, or if the colony requires extra infrastructure to keep the populace alive (for non-ideal habitats). Service Industries - A percentage of the population is assumed to be in the service industry. This percentage is dependent on the overall population of the colony. Manufacturing - The remaining portion of the population is thus made available to work on manufacturing jobs. The manufacturing sector is rather broad and will be broken down below.  UN controlled Earth contains no infrastructure geared at dangerous environments. Colonies with conditions outside the tolerance levels for a species require infrastructure to keep the population alive. This block lists the infrastructure required per million pop, which is related to the colony cost (and thus related to how "extreme" the environment is compared to the baseline for the species). It also lists the current infrastructure (obviously none in our case), as well as the population that could be supported by the current amount (no maximum in our case, since our world is ideal for Humans).  Of the half billion in the manufacturing sector, 2.11 million can be considered to work for state-affiliated or contracted aerospace firms, a quarter million in maintenance and upkeep of our current space assets, a quarter billion in the construction / production sector, and 25 million in state-sponsored research and development (spread across 25 different research institutions). The remainder work in the private sector. The various production facilities have different staffing requirements. Shipyard workers should be thought of as more than just the actual workers at the shipyards, and rather the people employed through the whole supply chain, from delivering minerals to constructing sub-assemblies. Each shipyard requires 100,000 personnel, and then each shipyard slipway (at which one ship can be constructed) requires a further 1 million personnel. Shipyards will be covered in a further update. Maintenance workers are those employed in the upkeep of ships at port. They can be thought of as the technicians, welders, and office workers who are involved in the ship maintenance industry. Each maintenance facility adds 200 tons to the maximum ship size the colony can service, and each requires 50,000 personnel. Again, this is an abstraction, and each "facility" should be thought of as a distributed network of related businesses and facilities. Construction workers will usually make up the bulk of the manufacturing sector. Each point of conventional industry requires 50,000 workers, and is best thought of as a business contracted by the government for some construction or manufacturing purpose. Production and manufacturing will be covered in a later update. Scientists represent researchers and other technicians and their support workers. Each research facility (again, an abstract concept (noticing a pattern yet?) representing something more akin to a research institution than a single monolithic edifice) requires 1 million workers. Available workers are those not involved in one of the aforementioned tasks. Instead of being envisioned as unemployed, they should be considered workers involved in non-governmental manufacturing (luxury goods, consumer products, etc) in the private sector.  The citizens of the UN member nations feel mostly secure, despite the enmity remaining from the Syrian War. UN Military forces provide enough of a deterrent to keep the Eurasian Federation from considering anything much short of all-out war. Of course, the Eurasian Federation attitude toward the UN is much the same. Although preliminary results regarding the Earth's reserves of Trans-Newtonian elements (TNEs) have been reported, an in-depth analysis by a dedicated gelogical survey team has not been undertaken. Requested and Actual Protection Level describe the security needs of the population. Hostile populations on the doorstep increase the requested level, and placing military assets, whether ground forces or ships, increases the actual protection level. Not having enough protection makes the population unhappy. Tectonics is a purely flavor element, indicating how active the colony world's interior is. Geological Team Survey Completed lets the player know whether a geological team has completed a survey of Trans-Newtonian elements on the body. This mechanic will be covered in a further update.  In 2022, the UN established the NATO Military Academy, a joint effort between several member nations to train the next generation of military personnel. Initially targeted at only military officers, the next year it was merged with the United Nations Civil Service Academy (a prestigious association of Political and Social Science programs from member nation Universities) and the International Science Foundation, a similar organization for science and technology. As a result, the school trains not only military officers, but provides some of the finest politicians, diplomats, scientists, and technologists in the world. In 2024, a researchers at SETI, while still failing to produce evidence of extraterrestrial communication, did publish a research paper detailing a method for time-sharing radio telescopes that essentially turned the entire network of Earth's radio telescopes into a Deep Space Tracking station. The system is primitive and underpowered, but flexible. The UN's maintenance facility infrastructure is still mostly geared toward the upkeep of its conventional forces, though a small amount has been converted with an eye for the upkeep of future space infrastructure. It is estimated that the facilities as they stand now could accommodate spacecraft of up to 1000 tonnes displacement, though no such craft has ever existed or even been seriously designed. That may change soon however, as the UN has recently brought online two space-based shipyards. One is the old International Space Station, reactivated and altered over the last ten years into a yard capable of building commercially-rated hulls of up to 10,000 tonnes displacement. The other is the more recent Versailles Shipyard, in geosynchronous orbit over Western Europe. Built using the latest technology, the yard is able to build to much more precise tolerances, capable of producing military-rated hulls of up to 1000 tonnes displacement. The UN has a direct production capability (through contractors, state-funded enterprises, and state-owned corporations) equivalent to nearly 5000 contemporary factories. While options are rather limited for the conventional industry due to lack of energy supplies, a conversion to methodologies and tooling based on TNEs could greatly expand the UN's manufacturing capabilities. 25 major research institutions are funded, either in whole or in part, by the UN. These include centers researching biology/genetics, construction/production techniques, defensive systems, energy weapons, logistics, ground combat, missiles and kinetic weapons, power and propulsion, and sensors and fire control. Many of these programs are actively looking into the applications of Trans-Newtonian physics to their fields of expertise. Camp Romney, in the US Southwest, has emerged as one of the premier ground force training facilities in the entire UN. Handed over to NATO by the US Army in 2022, the sprawling facility provides training for the UN's military ground forces, selected from the elite units of several member nations. Military academies train naval and ground force officers, civilian administrators, and researchers. Confusing, sure, and there is talk of potentially splitting this up into a military academy and a civilian university, but for now all "leaders" come from the same building. Building more academies at a colony increases the rate at which leaders are produced. Each academy produces 5 "leaders" and 1000 crew per year. Deep space tracking stations are passive sensors that can detect ships emitting radiation. The strength of the overall station is dependent on both technology and the number of tracking station facilities on the colony. Maintenance facilities are described above. Shipyards / slipways are described above. The UN has two, and each one has a single slipway capable of building a ship up to 1000 tonnes. Conventional industry is a special kind of industry that Conventional Empires start with. It can be converted to construction factories, fuel refineries, and mines, once the right techs have been unlocked. Because it can be converted into all these things, it also counts for mining production and fuel production, though at much lower efficiencies than the dedicated facilities. Research labs are used to research new technology. Research will be covered in a later update. Ground force training facilities train ground forces by the battalion, and will be covered in a later update.  The UN currently possesses no significant reserves of refined sorium fuel. Only small quantities have been produced, and those all in laboratories. However, the first industrial sorium refineries are coming on line, and limited production of refined sorium fuel may begin soon. A stockpile of various maintenance spares is present at the landside terminal of the Versailles Spaceport. It includes about 2000 tonnes of various basic electronic and mechanical components. A recent ESA space probe on its way to the Oort cloud paused to take a snapshot of the pale blue dot which launched it, imaging Earth in both IR and other bands of the EM spectrum. Earth at the end of 2024 was outputting nearly 40 PW of thermal power, and more than 150 PW of EM power, much of it broadband electronic communication. Fuel available is the amount of refined sorium available at the colony. Fuel is in-game only used to fuel ships, but this LP will assume that the fuel reserve is that left after domestic needs. Fuel is produced from mined sorium by sorium refineries and by conventional industry (though at a reduced rate compared to the refineries). Maintenance supplied available are shipboard spares used to repair failures on space ships. Maintenance and overhauls will be covered in a later update. Thermal and EM signature of colony are the amount of energy being given off by the colony, related to the population and facilities present on the colony. This signature can be detected by passive and active sensors.  With tensions with the Eurasian Federation at a current lull, the UN has been free to focus on internal matters, and as such, is in an extremely stable state. All efficiencies are at their estimated ideal values. Economic Production Modifier will be less than 100% when an Empire is operating at a deficit (i.e. its wealth generation is less than its wealth expenditure). This modifier is applied to the efficiency of all installations that utilize resources (which is most of them). Manufacturing Efficiency will be less than 100% is not enough workers are available for the manufacturing sector. Planetary radiation (from, say, nuclear bombardment) also decreases this value. Political Status Production/Wealth/Trade Modifier will be less than 100% for some Political Statuses (subjugated races don't work at full efficiency). Political Stability Modifier will be less than 100% if a colony is suffering from unrest (due to overcrowding or an insufficient protection level). Thus is an overview of the United Nations as of midnight, January 1st, 2025. The latest intelligence suggests the Eurasian Federation is in an approximately similar condition. The next update will cover industrial production, mining, and research. Is this too dense? Should I just eschew explanations for things until a real need arises, or do you guys want to see more updates like this, with in-depth explanations of the interface and game mechanics/concepts? bgreman fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Apr 10, 2012 |
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Mar 28, 2012 09:34
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bgreman posted:Incidentally, the game names the Moon "Luna" automatically. I can change it if we want. Keep it Luna, that will make it less confusing assuming that other planets will have moons that we might want to talk about. I personally enjoy infodumps but I can see why it would put people off. Guess we should just get them out of the way anyway, all info being in specific posts will make checking it again later easier. Also, vote for me is vote for freedom, only people who hate freedom would not vote for me and they will be first ones against the wall at some point when I'll get around to it after I'm elected.
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Mar 28, 2012 10:26
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I wish I could say the interface was intuitive enough that we don't need info dumps, but you really do need to explain in that much detail otherwise people who don't play the game will have no idea.
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Mar 28, 2012 10:34
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I think it's fine like this, it's not as if it's a well-designed interface. Also, is the United Nations/Eurasia Federation bit you having two actual colonies on the planet, or just artistic license?
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Mar 28, 2012 10:48
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I feel that the more information we get the better we'll be able to give meaningful input. Please keep it up! Unrelated: A vote for Ynkling is a vote for doing anything and everything to bootstrap the world industry to mine, refine, and distribute Sorium so I don't have to pay a fortune refueling my SUV. SUV's for everybody!
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Mar 28, 2012 10:58
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Lord Windy posted:I wish I could say the interface was intuitive enough that we don't need info dumps BTW, is this the game when instead of mining the best asteroids/moons you want civilian corporations to set up there and sell you the minerals for preferential prices (since you have first say in the case of strategic resources)? Or am I thinking of Distant Worlds?
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Mar 28, 2012 16:22
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Red Mike posted:I think it's fine like this, it's not as if it's a well-designed interface. There are actually two colonies on Earth, one belonging to the UN and one belonging to the Eurasian Federation. The ability to have multiple colonies on a single world is a nice little feature that allows for game starts like this one, instead of having to come up with a fiction that explains how the world united into one government (you know, instead of two, which is so much more realistic  ).Pierzak posted:Don't say such things in this thread, you might kill someone. I'll cover this in the mining update, but in short, there is an added flexibility when civilian mining complexes open up, but their growth rate is generally too slow to use them as a primary source of minerals. They make a nice supplementary source though. I have been very interested in Distant Worlds lately, but matrixgames's pricing strategy is ludicrous. ($60 for a three year old game + expansions? No thanks).
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Mar 28, 2012 18:20
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This seems like a fin thread and a good one to delurk for! Throwing in my hat for civilian administrator, new colonies need some of dat Prussian discipline and I will provide!
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Mar 28, 2012 18:23
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bgreman posted:There are actually two colonies on Earth, one belonging to the UN and one belonging to the Eurasian Federation. The ability to have multiple colonies on a single world is a nice little feature that allows for game starts like this one, instead of having to come up with a fiction that explains how the world united into one government (you know, instead of two, which is so much more realistic I say this calls for Glassing The Planet To Save The Planet.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:30
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Slaan posted:I say this calls for Glassing The Planet To Save The Planet. Like I said, we need to knock those dirty commies off world as soon as possible. Get them a cozy spot on Triton or something. Also, I remember reading an LP by the game creator where he started with like 6 starting "nations" still on Terra.
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Mar 28, 2012 18:33
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Look nice, I had a quick question, how exactly do you build up more industry on a planet, and is there such thing as a civilian industry and and controlled (government) industry? A vote for Jimmy, is a vote for industry, don't let those dirty Commies outpace our industrial machine! Fuel the forge of progress and democracy by voting for Jimmy4400nav at your local polling booth!
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Mar 28, 2012 19:16
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bgreman posted:There are actually two colonies on Earth, one belonging to the UN and one belonging to the Eurasian Federation. The ability to have multiple colonies on a single world is a nice little feature that allows for game starts like this one, instead of having to come up with a fiction that explains how the world united into one government (you know, instead of two, which is so much more realistic I'm not sure how many bugs were fixed since then, but last time I tried such a start, I was plagued with bugs. From the 'ship disappearing and suddenly becoming a different faction than myself' type, to the '«Returned type instead of type.» ad infinitum until I start a different game' type. Hopefully it's been fixed. It's been a while after all. Just a bit of a trivia question, the game's designer/programmer/etc is now playing poker professionally, or something, right?
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Mar 28, 2012 19:45
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Look nice, I had a quick question, how exactly do you build up more industry on a planet, and is there such thing as a civilian industry and and controlled (government) industry? The civilian manufacturing sector is abstracted away with the wealth/trade mechanic. All other production in the game is considered to be state-controlled in some manner. For the UN, I think it makes sense to think of industrial capacity as being mostly government contractors, with some state-subsidized businesses, and a few state-owned entities). Building up industry will be covered in the next update. Red Mike posted:I'm not sure how many bugs were fixed since then, but last time I tried such a start, I was plagued with bugs. From the 'ship disappearing and suddenly becoming a different faction than myself' type, to the '«Returned type instead of type.» ad infinitum until I start a different game' type. Hopefully it's been fixed. It's been a while after all. I'll make liberal use of SpaceMaster mode to fix any such glitches. And yeah, Steve makes his full-time living playing professional poker, which occasionally keeps him away from developing Aurora for significant amounts of time.  Policy Maker Vote UpdateThe candidacy period for the UN Executive Council is over. Voting begins now! Please pick five out of these six goons for your council slate: Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav A RICH WHITE MAN Ynkling Triskelli The voting period will end at 5pm Friday, and hopefully sometime soon after we'll have our first real update! Still to come: the UN's current industrial status, its mining and mineral outlook, and a research overview. Jam-packed with  about how to play this game!
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Mar 28, 2012 23:34
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Based on a deep introspective thought analysis and a quick game of coin flipping,here are the five candidate's I'm voting for: Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav Ynkling Triskelli
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Mar 29, 2012 00:55
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I jumped in to try and encourage other goons to sign up... I guess I have a shot at winning this thing! My votes are as follows: Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav Ynkling Triskelli Because honestly, we have enough RICH WHITE MEN in positions of power. 
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Mar 29, 2012 01:37
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Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav Ynkling Triskelli Forward to a future full of lasers and Death Stars!
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Mar 29, 2012 01:53
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Triskelli posted:I jumped in to try and encourage other goons to sign up... I guess I have a shot at winning this thing! What are you, some kind of Eurasian Federation Commie-nazi?! Why do you hate America and the UN I guess? Rich white men made this country, son, and they will keep it running! Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav A RICH WHITE MAN Ynkling
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Mar 29, 2012 02:05
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Lord Windy posted:Forward to a future full of lasers and Death Stars!  Gentlemen, this is the Ion Cannon....
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Mar 29, 2012 02:18
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 My votes (thank God I can vote for myself): Ynkling Wrestles bears and enjoys exploiting natural resources Jimmy4400nav A focus on Industry Lord Windy Lasers and deathstars A Rich White Man this is a name that I can get behind Pistokemisti Because America edit: I'm Ynkling fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Mar 29, 2012 |
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Mar 29, 2012 02:26
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I'd like be a ground commander if that's possible. And damnit, I'll be the pluckiest, no nosense-ist, ground commander you've ever seen!!! My votes for policy maker are: Lord Windy Pistokemisti triskelli A RICH WHITE MAN Ynkling Wanup Vodka fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Mar 29, 2012 |
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Mar 29, 2012 03:08
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I think we are denying the existence of a far greater threat than even the Eurasian Federation can provide... That's right. MARTIANS  They're up there: Waiting, watching. The Viking probe said they weren't there, but that's because the cowards were hiding. I saw John Carter. I know how these despots would love nothing more that to destroy our little blue home. This is not a threat we can allow to go unabated! That is why I, if elected, will prioritize a full scale invasion of Mars (Barsoom, in their heathen tongue). We will take their Space Modulators, turn their tripods against them and capture the city of Helium for ourselves! The little green men will be no match for the indomitable nature of the human spirit, nor the unmatched potential of the U.N! For the United Nations! For all Mankind! To Mars!
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Mar 29, 2012 04:03
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Triskelli posted:I think we are denying the existence of a far greater threat than even the Eurasian Federation can provide... Calm, we must tame our reactionary hand, lest we become like the Red Guard of the Eurasian Federation. True Martians may be a threat, but remember, its is the moving city of Zodanga that is a threat to freedom, Helium is a bastion of progress and technology, we should ally with this great city state to wipe out Zodanga and the vile Therns who seek to subvert order!!!
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Mar 29, 2012 04:12
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Calm, we must tame our reactionary hand, lest we become like the Red Guard of the Eurasian Federation. True Martians may be a threat, but remember, its is the moving city of Zodanga that is a threat to freedom, Helium is a bastion of progress and technology, we should ally with this great city state to wipe out Zodanga and the vile Therns who seek to subvert order!!! My deepest thanks, for tempering my fury in a moment of weakness. This is a danger that must be dealt with true, but it is also true that we cannot allow war to change who we are as a people. Diplomacy is always an option for the patient. There is likely much to learn from this ancient race, and we must respect every living thing in the universe. Then when we gain their trust, BOOM! Gauss cannon them to oblivion. An excellent plan from a great Diplomacy player.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:23
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Triskelli posted:MARTIANS Humane working conditions only apply to humans, right? Because I have some ideas.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:27
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Lord Windy Jimmy4400nav A RICH WHITE MAN Ynkling Triskelli Because I hate freedom and love warmongering! Also, more war means a bigger chance for a colony for me. New Mitteleuropa, here I come!
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Mar 29, 2012 04:58
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State of the UN, 1st January 2025: Industry The UN's transition to a Trans-Newtonian industry and economy is only in its infancy. The UN's conventional industrial capacity currently sits idle, awaiting production orders. An early proposal has been put forth dictating how the conventional industry could be converted for various purposes using TNEs, but further research is needed. This is the industry overview tab. Note that this is the same window as the colony summary, just a different tab. A large portion of Aurora's functionality is available through this screen and its various tabs. This update will cover the Industry, Mining/Maintenance, and Research tabs, since they are of paramount importance to a burgeoning empire. The UN currently has 5000 conventional industry capacity available. Conventional industry is a special type available only to Conventional-start empires. It can be used for construction, mining, and fuel refining, although the TN facilities for these purposes are far more efficient. Conventional industry can be converted into TN Construction Factories, Fuel Refineries, Ordnance Factories, Fighter Factories, and Mines once the appropriate tech has been researched.   The UN's mandate from its members gives it the authority to use its industrial capacity for a variety of purposes. UN architects, engineers, civil servants, and public planners have already put forth several proposals for incorporating Trans-Newtonian technology into familiar areas, like banking, off-world habitats, ship maintenance facilities, and military training. However, all these proposals carry associated costs, both in economic and mineral terms. Incorporating Trans-Newtonian elements into these projects requires quantities of the materials much larger than are currently produced by the research projects studying the elements. The Construction Options dropdown allows different classes of construction targets to be displayed. Each construction project also has an associated cost in construction capacity, wealth and TNEs. The cost in wealth is equal to the cost in construction capacity. This will be a recurring theme for all production in the game. The specifics of the TNEs will be discussed below. The options available to the UN at this time are: Installations While the game treats these as monolithic edifices that employ workers, I find it better to imagine them as distributed industries.
Missiles Missiles are produced using ordnance factories, of which the UN owns zero and can build none until unlocking the technology. Missile designs must be reasearched before they are available for production. The only current missile design is the Conventional ICBM, which is a special built-in missile type for Conventional Empires. The UN has 1000 ICBMs spread across 100 ICBM launch complexes, and more can be built once it has some ordnance factories. I will discuss the mechanics of ICBMs if/when the UN decides to employ them. Fighters Fighters are small craft using a special engine. They are built using Fighter Factories, of which the UN owns zero and cannot build until unlocking the technology. Fighters can be built as soon as they are designed, but constructing one locks in the design and no further changes can be made to it. Ship Components Ship components can be pre-fabricated using industrial capacity, which will speed up ship-building times since the components do not need to be assembled at the shipyard itself. Currently only two ship components are available to be pre-fabricated: the ICBM Launch Control, a fire control computer used to launch ICBMs, and the Luxury Passenger Accomodation, a small module that can carry 250 passengers. Build PDC / Orbital Habitat PDCs are Planetary Defense Centres, ground bases that can perform a variety of military tasks. Essentially any module that can be fitted to a space ship can be fitted to a PDC, and since they are non-mobile and don't need to be space-rated, PDCs are often significantly cheaper than comparable space ships. PDCs built using this option are installed upon completion on the colony that builds them. The UN has access to building the "Missile Complex"-class PDC, which contains an ICBM launcher, an ICBM fire control, and space for the storage of 10 ICBMs. The UN currently possesses 100 such bases. Further bases can be built for 76.4 production capacity, 61.4 Duranium, 5 Corbomite, and 10 Mercassium. Orbital Habitats are essentially ships without engines. They can serve as habitats for workers on colonies that cannot be inhabited (asteroids, worlds with out-of-tolerance gravity, etc). We will cover Orbital Habitats in more depth if the need arises. Prefab PDC This Construction Option allows the construction of the same kinds of PDCs as "Build PDC". The difference is that a prefabricated PDC is left unassembled, so it can be loaded into a cargo ship and moved elsewhere. Assemble PDC This Construction Option requires the presence of a complete set of pre-fabbed PDC components, and either a construction factory or an Engineer Brigade. The PDC will then be assembled. Refit PDC This Construction Option allows PDCs to be updated (say, with new missile launchers or better fire controls). The cost to do so depends on the differences between the original PDC class and the class it is being refitted to. Maintenance Supplies Industrial capacity is used to create maintenance supplies, which ships carry and use to fix maintenance failures and combat damage. Each unit of supply coasts 0.25 wealth, 0.125 Duranium, 0.0625 Uridium and 0.0625 Gallicite.  This pane shows the Construction capacity available at this colony: 5000. This value essentially means the UN has available to it 5000 construction points per year. It could build one 5000-cost project in one year, or 10 500-cost projects in one year, or one 500-cost projects in 1/10 of a year. Mousing over the value will reveal the production rates for construction, fighters, and ordnance used to calculate it. We have 0 TN Construction Factories, 0 Engineering Brigades, and 5000 Conventional Industry, which yields 5000 total industry. The industrial allocation gridview shows this colony's current production projects.
 This pane contains the actual conrols for adding, modifying, and cancelling production projects.
The arrows on the right of the pane allow moving projects up and down in the list. Moving an item below all other active projects will place it in queued mode. If enough unused capacity remains, a project can be moved from the queue up into the active projects.  This pane details the sorium refining status of this colony. Our 5000 conventional industry allows us to produce 5 million litres of refined sorium fuel per year at this colony. Refineries are more efficient at producing sorium than conventional industry. As processing hasn't started yet, the reserves on Earth are at 0 litres. Again, I take this amount to be the strategic reserve available for UN ships, after the civilian and commercial sector takes its share. The Start and Stop buttons allow refined sorium production to be turned on and off for this colony, which may be necessary if there is a worker shortage. State of the UN, 1st January 2025: Mining  The discovery of Trans-Newtonian elements in mid-2024 revolutionized our way of thinking abot the world. A mad scramble to come up with new and exciting ways to exploit this discovery ensued. One UN research group, however, mindful of the dangers of overexploitation, set out to undertake a preliminary survey of the abundancies of these miraculous new materials. Using sensors whose operation was only made possible by the trace amounts of TNEs mined by the early TN researchers, the United Nations Geological Survey released its preliminary findings to the UN Executive Council in late August 2024. The results are above. The UNGS report went on to caution that the Eurasian Federation surely had made a similar study, and that these minerals were accessible to anyone with the means to mine them. The report also introduced a concept the researches called the Mineral Accessibility Index, or just "accessiblity". Due to various factors, some TNEs in Earth's interior were more accessible than others, and mining them would produce larger yields. Also mentioned was the fact that this report is preliminary, and a dedicated geological survey team might be able to find new deposits or discover better access routes to existing deposits. It was suggested that such a team be organized as soon as enough trained personnel were available. The last part of the report was an observation on the relative scarcity, either in absolute amount or amount of accessible mineral, of neutronium, corbomite, boronide, vendarite, uridium, and corundium. Corundium and neutronium in particular were recognized as having great strategic and industrial value, and the report urged a concerted effort to locate a better source of these TNEs somewhere in the solar system -- or beyond. The Appendix of the report contained a brief overview of the different elements and their potential uses.
Over the months since the initial report came out, major effort was made toward creating a crude mining infrastructure. That effort is about to pay off, as the various mining concerns involved have indicated they are ready to bring their operations online.  The mining report on the Mining/Maintenance tab gives details about the mineral wealth of a colony. We will be covering the Maintenance portion (the lower half) in a later update. Ground-based Mines determines the overall mining capability of the colony. Each point of conventional industry counts as 1/10 of a ground-based mine, so our effective number of ground-based mines is 500. Annual production (Accessibility 1.0) multiplies the effective ground-based mines by our current mining rate (which can be improved through technology). Our current rate is 10, so our total production is 5000 tons / year for each mineral, assuming they have accessibility 1.0. Minerals with lower accessibilities have their annual production scaled by their accessibility. (A 0.5 accessibility mineral would produce half as much in a year as a 1.0 accessiblity mineral). Mass Driver Destinaton specifies the location in system where any present mass-drivers will launch their mineral packets. This mechanism can be used to concentrate minerals from various system bodies at one central location. A mass driver must be present on the receiving world or circumstances become quite dire. (I believe the game may have removed the ability to load up a mass driver on a world with incoming mineral packets, but it may still be possible). The minerals gridview is fairly straightforward. Our stockpile is currently empty because we haven't processed any turns.
The better portion of the Research update is typed up, but I wanted to get something up tonight at least. I'll post the Research update tomorrow. bgreman fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Apr 5, 2012 |
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Mar 29, 2012 06:19
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So how can we increase industry on a planet, or is a set amount that's always there? Also are the mines automatically placed, or do we build them?
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Mar 29, 2012 06:38
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Jimmy4400nav posted:So how can we increase industry on a planet, or is a set amount that's always there? Also are the mines automatically placed, or do we build them? For now we've started with Conventional industry. This is the basic 1 to 1 type of industry, presumably the kind we've got around here. You can build more conventional industry, but the increase is linear. For every 1 building of Conventional Industry, you gain another 1 in the industry amount. This is for now, and will change once we're further along. Mines are of two types: automatic and manual. The manual ones have a greater efficiency, thus mine more in the same period of time, but need the population on the colony to be numerous enough for enough people to have been assigned to the industry (might be wrong, there could be a separate industry for mining, I can't remember) sector of the colony. You can build them as you see the order to build financial centers in the last post. You can also convert manual mines to automated ones for a paltry cost in materials and time. Once the mines are built, you'll need to move them to the actual colony you want them to mine from (or build them already there), but that'll show up later.
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Mar 29, 2012 07:24
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quote:...a dedicated geological survey team might be able to find new deposits or discover better access routes to existing deposits. It was suggested that such a team be organized as soon as enough trained personnel were available. The level 1 military academy we have can produce these, correct? I'm sure that this will be covered in due time, but with these dense updates it might be good to get some preliminary ideas out there.
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Mar 29, 2012 07:50
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Ynkling posted:The level 1 military academy we have can produce these, correct? I'm sure that this will be covered in due time, but with these dense updates it might be good to get some preliminary ideas out there. Yes, it can. I'm not even sure the level of the military academy influences anything other than the amount of personnel it spits out. Even better, we've more than likely already started with a good number of administrators, researchers, etc, that are likely at least a bit skilled with geological surveys. On the game aspect of it, it's better to not survey the planet just yet, because once you do, it's final, but higher skill levels from the team will mean more discoveries before it's finalised. Unless you're so low on minerals that you can't survey other planets, but that's not the case here.
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Mar 29, 2012 08:29
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Ynkling posted:The level 1 military academy we have can produce these, correct? I'm sure that this will be covered in due time, but with these dense updates it might be good to get some preliminary ideas out there. Yeah being able to crank out some good leaders would be a boon for us.
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Mar 29, 2012 08:41
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Hi here is my vote: A RICH WHITE MAN(that's me!) Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav Ynkling A vote for rich white men is a vote for progress...
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Mar 29, 2012 09:05
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Red Mike posted:Yes, it can. I'm not even sure the level of the military academy influences anything other than the amount of personnel it spits out. It's best to train them up on Asteroids and moons before sending them to Earth. Primarily this is to ensure that we don't end up with earth just ending up with 100000 extra tonnes of Boronide before concluding that THERE CAN'T POSSIBLY BE ANY MORE MINERALS. Ideally we want to get Corudium up to 250000 with an access of at least 0.6, otherwise we are going to be running into a lot of shortages when it comes to expanding our mining capabilities (this will hurt, believe me)
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Mar 29, 2012 11:57
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Well, I think it's safe to say that if it happens, bgreman will probably just use SM mode to fix it so the playthrough is fun.
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Mar 29, 2012 12:18
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I just got this game, so this LP will be like a tutorial for me. I might crawl the net later for race images to add to the custom pack I downloaded, you can never have enough aliens. Ascendancy had the best alien design I think.
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Mar 29, 2012 12:57
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Lord Windy posted:It's best to train them up on Asteroids and moons before sending them to Earth. True story, I've never bothered with trying to game the system this way. You guys definitely shouldn't worry about it. It's good information for other people playing the game though.
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Mar 29, 2012 15:10
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Just completed a quick tally of votes so far, and here's the current polling results: Lord Windy: 8 votes Ynkling: 8 votes Pistokemisti: 7 votes Jimmy4400nav: 7 votes A RICH WHITE MAN: 5 votes Triskelli: 5 votes At this point the contest is between me and A RICH WHITE MAN. I'd also like to take this time to remind everyone that I stand for expansion and exploration of the universe, now that we are able to do so. It is time to realize those dreams of the future we had so long ago. If elected, I promise a jetpack in every garage and a Martian turkey-beast on every table. TRISKELLI 2012
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Mar 29, 2012 18:44
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I stand for constant war, brutal colonialism, and SpaceCapitalism. I am A RICH WHITE MAN (2012) and I will bring peace and prosperity to our homeworld through the economic exploitation of the rest of our galaxy. My opponent, Triskelli, on the other hand? He's a space commie. Triskelli posted:Honestly, we have enough RICH WHITE MEN in positions of power. He will take your money away and give it to the poor. Triskelli posted:I love poor people. I'm going to take your money away and give it to poor people. He's soft on crime! Triskelli posted:I'm soft on crime.
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Mar 29, 2012 19:10
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