NoirWolf
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Posts posted by NoirWolf
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See, I always assumed the thermal effects upon a target of a plasma bolt would be secondary, as the point of impact would either be penetrated with a profile similar to a kinetic round or have enough energy dumped into its matrix to vapourise. The heat damage would radiate out from the impact as the energy levels within the target dropped below the level required to free atoms from the material.
Thus my thought that if you could deal with the initial impact of such a bolt, probably with ablatives, then aerogels would render the heat transference moot as well.
Edit: Much like with a bullet the actual penetrator is the primary issue but even if you stop that you need to deal with the shock wave propagating and causing damage deeper into the target.
Actually fusion grade plasma isn't dense at all thus the kinetic element is secondary, if the bolt is large enough it is even tertiary as you start getting much stronger EM radiation from the bolt (the higher the density of the plasma the more fusion events become likely thus the energy released by the bolt is higher, if the bolt is dense enough on impact even if you stop both the heat and the kinetic element you'd get microwaved or worse within your own suit, the armour would thus also have to include a Faraday cage of sorts to lessen the EM radiation hitting you which then adds several more kg onto a already massive suit, we're already well within terminator armour levels here in terms of size, weight and mobility).
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You can put almost anything you like into some models. And a 40mm grenade round is about the same size as a hand grenade is anyway. One inventory square in-game certainly. Plus a rotary model is semi-automatic. The Milkor MGL was designed in 1980.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M79_grenade_launcher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40mm_grenade
Actually they range from grenade sized to slightly bigger (so from 1 to 2 slots) and considering the nature of the enemy (advanced aliens) I would assume they'd go with HE or Frag type shells both of which explode quite well when launched or when hit ( smoke shells could also be in but not non-lethal variants as those just tickle xenos).
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I'd love a grenade launcher in this game, but it would be so unbalanced. Can you imagine a squad armed with M32s on the field? Heh heh heh heh heh
Not really as the grenades from a grenade launcher if I am not mistaken are HE shells which in turn makes them slightly more prone to exploding when hit by something hot...like a bolt of plasma and 5-6 of those puppies going off at the same time in close proximity? yeah... plus long reload time plus slow rate of fire plus shells would have to be carried individually and be only slightly smaller than a regular rocket ( imagine if the grenades in the backpack go up as well when the ones in the launcher go up... I think that would kinda fuck with your squad and anything within close proximity of the poor bastard).
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Not aerogels as actual armour material, but rather insulation. It wouldn't help to just put a layer behind an iron plate as heat would melt through the plate and destroy its integrity, then you ARE using frozen smoke as armour, heh.
Problem is aerogel stops heat not the other bits of the equation (plasma weapons main damage is dealt by heat, true but it also has, within this frame of reference, both a kinetic and a electromagnetic component to deal with, the bolt of plasma is after all thrown at you with enough velocity to make evasion impossible and upon magnetic bottle rupture the plasma on the out sheath would immediately react with the air around it thus forming both a heat wave in front of it and thin sheath of cool matter on its edges, it would actually be interesting to see a experiment comparing a 5000 C flame and a plasma projector's effects on aerogel).
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Nice degree! Where are you based?
I'm an aerospace engineer (graduate but can't find work so not sure if I can call myself an 'actual' engineer) Who is aiming to become a sci-fi author (lots of free time...) so realism is an issue for me as well, but the process of learning how to storycraft has tempered it a bit, heh.
The requirement for a plasma 'bolt' would be maintaining a closed magnetic bottle away from the generators in the weapon, or so I would think. I have no idea how that could be accomplished. Having some way of making the plasma generate its own containment would work, but that's physics beyond my current ken, heh. Engineer, remember. I've always thought it might be more practical to just extend an electromagnetic field out from the gun and use that to channel plasma in a continuous beam onto the target.
Finding a Minovsky particle would also do the trick, heh. Gundam beam sabers worked by putting plasma into an I-field lattice of Minovsky particles which would then rupture whenever the lattice came in contact with anything other than another lattice, venting the plasma onto the object. The beam guns weren't actually plasma weapons. I'm sure there are actual real world particles that actually form macrolattices like that, though without the useful properties of Minovsky particles, but I can't find the evidence online anymore. Grrr...
University of Innsbruck if my luck holds ( I got in but it's rather more difficult finding lodgings that don't cost an arm and a leg per meter than it was getting in but meh, come hell or high water that's where I will be based out of for the next few years at least ).
I do storycrafting as well (or at least used to though I keep getting an itch to start up again these past few months) but I still find it grating as I know exactly what to expect from these near-future weapons (lasers need miniaturization while plasma bolts just needs people insane enough to throw a glob of plasma passed the critical mass threshold at something). The only way to have plasma as a long range weapon is to have it launched in a physical shell with its own containment system from a railgun type gun, any other way is gonna be a pipe dream for a long time yet especially in terrestrial environments where the local magnetic field fucks with the magnetic bottle in and of itself.
Gundam sabers would actually be possible even without that magic particle, just needs advances in magnetic containment systems ( you could have a stiletto with current tech but you couldn't hold it reliably if you're aiming for a cutting plasma) .
I don't see any scientific reason for it. In fact, a laser can create plasma in impact with an solid. So, it seems a bit backward to me.I made reference to ablation lasers (the ones that obtain plasmas on impact) in my original post and usually anything in the visible spectrum is more or less a ablation type laser as it does not have a compact enough wave length (to use laymen's terms) to slice into things regardless how much energy you pump into the beam itself.
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Yeah, the alien alloys are used as heat shields on the ufos at incredibly thin widths. Personally I'm wondering about the potential uses of aerogels in fictional armour tech.
Better off looking at non-newtonian fluids as aerogels need to increase in thickness to stop heavier slugs (speed isn't an issue if it's a sliver but if it's a 50-100 g slug it's a big problem if I am not mistaken).
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Well, all that said, I'm talking about something that actually exists and could be reasonably safely carried and used with existing flamethrower design principles; something that can boil iron isn't going to balk at flesh. You very quickly hit a point where the overhead isn't really necessary for what you're trying to do (like using a 20-kilo block of C4 as a blasting cap).
Powered armour can defeat such flamethrowers at range and maybe even up close. Using more exotic designs which transfer allot more thermal energy is thus required for heavily armoured aliens ( remember that the alloys cannot be melted using known tech, if my memory isn't failing me, which means they dissipate heat at prodigious rates, not enough to stop plasma but enough to stop regular flame based weaponry ).
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I don't get the idea of making the game easier for everyone because this option does make the game easier. A better option is to have multiple levels of difficulty with differences in how these mechanics work (on easy for example all the aliens never wear gas mask thus they're all knocked out, on normal the ones in powered armour are immune and if the UFO is largely intact the ones without gas masks only take a few loses due to the gas thus requiring you to send a team in anyway but against better odds and at hard difficulty you do not have the gas option or any easing option at all, you either go in or you do not).
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A flamethrower would solve so many issues in this debate... in-game I mean ( by what I understand one side says LMGs aren't good in close quarters while the other says they're good as is, the simple solution is to have a flamethrower type weapon or grenade launcher or something designed to either aid in room clearing or clear the room with some drawbacks like say a can of highly flammable liquids stuck to your back or such).
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What is TC short for? Can't seem to figure it out.
Total Conversion (replacing all the assets in terms of units, research, etc).
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Dicyanoacetylene
Toxic, caustic, and burns at 5000C. For all your alien flash-incineration needs.
Hydrazine? Pffft. Put down that sissy lighter fluid and pick up some gasoline.
5000 C? pfft...
Recipe for extra crispy xenos:
1. Clip with a deuterium-tritium mix loaded into high melting point capsules (gold is one commonly used but in Xenonauts anything would do).
2. Inertial ignition fusion chamber with temperature triggered magnetic containment and syphoning system
3. Magnetic guide rails for ingredient nr 2's syphoning system.
4. One really good suit of powered armour (depending on how powerful the resulting fusion conflagration is within the chamber radiation and heat backwash from the nozzle might be an issue ).
Need I say how these things go together and result in finely baked aliens?
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In my experiences many issues like these are the result of configuration changes that were bolloxed. Changing directory rights during an update for one. Noted another thread where a forum poster was "encouraging" an update to the Xeno site, perhaps those changes were made but a configuration hole left. Then it just takes an automated scanner picking up on the vulnerability and poof - Xeno-Jihad.
Now that's a mod some would kill for
( though only if it's a TC 
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I like your touch, but yeah, you're dealing with much harder sci-fi than the game is. There are plans for a mod to make the xenopedia as realistic as possible as but won't do anything about the game fundamentals. Though there are also mods to replace pretty much anything. I expect I'll see you in quite a few of the threads I frequent, heh.
I'd be all over a hard SF mod ^^. Doesn't help my immersion in-game currently but I doubt most have my issues ( being a guy pursuing a PhD in plasma physics kinda has that effect on how much you can suspend disbelief especially when dealing with things which don't really have any grey spots like say mystery alien power sources or materials, projecting spheres of self-containing plasma is a wet dream for many in my field with the slightest inclination for SF universes but with current knowledge and tech... best most can get is a big ass plasma projector, think Melta Gun from Warhammer 40000).
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Why are lasers less powerful than plasma based weapons? I ask this because the type of laser depicted in-game by what I've seen isn't a "punch through shit" type but a "ionized plasma obtained through ablation" type . Bursts are too short and shifted in the wrong spectrum for punching through things (if you can see the beam it isn't a cutting type) thus why the discrepancy in potentials? If anything plasma should be more of a close quarters weapon whereas laser tech should be longer ranged (explanation for this is that plasma bolts require magnetic containment which in a Earth-like environment doesn't last long at all unless you're firing a fusion projectile whereas a laser could maintain coherency for longer distances and even considering alien tech and power sources you're still looking at plasma weapons as medium to close range bruisers while lasers would be more adept at distance where plasma wouldn't even reach).
I know, I know realism isn't the main thing in a game but still... so often you see plasma weapons being better than lasers when in weapon terms they're equal given the same power source only that one requires close proximity to a target (relatively speaking) while the other requires advanced lenses (the more energy transported by the beam the more taxing it is on the lenses used to focus said beam, a work around could be EM lenses but that's tech well into the realm of SF by what I know though still possible).
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Someone could always tweak the economy in a Hardcore mod for the game and keep the vanilla version as a sort of introduction for the less experienced that isn't as easy as XCOM: Enemy Unknown but not too difficult either and I can't imagine if the game is that easy for you at the hardest difficulty if you can reasonably ask the developers for a 4th even harder option thus a mod that bumps up difficulty across the board (economy would be simple by what I hear, making a smarter AI not so much).
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The question is: "why Xenonauts?" Seriously, that makes about as much sense as a hamster with fish scales.
People blamed Anon for the PSN thing when it made no sense so why should hacker groups too high to think coherently about the geopolitical situation in their area (which can be generously called a powder keg) need to think if a independent gaming developer's site is really the best place to post their infantile messages ? ( I am really curious to see if any of the Xeno fans are hackers themselves, if so we might see a exchange of cyber bullets soon )
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I'll reinsert my classic picture from many pages back.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2681[/ATTACH]
You could say I'm carrying the torch.
That image may elicit more butthurt than a all mexican diet.
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Good evening gents, Noir Wolf here, purveyor of death for His Majesty that sits atop the Golden Throne. I will cleanse Holy Terra of the Xenos filth and then commence global unification and enlightenment, by velvet or by inquisitor, with a view to establishing a galaxy of peace, prosperity and worship of His divine being.
Galaxy above mentioned available only for humans. Xenos shall be purged with extreme prejudice and where needed Exterminatus'd out of existence. Belief in any other deity in said galaxy also subject to arco-flagellation
@Jean-Luc: The moment you find out how to grind meat with plasma patent that idea, it will cook and sterilize meat durn good.
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We come in peace, shoot to kill.
The Emperor protects but promethium cleanses.
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For 0G environments you'd want gas-based flamethrowers with high pressure and use it in small bursts to avoid a nasty tendency of flames in said environment ( it would flow much like a liquid even using a gas, using a liquid like real world ones would be asking for shit to go extremely bad even with the sticky factor taken into account ).
Rather sad to hear flamethrowers won't make it into the full game
I was rather intent on using them in some offensive/defensive roles ( particularly during terror missions ) and particularly on base defence holding ground and cutting off advance avenues with care.Edit: Also yes, this is my first post on the forums and I am gonna be pre-ordering the game in about 5-6 days at most should the Islamic hacker group that hacked the site today not decide to keep doing it.
Energy Weapon Analysis
in Xenonauts General Discussion
Posted
Smoke grenades, flashbangs, traditional explosives and maybe alenium enhanced explosives, you do not want to level the area you're in with what could class as nuclear explosives (going with the trope: alien plutonium! must explode gud!). All cold war era grenade launchers were single shot, I just checked so the rate of fire per turn would be slightly better than a rocket launcher (so 1 maybe 2 with a veteran soldier) but the ammo size is still an issue as is getting shot while carrying what amounts to 40 mm HE tank shell warheads in your backpack if you're carrying only traditional HE, alenium could make you into a nice wall shadow if you carried allot of them and they all got touched off.