UFO Fanfiction Discussion

[Snikers]

Man, those alien bastards just don't give up do they?

 

So, what sort of time frame are we thinking for this mission? Noon? Midnight? Fading dusk? Rising dawn?

 

This is Snakemen and Cryssalids, right?

 

Something important to note: both Snakemen and Cryssalids will be hard to bring down with our conventional bullet weaponry (which I assume we are still using at this time - we've barely finished the laser prototype). Snakemen will fall eventually, but Cryssalids have to be nigh-bulletproof. One of my earliest memories of XCOM is nailing a Crissie DEAD ON with a ROCKET LAUNCHER and have it still standing there, grinning at me.

[Bomb Bloke]

One of my earliest memories is of the Skyranger landing, and a Chrys standing right in front of it.

 

"Hmm... Funny looking Sectoid. Eat rocket"

 

Didn't see another for quite a while. That one died.

 

We have one laser weapon, which I suppose could be used in this mission. I say we only have one Chrys this time around, or else things WILL get out of hand.

 

We were supposed to have moe laser weapondry before this mission, but no one wrote that in, so I suppose we have to go without.

 

The loadout of the team hasn't been decided yet, but I'm guessing we'll have the tank. We'll make it up as we go along.

 

On another note, Terrick is due to get caught during this mission.

[Snikers]

Hrmm... this got me thinking. What about antimatter EM waves? Waves have the advantage of just going around the small stuff in the way. Light diffracts around atoms and molecules. So why not make antiphotons that  do this? They could just diffract around all the air in the way and most of them'd hit the solid object in the way. (Like a sectoid)

 

What do our resident science-non-newbies (JFG and Zager) say about this?

Antiphotons? As in, anti-energy? Those are new to me, so I really can't say anything. Maybe Zager can tell us once he's stopped screaming. Still, if those have a similar effect, that's still 50 kwH even if it doesn't start the second it leaves the barrel. Hitting a sectoid will still throw off a lot of energy all across the electromagnetic spectrum. You'd probably have to be, like, half a click away with Keller's goggles to keep from being blinded and poisoned by x-rays, gamma rays, UV rays, heat...of course, this is all assuming antiphotons (which I suppose I'll have to Google) act the same way as antimatter, which could very well not be true.

 

I *still* like the idea of lightning guns.

 

EDIT: Caught? Pocketing alien tech you mean?

Edited December 17, 2004 by Snikers

[Zager]

This is Snakemen and Cryssalids, right?

 

Shouldn't we be seeing floaters and reapers first?

 

Those are new to me, so I really can't say anything. Maybe Zager can tell us once he's stopped screaming.

 

We need a transduction wave affect for that. Naiena particles could be helpful too.

[Snikers]

I think the jury's still out on the Floaters/Snakemen thing. Check a couple of pages back, at 72 or so. We never really came to a conclusion.

 

Also. Transduction wave and naiena particles - any way to put that in layman's terms?

[Zager]

I think the jury's still out on the Floaters/Snakemen thing. Check a couple of pages back, at 72 or so. We never really came to a conclusion.

 

Every time I played I got reapers before chryssalids.

 

Also. Transduction wave and naiena particles - any way to put that in layman's terms?

 

Easy. I'm making up words.

[Alitorious]

I just made up the antiphoton thing, myself. (Me = highschool student, so therefore me = uneducated in these things)

However, think about it. When a regular photon hits something, depending on its wavelength it either bounces off (sometimes with reduced energy that's absorbed by the material as heat), or does funny stuff to the electrons on the thing it hits. (Like in photoelectric cells/x-rays/gamma rays)

But, the neat thing about photons is that they just diffract around small particles like air. Why would we assume that antiphotons wouldn't behave the same way? The antiphotons could just diffract around air, and therefore you don't need to waste twenty billion antiphotons to plow through all the air between you and your target. Because of that, you can use only enough antiphotons to really hurt your target, but not enough to heat the surrounding air to 20,000 degrees. (Incidentally, a lightning gun would heat the air immediately surrounding it to 20,000 degrees; depending on power, of course. )

Perhaps you only need to send, say, a couple thousand antiphotons. (Not 50kW worth of antiphotons) Almost all of them go around all air molecules/atoms and hit the sectoid. They're still anti (although not matter) so antiphotons could still do the same thing, like annihilate the atoms. Since we're not talking several kilos of uranium here, we can say it'd be a negligible amount of gamma/x-rays.

 

So, in the end you'd get a sectoid with, say, only a couple kilojoules of energy coming out of its torso. (watts = joules/second, so unless you're planning on firing that laser for more than half a second continuously, you don't need to use power) Most of that is heat frying the sectoid from inside-out. (Actually, a couple kilojoules of energy may be way too low, seeing as a hairdrier is 1000W, or 1kJ/s.)

If there are x-rays/gamma rays coming out of that, then most of that would be absorbed by mr. sectoid here. What's left may be too scattered to do much.

 

Of course, I'm making half of this up as I go along, so somebody with knowledge should prove me wrong. (Say... can I borrow your transducer wave amplifier, Zager?)

 

 

On a completely different note: Where says-it that we have snakement/chryssies already? Don't we kinda have to plow through floaters and reapers first?

 

Edit: You know, I could post something where Daniel comments on how elegant the antiphoton idea is. Then it'd be official and unchangable

[Zager]

It's an interesting theory, however, in present physics, the photon is recognized as its own anti-particle

[Snikers]

I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea of Snakemen next. I want to add my vote to seeing floaters and reapers, though.

 

Also, I'm just a high school student myself, so don't go by me so far as scientific knowledge. But what's keeping the antiphotons - if we're sticking with them, given what Zager said - from diffracting about the sectoid just as easily as air? Density?

[Zager]

Also, I'm just a high school student myself, so don't go by me so far as scientific knowledge. But what's keeping the antiphotons - if we're sticking with them, given what Zager said - from diffracting about the sectoid just as easily as air? Density?

 

Don't let theoretical physics get in your way. And I think his point was that it wasn't air or density that got in the way, but the fact that sectoids weren't translucent.

[Snikers]

Ah yes. Presumably we'd be shooting antiphotons in the visible spectrum range then.

[Alitorious]

It's an interesting theory, however, in present physics, the photon is recognized as its own anti-particle.

Oooh... I wouldn't have known that. That's very interesting... and kinda makes my plan not work.

[Zager]

Oooh... I wouldn't have known that.  That's very interesting... and kinda makes my plan not work.

 

Don't let that stop you. Energy weapons aren't exactly realistic either. Besides, it's not proven anyway.

[Alitorious]

Okay, then. I've posted something, at least. If we decide that antiphotons aren't the way to go, then I'll go and delete it. Okay?

[Snikers]

Just one more thing: even if the air between you and the target didn't react, hitting the target is still going to throw off more than a dentist's worth of energy. Even if it's twenty or thirty metres away, the reaction is going to make a hell of a flash and hurt our soldiers.

 

Are we going to deal with that, or just sort of hand-wave it away?

[Alitorious]

The thing is, we can "control" that easily by changing the amount of antiphotons emitted. It it's enough to hurt our soldiers twenty metres away, then the sectoid is going to be vaporized, right?

 

We can work backwards, too. If we start off that we only want a dentist's worth of radiation coming off, we only use the corresponding number of antiphotons.

 

You know... we have conservation of energy laws working against us, too. In order to balance out all the energy we get from the antiphoton reaction, the biocells have to supply that amount, too, right?

(Basically, we can't get something from nothing.)

[Snikers]

Ah, yes, I like. So how powerful is the gun going to be, in the end? It has to be able to be fired at close range without hurting XCOM agents, but cause enough of a flash at ground zero to kill hostiles (from heat, presumably, as it'll be sending off EM radiation all across the spectrum).

 

Besides that, we'd better get into some more conventional weapon stats.

 

What is the maximum range going to be like? I'd assume very long, but that's just a guess.

Minimum range? No matter what, the basic principles of the weapon is going to require a minimum range to make sure you only soak up a dentist's worth of gamma, x-, and et cetera rays. Perhaps this could keep bullet weapons in use, for close combat?

What is going to be the functional difference between the pistols and rifles, logically?

So, just how long can we fire these things?

[Snikers]

Note: in future for other superweapons, I'd suggest the following:

 

https://www.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe...arts.sf.science

 

There's a bunch of fluff, but doing some searches could turn up some good info. Keep an eye out for the name John Schilling. He knows what he's talking about.

 

For instance, here's one on laser weapons (a little late, yes, but oh well):

 

https://www.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe...edu%26rnum%3D16

 

Also note that it would be much better to search existing discussions rather than posting a message about something already answered. They've discussed many things many times and asking again is rude and will be met witht the appropriate criticism.

 

Man, it's such a shame we all had to get into such an exhaustive discussion about laser weapons...too bad we couldn't have cut it out...

[Bomb Bloke]

at Alitorious's post!

[Zager]

Minimum range? No matter what, the basic principles of the weapon is going to require a minimum range to make sure you only soak up a dentist's worth of gamma, x-, and et cetera rays. Perhaps this could keep bullet weapons in use, for close combat?

 

Ah, but the penetration factor results in a very favorable absorbtion by the target body.

 

What is going to be the functional difference between the pistols and rifles, logically?

 

Rifles are more accurate.

[Bomb Bloke]

According to the USG, pistols and rifles are pretty equal (conventional ones, anyway).

 

I'd expect the rifles to deal more damage, or have a faster fire rate, as they have room for a larger power supply.

[Snikers]

Faster, stronger, ah yes. I really can't see an accuracy difference. You really can't thread a laser gun.

 

Why would the antiphotons penetrate the target before they went off?

[Bomb Bloke]

I reckon they would be more accurate.

 

I'm not an expert on anti-photons and what-not, but a conventional laser works by bouncing light around inside a tube. The exit point of this tube is designed so that light can only leave it if it is traveling in a certain direction; otherwise, it just keeps bouncing around until it is correct (or at least, close enough).

 

In a longer tube, I would expect that light going the wrong way stands a lesser cahnce of even reaching the exit point, meaning that the light that does hit will therefore be more accurate then that in a smaller tube, even if by only a small amount.

 

I suppose this would result in a better concentration on the target then better shot accuracy. I don't know. I don't even know if this applies to what you guys are thinking of.

[Alitorious]

I think rifles may be more accurate at the human end, instead. Basically, being slightly heavier and two-handed lets the human aiming it be more accurate.

 

(Plus, rifles can be stronger + generally better, too.)

 

What I think 'penetration' means is that the antiphotons 'drill' a hole in the target. After a hole is somewhat drilled, only a small amount of radiation comes back out the hole.

[Snikers]

Drill a hole? It's going to react as soon as it hits the skin. It won't have time to drill a hole in the target before it goes off. It's not like an exploding bullet.