Solar Strife: Lets Play Aurora 4x

[Psionic Dog]

Once upon a time I wrote a little Lets Play called A Galactic Takeover (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223236). By page views it ranks as one of my greatest internet contributions. Trouble is, Aurora got a major update 7 months after it ended, leaving it informatively obsolete in anything relating to engines and propulsion which, in a 4x Space game, is a lot.

Today I fix that. Today is post one of Solar Strife, an up-to-date successor of A Galactic Takeover. This is a Lets Play. This is a Tutorial. This is an After Action Report. This is all of these.

For independent information about Aurora and its creater, read this interview (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/21/interview-aurora-the-4x-sci-fi-dwarf-fortress/), by Rock Paper Shotgun.

Objectives
• Demonstrate how to setup a multi-faction game in a conventional low-tech start.
• Help anyone on the forums struggling with the difficult curve.
• Report on the epic struggle between space Dwarves and Elves Pigmies and long-eared Titans.
• Entertain. Hang on please, and Enjoy the Ride. :smallcool:

Edit: Ok, I admit it. I utterly blotched my first post yesterday. A Lets Play is supposed to be about the story, and I went and gave a click-by-click tutorial that could pass as a wall of test. Let me try this again. :smallredface:


• • • • • • •

- - - The second greatest economic change to the human race was the Y2K crash ending the 20th century. First cheap computer systems crashed, taking with them the stock market. The trade and credit crisis toppled global economies leading former superpowers to default. However, the chaos didn't truly start until the nuclear-biological exchanges five months later.

- - - Humanity split. The ARK movement looked outward to send the best and brightest outward with genetic samples for a new future beyond Earth. Their search for water took them first to the asteroids, and then to the Jovian moons where they found shelter behind the magnetosphere of Ganymede and went to work boiling the subterranean oceans into atmosphere.

- - - The Survivalists, meanwhile, turned inward to underground bunker communes to escape the radiation and nuclear winter. There, the hardiest of humanity safeguarded a future generation against the day humans would rise again.

- - - The wait was surprisingly short, but devastating. By 2020 the surface of both Earth and Ganymede was habitable, but billions had died in the intervening decades. Both sides blamed the other. Those left on Earth insisted the ARK foundation was bunch of corporate elitists whose ancestors not only caused the mess but were too cowardly to clean up. The seconded generation, spawned en-mass from frozen genetic material had grown lanky in the low gravity. Elves some wanted to call them, but a different derogatory term caught on. Rabbits. While some 'Rabbits' tried to return the favor by insisting the grubby selfish survivalist decedents were hogs, groundhogs, a more condescending endearment was eventually adopted: Shorties.

This brings us to the Greatest Economic change, the discovery of TransNewtonian elements. Technically heavy metal alloys, certain combinations were found have intrinsic multidimensional resonance that shattered most existing concepts of closed systems making the impossible plausible. For better or worse in the name of racial good will the initial results were freely published open-source in the year 2025. The Transnewtonian Race was on.


Note: For future reference this Let's Play was done using Aurora v6.21
You can find the game here (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/board,10.0.html), on the official forum.
I did the traditional path of installing the 5.54 full version, applying first the 6.2 patch and then the 6.21 patch.

Act 1: Setting Up The Pieces
To start with, lets create a new game, conventional start. We'll call faction #1 the "Pygmy Empire", or "Shorty" for short. Oh, and decline starting missile bases. Those are worthless, so we'll make our own. I'll be using the Norse name/theme set.

Open Aurora.
Click 'New Game'

From top to bottom left to right:
Game Name
Set to 'Multifaction Tutorial'

Space Master Password
Leave this blank.

Basic Parameters
Leave the defaults.

Starting Empire Parameters
Set Empire Title to 'Pygmy Empire'
Set Empire Short Name to 'Shorty'
Set Empire Theme to 'Norse'
Set Commander Theme to 'Norse'
Change radio button selection to 'Conventional'

Species Tolerance
Leave the defaults

Starting Population
Check the box for No Missile Bases for Conventional Start.

Starting System
Starting Tech
Starting Race
Default, Default Default.

Non-NPR Computer Opponents
Computer Controlled Empires
Uncheck everything. Set number of computer controlled empires at start to 0.

Everything Else
Default.

Click Create Game.
Click 'OK' as needed.

After you are returned to the Splash screen, make sure 'Multiplayer Tutorial' is the listed game, then click 'Select' to open our new game.


First, turn SystemMaster mode 'On.' We'll needed it to customize our setup and also to prevent us from betting spammed by password requests every time we change factions later on. If you have a small screen, click the Reduce Height option under Game Parameters.

Next, lets give ourselves some tech! We'll instantly grant the Pygmies Trans-Newtonian Technology (everything requires that), Active Grav Sensor Strength 10 (necessary to design our own missile bases), and Pressurized Water reactors (real world tech, so why not?)

Now that the Pygmies have the theory, lets build a Real conventional-era missile base. I used the following components:
Size-12 Resolution-20 Active scanner.
Size-4 Resolution-20 Missile Fire Control.
Size-12 PDC Missile Launcher.

For ICBM-2.0:
WH: 4, Fuel: 0.9, Agility: 0.31, 2x Conventional Engines[3.8 msp, 2x power]

These size-12 missiles not only pack 33% more boom into a package half the size of than the junk the game tries to start you with, but are also 30 times faster and outrange the moon!

Missile-Complex 2.0 consists of 10 launchers, 2 fire controls, 1 active scanner, as well as a PDC barracks so they can be at least useful as bunkers even in the late game.

Open the System Map (F3 hotkey).
Open the Economy Window (F2)
Select the Research Tab.
Select the Construction Production category.
Click on Trans Newtonian Technology, then click 'Instant' (This is an SM mode cheat we're using to customize our setup.)
Go to 'Power & Propulsion' and instantly give the pygmies Pressurized Water Reactors.
Go to 'Sensor & Firecontrol' and instantly give the pygmies Active Grav Sensor 10.

At the bottom of the components window is a button labeled 'Design.' Click this to bring up the component design window.

When it comes up the 'Active Sensor' project window should be shown by default. Change sensor size to '12' and Min Resolution to '20'. Click Instant.

Next, change 'Search Sensor' to 'Missile Fire Control', change sensor size to '4', and click Instant again. (Narrow band fire controls have 3x the range of broad-band search sensors)

Change the project type to Missile Launcher. Set missile launch size to 12, platform to PDC-based system, then click Instant again.

Change the project type to Missile Engine. Set the power multiple to x2.00, and the engine size to 3.8 MSP. Again, click instant.

If you hadn't guessed, the Instant button is an SM cheat option. We will not cheat and use the instant button after we finish game setup.

Close the design window. Close the Economy window. Reopen the economy window(F2). This refreshes stuff so the game knows about the new components we instantly made. Click 'Missiles' at the bottom next to the Design button.

Change number of Engines to '2' for a total engine size of 7.6
Change Warhead MSP to '4' to give a strength-8 warhead
Change Fuel MSP to '0.09,' it doesn't need to go far
Change Agility MSP to '0.31'

The missile should now be exactly size 12 with a speed of 100 km/s

Rename the missile 'ICBM' or similar, and click 'create' (there is no instant option here)

Close the missile window. Navigate to the Missile/Kinetic subtab of the Research tab. Select the design project for the Pygmy's missile, then click Instant. Close the Economy window.

Open the class design window. (F5)
Click 'New'
Click 'Rename' and change the name to 'Missile Complex'
Change Type to 'PDC', change the hull description to 'Missile Base.'
Go to the Design View tab, click on Fuel Storage, and click remove. Planetary bunkers usually do not require fuel.

Click on the each of the two components that starts with 'ICBM' and then click 'Obs Component.' That stuff is junk.

Now, add 2 Missile Fire Control components, 10 PDC Missile Launchers, 1 PDC Barracks, and 1 Active Scanner Component.

Lastly, select the Ordinance tab and add 10x ICBM missiles to the default load out.

If it looks like the design below, click create. Don't worry if the missiles aren't showing: the window probably just needs to refresh. Besides, the default load out can always be changed later if necessary.


Missile Complex class Missile Base 21,950 tons 425 Crew 982.8 BP TCS 439 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-69 Sensors 1/120 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 120
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 120

PDC Size 12 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 12 Rate of Fire 180
Missile Fire Control FC26-R20 (2) Range 26.8m km Resolution 20
ICBM (10) Speed: 300 km/s End: 1.8d Range: 46.9m km WH: 8 Size: 12 TH: 1/0/0

Active Search Sensor MR26-R20 (1) GPS 2400 Range 26.8m km Resolution 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 9 sections


Faction #2
Time to add a second faction. Mars might be a little too close, so lets stick them on Ganymede. Step 0 is to give Ganymede a breathable atmosphere.

In the System Map navigate to Jupiter, and zoom in until we clearly see Ganymede. If the asteroids make the map too cluttered go to the 'display 2' tab and check the 'Asteroid /w minerals only' option.

Right click on Ganymede, and under Population select 'Create Colony.'
Reopen the Economy Window, select Ganymede, and go to the Environment tab. Change the terraforming gas to 'Oxygen', set the quantity to 0.2 atmospheres, and click the 'SM Set' button. Ideally the oxygen would be blended with Nitrogen, but since the Jovian moon is on the chilly side we'll need to use a generic green-house gas instead.

Change the terraforming gas to 'Safe green-house,' set the quantity to 1.1 atm, and click SM Set again (SM Set is another SM-mode cheat that we will not be using after setup is finished)

Now that the Ganymede is terriformed for humans click 'Abandon.' A the confirmation screen confirm that we are abandoning Ganymede and not Earth. Abandoning Earth would be bad. Suicidally bad.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/AuroraBullRun.png
((No, this doesn't have a thing to do with Ganymede, Abandonment issues, or this tutorial/lets play. I just thought the Wall of text needed a pause. Aurora isn't photogenic enough to get many screen shots, but I promise many people will become surprisingly attached to those little sensor dots and their supporting text.))

Ehm. Open the F9 System Details menu.
Scroll down to Ganymede. It's bright blue, signifying humans can live there unassisted. Io, Europa, and Callisto by contrast are red signify that while the gravity permits human colonization, infrastructure requirements are significant. ... It might be unfair to let the Titans have 3 secondary colonizable moons to Earths singular Luna. Lets close the the system details window and open the View Race Details window (Cnt+F2). At the right ins 'Species of Empire' change the Human Max Gravity Deviation tolerance from 0.9G to 0.86G. That makes Europa and Callisto with 0.13G gravity uninhabitable. Click 'Save' for Species and then 'Save' again for Empire.

When we go back to the F9 System Details window we see that Io and Ganymede are the only colored jovian moons. Click on Ganymede, then click 'Create Empire. We'll re-use the existing Human species, and set the new empire to a 500 million population, conventional, with no missile bases. Change Empire Name to the 'Rabbit Federation' forget about Titans, this is much more fitting. :smalltongue:

Set the Short name to 'LongEars,' empire theme to 'Hippy,' and commander theme to... hmm, 'Aztec' and we're done. Click 'Create Empire'. Close the System Design, and System map windows.

When we reopen the System map window we see a new selection box on the left with the empire names. Change the selection to the Rabbit Federation, then open the economy tab. Time to give the LongEars basic starting tech like we did for the Shorties. To save time Click 'compare' under the Research tab, and in the new window check 'Include race design Tech.' We'll now transfer every Pygmy tech, except the missile engine and ICBM, to the Rabbits. The LongEars believe in Long Range and have their own missile idea.

Transfer done, we'll close that window and go back to the component design window to make a Rabbit missile engine (size 2.8 msp, x1.85 power). As before, its back to the Missile Design window to create a Rabbit Federation missile. 3msp warhead, 2.1 msp fuel, 0.15msp active sensor, active sensor resolution 40, 1-point of ablative armor, and 2x engines should do the trick. This size-12 auto-targeting missile has a 20k km proximity lock and over 1b km range allowing the long ears to target Earth at anytime. We'll name it the IPPM, Inter-Planitary Powered Missile.

Click Create, then instantly build this project as before. Go to the Ship Class Design window, and build Rabbits a Missile Complex identical to the Pygmies except for the missile load out. It should look like this:


Missile Complex class Missile Base 21,950 tons 425 Crew 982.8 BP TCS 439 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-69 Sensors 1/120 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 120
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Magazine 120

PDC Size 12 Missile Launcher (10) Missile Size 12 Rate of Fire 180
Missile Fire Control FC26-R20 (2) Range 26.8m km Resolution 20
IPPM (10) Speed: 200 km/s End: 61.1d Range: 1055m km WH: 6 Size: 12 TH: 0/0/0

Active Search Sensor MR26-R20 (1) GPS 2400 Range 26.8m km Resolution 20

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 9 sections


Ok, Last Step. Each side wants a planetary protection strength of about 500. Each improved missile base has a planetary protection value of 120. We'll give each side 5.

We'll do this by going to the Fast Order of Battle Window (shift+F9). 5 missile bases created for the Shorties, toggle the faction, and create 5 missile bases for the LongEars. DONE.


There you have it folks. A tutorial on how to create and set up multiple factions in Aurora, and how to make conventional missile systems in the same game. In Act 2 I'll push these factions to war, and record here the tales of woe and glory as long as my time and your interest last. :smallcool:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

My problem: if I quit the create empire screen before creating the empire, it creates an NPR

[Leecros]

ah yes, Aurora. I remember playing around with this.

I think the best(and only) accomplishment i had was establishing a colony on mars. The amount of menus and pages and stuff in this game is rather staggering... :smalltongue:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I had large lunar and Mars colonies, and had a third colony on an extra solar planet but I hadn't gotten it up to the point where it was of any reasonable size. I did cheat a little when I ran out of some resources cuz I was learning how to play, started conventional technology, and was only just starting to learn how to create missiles but yeah

[Dragonfire]

Ah Aurora. I never been able to get this game to work for me apparently their is something wrong with my resolution, still it looks like it would be loads of fun. Do you intend to do another Lets Play series?

[Psionic Dog]

@ Gwyn: Oh yah, That bug. If you accidentally create a conventional NPR you can spawn a massive ground army to conquer then abandon the inconvenience, otherwise you get to have either dwarf fortress fun or start a new game. :smallyuk:

As a warning to everyone else, don't cancel out of the Create Empire dialoge. Fixing or removing a player empire you didn't want is easier than undoing an NPR.


• • • • • • •

- - - Following the TransNewtonian discovery both factions immediately went to work converting existing infrastructure to take advantage of the new materials. The Rabbits focused on Mines, Construction Factories, and a side of missile ordinance assembly plants. The Shorities for their part did much the same, but added fighter assembly stations to the mix as well.

- - - However, the plans of men are often subject to change. Within a month after retooling started the Rabbits discovered Ganymede had crippling impurities in the Tritanium deposits. While refining was possible, the shortages were creating bottlenecks in the ordinance factory production. Grudgingly the leadership reallocated a portion the of ordinance budget to accelerate mine construction.

- - - The first new scientific advancement of the Transnewtonian Age came on June 2026 when the Rabbits mastered the art of orbital resonance geosurvey sensors for trans-newtonian mineral prospecting. While the Shorties were also researching geosurvey sensors, the Earthlings had directed the majority of their efforts into trans-newtoinan propulsion systems and were still years away from completing their first project.

- - - Both sides stockpiling missiles for lack of any other weaponry. However, the Rabbits, still crippled by Tritanium shortages, were forced to divert additional resources away from ordinance factory production to do so. Perpetually stymied, the long LongEars turned their attention to a new priority: the Cosmic Liberty.


Cosmic Liberty class Geosurvey Ship 1,500 tons 34 Crew 174.6 BP TCS 30 TH 3 EM 0
100 km/s Armour 1-11 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/1 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.46 Years MSP 73 AFR 18% IFR 0.2% 1YR 4 5YR 62 Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 0

1.4 EP Conventional Engine (2) Power 1.4 Fuel Use 93% Signature 1.4 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 60,000 Litres Range 7.7 billion km (896 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


- - - Measuring 20-meters from nose to tail the Cosmic Liberty was outwardly unimpressive compared to the ARK ships of the Escape era, but was still a source of pride to the Rabbit federation. Crewed by 34 of the federation's finest, the ship would carry a state-of-the-art sensor payload forward in a mission to uncover a solution to missile production crisis. If all went well it would also be the first trans-newtonian ship of either power. When it comes to national pride, being first is always good.

- - - On February 1st ongoing expansion concluded on the Rabbit Shipyard, and two Cosmic Liberty Hulls were laid. By all appearances Ganymede had taken an early lead.



Act 2: The Pieces Get a Push

Tactics:
By default the Rabbits go for long-ranged weaponry.
The Pygmies, by contrast, will default toward short range weapons.

Starting Research:
The Rabbits: Want laser beam weapons and geosurvey sensors. We'll assign the Geosurvey Sensors project and 3 research labs to their best scientist (or best sensor specialists). Our 2nd best scientist (or best Energy Weapon specialist) will get the other 2 labs with orders to work on 10cm Lasers. Sadly, in my game the rabbits only had Defense and Logistics specialists.

Short range tactics require superior speed, so we'll give the top Pygmy scientist orders to research Nuclear Thermal engines with 4 research labs, and put their 2nd best scientist to work on Geosurvey sensors with the 5th lab. Regretably, my Pygmyies lacked any Propulsion specialists, but they did have a Sensor specialist.

Industry:
Both sides start with 1000 conventional industry.
The Rabbit Federation will convert:
500 CI to Factories using 50% production,
350 CI to Mines using 35% production,
100 CI to Ordinance plants using 10% production,
50 CI to Fuel Refineries using 5% production.

The Pygmy Federation will convert:
450 CI to Factories using 45% production,
350 CI to Mines using 35% production,
70 CI to Fighter plants using 7% production,
70 CI to Ordinance plants using 7% production,
60 CI to Fuel Refineries using 6% production.

Shipyards:
Each side started with a single Navel shipyard with 1x slipway and 1,000 ton capacity.

The Rabbits order a 2nd slipway to be added.

The Pygmies order +1,000 tons capacity to be added.


Lastly, bring up the Production Overview window (there is a button at bottom of the (F2) Economics Window). This allows us to quickly view every research/industrial project by every player faction. Its very useful for multifaction management latter on, but for now only tells me that nothing is going to be finished in the next year.

Game Start
Back we go to the System Window! Autoturn on! 30-day increments Go!

... and six hours pass. Looks like the two factions just discovered each other. Mash 30-day again and... a single 30 days increment passes. WTF. Going to the Events window and... Rabbit Tritanium shortages are restricting Ordinance Factory production. :smallyuk:

Fine. Lets modify the Ordinance Factory production rate to 8% and kick the mine production rate up to 37%. Clicking 30 days...

1-Year Later
After several officer related interrupts the LongEars and Shorties have finished shipyard expansion. Neither are particularly close to finishing a research project, so lets keep expanding. Rabbits, +500 ton expansion. Pygmies, +1,000 ton expansion.

Also, now that both sides have ordinance factories lets start building more missiles, say, 4 reloads or 200 shiny new nukes. Our new improved ICBM-2/IPPM missiles that is, not the default 'Conventional ICBM.' Clicking 30 days...

April 2026
Guess who's back? The Rabbit Tritanium shortage is back! Cutting Rabbit Missile production rate back to 25%. Since they can't use the production they do have cut Ordinance Factory production rate back to 5% and up the Mine production rate to 40%. Hopefully if anyone is doing a 'play-along' their Rabbit Federation is doing better. :smallsigh:

June 2026
HA! Gravitational Survey Sensor research finished for my Rabbits! Time to build a survey ship and go luck for Tritanium. To the Class Design Window!

New Ship! Cosmic Liberty. Nice Name. A little experimentation suggests the Cosmic Liberty can have up to 14HS of engine and still fit inside a 1500 ton shipyard. I like redundancy, so let's plan on using twin 7HS engines.

To the Design Window! Engines. 7 HS size. Maximum power (conventional engines need all the help they can get.) Click Create. Go to the Economics window Research tab and take 2 unassigned labs and put them to work researching our conventional engine. Also queue up 10,000k Beam Fire Control range for when the engine is finished. We'll also add the unassigned lab to the Laser project and queue Infrared Lasers behind the 10cm project. Hopefully Both Lasers and Fire-control will finish up at about the same time.

December 1
The Shorty's finish their shipyard expansion. May as well expand it again by an additional +1000 tons.

The Rabbit shipyard expansion should be finished soon, so we better get the Cosmic Liberty finalized. Add 2 of our Conventional Engines, a Geosurvey Sensor, and a backup small fuel tank. Lets also change the deployment time to 24 months.

Deployment Times and Crew Moral are a new feature for Aurora v6. In this version crew members require a per-person crew quarter volume (sleep and recreational space) in cubic meters (tons displacement) equal to the cube root of the deployment time in months. If they are away from a colonized planet for longer than the deployment time they get cramped, cranky, and sullen as reflected by a moral penalty.

A 24 month deployment time gives the Cosmic Liberty an internal pressurized off-duty volume of 98 cubic-meters, plus maybe 133 cubic-meters of maintenance access tunnels and workstations.


February 1
The Rabbit Shipyard expansion concludes. Retool the shipyard for the Cosmic Liberty. Initial shipyard tooling is free, so we can immediately start two production tasks to build Cosmic Liberty Geosurvey Craft.

@Dragonfire:
Act 3 is the last segment that I've already played out. After that I plan to continue this game as a true Let's Play for as long as I have time and you guys have interest. :smallsmile:

[Dragonfire]

Well I would love to see a Lets Play of this game, plus it gives me someone to fire questions at about the game. :smallbiggrin:

* Well I was messing around with the ingame options and I managed to get everything to work! So Expect some pointed questions once I get into this game.

[Psionic Dog]

• • • Act 3: Boom • • •

- - - On November 1 the Rabbit Federation launched their first pair of Cosmic Liberty survey ships. National celebrations and propaganda commenced, but although the Shorties had yet to start any construction of their own they had made accomplishments of their own.

- - - Three months prior the Pygmy scientific community finished Trans-Newtonian Nuclear Thermal propulsion theory. Work on prototyping a shielded engine appropriate for a crewed vessel was still underway, but as a proof of concept work on an improved missile engine had already being completed. The new engine, when applied to the existing ICBM architecture, offered a 2000% speed increase. While the majority of the planetary research was being directed into catching up to the Rabbits in Geosurvey equipment the new missile should still be ready for production within the year.

- - - By December the Rabbit Federation had accumulated the theoretical advancements needed to build laser weaponry. In preparation to construct orbital point defense bases research was accelerated on beam weapon fire control technology and further shipyard expansion ordered.

- - - 2028 opened with hope when in March the Pygmies finished the last piece needed for the geosurvey scouts of their own and proposed their first design of the era: the Skadi. Using a single comercial-rated Nuclear Thermal engine, the Skadi was bigger and better than anyhing the Rabbits could hope to build. The Skadi was bigger, faster, longer ranged, with twice the armor and geosurvey equipment of Cosmic Liberty. Clearly, later Pygmy historian/propagandists would note, careful planning beats an impulsive rush.


Skadi class Geosurvey Ship 3,000 tons 42 Crew 312.625 BP TCS 60 TH 62 EM 0
1033 km/s Armour 2-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/2 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 65 Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 1

62.5 EP Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (1) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 13.26% Signature 62.5 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 45.2 billion km (506 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


- - - By this time the Rabbit Federation, for their part, had finished surveying all the local Jovian moons. While riches were found, none held meaningful deposits of the urgently craved Tritanium needed for missiles. Construction on two more Cosmic Liberty class ships was started. The original pair continued their orders to survey the next nearest moon by heading in-system toward Deimos... and Luna.

- - - June 15th became known as the start of Bloody Summer 2028 when deep space watch on Earth detected Cosmic Liberty 001's thermal contact in bound less than 1 million km out. Indignant at the trespass of their implicit territory and embarrassed that it had gotten so close the High Command decided an object lesson was in order.

- - - Each 30-ton Pygmy ICBM packs a nuclear shaped charge capable of accurately converting 400 cu-meters of machinery moving at Earth orbital speed into scrap. Since the target was moving substantially faster than this, accuracy was estimated to be 33%. When the Cosmic Liberty closed to within 500k km the Pygmies struck. Active resonance sensors came online, both pinpointing the intruders location as well as measuring her displacement at 1500 tons. An estimated 4 hits would be required, so triple salvos of 5 ICBMs were fired to ensure probable success. First one salvo then a second made interception. The Comic Liberty never stood a chance. The third salvo proved to be overkill and self destructed.

- - - Where the Pygmies had been indignant, the Rabbit Federation was enraged at the loss of their first space craft without warning. Five nuclear detonations marked the grave of the Cosmic Liberty 001. Seeing as their own IPPM would have had just 20% accuracy, the Rabbits reason that 25 missiles probably had been fired, and return the favor. Weeks pass as the IPPM wave of crawled sunward.

- - - The first warning the Pygmies receive occurs when deep space command detects five sets of tiny active scanners 750k km distant and inbound twice as fast as the previous cosmic liberty. Whatever it is, it is too small for the active scanners to detect until they are just 23k km away: T-115s.

- - - For five seconds the disappointment and anger that the LongEars were retaliating changes to despair at the realization that they are receiving an entire salvo for every hit to the cosmic liberty.

"FIRE"

- - - The silence is shaken as Ulfhenhier, senior commander of the Pygmy Planetary Defense missile bases bellows new orders. "All Bases, engage incoming missiles at will. Use the ICBMS as anti-missiles! Missile per Missile! FIRE!"

- - - At T-95 seconds 25 ICBMs launch forward as anti-missiles. Combining both inaccuracy with overkill the ICBM is a terrible choice for an anti-missile, but it is also the only chance the Pygmies have. At T-60 seconds an interception is made, and three incoming missiles vanish into vapor. T-30 seconds, and a 2nd interception is made: 5 more incoming IPPMs are destroyed. Then the defending missile bases are dry, and it is the attacker's turn.

- - - T-0. The Incoming IPPM have all locked onto the first target they found: Missile Complex 001. 17x 60kTon nuclear shaped charges scatter half the mountain missile complex 001 was hiding under, but ultimately fail to destroy more than a single missile launch tube. The surrounding civilian population, however, proves to be a softer target. Although not directly targeted, the shockwaves, fireballs, and fallout are estimated to have killed 5.1 million civilians and destroyed 45 industrial facilities. By this measure, the defensive use of ICBMs is estimated to have prevented the loss of an additional 2.6 million civilians and may have saved the targeted missile complex from complete destruction.

- - - Publicly, the Tit for Tat was taken in stride and a Ceasefire accepted. Realistically, the Pygmies are currently incapable of counter attacking and the Rabbit's lack the strength for a decisive strike thanks to Tritanium shortages. Privately both sides dream of the day they will crush the other. The War smolders on.

- August 2027
Nuclear Thermal research completes. A 25-hull space 0.5x power Thermal Engine is designed along with a 3.8-MSP 2x power Thermal missile engine.

Geosurvey Sensor priority is increased to 3 labs, with the remaining 2 tasked with researching the designed engine components. Beam Fire Control range 10,000 is queued behind the Geo project. Since a new missile is comming, the ICBM production order is reduced by 100 units to about 47.6

- November 2027
Rabbit construction of the Comic Liberty finishes. The 2 new ships are split into individual task groups and given perpetual orders to survey the nearest planet or moon with conditional orders to return home for refueling if the fuel reserves every drop below 50%.

Shorties finish engine component design, design a new missile using the new engine named the 'Smash ASM.' The project is given the 2 unused labs.

- December 2027
Rabbits finish theoretical laser research. Fire Control research is increased to 3 labs, with the other 2 labs assigned to Nuclear Thermal propulsion. A 10cm Infrared laser is designed and queued behind the fire control project and 500 tons of shipyard expansion is ordered.

- March 2028
Pygmies finish geosurvey sensors, start construction of the Skadi, and order the shipyard to add a new slipway.

The Rabbits start construction on Cosmic Liberty 003 and 004.

Time advancement is slowed from 30-day auto-turns to 5-day auto-turns.

- Soon
When the existing Cosmic Liberty are seen leaving Jovian space auto-turns are disabled. Going back to the Task Force window I ensure one Liberty is headed for Luna with the second headed toward the closest inner planet that isn't Earth.

Auto turns resumed.

- May 2028
Rabbits finish Beam Fire Control and the 10cm laser. A new laser turret is designed using twin 10cm infrared lasers with a 5000 km/s tracking speed, as is a 1-HS pressurized water reactor.

2 labs are assigned to these new components, the 3rd added to the Propulsion project.

- June 2028
Pygmy Federation detects the Cosmic Liberty. Missile Complex weapons are configured, an active scanner is activated, and 3 salvos of 5 missiles launched on the Cosmic Liberty, code named 'Siera' by these Shorties.

Switch to the Pygmy Federation system map view.

Go the the Ships window -> Combat Settings. Select Missile Complex 001 and under 'Active Sensors' click 'Active.' Close the window, and advance time by a few seconds to update tracking information.

Go to the Battle Combat Menu (F8), navigate to Missile Complex 001.

Click on '10x ICBM' then click 'Assign All.' This loads tells each missile launcher which missile it is launching.

Click on Fire Control #1, then selection Missile Launchers 1-5, and click assign. Repeat by clicking on FC #2, selecting launchers 6-10, and assigning.

At right, under 'copy assignment' click 'Copy System' to give every Missile complex in Sol the same configuration.

Deselect 'Hostile contacts only.'
Click on FC #1, then the intruding ships name, then assign. Repeat with FC #2 and FC #1 on Missile Complex 002.

Under current fleet, click Open Fire. To ensure everyone fires at the same time, click 'Sync Fire On' at top under 'Fleet Synchronous Fire.'

Close the window, and advance time by a few minutes until blue missile icon appear over Earth. Then go back to the Battle window and give the task group with the missile complex orders to cease fire. One wave is all we want to launch.

Lastly go to the Ships window, select Missile Complex 001, go to Ordinance Management tab and click 'Fast Reload: Population.'

The result is overkill. As expected only 5 hits were needed, but after salvo #1 destroyed an engine salvo #2 got an accuracy boost.

Time for the Rabbit Retaliation. Change to the Rabbit Federation System Map view and create a target waypoint by click on Earth, then clicking on 'Last' on the Waypoint tab. Launch 5 salvos of 5 missiles using this waypoint as the target.

Advance time by 5 days. Now that Earth has rotated away from the life-pod survivors, we'll order the remaining cosmic liberty to rescue survivers and return them to Ganymede. We'll continue advancing time by 5-day increments until the missiles are a week out from Earth, and then auto advance time by 8-hours until the Pygmy federation detects the incoming missiles.

At this point Earth is unlikely to rotate out of range in the final hours so we delete the waypoint. The IPPM will now continue toward their last known target in target search mode.

Time to switch to the Pygmy's map view to see their side of the story.

At 23k km our missile base active scanners finally get a lock on the slow fat missiles. It is easy to forget, but any missile can be used for anti-missile defense. Going back to the combat assignment window, we'll click on each Fire Control and change the point defense firing mode to 1 anti-missile per target missile. The ICBMs after all, are a lot more easily replaced than our industrial complexes.

boom. boom. DOOOM.


• • • • • •
There. I think that is the lowest tech combat ever reported by Aurora fan-fic where the combatants weren't all located on the same planet. :smallcool:

Now which armchair generals want to continue this as a Lets Play? If so, step right up and name a side to support. We can continue to play both sides of the regrettable misunderstanding to the bitter end, or we can all rally to one cause and cast the others as designated villains.

The current battle plans are:
The Rabbits plan to build orbital laser defense bases to shield against retaliation... and then launch every remaining IPPM against the Shorties to keep them on the defensive.

The Pygmies plan to rush research through to build first a cheaper, more effective, Anti-missile and then fighters to act as a reusable first stage for retaliatory bombing strikes against the LongEars.

[Dragonfire]

Long live the Rabbit Federation!

[Psionic Dog]

This update is a tribute to Dragonfire's enthusiasm.

For everyone else out there, have you played and enjoyed Dwarf Fortress? Kerbel Space Program? Space Empires IV? If you answered 'yes' to at least two of the above you should really give Aurora a try.


• • • • •

- - - Previously, lax operational security among academia resulted in both the Ganymede LongEars of the Rabbit Federation and the Shorty Earthborn remnant of the Pygmy Federation acquiring the TransNewtonian physics breakthrough simultaneously. Sadly, both blamed the ancestors of the other for the Bio-Nuclear meltdown that killed 90% of the human race. Suspicion lead to weapons development and spying. Weapon development and spy detection lead to explosive object lessons. The death of national heros in said object lessons lead to retaliatory strikes. Retaliatory strikes resulting in millions of dead civilians cause wars. Luckily, Solar War One is primarily a cold war due to logistical challenges. Regrettably, both sides are racing to fix this deficiency...

- - - In the following year the surviving Cosmic Liberty geosurvey ships of the Rabbit Federation stayed clear of Earth as they slowly searched for Transnewtonian deposits of Tritanium that would solve their missile production bottleneck. Success come on January 24, 2029 when the Cosmic Liberty 003 discovered an easily accessible rich find of Tritanium on the asteroid Euphrosyne. Sadly, 'easily accessible' is a deceptively relative term as the Rabbit federation currently lacks both automated mining equipment and deep-space transport capacity.

- - - A further Rabbit setback occurred on June 4th when a catastrophic cascading maintenance failure destroyed the geosurvey equipment onboard the Cosmic Liberty 002 after 1.6 years of service. In that time, she had claimed the distinction of surveying Mercury, Venus, Mars, 11 moons, and 10 asteroids. Orders were given for the ship to return to Ganymede for shore leave, overhaul, and shipyard repairs. In preparation, half the planetary industry was diverted into expanding the planetary maintenance facilities to accommodate the Cosmic Liberty class.

- - - The Rabbits were not alone either industrial diversion. Scarred by the retaliatory strikes, on March 29th the Pygmy's had diverted half of there planetary production into building an Asgard missile defense base. Nor did the Rabbits survey alone: in July the first Skadi survey ship was launched by the Pygmies with the keel for a second laid soon after.

Packing twice as many launchers into a package half the size and half the cost of a traditional base the Asgard is Pygmy's first answer to the Rabbit Inter-Planitary Powered Missile menace.


Asgard class Missile Base 10,750 tons 204 Crew 491.8 BP TCS 215 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 6-43 Sensors 1/25 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 60
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 4
Troop Capacity: 2 Battalions Magazine 60

S3-90 Launcher (20) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
Missile Fire Control FC1-R1 (2) Range 1.5m km Resolution 1

Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1) GPS 25 Range 1.3m km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 5 sections


The secret to missiles in the Nuclear Thermal Era is to build BIG missiles. Ideally, an Anti-Ship missile would be 40-50% warhead, and an anti-missile missile 20-30% warhead. Since a minimal class-1 warhead at this tech level is size 0.5, for best performance any AMM should probably be around size 1.7-2.5. The Pygmy err large with size-3 for their first AMM.


S3 Helm AMM
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 14
Speed: 6300 km/s Engine Endurance: 86 minutes Range: 32.7m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.7155
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 88.2% 3k km/s 28% 5k km/s 17.6% 10k km/s 8.8%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.4655x Gallicite Fuel x75

- - - With their lone shipyard dedicated to peaceful survey craft and an an Asgard defense base in progress the Pygmy Federation next turned to their fighter factories for an offensive force. Their first attempt, the Beserker Fighter-Bombers and Grendal Fighter Scouts were slow and lightly armed. They did promise one simple advantage: a quick way to strike back.

Reusing Asgard search technology, the Grendel Type-A early missile warning platform was the first fighter designed with a limited production run of 2. The Grendel-A 001 was first completed in May 2029.


Grendel-A class Fighter-Scout 425 tons 12 Crew 59 BP TCS 8.5 TH 5 EM 0
588 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/3/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 38.3 Years MSP 87 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 2 Max Repair 25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 4 months Spare Berths 3

5 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (1) Power 5 Fuel Use 99% Signature 5 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 8.6 billion km (168 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1) GPS 25 Range 1.3m km Resolution 1
Detector EM0.6-3 (1) Sensitivity 3 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3m km

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


As fighter components were completed production soon shifted to the Beserker and scout escort Grendel-B. Assuming Ganymede used the same missile complex design, these fighters should be able to approach undetected to within 6.3m km of the enemy, allowing a safe selectively-targeted bombardment.


Berserker class Fighter 485 tons 17 Crew 54.4 BP TCS 9.7 TH 5 EM 0
515 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 3
Maint Life 39.56 Years MSP 70 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 12 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 4 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 3

5 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (1) Power 5 Fuel Use 99% Signature 5 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 7.5 billion km (168 days at full power)

S3-90 Launcher (1) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
Missile Fire Control FC8-R30 (1) Range 8.2m km Resolution 30

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes



Grendel - B class Fighter-Scout 455 tons 13 Crew 64.2 BP TCS 9.1 TH 5 EM 0
549 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/3/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 33.19 Years MSP 88 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 2 Max Repair 30 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 4 months Spare Berths 2

5 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (1) Power 5 Fuel Use 99% Signature 5 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 8.0 billion km (168 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR8-R30 (1) GPS 900 Range 8.2m km Resolution 30
Detector EM0.6-3 (1) Sensitivity 3 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 3m km

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes



S3 Revenge ASM
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 4 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 11
Speed: 3000 km/s Engine Endurance: 55 minutes Range: 9.9m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.1465
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 33% 3k km/s 11% 5k km/s 6.6% 10k km/s 3.3%
Materials Required: 1x Tritanium 0.1465x Gallicite Fuel x37.5

While the shorties are eager to fight back, none are particularly happy with the design compromises made to do so. The fighters are slow, with limited payload volume. Squeezing a useful warhead into the payload created a distressingly slow missile. Researchers were ordered to find a way to build a better fighter immediately.
- - - Unaware of the Pygmy technology push, the Rabbits were somewhat slower in developing their own anti-missile defenses, relying for the moment instead on the IPPM threat to keep their rivals at bay. The first Pygmy Beserker class fighter was finished in November. Construction on Little Flower, the Rabbit's orbital defense monitor, didn't start until December.

With mineral shortages preventing practical anti-missile development, the Rabbits turned to lasers to provide maximum-range point defense. Each Little Flower features twin dual-laser turrets firing every 15 seconds out to 30,000 km. A single orbital should be able to cycle weapons 40 times against an IPPM class target, destroying a predicted 10-20 missiles depending on armor. As such, a production run of at least 4 is planned. As a bonus, the Little Flower should also offer basic protection against advanced Nuclear Thermal missile threats.


Little Flower class Orbital Defence Monitor 2,500 tons 37 Crew 139.8 BP TCS 50 TH 0 EM 0
1 km/s Armour 2-16 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 16.56
Maint Life 7.13 Years MSP 70 AFR 25% IFR 0.3% 1YR 2 5YR 36 Max Repair 16 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.5 months Spare Berths 7


Twin 10cm C1 Infrared Laser Turret (2x2) Range 30,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 6-2 RM 1 ROF 15 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S04.5 15-3750 (2) Max Range: 30,000 km TS: 3750 km/s 67 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (2) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR0-R1 (1) GPS 16 Range 800k km Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes



• • • • •

Statistics as of January 2029
Ganymede
Duranium 56,365 Acc: 1
Neutronium 9,033 Acc: 0.2
Corbomite 17,433 Acc: 0.2
Tritanium 9,033 Acc: 0.2
Boronide 90,533 Acc: 0.2
Mercassium 23,083 Acc: 0.2
Vendarite 14,233 Acc: 0.2
Sorium 29,740 Acc: 1
Uridium 84,632 Acc: 0.8
Corundium 33,082 Acc: 0.8
Gallicite 5,648 Acc: 0.9

Earth
Duranium 50,712 Acc: 0.9
Neutronium 9,069 Acc: 0.2
Corbomite 5,347 Acc: 1
Tritanium 15,008 Acc: 0.6
Boronide 7,258 Acc: 0.6
Mercassium 13,119 Acc: 0.2
Vendarite 47,154 Acc: 0.3
Sorium 32,053 Acc: 0.8
Uridium 12,619 Acc: 0.2
Corundium 12,304 Acc: 0.3
Gallicite 9,069 Acc: 0.2


Rabbit Federation:
551.1 million,
refitting 110 conventional factories/year,
Manufacturing 26 IPPM / year

Pygmy Federation:
545.9 million,
refitting 95 conventional factories/year,
Manufacturing 30 Splat ASM + 130 Helm AMM / year


• • • • •

Anyone with a question about Aurora is welcome to ask.
If anyone want a commander or scientist named after them, just ask.
If anyone has arm chair strategic advice for one faction, good or bad, shout out.

Dragonfire has nominated that this Let's Play continue.
If anyone would like to second his nomination to continue this Let's Play please insert your 2 cents.