Vapourware AURORA: The Clash of Cultures - Year 13 over

[Random Word]

That's a clever idea, but must have taken a reasonably large amount of work. I never thought to examine the Aurora data files to try to present them differently.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I am now reading about the raw file viewer and if I can get it working, this thing will be resurrected.

WTF happened to my avatar? I swear, you're gone a few days and the whole place goes nuts.

EDIT2: It seems that I need designer password, which is still in the realm of possibility and a server where I could put php files and which has access to "Bootstrap", whatever that is. Doesn't look good, since I don't have a server or anything.

 

[Random Word]

I can host the server if necessary. You don't actually need to host your own server - any webhosting service will do. Why is the designer password required?

 

[GarfunkeL]

The program reads the database to get the information and the config file for the RAW-viewer has a line for it. I've asked over at Aurora forums whether it's necessary or not, haven't received a reply yet.

Oh and while I updated my game to 6.30, I've kept the old version .exe and database around, so this game isn't lost.

 

[Random Word]

Strange. Unless the database is encrypted the designer password shouldn't be required to read it.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Worse. You need the actual database password. The program works by hooking directly into Stevefire.mdb, but to establish the connection, it requires the DB password. I had previously hardcoded this, but since .NET assemblies can be rather easily disassembled, and I didn't feel like going down the obfuscation route, I moved it out to a config file in order to respect Steve's wishes about DB password proliferation.

I'm not sure how useful the tool is, since all the queries are written using the 5.6 DB schema, and enough may have changed for current versions that certain aspects of the tool may not work anymore. If I ever update to 6.x, I may update the tool, but I don't forsee that happening during the lifetime of my LP.

Well, no nifty web-tool then. However, Kalin gave me a hint of using IrfanView to make the annual reports and it's quite a bit easier than my old method of PrintScreen+Paint.Net. I'll see if I can figure out what was happening in the game and get it restarted.

How many of the old players are still around and would be interested to continue?

 

[Cassidy]

The Eternal League will carry on until every man is convinced of the wickedness of Frankenwheat, Sodomy and Capitalism and thus saved from damnation.

 

[JagreenLern]

I'm definitely on board for a revival of this game.

 

[Kalin]

On board as well, naturally!

I think we were just at the beginning of Year 10 and had already given the orders for the next couple of years, so it should just be a matter of implementing them.

 

[Hellraiser]

I'm still interested in this, the jewgold must flow to Prosperia. Free enterprise and a tolerant pan-sexual, multi-ethnic and diverse human presence must be established in space. The Omniventures Inc. Corporate Republic will ensure wealth will trickle down to the free citizens and shareholders. Backwards intolerant and freedom hating communist elements need to be contained. Such is the will of the citizens and shareholders.

 

[Storyfag]

I'm still interested in this, the jewgold must flow to Prosperia. Free enterprise and a tolerant pan-sexual, multi-ethnic and diverse human presence must be established in space. The Omniventures Inc. Corporate Republic will ensure wealth will trickle down to the free citizens and shareholders. Backwards intolerant and freedom hating communist elements need to be contained. Such is the will of the citizens and shareholders.

Make sure to gratituosly acquire assets from Omni Consumer Products

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

The Luso-Brazilian must continue to explore, conquer and colonize, for navigating is needed, living is not needed. Humanity must expand to the last reaches of the universe, and beyond. And when we run out of universe to discover and colonize, we will find new ones, or make them. All of creation will be man's, and the Lusobrazilians will guard it for the Eternal Liege with fierce dedication! Sub Lege Progrediamur!! Deus Vult!!

 

[Kalin]

Here is a brief re-cap on some of the things that have happened so far:

Year 1

• Polish-British Commonwealth boasts the highest male suicide rates in the universe. Fierce competion erupts between Omniventures Inc and the Irkalla Collective for the rights to their precious cadavers.
• The Eternal League of God and Omniventures Inc vehemently denounce each other.
• Celestial Empire signs free-trade agreements with Omniventures Inc and Polish-British Commonwealth.
• USSR calls for economic sanctions and international initiatives against Celestial Empire for its conquest of China.
• Prince Harry attempts suicide but survives. Polish-British angst and despair reach critical levels.
• Celestial Empire signs free-trade and non-aggression pact with New Kingdom of Prussia.
• Omniventures Inc signs free-trade agreements with Amerikwa, Polish-British Commonwealth and Boerestaat.

Year 2-3

• Kwanzania launches a space ship. Ship speed confirmed to be 83 km/sec but whether this was its maximum speed or a deliberately chosen speed is unknown.
• Luso-Brazilian Star Empire ranks highest in industrial strength.
• Polish-British Commonwealth ranks highest in military strength.

Year 4

• Celestial Empire develops Garrison Battalion.
• New Kingdom of Prussia modernises Landswehr with TN-tech, warns against Jewish-Bolshevik GMO wheat conspiracies.
• Omniventures Inc develops Orbital Geological Sensors and Pressurized Water Reactors.
• Luso-Brazilian Star Empire signs free-trade and mutual defence pact with Celestial Empire.
• Kwanzania launches a second ship.

Year 5

• USSR launches its first ship, the "Akademik Maria Klenova". Sensors indicate that it's much faster than the Kwanzanian ship, reaching at least 1339 km/sec.
• Information leak from the Celestial Empire! All nations learn the secrets of "Replacement Battalion".
• Irkalla Collective constructs mankind's first mass driver.
• Kwanzania launches a third ship of what is revealed to be the "Essex" class, the three ships named after US Presidents: Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington.
• Irkalla Collective becomes the first nation on Earth to open a space port.
• Irkalla Collective has an information leak. All nations learn the secrets of "Infrared Laser".
• Kwanzania launches two additional ships.
• USSR launches a second ship, identical to its first.

Year 6

• Omniventures Inc announces the Menorah Nuclear Thermal Engine.
• USSR announces the Setun-170-TN ternary optical computer, said to boost their mining productivity.
• Kwanzania launches yet another ship.
• Omniventures Inc constructs Jericho, mankind's first Planetary Defence Structure.
• Polish-British Commonwealth has an information leak. Duranium Armour becomes common knowledge.
• USSR ranks highest in terms of shipyard capacity.
• Luso-Brazilian Star Empire ranks highest in mining capability.
• Omniventures Inc announces it has Power Armour technology and that it has developed the Shoah-1 T-N NTR missile.

Year 7

• USSR announces plans to colonise Mars.
• Celestial Empire develops Cryogenic Transport and Mobile Infantry.
• Celestial Empire announces the purchase of the Menorah NTR Engine from Omniventures Inc.
• Omniventures Inc announces licensing of Cryogenic Transport from the Celestial Empire.
• Polish-British Commonwealth is still ranked highest in terms of military strength.

Year 8

• USSR and Kingdom of New Prussia revealed to operate automated mines.
• Omniventures Inc launches its first ship, the Prospector-class vessel Obsidian. Sensors place its speed around 1000 km/s.
• Celestial Empire concludes massive construction in orbit, tripling the size of its orbital facilities.
• Polish-British Commonwealth launches its first ships, Tribal-class James Callaghan and William Pitt, mankind's fastest yet.

Year 9

• Irkalla Collective constructs a Defensive Meson Cannon.
• Radio amateurs claim that the USSR has active transmitters on both Luna and Titan.
• Celestial Empire launches its first ship, the luxury yacht and transport vessel Tengoku Maru.
• Celestial Empire suffers another information leak. "Garrison Battalion" becomes available to all nations.
• Omniventures launches their second ship, Opal.
• Luso-Brazilian Star Empire ranks first in terms of size and efficiency of their research sector.
• Celestial Empire develops Assault Infantry.

Of course, information from players need not necessarily be entirely truthful, and there are plenty of other things in the thread as well, so the summary is by no means complete.

 

[Random Word]

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics stands on the brink of bringing the Communist Interstellar to new worlds. It will not falter as it takes this brave step forward for humanity, arm in arm with the united workers of Earth.

 

[Kalin]

Had some time to waste, so here are some roughly estimated ship and PDC stats:

And some just as roughly estimated diplomacy and trade stats for Year 10:

Naturally, this is based solely on public info. I would bet you my last Nuyens there are some huge sekhrut trade spheres, military alliances and grubby deals going on behind the scenes!

(Well, among the sneaky Kwans, Boers and commies, at least - Greater East Asia is totally transparent and up-front at all times.)

Oh, and are everyone else on board as well for the revival?

Johannes, Humanophage, Merkwürdigliebe and IDtenT

Come on bros, you know you want it!

 

[Kalin]

 

[Kalin]

In case anyone forgot what all the installations do, here are their (hopefully correct) stats:

Most of them can be shipped around the universe, and even ships that lack the required cargospace can sometimes move them as well, since some installations can be pre-fabricated into smaller parts of 5000 tons. When you ship them like that, the installations will only start functioning when all their parts have been assembled at their destination. Towing basically means that you have to build a huge ship to drag the installation to its new location.

Also, not listed above are the "convert CI to..." options, which let you turn your inefficient conventional industry into Construction Factories, Fighter Factories, Fuel Refineries, Mines and Ordnance Factories. I am not sure how much it costs, only that it is much cheaper and takes less time than to build them from scratch.

Here are the installation descriptions:

Spoiler

Construction Factory - Generates construction "build points" that are used to build other installations, Planetary Defence Centres, pre-fabricated ship parts etc. Conventional industry does this as well, but at a very reduced rate.

Fighter Factory - Used to build small space fighters (quite expensive tech-wise, so no real use for these at this stage)

Fuel Refinery - Converts Sorium into fuel for space ships

Maintenance Facility - provides maintenance to any orbiting ships, larger ship types require more facilities for maintenance to work (the rate at which ships can be served is 200ton/installation, so if you have 15,000 ton ships, you need 75 facilities)

Ordnance Factory - Produces missiles, using its own kind of construction points

Mine - Drains Urth of the juicy TN-minerals everything depends on

Automated Mine - Same as above, but doesn't require human workers

Convert Mine to Automated Mine - As it says, turns one regular mine into an automated mine

Mass Driver - Can send 5000 tons worth of cargo per year to another Mass Driver in the same system, the limit is only for sending, not receiving (so a Mass Driver on Urth or some other important centre can receive loads of packages)

Deep Space Tracking Station - Provides passive EM and thermal sensors

Genetic Modification Centre - Used to turn regular citizens into new races (like cyber-negroes), at a yearly rate of 250,000/installation

Financial Centre - Adds extra wealth, equal to that of 1,000,000 citizens

Terraforming Installation - Powerful sciencemagjifik contraption, can be used to decrease colony cost levels on celestial bodies

Ground Force Training Facility - Generates training points used to train ground units. Each installation give 100 TP/year

Military Academy - Trains crew for spaceships and officers, scientists, experts etc. Rate per academy is 1000 crewmembers and 5 officers/etc. per year

Commercial Spaceport - Decreases loading times for space ships in orbit, the effect stacks

Research Lab - Generates research points, which are used to research new techs, design ship/sensor/weapon/engine/etc. prototypes

Commercial Shipyard Complex - Used to build commercial ships, cheaper than the naval counterpart

Naval Shipyard Complex - Can build either commercial or military ships, more costly and starts out smaller

Note: the annual output of most buildings (construction points, research points, training points etc.) can often be enhanced by technology and governor bonuses.

 

[Random Word]

 

[Kalin]

The Imperial Herald
***SPECIAL REPORT***
Live TV, Web and RK-Jack Broadcast

Announcer: By decree of our Divine Emperor, all current Co-Prosperity programmes, news, films, pornography viewings, gaming sessions and RK simulations are hereby interrupted for this special broadcast. As always, viewership is mandatory! Unauthorised interference with your receiving equipment is subject to a class C felony under Democratic Imperial Law!

In response to the alarming news released by independent freedom fighters regarding nefarious Soviet activities on the moon and elsewhere, we are happy to announce that our glorious Empire is now in total control of the situation!

Our superior troops are in fact already on the surface of Luna, operating a rapidly expanding defensive outpost from which they monitor all activities undertaken by the communists. With us live is Commander Mitsubishi himself.

The Commander: Communists in power armour, Soviet bases on planets and moons! Things may seem grim citizens, but their pitiful accomplishments are nothing compared to the glory of the Celestial Empire. Their antiquated leftist technology can easily be swept away by our Assault Infantry, which is still as strong and superior as ever. As for Luna and Mars, we are currently sending men and materials to both - huge colonies will be up and running within the year!

The rumours of "aliens" are disturbing, but preliminary reports indicate no alien lifeforms whatsoever on Luna. You need to remember that even Soviet dissidents are sometimes infected with socialism, so a certain degree of sensationalism is to be expected. That is not to say that the freedom fighters were entirely wrong in their reports, especially not regarding Soviet brutality. Communist cruelty is soaring, and they torture and brainwash their victims around the clock!

We have our eyes and ears on the Soviets, and any attempts to interfere with our destiny or harm our goal of Co-Prosperity and World Peace will be dealt with in force. Luna, Mars and many other celestial bodies will be utilised for our holy mission, and while we are a peaceful race and welcome diplomatic solutions, we will not allow communists to deny us that which is rightfully ours! They are welcome to try, but you and I both know the outcome, for even when they spend everything they have on military expansion, our Empire is always one step ahead. We are brighter, better, and will always outshine them, so when we explore and expand, they better stay out of our way.

While their masses live in squalor, squeezed for their last grimy rubles to sustain the expansionist designs of their Kremlin overlords, Greater East Asia and her friends enjoy all the heavenly fruits of freedom. Wealth, prosperity, pleasure and entertainment! All of it is ours, thanks to the Grace of our Emperor and our free market economy, and at the same time, our army is the strongest, most fearsome power in the universe. Very soon, we will reveal new marvels which will forever ensure the dominant position of our powerful and benevolent race. Our Empire is on the verge of a perpetual golden age, and you are here to bear witness!

Like my good friend Mr Blakemore once said...

YOU WILL BELIEVE......

A GOLDEN BABY CAN FLY!

 

[Johannes]

Hmm I don't really have the time to put in any effort into this shit (and no longer really recall wtf was going on here at all if I ever did), if someone else wants to lead Kwanzania to the stars I can rig the elections in their favor.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Following countries industrial production queues will run out during Year 10 and need to thus send me a note what they want constructed or whether they intend to save money/minerals. Please use the existing conversation, so I don't get confused.

Luzo-Brazilian Star Empire - The Brazilian Slaughter
New Kingdom of Prussia - Merkwürdigliebe
Omniventures Inc - Hellraiser
Polish-British Commonwealth - Humanophage

Sorry for the slow start, RL is keeping me fairly busy.

 

[Hellraiser]

Oh shit, my industrial production is nearly done? Mazel tov indeed.

 

[Hellraiser]

BTW did you conjure up more TN minerals on Holy Terra or is the previous deposit table sent/posted still true?

Also if nobody is interested in running Kwanzania we should just have an "ITZ comming to Kwanzania ultimate doom expansion" event for added fluff. Would make for good news fodder.

 

[Cassidy]

 

[GarfunkeL]

NOTABLE EVENTS FOR YEAR 10:

Two Soviet vessels, measured to be around 30,000 tons in mass and moving at a speed of 510 km/sec, are regularly moving between Earth and Venus.

In January, one of the Soviet survey vessels visits Earth, departing very quickly towards Venus.

In February, Polish-British Commonwealth christens additional two vessels. They seem to be identical to the earlier two and immediately depart towards outer system.

Also in February, New Kingdom of Prussia demonstrates a new type of power production: the Pebble Bed Reactor.

In April, Boerestaat demonstrate a novel method of drilling small stellar objects. Combined with their patented mineral separator and extractor, this feat of modern engineering allows a suitable equipped space ship to directly mine comets or asteroids for their minerals.

Will continue...