One of my biggest problems is keeping track of things as my empire grows. In my current game I have 8 known systems but have surveyed only 3. My navy consists of 33 ships, including mining platforms. But already I’m having trouble remembering what I planned to do in each system.
I’ve started keeping written notes: “start mining Procyon asteroids 81, 134 and 114.” “Colonize AD Leonis III.” “Stabilize jump point in Kappa Muscae.” Is there a better way? How do you guys and gals keep things organized?
I currently have 209 known systems, with twenty-eight colonies with populations, plus a couple of ruin sites. There are 624 ships excluding civilian shipping, although about 80 of those are less than 1000 tons.
I organise everything within naval admin commands, so you generally know what role each fleet should play and some of those commands are also specific to different systems. For populations I tend to queue production so I don’t forget what I need.
I do keep notes, but not many. I only have three lines written down at the moment.
In general, I think over time you just get better at managing. You are effectively learning a new skill - managing an Aurora empire - and you will become much better with practice.
My typical approach is to maintain a spreadsheet, keep written notes, write an AAR, lose track of what information is where, get confused, then I give up and go shoot Precursors.
It works out great for everybody involved except the Precursors.
I also use the map, a lot. Notes, use the mining flag for what of interests and also admin branches/fleets with Name of the mission and scope, even if empty while waiting for ships to be built.
Spreadsheet sometimes, notes always (I use obsidian md for note-taking for most aspects of my life), temporary fleet names where it might help me remember a short term goal, and lots of Send Message fleet orders used as reminders.
I just keep everything in mind and using specific naval commands for ship’s roles; if I play every day even for a bit there’s no problem, if there is a gap of few days then I just fast check everything once I reopen the game.
Wow! 624 ships and 209 systems! That’s astonishing.
Byy “naval admin commands” do you mean “sector commands”? The Industry tab of my Economics screen shows that a “Sector Command” can be built. I’ve never built such a thing, so I suppose I will need to find an appropriate Defran video on YouTube.
Naval Commands are in the Fleets window, and they are where one organizes the “true” logistics of the game.
Sector Commands are more about organizing Colonies, Naval Commands is how both Colonies and Sectors interact with each other.
I keep a todo list for things I want to do in the future and use fleet names to remember what different commercial fleets where doing. Orders Complete for Fleet “AM Earth > Sirius IV-4” lets me know wtf these guys where doing even if the task took them 4 years to get done.
Beside that I try to do a bit of “state of the empire” every year or so. Not every part every time, just see if there’s any new colonies I want started one year, then check if there’s some mineral that’s becoming a issue the next, then maybe see if I’m happy with where my mines are working the one after that etc
I agree with the OP that a notes widget with Aurora would help with general tracking within the game. Although I haven’t played it for a while (because of time) when I do I’m always wishing to write down what my goals/plans are in case of an extended absence.
Use as much automation as possible and also use the message system when ships end any particular important job so you know what they did and why… helps allot. Take notes and so on. You need to remind yourself on what is going on. But in general try and automate by having ships do circular trips over and over do the same thing etc…
I definitely recommend taking time once every, IDK, year of gameplay to pause and look at the big picture. What’s not getting surveyed? What needs to get developed? What needs to happen in the next 5 years. This is both important as a strategic issue and also for Roleplaying purposes. Take a look at your whole empire and don’t take a bunch of reactive turns while you’re doing it. Where is that ensign who was the tactical officer of your biggest battleship a few years ago? What’s happening on that border world that you fought a small war for.
That sounds exactly like what I was missing. Idk if it’ll be in 2.8 but whenever it gets added that’d be great!
Though since you seem to be working on it I would want to ask - Would it be possible to have it as its own window? I’m mostly asking because then I would be able to drag it out to my other monitor and just open it whenever I want instead of having to manipulate the existing industrial screen every time.
You can do that already for most windows. Hold down shift when you click the button to open a window. You can also drag items between the same treeview on each window.
