Messages

31

Design / Re: Managing Mundane vs. Cutting Edge Gear and Equipment

« on: June 06, 2008, 11:20:53 pm »

New weapons are spiffy, but the standard guns you get are still very effective.
Remember they are "standard" for PHLANAX, but represent the best weapons humans built so far.

NOT!  Bazookas went out of fashion in the 1960s, and flame-throwers haven't been used since the '70s.  They were all replaced by special purpose rocket launchers.  In particular, the range that U.S. infantryman can ignite things with an M202 'Flash' rocket is WAAY better than what can be done with the flame-thrower.  Why get so close you can hug the Bug Eyed Monsters when it's more survivable to 'reach out and touch' them from behind cover?  There's not a single weapon available to PHALANX that wasn't in use during the era of the Korean War.  Specifically, weapons available right now have about ten times greater range than what PHALANX uses [this is intentional] and much greater accuracy [not sure if this was intentional]; i'm not even bringing in bonus features like laser sights, etc.

32

Feature Requests / Re: Local troops?

« on: June 06, 2008, 10:44:36 pm »

Maybe a new rifle is order for use in local militias? You could even have various types of militias?

Asian militias would have Asiatic faces and use uniforms and weapons from their area.
In a similar fashion, a US milita would use something that looks like a M-16.

There absolutely won't be any in-game weapons even remotely based on real world weapons.  Besides, i think our generic assault rifle should be fine for them.  At least it wasn't made in the 1940s...  I guess we just have to hope the military team members don't all end up with useless close up weapons like shotguns.

33

Discussion / Re: Particle Beam Weapons: More Than Just Flashlights?

« on: June 06, 2008, 10:32:20 pm »

Afterthought: such a weapon would produce a stream of very hot plazma out of the barrel.  I would have a range of a foot or two, I imagine (maybe less, total guess here).  It has two effects:
1. cannot fire too close to a friendly or near a wall - plasma would burn shooter if reflected and anyone else near the barrel
2. Can be a close quarter weapon.  In a pinch - even with no projectile at all. 

#1 is true enough, though it would not extend very much beyond the edge of the 'tile' or square that the shooter occupies.  By comparison, a typical rocket launcher has a back blast area 8 meters wide by 15 meters long.  If we can safely ignore that, i'm willing to not worry about that half meter plasma ejection area.

As to #2, designs i've seen store the fluid in the cartridge - you wouldn't be able to generate plasma when out of ammo.

34

Discussion / Re: Particle Beam Weapons: More Than Just Flashlights?

« on: June 06, 2008, 10:21:54 pm »

However, as long as the pressure in front is lower than the pressure behind, there will  be a force acting on the bullet, accelerating it.

That is indeed a good point that i had failed to consider.  Nonetheless, when we incorporate this in the next approximation, we see that the rate of acceleration would continue to slow the further the bullet traveled from the chamber.  The ETC effectively maintains a constant rate of acceleration.

The problem of reduced pressure is still there - let's say you generate hot plazma instead of hot gas.  Pressure is way higher, true (thank goodness for those strong future polymers, having a gun blow up is no fun!).  However, as the projectile moves down the barrel the volume still increases, and, IF THE TEMPERATURE REMAINS THE SAME, the pressure will drop.  Combined gas law flatly states that [P * V / T = const].

I think you might have missed a point here: as the bullet travels down the barrel, the ETC continues to generate more plasma to fill the increasing volume.  I also must offer a correction to the formula: [P * V / T = n * R], where 'R' is the universal gas constant and 'n' is the number of moles of gas.  It is 'n' that is increasing, as you have already noted that otherwise the heater element would have to operate ridiculously fast to keep up with the bullet.  This is why the Army ETC program is working with electrically ignited powder.  Rather than flashing it all at once, they can gradually increase the amount undergoing combustion.

35

Discussion / Re: Do we need variability in ininital soldier stats?

« on: June 06, 2008, 06:46:55 pm »

So, one of the snipers has a good singing voice to compensate for the lack of skill with a machine gun he will never use anyway...

Ooh!  So we can lullaby them to sleep/submission?     Thanks, Daniel, i got a good laugh from that one.

36

Discussion / Re: regarding gatling/minigun

« on: June 06, 2008, 06:25:22 pm »

Speaking of rocket launcher - is it me, or they do remarkably little damage to walls and terraini in general?

You must be new here, right?  Terrain in the Quake engine is all built from adamantium and will never even be scratched.

37

Discussion / Re: Particle Beam Weapons: More Than Just Flashlights?

« on: June 06, 2008, 06:15:16 pm »

I know we've wandered a bit off of particles, but i couldn't resist responding to this.  It's actually been quite an  interesting thread.  Before i go into ETC, let's review what happens in chemically propelled bullets: The firing pin crushes the primer, the primer ignites the gunpowder, the gunpowder rapidly [can be seen as instantaneously] becomes pressurized gas pushing the bullet down the barrel.  The limitation of this is that as the bullet begins moving down the barrel, the space behind it grows larger.  As this volume increases, the pressure decreases dramatically.  Reduced pressure means less acceleration available to the bullet - it reaches the highest speed it will reach well before it gets to the muzzle [the point at which the pressure is dispersed].

Electro Thermal Chemical is a proposed method of propulsion that aims to give greater muzzle velocity to our bullet.  The bullet is the same, it is the case that is different.  Rather than using chemical energy from exploding powder, the case is filled with some fluid [liquid or gas] that is electrically heated to the point of being plasma.  The fluid could be anything [even water] but if you pick something that is also chemically active you reduce the amperage needed.  Anyway here's the clever bit: rather than generating all this plasma instantaneously, it is an ongoing process that continues until the bullet has left the muzzle.  By maintaining continuous pressure behind the bullet, the bullet continues to accelerate.

FWIW, the U.S. Army is currently doing research on electrically ignited gunpowder type cannons for the near term, for the same reasons.  It is expected that within two decades they will field a 120 mm weapon for a tank that has penetration of twice what the current 120 mm cannon offers, w/o significantly increasing weight.  The problem for us is that their method is also called ETC, leading to potential confusion down the road.

38

Tactics / Re: How to Avoid Night Missions

« on: June 01, 2008, 12:04:56 am »

Despite gallant notions of adapting to conditions, a surprising number of friendly fire incidents happen when somebody pulls the trigger w/o being absolutely sure what their barrel is pointing at.  That is why SWAT teams have tactical flashlights mounted on their guns.

39

Tactics / Re: Blades

« on: May 31, 2008, 11:59:54 pm »

If encumbrance was an issue you'd have to have a weight stat for every item.  This currently does not exist.

40

Discussion / Re: List of improvement ideas from a new player

« on: May 31, 2008, 11:55:20 pm »

Finally, just a footnote in the costs doesn't account for the medics living space. It just doesn't make any sense that they shouldn't need a place to sleep while soldiers, workers and scientists do.

Unlike scientists and engineers, doctors and nurses tend to be on call.  It's called residency, they reside in the hospital.

41

Discussion / Re: Particle Beam Weapons: More Than Just Flashlights?

« on: May 31, 2008, 11:40:22 pm »

The great old tabletop RPG Traveller had a book called "Fire, Fusion and Steel", which walked the reader through the creation of weapons or vehicles to order.  The writers did have to make some assumptions, but had quite a bit of hard research under their belts.  Anyway to get to the point, the section on particle accelerators was quite informative as to the how and whys of charged particles [better in atmosphere] and neutral particles [better in vacuum].  Ions or subatomic particles can be accelerated to near light speeds, and at such speeds relativism kicks in and effectively increases the mass.  The main problem in making a small particle accelerator is not the amount of energy required, but the length of the barrel [called a 'tunnel'] required to focus the beam.  Keep in mind that in Traveller particle weapons were typically used as the spine of a battleship, though they were also seen as the main armament on some high-tech tanks.  I tried designing a man-portable particle accelerator, but the effective range was only three meters - hardly worth it!  Suffice to say that every game designer has to make their own assumptions.

42

Coding / Re: Changing the weapons you get in multiplayer

« on: May 24, 2008, 12:18:40 pm »

What's in equipment.ufo doesn't seem to relate to what i get when i start the game.  For instance, the script clearly states that two drums of MG ammo should be available, but i get none when i go into multiplayer...

43

Feature Requests / Re: Map did not end when all aliens dead - arrghh!

« on: May 24, 2008, 11:45:24 am »

on the few occasions that enemies of mine have been stuck, they have been visible, and i have shot them until they be dead.

Okeh, that was it then.  I think so far when mine get stuck, they've gotten stuck somewhere i can't see them.

44

Tactics / Re: Your Tactics

« on: May 24, 2008, 11:27:17 am »

Essentially, no close weapon use (maybe my UFOEU experience talking)

To each his own, of course, but the high range and accuracy of the Laser Pistol make it a quite effective weapon for covering/reaction fire.

45

Discussion / Re: a few words about "UFO: Alien Invasion"

« on: May 24, 2008, 10:56:44 am »

Also, normally special forces use IR goggles, night visors, perhaps motion trackers[?] and tactical light-placed most often under the barrel of rifle.
To sum up- the night is not a problem for the soldiers, as it is for the player, and the eyes are quickly tired from that strain.

The problem of IR/Night Vision is being worked on, but who knows how long it'll take.  As to player-controlled lighting, i don't expect to see it happen.  The ancient Quake engine requires that all lights be placed/calculated before the mission begins.  There is a TODO for allowing flares to be launched, but i'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for it.