Looks like we'll have controlled fusion power generation proof-of-concept by the end of next month, that's April 2010, with a 100 megawatt operational reactor to follow by April 2011 and that's apparently already ahead of schedule...
Yep, it's the Return of the Son of the Bride of Polywell and it looks like it is indeed capable of aneutronic operation fusing protons with boron 11 and that means vast reductions in required shielding and radiation handling measures and it
also means direct conversion to electrical power with existing technology... with equally vast reductions in the weight of auxiliary power and cooling gear.
...
.... has anyone thought about what that will do to game balance if the aliens attack 70+ years after we have such sources of fusion power?
Ground defenses blasting UFOs out of the exosphere with directed energy weapons at game start because the mooks were mistaken for missiles... naval vessels mounting railgun and directed energy weapons powered by multi-gigawatt reactors... human combat aircraft faster than UFOs and mounting energy weapons as well... irate human spacecraft chasing UFOs offworld as far as Mars at 450 kps... and not needing to refuel... human ships from Mars moving in to cut off the retreating alien ships...
... and those are very conservative estimates for human abilities at the start of the game because these things are first up in the R&D pipeline
NOW and will be among the first fruits of fusion power.
It ain't fair, but it's there... I seriously wonder how
we'll handle the changes.
I knew the future had caught up with the game already in some respects, but I'd not thought through what the recent developments in fusion would actually do to the game balance.
With antimatter power sources the alien ships would still outpower human ships and especially human aircraft... but not to the degree needed for the game storyline. Ground and naval facilities, not having to be flightweight, would be even more on a par with the alien capabilities as they are currently envisioned .
... oh yeah... the arguments against human mass production of antimatter also go out the window but it just wouldn't be needed for ordinary civilian purposes. Only for interstellar ship research... and military uses...
... whee!