Aurora is on version 2.5.0 C#, available at the Aurora Forums.
Contact Erik on the forum for a wiki account.
C-Ship Design
Class Window
Basics
The first screenshot of the new class design window. Class design is now working within C# Aurora and as you can see, the class window has undergone a more radical overhaul than the tactical window. The main differences are:
- 1) All class types are now shown on the left in a tree view, organised by hull type. You can filter obsolete and civilian designs
- 2) Available Components are also in a tree view, organised by component type. You can open and close sections as needed. Scrollbars will appear if needed. You add new components using this tree by double-clicking (amount based on radio-button selection).
- 3) You can flip between available components and components in the current design (see second screenshot). You remove components using this tree.
- 4) Instead of showing a line of details for each component, clicking on the component (in either Race or Class lists) shows a more detailed description in the lower centre.
- 5) The box to the right of the component description box is for design errors.
- 6) Any green text is editable, so you can change armour and deployment time, plus adjust the range bands and tracking speeds used to show the capabilities of beam weapons and beam fire controls.
- 7) A list of ships in the class is shown in the lower right. There will be a much more detailed list on another tab.
- 8) Many of the VB6 text boxes no longer exist on this view, either because they have been removed because they duplicate the main display, are no longer necessary, have been handled differently (lack of power is now a design error) or moved to a different tab (showing the crew calculation) because they are less important. This allows a much cleaner view with only the required information.
There are a few minor changes to class design.
- 1) Ships are no longer rounded to the nearest hull space
- 2) Range Modifiers are shown in full rather than a number. So in the case of this ship, a range modifier of 30,000 km means the weapon has a range of Max Damage x Range Modifier. The range was always calculated this way but not shown as obviously on the display
- 3) Internal HTK has been added to the display next to armour and shields
- 4) 'Damage Control Rating' is now DCR
- 5) The 'To Hit' chances (in the display) for beam fire controls are based on the Range Bands and Target Speed set on the right side of the window
- 6) Beam Weapon damage fall-off (in the display) is based on the selected Range Bands.
This window is still a work in progress but the design-related work is mostly complete. The results of class design (with the above exceptions) are matching VB6 Aurora. I need to add some other tabs, including fighter and ordnance assignment, more detailed component information, rank assignment, etc.. I'll post screenshots as I complete them.
http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Screenshots/ClassDesign.PNG
http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Screenshots/ClassDesign02.PNG
Structural Shells
A 'No Armour' check box has been added to the class window. Clicking this removes the normal armour from the class.
Designs with no armour instead have a new type of armour called 'structural shell'. This costs 1 per unit and has a strength of 20, essentially making it 5% of the cost of normal armour in terms of strength.
There are severe limitation on ships with no armour:
- 1) They cannot have engines
- 2) They cannot have military systems
- 3) The structural shell does not prevent damage. In effect, weapon fire passes straight through the 'armour'
This type of ship is ideally suited for orbital habitats or space stations of some type, such as fuel harvesting platforms, mining stations, etc., that require towing to move.
Ship Class Components View
The components view has been expanded considerably for C# Aurora.
The tab still has the functionality from VB6, showing the component breakdown by Amount, Size, Cost, Crew and HTK. To that has been added ordnance loadout, fuel and maintenance supplies, plus a breakdown of minerals and wealth. The mineral and wealth breakdown takes into account the mineral requirement and/or cost for the full loadout of fuel, maintenance and ordnance, so you can see the full cost of the design
Two new columns have been added which replace the damage allocation chart from VB6. Instead, this is the percentage chance that a component of the specified type will be selected for internal damage. E-DAC is for weapons that only target electronics.
http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Screenshots/ComponentView002.PNG
Ordnance & Fighters View
Another screenshot of the class design window, showing the assignment of ordnance and fighters and a more detailed component breakdown (Edit: this has changed since 2016). This combines the functionality of two tabs from the VB6 version. Fighters / Ordnance is added and removed by double-clicking.
http://www.pentarch.org/steve/Screenshots/ClassDesign03.PNG
Miscellaneous Tab
Starting Build Points and Instant Build Section
A new player race in Aurora receives a number of Starting Build Points equal to two years wealth. These can be spent on instant build for Ships and Ground Formations.
If the available Instant Build Point total is greater than zero, the Instant Build section will be shown on the Miscellaneous tab of the Class window, including the current Instant Build Point total, plus selection options for destination fleet and number of ships to be built. This section will also appear if SM Mode is active, so additional ships can be instantly built if required by the game setup.
The ship options replace the VB6 Fast OOB window, while the ground options are new for C# Aurora.