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Messages - slothlord

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1
Tactics / Re: What's a good 2.2.1. squad loadout?
« on: July 23, 2009, 02:32:57 pm »
hand grenades arent so great until you research gas grenades.  since they only do stun damage, you can throw them without too much worry about killing your own troops.  i usually have 2 troopers with a laser pistol or particle pistol and a gas grenade for capturing aliens.

2
Discussion / Re: Power Plant
« on: July 03, 2009, 07:01:17 pm »
Quote
Our only major successes have come from studying how the aliens store their antimatter. We're confident we can employ the same magnetic storage techniques, creating special facilities for safely storing up to ten grammes of antimatter. I've sent you a set of blueprints in a separate message to peruse at your convenience. We've also designed antimatter fuel tanks that should fit in our interceptors given some major overhaul. Of course we'll need a full understanding of the alien engines before we can begin incorporating it.

that's an excerpt from the wiki(ufopaedia) on antimatter research.

Quote
The Antimatter Storage facility is designed to safely store antimatter for later use, at least as safely as antimatter can possibly be stored. It is based around an advanced magnetic containment system we've derived from alien antimatter technology, which we call the 'inner shell'. The 'outer shell' consists of several radiation airlocks over the main passages, a heavily-armoured control room, and a host of other security and containment measures -- all designed to keep any radiation inside the outer shell.

The outer shell's design borrows heavily from that of UN nuclear ammo dumps. In case of problems in the inner shell, there's an automatic security system which will lock down the instant containment drops below safe levels. The facility will first close its blast doors, then secure every airlock with tungsten locking rods, fill the outer shell atmosphere with radiation-retardant gas and inject anti-shock foam behind the walls, and then try to contain the inevitable blast.

This procedure will not give any personnel caught inside time to escape, but that's the price we'll have to pay if we want to have a chance of saving the entire base.

To understand how dangerous this facility really is, building an Antimatter Storage at one of our bases will require us to list that base with the UN nuclear site register. At full capacity -- 10 grammes of antimatter -- just one storage facility will be containing the equivalent of nearly half a megaton of TNT. While this isn't much compared to modern thermonuclear weapons, it's enough to turn the entire base and everything inside to cinders in less than a second. It's difficult to 'blow up' antimatter, but under the wrong circumstances, it can happen.

Even if no explosion occurs, a loss of containment would result in the annihilation of the stored antimatter with the normal matter of the containment system. If there were any fault or damage in the outer shell at this point, then the ensuing blast of gamma radiation and high-speed particles would escape and strip the area clean of life. The base would be poisoned and rendered uninhabitable for centuries to come.

and that's from the wiki(ufopaedia) on the antimatter storage base facility.

seems like the safety measures (what little possible that is) are already built in...what was the point of this thread again?

the only way to shield the base would be to create some kinda force field or alter the curvature of space (like a black hole) around the antimatter storage building. 

although it might be possible to simply purge the antimatter a microgram at time into a sealed blast room made of alien alloy. 

but frankly, if you didnt bury the antimatter building in a corner of your base then let the aliens blow it up...you probably deserved it.

3
Discussion / Re: Power Plant
« on: June 30, 2009, 08:12:10 pm »
no wonder the original x-com team decided to make elerium as the alien power source. 

maybe you could say that the antimatter building in the base is just the "access point" for the REAL storage facility which is buried way, way deep down.  i dont think theres any practical way to shield the base from an antimatter reaction of any scale (10 grams, 100 grams, whatever.).

unless...wait a sec, what do the aliens use to store antimatter?  cant Phalanx just copy whatever the aliens use?  we should stop thinking in terms of earth tech, since Phalanx is using the antimatter to power alien tech therefore alien tech should be used to store it.  hell, it doens't even matter that the engineers don't understand how it works so long as it can be reproduced and made to work for us.  simple, elegan't solution dont you think?.

4
Discussion / Re: Power Plant
« on: June 27, 2009, 03:59:38 pm »
um, a 1 kilogram antimatter/matter reaction generates 47 MEGAtons of energy, not 470 kilotons.  That's about the equivalent of 9 of the largest thermonuclear bombs.  I'm not sure if it is enough possible to shield against that much power...

*numbers from wikipedia articles on antimatter and nuclear bombs.

5
Discussion / Re: Numbered UFOs
« on: June 27, 2009, 03:29:21 pm »
um, why not append a letter designator at the end of the UFO # tag?  like UFO 001S or UFO 002H?
S for scout, h for harvester or whatever.  Or by size class, A = large, B = medium, C = small.


6
mmm, blaster bomb...my very own portable door maker.  alien wont come out of the ship? blaster bomb it.  alien hiding in building? blaster bomb it.  no door/opening for a blaster bomb?  blaster bomb it, then blaster bomb it again. 

7
Discussion / Re: Essence of XCOM-UFO.
« on: June 26, 2009, 07:25:40 pm »
FEAR = Chryssalid

i still have memories of the first time i did a terror mission with these.  turn 1: get out, look around, cant see shit cuz its night (forgot electroflares).  turn 2-xx: kill snakemen. turn xx: AHHHHH!!! WTF!! *Slash* MAN DOWN! *Hack* MAN DOWN!. next turn: WHY WONT IT DIE???!! *rocket launcher* BOOM!!! WOOHOO!!!.  next turn: uhh, why do the civilians look funny? *laser rifle* *civilian splits open* OH SHIIIII----!! *TEAM LOST*

i hate those bastards...

8
Feature Requests / Re: Alien Reinforcements
« on: June 26, 2009, 07:14:54 pm »
right, sorry about the alien commander, i forgot about the hive mind.  this does bring up something else.  i remember when researching the captured aliens and the hive mind, it said something about how the aliens seemed to get more intelligent/coordinated when grouped together.  doesn't that imply that killing aliens during a mission would make the surviving aliens less efficient?

9
Feature Requests / Alien Reinforcements
« on: June 24, 2009, 09:57:12 pm »
Suggestion for more varied missions: enemy reinforcements/rescue. 

As it is, there is an unlimited number of turns for a mission.  Enemy reinforcements arriving after some time (say 20 turns) would add a little pressure to the mission.  Alien commanders could get rescued before they get captured, making capture missions more difficult.  This could also add another layer to strategy.  Waiting for alien reinforcements and try to ambush them in order to gain more alien tech or capture a ship (the reinforcements dont simply just appear from nowhere).  Of course this is pretty damn risky, but would be very cool.

It's logical as well, i mean, you would send troops to rescue a valuable commander or team that crashed right?

10
Discussion / Re: Power Plant
« on: June 24, 2009, 09:50:57 pm »
no the anti-matter storage shouldn't blow up if the power plant goes down.  i highly doubt they would design a containment facility for an extremely dangerous material without taking that into account.  it would probably have its own backup generator and "lockdown" mode  (probably something like encasing the core with several meters of quick-hardening sealant).  of course take several days to days to get it back up and running after a lockdown (similar to construction time).

it might be a good idea to put the alien containment next to anti-matter storage to discourage the aliens using high explosives...

11
game could use:

1. Prone position (lying belly down on the ground) in addition to the kneel/stand.  it would probably screw the TU costs to hell, but improve accuracy and cover.  *much like Jagged Alliance 2

2. More aliens - perhaps extremely large aliens (think reapers from x-com but bigger) that the aliens use as "tank" or meatshield.  fast, scary aliens like the chryssalid or aliens in some form of power armor. 

3. Aliens that require different methods of killing - weapon types dont seem to make much difference when it come to killing aliens.  aliens with a force field only penetrable by melee weapons or kinetic/energy resistant aliens/alien armor.  that would make weapon loadouts more important and add another tactical element.

4. More bolt weapons - perhaps a "heavy" bolt rifle similar to the autocannon from x-com and a bolt pistol. it's an entire weapon tree with only 1 weapon. almost feels pointless to research it (i much prefer laser rifles/sniper rifles to the bolter).

5. Tweak the worldview UI - the 3 "hidden" buttons and screen take up a lot of space.  shrink them and move the buttons to the top or side of the screen. 

Overall the game is pretty damn solid.  I know suggestions 2 & 3 will be pretty hard to implement as the bottleneck seems to be 3D modeling and stuff, not the coding. 

hmm, forgot about the AI...

Alien AI should be based upon 3 things: race, weapon, rank/role.  Heavy, durable aliens (ortnoks) should act more aggressively (constantly advancing forward, rapid-fire weapons, grenades, etc.).  Weaker aliens (tamans) should move more cautiously (staying in cover most of the time and relying on reaction fire).  Aliens equipped with sniper rifles should stay back, look for high ground.  Assault aliens (rifles, heavy) should "leapfrog" from cover to cover providing covering fire for shocktroops/recon.  Shocktroops (heavily armored, high damage weapons/melee) charge forward to soak up reaction fire.  Recon (pistols, grenades)
aliens would scout ahead, locate enemies and try to lure them back to the rest of the troops or try to backstab lone phalanx soldiers (esp. snipers). 

most of this seems to be true, so the alien AI is okay (although the taman have a bizarre fondness for the kerr blade...).  however, alien AI (or tactics) should make more use of the different alien types.  those little metal bugs should be used to scout the area and flush out hidden enemies, while the alien "handlers" would follow behind at a safe distance.  commanders should stay back with several bodyguards, "forting up" in hopes of rescue.

that lead me to one last suggestion for more varied missions: enemy reinforcements/rescue.  as it is, there is an unlimited number of turns for a mission.  enemy reinforcements arriving after some time would make add a little pressure to the mission.  alien commanders could get rescued before they get captured, making capture missions more difficult.  however this could add another layer to strategy.  waiting for alien reinforcements and try to ambush them in order to gain more alien tech or capture a ship (the reinforcements dont simply just appear from nowhere).  of course this is pretty damn risky, but would be very cool.

sorry for the extremely long post. i think i'll put some of these in the requests section.
 


12
Feature Requests / Re: 25mm Gas Grenade
« on: June 19, 2009, 10:34:52 pm »
huh? electro-laser? what does that have to do with the grenade launcher?

well, i guess it's up to you devs.  i suppose it's more of a "would be nice to have" that can be worked on in future versions. 

just had a thought, what about a tranquilizer gun?  it would probably have low-range and piss-poor TU cost (due to careful aiming needed) but could be an alternative...should i put it in a new thread or is a tranq gun an auto-No? 

hmm, i wonder what taser's would to an alien...

13
Discussion / Re: Power Plant
« on: June 19, 2009, 10:14:05 pm »
sorry, this has nothing really to do with the topic, but i just saw star trek the other week:

Phalanx base under attack

"Commander! Aliens have breached the base defences!"
"Quick, eject the warp core!"
"Sir?"
"Uh, I mean seal off the anti-matter containment facility!"

hmm, since this is a game and all, you could simply say the anti-matter containment emergency purge actually creates a tiny one-way dimensional rift to an anti-matter universe that sucks in the stored anti-matter. 

14
Feature Requests / Re: 25mm Gas Grenade
« on: June 19, 2009, 10:05:31 pm »
then lowering the stun damage and radius should fix that right?  I don't want to offend, but I think you're overestimating the usefulness of non-lethal grenade launcher ammo.  you can't give every trooper a grenade launcher, that's just silly.  your troops would stun themselves in close quarters (small rooms, corridors, alien ships, etc.) not to mention reaction fire would be a mess.  i have a hard enough time with the gas grenades as is (stunned two soldiers when the grenade bounced back) without having to worry about friendly fire. 

since grenades no longer have to be primed (like in X-com), it takes about as much time to grab a grenade from inventory and throw than to shoot an alien.  i don't even use the grenade launcher much since every trooper can carry 2-3 grenades.  if i really want to capture aliens, i equip my guys with laser pistols and a gas grenade in hand with 4 more stashed on them.

would be really be so bad to just try it out?  even X-com had stun launchers...

15
Discussion / Re: A nasty trap!
« on: June 18, 2009, 03:25:56 pm »
heh, i already suggested something like that (remote camera).   BTAxis said the devs are already working on it.  Don't know if it will be in the 2.3 release.

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