The War of the Worlds; Lets Play Aurora

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > The War of the Worlds; Lets Play Aurora

Cast_No_Shadow: Jun 8, 2010; The Republic of Luna Equestria is a huge, socially progressive nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates. Its compassionate, cynical population of 714m are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich.

A joint defensive task force for Sol (or Nova Sol/RG) with UT might help foster trust, you know working together etc if that's a route we want to go down?

In terms of defenses. We can have a minefield at each of the JP's but also can we get a bit of defense in depth going.

We know a few things that might let us be intelligent here. When blind jumping into a combat situation they have shown that they can find the star quickly and burn towards it. We know how long they stay blinded for and what distance they can cover. Sounds like a great place for a 2nd minefield.

From this narrow area defined as the jump point itself and the maximum burn distance towards the star they can get before recovering from jump sickness we get a line I'll call the starting point.

Since our key planets are all inner system (at least in Sol), you can also draw a much bigger line that covers the orbit of a key planet (mars and earth). This makes a cone shape when joined to the starting point. Can we mine this at its narrower points to start creating defense in depth?

Edit - I know nothing about the game so please tell me if any of this is impossible or doesn't make sense!

# ? Dec 10, 2017 08:05

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 14:07

OwlFancier: Aug 22, 2013

Nevets posted:

We need to be careful with the missiles against the speedy fartcrabs. We'll have to make sure they can't turn around and outrun our fire control's range as soon as the missiles are launched.

On the other hand if they do try to kite our first volley we'll gain some extra time to get the dreads to form up with the destroyers & cruisers.

Unless there is some serious nonsense going on they shouldn't have any idea what our FCS range is, or when we've launched. They've yet to face us at long range.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 09:07

Affi: Dec 18, 2005; Break bread wit the enemy

X GON GIVE IT TO YA

So how is our research situation? Where are we putting our focus and when is the next big breakthrough?

Also how is our build queue right now? Are we getting any new awesome ships anytime soon?

# ? Dec 10, 2017 12:26

Nevets: Sep 11, 2002; Be they sad or be they well,
I'll make their lives a hell

OwlFancier posted:

Unless there is some serious nonsense going on they shouldn't have any idea what our FCS range is, or when we've launched. They've yet to face us at long range.

If their sensors can see our missiles as soon as they are fired they might try to outrun them, and if we fired at near maximum range they will succeed. Once the missiles lose target they'll know exactly how far our fire control range is.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 14:08

OddObserver: Apr 3, 2009

Nevets posted:

If their sensors can see our missiles as soon as they are fired they might try to outrun them, and if we fired at near maximum range they will succeed. Once the missiles lose target they'll know exactly how far our fire control range is.

Missile-detection sensors usually have way lower range than the ship detection ones, especially when it comes to actually detecting missiles (as opposed to other stuff); there is a range/resolution tradeoff involved.

For example, on the Revolution:
Olympos Active Search Sensor MR97-R90 (70%) (1) GPS 6615 Range 97.6m km Resolution 90

We can see 4500t (90 * 50) ships at 97.6 million km

While on the Hubble:
North-Palmer Active Search Sensor MR35-R1 (70%) (1) GPS 252 Range 35.3m km MCR 3.8m km Resolution 1

Now this can see small ships all the way out to 35.3m, but missiles are even smaller, and the spec for them is the MCR: one --- 3.8m km (for sizes 6 of less)

# ? Dec 10, 2017 15:22

Friend Commuter: Nov 3, 2009; SO CLEVER I WANT TO FUCK MY OWN BRAIN.; Smellrose

OddObserver posted:

Missile-detection sensors usually have way lower range than the ship detection ones, especially when it comes to actually detecting missiles (as opposed to other stuff); there is a range/resolution tradeoff involved.

For example, on the Revolution:
Olympos Active Search Sensor MR97-R90 (70%) (1) GPS 6615 Range 97.6m km Resolution 90

We can see 4500t (90 * 50) ships at 97.6 million km

While on the Hubble:
North-Palmer Active Search Sensor MR35-R1 (70%) (1) GPS 252 Range 35.3m km MCR 3.8m km Resolution 1

Now this can see small ships all the way out to 35.3m, but missiles are even smaller, and the spec for them is the MCR: one --- 3.8m km (for sizes 6 of less)

That's true, but they probably have better sensor tech than us, along with their better everything else tech.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 15:39

pun pundit: Nov 11, 2008; I feel the same way about the company bearing the same name.

Cast_No_Shadow posted:

Edit - I know nothing about the game so please tell me if any of this is impossible or doesn't make sense!

I'm no Aurora expert, but from discussions earlier in the thread mines attack anything at all in range; they have no IFF.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 15:44

Crazycryodude: Aug 15, 2015; Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?

I believe that mines do have IFF, they won't fire on anything from their faction or allied factions. They will fire on neutral ships as well as enemies, however, so unless we get a full in-game alliance with Earth the mines will blast them too. Also, we're talking a MASSIVE amount of mines here. Space is really really big, trying to properly mine any meaningful amount of volume will consume all of humanity's ordnance factories for a decade.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 16:03

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

By which point the mines will be out of date and unable to hit anything in addition to reaching the end of their maintenance lives and self-destructing.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 16:32

Telsa Cola: Aug 19, 2011; No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface

LLSix posted:

By which point the mines will be out of date and unable to hit anything in addition to reaching the end of their maintenance lives and self-destructing.

Mines no longer have a maintenance life, they will just sit there until you set them off or detonante them manually.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 17:07

Jackson Taus: Oct 19, 2011

Friend Commuter posted:

That's true, but they probably have better sensor tech than us, along with their better everything else tech.

There's better sensor tech sure, but it's reasonable. "Can see us fire missiles at our max range using their AMM sensors" would require their AMM sensors be something like 80x bigger/better than ours.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 17:09

Cathode Raymond: Dec 30, 2015; My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.; Soiled Meat

In any case we should probably start building new mines and start stuffing the old carriers with them, right?

# ? Dec 10, 2017 20:38

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

I think people might be talking about different things. To be clear:

Mines are a special type of missile. You drop them with a ship that has missile launchers. They sit in space until their sensor picks up a hostile (they don't fire on friendlies as some have said. it sounds like that maybe changed at some point). Then the second stage automatically activates and the attack munitions are released on that target. This is what we used at the Battle of Triton.

Missile pods are basically a missile ship with no engine. You control it like a regular ship and manually select targets for it. Unlike mines, it needs maintenance since it's a ship. This is what UT just used at the jump point and you place them either by towing or carrying them in hangars.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 20:59

Telsa Cola: Aug 19, 2011; No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface

And Mines dont need that much production, they take a poo poo load of micromanaging to set up correctly though so the best way to do it is just toss several mines that have a large,fast thermal targeted warhead or three as a second stage around a JP or "lane" of space and use it as a trap to cripple or destroy several ships. This is much saner then setting up extensive minefields and basically covers like 99% of the occasions when a mine would actually be useful.

You can basically toss 5-8 waypoints around a JP and use that as your mine placement pattern. If you space it right based on detection radius you can be reasonable certain that at least a couple of the mines will go off on hostile transit and that at least one or two ships get hit and crippled. A bonus to this is once the mines go off its pretty easy to set up another round of mines since you can just have the original order saved.

Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Dec 10, 2017

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:03

Cathode Raymond: Dec 30, 2015; My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.; Soiled Meat

Fray posted:

I think people might be talking about different things. To be clear:

Mines are a special type of missile. You drop them with a ship that has missile launchers. They sit in space until their sensor picks up a hostile (they don't fire on friendlies as some have said. it sounds like that maybe changed at some point). Then the second stage automatically activates and the attack munitions are released on that target. This is what we used at the Battle of Triton.

Missile pods are basically a missile ship with no engine. You control it like a regular ship and manually select targets for it. Unlike mines, it needs maintenance since it's a ship. This is what UT just used at the jump point and you place them either by towing or carrying them in hangars.

Ohhhhh, yeah I was conflating the two.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:12

OwlFancier: Aug 22, 2013

I really also think we should try and design some jump point interceptor missiles, all engines and warhead with minimal range and tracking, designed to sprint to inbound combat jumping targets and obliterate them as quickly as possible before they recover from jump shock. That remains by far our most effective engagement of the enemy to date.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:30

Crazycryodude: Aug 15, 2015; Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?

Luckily, we're already manufacturing torpedoes for our missile cruisers that are basically exactly that.

code:

Hellhammer Torpedo
Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 13
Speed: 24000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 2 minutes   Range: 2.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.6932
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 312%   3k km/s 104%   5k km/s 62.4%   10k km/s 31.2%

It's not PERFECT, we designed them to kill Terran ships, not Crabs that go twice as fast, so the hit rate will suffer some. But they fit in our standard tubes and are already in production, should be pretty easy to fill pods with them or whatever we want to do.

Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Dec 10, 2017

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:42

Cathode Raymond: Dec 30, 2015; My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.; Soiled Meat

Crazycryodude posted:

Luckily, we're already manufacturing torpedoes for our missile cruisers that are basically exactly that.
code:
Hellhammer Torpedo
Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 13
Speed: 24000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 2 minutes   Range: 2.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.6932
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 312%   3k km/s 104%   5k km/s 62.4%   10k km/s 31.2%
It's not PERFECT, we designed them to kill Terran ships, not Crabs that go twice as fast, so the hit rate will suffer some. But they fit in our standard tubes and are already in full production, should be pretty easy to fill pods with them or whatever we want to do.

Looks like the hit rate for those on a jump blind crabship burning full speed towards the nearest star will be about 50%? Could we do better than that or are even the best missiles we could design not do much better for hit rates against the fast crabships?

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:47

Crazycryodude: Aug 15, 2015; Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?

Yeah I'm sure we could min/max a better torpedo that goes faster and/or has more agility to up the hit rate, and we probably should do just that, but new designs need to be researched and assembled and shipped to the front etc., I just wanted to point out that these are in our stockpiles literally right now and can fill the role at like 80% efficiency until we get the new Crab Crackers online.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 21:55

Tactical_Torpedo: Feb 26, 2017; When all else fails?

FIRE EVERYTHING!

Then bravely run away.; Grimey Drawer

Running the numbers with our current Torps gives around 45% hit chance, whereas a specifically designed Torp for Cracking Crabs
This:

code:

 Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 22
Speed: 17800 km/s    Engine Endurance: 0 minutes   Range: 0.2m km
Cost Per Missile: 4.0581
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 391.6%   3k km/s 110%   5k km/s 78.3%   10k km/s 39.2%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   1.8081x Gallicite   Fuel x3

gives 56.8% hit ratio. Note the significantly reduced range, this was designed for point-blank Torping of Krabs and nothing else. A more rounded design can expect 2-3% less hit chance.

In summary, while potentially something to do for the long run, not something needed immediately.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 23:32

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

In the time it would take to produce and distribute new missiles, we'll probably have another engine tech as well. That'll help a lot with hit rates.

# ? Dec 10, 2017 23:53

OwlFancier: Aug 22, 2013

Well then yeah I suggest we start churning out a lot of those torps and putting them in as many of our ships as we can especially on the jump point guards.

# ? Dec 11, 2017 02:12

Mikl: Nov 8, 2009; Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!

Tactical_Torpedo posted:

Running the numbers with our current Torps gives around 45% hit chance, whereas a specifically designed Torp for Cracking Crabs
This:
code:
 Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 22
Speed: 17800 km/s    Engine Endurance: 0 minutes   Range: 0.2m km
Cost Per Missile: 4.0581
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 391.6%   3k km/s 110%   5k km/s 78.3%   10k km/s 39.2%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   1.8081x Gallicite   Fuel x3 
gives 56.8% hit ratio. Note the significantly reduced range, this was designed for point-blank Torping of Krabs and nothing else. A more rounded design can expect 2-3% less hit chance.

In summary, while potentially something to do for the long run, not something needed immediately.

I've nothing significant to add to the conversation, but I just want to note that this was an excellent username/post combo.

# ? Dec 11, 2017 10:19

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Dr. Snark posted:

I realize this is rather belated, but Saros could you please rename my ship? In honor of the circumstances that brought me to my commanding position of my group, I'd like to have the name changed to Assuming Direct Control.

I will endeavor to do it when running the next update.

LostCosmonaut posted:

How much punch do those Terran fighters have?

Best guess from intel is they will sling a dozen size 1 missiles each. 14-18 fighters depending on the composition of the fighter wing.

Akratic Method posted:

We�ve just been assuming they want to glass the colony. They may want to treat it like the ships: do some damage and then start dropping troops. Is there any way those ships could carry a number of troops that�s relevant on a colony scale? We saw the stats on the imp drop module so now Aurora players should have an idea.

They could have drop modules. However according to the Terran commander there are two brigades of combat troops emplaced on Nova Sol II so it's unlikely the aliens have enough troops to overwhelm the defenders.

winterwerefox posted:

Rawkking posted:

Hooray, space relevance achieved!

Saros, can I request a ship name for my vessel (I assumed I'd get a random one or something)? Acquisitions Incorporated seems like a fantastic name for a salvage ship.

I'll make the update.

markus_cz posted:

Finally caught up with the thread, and it�s a great one. The recent pages have been exciting to read, I wish there actually were games that gave you this experience.

Can I be spacedorfed, please?

Always good to see a CW veteran turn up.

Fray posted:

Pretty sure IC is bound by the defense clause as a lunar accord signatory anyway. Might as well invoke it, and if they say no we have an excuse to wreck them at the soonest opportunity.

IC is bound by it but post-reparations and after the crash of sorium prices their navy is in a sad state.

Rawkking posted:

Do we know what type of missiles the pit aliens are using on their missile Rakshasha? I don't know if Aurora missiles follow a nuclear -> fusion -> antimatter -> something worse than antimatter progression for missiles that a lot of space 4x games use, but it would be interesting if we could semi-confirm whether or not the pit aliens were the ones who glassed all those relatively recent colonies that were destroyed with antimatter weaponry.

Right now you son't have any exact data beyond the missiles having 1 megaton warheads which is on the small side for the impact craters observed in Ranginui.

ultrabindu posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lbeR2KHIdQ

Holy poo poo.

Cathode Raymond posted:

I�m a tad confused about the new ETA�s. Sounds like the dreads are ahead of schedule but does that also mean the cruisers will arrive with plenty of time to engage the crabs?

The cruisers will arrive about 4.5 hours before the Aliens which translates into them being roughly 112m km distant.

Affi posted:

So how is our research situation? Where are we putting our focus and when is the next big breakthrough?

Also how is our build queue right now? Are we getting any new awesome ships anytime soon?

Research is mostly focused on recovered alien technology. The main focus is upgraded engines but other improvements to power plants and capacitors are also on the way. The latest batch of newfleet (two cruiser squadrons, two destroyer squadrons and a dreadnought squadron) are about to roll off the slipways, this latest. batch of four Pollux and four Azreal are modified to the new Nebula standard.

OwlFancier posted:

Well then yeah I suggest we start churning out a lot of those torps and putting them in as many of our ships as we can especially on the jump point guards.

Most missile ships have 1-2 salvos of torpedoes already and the colliers have reloads so if they are assigned to JP defense duty they willrearm with as many torpedoes as possible.

Mars is recruiting! Sign up here!

(Thanks to Tythas for turning up the image)

# ? Dec 11, 2017 15:24

Dr. Snark: Oct 15, 2012; I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

Saros posted:

I will endeavor to do it when running the next update.

Um...I appreciate the thought Saros but you already did that.

# ? Dec 11, 2017 19:39

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

Hey Saros, can you double check whether my ship got renamed?

# ? Dec 11, 2017 20:54

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Quite possibly I did, oh well it's been a long week.

# ? Dec 11, 2017 21:07

Leif.: Mar 27, 2005; Son of the Defender
Formerly Diplomaticus/SWATJester

Yeah, looks like it got missed (based on one of the screenshots several pages back), if you wouldn't mind renaming:

Leif. posted:

^ Would prefer to name it the Hwasong-Scinfaxi*.

*Trivia: "Hwasong" is the prefix for North Korea's ballistic missile family. Translated, it means "Mars". The Scinfaxi was the ballistic missile submarine from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, which aside from being one of my all-time favorite games, has all kinds of parallels to this LP.

# ? Dec 11, 2017 22:09

Mukaikubo: Mar 14, 2006; "You treat her like a lady... and she'll always bring you home."

I'm still proud that I was the first goon casualty, leading the Enduring Triton Fleet in glorious martyriffic victory to a pitched battle saving Triton from the villainous IC. Mukaikubo Jr. is going to have a lot to live up to when the list circles around back to me.

# ? Dec 12, 2017 00:50

SIGSEGV: Nov 4, 2010

Mukaikubo posted:

I'm still proud that I was the first goon casualty, leading the Enduring Triton Fleet in glorious martyriffic victory to a pitched battle saving Triton from the villainous IC. Mukaikubo Jr. is going to have a lot to live up to when the list circles around back to me.

He'll get to captain an AO and die in a double maintenance failure.

I say that but it's also the endgame for my pixelman.

# ? Dec 12, 2017 00:53

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

Mukaikubo posted:

I'm still proud that I was the first goon casualty, leading the Enduring Triton Fleet in glorious martyriffic victory to a pitched battle saving Triton from the villainous IC. Mukaikubo Jr. is going to have a lot to live up to when the list circles around back to me.

Sorry man, but I died like five minutes into the LP.

# ? Dec 12, 2017 00:57

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

# ? Dec 12, 2017 01:05

Mukaikubo: Mar 14, 2006; "You treat her like a lady... and she'll always bring you home."

Fray posted:

Sorry man, but I died like five minutes into the LP.

Crap, you're right. I was looking at the signup sheet and saw that I was first on that. :v:

First person to sign UP and then died.

# ? Dec 12, 2017 01:08

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

Mukaikubo posted:

Crap, you're right. I was looking at the signup sheet and saw that I was first on that. First person to sign UP and then died.

On the plus side, you bought it in a way cooler battle than me. :v:

# ? Dec 12, 2017 02:20

Dr. Snark: Oct 15, 2012; I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

Mukaikubo posted:

Crap, you're right. I was looking at the signup sheet and saw that I was first on that. First person to sign UP and then died.

Fray posted:

On the plus side, you bought it in a way cooler battle than me.

Ayup, no shame in dying during the Battle of Triton where the legend of Triton Fleet began.

# ? Dec 12, 2017 03:10

Volmarias: Dec 31, 2002; EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

Zaodai posted:

If the fart carbs prioritize genociding the colony over their own survival, they're either our Chaotic Evil enemy of the storyline, where they irrationally value evil acts above any actual tactical or strategic value, or far more likely, the UT found a Fartcrab colony somewhere in the network and glassed it themselves.

We're assuming that we provoked the fart crabs. They could just be xenocidal, or space jump crazy.