X-Com Floating Bases

[BladeFireLight]

I have alwase pictured them as being submerged. as the ocean serface can be unforgiving. I could just see all the rookies puking their guts out

[Hobbes]

Being afloat. The surface ocean can indeed be quite unforgiving but ships cross it the whole time and sailors can suffer from the same problem.

[BladeFireLight]

it also would make them easyer to find. I could just see it now.. some drunken fishermen

 

whatda you mean thisss isssn't the bar?

Sir your traspassing on privat property.

I jussst wana order a beer.

Sir get back in your boat. The shore is 5 miles east.

Areyou sssure thisss isssn't the bar?

[BladeFireLight]

Just to add to my argument..

 

if the base is on the surface why are the torpedo and sonic defences pointed up?

I suppose you could lob the torpedo over the rest of the base modules.

but it seems to me that that would not work for a LOS weapon like the sonic defence

 

https://bladefirelight.home.attbi.com/img11759.jpg

[The Veteran]

It makes most sense that the bases are actually built into the rock of the seabed (like in the intro video) But then why is it called a floating base???

[Hobbes]

Well this is just a guess but in the intro movie the USO gets above water before attacking the passenger liner. The aliens could employ the same tactic when attacking your bases. (Then again torpedo defenses would be useless unless they strapped jet engines into them so that they could hit airborne targets).

 

Just for the sake of argument, if they were placed on the seabed it would probably be the placement that offered better concealment. Both floating and submerged bases have one huge problem which is that a metal object on salty water acts as a magnet and it gives out a signature that can be detected.

[The Veteran]

It does make sense that they would be on or under the ground, but then why would they be called floating bases? I mean the programmers don't really think too much about this sort of thing but surely floating means floating? Even if it's only a little distance above the seabed...

[Hobbes]

I guess it's just one of those little contradictions about TFTD to be added to the list:

 

- Why can't you intercept USOs over land?

- Why the final level of T'Leth is way easier than Cydonia?

- Why do the aquanauts release bubbles if they are breathing fluid?

- Why can't you use lasers on land?

 

And all other little errors....

[BladeFireLight]

Maybe I should corect my english.dat file and say 'seafloor base' instead of floating base.

that would make the base defence message "alien sub has landed nearby' make more sence.

that's actualy the reson I asked this pole. i'm looking to correct the errors in the game text file

 

Hobbs:

 

1. Torpedos dont have rockets attached

 

2. Becaus the Great evil is so scarry (sacred?) that the alien avoid it's chamber as mutch as possible

 

3. the Oxygen ™ system uses a O2/CO2 transfer menbrain with the sea water. (I read about some scietists using somthing like this that alowed 3 men to stay sumberged in a platic bubble for 5 hours longer that the air in the bubble should have lasted)

 

4.Lasers have been declard WMD by the UN security council and illeagle to own.. therefor every one has them and no one uses them

 

-Blade FireLight

[Hobbes]

4.Lasers have been declard WMD by the UN security council and illeagle to own.. therefor every one has them and no one uses them

Really? Does that mean that I can't keep my private stash of lasers at home ?

 

I'd better watch out before someone decides to bring the matter into the UN's Security Council. Maybe I could say that I use them for dental treatments or for veterinary purposes...

[Kernel]

Old topic but....

 

How deep down could you build a base?

I mean you can place a base right in the marianers (sp?) trench... that's a long way down to build a base!

I think they are submerged bases floating at a certain depth in the water.

[The Veteran]

wow... well ressurected Kernel

You wouldn't need to build very deeply into the rock really... Just stick it on the seabed and noone would ever know. I guess it's kind of like the alien bases. A couple of stories above ground then living quarters, labs etc. All underground.

[Kernel]

I didn't mean the depth under the ground... I meant the deapth of the water.

 

The water preasure at the bottom of the ocean is huge!

Taking my example of the Marianas trench, it's...

 

* Does a google search *

 

35,813 feet deep ( a mile over Everest )

at the bottom the water pressure is over 16,000 pounds per square inch!

 

The Challenger Deep is estimated to be even deeper!

 

Somehow I doubt it's possible to build a structure, that's full of air, to withstand those sorts of pressures.

 

Ok I know both the Marianas trench and the Challenger Deep are extream examples but the pressure at the bottom of most oceans is such that it's extreamly difficult (not to mention very expensive) to build and maintain any structure that's full of air.

 

Besides... each time the aquanauts go on a mission they would have to go into a decompression chamber for a LONG time. The USO would be long gone before they even came out.

 

Edit: If your interested, here is where I got the info on the Marianers trench from.

 

Edit: Damn, I must be tired... that last sentence made no sence at all... now fixed.

[The Veteran]

Well I just checked out that website and it seems rather easy to disagree with you I'm afraid! If these guys managed to build a submarine to go that deep in the 60s and the year is now 2045 then it would be incredibly easy to build at that depth. Bear in mind that the most rooms in a floating base are only 10x10 meters. Then between each room there is a solid supporting wall which is approximately one meter thick. The only gap in this wall is a 2meter doorway.

 

I don't remember how decompression and compression works for submarine crews but I thought they only needed it at the end of their time... I didn't think they needed it to actually go into the water.

[Kernel]

That was the one and only time a submersible has gone that deep and even that was at great risk. The pressure was enough the crack one of the windows in the entrance tube that led to the crew area.

 

The deepest dive since then was done by a Japanese research vessel which went down to about 20,000 earler this year.

 

The Triste that went down to the bottom of the Marianas trench barely held 2 people for 12 hours and the Japanese vessel only held 3.

 

The reason no-one has ever gone that deep since is not because of technology, but because of the difficulty and cost that come with building a vessel to go that deep. Not to mention the dangers of actualy going down to that depth.

 

Also like I said these vessels can only hold 2-3 people at a time inside a large hollow sphere. They use a sphere because that's the only shape that won't crush under those pressures. A large hollow box (like a base module) would be crushed instantly.

 

The technology to build a structure like the bases in TFTD simple does not exist today and I doubt would exist in the next 40 years considering how far we've come in the past 40.

 

I'm not saying we wouldn't build vessels to go that deep in the near future, but to build a base that deep I don't think will be possible.

 

This parallels going to the moon. We haven't been back in 30 years even though the technology is there... do you expect to see a moon base in the next 30 years?

 

As for decompression...

I'm not all that clear on decompression either, I'd have to ask a friend who's a diver, but from what I know...

 

Decompression is needed to stop the nitrogen that's disolved in your blood from forming into bubbles. Because a diver breaths compressed air, the air in their lungs can't be compressed anymore by the increasing water pressure around them. This makes the lungs absorb more of the nitrogen in the air.

This is the reason why a free diver (one who takes a big breath of air on the surface and then dives) does not need to decompress... because the air in the lungs can be compressed by the water around them. I beleve it also alows the lungs to extract more oxygen from the air which is why free divers can dive to almost unbelevable depths.

 

So... back to TFTD... if it was possible to build a base at the bottom of the ocean the air in that base would have to be under a very high pressure to withstand the water pressure. That means that to even do a mission in shallower water they would have to decompress. Otherwise the highly compressed air in the lungs from the base would expand quickly due to the lower water pressure at the shallower depth, again making the nitrogen in their blood form into bubbles... or even worse. The only way around it would be to make the air pressure in their suits the same as the pressure back at base... which again would cause fairly large technological problems.

 

And as for the "but they breath liquid oxygen" comment that I just know will pop up at some point. They don't ware helmets on the surface... so they would still have to go into decompression for quite probably the most time critical of all missions.

 

Damn that was a long post!

[TabulaRasa]

I think it would be submerged but not on the ocean floor. To the nine people that voted the ocean floor, (no offence) you just ignored the times when your base was invaded... You can tell that the subs go under the base because there is a pool of water under them. It would be hard to come in the top or sides without flooding the base. (Havent noticed doors, though they could put some.) But I am puzzled how on the intro movie, the barracuda comes from the side. If i made a stupid mistake in this tell me, and remember to laugh! :)

[Jman4117]

Maybe if the stuff in 2040 were made using alien materials/technology from alien war 1, it would be possible to make crush-proof craft and bases.

[The Veteran]

Alain, my guess would be that the base is delved not into the seabed but into a rockface of somekind. AS in the movie. That way there is virtually no pressure on the base at all once it is completed as there is several hundred meters of rock in every direction of the base before there is any water. The craft could then be launched by dropping them into a channel that runs below the base that runs the distance from the base to the ocean.

Now personally I'm quite pleased with that as an explanation

[FullAuto]

I think that the bases would be anchored to the sea floor, but floating above it. Burrowing into the sea bed and building a base there (mining at 20k feet or more below, making sure the rock wasn't liable to collapse, installing the modules and then making them livable) would be a lot more expensive than dropping in a few pre-fabricated modules, linking them up and them pumping them full of air.

Kernel - good point, the aquanauts would have to decompress before going to a port/island attack, and the deeper you go the longer you have to stay in decompression. They could get around it for shallow water missions by keeping their suits the same pressure as the base, not particularly difficult, but land missions are a whole different kettle of alien scaly mutants....

[BladeFireLight]

The Aquanaut is using the "oxygen " liquid breathing system to avoid compression and decompression problems... being that the air is alread desolved into the liquid and body the actual amound the body can compress is verry little.. changing the maximum depth befor needing decompression a hundred fold.

 

at least thats the impression I got from reading the manual.

 

-Blade FireLight

[The Demi-Godly One]

I think the bases are about 20 meters under water, a little submerged to avoid detection but not too deep as to avoid pressure problems.

[Sgt. Strike]

Actually, if you have an airlock system, keeping the sub bays partially flooded, you can have it come out the side.Actually, if the bases aren't submerged fully, then they are anchored to the place very easily, and kept in place. However, if I remember correctly, the aquanauts use a fluid that has oxygen suspended in it, and it does get scrubbed. Like in the movie Abyss. Anyway, that technology is not had to duplicate, and can be easily done. Anyway, gotta go, more later.

[The Veteran]

Check this out for a ressurection:

A vast and intricate system of caverns was delved into the Western sea cliffs of the Normandy region of France. Then a base was constructed to the same specifications as the old subterranean bases but it was built 100 meters into the cliff at the very bottom of the ocean. This base was dubbed Alpha-01 and it was the first and largest of three to be constructed. Alpha-02 was built off the Northern coast of Australia and was fully submerged in the seabed. Alpha-03 was situated off the island of Hawaii and was constructed with the front of an oilrig, the main facilities being submerged beneath the rig itself.

[BladeFireLight]

Check this out for a ressurection:

A vast and intricate system of caverns was delved into the Western sea cliffs of the Normandy region of France. Then a base was constructed to the same specifications as the old subterranean bases but it was built 100 meters into the cliff at the very bottom of the ocean. This base was dubbed Alpha-01 and it was the first and largest of three to be constructed. Alpha-02 was built off the Northern coast of Australia and was fully submerged in the seabed. Alpha-03 was situated off the island of Hawaii and was constructed with the front of an oilrig, the main facilities being submerged beneath the rig itself.

Ok TJ where did you get that referance? It looks familiar but I cant seem to place it.

 

-Blade FireLight

[The Veteran]

It was me actually So I'm glad it's familiar Don't know quite how, I only wrote it yesterday!