Realism Issues Center: Lets make this game make more sense

[EchoFourDelta]

It's one of the biggest issues of setting the game in the late '70s. In a near-future setting we can just handwave with "Oh, we've developed interceptors capable of hypersonic cruising." As it is... Shut Up Is How. [grin]

I guess so. I mean, that's bad enough, but then we have a sidebar with the aircraft's stats on it.

[Elydo]

The only other way of working the situation is to start the game with an already existing globally distribution of fighter bases with realistic ranges. Which might be an interesting way of structuring the game, but it'd be quite a fundamental change to pacing and strategy. You'd need global transporters for equipment and even shuttling your team to local bases near any crash before they could switch to an insertion craft. Would make the eventual development of global-range interceptors/transports/insertion craft lead to needing an evolving strategy through the game's progression.

Might be an interesting idea for a rather redefining mod in the future. Except I can't code worth a damn, so I won't be doing it.

Edit: If I ever get rich and/or powerful I'm going to contract a developer to make a game like that. X-COM with realism, hard sci-tech, CAS, plausibility. The purists would hate it. It'd probably be a total flop. Heh, I actually have a design document already partially written from a while back with how some of that could be implemented.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Elydo

[Hairyscreech]

All this is easy to solve, just change the map to just a map of the UK and all the ranges work out.

Who needs to rest of the world anyway, after all it's full of foreigners.

[thothkins]

It's Xenonauts, not Xenophobes. You have the forum for the wrong game

[Hairyscreech]

It's Xenonauts, not Xenophobes. You have the forum for the wrong game

Actually instantly shooting down the first UFO with a nuke is pretty xenophobic but touche.

In all seriousness it would probably make for some interesting regional mods, just have mainland america for wxample carved up into its main states a funding regions. Could be a fun little mod.

[EchoFourDelta]

Actually instantly shooting down the first UFO with a nuke is pretty xenophobic but touche.

In all seriousness it would probably make for some interesting regional mods, just have mainland america for wxample carved up into its main states a funding regions. Could be a fun little mod.

I actually do something in a similar tack with my bases; I establish them according to Unified Combatant Commands, replacing the OCONUS regional tasking responsibilities at special operations headquarters locations of several key NATO and NATO-allied countries; surprisingly enough (or not, if you think about it), I've found this to about the most effective means of economic and efficient force distribution you can pull off.

[GizmoGomez]

I actually do something in a similar tack with my bases; I establish them according to Unified Combatant Commands, replacing the OCONUS regional tasking responsibilities at special operations headquarters locations of several key NATO and NATO-allied countries; surprisingly enough (or not, if you think about it), I've found this to about the most effective means of economic and efficient force distribution you can pull off.

So... What exactly does that mean?

[EchoFourDelta]

So... What exactly does that mean?

The US military divides the entire world into a few largish areas of command and control responsibility called Unified Combatant Commands, with a central location being responsible for overall military conduct of that region. Some of these can't be placed (such as the Pacific Command in Hawaii) or or would be inappropriately located (such as the Africa Command and Europe Command being in the same location) due to the mechanics of the game not allowing wider expansion of radar coverage without being having a base built in that specific location, so these invalidated locations are scrubbed, and new ones are adapted that serve the same general idea in other locations, such as Seongnam, Moscow, and Swanbourne.

[GizmoGomez]

And by placing your bases in these locations you are able to cover and defend the world fairly well? How many bases do you get up, usually?

I place my first base in Alexandria, Egypt.

[jimmyjjohn]

Feel free to delete this if I'm spamming too much, I'm not sure about how freely we can post here. If you do delete it, please send me a copy as a private message so I can repost in a more proper manner.

AUTO

- Any amount of auto shots may be fired, costing x% TU each.

- Each auto fire burst costs y% TU, regardless of how many shots are fired. This cost is deducated after the shots are done, for reaction purposes. x and y differ from weapon to weapon, making some weapons semi-automatic (high x, low y = good for small bursts) and others fully automatic (low x, high y = good for large bursts).

- The enemy is allowed to react after each shot, same as other modes.

AIMED

- Any soldier who cannot see his target is only allowed to use an aimed shot at it.

- Aimed modes are weakened across the board, especially for pistols.

[EchoFourDelta]

I generally get the first up at MacDill AFB in Florida, with that one handling the majority of ground operations and interception in CONUS early on; it gets outfitted with some significant research/manufacturing capability, large storage spaces, and significant barracks capacity so that other facilities can be evacuated there if need be.

The second one goes up in Peterson AFB in Colorado, and is a dedicated interceptor facility, with a small ground forces component that I ship supplies to and rotate troops out from with the MacDill base to keep everyone reasonably trained up.

The next usually goes to CFB Trenton, mirroring Peterson AFB, with another going up in Hereford, with another going after that to Swanbourne, then Seongnam, and later to Serysheva 15, Khabarovsk.

[GizmoGomez]

Feel free to delete this if I'm spamming too much, I'm not sure about how freely we can post here. If you do delete it, please send me a copy as a private message so I can repost in a more proper manner.

AUTO

- Any amount of auto shots may be fired, costing x% TU each.

- Each auto fire burst costs y% TU, regardless of how many shots are fired. This cost is deducated after the shots are done, for reaction purposes. x and y differ from weapon to weapon, making some weapons semi-automatic (high x, low y = good for small bursts) and others fully automatic (low x, high y = good for large bursts).

- The enemy is allowed to react after each shot, same as other modes.

AIMED

- Any soldier who cannot see his target is only allowed to use an aimed shot at it.

- Aimed modes are weakened across the board, especially for pistols.

Wait, what? I don't know what you're talking about, to be honest.

[EchoFourDelta]

Feel free to delete this if I'm spamming too much, I'm not sure about how freely we can post here. If you do delete it, please send me a copy as a private message so I can repost in a more proper manner.

AUTO

- Any amount of auto shots may be fired, costing x% TU each.

- Each auto fire burst costs y% TU, regardless of how many shots are fired. This cost is deducated after the shots are done, for reaction purposes. x and y differ from weapon to weapon, making some weapons semi-automatic (high x, low y = good for small bursts) and others fully automatic (low x, high y = good for large bursts).

- The enemy is allowed to react after each shot, same as other modes.

AIMED

- Any soldier who cannot see his target is only allowed to use an aimed shot at it.

- Aimed modes are weakened across the board, especially for pistols.

The game's not programmed like that, to allow reaction between every shot in auto; that's not even how the burst function works.

Also, this thread is for coming up with fluff to help existing errors and nonsensical stuff.. make some sense, not suggesting actual changes in game mechanics; we're stuck with that.

[GizmoGomez]

This jimmyjohn person has posted three times, one time copying one of my posts, and the other two times talking about burst firing in threads not even relating to burst firing. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Anyway.....

[Elydo]

Some sort of bot, though I've no idea what the goal is.

I usually put my first base on Corsica, gives coverage over all of Europe and into Asia and the top of Africa, as well as the upper part of the Atlantic (I try to shoot ufos down over water if I can't be arsed dealing with the crash). My second base typically goes north of the Hudson Bay to give coverage over most of North America and my third would be planned to expand to cover either the rest of the CONUS or where ever alien activity was growing fastest. I've haven't gotten beyond two bases at once yet however, still trying to master the early game. Plus I'm not wanting to get too deep until the game is finalised, otherwise the finished product wouldn't be so enjoyable.

[TrashMan]

I'd propose for Marauder and Corsair to be switched around.

The front-swept wing desing is unsuited for a high-speed interceptor.

While it gives great stabiltiy at lwoer speed, it's actually far worse at higher speeds. In other owrds, Corsair should be faster.

[qdlat]

Just a minor thing about "alien plasma technology" in Xenopedia.

The article at the end invokes "graviton" that would prevent plasma from dispersing - and that makes little sense. Graviton, if exists, by itself is a virtual particle that mediates a pull, but does not create one. It is the same way in which photon mediates electromagnetic force, but does not create any.

Besides, why would you use it anyway? Particles leaving accelerator will maintain their momentum (direction and speed). Unless they collide with something, but then not even described graviton would help them. Of course there will be collisions with air and under normal circumstances range of such weapon would be limited to roughly 1 meter (my guesstimate).

My proposal is to replace it with with high-energy laser (since this technology is already available and fits the lore) that in a very short burst ionizes a path to a target, creating sort of tunnel in which plasma bolt can be sent over a large distance. If there is a demand I could write this part of the article.

If not, maybe rename it to gravitatium (or something like this) and therefore remove relation to any known physics .

Edited September 13, 2013 by qdlat

[GizmoGomez]

Just a minor thing about "alien plasma technology" in Xenopedia.

The article at the end invokes "graviton" that would prevent plasma from dispersing - and that makes little sense. Graviton, if exists, by itself is a virtual particle that mediates a pull, but does not create one. It is the same way in which photon mediates electromagnetic force, but does not create any.

Besides, why would you use it anyway? Particles leaving accelerator will maintain their momentum (direction and speed). Unless they collide with something, but then not even described graviton would help them. Of course there will be collisions with air and under normal circumstances range of such weapon would be limited to roughly 1 meter (my guesstimate).

My proposal is to replace it with with high-energy laser (since this technology is already available and fits the lore) that in a very short burst ionizes a path to a target, creating sort of tunnel in which plasma bolt can be sent over a large distance. If there is a demand I could write this part of the article.

If not, maybe rename it to gravitatium (or something like this) and therefore remove relation to any known physics .

Initially, it was a particle of antimatter that created some sort of gravitational field to hold the bolt together. I suggested graviton because it sounds nifty, and because most people won't know what it is. (I, of course, know what it (probably) is– but "they" don't. )

Considering the fact that Star Trek got away with Di-Lithium and Lt. Commander Data's Positronic neural net, I'm pretty sure we can get away with a graviton perpetuating a gravitational field somehow.

[Elydo]

Yeah, we could probably brainstorm more authentic technobabble, but it'd require massive rewrites within the Xenopedia and it's not certain the payoff would be worth the time taken from other concerns. There is talk of a mod being worked up to make the lore as accurate as possible later.

My continuing complaint with the anti-gravity generator is that an anti-gravity generator wouldn't work like that even if it did exist, heh.

Other solutions for the plasma bolt issue might be spinning the packet somehow, injecting a nano-singularity (LOL!) into the bolt, a tunnelling laser or even ye olde 'unknowne partikell'.

[qdlat]

Initially, it was a particle of antimatter that created some sort of gravitational field to hold the bolt together. I suggested graviton because it sounds nifty, and because most people won't know what it is. (I, of course, know what it (probably) is– but "they" don't. )

Considering the fact that Star Trek got away with Di-Lithium and Lt. Commander Data's Positronic neural net, I'm pretty sure we can get away with a graviton perpetuating a gravitational field somehow.

Then it will be on your consciousness when rioting crowds of vengeful particle physicists come knocking on Goldhawk Interactive doors!

[GizmoGomez]

Ha, hey, it's Chris's game, not mine. He chose to implement the suggestion.

Besides, I doubt hoards of angry physicists would care, honestly. Technobabble is, indeed, just that. Babble.

[Markon]

OK, this thread became pretty long, I only read the first page in detail... If the point of this thread is to point out unrealistic stuff, then yes, I think the amount of women soldiers with combat experience is highly unrealistic for the time. Not trying to be sexist, this is NOT a debate about if it is right or wrong for women to serve in combat, simply a statement of historical fact. I'm under the impression that the only difference between our history and the Xenonaut's world history is the Iceland incident, and the Xenonauts project (and then the later Alien invasion, of course, that we play through). So it did strike me as weird, but I can understand why it was included for Political Correctness. If I was the one making the game, I would have included some line in the text saying that the project gladly takes anyone who can find the courage to face the aliens, regardless of gender, and boom, immersion improved. (Is there a line like that? Did I miss it? Because if so, that would be awesome(it's existence, not the fact that I missed it)).