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general feedback on 2.3

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nanomage:
hello
i have played v2.3 for a while and i'd like to post some general feedback
overall, i find it is a great game, although playing it leaves a weird feeling because its unfinished.
i'll try to post bugs that i have observed in a "technical support" subforum, but there are also some strange things that are not bugs actually, but still confused me very much.

first of all, it's alien use of antimatter propelled aircraft. Upon completing UFO research, engineers report its fuel tanks to contain up to 1g of antimatter. According to a known formula, this results in total energy of 2m*c 2 being produced during annihilation with another gram of matter. Even if we assume the alien engines to channel all resulting radiation back of the rocket, it would still only have gained momentum of 2*m*c. Given m is 1g, this momentum can only change the spped of a 100-ton aircraft (and UFOs look much heavier) to the speed of 2*c*m/M = 600 centimeters per second. But this is far too small a value to be able to maneuvre in athmospere or, even worse- to climb an orbit. UFOs should either have access to much larger amounts of antimatter or use some propelling scheme other than just channeling annihilation products back of the engine. Or, i may be wrong, but correct me, if so.

The second thing that confused me is that alien particle beam weaponry is claimed by my advisors as beeing poorly balanced and uncomfortable for humans and, because of this, inaccurate in human hands. However, according to research reports, PB weapons themselves are simple to build, and, if so, what prevents humans from building theit own version of PB rifle, comfortable and thus accurate for them. It would just be some other metal shape wrapped around set of lenses and magnets that channel particle beam from accelerator to target,

I have also found that i'm unable to research anything after 'XVI Census' and 'Enemy on Earth revisited' and XVI rate in all the globe doesn't seem tomove avay from 0.0% even after i allowed some corruptors and harvester to land, terrorize population and fly avay safely. Is it because of game version or i am doing something wrong?

The last thing is huge stockpile of alien materials which seems to grow and grow as you continue capturing and disassembling UFOs. they do not seem to be suited for anything other than eating storage space. Also it takes extremely long to sell them. i guess it's just because i play a development version and they are going to be used in production of some hi-tech vehicles in later versions, arent' they?

I also want to ask a question about user interface: is there any hope of a command-line user interface from game console, especally for base management, say something like
sell -base="HQ" -item="Alien Materials" -quantity=10000
This would help against piles of alien materials and help automate equipping/reequipping soldiers for different maps.

Hertzila:
1. In space you have a point, they would need to lug around mass-tanks that would hold either gas or liquid that they can use with their thrusters, otherwise they can't gain any thrust (remember that in a matter-antimatter annihilation the mass transforms into energy, so the 2 grams of stuff don't contribute to thrust). On Earth, however, there is plenty of air their thrusters can use as the required mass and in case that's not enough, they can still lug around mass-tanks provided they are inside their ships and not external tanks.

nanomage:

--- Quote from: Hertzila on February 14, 2010, 05:38:54 pm ---1. In space you have a point, they would need to lug around mass-tanks that would hold either gas or liquid that they can use with their thrusters, otherwise they can't gain any thrust (remember that in a matter-antimatter annihilation the mass transforms into energy, so the 2 grams of stuff don't contribute to thrust). On Earth, however, there is plenty of air their thrusters can use as the required mass and in case that's not enough, they can still lug around mass-tanks provided they are inside their ships and not external tanks.

--- End quote ---
Radiation has momentum (p = E/c) as well as matter, so why shouldn't radiation obtained in matter-antimatter annihilation count towards thurst?
 And you are right about the mass-tanks - they would really help by carrying enough mass to through away. But then, UFOs should really have these "mass tanks", and advisors should mention them in their reports. Not that it changes anything in gameplay, but, in my opinion, one of the strong points of the game is that descriptions of all these alien technological marvels have certain degree of credibility.They are still fantastic, but never absurd. It's like science fiction - you may have a "photon spaceship", but you are not going to see "Voodoo powered aqua-blaster" or something ;)

Duke:
If the aliens have FTL drives, Einstein has already been proven to be wrong. So his formulas may not always apply ;)

A game designer has to construct a nice gameplay in the first place and then find a suitable name and explanation for the 'weapon type 3' he needed for the gameplay. So feel free to come up with a better explanation why humans can't use PB very well.

Agreed, selling alien mat is a pita. Changing this has been requested many times and will happen sooner or later.

setreset1:
A physics comment:
you forgot to square root. The correct thrust would be obtained like this:

assume the antimatter energy is totally converted into kinetic energy:
E = m c^2 = 1/2 M v^2
v = c sqrt(2 m /M)
for 1 gram of antimatter (+1 of matter) m=2*10^-3 Kg
M=100 Tonnes=10^5 Kg
c=3*10^8 m/s
v=3*10^8*sqrt(2*2*10^-3/10^5)=3*10^8*2*10^-4=
v=6*10^4 m/s, or 60 Km per second, which is quite fast.

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