C-Commander Boni

Administrator Boni

When a new commander is generated, a check is made to see which bonuses he receives. If the (Academy-)Commandant has at least 20% in any percentage-based bonus or 150 for crew training / ground unit training, all commanders graduating from the academy at that population will take two rolls for each qualifying bonus, and use the higher of the two results. Date 06.09.2017

Ground Force Commander Boni

When a new commander is generated, a check is made to see which bonuses he receives. If the (Academy-)Commandant has at least 20% in any percentage-based bonus or 150 for crew training / ground unit training, all commanders graduating from the academy at that population will take two rolls for each qualifying bonus, and use the higher of the two results. Date 06.09.2017

Boni

Ground force commanders have a much greater variety of bonuses in C# Aurora. The most straightforward are:

• Ground Combat Defence (GCD): When elements of a formation are fortified, their fortification level is increased by the formation commander defence bonus
• Ground Combat Offence (GCO): Increases the to-hit chance of all direct-fire weapons in the formation
• Ground Combat Artillery (GCA): Increases the to-hit chance of all indirect-fire weapons in the formation
• Ground Combat Anti-Aircraft (GCAA): Increases the to-hit chance of all anti-aircraft weapons in the formation
• Ground Combat Logistics (GCL): Represents the chance that a formation element will not draw supply during a combat round.
• Ground Combat Manoeuvre (GCM): Increases the chance that a formation will make a breakthrough in combat
• Ground Combat Occupation (OCC): Boosts the occupation strength of a formation
• Survey (SURV): Increases the output of geosurvey modules in ground units
• Production (PROD): Increases the output of construction modules in ground units
• Xenoarchaeology (XEN): Increases the chance of successfully recovering abandoned installations

In addition to the above, each ground commander has a 'Ground Combat Command' rating, which represents the size of the formation he can effectively command. This rating is given a relatively high score for promotional purposes so officers with high command ratings will tend to progress though the ranks.

If an officer is commanding a formation that is larger than his command rating, the effectiveness of his other bonuses will be reduced by (command rating / formation size).

For example, an officer with a 20% defence bonus and a command rating of 5000 is commanding a regiment with a size of 7000. The defence bonus is reduced to 14.3%.

In addition, if the largest HQ in a formation has a rating less than the formation size, the effectiveness of the formation commander's bonuses will be reduced by (HQ rating / formation size). These penalties (command rating and HQ rating) are cumulative.

Finally, ground forces officers have a Ground Combat Training bonus, which affects morale. Each construction phase, any formation element with less than 100 morale will regain that morale at a rate of 100 per year, plus the commander training bonus (so a 20% bonus would increase morale recovery to 120 per year).

Formation elements can continue to improve morale above 100, using the following process:

• The training bonus percentage (after any reduction for command rating and HQ rating penalties) is converted into a morale bonus at 1% = 1 morale point (so 10% training bonus = 10 morale bonus).

• Maximum formation element morale is 100 plus 5x the morale bonus.

• Formation element morale increases at a rate equal to the morale bonus per year multiplied by the 'Morale Gain Modifier'

• The 'Morale Gain Modifier' is calculated as 1 - ((Element Morale - 100) / (Maximum Morale - 100))

For example, a formation element has 140 morale and the commander of the parent formation has a Ground Combat Training bonus of 30%. However, he is commanding a formation that is slightly too large for his Ground Combat Command rating, so he has a Command Modifier of 0.8. The training bonus is 24% (30% x 0.8), which converts to a morale bonus of 24. The maximum morale for the formation is therefore (100 + (5 x 24)) = 220. The morale gain modifier is 1 - ((140-100) / (220 - 100)) = 0.667. Therefore, the formation will gain morale at 24 * 0.667 = 16 points per year.

Date 07.10.2018

Naval Commander Boni

When a new commander is generated, a check is made to see which bonuses he receives. If the (Academy-)Commandant has at least 20% in any percentage-based bonus or 150 for crew training / ground unit training, all commanders graduating from the academy at that population will take two rolls for each qualifying bonus, and use the higher of the two results. Date 06.09.2017

In C# Aurora, unassigned commanders still have a small chance of gaining experience, including new bonuses, so they may be assigned in the future even if they currently do not have a suitable bonus. Date 03.09.2017

Admin Command Boni

This is part of the new C-Fleet Organization

If a fleet is within the command radius of its parent Admin Command, each ship within the fleet gains benefits based on the type of command and the bonus of the commander assigned to the Admin Command. There are seven different types of Admin Command, with the following capabilities.

• Naval: Provides 25% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Crew Training, Reaction, Engineering and Tactical. (For example, if the commander has a 20% Reaction Bonus, a 5% bonus would be provided).

• Patrol: Provides 25% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Reaction and Engineering. This command type operates at twice the command radius of the parent naval headquarters.

• Survey: Provides 25% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Survey and Engineering. This command type operates at twice the command radius of the parent naval headquarters.

• Logistics: Provides 25% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Logistics (cargo load/unload speed) and 10% of the bonus for Mining (including Harvesting) and Terraforming.

• Industrial: Provides 25% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Mining and Terraforming, plus 10% of the bonus for Logistics.

• General: Provides 10% of the Admin Command commander bonus for Crew Training, Fleet Training, Reaction, Engineering, Tactical and Survey, plus 5% for Industrial and Logistics.

• Training: Functions differently to the others. Fleet Training can only take place within the command radius of a Training Admin Command (see later rules post for details). The crew training rating of the Admin Command commander is used as the basis for the speed of training.

Each Admin Command also gains additional bonuses if it is within the command radius of its own parent command. Date 01.08.2018

Command & Control Rules

I am introducing new command and control rules for C# Aurora. The commander of a ship will only apply half his bonus for Crew Training, Survey, Fighter Operations, Engineering (new skill) and Tactical (new skill). However, additional officers can be assigned to the ship with each officer applying his full bonus for his chosen speciality (more on that later). The commander of the ship is now a jack-of-all-trades, applying a portion of his bonus while the specialists provide the larger bonuses. Larger ships gain an advantage as they can afford the space to accommodate the specialists, while smaller ships have to make do with the commander handling everything (at half efficiency). Any bonuses not mentioned here (such as Reaction or Production) will still be at full value for the commander.

Five new command and control modules have been added, the cost of the bridge has been doubled and the role of the flag bridge has been changed. Each module adds one to the Control Rating of the ship.

• 1) Bridge is 1 HS and costs 20 BP. The required rank for the ship commander is the racial minimum.

• 2) Auxiliary control is 1 HS and 15 BP. Allows the assignment of an Executive Officer to the ship who will apply his full Crew Training Bonus. The required rank for the ship commander is one above the racial minimum.

• 3) Science Department is 2 HS and 50 BP. Allows the assignment of a Science Officer to the ship who will apply his full Survey Bonus. The required rank for the ship commander is one above the racial minimum.

• 4) Main Engineering is 3 HS and 75 BP. Allows the assignment of a Chief Engineer to the ship who will apply his Engineering Bonus to affect maintenance and damage control. The required rank for the ship commander is two above the racial minimum.

• 5) Combat Information Centre (CIC) is 3 HS and 75 BP. Allows the assignment of a Tactical Officer to the ship who will apply his Tactical Bonus to various combat-related function (TBD). The required rank for the ship commander is two above racial minimum.

• 6) Primary Flight Control is 4 HS and 100 BP. Allows the assignment of a Commander Air Group to the ship who will apply his full Fighter Operations Bonus. The required rank for the ship commander is one above the racial minimum.

• 7) Flag Bridge is 5 HS and 125 BP. A fleet that includes a ship with a flag bridge can assign a 'fleet commander' senior to the commander of the ship. If a fleet has multiple flag bridges, the most senior officer assigned to any of them will be the fleet commander. The fleet commander will improve the fleet's overall reaction rating by his Reaction Bonus. If there are no flag bridges in a fleet, the senior ship commander will be the de facto fleet commander, but his reaction bonus will not affect other ships. The required rank for the ship commander of the ship with the flag bridge is two above the racial minimum. There are no longer any task forces or staff officers. Any commander assigned to a flag bridge who is not the most senior in the fleet will be referred to as a 'Flag Officer'.

In cases where different control stations have different required ranks for the ship commander, the highest rank takes precedence.

An officer can be killed if his station is damaged. I may also add 'temporary promotions' if the commander is killed, with the most senior surviving officer taking over as commander until relieved or promoted.

Except for the ship commander and the executive officer, the bonus from each specialist will only apply if their associated module is undamaged. Bonuses from the commander and XO will only apply if the ship has a control rating greater than zero (they can command the ship from any of the surviving control spaces). Ships smaller than 1000 tons automatically have a control rating of 1, even without a bridge. This is to simulate that small ships do not require a dedicated centralised command function. Date 07.12.2018

Boni

Ground Support

This is a new bonus in C# for naval officers commanding fighters on ground support, search & destroy and flak suppression missions. The to hit chance is modified by the bonus.

The bonus is also used for orbital bombardment support (explained in a future rules post), with the Tactical Officer contributing 100% of his bonus and the Ship Commander contributing 50% of his bonus Date 10.10.2018

Crew Training

In C# Aurora, each ship crew receives grade points during each construction phase. The number of grade points received per year is equal to 50% of the commander's crew training rating, plus 100% of the executive officer's crew training rating. This training will only happen if the ship has at least one command & control system undamaged. The maximum number of points is 1000.

A ship's crew grade bonus is equal to SQRT(Grade Points) - 10. So for VB6 Aurora the maximum is 34% and for C# Aurora it is 21%.

The net effect is that the grade bonus will be received more quickly but has a lower maximum value. The gap will be made up by the bonuses of other officers, such as the Tactical Officer or Chief Engineer. 07.10.2018

Engineering

The chance of system failure, whether away from a Maintenance Location or while being partially maintained, is reduced by the crew grade bonus (or increased for crews with a negative bonus) and the ship's Engineering bonus (50% of commander bonus and 100% of Chief Engineer bonus). Date 07.12.2018

If the ship has a Chief Engineer, any explosion chance (for magazines or engines) is reduced by his Engineering Bonus. So a 5% explosion chance would be reduced to 3.5% by a Chief Engineer with an Engineering bonus of 30%. Date 24.03.2018

The ship damage control rating is equal to the total value of engineering, damage control and commercial damage control systems, boosted by five times the Engineering bonus of the Chief Engineer (if one is assigned). So a Chief Engineer with a 20% bonus would double the damage control rating Date 02.09.2018

Intelligence

If the target can be detected by the ELINT modules' built-in EM Sensors, intelligence can be gathered. The rate is 1 intelligence point per day, boosted by the Intelligence bonus of the ELINT ship commander. Date 09.09.2018

Logistics Bonus

The cargo handling speed of any ship is modified by the ship commander's logistics bonus and by any bonus from the parent admin command of the ship's fleet (assuming the fleet is within he command radius). Setting up a network of Logistic-focused Admin Commands has the potential to boost cargo handling considerably. Date 03.09.2017

Reaction Bonus

A commander's initiative bonus has been replaced by a new Reaction Bonus. This serves two functions:

• 1) Fleets (both player and NPR) will move in ascending order of the average reaction bonus of the ship commanders in the fleet.
• 2) Response time for orders (when hostiles are present), which is based on fleet training, will be further reduced by the average reaction bonus of the ship commanders in the fleet.
• 3) Any ship without a designated commander will be treated as if it has a commander with a 0% bonus.

Date 25.09.2016

Tactical Bonus

Tactical is bonus to hit. You get half commander bonus + full tactical officer bonus.

Chance to hit is modified by (1 + Crew Grade Bonus) * (1 + (Commander Tactical Bonus / 2)) * (1 + Tactical Officer Tactical Bonus) Date 02.05.2020

Scientist Boni

When a new commander is generated, a check is made to see which bonuses he receives. If the (Academy-)Commandant has at least 20% in any percentage-based bonus or 150 for crew training / ground unit training, all commanders graduating from the academy at that population will take two rolls for each qualifying bonus, and use the higher of the two results. If the Commandant is a scientist, there is a 25% chance any scientist from that academy will have the same research specialisation. If that check fails, the research specialisation will be chosen randomly (as normal). Date 06.09.2017

Research Administration Rating

new bonus for C# which is the max number of labs Date 06.09.2017

Splitting Logistics and Ground Combat Research

Due to the increase in Logistics techs for C# Aurora and the planned revamp of ground combat design, the Logistics / Ground Combat research field will be split into two separate fields. There are now nine research fields in total. Date 23.09.2017