Pre-SysNES2: Beta-testing and Submission

[Thlayli]

So many people dropping out way before the NES starts :C

The wheat from the chaff, my friend. Let Kenny do an application, maybe?

 

[Seon]

The game's not even going to start within couple of months though.

 

[Disenfrancised]

it's not your fault, this really interested me, it's just that School is much more intense this semester than any previously. I'll definitely be reading it.

People from sysnes1 should post just how short their orders were - the amount of automation and rules here actually reduces workload in the NES proper.

Sure lets see what Kentharu has thought of then.

 

[Disenfrancised]

the game's not even going to start within couple of months though.

exactly

 

[Thlayli]

Sorry if this question has been answered somewhere else; do Commlinks fleet int bonuses on multiple ships stack?

It's a shame that it's a couple of months, and not like, a month. Just because we all want to play so badly.

 

[Disenfrancised]

No, only the highest fleet int bonus is used.

 

[Matt0088]

This was probably an average order length for me:

Spoiler TURN 11 :

Soulon League's Orders:
Spending:
- 20e on the creation of a biotech research center on the region 1 habitat on Kaus III.
- 20e on the creation of a construction research center on the region 2 habitat on Kaus III.
- 25e to the Gardeners, as part of the last year of payment for the peace deal.
- 20e, 10e each to Kaus IV and V, to begin a bank to amass enough funds, over 3 – 4 years, to construct Gamma habitats on each planet. SO, bank 20e.
- 20e on 2 farms, 1 on Kaus IV, and 1 on Kaus V.
- 8e on improving Soulon communications systems.
- 2e to transport 1 pop from Kaus VIIa to the Kaus V habitat with 0 pop.
- 24s on finishing Computation2.

Domestics:
- Just some notes on Soulon government. While the Soulon senate does have its seats currently decided between each member planet by population, these are only adjusted just before each new election of members to the Senate, which takes place every 5 years and thus, while Kaus III will gain several seats come next election, it still has the same number of seats as it did 2 years ago with the first election, and thus, at least politically, roughly the same amount of power as the other planets.
- This still allows the outer worlds to take action, and they will, because as of now, in the upcoming election, Kaus III would have half the seats based on pop. Spearheaded by Kaus V politicians, and supported by Kaus IV and Kaus VI, a bill will be passed, with support of even Kaus III, consisting of a compromise which allows the continued funding, significant funding, of Kaus III’s research ability, while the League Senate has the seats allotted to member planets remain constant, regardless of population or economic factors, at 5 or 7 or 9 seats (You decide, it doesn't really matter) per till the end of time. Everybody gets what they want; Kaus III’s continued development, and the Outer Worlds keep their power in the Senate.
- Make a public announcement throughout the Soulon League reaffirming the fact that while any person may take thought to, or promote the action of whatever they want, to make the government take action, you have to be citizen and get elected! This is indeed a government for the people, by the people, and while the ideology of the Gardener immigrants (they gave up any Soulon citizenship they had by staying on Kaus II for a year or longer, cause that certainly wasn’t foreign exchange or a lengthy vacation) may be taken for whatever opinion, the actions it encourages can only be taken with government support, should the people elect those sharing the same ideals. It may be noted that local planetary governments, while initially set in line with the League Senate’s elections every 5 years, may set their elections at whatever rate, whether it be 2 years, 3, 4, 5, 6, or other, so should the public cry that the election is too far away, they should get elected to change that as well! Lastly, should accuse that the former Shadow Lords still control most of the government, point out that should some candidates be so good, so popular, over the Shadow lords then get them elected! The fact that bureaucracy costs (which some see as Shadow Lord corruption) will be further decreased with the completion of Computation 2, should also help lessen public opinion that the Shadow Lords control everything, an opinion I’m trying hard to dispel obviously.
- Shut off any public access to Gardener government sponsored or supported communications, and should any notice/ask why, cite that the Gardener messages supporting the closure of mines on Kaus III have no right to influence the peoples of the Soulon League, on Kaus III or elsewhere, and that the Soulon League government is for the Soulon peoples, and not the Gardeners. Should the Gardeners stop such messages, then communication will be restored as soon as possible. Also boot out any Gardener sent peoples to Kaus III’s universities, or Gardeners in general, saying that to take a position at these universities, you have to be a Soulon Citizen (Or wait 10 years if you immigrated from somewhere, or 4 years if you were a former Soulon citizen), and that the universities were built to promote the growth of Soulon education and intelligence and professors etc., not be used to built upon already existing Gardener educational infrastructure. This also applies to the new research centers.
- Promote the construction of a Biotech research center on Kaus III, where the results can be amplified most (should politicians complain), which will work towards the improvement of living for all of the Soulon League, as well as, next year, boost food production for a Soulon population, which, amazingly in a roughly a decade, has nearly quadrupled, and now currently consumes over two thirds of Soulon food supply, and to be on the safe side, the government is raising food yield over the next two years by about 5-6f (not including more farms).
- With the 8e assigned, further improve communications within the Soulon League, if anything, increasing signal number and strength, to help with various Soulon announcements, as well as helping any and all understanding any of the actions and reason underlying of the League Senate and Soulon government in general. If 8e isn’t completely used, use it for propaganda.

Military Operations:
- With the numerous changes in the Soulon league, Soulon divisions are to be alert, particularly on habitats in Kaus III and V, where there was unrest last turn.
- The Voyager probe will travel to Azimech this turn. If you’re wondering, I choose Azimech over Yshakaron because it is slightly more centered to the western cluster, and I can get to Terebellum and Subra more easily over the next couple turns as the Voyager completes its initial expedition.

I was honored with Best Orders for the following set:

Spoiler TURN 20 :

Soulon League's Orders:
Spending Orders: 109e (Income) + 233e (Banked) + 22e (Other) = 364e (Total)
- 182e on constructing 7 Horizons cargo ships. SEE DOMESTICS (2)
- 75e constructing a Liberty colony ship around Gurdon. SEE DOMESTICS (2)
- 15e on constructing a shipyard around Corth. SEE DOMESTICS (1)
- 15e on constructing a shipyard around Kaus VIIa. SEE DOMESTICS (1)
- 77e to be banked on cargo ships. SEE DOMESTICS (2)
- 27s finishing the Liberty class colony ship prototype.
- 12s into researching Construction4.

Domestics:
1.) To eliminate all possible variables and sticking to schedule, shipyards will be built around the remaining two planets without, Corth and Kaus VIIa, so that vital Soulon population from all planets of the League can be immediately transferred upon ships, denying the Gardener the chance to even have the possibility of moving to block any actions of the exodus fleet that being forced to transfer population between worlds would allow. Also, the 22e released from disassembling the entirety of Soulon civilization would’ve been mostly useless otherwise.
2.) Designed so as to limit initial threats, and decrease the importance of any one ship (other than the Liberty) so as to limit future damage caused by unforeseen threats, the following is of the organization of the exodus fleet:

• Gurdon: 1 Liberty, 5 Horizons, loaded with 6 pop, 1 division, and 43e. (Spread as evenly as possible among the ships)
• Medias: 2 Laoniu IIs, loaded with 18 pop, 2 divisions, and 20e.
• Corth: 1 Horizon, loaded with 2 pop, 1 division, and 7e.
• Kaus VIIa: 1 Horizon, loaded with 2 pop, 1 divisions, and 7e.

3.) Once construction of the exodus fleet is completed, all divisions on each planet are to assist all Soulons in boarding their new homes for the next few years. If any protest, remind them that the entirety of the Soulon League, and indeed, the Soulon civilization, will be leaving the cursed system of Kaus forever, and should they stay, they will have no source of food, or any and all features of life (whatever they are) they have come to know and depend on will disappear. For their own good, they will be coming, even if it takes a good shove, but as you have indicated before Dis, there should only be a few crazies, so this is not a major worry.
4.) After all the population is safely loaded off Kaus IV, V, VI, and VIIa, the remaining divisions will systematically and probably more importantly, quickly disassemble all Soulon habitats (4 on IV, 4 on V, 1 on VI, 1 on VIIa), and use the e gained to load up the remaining cargo space to full capacity (at least once the 5 divisions are loaded). Once this is done, all excess divisions not required to be provide security to Soulon society during and after its exodus will be disbanded and join the millions on the fleet, soon followed by the 5 last divisions.
5.) Collectively, together, the Soulon exodus fleet plus scout probe; will jump to Terebellum ASAP, and close this chapter of Soulon history, good riddance! (Well, the message to the Gardeners would be, and I quote,” Have fun in hell ers!&#8221

Diplomacy:
1.) A formal agreement has been formed between the Liberes and the Soulon League, that, in return for simply leaving the Soulon League alone in their exodus and after, the Liberes will receive four Horizons cargo bays after Soulon resettlement, with the possibility of a fifth. If any Soulon complain, simply explain that after the exodus, with 9 cargo ships, many simply won’t be needed for the foreseeable future (even if 2 trade routes are created), and it’s a worthwhile deal to at least make attempts at disarming all possible threat to Soulon civilization while its exodus makes it so vulnerable at the moment. Rather be safe than sorry.
2.) Any agreement with the Gardeners made this turn are just me BSing.
3.) Maintain all current ties with all other entities of the Hydra Tuft. Just because the Soulon League is moving doesn't mean it's starting completely from scratch.

Military Operations:
1.) The last Farragut will move to Kaus VI and assist in destroying the ruins there, along with the remaining divisions on the planet as they also disassemble the lone habitat there. Finally, to further assure the destruction of the ruins and the threat it poses (see Recent Heze Events, which is the official Soulon “reasoning&#8221, once the crew of the Farragut is evacuated, it is to be auto piloted into any remaining ruins, and its fusion core detonated.

Long Term Plans:
- Now that the Soulon League has finally left Kaus, it’ll arrive at Terebellum the year after next, and should the system reveal itself to be suitable to Soulon resettlement, which currently is defined roughly as a system with a unspoiled biosphere (no or little bad traits) and at least 4 easily accessible economic planets (icy moons or hunks of generic rock), then a engineering bay will be created over the biosphere, and Soulon resettlement will begin. However, as the scout probe continues on Yshakaron, should that system also prove valuable, that system will also be colonized, seeing as 28 pop cannot be immediately dumped on some nice biosphere, and so create the Soulon League as originially/ultimately intended, an Interstellar Soulon League.

 

[Kentharu]

I'll try to put a description out tonight if possible. Tomorrow for sure.

 

[Disenfrancised]

About 60% of matt0088's orders was the common amount, and I skim read most of his stuff anyway .

 

[Matt0088]

About 60% of matt0088's orders was the common amount, and I skim read most of his stuff anyway .

hahaha good thing I avoided the war orders.

 

[Kraznaya]

About 60% of matt0088's orders was the common amount

of course, that factors in the average length of my orders

 

[Kal'thzar]

Kal' 255

But why would lasers be better against high dodge than low ones? If you make them stronger vs dodge they'll just become the best.

The bonus to particle and laser vs dodge at long range is that dodge is about the unpredictability of another ships position - the less random the other ship is, the better it will be to use c and near c countermeasures rather than course adjusting missiles. I make stop it being quite so wild though.

I may improve laser to hit chances to the highest whilst reducing their damage.

At the moment

to hit with beam: RND 0-10 + aInt-dInt/4-dodge(*4 if longrange) +(-2 if longrange, else +2) > 5

to hit with particle: RND 0-10 + aInt-dInt/8-dodge(*3 if longrange, * 0.5 else!) - 4 (if longrange) > 5

That is particle gets a buff hitting missile ships (generally higher int) as defender int counts for less. Particle also gets a buff against hitting dodge (particle ships domain). These buffs help keep particle ships small and hence fast/high dodge.

However, laser gets a one time buff (+2 at close range), dint is not reduced so much and neither is dodge. My thought was to make lasers better against dodge, but remain not as good against int, getting closer to that rock, paper, scissors.

Spoiler thoughts :

Matrix of Hitting

to hit dInt Dodge
Best Particle Laser
Ok Missile Particle
Bad Laser Missile

Granted there are other ways to do it and I can't predict the future component abilities.

 

[Symphony D.]

Fully TL3 design. Quite expensive for its time, but faster than any reasonable Pulse/Capacitor fighter, nimble, and putting out the hurt.

Diablo Defense Cutter
1 Antimatter Core
2 Antimatter Drives
4 Pulse Drives
1 Antimatter Bottle (Refined)
1 Gas Vent
1 Microwave Laser

Cost: 112e (50e) / 21m / 50v / 15a / 0t
Size: 38 / Mass: 26
IS Rating: 0 / IP Speed: 7 / Range: 0 / Power: 25 / Heat: 0
Init: 0 / Dodge: 6 [PROP3] / Missile: 0 / Armor: -1 / Shield: 1

 

[Disenfrancised]

Fully TL3 design. Quite expensive for its time, but faster than any reasonable Pulse/Capacitor fighter, nimble, and putting out the hurt.

Diablo Defense Cutter
1 Antimatter Core
2 Antimatter Drives
4 Pulse Drives
1 Antimatter Bottle (Refined)
1 Gas Vent
1 Microwave Laser

Cost: 112e (50e) / 21m / 50v / 15a / 0t
Size: 38 / Mass: 26
IS Rating: 0 / IP Speed: 7 / Range: 0 / Power: 25 / Heat: 0
Init: 0 / Dodge: 6 [PROP3] / Missile: 0 / Armor: -1 / Shield: 1

Whoops, forgot to correctly define the tech levels for the antimatter stuff - it is not Level 1-3 for sure!

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Sym certainly seems to be the antimatter fiend here.

 

[Symphony D.]

It's only completely and utterly superior to everything else on a design-by-design basis, is all.

 

[Seon]

Well, one would also need to have a freakishly large supply of antimatter and the means to transport them to the fleet, so it kind of balances out.

 

[Symphony D.]

Well, one would also need to have a freakishly large supply of antimatter and the means to transport them to the fleet, so it kind of balances out.

12 and 24 aren't likely to be huge strains on an advanced economy, and you can load up a half-dozen antimatter bottles onto a cheap D-He3 transport as a tanker or something. You can either fit a twist drive to it, or move your tankers in advance to resupply. Someone can take to shooting them down to screw you, but if you haven't accounted for that by protecting them, you're doing it wrong anyway.

If you start consuming several hundred antimatter per turn, that might indeed be a problem, but the whole point of antimatter is that it's strikingly superior, so you shouldn't need that many ships. Considering the apparent superiority of cheap, low-tech ships, the optimal strategy seems to be large, cheap fleets jacketing a few, high-performance ships. You can try and kill the strong ships and get swarmed, or try and kill the swarms and get hammered. This kind of strategy is as old as war itself, and it seems fully in effect here.

I'm not the most erudite designer but so far I have a hard time seeing a place for compromise, "good-enough" vehicles in the paradigm. They're not efficient enough or effective enough to compete with either end of the spectrum, so far.

 

[Matt0088]

I'm not the most erudite designer but so far I have a hard time seeing a place for compromise, "good-enough" vehicles in the paradigm. They're not efficient enough or effective enough to compete with either end of the spectrum, so far.

I tried doing this for the longest time, but with V5, it seems that only a higher construction (6+) can allow you to have a competent multipurpose or all-around ship. That and a good propulsion tech with enough maneuvering jets.

I disapprove of Gas Vents. So much volatiles...

 

[Symphony D.]

This is why I was in favor of raising the mass/size caps from a linear model, and I'm happy it's being considered. Unless later components get smaller, these ships just feel...small, both in armament and in armor. I wouldn't call anything below the [CON6] limit anything more than a Destroyer, and most of them tend to be Patrol Boats, Cutters, or Gun Boats.

A pseudo-naval scaling for the last few levels (1.25 to 2x increases per level) would give appropriately large ships for "epic fights," in my opinion, with either strong general performers, highly dedicated specialists, or things in between. It wouldn't be balanced to the previous levels, perhaps, but the USS Constitution could scarcely stand up against an AEGIS Cruiser or something, so.

Also, although they take a lot of volatiles, Gas Vents rule in terms of what they give you in return, so I think it's a fair trade.