I have recently picked Aurora back up and started the long slow climb up to learn the mechanics of the game.  Honestly I have to take it in small chunks.  If you have tried it, you know how overwhelming the data screens and amount of information there is, but you may also realize after looking around that there is the prospect of fun buried in there.  Unfortunately,  tutorials, and help information is not collected in one spot but spread around.  True there is a Wiki, but it contains only the basic information.  The tutorials, although appreciated, are incomplete and very short.  They do not cover some of the very important aspects of the game outside of just setting  up basic parameters of your first game.  I looked over the tutorials and followed them, however you are left with, what's next or what should I be concerned with, how do I do xyz, where is the menu for that etc…  There is a certain level of freedom to the game that goes beyond just following one blueprint, but there are certain main concepts you must know in order to sustain your empire and even those can be abstract.  So as I learn the game I will be sharing information that will hopefully get you into the game faster and with not just concepts but applicable information to help you get started.  I will preface this by saying I am not an expert or even proficient at the game.  I think that being new to the game gives a different perspective and not as much assumed perceptions about what you know.  I am sure that others will chime in as there are several here with more knowledge and experience with the game.

Staring out I will not regurgitate what is already in the tutorials on the wiki page for getting started.  I will begin from just after the setup and what needs to be done and how (my opinion and research) I have started.  I don't know how often I will post here, but as I learn I will keep creating post in this thread and maybe others will as well.  Again though I am taking it in small chunks at a time. 

I will post my failures as well, like  when I created an underpowered Cargo ship that when it goes out on a mission it is so slow that the crews kids are grown up by the time they return… :-P

ok enough blabber…

PE

I couldn't tell you how many times a started that game and designed many many ships, always to find out I'd done something wrong in it's design. Some of the time big booboos.

I started to get a rough idea in the end what design hasn't got a fundemental error in it, though I've no idea how good they'd be. Desiging specific ships for specific roles was the way to go, however to much dependence could be fatal if one ship was destroyed.

I managed in the end to get a game going to the point I was using jump points. Though the first combat I had I was decimated!

I will go back to it at some point, though I know similar to Dwarf Fortress I'll have to relearn everyhting which can be daunting and stop me from firing it up.

Still it's an amazing game and a superb bity of coding.

Here is how I see the priority:

1. Survey

2. Mine (setup mining)

3. Research / Planning

4. Home defense

5. Expansion beyond 

It is vital at the onset you setup your Mining operations because that will cause you lots of problems if you do not invest the time and resources upfront.  I can see you going up to 20 years before you begin to build up your fleets beyond a smaller homeland defense.  I think building up fleets early is not a good idea.

With mining I have gravitated toward the Automated Mines and Mass Drivers rather than invest in mining colonies or using tugs and cargo hulls to collect from automated mines.  You really have to balance starting out. 

PE

The game sounds kinda interesting, but I'm not having much luck tracking it down online (seems to be several Aurora games).  Got a link?  Thanks!

Originally Posted By steve58 (16 MAY 2012 1:34pm)

The game sounds kinda interesting, but I'm not having much luck tracking it down online (seems to be several Aurora games).  Got a link?  Thanks!

Here is the official site/forum:

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/

The wiki is here:

http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

PE

Thanks, I'll check it out...