The Wrong Spelling/Punctuation/Phrasing Thread

[TheUbiquitous]

Not a spelling or grammar thing but definitely another text-based glitch: Alenium grenade description appears incomplete, stopping in mid sentence. Sorry if this has already been mentioned.

(This comment is based off of the research screen you see when you research alien grenades, where the top half of the screen is the Alien Grenade, and the bottom half is the alenium grenade.)

Also:

When an ordered item arrives (hired scientists for example) The pop-up box says something like "has been arrived at" in the sentence.

[V. 13] back when I was able to play it also referred to scientists as items. Is there a better wording you could throw in there that would refer to both items and persons? Maybe:

Courier plane received clearance to land at [placename].

[lordfeff]

Isn't that pretty redundant lordfeff? It's more likely that your correction ill be misunderstood as the game will be harder in addition to not being able to save the game at will.

Your right I suppose then it should simply say:

This mode forces the player to live with their mistakes, providing more tension. [The following text that appears afterwards is fine.]

[lordfeff]

When an ordered item arrives (hired scientists for example) The pop-up box says something like "has been arrived at" in the sentence.

Yes the game states "ITEMS ORDERED TO [YOUR BASE NAME] BASE HAS BEEN ARRIVED."

It Should Say "ITEMS ORDERED TO [YOUR BASE NAME] BASE HAVE ARRIVED."

[V. 13] back when I was able to play it also referred to scientists as items. Is there a better wording you could throw in there that would refer to both items and persons? Maybe:

Courier plane received clearance to land at [placename].

Sorry I missed your response here but yea I agree maybe just re-word it to say

"YOUR ORDER AT [YOUR BASE NAME] BASE HAS ARRIVED"

Should be a simple fix and close to the current message but I do like the courier plane idea too although I would like mine to be the A330 MRTT by Airbus. It has a 45ton cargo hold and reaches speeds up to 860km/h traveling up to 14,800km. I think it can do the job

Edited August 13, 2012 by lordfeff

[TheUbiquitous]

Should we just say screw it and refer to the batteries as batteries instead of mags or clips?

"Magazine" would be inappropriate for guns which aren't firearms because it can't include an automatically loading clip, and a "clip" would have to be at least for a projectile weapon.

So, yes.

[TelQuessir]

noticed that the item description for the assault rifles is actually for laser rifle v1.4

[Giovanni]

noticed that the item description for the assault rifles is actually for laser rifle v1.4

Known, here's the workaround.

[stokoss]

Battle report screen, Soldier advancement: My soldier gained some reflexies

I think the correct would be "reflexes"

[Oathbreaker]

"Items ordered for base Fortress Terra has been arrived." - Should read "...have arrived."

[StellarRat]

"Artefacts" is wrong spelling on the crashsite briefing. Should be artifacts

[Giovanni]

StellarRat, it should be spellable even as Artefacts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artifact

[L3TUC3]

In the soldier tab I noticed that in the Rocket Launcher mouseover description a word is spelled "uncloked"

[Bluedot2938]

Terror mission briefing, third paragraph: "civilian and military survivors"

[Hideos_Playhouse]

Alien Invasion research completion:

Original:

"Though our chances are slim, we cannot simply give up. Our scientists have been gathering what intelligence is possible on the size and composition alien fleet orbiting our planet."

Suggestion:

" Though our chances are slim, we cannot simply give up. Our scientists have been gathering what intelligence is possible on the size and composition of the alien fleet orbiting our planet.

Later on in the same text:

Original:

"If they are correct, we will encounter..."

Who is they? It's a bit too far into the text to not reassert that "they" is "the scientists."

Suggestion:

"If our scientists are correct, we will encounter..."

Caesan Autopsy:

Original:

"It is this which causes aliens to have purple blood."

Suggestion:

"It is this which causes the aliens to have purple blood."

The original kind of generalizes, like it's saying this is why ALL aliens have purple blood. If you add the 'the' it kind of specifies that it's the aliens we're dealing with that have purple blood.

I'm glad to have encountered this amazing game and look forward to discussing it with all of you. I'm sure you'll see me around these parts pretty often as I'm quite the stickler for spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

[Ali3nSan]

Not sure if this is the right place.

But when you zoom in on Africa, you have Windhoek in Nigeria, it is actually in Namibia

[hdewulf]

I edit books (www.densewords.com), and since I love this game, I thought I might be of some use in this discussion. I've added some remarks to some entries where it seems helpful.

1. This allows the Sidewinder to target the distinctive radiation patterns emitted by the extraterrestrial craft and successfully achieve a target lock. (Changed to a period) However due to the weakness of the radiation emissions this can only be currently accomplished at ranges of less than a kilometer. Analysis of captured UFOs may allow us to speed up this process.

Explanation: This allow the - either needs to become "This allows" OR "This WILL allow" to be correct. Either solution is fine.

Comment: this usage of "allow" (and also of "enable") is considered poor style in a technical manual. Generally reworking a paragraph to avoid "allow" results in a clearer and more conceptually accurate explanation. However using "allow" in the context of a fictitious situation improves the sense of authenticity. Technical manuals are full of this kind of lazy vaguery!

Alien Plasma Rifle - first line of the Summary:

"The alien plasma rifle is the default armament for alien combatant units"

Might just be the difference here between US and Britain but we would likely say "Alien combatants" or "Alien Combat Units". I think that in this case it's like that "combatant units" is the more formal version but I don't know that 100% so there you go!

The aliens have "units" that are combatants and "units" that are non-combatants. As such the distinction is important even though it seems a little queer at first reading.

Alenium 4th line in the Summary:

"We cannot manufacture alenium, so must capture as much as possible"

Should be: "We connot manufacture alenium, so WE must capture as much as possible"

The original is technically grammatically correct, and much more elegant English, however the correction is rather more natural.

I think "Crashsite," the text marking the landing sites on the geoscape, should be "crash site." It isn't in German, after all -- not every noun needs to be a compound word.

Compounding like this is becoming increasingly common, especially in Aus English but more and more in US English also. It seems to be a fashion that comes and goes; UK English spent much of the 18th century combining words and much of the 19th re-separating them. This example however is one where most ESP (English speaking people) seem to resist compounding, because of the "shs".

Some of the soviet soldiers names use informal variants. For example Misha instead of its formal Mikhail. Also all soviet girls should have an additional 'a' at the end of their second names. For example not Olga Smirnov, but Olga Smirnova.

Those are quite minor things that just Russian players will notice, so you can just ignore them

I'm not Russian and I absolutely notice this. It's one of those little realism details that I really like in this game. Plus, I had an Olga who I got quite attached to until she was killed in a friendly fire incident. I renamed her to Olya.

StellarRat, it should be spellable even as Artefacts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artifact

This is one of those cases where we apply a rule known as "who cares?" The rule is less flippant than it sounds: if you use the spelling "artifact", nobody will think there is an error and everyone who knows the word will understand. If you use the spelling "artefact", a very small minority will think you are trying to make a distinction (the modern spelling arrives at about the same time that that the meaning "object left behind by a previous culture" was acquired) and you have selected the wrong spelling. A rather larger number, possibly even a majority, will think there is an error.

The rule is called "who cares" because if you use one spelling, nobody will complain, whereas if you use the other, many will, even though you are technically not wrong.

[Gorlom]

This is one of those cases where we apply a rule known as "who cares?" The rule is less flippant than it sounds: if you use the spelling "artifact", nobody will think there is an error and everyone who knows the word will understand. If you use the spelling "artefact", a very small minority will think you are trying to make a distinction (the modern spelling arrives at about the same time that that the meaning "object left behind by a previous culture" was acquired) and you have selected the wrong spelling. A rather larger number, possibly even a majority, will think there is an error.

The rule is called "who cares" because if you use one spelling, nobody will complain, whereas if you use the other, many will, even though you are technically not wrong.

Many Britts or many Americans? I thought that The chosen spelling was more common in UK, but confusing in the US?

[hdewulf]

Many Britts or many Americans? I thought that The chosen spelling was more common in UK, but confusing in the US?

Nope. The chosen spelling is the least common in both countries. I have a growing list of US/UK differences that are commonly believed but which are actually false. Many are caused by the spellchecker in MSWord which does horrible things like insist -ise is UK and -ize is US when (statistically, and for at least the last 200 years), -ize is more common in both.

[Gorlom]

But why is Chris using the so called British version if that isn't the one he learned to use?

[hdewulf]

A fair question; since both spellings are considered correct and current, it may be regional or a family thing, but the most likely is an accident of how it was spelt the first few times he encountered it - since it isn't a hugely commonly used word.

Curious thought: the spelling "artefact" is itself an artifact.

Additional thought: the shorter OED gives arti as US spelling and arte as UK spelling, and those folks like to keep matters simple, rather like the Chicago Manual of Style. However the words artifice and artificial (the latter of which is the most used of the three words) are both given as preferred spellings in UK English. This is probably the reason why "artifact" is gaining ground on "artefact".

It's probably best not to get me started. The fact is that for these kinds of issues, it's best to nominate someone on the dev team who arbitrates, and go with what they chose for no reason other than that is what they chose. Otherwise the argument is never-ending.

[Gorlom]

moahahhah!

er sorrry. I just chose to see that as a win even though I guess you technically won the discussion.... I'm confused! moahahhah

Edit: Also I suspect I'm slightly sleepdeprived.

[hdewulf]

[Ogilvy the Astronomer]

I was just playing the latest version and noticed some typos in the Alien Invasion text. I found it in the assets folder and have made an edited version in Word, as track changes is very useful for that sort of thing. Could someone please tell me if it's possible to attach the file to a Forum post? Thanks!

Edit: Tried uploading a screengrab, in case that's useful.

p.s. The text is very well written, so I'm being quite picky! But I guess that's needed at this stage. I proof / edit scientific texts as part of my job, and am happy to help such a great project as Xenonauts.

Edited March 23, 2013 by Ogilvy the Astronomer

[Max_Caine]

Ogilvy, what software are you using to make those comments? And would you know if there is a free trial version?

[Ogilvy the Astronomer]

Ogilvy, what software are you using to make those comments? And would you know if there is a free trial version?

It's Microsoft Word 2010. I'm searching for a free trial but for some reason by internet connection has just become verrrry sloooooow, so you're probably better off just Googling it

Edit: this may be what you're after? http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/office-online-microsoft-office-365-for-small-businesses-FX103037625.aspx?WT%2Eintid1=ODC_ENUS_FX101785584_XT104019732

[Max_Caine]

Ah, I thought you used some cunning specialised software as pertains to your particular profession. (Which is what MS Word is, I suppose!).