Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Hideout - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Bah. Just got pirated by Mr. Woodly (who thought it was cute to apologize afterwards; he'll get his soon) and am down to 50k after buying the hot-rodded Jaeger and escorts. Since bulk missions don't seem to happen anymore, I picked up 5 missions originating at Datron, which should see me back at a decent bank roll by the end of the week.

A couple of things:

1) Has anyone tried running the commodity exchange yet? Looking at the prices it looks like a joke. You'd need a fleet of bulk freighters to do it and then I'm not even sure you'd make enough profit to cover the escort fees (of course, I haven't done the math on this yet).

2) When (/if) we get our own system can we prevent priates from entering, or set it up so that they get killed if they do?

------------------
[url="http://"http://www.leapinglaughter.org"]Dig a little deeper[/url]
As below, so above.

Quote

Maybe I should go look for him - get your cash back, if you know what I mean

Quote

I've used it, but only if I've got free cargo space after accepting missions. Under the right conditions, it can add about 10-20K onto profits, but it's not profitable by itself.

Quote

I doubt it. But they wouldn't really get an upper hand on us by doing so. The only time we ever have to go to our own planets is when we want to buy our Spiffy Unset Ships™. They can't take the planet over, and we won't be there...

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

So you can't take planets over?

If things keep going well, I might be able to donate some more this weekend. Good missions are in short supply though.

------------------
"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

Quote

So did I. Bah. I did have a bit of cash stored up, so I bounced back into a scout.
Pallas: I'm still happy to donate up to 200k. Anything for the UNSET Alliance

Quote

So thats where all those missions went! I was trying to figure out why the indepent missions list changed so suddenly. It seems that no one ever takes the missions from Datron and Crick, so those just accumulate and never go away.

Quote

CheesEv is working on the LN Defence fleets. Once he gets that scripted, we might be able to use something like that, although I doubt we'll need one.



------------------
In the begining, there was EV. Single Player. Now, we have been delivered from isolation.
[url="http://"http://www.stonefire.net"] The Hideout[/url]: Multiplayer EV!!

Quote

Heh.

------------------
"Typical Americanism. Somebody else does it so we have to do it wrong."

[This message has been edited by Mag Steelglass (edited 09-26-2002).]

So can a planet generate a cash flow to those in the goverment/alliance that owns it? If so, we should load up on as many of them as fast as possible.

[EDIT] Okay, so they can. We should set a goal to have five within a month of our first colonization. [/EDIT]

------------------
[url="http://"http://www.leapinglaughter.org"]Dig a little deeper[/url]
As below, so above.

[This message has been edited by Sargatanus (edited 09-26-2002).]

Five of what? I don't quite follow you.

5 planets total. Meaning we accumulate them about 1 per week. If all of us put up a modest sum each week this should be possible.

What should be *really* useful when we have our own government is the fact that we'll have our own missions. Ideally, one or two of us should get salaries that allow us to pay for escorts, and use our own Unset bulk missions. I'll probably go privateering in Consortium space (It's not piracy if your government tells you do do it).

The combination of privateering and frequent bulk missions should increase our cash quickly, so we might be able to meet that goal with relative ease. Personally, I think that our other members should try and concentrate on getting bigger ships, so we can become a fighting force at the same time as we become an economic force.

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

Good call, Pallas. We might want to try NA space, too, since they have more pilots (see the statistics I posted on the Hideout webboard).

I was also thinking about our first ship, and I recall Pat telling us that the first ship a new govt. designs is *free*, and the others cost a good deal of money, like 500k, money that could go towards a new colony ship. I think therefore we should start with a larger ship, like a gunship, and get it for free, rather than a fighter or cruiser and then spend more on the gunship later.

Personally, I'd rather fight one enemy at a time. It would be to our advantage to set up a Non-Aggression Pact (NAP) with the New Alliance, since they're the more powerful of the two current factions. The Consortium won't be able to defend itself well as things stand.

Same thing I was thinking (drags out revised Gunship stats)

Magellan-Class Gunship

Class: Gunship (VI)
Speed: 330 AU/h
Def. Shield: 60u
Charge: 0.23u/sec
Armor: 30u
Guns: 4 max
Turrets: 3 max

Space: 0 tons (140)
Cargo: 30 tons
Fuel: 800 (8)
Length: 28m
Mass: 110 tons
Crew: 12
Cost: 1,200,000 cr

Accel: 320
Turn: 120°/sec
Weapons:
-2 Neutron Cannons
-2 Laser Turrets
-1 Missile Rack +20

I also thought that it would be useful to have a cheap escort ship like the Shrike, except a little more powerful and specialized. Essentially, the Fighter I designed is a Shrike, but with 3 Laser Cannons and costing 120Kcr (or 6K/day escort duty). The Carrier is currently irrelevant, and will likely remain so for a long time. I have stats on it, but I won't post them yet.

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

[This message has been edited by Pallas Athene (edited 09-27-2002).]

In my humble opinion, our fighter escorts should be geared to take out larger ships, like corvettes. Not by themselves of course, but in groups of 3-4. Double the price, beef up the defense, and have say, 3 proton cannons and a missile or heavy rocket rack.

------------------
[url="http://"http://www.leapinglaughter.org"]Dig a little deeper[/url]
As below, so above.

Well, that would be a Cruiser, not a Fighter. Fighters are small, and not really specialized for taking out anything too large. Cruisers, however, are the main ships for attacking Gunships, so they fit the role, cost and size quite nicely.

A random stat-brainstorm follows:

Class: Cruiser (IV)
Def. Shield: 40u
Charge: 32u/s
Armor: 40u
320.000 cr
Space: 0T (50)
Cargo: 30T
Weapons:
-4 Laser Cannons
-HR Launcher +10

Fully modded, that's 70T of space, all affordable before protection runs out. It works as an escort, because it's only 16K/day and provides good defense. And thanks to its class, it can have up to 6 escorts, *including* Light and Heavy Freighters. Comments?

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

Somebody started a topic on the hideout's forums about hotrodded jaegers (was that you, Sarg?). After reading it, I'm curious as to what happens when you run away.

From what I've pieced together, which is by no means guaranteedly accurate, when you run away you jump to a nearby system, and the pirate can follow. If this is so, the afterburner doubles the rate at which you lose fuel, which means we might want to also toss the burners in exchange for fuel pods (so we can run farther) and hope nobody attacks us with a relatively fast ship with a burner.

I'll try to save up some money for one of the big pretty ships. I'm also getting enough money to donate to colony ships and government ships and such (240k now, 90k more in two days).

And I'm scrapping my plans to save money for another ship if my jaeger gets pirated after realizing that pirates would just take my saved up money and come out farther ahead than if I don't save any money.

[EDIT] The ships that are fast enough with afterburners to catch a Jaeger that lacks an afterburner are shrikes, thunderbolts, mosquito patrol fighters, and raiden attack fighters. Raptors would also only be only 10 AU slower, so I'm not sure if that would make it take longer for us to run away or not. So the only ships we would have to worry about would be thunderbolts and maybe raptors, as the others are too weak to see use by pirates. What do you guys think? [/EDIT]

------------------
"Typical Americanism. Somebody else does it so we have to do it wrong."

[This message has been edited by Mag Steelglass (edited 09-28-2002).]

Forget gunships, you guys need a "blockade runner"-type ship. something like a jaeger with enough jumps to escape pirates.

------------------
See I'm the king of the swingers, the Jungle V.I.P.,
But I've reached the top and had to stop,
And that's what's
botherin' me.

Points:

[list=1]
[*]Before you even start considering all of that, are you sure Afterburners are usable on offense? The description doesn't say anything about using it for chasing enemies.
[*]I'm not sure that having a higher speed guarantees escape. I'd guess that speed will determine how long it will take to get to a safe distance, but a powerful ship could probably kill you before you escape, even if it was slow.
[*]The amount of cash you lose is based on skill, now. I remember hearing somewhere that, with 0 skill, it's impossible to lose and cash when you are pirated. If that's true, you might not have to worry, even if you do get caught.
[*]You shouldn't save up for a really big ship - getting an Eagle, Buzzard, or Raptor is good enough. You can then hire Lt. Freighters as escorts, which means you can hire combat escorts and convert your cargo space to weapon space and still run bulk missions. [If available soon, our Cruiser would work nicely too]
[*]I'm giving 150K to the cause today, which will bring our grand total up to 800Kcr. I can donate half of the remaining cash on Monday. However, we could possibly send off the ship tomorrow, if others can donate 40-50K each.[/list=a]

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

In response to Pallas's Points:

[list=1]
[*] Afterburners are usable on offense. If you have one, and you go to the combat page, there is an additional box below strategy called "Use Afterburner?" Unfortunately, if you use this in your attack, you use up 1 jump of fuel for you next turn.
[*] True, higher speeds do not guarentee escape, although they make it more likely if you start running right away. I don't know if your escorts can be dammaged/destroyed if you run faster than they do.
[*] Its true that players with zero skill are immune to loosing cash when attacked. However, if your ship is destroyed, you will need some cash to get back into a decent vessle right away, so if you do have zero skill, I recomend saving up a good pillow of cash to fall back on, just in case.
[*] I think that a medium ship would work fine for you, Mag, but if you have the cash for a bigger ship, you might as well go for it...I guess its a matter of personal preference.
[*] I refrained from buying myself an eagle so that I'd have more to donate. I can give up to 300k now, and we might need a bit more from others to secure the escorts we need. Pallas, since you seem to be co-ordinating the effort, could you arrange with CheesEv to send the colony ship tomorrow? I think Lord Commander Anic, Sar, Pat, Mag, "Trojen", and Jager(?) would be happy to give 50k each, and then we'd be in buisness![/list=a]

Quote

That's not what what's-his-face told me on the Hideout Message Board.

------------------
See I'm the king of the swingers, the Jungle V.I.P.,
But I've reached the top and had to stop,
And that's what's
botherin' me.

DanMan: CheesEv should take out 150K from your account and 50K from mine some time tonight, making the payment complete.

CheesEv has confirmed that:
1) Skill 0 becomes skill 1 in combat
2) Powerful slow ships can still destroy weak fast ships

I think that our first ship should be the Cruiser, since it's currently affordable, and it's a good player ship and escort. I'll make sure it's fairly fast, with a good amount of fuel, so it can fill that "blockade runner" role while having LF escorts. [It's powerful, though - why run?]

------------------
"All truths are relative, except for this one."

Sweeeeeet!

Try to keep quiet about all this. Let's hope the Colony Ship's presence goes unnoticed untill our Gov't is set up.

Good luck to the Ares Alliance.

------------------
See I'm the king of the swingers, the Jungle V.I.P.,
But I've reached the top and had to stop,
And that's what's
botherin' me.

I think you guys should come up with a new color for your gov. Right now its 666666, which is a medium gray. I was checking out the changes I had made for your new gov and saw how this color looked.

It was like walking through the book The Giver or Pleasantville before things started becomming colorful. It was sooooooo drab and blah-grayscale that I got depressed just navigating the consoles.

If you have some reason for the gray that you chose or you really like gray, I wont stop you because it's your choice. I'd just like to suggest adding some colors or making it lighter.

Trying to get an update done, but I should be able to send that Colony ship tomorrow. (tomorrow = sunday)

------------------
[url="http://"http://www.stonfire.net"]The Hideout[/url]
Why are you here?
"Because a big clown hit me!" - The Tick

I'd suggest blue, but that's already taken...twice.

We could pick a color from one of the races.

------------------
"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

Thank you, CheesEv. You da man

About that color, I was thinking white (the Human's color in Ares), but thats the uninhabited color. Maybe something along the lines of a dark green? Whatever.

------------------
In the begining, there was EV. Single Player. Now, we have been delivered from isolation.
[url="http://"http://www.stonefire.net"] The Hideout[/url]: Multiplayer EV!!

How about light blue and grey? There's already a two color gov.