Aurora - Dwarf Fortress In Space

Yeah, I just discovered that myself.

You can create a colony without dropping anything off there by selecting the Asteroid as a destination for any task force, then clicking "Create Colony" in the bottom left.

Wow, great stuff guys. I'm going to upgrade and get into this again this evening.

Turns out there isn't as much Corundium in my Solar System as I thought. There is only around 5k tons of it outside of my planet. I may have been thinking of Tritanium or Mercassium, both of which have quite substantial deposits in various places.

At least there is lots and lots of it on my homeworld, but it would take me forever to get it all out. Luckily in a year I'll have researched Jump Point theory, hopefully gravitational survey sensors and jump drives won't be too far behind.

The Corundium accessibility on Asteroid 148 has fallen to .77. I am shifting 45 of the 74 Automated Mines from that Asteroid to Comet #2, which has a good amount of Corundium and a lot of other nice things.

PS: I know have two Civilian Mining Colonies and a Civilian shipping line. I read somewhere (no idea where) that you can either set up a mining contract with those colonies to pick up anything they mine, or they will add to your wealth when you tax their sales to the civilian sector. How do you sign up with them?

PSS: This morning I saw that if you go to the "Races" menu under "Space Manager" it appears like you can change the gravitational tolerance of your species. I am going to try changing mine from .6 to .65 tonight so that I can colonize Mars.

Nightmare wrote:

Our lists are very very similar, except for this:

MoonDragon wrote:

Fifth, allocate my tech points if I didn't pick auto-allocate for a new game.

How the heck do you do that?

When you're setting up a new game, the left side of the screen will have all sorts of parameters you can set up. Bottom right of that part will tell you how many starting research points you have based on your population size and your government. Under it are two checkboxes, one of which says something to the effect of "automatic allocation of research points". If you keep that checked, the computer will automatically allocate your starting research points. If you uncheck it, the points will not be allocated.

Instead, you have to log in as SM. Go to the research tab, and "instant" any research technologies you want to have, as Baron suggested. The remaining number of your starting research points are visible under the researcher list.

LtWarhound wrote:

Search finally found the answer, got to set up a colony there first... wierd. Okay, routing a freighter to drop one automated mine. Note to self: Next time, design the Scavenger with enough cargo space to carry an automated mine + expected ore.

The easiest way to start a colony is to go into system view (F9), find the celestial body in question and click on "Add Colony" button on the bottom of that screen. You need to have a colony on the asteroid you're mining with the mining ships in order for them to deposit the mined materials into it.

Yonder wrote:

PS: I know have two Civilian Mining Colonies and a Civilian shipping line. I read somewhere (no idea where) that you can either set up a mining contract with those colonies to pick up anything they mine, or they will add to your wealth when you tax their sales to the civilian sector. How do you sign up with them?

Under colony screen (F2), there is a tab for Civilian/Ind Status. There you can create contracts you want fulfilled by civvies. They work independently and you cannot directly control them. Kind of like heroes in Majesty games. You can only entice them to do your bidding by putting up money rewards on tasks.

Yonder wrote:

PSS: This morning I saw that if you go to the "Races" menu under "Space Manager" it appears like you can change the gravitational tolerance of your species. I am going to try changing mine from .6 to .65 tonight so that I can colonize Mars.

If you log in as SM, and bring up View Race Details window (Ctrl+F2), you can adjust the basic race parameters (you can't adjust them without SM mode once you start playing your race).

Which brings up another point. This game was meant as a role playing framework. With that in mind, you can pretty much control every aspect of it, if you know how. You can change just about every number in the database, if you so choose. It also means you can sometimes change those numbers without meaning to. The game will not stop or prevent you from doing it. Be very frugal with the SM mode, unless you want to be in God mode.

One of the good examples is the ship design. It's now fixed so that when you lock it yourself, or when you make the first ship of that type, the design is locked. It didn't used to be that way. It was not auto-locked. Which meant that you could change the design of a ship class at any time. And when you did, all ships of that class are changed. They do not have to be retrofitted. They just change. This can still be done now in the SM mode, but at least it auto locks when you're not SM.

Okay, now I have a spaceship drifting in space without any fuel.

Is there any way to refuel it?

There is fuel on your planet. Take another ship with fuel in its tanks and make it fly to your empty ship. Once there, bring up the ship display window. Under Miscellaneous tab there should be a box on the left side that allows you to transfer fuel from one ship to another, manually. Another way would be to merge the two ship into a single task group, then in the task group window order the task group to equalize its fuel reserves. That would split the fuel between the two ships evenly.

An annoying thing about refueling an empty ship is that every 6 hours it will interrupt your game to give you an "Empty Fuel" and an "Insufficient Fuel" warning. If you cancel that craft's orders (as well as default and conditional orders) it will no longer give you those warnings. Instead it will give you a "Low Fuel" warning every 24 hours or so. I usually refuel with a slower freighter that takes 2-3 days to get to them, so that was helpful to figure out.

One of the idiosyncratic things I do in my games is to create a single tug boat with a few efficient engines. Basically a minimal necessary hull with a tractor beam and 4 high tech engines. It can usually fly around at 12k speed and it's efficient on fuel. I use it for all sorts of extraordinary tasks. Like transferring teams from one planet to another; refueling in emergency situations; and so on.

Unistalled it as it never worked correctly for me.
Anyone else have massive probles with this game in Vista? Alternatively is it light enough my older notebook could be dusted off to run it?

Nosferatu wrote:

Unistalled it as it never worked correctly for me.
Anyone else have massive probles with this game in Vista? Alternatively is it light enough my older notebook could be dusted off to run it?

I haven't had a major problem thusfar in 64-bit Vista. I'm not certain whether your notebook could run it. It is quite CPU intensive, but if you limited the size of the galaxy, turned off Asteroid orbits (the default) and limited the number of compuer races to a reasonable number you may be fine.

Just found out what the percentage is for when building new buildings. It is used to determine how many of your workers you want working on the project. Until now I guess I was only using 1% of my workforce.

Yonder wrote:
Nosferatu wrote:

Unistalled it as it never worked correctly for me.
Anyone else have massive probles with this game in Vista? Alternatively is it light enough my older notebook could be dusted off to run it?

I haven't had a major problem thusfar in 64-bit Vista. I'm not certain whether your notebook could run it. It is quite CPU intensive, but if you limited the size of the galaxy, turned off Asteroid orbits (the default) and limited the number of compuer races to a reasonable number you may be fine.

I had nothing but problems with Vista 64 bit... It wanted to install some old version of files(um no thanks), then it kept telling my it had some sort of error with the DB...

I guess the laptop isn't that old, it runs XP, it's just I don't use it very often as the battery life is only a few hours...

There is only 1 file missing in the installer when it comes to vista. I forget what the name is, but it's required when you try to run System info window (F9).

Otherwise it runs like a charm on both Vista 32 and Vista 64.

Make sure you install from the installer found on the boards, not the links you find on the wiki.

I was playing 4.7.7 and ran into a couple quirks and bugs, I decided to upgrade to the latest version and start a new game, so far it's been going pretty well. My starting planet had a fairly bad mineral availability, but the solar system as a whole is so mineral rich that it completely makes up for it. I am taking advantage of that, and my newfound ability to colonize Mars, to stick around in my home system to tech up a bit before i venture out into that dangerous world on the other side of the jumpgate.

I am now a big proponent of Asteroid Mining Modules. Their big advantage is that each module is only half as expensive as an Automated Mine, or the same price as a normal Mine. The downside is that they can only mine Asteroids (maybe Comets?), but if you have a sizable number of mineral rich asteroids in your territory it is a great choice. The modules are the same size as a cargo space, so if you have the capacity to make a decent freighter you can build a decent Asteroid Miner as well. In fact my Asteroid miners have been smaller, they need very, very few engines, and thus less fuel as well. Throw in the added mobility and you have a winning combination.

Colonizing Mars has been pretty sweet, I was lucky enough to already have a shipping line before I colonized it (they had no assets though). Once I started laying down infrastructure shipments the shipping line bought it's own colony transport ship and started landing colonists. It was several months later before I finally got my transports out the door, score one for private enterprise! By now they have added a freighter and a luxury liner to their name, and constantly run back and forth between Earth and Mars. A second company recently started up, but they haven't done anything yet. I am hoping they choose to buy some freighters, since what I really want is more civilian goods shipped to Mars (especially civilian infrastructure!), and I can't do that myself.

Couple of pieces of advice Yonder:

If you overcrowd Mars with population, the need for civilian infrastructure will greatly increase and the shipping companies will act accordingly. You can also give them money (subsidize) so that they can buy their ships.

I'd suggest you stake your claim on all the main celestial bodies in the solar system that you intend to mine yourself. Otherwise the civvies will start putting their own mining colonies on your prime territory. That can get annoying. You can create a colony and just ignore it until you're ready to exploit it.

I'm not a detail guy, i get so overwhelmed. But i am really liking reading about the games yall have going on.

MoonDragon wrote:

I'd suggest you stake your claim on all the main celestial bodies in the solar system that you intend to mine yourself. Otherwise the civvies will start putting their own mining colonies on your prime territory. That can get annoying. You can create a colony and just ignore it until you're ready to exploit it.

Can I not put my own facilities down on civilian colonies?

Not sure how that would work. Civ colonies grow over time on their own. But I don't really know how you fully interact with them. If you figure it out, please share with us.

Aha, this is where I read the details about Civilian Mining Complexes.

Markly wrote:

I'm not a detail guy, i get so overwhelmed. But i am really liking reading about the games yall have going on.

Just as with Dwarf Fortress, it sounds like the best way to play this is vicariously through one of these guys

Protip: Double left-click zooms in, double right-click zooms out.

Only since version 4.8.

davet010 wrote:
Markly wrote:

I'm not a detail guy, i get so overwhelmed. But i am really liking reading about the games yall have going on.

Just as with Dwarf Fortress, it sounds like the best way to play this is vicariously through one of these guys :)

I'm very much enjoying reading about this game. Are there enemies in the game? Space Pirates? Space Zombies? Or is it just You Versus Physics, This Time It's Personal?

If you enjoy reading about this game, then you really need to go to the guy's boards and find his fiction. There are several people there who write extensive fiction based on the game. After all the game was specifically designed to help the guy write his fiction.

SD, you can specify the number of computer controlled full AI civs, and you will also run into the remnants of small civs (Precursors). So yes, you play against others.

Protip: If you want to find out if something fits (for example, how many transport bays to carry a regiment of engineers), start a new game, and don't let the system spend your initial research points. Instead, turn on Spacemaster (god/cheat/game master mode) and custom pick the tech needed, design the items, and build it. Then try it, before returning to your original game.

I do this when the 'documentation' fails me. I.e. searching the Aurora forums and wiki.

Its 5, btw, and you might want to add cargo handling systems to speed up the transfer of the troops.

From the 'It seemed like a good idea' department: The Forward Observer Buoy (FOB).

I wanted a jump point picket, a cheap and expendable 'tripwire'. I designed a Size 15 Buoy, thermal sensor, 45 months duration on the powerplant. And a FOB Tender to deploy them:

***

FOB Deployer class Buoy Tender 6000 tons 571 Crew 882.15 BP TCS 120 TH 180 EM 0
1500 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 7 PPV 15
Annual Failure Rate: 41% IFR: 0.6% Maint Capacity 1643 MSP Max Repair 400 MSP Est Time: 4 Years
Magazine 165

J6000(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine ME10 (3) Power 60 Fuel Use 100% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 150.0 billion km (1157 days at full power)

CIWS-80 (1x2) Range 1000 km TS: 8000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Size 15 Missile Launcher (1) Missile Size 15 Rate of Fire 450
S15 Buoy - Thermal 5 D45 (11) Speed: 0 km/s End: 1350d Range: 0m km WH: 0 Size: 15 TH: 0 / 0 / 0

ASS S3.96-R1 PD (1) GPS 3.96 Range 40k km Resolution 1

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 military vessel for maintenance purposes

***

Lesson learned: 45 months is no where near long enough. I can't deploy them fast enough. I suspect the next try will involve a small craft, fighter or gunboat. Something with a much longer duration. A larger buoy doesn't seem like a good idea, it would require a larger launcher, and larger magazine, which means a larger ship, which means a larger jump drive, which means a lot more research... etc, etc.

On the plus side, the trial FOB Tender is now seeing use as a Jump Tender, moving cheap Gravitational Survey frigates into new star systems.

There is an easier way to get troops to another colony, if you don't mind a minor cheat. Although, it has been officially declared not a cheat. Kind of like when you assign a planetary governor. (S)he is automagically transported to the target planet. RP justification, if you need one, is that there should be a certain level of bureaucratic empire handling that's already done for you. Imagine you're a king of your kingdom; you would not tell your adviser to take the blue carriage with the driver #3, when you send him on a diplomatic mission to the neighbouring kingdom. You just tell him to go. He figures out how to get there.

So, with all that said, if you go to the colony where you want the troops, select the drop down options under ground units tab until they all show up, click on the regiment you want transported, bottom right make sure the colony you're currently on is selected, click transfer button.

This only works when you're transporting from one colony to another. You cannot do this when attacking an enemy.

--Edit--

Warhound, you can build really small scale ships with nothing but some basic crew quarters and a sensor. Basically listening posts in space. No engines, no fuel, no frills. Just crew quarters (maybe small ones), 1 engineering section, sensors. That's it. Have a tug boat tug them to the vicinity of a JP. You can assign an officer to it, if you want to, or just leave it officerless. I think it should work.

--Edit2--

I just loaded up the "Tutorial Game" that has some basic tech, gave myself Crew Quarters - Small tech, and quickly constructed this:

Vanguard class Sensor Outpost 450 tons 41 Crew 60 BP TCS 9 TH 0 EM 0 1 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0 Annual Failure Rate: 1% IFR: 0% Maint Capacity 83 MSP Max Repair 20 MSP Est Time: 22.14 Years Active Search Sensor S20-R100 (1) GPS 2000 Range 20.0m km Resolution 100 Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km EM Detection Sensor EM2-10 (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

Run on passive sensors until you have a contact. If you're worried about who it may be, ping them with the active sensors for a positive race ID. Otherwise just keep the active off and snoop their movements with passives. The amazing thing about that outpost is 0 thermal emissions. Which means that they are totally invisible, unless pinged with an active sensor. They also have an amazingly low failure rate.

Hmm, I wouldn't have thought that would work but apparently a ship that small doesn't need that much maintenance. It thinks it would last 22.14 years... Not sure how you'd get 41 volunteers to crew it though.

Protip: holding down shift and dragging the left mouse button lets you measure distances!

MoonDragon wrote:

If you enjoy reading about this game, then you really need to go to the guy's boards and find his fiction. There are several people there who write extensive fiction based on the game. After all the game was specifically designed to help the guy write his fiction.

I can't recommend this campaign series enough. Just start at story thread #1. The story and behaviour is interesting and plausible, and he goes deeply into some of his design documentation. At the beginning he runs 6 empires individually based from the same planet (Earth power blocs) and he runs them with different motivations so you get a handle on how different strategies may work out. At the beginning you get a lot of feel for small scale and planetary struggle that shows you how flexible the system is, later on when he takes to space you can see some of the more typical gameplay.

He talks through the design process for each type and generation of ships, in particular after one war he writes up a post-action design review meeting that explains the short comings of their craft and what specifically he hoped to fix in the next generation. All in all it was phenomenally interesting and useful, and now I can't wait to design multi-stage missiles, yowza.