Aurora Player Designed Systems

Overview

All the systems listed here are able to be player designed. This article will detail the various components. It is currently a work in progress.

Lasers

Components

Lasers have four components, each with their own tech line. Some of the components are shared with other energy weapons, while some are laser specific. The components are Laser Focal Size, Laser Wavelength, Capacitor Recharge Rate, Reduced Size Lasers. Please note that the maximum range of any laser system is 1.5m km. This is because the smallest time increment is 5 seconds and light has to obey the laws.

Laser Focal Size

Laser Focal Size ranges from 10cm to 80cm. Larger sized beams cause more damage and have a longer base recharge time. Focal size has a bearing on the maximum range of the overall laser system.

Laser Focal Size

Focal Size	Damage	Base RoF
10cm	3	15s
12cm	4	20s
15cm	6	30s
20cm	10	50s
25cm	16	80s
30cm	24	120s
35cm	32	160s
40cm	40	200s
50cm	64	320s
60cm	96	480s
70cm	128	640s
80cm	168	840s

Laser Wavelength

The wavelength of the laser determines the range modifier and the maximum range of the laser.

Laser Wavelengths

Wavelength	Base Max Range	Range Modifier
Infrared Laser	30,000km	1
Visible Light Laser	60,000km	2
Near Ultraviolet Laser	90,000km	3
Ultraviolet Laser	120,000km	4
Far Ultraviolet Laser	150,000km	5
Soft X-Ray Laser	180,000km	6
X-Ray Laser	210,000km	7
Far X-Ray Laser	240,000km	8
Extreme X-Ray Laser	270,000km	9
Near Gamma Ray Laser	300,000km	10
Gamma Ray Laser	330,000km	11
Far Gamma Ray Laser	360,000km	12

Capacitor Recharge Rate

This particular component is shared between all of the energy-based weapons. I will only detail it in this section, and refer back to it from others.

Capacitor recharge rate directly influences the amount of power recharges by the weapon system every 5 seconds. It is equal to the Rate, e.g. Capacitor Recharge Rate 25 = 25 power per 5 seconds.

The available rates are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25.

Reduced Size Lasers

This particular component reduces the size of the laser system at the expense of the recharge rate. There are three levels available. Standard has no change to size or rate. Reduced .75 reduces the size by 25% while increasing the recharge by 4x. Reduced .5 reduces the size by 50% and increases the recharge rate by 20x.

Missile Launchers

Components

The main components of missile launchers are Size, Reload Rate, Platform Type, and Reduced Size.

Launcher Size

This directly affects how big of a missile may be fired. It also affects the Rate of Fire. A launcher may launch any missile available up to and equal to its size, e.g. a size 6 launcher may fire size 1-6 missiles.

Missile Launcher Size

Size	Max Missile Size	Base Rate of Fire
1	1	30
2	2	60
3	3	90
4	4	120
5	5	150
6	6	180
7	7	210
8	8	240
9	9	270
10	10	300
11	11	330
12	12	360
14	14	420
16	16	480
18	18	540
20	20	600
24	24	720

Reload Rate

The reload rate affects how fast the missile launcher may be reloaded and fired. The level of reload rate is used as a divisor to the base reload rate from the size of the launcher. The available rates are 1 - 12.

Platform Type

There are two options available here, Ship-based and PDC-based. The PDC option cuts the base reload time in half.

Reduced Size

The options here allow the launcher to be reduced in size at the expense of reload rate.

Missile Reduced Size

Size	Rate	Notes
Standard	1x
.75	2x
.5	5x
.33	20x
.25	100x	+on Mount Magazine (includes internal magazine)
Box (.15)	15x	No internal reload

Power Plants

Components:

The main components of Power Plants are Power Plant Technology, Power vs Efficiency, Internal Armour Rating, and Size.

Power Plant Technology:

Power Plant Technology increases the amount of power produced per hullsize but also increases the cost of that system as you use higher technology versions. (Note numbers below for 1 hs power plant.)--Journier 00:20, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Power Plant Technology	Power	Cost
Pressurised Water Reactor	2	6
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology	3	9
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology	4.5	14
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology	6	18
Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology	8	24
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology	10	30
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor Technology	12	36
Solid-core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology	16	48
Gas-core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology	20	60
Plasma-core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology	24	72
Beam Core Anti-matter Power Plant Technology	32	96
Vacuum Energy Power Plant Technology	40	120

Power vs Efficiency:

Power vs Efficiency increases or decreases power output, in exchange for a decrease or increase in fuel efficiency and explosion chance. The Higher your efficiency the lower the cost, the higher the Power produced, the higher the cost.

Power Efficiency	Power Increase	Exp	cost
-100%	50%	35%
-80%	40%	30%
-60%	30%	25%
-50%	25%	20%
-40%	20%	16%
-30%	15%	12%
-20%	10%	10%
-10%	5%	7%
0%	0%	5%
5%	-2.5%	5%
10%	-5%	4%
15%	-7.5%	4%
20%	-10%	3%
25%	-12.5%	3%
30%	-15%	2%
40%	-20%	2%
50%	-25%	1%

Internal Armour Rating:

This is how much armour you have on the Power plants, Internal armour adds 50% to the Hullsize to the component.

Size:

Size of Power plants increases the product of said Power Plants above by the multiple you select. Selections up to 30 are available.

Engines

Components:

Engines are made up of 7 components, Engine Technology, Power vs Efficiency, Internal Armour Rating, Fuel Efficiency, Hyper Drive Efficiency, Thermal Reduction, Engine Platform.

Engine Technology:

Engine Technology Increases power output of ship engines.

Military Engine Technology	Power	Cost
Nuclear Thermal Engine	25
Nuclear Pulse Engine	40
Ion Engine	60
Magneto-plasma Drive	80
Internal Confinement Fusion Drive	100
Magnetic Confinement Fusion Drive	125
Inertial Confinement Fusion Drive	160
Solid Core Anti-matter Drive	200
Gas Core Anti-matter Drive	250
Plasma Core Anti-matter Drive	300
Beam Core Anti-matter Drive	400
Photonic Drive	500

Power vs Efficiency:

Power vs Efficiency increases or decreases power output, in exchange for a decrease or increase in fuel efficiency and explosion chance. The Higher your efficiency the lower the cost, the higher the Power produced, the higher the cost.

Efficiency	Power Increase	Exp	cost
-100%	50%	35%
-80%	40%	30%
-60%	30%	25%
-50%	25%	20%
-40%	20%	16%
-30%	15%	12%
-20%	10%	10%
-10%	5%	7%
0%	0%	5%
5%	-2.5%	5%
10%	-5%	4%
15%	-7.5%	4%
20%	-10%	3%
25%	-12.5%	3%
30%	-15%	2%
40%	-20%	2%
50%	-25%	1%

Engine Platform:

The Engine platform choices are Military, Commercial, Fast Attack Craft, and Fighter.

Military:

Commercial:

Fast Attack Craft:

Fighter:

Shields

Stop laser and Missile damage until 0.00 strength, then damage passes to armor.

Components

Shield Type

Alpha to Omega 1-15 shield strength

Shield Regeneration Rate

Shield Regeneration Rate depends on the Regeneration Rate research and ranges from 1 - 15

Fuel Efficiency

Fuel efficiency decreases the amount of fuel consumed by a multiple from 1x - 0.1x depending on researched Fuel Efficiency modifier.

Active Sensors/Fire Control

These systems are used to detect targets and provide guidance for missiles.

Components

The components for Active Sensors and Fire Control are Active Sensor Strength, Antenna Size, Minimum Resolution, Hardening and Active Sensor Type.

Active Sensor Strength

This is the strength of the scanners. It uses the Active Grav Sensor Strength research. The values are 10, 12, 16, 21, 28, 36, 48, 60, 80, 100, 135, 180. The range of the scanner is Strength x Resolution x Antenna Size x 10,000km. Missile controls multiply that range by 3.

Antenna Size

This is a variable determined by the player. There is no associated tech line with it. It is used in determining the maximum range of the system.

Minimum Resolution

This is a variable that determines the smallest object the system can detect at range. NOTE: Smaller objects can be detected, but at severely reduced ranges. The formula for detecting smaller objects than the minimum Resolution is ( Max Range x (Target Size / Resolution) ^2 ).

Resolution Zero Mode is usually reserved for anti-missile installations. Each resolution increment adds 50 tons to the minimum size detected.

Hardening

This is a researched line. It is used to protect the installation against EM damage. Values range from 0 to 8.

Thermal Sensors

Detects Thermal signatures from planets and ships.

Thermal Sensor Sensitivity:

Depending on Thermal Sensor research can increase to 75

Total Sensor Size:

This is a variable determined by the player. There is no associated tech line with it. It is used in determining the maximum range of the system.

Hardening:

Resistance to Electronic damage.

Jump Engines

Components

Jump Drive efficiency

Ranges from 3-25; increase via research.

Max Jump Squadron Size

The number of ships without a jump engine that can follow a ship equipped with this jump engine through a jump point.

Ranges from 3-12 squadron size; increases jump engine size.

Jump Point Distance

This is useful if you are planning on jumping into an enemy system where the enemy could be waiting for you on the other side. It allows you to jump and be further from the jump point; it slightly increases jump engine size.

Size

Increases the HullSize the component takes up but also increases the maximum size of the ship it can jump. The Max Ship Size has to be greater than the ship's total hull size; this includes the jump engine itself, so remember when designing a jump engine that you need to account for both the size of the ship + the jump engine's considerable mass.

Please note, that when jumping multiple ships in a fleet, no jump engine can jump a ship larger than the ship it is mounted on, even if the Max Ship Size can accommodate both ships. If the accompanying ship is smaller than the ship equipped with the jump engine, both ships can pass through normally.

Jump Drive Type

Military-

Military jump engines are smaller in size and suffer no penalty to max jump squadron size, with more efficient use of size.

Civilian-

Less efficient use of size and significantly larger overall, but can jump larger ships than military version (10x higher Max Ship Size than military). Civilian drives are less costly, but their max jump squadron size is penalized by one.

Military jump engines cannot open jump points for civilian vessels, and vice versa.

Beam Fire Control

This installation is used to control beam weapons.

Components

The components for Beam Fire Control are Beam Fire Control Distance Rating, Fire Control Speed Rating, Fire Control Size vs Range, Fire Control Size vs Tracking Speed, Hardening, Platform Type, Ship Type Limitations.

Beam Fire Control Distance Rating

This rating determines the range at which the beam will be at 50% accuracy. Values are 10,000km, 16,000km, 24,000km, 32,000km, 40,000km, 48,000km, 60,000km, 75,000km, 100,000km, 125,000km, 150,000km, 175,000km.

Fire Control Speed Rating

This determines how fast the fire control can bring the weapon(s) to bear on the target. NOTE: The final speed rating is determined by ship speed or turret speed. Values for this are 1,250km/s, 2,000km/s, 3,000km/s, 4,000km/s, 5,000km/s, 6,250km/s, 8,000km/s, 10,000km/s, 12,500km/s, 15,000km/s, 20,000km/s, 25,000km/s.

Fire Control Size vs. Range/Tracking Speed

These two items are very similar in that the player may reduce or increase the size of the installation for a bonus (or penalty) to the Range or Tracking Speed.

Size vs. Range/Tracking Speed

Size	Range	Tracking Speed
25%	25%	n/a
34%	34%	n/a
50%	50%	n/a
Normal	Normal	Normal
1.25x	n/a	1.25x
1.5x	1.5x	1.5x
2x	2x	2x
3x	3x	3x
4x	4x	4x

Hardening

This is the same as the Hardening on Active Sensors/Missile Control.

Platform Type

This is a switch for Ship or PDC installations. PDC installations have the range increased by 50%.

Ship Type Limitations

This is used to determine if the installation can be emplaced on any ship, or fighters only. Fighter only installations have the base tracking speed multiplied by 4.

Particle Torpedo

Torpedoes do the same amount of damage across their entire travelling distance, making them very useful in some situations.

Components

Torpedo warhead strength, Maximum Torpedo Range, and Capacitor Recharge rate.

Warhead Strength

Warhead Strength

Strength	Hull Size	fire rate	power requirement
2	5	5	5
3	6	5	7
4	7	5	10
6	8	5	15
9	9	5	22
12	10	10	30
16	12	10	40
20	14	10	48
25	16	15	64
36	18	20	90
50	22	25	125

Maximum Torpedo Range

60,000km - 1.2m km

Capacitor Recharge Rate

Capacitor recharge rate effects how quickly your weapon will charge up the power it requires to fire again. This is increased via capacitor technology and rages from 1-25.

Meson Cannon

Meson Cannons are short ranged weapons that ignore armor, even Internal armor.

Components:

Meson Focal Size:

The size of the Meson Cannon, this affects damage and range of the cannon, and power useage while making the cannon also take up more hullsize.

Ranges from 10cm - 80cm

Meson Focusing:

Increases the range of the Meson Cannon without increasing power requirements.

Ranges from 1-12.

Increased by research.

Capacitor Recharge Rate:

Increases the recharge rate of the capacitors, and theereby increasing the fire rate of the Meson Cannon

Railgun

Railguns are specialized weapons good for close in fighting. Incredibly good at Point Defense against missiles due to 4 shots per 5 seconds. Also good at larger ranges against heavily armored missiles and fast moving ships.

Components:

Railgun Type

10cm - 50cm

Increases size of railgun and the range and power requirements.

Railgun Velocity

Increases Railgun range without increasing size or power requirements.

Capacitor Recharge Rate

Capacitors increase power recharge of weapons. Allowing faster fire rate.

Ranges from 1-25

Plasma Carronade

Plasma carronades are short range high damage output weapons good for defense of Jump Points/Gates.

Components:

Carronade Calibre

Plasma Carronade calibre	Damage	Cost	size(tons)
15cm	6	122	200
20cm	10	?	300
25cm	16	?	400
30cm	24	?	450
35cm	32	?	550
40cm	40	?	600
50cm	64	?	800
60cm	96	?	950
70cm	128	?	1100
80cm	168	648	1250

Capacitor Recharge Rate

1-25

EM Detection Sensors

EM Detection Sensors passively detect shields and active search sensors of other ships, as well as electronic emissions from inhabited planets.

Components

EM Sensor Sensitivity

EM Sensor Sensitivity is a technology found under Sensors and Fire Control. Each level of the technology increases the range at which the sensor can detect a target. More sensitive sensors are more expensive and require more raw materials.

Level	Cost	Materials Required
5	5	1.25x Duranium 3.75x Uridium
6	6	1.5x Duranium 4.5x Uridium
8	8	2x Duranium 6x Uridium
11	11	2.75x Duranium 8.25x Uridium
14	14	3.5x Duranium 10.5x Uridium
18	18	5.5x Duranium 13.5x Uridium
24	24	7x Duranium 18x Uridium
32	32	9x Duranium 24x Uridium
40	40	11x Duranium 30x Uridium
50	50	13.5x Duranium 37.5x Uridium
60	60	16x Duranium 45x Uridium
75	75	19.75x Duranium 56.25x Uridium

Total Sensor Size

Total Sensor Size is not based on any technology; all options are available from the beginning. Available sizes run from 0.1 HS to 50 HS. Increments of 0.1 HS are available for sensors from 0.1 to 1 HS; sizes from 1 HS to 50 HS are available in 1 HS increments. The following attributes are affected by sensor size:

Overall Sensitivity

EM Sensor Sensitivity is multiplied by Total Sensor Size to determine the overall sensitivity of the sensor. The overall sensitivity is the range, in millions of kilometers, at which the sensor can detect a target of signal strength 1000. For example, a sensor with EM Sensor Sensitivity 8 that takes up 3 HS can detect a strength 1000 target at 24,000,000 km (8 * 3 = 24).

HTK

HTK is 0 for sensors smaller than 1 HS, and 1 for sensors 1 HS or larger.

Crew

Base crew size is 5. This is multiplied by sensor size, and fractions are truncated (so 0.1 HS sensors require no crew).

Cost

Cost from the EM Sensor Sensitivity chart is multiplied by Total Sensor Size, and fractions are rounded to the nearest whole number. Half is rounded to the nearest even whole number; for example, both 3.5 and 4.5 are rounded to 4.

Materials Required

Materials required from the EM Sensor Sensitivity chart are multiplied by Total Sensor Size, and fractions are rounded to the nearest 0.25. Half is rounded to the nearest even 0.25, so 1.125 (9/8) and 0.875 (7/8) are both rounded to 1 (8/8).

Hardening

Hardening is based on Electronic Hardening technology, found under Sensors and Fire Control. Each level of the technology reduces the chance that a microwave weapon will destroy the sensor if it is hit. Greater levels of hardening cost more and require more raw materials, but they do not effect sensor size, crew required, or sensitivity.

High Power Microwave

High Power Microwaves destroy electronics on ships, Sensors and fire control.

Components

Microwave Focal Size

Increases the range, hullsize and power requirement. 10cm-80cm

Microwave Focusing

Focuses the beam to extend the range.

Ranges from 1-12 tech level.

Capacitor Recharge rate

Allows faster firing.

Ranges from 1-25.

Gauss Cannon

The Gauss Cannon is a short-ranged rapid-fire weapon well suited to point defense. It can be mounted in turrets and does not require power from a power plant. Gauss Cannon shots inflict one point of damage each over their entire range. At higher technology levels the Gauss Cannon can fire several shots every 5-second time increment. All shots must be aimed at the same target, but a missile salvo counts as a single "target", so a single Gauss Cannon can destroy several missiles at once.

Note that a missile salvo refers to the missiles fired by a single fire control system at one time; if several enemy ships fire simultaneous missile salvos, a Gauss Cannon can only fire at one ship's salvo at a time. If the cannon kills an entire salvo with only some of its shots, the rest of its shots in that time increment are wasted.

Components

Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire

Rate of fire is a technology found under Missiles / Kinetic Energy Weapons. Each level of the technology allows the Gauss Cannon to fire an additional shot in each 5-second time increment. Higher rates of fire cost more and require more raw materials, but they don't affect the size of the cannon or the crew required.

Level	Rate of Fire	Cost	Materials Required
1	1 shot every 5 seconds	x1	x1
2	2 shots every 5 seconds	x2	x2
3	3 shots every 5 seconds	x3	x3
4	4 shots every 5 seconds	x4	x4
5	5 shots every 5 seconds	x5	x5
6	6 shots every 5 seconds	x6	x6

Gauss Cannon Velocity

Velocity is a technology found under Missiles / Kinetic Energy Weapons. Each level of technology increases the range of the Gauss Cannon by 10,000 km. Higher velocities don't affect size, cost, or crew required for the weapon, so apart from the time to research the technology, velocity has no disadvantages.

On the other hand, Gauss Cannon ranges are so short (and missiles are so fast) that a cannon will rarely get more than a single, point-blank volley at an incoming missile salvo unless the missiles are of vastly inferior technology. For example, a Level 6 (60,000 km range) Gauss Cannon may have time to fire multiple volleys at a primitive, slow missile, but such a cannon is a late-game technology. Equivalent-tech missiles are usually fast enough to move from beyond the Gauss Cannon's range to impact in a single 5-second time increment. The Gauss Cannon will still get a final, point-blank shot at the volley, but range is irrelevant for this.

Level	Range
1	10,000 km
2	20,000 km
3	30,000 km
4	40,000 km
5	50,000 km
6	60,000 km

Gauss Cannon Size vs Accuracy

Size vs. accuracy is not based on any technology; all options are available from the beginning. A standard-size Gauss Cannon takes 6 HS and requires 24 crew. The size, cost, and crew requirement of the cannon can be reduced at the expense of accuracy. Note that the cost and materials are also affected by rate of fire; see the above chart for multipliers.

Size	Accuracy	HTK	Crew	Cost	Materials Required
6 HS	100%	2	24	12	12x Vendarite
5 HS	85%	2	20	10	10x Vendarite
4 HS	67%	2	16	8	8x Vendarite
3 HS	50%	1	12	6	6x Vendarite
2 HS	33%	1	8	4	4x Vendarite
1.5 HS	25%	1	6	3	3x Vendarite
1 HS	17%	1	4	2	2x Vendarite
0.75 HS	12.5%	0	3	1.5	1.5x Vendarite
0.6 HS	10%	0	2	1.2	1.2x Vendarite
0.5 HS	8%	0	2	1	1x Vendarite

Cloaking Device

A Cloaking Device hides a player made ship from sensor detection by a %.

Components:

Cloaking Efficiency

Ranges 2-12, higher efficiency allows the cloaking device to hide more ship for the same hull size.

Cloaking Sensor Reduction

This Reduces the sensor signature your ship gives off by whatever % it shows. Ranges from 75% to 99.5%

Size

This is the hullsize of the Cloaking Device, larger you have the more ship you can hide.

CIWS

Close in Weapon System is for intercepting missiles at short range around the ship mounting them, they do not interact with missiles destined for other ships around them. This should be your final layer of Point Defense against incoming missiles.

Components:

Gauss Cannon Rate of Fire:

Beam Fire Control Distance Rating:

Fire Control Speed Rating:

Active Sensor Strength:

Turret Rotation Gear:

ECCM:

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