Messages

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Discussion / Re: UFO:AI Technology Ideas

« on: April 23, 2010, 04:13:37 am »

If the bullet cracks on impact, then the gas (I think when the pressure drops the liquid nitrogen will boil) will spread to every direction, so the "chilling" efficiency is not good. And the heat of vaporization is 5.56 kJ·mol−1 (wikipedia). Assume one bullet contains 5 ml, with density 0.807 g/mL it's 4 grams, with molar mass 28 it's 1/7 mol. So the nitrogen inside one bullet can absorb ("chill") about 800 Joules of heat. 800 Joule can raise (lower, in this case) the temperature of 10 gram of water of 19 degrees C. So... not much chilling, I think.

I would improvise on this idea by making the bullet release its contents inside the victim (how?). We can make the tip of the bullet monomolecular (it must be curved somehow, maybe like a drill or multiple curves converge on a point). Then the damage is not only from chilling and piercing, but also from the gas expansion. Wow... inverse of plasma.

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Discussion / Re: UFO:AI Technology Ideas

« on: April 17, 2010, 01:10:33 pm »

I see. So we expect a weapon stronger than particle beam then. Or, something with more functionality.

But laser is silent and invisible (meanwhile, human infrared laser has visible beam and sound in the game) while particle beam is visible and loud. With the same energy, laser have more particles (photons) than particle beam. Maybe this can compensate somehow, along with the stealth factor. Maybe in the future there will be a race that is so small, that particle beam cannons are too heavy for them. Or maybe particle beam is expensive and difficult to produce, even by aliens' standard. Or the aliens don't want to risk humans collecting particle beam ammo, so they use it rarely (maybe mainly for base defense or major assault).

Another idea: When the aliens realize that humans use IR laser, they start to coat their armor with thin reflective materials.

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Discussion / Re: UFO:AI Technology Ideas

« on: April 14, 2010, 04:21:02 am »

That's no matter for me. I cannot play 2.3 anyway. the download size is too large and my computer is slow (don't say about upgrading). Doubt 2.3 will run well (or at all).

About unfair... what is fair on unfair is relative, and what do you say about the blaster bomb? But let's hear from the others.

Now, about new tech ideas, as the topic title said. Why don't the aliens use lasers? If human uses infrared laser, then let's give the alien UV or X-ray lasers, that can dissociate molecules directly and not damage by heating.

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Discussion / Re: UFO:AI Technology Ideas

« on: April 10, 2010, 11:16:32 am »

What about biological alien weapons? In Defense there were the celatid, silicoid, chryssalid, and in Apocalypse there were something spitting liquid and exploding kamikaze ones (I forget the names. I didn't play Apocalypse, just watching someone playing) I also heard that the aliens need more weapons. What about this: an alien launcher (or grenade) with biological munitions. It may be hundreds of insects that are released from the casing upon impact. The insects form a swarm and move at walking speed (just like a new character) to nearest human and do horrible things on him/her. To destroy them you must use explosives, flamethrower, plasma grenades, or gas.

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Discussion / Re: UFO: Female Invasion?

« on: March 27, 2010, 10:53:25 am »

That reminds me of something. In all games like this, humans (the player) always have a variety of sprites, but only one sprite for one type of alien. Can alien sprites be varied? We can vary the darkness (the tamans came in every value of grayscale! yay!), hue, size, etc. So that the player can distinguish one alien from the other: "that dark one is wounded, the taller one is still fresh"

Or maybe every alien is genetically identical?

Or maybe sprite varieties is useless because we cannot see it clearly on the screen. If that is the case please ignore this post.

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Discussion / Re: UFO: Female Invasion?

« on: March 25, 2010, 10:06:57 am »

Do aliens in UFO:AI have females? Just curious.

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Discussion / Must the download size so large?

« on: March 20, 2010, 11:23:28 am »

Hi. I live in a country where internet is... rather... slow and... expensive. 600 MB download is large. Is there any way so that people can download the game by parts, like systems only, textures only, or differences (2.2.1 to 2.3) only? Or is 2.3 so different from 2.2.1 that no old parts are usable? The largest file in the version I have is the music. I don't mind playing in half the resolution and detail, and without music and loading background images. If this can cut the size down by half, I'd be thankful.