Comments Thread for the Suns Never Set II

[AuroraSteve]

Please add any comments for the Suns Never Set II AAR in this thread.

[nuclearslurpee]

@AuroraSteve

• Research Points are double normal to allow for the variety of starting weapons.
• Starting Build Points are double normal, on the assumption the British Empire has been building up the largest army and fleet it can support before venturing into the galaxy.
  […]
• Hostility Modifier +30

This seems suspiciously similar to a WH40K AAR and I am all for it.

All distances have been converted from miles to kilometres.

Cowards.

@AuroraSteve

The Majestic class battleships Illustrious and Victorious joined the Royal Navy in October 1896. With fourteen battleships now in service, including four of the larger Majestics, the Admiralty decided to halt further battleship construction for the moment. The Falcon class raiders were being handled by lighter units, so more cruisers would be constructed instead.

This seems to resemble the real-life challenges facing the British Empire in the late 19th/early 20th century quite neatly.

@AuroraSteve

The Naval Intelligence Department designated ships of each alien race according to a common theme. The Nyxian raiders were named after birds of prey, the Automata after predatory fish and the Vaelor Hegemony after large feline species. Ships of the fourth alien race would be named after snakes.

Does this mean we can set the ship name themes for alien races in advance in 2.8? That would actually be an incredible feature since I’m not usually super picky about what ship names a given race is using, but I’m very picky about which name themes I consider acceptable for ship names.

@AuroraSteve

HMS Tribune emerged in a system with an orange star, […] Stationed on the jump point were four ships of two new classes; three Vipers and one Sidewinder, all light cruisers of approximately 12,400 tons. All four ships immediately opened fire with railguns, inflicting more than a hundred hits on HMS Tribune. One of her engines exploded, destroying the ship.

This would be a great argument to build Pathfinders if you had not already done so.

@AuroraSteve

Given the speed disparity, there was no way to avoid engagement and the rest of the expeditionary force was three billion kilometres away. Captain Fraser ordered the Majestics and Diadems to enter Jörmungandr and move toward the two Royal Sovereigns at their best speed, leaving the two light cruisers to guard the jump point, but they were unlikely to affect the outcome.

Here we see that the British have yet to learn the meaning of the technical term “cannon fodder”. See also: “Tactical Ablative Armour”, “Rookie (XCOM)”.

Joke aside, this was quite an interesting turn of events. I’m not sure when was the last time Steve lost a capital ship in an AAR … very tense and exciting!

@AuroraSteve

As a result of the attack, the Ophidian fleet began moving away. This behaviour had been observed in the previous battle, with the Ophidians apparently requiring a minute or two to regroup before resuming their advance. Six minutes later, the main fleet came about and set a course for the Erebus jump point, while the damaged Python headed for the Ymir jump point.

I wonder if this is a new AI behavior? Being able to recall damaged ships seems like a new capability for the AI, although this may just be because I’ve never given them the opportunity in the past.

@AuroraSteve

The course reversal meant the Expeditionary Force would now have time to reload their capital missile launchers before the Ophidian fleet reached the Erebus jump point.

Starfire reference! drinks

A very interesting battle. The NPR fleet could have mounted a charge, but had no way to know that many of the British magazines had run dry. Fog of war in full effect here.

@AuroraSteve

Haiphong II class Jump Battlecruiser 44,548 tons
6999 km/s

That is legitimately frightening at MP tech level.

The Automata seem to be a legitimate challenge to the player, albeit perhaps because they appear suddenly over ruins sites as opposed to guarding it visibly, so the player can’t easily estimate the strength they’re likely to bring to bear. This campaign is definitely raising my interest in trying out the advanced spoilers at some point, although I’m still partial to the older spoiler lore.

Here’s hoping this campaign lasts for a good, long while!.

[AuroraSteve]

I am trying to recreate the turn of the century vibe for the Royal Navy. All the class names, and ship names within that class, are from actual Royal Navy ships of the period and match the assigned hull types. So if you see a light cruiser called HMS Pegasus from the Pelorus class, there was a historical light cruiser (actually a third class cruiser) called HMS Pegasus from the Pelorus class. I have occasionally used names from a similar class of the same period if I build more of the class than were available historically.

I’ve also adopted the contemporary approach of having separate classes for notionally similar ships with tech upgrades and avoiding major refit programmes. In a WH40k campaign I would probably have a Dauntless and a Dauntless II class, then refit the former to the latter. For this campaign, the Drake heavy cruiser is basically a Diadem with improved technology and there is no mass refit effort. I just keep building new ships. So you end up with a heterogeneous fleet composition, which makes things interesting and creates similar deployment challenges to those faced by the historical Royal Navy.

With regard to alien ship classes, you can already set a class naming theme for each alien race on the Intelligence window. In terms of AI behaviour, I keep tweaking as I see problems. For example, in this game the Automata bases weren’t using their full missile armament against ground targets. Now they are

The Automata have definitely been fun in this campaign, although the most interesting aspect is having to deal with threats on many fronts. I have played more than is published so far, and I am continuing to play, so there will be further updates.

BTW, if anyone is interested in the navies of the period, there is a series of large reference books called ‘Conway’s All The World’s Fighting Ships’. There are four books covering 1860-1905, 1906-1921, 1922-1946 and 1947-1995. They are all excellent.

[nuclearslurpee]

@AuroraSteve

With regard to alien ship classes, you can already set a class naming theme for each alien race on the Intelligence window.

What I meant was setting a theme which would be used by the next race. This would save a small bit of micro since currently after meeting a new race you have to also fix the names for the ship classes you encountered. This is usually not a big deal since you’re more likely to run into a scout or something, but occasionally if first contact involves several ship classes it can be mildly annoying.

[Kaiser]

Steve, I see that your salvager ship does not have any cargo module, I assume you use it in pair with a cargo ship?

I usually design it with its own cargo module, I never knew it could be done this way, I’m ashamed.

[AuroraSteve]

@Kaiser

Steve, I see that your salvager ship does not have any cargo module, I assume you use it in pair with a cargo ship?

Yes, it makes much easier. If there are a lot of wrecks, I use two cargo ships. When each one is full I send it home to unload and return, so I can keep salvaging but never put too much at risk if I get attacked.

[Resand]

@AuroraSteve

At first, there was great concern that the ship had entered through a new dormant jump point,. However, it soon became apparent that the three fortresses at the Thetis jump point did not have their sensors active due to an administrative error

Classic

– and at least 20 character long post -

[Garfunkel]

Loving the campaign!