Research tree inconsistencies

[Echelon117]

Hi,

I just wanted to point out what I found to be some small inconsistencies with the research tree and certain descriptions read in research results.

For instance, Laser technology. To produce laser weapons the production materials involve Alienium and Alien Alloys..

However laser technology can be produced before research into alienium and alien alloys is even completed.

If you do happen to research alien alloys, the description says that the material is so strong that no earthly amount of heat can be applied to melt the material down to shape it... Then how is this being done to produce laser weapons?

I haven't gotten as far as researching new armors, but I will assume there is definitely a version of "Personal Armor" relying on alien alloys and in order to produce the armor a certain research item would need to be researched before hand to be able to melt the alloy down into the armor shape.

Shouldn't this same research item be required to be researched before laser weapons can be produced since laser weapons directly use alien alloys as a production material?

I hope I've made sense and gotten to the point! Thanks

[Chris]

Yeah, the weapons can be out of synch with the rest of the tech tree, but they're the only projects where it can happen. Weapons use a sort of alternative tree to everything else driven by recovered alien guns, whereas armour and vehicles and the like all fit into the main tree.

It's not perfect but I don't think it's too major an issue as it does only affect the guns.

[victorix58]

I imagine that the "no earthly amount of heat" line implies that the researchers are now using an un-earthly amount of heat, i.e. heat derived from an alenium power source.

[smoitessier]

There is no way to need two or more required researched techs to unlock another? Maybe something that can be handled in the polishing phase?

[Chris]

We can do it that way, but then you're not allowing the player to "rush" the weapons before they go for armour. You're basically telling the player in what order they should progress down the research tree.

[Max_Caine]

This was the reason they were split. Previously, you had to research a lot of prequisites before getting to Wolf or lasers. This was pointed out in a thread I still can't bloody find despite looking for the best part of an hour. It was decided at time to split things up - reseach plasma weapons to go for lasers, research AA fabbing for wolf armour.

EDIT: The original research tree went ((Plasma pistol + Plasma Rifle ---> Plasma Weapons) + (Alien Power Source ---> Alenium) + Alien Alloys) ---> Alien Alloy Fabrication ---> (Wolf armour/Laser weapons)

Edited April 3, 2014 by Max_Caine

[smoitessier]

I wouldn't mind if there was time in the campaign and if there were only a few logical key techs, for example I fail to see what alenium is used for in regards to laser and armor manufacturing. And I still miss the alien power source requirement to make a blast furnace to make alien materials (wich I don't think are needed for laser weapons IMO)

[Max_Caine]

Before the alien power source was removed as a technology, you researched the alien power source, because that then lead onto what was inside the alien power source, i.e. alenium. If you're talking about logic, then it's logical to have a tech unlock that describes the power generator which acts as a gateway to unlock a description of what the generator uses as a fuel. The alenium entry was re-written to write out the alien power source entry. Here's the orignal entry:

Despite only being the size of a household fridge, the power unit recovered from the UFO still produces enough energy to power a city the size of New York. Surprisingly, however, the device proved utterly inert once switched off - not even appearing to radiate heat.

The construction of the device is equally peculiar. It consists of a cylindrical outer casing of alien ceramics, the interior of which is dotted with hundreds of tiny laser emitters. Sitting inside this is a rotating inner casing that is packed with a lattice of unidentified yellow crystal, again cylindrical in shape. The origin and composition of these crystals has yet to be determined, but there is no question that they form the heart of the reactor. For want of a better name, my team have dubbed the material "Alenium" and are in the process of removing the lattice from the casing to allow further study. Preliminary scans suggest that there is an almost incomprehensible amount of energy stored within these Alenium crystals, despite the lattice being no larger than a football. This material is potentially one of the greatest discoveries of recent times; we should begin research on it immediately.

The rest of the power source contains little of interest. All of the materials used in its construction have been encountered in larger quantities elsewhere in the hulls of recovered UFOs and the machinery itself is not overly complex; studying it has yielded nothing worth commenting upon. The only mystery surrounds the sea of identical laser emitters covering the interior of the outer coating - we are as yet unaware of their purpose. Studying a couple of examples have provided only minor advances in our understanding of laser technology, mostly in the areas of beam focusing and miniaturisation of optical amplifiers. I very much doubt that the aliens are unable to produce far more powerful laser emitters, suggesting that they have deliberately been designed to only emit low intensity beams. We would be interested to know the significance of this with regards to the Alenium lattice; it may give us an avenue of research when we begin to study it.

Finally, I understand you have received a request (from personnel in a department which will remain nameless) seeking to prevent me from dismantling such devices inside the base in future. I must object to the repeated usage of the phrase "reckless disregard" and I can assure you I am no more keen to end my life in an enormous fireball than anyone else in this base. I therefore request you tell the staff concerned to stick to what they know (i.e. building things, making unintelligible grunting noises)...

So this acted as a preview to what Alenium is, and gave a peek into how the aliens powered their UFOs. It was purely fluff, and it was removed as unecessary fluff.

[Echelon117]

Like Chris implied it really isn't a big deal, it was just the very first thing I noticed when I was able to produce laser weapons but they needed alien alloys and alenium and the description to alien alloys stated nothing on earth can melt it down to reshape it.

If anything were to be changed to polish it up, it would just be the description. Maybe write something to the effect of "we can only manipulate small fragments of this alien alloy with our current technology and will require a new source of power before large scale armor can be produced"... Or remove alien alloys as a production material?

Or completely ignore any of it and leave it the way it is? For balance and consistencies sake as well as for immersion, when I play the full game I know I'll pretend I have to research Alenium and Alien Alloys first before I can produce an item that uses both in it's production