[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

Mmm, the reference to the F-4s is indeed out of date. But 99% of people won't know what an IRBM is and I'm hardly going to take the time to explain it when I've got about 4 paragraphs the explain the entire backstory of the game. Most people understand the term ICBM though.

The points you raise are valid, but ultimately most people couldn't care less if the history is a year out or not so getting every detail in the historical setting exactly right isn't a priority. It probably wouldn't take *that* long, but there's hundreds of other similar tasks I could do instead that affect more people's enjoyment of the game. Ultimately its a question of resource management.

A specialist editor for historical accuracy would be nice in an ideal world, but I think you may need to reconsider the sort of resources available to an indie team making a $20 game (developer time included).

If we were making a game for Slytherine / Matrix and selling it for $60 we'd probably pay more attention to that sort of thing. Xenonauts isn't a wargame, though - it's a strategy game with a lot of abstraction and a veneer of setting on top.

Thanks for the answer and interest in your part.

I've just got a look at the Xenopedia entries (at least those concerned with the points I mentioned above) on the thread that deals with translations and it doesn't look that much work fixing these little details, specially since it involves only changing the .xml file. I understand that you don't have time to go through this but why don't you ask the community to help? It would be simply a matter of correcting what's there and not adding new stuff and I agree there's no need to get technical and explain what an IRBM is and someone else could be in charge of fixing that issue.

Hobbes, some contemplation about nuke about nuke detection.

Nuclear explosion make:

a) very distinguish electromagnetic impulse, detectable worldwide,

The biggest factor that determines the EMP is altitude and the range of its effects is determined by the visual horizon, which is limited by the curvature of the Earth. The higher the explosion, the bigger the range. For a nuke to cause an EMP effect capable of affecting the entire continental United States it would need to be detonated 400-500km above the Earth over Kansas. F-8s and similar fighter craft have a max operating altitude of about 18 km, which would be the maximum altitude of the UFO. And for smaller blasts you either would need to have close by aerial/ground assets to detect the explosion or you'd need satellites to detect the explosion's double flash/EMP pulse, which aren't available in 1958.

b) strong seismic wave, detectable worldwide too.

These data, metered with several detectors, allows not only detect a fact of explosion but map its ground point accurate to several kilometers.

True but nuclear explosions provoke minor earthquakes when they happen underground, which was not the case during Iceland. On underground tests the energy of the blast is absorbed by the Earth, which provokes the quake, while on above ground explosions the energy expands through the atmosphere.

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

Well, just did a little digging and there's a consistency error regarding what's mentioned in the official site and the 1.0 version of the game.

The official site says here that the fighters involved were F-8s and that the nukes launched were Thor missiles (IRBMs), and both are correct for 1958. So someone was paying attention to those details.

But then you get a consistency problem since the Xenopedia calls the fighters as F-4s on the F-17 entry and ICBMs on the Iceland Incident entry and the site calls them something different.

Also, the site also mentions also that the Soviets had detected the US launching planes from radar bases in Cuba and Europe (thus partly answering the previous question I asked of how they knew about the situation but not explaining how they detected the nuclear explosions). Regarding Europe that is correct but in 1958 Fidel Castro's revolutionaries were still fighting the Cuban government and the Soviets only moved to Cuba in 1960 so that mention has no historical basis.

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

As you have figured it out by now I love History and military affairs and some of the stuff I love to read is alternate history, usually how Napoleon/Confederates/Axis could have won if they had taken different decisions at certain moments. And usually those fiction works are written by authors who know their stuff, so up until that moment when things start deviating from what really happened, things are as History has recorded them. And the closest they are, the better the reader does what it called 'suspension of disbelief' and accepts the new fictionalized reality.

Or in simple terms, it's easier to accept a lie when it is mixed with true facts. But if you spot the lie (or the inaccuracy) right on, then you'll be less inclined to believe what come afterwards and that breaks game immersion.

And that exchange of messages with the game developer is also a bit revealing:

"I think the writing is actually more important than the science and I think it's important to maintain stylistic consistency, so if we did get the community involved with writing the research projects then I'd still have to spend a long time editing them for writing style."

To me form and content are equally as important. And that shouldn't be his job as the lead developer - he should have a specific writer/editor to check that stuff.

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

PS: You're Hobbes from StrategyCore, right? I'm ShadowBlade there.

The usual suspects are always around

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

Would the spies need to be in Iceland, as opposed to whatever office was authorised to launch the attack?

That's a possibility but I wonder why no one had that idea during the Cold War. Instead of buying all those multi-billion expensive sats and radars, just have the KGB infiltrate the White House or the Pentagon with the agent being able to warn the Kremlin the minute the decision to launch the nukes is made. They'd sure have saved a lot of money

there's no necessary reason why real history should be canonical before that

If it's not canonical then it is not real history.

I guess we all notice the details that correspond to our areas of expertise. Maybe my boyfriend's right that I really shouldn't be bothered by inaccurate physics in a game about aliens.

Your boyfriend's wrong, IMO. Being good at something means paying attention to details.

I suspect that it's better for the game overall to call them ICBM's a year early than it would be to say it was an IRBM and have most people think it's a typo. Besides, there's really not that much of a difference.

Even better: call it simply a 'nuclear missile' and instead of F-4s, call them 'fighter aircraft'. Because if you're simply using those terms to try to look smart, well, make sure you know what you're talking about, because someone will know.

Calling the heavier, long-range missiles torpedos simplifies things by making it really easy to tell which one is which.

I'd thought calling one missile Sidewinder and the other Avalanche would make the difference between both simple. At least it worked on the original game with the Stingray/Avalanche. Not to mention confusing a missile with a 'torpedo' is about the same as calling an aircraft a 'submarine'.

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

Honestly, I think you're overthinking it a little. It's a videogame, as long as it's internally consistent, things happen to make things work and result in an enjoyable and dramatic experience for the player.

This story sets the background and some players do pay attention to these kind of details. One option is to stay out of explanations/background, like the original X-Com did since they are minor details. But if you are adding such a big background story with so many details, you better do it right.

And these are the kind of details that make me decide whether to buy a game or not.

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

That information was all classified; it only technically came to public knowledge at later dates, and since Xenonauts is intended as a conglomerate of the most advanced technology from all nations and rapidly fields prototypes developed by extremely versatile scientists and engineers, it's possible they had simply had access to said prototypes long before they were even publicly acknowledged by the government, just like the Iceland incident itself!

They - who are you talking about?

If by They you mean Xenonauts, they were created after Iceland, so how could they have access to ICBMs and Phantom prototypes before the incident?

Otherwise, if you mean regular NATO forces, then ICBMs and Phantoms weren't proven technology and were not available in the numbers mentioned, 'squadrons', which usually implies about 12-18 aircraft per squadron, or the half a dozen ICBMs launched.

The F-17 can be explained through your logic but these aspects are incoherent and inaccurate, since the point of narrative divergence between History and the game's storyline is the Iceland incident.

And another plot hole: how could the Soviets detect missiles being launched in 1958? There were no satellites available then that could detect missile launches in the USA (Sputnik had just been launched in 1957) and no radar in the world could detect something as far as the distance between the Soviet Union and Iceland. Since the nuclear explosions took place on an uninhabited part of Iceland, were the Soviets simply lucky to have a KGB agent casually strolling on the Icelandic countryside that saw the explosions and by chance was carrying a long range radio with him? And in that case, why did the Soviets thought that the nuclear attack was aimed at them, if it took place on Iceland?

[Incorrect mentions of real technology in the Xenopedia]

Hello,

I've just seen a few let's play Xenonauts and there are a few inaccuracies when referring to real life technology on the Xenopedia. These are minor things but if you have time look at them.

1. The description of the Iceland incident mentions that F-4 Phantoms tried to shoot it. In 1958 the F-4 Phantom hadn't progressed past a few prototypes phase and it was only selected on that year by the US Navy after a competition between it and an upgraded version of the F-8 Crusader.

2. It is also mentioned that ICBMs were used to try to shoot down the UFO. Well, the first ICBM deployed by the US was the Atlas missile, which started to be deployed in 1959. In 1958 the US had nuclear missiles but they were IRBMs (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles).

3. The Avalanche air-to-air missile is mentioned as a 'torpedo', which is known to be an underwater weapon.

4. There was actually a real F-17 aircraft called Cobra, which competed with the F-16 and lost in the competition to supply the USAF with a lightweight fighter. The F-17 was later adopted by the US Navy and become the F-18 Hornet.