New real-life technology - "Buckypaper" construction material

[Destructavator]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081017/ap_on_hi_te/tec_buckypaper

I'm aware that with regards to "hard" vs. "soft" science fiction UFO: AI tends to be as realistic as possible, well, this is a new technology coming out in products hopefully a year or two from now (the article says hopefully in 12 months) that seems to really work.

In short, it is a new construction material about "10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel" which can be used for vehicles, appliances, television sets, and much more.

The article also lists many potential military uses, as well as electronic in shielding and circuits.

Considering the plot and setting of the game 80 years in the future, I'd imagine it might make sense to include this in some UFOPedia descriptions and other technologies in the game.  Right now, today, it is very expensive to make, but that could likely change in 80 years.  According to the article, a company is already being put together in "early stages" to commercially produce this stuff beyond the laboratory.

[Falion]

This material sounds like it also has real world potential for armor applications for infantry at some point. Being so light, with this amount of strength would make it ideal. Sounds like its electrical properties, would even keep infantry safe from electrical dangers of most sorts.

[ghosta]

Thats why I tend to say that the game takes place in around 2020-2030. To forsee the development in 80 years is just impossible. Remember the technology status of the year 1930. The first flying bicycle was built 1907. Look with what we are flying now? And progress is speeding up.
Currently Japan is massively developing robots. The first quantal chip prototypes can be bought at D-Wave Systems in Canada (unfortunately there is no software available). The first fusion reactor is built in france. Spintronics is the next step in chip development. How about cloaked soldiers? or interceptors? The theory tells us that it is possible there werent just the materials available with the needed characteristics. Now they are (at least for infrared)

Now add 80 years of development!

You cant even imagine what technology is like in 40 years...

[Destructavator]

How about cloaked soldiers?

We're getting there, too.  A while back I saw in the news an invisibility field generator, announced to the public that does indeed work.  One could only imagine what the military keeps secretly.

You cant even imagine what technology is like in 40 years...

Very true.  There are already things in motion to have populated colonies put on the moon sometime soon within our lifetimes.  If the game takes place 80 years ahead, there should be installations on the moon, possibly even on Mars, etc.  Even more is possible in the plot setting which implies world peace before the aliens attack - If we stop fighting each other we would get even more advanced in what we accomplish.

[BTAxis]

You cant even imagine what technology is like in 40 years...

This is a property of hard science fiction in general. Arthur C. Clarke, one of the genre's pioneers once said that "if we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run--and often in the short one--the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative".

So yeah, it seems most unlikely that the image for the 2080s as sketched by UFO:AI are accurate. It doesn't matter though. What's important is that we're building a believable game world, not one that necessarily matches reality as closely as possible. This is what I believe.

[ghosta]

What's important is that we're building a believable game world, not one that necessarily matches reality as closely as possible.

No doubt, it is very improtant to create a believable game world. But the current weapons/actors/models/maps/houses/furniture/... looks like the stuff we can see today and I cant believe that nothing has changed in 80 years. Everything is a copy of the world around us. It lacks the fiction part.

Why not being creative? Why does every human weapon look like the counter strike weaponry? It is goddamn hard to create something new. It is hard to use my imagination. And it is hard to form out of the picture in mind a model. I dont want to say that there arent people wo are able to do this but as long as UFO:AI is a open source project people change.

If the scene takes place in ~20 years we wont need to add fiction in every part of the game. The world could be the world around us. Just the contact with the aliens needs creativity. What about realism? Look at the examples I have given in my previous post: do you really think that a portable energy cell for my laser rifle is that far away?

If the scene takes place in ~80 years there should be something we havent seen before. But as long as creativity is a rare resource this would never happen.

[BTAxis]

The reason why many things look like stuff we have now is because a lot of content was created BEFORE the game was set in 2084. And it's easier to use what you have than to create things from scratch, especially if you're not good at creating things.

[Amtep]

Do we have anywhere a timeline of technology that takes us to 2084? That will help mapmakers and artists decide how things should look.

If not, I have some ideas There are several future developments that could slow down technology that we find hard to imagine. For example, a global energy crunch combined with overpopulation would mean things are cheaper to do with people than with machines.

Collapse of the oil-dependent economy could cut funding for military research in most countries. (They'd use up their existing militaries in wars over the remaining oil, but they wouldn't invest in future projects like space lasers and stealth planes.)

There might also be a massive effort to stop ecological catastrophe. I'd love to see a geoscape map that shows the effects of global warming.

Colonies on Mars? I think a manned space program is unlikely even at this point. It's much cheaper to explore space with robots.

[bayo]

is exists some timeline in "futurology". It can be a nice help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_future_in_forecasts

[TrashMan]

If that's a problem just move the timeline a bit... shave 40 years off. 2040 is far enough in the future.

Not to mention that some changes to the storyline in general are needed. Some part of it...need improvement (to put it mildly).