Xenopedia Errors / Corrections (V18.51 HF3 / V18 Stable)

[Harmor]

There seems to be another vehicle to research, but it hasn't even a name in the game and only shows as #####. Has anybody researched and used it so far actually? What is it?

[Sathra]

Its the Scimitar probably. It comes after you research Alien Electronics yes?

Its just mis-named in strings.xml.

[LaggyWolf]

So I was reading a bit of lore on the main Xenonaut site, Iceland incident and what not, and I found an inconsistency between the lore and what is actually in the game.

On this page in the 3rd paragraph it states the invasion begins on OCTOBER 1st, 1979. However in-game when you start a new campaign it starts on SEPTEMBER 1st, 1979? A full month before the lore says it begins. Not a big thing, just a minor inconsistency

Keep up the great work!

[thothkins]

Earlier builds used to start in July didn't they? So it getting closer.

[winterwolves]

The scatter laser entry has a break immersion sentence in it, where the scientist says about weaknesses something like "if a soldier moves he will have an accuracy penalty for that turn". Something more like "difficult to fire accurately on the move" would be better, I think.

[winterwolves]

This is not Xenopedia, but anyway... The Terror mission briefing talks about using nukes as a last resort. Part of the sentence is "LEAD SIGNIFICANT" and should be "LEAD TO A SIGNIFICANT"

[winterwolves]

Oh, and lastly, the tool tips that pop up in the arming screen do not match the little info box at the top of the list.

I think it is the tool tip that is incorrect.

If this is hard to read, the clip size in the top box says 9, while the tool tip says 18. All the other numbers are wrong too, but the difference in digits makes it easier to spot the clip size one.

Again, not actually Xenopedia.

[GizmoGomez]

Hey, this isn't specific to the Xenopedia, but it's pretty much everywhere.

So, something that's been bothering me for a while now, where the game uses the word "clip" is basically always a magazine, not a clip. Can we change that please?

[Solarius Scorch]

In the research selection screen, the category for weaponry says "weaponary". A simple mistype which always makes me smile a little.

[spellduckwrong]

-Alien Biology Xenopedia entry: says "all also possess a both a circulatory..." should be "all also posses both a circulatory..."

-Living Quarters completed prompt reads "LivingQuarters". Needs a space.

-Not technically a typo but the ballistic pistol description refers to armour penetration whilst all other weapons refer to armour mitigation.

-This is more of a mislabel. Air combat screen says that the UFO crashes into the sea when it crashes over arctic areas. At least it did both times I shot one down in the far northern Europe area.

-Civilian deaths during the mission make alien death sounds.

[spellduckwrong]

Hey, this isn't specific to the Xenopedia, but it's pretty much everywhere.

So, something that's been bothering me for a while now, where the game uses the word "clip" is basically always a magazine, not a clip. Can we change that please?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2307[/ATTACH]

Most people don't know the difference. Actually, one of the entries for a weapon actually uses "clip" and "magazine" in the same sentence!

Also, the original Xcom called them all clips, despite being magazines. So I am torn between accuracy and nostalgia on that one.

[4Aces]

Call 'em Mags.

Ballistics covers any object that transcribes an arc due to gravity, and technically has nothing to do with how it is powered (gas launched vs rocket motor). A football and an ICBM can both be ballistic objects.

I found the scientist comments about the engineers to be initially amusing, but the one-sided nature made it petty over time. I would suggest either interjecting some comments from the engineers, or keeping the initial research completed pop-ups to the basics (including relevant stats), and have the personal comments exist only in the Xenopedia entries. Also include full stats with the Xenopedia entries whenever applicable, for ease of comparisons.

[Newfr]

F-17 Condor description contains an error: "My team have studied the damaged sustained F-4...".

[Xadism]

In v18 stable I periodically get blank Xenopedia pages coming up when I complete research projects. I don't mean "the picture goes here" placeholder, I mean a completely blank 'pedia frame with no text, no image, no nothing, just the close box. I can try to screenshot it the next time it comes up, if you like.

[rowenstin]

I found the scientist comments about the engineers to be initially amusing, but the one-sided nature made it petty over time. I would suggest either interjecting some comments from the engineers, or keeping the initial research completed pop-ups to the basics (including relevant stats), and have the personal comments exist only in the Xenopedia entries. Also include full stats with the Xenopedia entries whenever applicable, for ease of comparisons.

It's particularly funny because most of the work they do is actually engineering, like designing weapons and vehicles.

I don't know if this is the place for this, and it's a bit nitpicky, but some of the technobabble and logic I found on some entries is a bit faulty. For example, the entry on the Reaper autopsy says that given the amount of Alenium on it's body a “fresh” reaper can only create 10k copies of itself. This is true only if the specimen they dissected is a first generation alien, just unloaded from the ship, which they don't have any means to know if it's the case or not. If we're talking about just a third generation reaper (a grandson of the original) then the original has the potential to create 1 million copies!

Another thing entirely, the entry on allien alloy fabrication states that they use the same elements in the periodic table we know of, but what makes it special is their arrangement, in ways we didn't previously think it was possible. This is ok, but then they look for a way to melt the material using lasers of whatever. When you melt something, what you're precisely doing is destroying it's solid state atomic arrangement; it'd be the same if you took that specific proportions of pure elements and melted them. As a suggestion, and given that many of them have an amorphous configuration, you could say that given their special properties they have a glass transition temperature at a very specific point, at which they become comprartively soft and able to be moulded. It may not seem to be that much diferent from melting or indeed scientifically accurate, but it'd be enough.

Thre are more, mostly related to materials science and heat dissiparion which, as a chemical enginner, are somewhat cringe worthy. I understand it's not very important as most people won't realize them or won't care, though.

[thothkins]

Thre are more, mostly related to materials science and heat dissiparion which, as a chemical enginner, are somewhat cringe worthy. I understand it's not very important as most people won't realize them or won't care, though.

No person should cringe alone. You should share your thoughts on the other entries to enable updating to occur, either in vanilla or mods

[Solarius Scorch]

Yeah, please educate us! I myself have some doubts regarding the technobabble, mostly revolving around the gravitons - I'd rather use some completely made-up physics, since this is hard to swallow.

[rowenstin]

Ok, I won't comment on the gravitons since it's not my area of expertise. About alien alloys and plasma, a start could be something like this. I imagine I could do something better with the actual text, but I don't know how to access to or modify the relevant files. We could start with these, tell me if they're too technical and I'll try to simplify them in the future:

About alien alloys:

“We've found that the alloys used by the aliens use the same elements we know of, but the extraordinary thing about them is the ways they are arranged. Either their crystalline structures were previously not known or thought to be impossible, or the crystal themselves are disposed so their interaction results in properties that the structures it's formed from do not possess. This is hardly new – we do exactly the same with our steel, the speed at which is cooled determining it's hardness and tensile strength among other things, but these materials suggest aliens can create them one layer of atoms at a time. This is something that we can't even conjecture how it's done, so sadly the chance of replicating these are slim as much as they would revolutionize every known branch of science and engineering.”

About alien alloys and plasma:

“The alloys used in heat shielding have both an extraordinarily low thermal conductivity and a very high latent sublimation heat value. Even when subject to large gradient of temperature, heat transmission is extraordinarily low; if subject to a sudden influx of energy, all the heat is concentrated into the first few nanometers of the plate, which is vaporized consuming all the energy in breaking the bonds between the atoms, a process which cools the material.

I layman terms, when the piece of armor or hull is hit by a plasma bolt or laser beam, a few layers of atoms ablate dissipating the energy without further harm. The amount of material lost this way is very low and the armor is able to withstand many of such hits without losing any significant amount of mass or structural integrity”

About manipulating alien alloys:

“We've figured out how to use the materials recovered from alien craft. Melting them was, of course, useless since the very property that made them special in the first place, their atomic arrangement, is destroyed in the transition to liquid phase, and the unique properties of the alloy used in armor plating and hull doesn't have a stable liquid phase at room pressure; it sublimates directly into vapor.

That said, many of the alloys share a common structure; an amorphous matrix that holds small crystals made of atoms arranged in an ordered structure, much like as our composite materials like fiberglass or steel for this matter, at much smaller scale and greater complexity. This amorphous phase, in the right conditions of pressure and temperature, become soft and malleable (much like glass when red hot) and we can mould or extrude them at will. As easy as it sounds, the thermal properties of many of those make this a complex and tedious process, but I suspect this property was specifically engineered by the aliens precisely to make the alloys useable.”

Edited July 12, 2013 by rowenstin

[GizmoGomez]

Yeah, please educate us! I myself have some doubts regarding the technobabble, mostly revolving around the gravitons - I'd rather use some completely made-up physics, since this is hard to swallow.

Gravitons were particles of anti-matter originally. This is much better than it originally was.

How about tri-lithium?

[Solarius Scorch]

How about tri-lithium?

Tri-lithium would be best.

[MrFusion]

my take on the graviton stuff:

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/6386-Alien-Plasma-Technology-is-a-mess

please ignore the drama in later page 1 and page 2 posts

[a333]

Wraith autopsy.

"...as the glowing nodules on either side of the head. which appear. These nodules are..."

[Viperys]

Good day, guys. Science freak here. (Sorry.)

Researches.AlienPlasmaTechnology string can be corrected:

[...]

"Secondly, these accelerators superheat a large number of electrons into a state of ionised gas within the heat-proofed 'chamber' of the weapon. Thirdly, two helical spirals of electromagnets in the barrel of the weapon pulse simultaneously, drawing the plasma from the chamber and imparting spin before accelerating it to muzzle velocity."

Plasma is ionised gas, meaning all the atoms in this condition were stripped off their electrons and became positively charged. "Superheat a large number of electrons" is plain wrong. You need to get rid off the electrons, not to heat them.

I suggest altering the string into something like "superheat a large number of atoms into a state of ionised gas".

Also, i don't like the entire graviton part. Besides the fact that the lore picture states "antimate emitter", which is not the same as the graviton particle emitter.

"Finally, an graviton emitter in the muzzle of the weapon launches a graviton particle into the plasma bolt.

This graviton particle is incredibly important - in laboratory conditions, it has been observed to possess a strong gravitational pull, maintaining the shape of the projectile and preventing the bolt from dissipating into a useless cloud of hot gas. The science behind this process is unclear (gravitons were previously merely a theoretical construct), but it likely explains the large difference in range between the alien Plasma Pistol and Plasma Rifle. Unfortunately, we have no idea of how to replicate this gravitational field ourselves - and without access to an effective anti-gravity emitter, the useful range of our most powerful lab-based plasma generator is a mere four inches."

It's not technically incorrect, but why not use something more classical for sci-fi? Like force fields, taking into account that you will be describing anti-gravity and levitation via it later. I'd suggest we rewrite this part to be more like this:

"Finally, a force field generator in the muzzle of the weapon creates a cylingrical vortex force field between the rifle and its target to act like a gravitational hose for the plasma bolt to pass.

This force field tech is incredibly important - in laboratory conditions, it has been observed to guide and maintain the shape of the projectile and prevent the bolt from dissipating into a useless cloud of hot gas. The science behind this process is unclear, but it likely explains the large difference in range between the alien Plasma Pistol and Plasma Rifle. Unfortunately, we have no idea of how to replicate this gravitational field ourselves - and without access to an effective force field emitter, the useful range of our most powerful lab-based plasma generator is a mere four inches."

Thank you for your time and i hope no feelings were hurt.

[Jebediah]

Ok, I won't comment on the gravitons since it's not my area of expertise. About alien alloys and plasma, a start could be something like this. I imagine I could do something better with the actual text, but I don't know how to access to or modify the relevant files. We could start with these, tell me if they're too technical and I'll try to simplify them in the future:

About alien alloys:

“We've found that the alloys used by the aliens use the same elements we know of, but the extraordinary thing about them is the ways they are arranged. Either their crystalline structures were previously not known or thought to be impossible, or the crystal themselves are disposed so their interaction results in properties that the structures it's formed from do not possess. This is hardly new – we do exactly the same with our steel, the speed at which is cooled determining it's hardness and tensile strength among other things, but these materials suggest aliens can create them one layer of atoms at a time. This is something that we can't even conjecture how it's done, so sadly the chance of replicating these are slim as much as they would revolutionize every known branch of science and engineering.”

About alien alloys and plasma:

“The alloys used in heat shielding have both an extraordinarily low thermal conductivity and a very high latent sublimation heat value. Even when subject to large gradient of temperature, heat transmission is extraordinarily low; if subject to a sudden influx of energy, all the heat is concentrated into the first few nanometers of the plate, which is vaporized consuming all the energy in breaking the bonds between the atoms, a process which cools the material.

I layman terms, when the piece of armor or hull is hit by a plasma bolt or laser beam, a few layers of atoms ablate dissipating the energy without further harm. The amount of material lost this way is very low and the armor is able to withstand many of such hits without losing any significant amount of mass or structural integrity”

About manipulating alien alloys:

“We've figured out how to use the materials recovered from alien craft. Melting them was, of course, useless since the very property that made them special in the first place, their atomic arrangement, is destroyed in the transition to liquid phase, and the unique properties of the alloy used in armor plating and hull doesn't have a stable liquid phase at room pressure; it sublimates directly into vapor.

That said, many of the alloys share a common structure; an amorphous matrix that holds small crystals made of atoms arranged in an ordered structure, much like as our composite materials like fiberglass or steel for this matter, at much smaller scale and greater complexity. This amorphous phase, in the right conditions of pressure and temperature, become soft and malleable (much like glass when red hot) and we can mould or extrude them at will. As easy as it sounds, the thermal properties of many of those make this a complex and tedious process, but I suspect this property was specifically engineered by the aliens precisely to make the alloys useable.”

I haven't had a chemistry course since my junior year of high school, but it made sense to me. You're fine.

[lemm]

Could "BUY NEW PLANE" be changed to "PURCHASE NEW CRAFT" ?