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Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 08:41 PM
You are the commander of the planetary fleet of Freya, in the Gliese system. Your current assets are the planet itself and its shield, orbital cannons, a jumpgate, five armed spacecraft with drones (A.I. controlled craft slaved to the crewed one) and assorted shuttles and other unarmed craft.
Your sensors detect three large spacecraft coming in from out of system. They are coming from the wrong direction to be from the Sol system, and there are no other systems inhabited by humans. Therefore these craft must be of alien manufacture. Sensors indicate the alien spacecraft are larger than your own, and so presumably more durable, but have fewer weapons and are possibly also less maneuverable. They appear to be shielded. Their trajectory indicates they are heading either to Gliese (the star), Freya or Odin (a large gas giant).
If you take your fleet to engage them, you can probably meet them before they reach Odin. If you call for reinforcements through the gate, you can probably get between 10 and 20 more spacecraft, but if the aliens are headed for Minerva they will have passed Odin by that point. If you retreat behind the shield they will be unable to harm you unless their weapons are stupendously powerful, but the gate will not function that close to Freya's gravity well, cutting you off from Mars and Terra.
Contacting the aliens has not worked; communications officers suspect that the alien's method of communication is incompatible with yours.
Your orders are threefold: Tertiary directive is to preserve your forces, secondary is to defend the settlers on Freya, primary is to keep the gate intact and out of the aliens' hands. It is preferrable for the gate to be destroyed than stolen.

Notes:
There has never been a battle in space with current technology; your combat training has been against drone craft.
There has never been evidence of the existance of aliens before now.
If you defeat the aliens and they flee, your craft do not have sufficient fuel to chase them out of system.
Drones are easily replaceable. Pilots are not.
Orbital cannons are more powerful than spacecraft armament, but not by much. They are also less maneuverable.

brian c
2007-06-13, 08:52 PM
Um... is this referencing a particular game or something? I'm a little confused reading it. You mention Sol and Freya as stars, and you mention several Planets both named after Norse gods and from our own solar system, and I don't understand the distinction between them, or if they're just different names used interchangeably.

Emperor Tippy
2007-06-13, 08:53 PM
You are the commander of the planetary fleet of Freya, in the Gliese system. Your current assets are the planet itself and its shield, orbital cannons, a jumpgate, five armed spacecraft with drones (A.I. controlled craft slaved to the crewed one) and assorted shuttles and other unarmed craft.
Your sensors detect three large spacecraft coming in from out of system. They are coming from the wrong direction to be from the Sol system, and there are no other systems inhabited by humans. Therefore these craft must be of alien manufacture. Sensors indicate the alien spacecraft are larger than your own, and so presumably more durable, but have fewer weapons and are possibly also less maneuverable. They appear to be shielded. Their trajectory indicates they are heading either to Gliese (the star), Freya or Odin (a large gas giant).
If you take your fleet to engage them, you can probably meet them before they reach Odin. If you call for reinforcements through the gate, you can probably get between 10 and 20 more spacecraft, but if the aliens are headed for Minerva they will have passed Odin by that point. If you retreat behind the shield they will be unable to harm you unless their weapons are stupendously powerful, but the gate will not function that close to Freya's gravity well, cutting you off from Mars and Terra.
Contacting the aliens has not worked; communications officers suspect that the alien's method of communication is incompatible with yours.
Your orders are threefold: Tertiary directive is to preserve your forces, secondary is to defend the settlers on Freya, primary is to keep the gate intact and out of the aliens' hands. It is preferrable for the gate to be destroyed than stolen.

Notes:
There has never been a battle in space with current technology; your combat training has been against drone craft.
There has never been evidence of the existance of aliens before now.
If you defeat the aliens and they flee, your craft do not have sufficient fuel to chase them out of system.
Drones are easily replaceable. Pilots are not.
Orbital cannons are more powerful than spacecraft armament, but not by much. They are also less maneuverable.

What kind of weapons do you have? Space mines? Nukes? Lasers?

First we deal with the primary objective.

Position all orbital cannons around the gate. Plant an explosive charge twice as powerful las what is needed to take out the gate. Set it on a timer to blow if you don't send it the proper code before X time.

Primary objective is now achieved. The orbital cannons are defending a relatively small, stationary target. They don't have to maneuver. The bomb ensures that the enemy doesn't get the gate.

Fore the rest I need more details on the ships, weapons, shields, planet, etc.

Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 09:12 PM
Um... is this referencing a particular game or something? I'm a little confused reading it. You mention Sol and Freya as stars, and you mention several Planets both named after Norse gods and from our own solar system, and I don't understand the distinction between them, or if they're just different names used interchangeably.

The Sol system is the one we're in now. The inhabited planets there are Terra and Mars. Mars is where the reinforcements will come from if you send for them.
The Gliese system is the one your in for this hypothetical. Freya is the inhabited planet there.


What kind of weapons do you have? Space mines? Nukes? Lasers?

Fore the rest I need more details on the ships, weapons, shields, planet, etc.

Primary armament are coilguns and RK (relativistic kill) missiles. Missiles are mostly for taking out asteroids, they aren't effective against spacecraft unless the shields are completely inactive.
Your spacecraft are sublight only, about 500m. Crew is a pilot who controls the craft via neural interface. They carry about half a dozen missiles each, and a large amount of coilguns. Drones are slightly smaller, have no missiles and of course are not crewed. Each of your spacecraft has four drones.
Alien craft appear to also be sublight only, but are closer to 800m long. Crew is of course unknown. Their weaponry appears to also be coilguns, but they have less than half as many per spacecraft.
Shields render spacecraft proof against most weaponry until they are comprimised; which takes continuous, heavy bombardment. A lapse in the attack will allow the shields to recover. Shields are much less effective against attack from multiple directions. Planetary shields are effectively indestructable, although weapons inside the shield can't shoot out unless it is temporarily weakened in the area around the weapon.
Odin is a gas giant of similar composition and size to Jupiter. Freya is similar to Earth, but with less water and higher gravity.

Emperor Tippy
2007-06-13, 09:19 PM
No nukes?

Does the shield around Freya block its gravitational affects?

What kind of armaments are on Freya?

Is a ship hitting Freya's shield destroyed?

EDIT: If they pass by Odin were are they headed?

Ryacko
2007-06-13, 09:19 PM
I suppose I would call for reinforcements and send ships and the orbital cannons to defend the gate. If I could keep the gate long enough to get the reinforcements I could wage a wage a battle (although I would be at a loss since hypothetically the fleet would be there to prevent an uprising) and communicate to command about their apparent strategy.

If I become unable to continue the battle after some time, I would concentrate firepower on the gate to destroy it. But before I'll send one last message about the aliens.

If the aliens instead attack the planet and manage to destroy the shield, then clearly they have highly superior weapons and I'll destroy the gate anyway.




And what is Odin? Why would a gas giant be important? And aren't planets spread over greater distances? Wouldn't it be rare for two planets to be in the path of a spacecraft if it was going outward in?

Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 09:25 PM
No nukes?

Does the shield around Freya block its gravitational affects?

What kind of armaments are on Freya?

Is a ship hitting Freya's shield destroyed?

EDIT: If they pass by Odin were are they headed?

No nukes. They aren't that great in space, and radioactive spacedust is a nuisance at best.

The shield doesn't block gravity, but to be within the shield will take the gate too far into the gravity well.

Freya has orbital cannons as well as tanks, aircraft, infantry robots and other troops if the aliens end up begin able to make landfall. Only the the orbital cannons are useful against space-based forces, though.

It depends how fast it hits, but probably, yes. It would have a similar effect as hitting the planet's surface but without the effect of atmosphere, and of course the planet is undamaged.

If they pass Odin they are headed to Freya or Gliese.


And what is Odin? Why would a gas giant be important? And aren't planets spread over greater distances? Wouldn't it be rare for two planets to be in the path of a spacecraft if it was going outward in?

A gas giant.
It has a lot of hydrogen, and other gases.
Odin and Freya are very far apart, yes.
Fairly rare, but Gliese has a fair few planets.

Emperor Tippy
2007-06-13, 09:47 PM
Can the orbital cannons be moved out of Freya's orbit?

If so move them out of the gravity well and have them guard the gate as above. If not move the gate behind Freya relative to the alien ships. Plant a big enough bomb to destroy it.

Raise Freya's shield.

Bring all the reinforcements you can and hide them in the dark side of Freya (relative to the alien ships).

Take your original forces, head out to await the enemy ahead of Odin. When the enemy approaches you at Odin head away from them and towards the gas giant. Use it to slingshot back around towards the enemy from both directions. (so that you will have half your forces on either side of the enemy after the slingshot)

If the enemy heads towards Freya let them blast on its shields as long as they want. Continue your slingshot maneuver to chase them in.

They are slower escaping the gravity well than you are coming towards it.

Bring the reinforcements around from the back of Freya.

Focus fire on 1 ship at a time, remember to keep your ships father outside the gravity well than the enemy forces.

kpenguin
2007-06-13, 10:04 PM
Call for reinforcements and wait. These ships are still only within sensor range and we still don't have any signs that they are hostile. Trying to engage them now might put us in an awkward situation if they aren't. Plus. it would be bad PR back in the Sol system.

SpiderBrigade
2007-06-13, 10:07 PM
Tippy's tactics are excellent, but there are some other considerations I thought of.

How far away from Sol are you?

If the gate is used, how does it function? Can ships using it be traced?

What is the status of communication? Specifically, are you in realtime contact with Terra/Mars?

Have the alien ships made a hostile move?

My concern is, you don't know if these guys are a combat group, explorers, or what. They could be peaceful, or they could be the Death Commandos. This might be their race's entire fleet...or a comparatively tiny scouting force. If you assault their ships, you might be bringing down a war that will end mankind. Or not, you don't know.

What needs to be done is to set up a position where, if they are hostile, you can protect the colony and hopefully the gate, with wiping out the enemy being seen as ideal. Furthermore, care must be taken to not reveal the location of Sol or other human systems (although to my understanding there are only 2). If the gate is traceable, avoid using it. If not...bring the reinforcements.

doliemaster
2007-06-13, 10:16 PM
Call reinforcements, then have the unarmed ships move the gate within the defense shield, then immediately after the aliens are in range, bombard them constantly with orbitial cannon fire, this fire will be around them generally, not aiming to hit but to contain. All armed fighter craft will constantly fire at the ships, so if they dodge to take evasive action they are hit by the orbitial cannon bombardment and if they don't they are hit by the armed craft, finally when shields are knocked down, half of the total drone ships will ram the unshielded ships while the other half will wait out of assumed firing range and will swoop in to recover the remains of the alien craft after the battle.


Their aliens are fought and gate is protected.

NullAshton
2007-06-13, 10:21 PM
As a token of good will, let them go to the gas planet if that's their intended destination. The hydrogen there will probably only be used for fuel for engines. The star probably isn't that much of a target(and if they're planning on blowing it up, not much you can do anyway...), so your primary targets to defend will be the gate and the planet.

Move the gate to near the planet for easier defense. Keep the gate in orbit so that the cannons can fire on any enemies around it. If the orbital cannons are spectacular enough, use them to signal the enemies much like a flare. Use them to signal to the aliens some sort of numerical sequence to alert them to the fact that yes, intelligent life is there. Also tells them that you will defend themselves.

If they do start to go near the system, fire a few warning shots with the orbital cannons, to make sure they don't go near you. Just in case.

If orbital cannons don't make enough of a BLAM, be inventive. A single coilgun, properly modified, could make an excellent flare type thing...

That should do it for now, until something else happens. None of these are aggressive moves, and should stop any hostilities from starting until you can arrange actual communications.

Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 10:30 PM
Tippy's tactics are excellent, but there are some other considerations I thought of.

How far away from Sol are you?

If the gate is used, how does it function? Can ships using it be traced?

What is the status of communication? Specifically, are you in realtime contact with Terra/Mars?

Have the alien ships made a hostile move?


20.5 light years.
The gate could be imagined as a giant stargate. It allows instantaneous transport to the gates near Terra and Mars.
Communication between Freya and Terra or Mars requires a spacecraft to pass through the gate and deliver messages.
The alien ships are still outside the system; the only move they have made is to reply to your hail with something unintelligible.

asqwasqw
2007-06-13, 11:04 PM
Send out drones to scout and to see their reaction, and then you decide what to do from there. I suggest you turtle up (position your defenses strategically), guard your inhabited planets and the gate with your space ships, and call for reinforcements. Wait for them to make the first move. Screw the gas giant and the Sun, and if all hell breaks loose, defend, suicide attack with drones, and either wait for reinforements, evacuate through the gate, or blow up the gate.

kpenguin
2007-06-13, 11:07 PM
20.5 light years.
The gate could be imagined as a giant stargate. It allows instantaneous transport to the gates near Terra and Mars.
Communication between Freya and Terra or Mars requires a spacecraft to pass through the gate and deliver messages.
The alien ships are still outside the system; the only move they have made is to reply to your hail with something unintelligible.

By giant stargate, do you mean like a Stargate supergate? Can you turn it off? Do you need to "dial" it?

Icewalker
2007-06-13, 11:10 PM
OK:

Rig bombs to the gate.

Wait and see if they are actually making hostile moves. If not, leave em alone. If they appear to attempt to take the gate, blow it. Retreat ships behind shields.

Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 11:32 PM
By giant stargate, do you mean like a Stargate supergate? Can you turn it off? Do you need to "dial" it?

I don't know what a supergate is. It can be turned off. It can only be set to one other gate, but resetting it only takes a few seconds.

kpenguin
2007-06-13, 11:47 PM
I don't know what a supergate is. It can be turned off. It can only be set to one other gate, but resetting it only takes a few seconds.

Supergate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergate)

I assume you know Stargate.

Dhavaer
2007-06-13, 11:56 PM
Supergate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergate)

I assume you know Stargate.

A jumpgate is bigger, but the principle is the same. It's a giant portal, basically.

Alleine
2007-06-14, 12:03 AM
Move the gate to the opposite side of the planet, defended by the bulk of the orbital platforms. Be prepared to destroy the gate with remote trigger explosives, commanded by the planet.

Have your commship (if that is indeed what you have) continue hailing the alien ships periodically in hopes of getting some sort of non-threatening idea across.

Put the fastest most maneuverable ships in a path that almost intersects theirs in a scatter formation, deploy half drones in front but also in a scatter formation to attempt to show only caution. Call in some reinforcments and have the rest on standby. Have the bulk of your forces stay closer to the planet or as out of view as possible while still being close enough to rush up and assist.

Now we wait, (possibly) for the giant aliens.

Pagz
2007-06-14, 12:26 AM
Whilst this is all going on, you should also try and establish some sort of basic language, to see if they are hostile or not. The fact that they replied is good news, If they were invading I don't think they would of replied to our hail.

Send them something, anything, to try and establish some sort of language. Send them a laser message of what we look like and where we are in the solar system for them to convert. We might get a response back from them. If we can establish a visual communication system, then were one step closer to not causing intergalactic war with aliens :smallsmile: .

Fizban
2007-06-14, 01:27 AM
In the vein of trying to establish language, I'd go with some of the suggestions from the last one of these threads you did: using the simples method you can (light, laser beam, radio static, etc) broadcast something like 1 pulse, 2 pulses, 3 pulses, and so on, or the Fibonacci sequence. Wait for them to respond, mimic their responses, and generally act like you're with a 3 year old. While moving everything into defensive positions and waiting to see where they go of course. The orbital guns could be used for such signaling as well.

It hasn't been mentioned much, but sending a message back to Mars about the ships and your response plan is also top priority, in case your group gets smashed they need to know something was out there. Assuming you can send any old ship to deliver it, I'd do that straight off.

Demented
2007-06-14, 02:40 AM
Easy.

Step 1:
Send a ship to contact them in a more... intimate... way.

Step 2:
The only real choice. Either:
1. Hide behind the shield when the aliens attack.
2. Try to contact Earth, tell them what's up, then blow the gate to smithereens. (The people of Freya will hate you.)

Damionte
2007-06-14, 02:50 AM
step-1 <> Try to establish communications...
Step 2 <> Rather you suceed or fail communicate with reinforcements while moving your ships to cover the star gate. The Orbital guns can cover the planet.

step 3 <> Wait to see what happens.

That's all you can really do. You don't know the intentions of the aliens until they either find a way to communicate, attack, or leave.

You say your sensors are able to scan the alien ships for relative power level and such. But you really don't know what they're packing, and it's dangerous to engage in combat until you do.

I think they know you're there though and may or may not have hostile intentions in mind.

I do believe that had they wanted to fight they would have attacked immediately. They've actually attempted to talk back to you, but just liek you they don't know how. I don't think you're in for a fight unless you force one.

Daraken
2007-06-14, 03:52 AM
Just how fast are your ships and those of the aliens? 0.1c? 0.5? Whats the distance of the various planets from the star? And how are the aliens approaching the system? Along the solar plane? Or maybe from above or below the plane?

And some things to consider:
Maybe the alien spacecraft is unmanned. If FTL travel doesn't exist, unmanned probes may be simpler to send out. Their ships could also be sleeper ships, and the messages we've recieved are merely automated responses. Another possibility, that ties in with their destination of Odin, is that they could be Von Neumann machines, possibly sent to create a jumpgate of their own?

In other other words, not nearly enough information to make decisive judgement. Best bet, call for help, prepare defenses and just wait.

Dhavaer
2007-06-14, 04:07 AM
Just how fast are your ships and those of the aliens? 0.1c? 0.5? Whats the distance of the various planets from the star? And how are the aliens approaching the system? Along the solar plane? Or maybe from above or below the plane?

The aliens are coming in at 0.7c. Your ships can reach 0.8c before the power required to accelerate further becomes excessive.
Freya is 0.073AU from Gliese. Odin is about 3 AU from Gliese.
The aliens are approaching along the orbital plane of Odin.

crazedloon
2007-06-14, 04:18 AM
Strip down some drones and a single craft so that they have no armaments and are as fast as possible. Greet the incoming aliens. Do not attempt verbal contact as that is obviously not going to work however make obvious gestures of peace and use signs to suggest a desired meeting. If that fails get the pilot out of there having the drones run defense until the pilot is safe.

Now here comes my quirky plan. Attach tow cables or if you really can put actual engines on the gate open it up send a messenger threw to warn sol of their incoming visitors and fly the gate so that it forces the alien ship through the gate. Once threw subdue them and take the alien hostage learn their language and attempt peaceable relations if not possible analyze tech and prepare for war.

Maroon
2007-06-14, 04:40 AM
Get a stealth ship to infiltrate one of the alien spacecraft and find out as many things about the aliens as it possibly can. Pull out and try to communicate again using the information collected. If this doesn't work, send all that you know about the situation to Mars and slingshot the jumpgate to the other side of the system so you can get it back later, and pull your forces back behind the shields of the planet and just wait until the aliens do something.