Aurora 4X anyone play

[jamus34]

So I started looking into this and it looks like a munchkins dream... 4x space game that kinda claims to be dwarf fortress in space.

Unfortunately I have been unable to get it running yet. Any one have any experience with this?

[PanzersEast]

Doing a play through now.... its been a long time since I played but learning cliff not curve.  There are several LPs out there that will help you get started.  It is a vastly deep game that you will need to commit time to learning and playing.  Kushan is doing some live streaming as well.

I would say to stick with it... there is a lot to learn and do so in small chunks.  I'm still overwhelmed, but it is fun and opens up as you advance.   One of the best space games out there.


PE

[Jarhead0331]

There are a lot of old threads on this, but I fear they may have been over in the wargamer days. I'm pretty sure GDS-Starfury got fairly far into learning the mechanics of the game.

What's the latest build? Is it still 4.3? Any significant new features added?

[jamus34]

I think the current patch is up to 7.01.

As stated I just discovered this and having issues installing/getting it to run

[Millipede]

My curiosity has been roused! Unfortunately, I can't download without registering on the Aurora 4X Forum and that doesn't seem to be possible. Does anyone know if this is just a temporary situation?

[jamus34]

Milli - I was still able to dl the files even though I wasn't registered. I was using chrome and clicking on the link dropped me into a drop box screen and from there I could download the files

[Jarhead0331]

I think the current patch is up to 7.01.

As stated I just discovered this and having issues installing/getting it to run

Wow. Guess its been awhile since I played. LoL.

[Nefaro]

I've noticed a couple different playthrough series started up on YT recently, using latest version.

Been putting off learning the thing, myself.  Expecting continued improvements to it. 

[Millipede]

Milli - I was still able to dl the files even though I wasn't registered. I was using chrome and clicking on the link dropped me into a drop box screen and from there I could download the files

Thanks for the tip. Successfully downloaded, successfully installed (whew!) and fired it up... Holy Jumpin' Petunias!!! Youtube lets play, here I come.

[jamus34]

Yup, it strangely reminds me of early harpoon games for some reason

[CptHowdy]

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5663.0.html

use above link for full installer. much easier. enjoy.

[Rayfer]

Watched some youtube videos....haven't played the game but the video's remind me of WitP:AE in complexity and depth!! And I'm not saying that's a bad thing.

[bobarossa]

I've played it off and on for a number of years and have been playing 6.43 for three months now. When just starting I would suggest turning on the Spacemaster (on first thin window; don't enter a password and you won't need one later).  This allows you can do instant research of items to see how everything fits together when designing ships for the first time (use the "Instant" button that only lights up when SM is on).  When designing a jump engine you kind of need to know how big a ship you want and you may not know that without putting everything together first.  SM is how you can figure this out.  You can then use SM to delete those techs before turning SM off and continuing.

Here is something I wrote up for my brother a few years ago.

If you want to save a game, you need to copy Stevefire.mdb out of the Aurora directory into a save directory.  You can rename it to something (like adding the date/year) but you will have to rename it back before you can use it again.  I've never tried copying it with the game running.  I have heard (in the forums) that if you have too many games in the database, it can slow things down (file reads/writes?).  There is a delete game button somewhere.  Feel free to look at the game that come already in the database to see what ships look like (component wise; use the "Class design" window, 7th from left on System Map). 

When you create Gravity and Geologic sensor ships (to find jump points and minerals, respectively) you can give them default orders that keep you from having to set the individual orders up yourself.  Go the the task force page (9th button from left edge at top of System Map screen, looks like an arrowhead) and click on the special orders/Organization tab (near middle of screen).  The default orders are set on the left side and you can set the primary to "survey nearest planet or moon" and the secondary to "survey nearest asteroid".  Or you can just tell it to "next five system bodies".   For gravitic surveys you need to use the 'survey locations" entry.

Now for some operating tips.  The most important windows are the System Map, the economics window, and the Events window (2nd button from right on the System Map buttons at top).  The System Map and Economics windows both have Time Control buttons near the top.  These tell the game how long of a turn you want to process. 

On the System Map window, there is another line of buttons called the Sub-Pulse Length.  Each "turn" is divided into sub pulses.  The turn consists of somewhere around 10 to 20 of these.  The game will watch to see if something important will happen each sub-pulse and may interrupt your 'turn' to let you know.  Most of these are comments that a Task Force has completed its orders or minerals/jump points have been found.  Sometimes a 'turn' will be interrupted because the Non-Player Empire has done something (is in a battle) and the game needs to slow down to process it correctly.  Nothing shows up in the event window in this case.

The game has something called a construction interval (set on the intro screen, although you may have to hit 'save' or something for it to take effect after the first time).  This is the minimum amount of time the game will wait until it recalculates industrial/shipyard/research output.  I have set my games up for 1 second less than 5 days (431,999 seconds, I think; exactly 5 days worth didn't seem to work correctly).  That way I can expect industrial updates to occur each time I hit the '5-days' button (and it goes 5 full days).  The Events window tells you how much time elapsed and what happened. 

[Kushan]

Been playing this a lot again recently since I saw Quil18s LP on YouTube. I played it on my twitch stream the other day. I was doing ok until one of my exploration ships ran out of fuel. Then I realized I had made a mistake and converted too much of my conventional industry to factories rather then to more mines. Didn't notice I wasn't mining enough until I tried to build a new ship to go refuel my exploration ship. I could have recovered in the long run but with the ship out of fuel it was only letting me do 6 hours ticks, even with auto turn enabled.

My curiosity has been roused! Unfortunately, I can't download without registering on the Aurora 4X Forum and that doesn't seem to be possible. Does anyone know if this is just a temporary situation?

With all the attention the game has been getting yon YouTube recently the forums have been straining to keep up.

If you want to save a game, you need to copy Stevefire.mdb out of the Aurora directory into a save directory.  You can rename it to something (like adding the date/year) but you will have to rename it back before you can use it again. 

I think the current version allows you to have multiple different games. There's now a pull down menu on the launcher that lets you switch between games.

[bobarossa]

That ship that ran out fuel, did it have a default order set for refueling.  I haven't noticed a limit on turn length except for when default orders are present.  You also may trying disabling that message in the event screen's filter (at bottom of window).  I was using the basic download without the launcher.  Saw a lot of people having problems with missing files (dll's) with the launcher so I stuck with what I knew would work.  I was too far into my latest game to start over when 7.00 came out.