MMORPG with similar combat to COX

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Haijinx said:

Build the powerplant kilometers away from the settlement.  Pile lots and lots of dirt around it for shielding.  Run power wires back.  Make sure the settlement is in the shadow of the shielding.

Weyland-Yutani didn't strike me as the kind of corporation that cared too much about the safety of their workers/employees.  Another point of contention for me is that I don't buy that they would plop down a "shake and bake" facility/colony without a more thorough survey of the planet - The alien ship should have been fairly obvious if they had done it, which leads me to believe W-Y *did* know the ship was there, but probably were waiting for the colony to develop a bit more before sending someone to check out the ship - Burke likely upped their timetable.  Even though it was stated that the environmental processor was "essentially a giant fusion reactor", my personal headcanon is that they still had a fission reactor to either supplement it, or perhaps it fused local elements as part of the terraforming process, and fission was still required for electricity and the like.  *shrugs*

[Haijinx]

1 minute ago, biostem said:

Weyland-Yutani didn't strike me as the kind of corporation that cared too much about the safety of their workers/employees.  Another point of contention for me is that I don't buy that they would plop down a "shake and bake" facility/colony without a more thorough survey of the planet - The alien ship should have been fairly obvious if they had done it, which leads me to believe W-Y *did* know the ship was there, but probably were waiting for the colony to develop a bit more before sending someone to check out the ship - Burke likely upped their timetable.  Even though it was stated that the environmental processor was "essentially a giant fusion reactor", my personal headcanon is that they still had a fission reactor to either supplement it, or perhaps it fused local elements as part of the terraforming process, and fission was still required for electricity and the like.  *shrugs*

IDK.  The radiation from living too close to a DD Fusion reactor would be a lot deadlier than the Xenomorph.

 

The amount shielding needed would presumably easily stop bullets.  Unless its some magic radiation deflector shield or something.  But it wouldn't fit in this setting. 

 

That was something I liked about Alien its a much harder sci fi setting than something like Star Wars.

 

 

[biostem]

5 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

IDK.  The radiation from living too close to a DD Fusion reactor would be a lot deadlier than the Xenomorph.

 

The amount shielding needed would presumably easily stop bullets.  Unless its some magic radiation deflector shield or something.  But it wouldn't fit in this setting. 

 

That was something I liked about Alien its a much harder sci fi setting than something like Star Wars.

Granted, but what if the areas the squad went into were more akin to maintenance tunnels, where people were expected to wear protective clothing/suits, and the exterior of the building is where most of the shielding was?  The door that they had to go though to bring in the APC seemed quite beefy, and since this wasn't exactly a war zone, I doubt you'd need such a sturdy structure unless it was part of the containment measures.  The fact that they weren't even aware of where they were going until Ripley pointed it out could also explain why they weren't wearing said protective gear...

[Haijinx]

Isaac Arthur makes a great point in his colonization series.   Why live on world you are terraforming?  The processes involved would be extremely inhospitable, and its probably not pleasant there to start with.  Build a space habitat and control everything using robots from orbit. 

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Haijinx said:

Isaac Arthur makes a great point in his colonization series.   Why live on world you are terraforming?  The processes involved would be extremely inhospitable, and its probably not pleasant there to start with.  Build a space habitat and control everything using robots from orbit. 

And that may have been the case for the first couple of decades on LV-426;  We simply do not know what things were like in the early stages.  Maybe once the air was breathable, and after decades in said habitats, people started getting stir crazy and opted to try their luck on the surface...

[Haijinx]

7 minutes ago, biostem said:

And that may have been the case for the first couple of decades on LV-426;  We simply do not know what things were like in the early stages.  Maybe once the air was breathable, and after decades in said habitats, people started getting stir crazy and opted to try their luck on the surface...

I think the fact they have starships implies they wouldn't actually need people to babysit their reactors.  But I guess if it happened at the maintenance portion it makes some sense.  Burnside rule and all.

 

It seemed like there were already empty nicer planets later in the series.  Not sure why you would want tons of little terraforming projects light years apart, instead of 1 really big one.   But that's kind the point of Alien- stark isolation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Haijinx

[biostem]

9 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

It seemed like there were already empty nicer planets later in the series.  Not sure why you would want tons of little terraforming projects light years apart, instead of 1 really big one.   But that's kind the point of Alien- stark isolation.

Unless, of course, the whole purpose was to create a more comfortable "laboratory" in which to conduct your research;  Just place it far away from the alien ship you're actually interested in, and make sure *not* to give out orders to investigate any areas that include said ship, (unless some overly ambitious middle-manager catches wind of it, who isn't in the loop, and does exactly that).

Edited January 20, 2020 by biostem

[Luminara]

11 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

Though the basic idea that you don't pipe your cooling apparatus for your reactor around the habitat applies. 

 

It would be more economically feasible to make the coolant system double as complex heating and hydroponics and greenhouse climate control, as well as easier to package for transport and assembly on site.  There would also be the cost of power delivery if the reactor were housed away from the terraforming rig and colonial settlement.  Presumably, these rigs are in large-scale production and use, and rarely fail, otherwise WY wouldn't be in control of a colonial operation, and cost-saving measures like combining a reactor, terraforming rig and colonial outpost would be exactly what one would expect.

 

31 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

Gravity confinement might let them use normal Hydrogen to Hydrogen fusion instead of using Deuterium.   That might make the idea of an actual fusion explosion more possible.  Maybe?

 

Even an explosion of simple hydrogen would be extremely dangerous in that sort of situation.  Keep in mind the size of the reactor and facility, and the length of time it had already been in operation ("We've had colonists on LV 426 for over twenty years, none of them ever complained about any aliens.").  Presuming it was the least expensive type of fusion reactor, even if they only used what they created in situ in the process of developing a breathable atmosphere, there would have been an enormous amount stored.  When the reactor went, there were many scenes indicating that none of the safety systems were functioning (if there were any to begin with), and with 20 years of accumulated hydrogen stored...  Again, not Nebraska, but definitely not a little pop.

[Lines]

What even is this thread?

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Lines said:

What even is this thread?

Critical cinema theory and nuclear physics, of course!

[Luminara]

44 minutes ago, biostem said:

which leads me to believe W-Y *did* know the ship was there, but probably were waiting for the colony to develop a bit more before sending someone to check out the ship

 

Of course they knew it was there.  WY issued the original order which took the Nostromo off course and woke the crew.

 

But that doesn't tie in with your theory.  The 30+ year gap between the disappearance of the Nostromo and the founding of the colony on LV 426 indicates that whatever information WY had was purged (by whomever was responsible for sending the Nostromo to investigate) and LV 426 was forgotten until it popped up as a potential colonization prospect, with little more than a celestial map reference and basic passing scan data.

 

In other words, they knew it was there, but nothing else.

[biostem]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

Of course they knew it was there.  WY issued the original order which took the Nostromo off course and woke the crew.

 

But that doesn't tie in with your theory.  The 30+ year gap between the disappearance of the Nostromo and the founding of the colony on LV 426 indicates that whatever information WY had was purged (by whomever was responsible for sending the Nostromo to investigate) and LV 426 was forgotten until it popped up as a potential colonization prospect, with little more than a celestial map reference and basic passing scan data.

 

In other words, they knew it was there, but nothing else.

Well, what if the whole reason that they diverted the Nostromo to LV-426, instead of their own better suited vessel was because it would take decades to get one there, so it was stupendous luck that said ship was in the right place at the right time.  Now, why they wouldn't immediately cordon off the crash site of the ship is another question.  Again, we have little to work from, but W-Y certainly doesn't seem like a super efficient and intelligently run organization...

[Haijinx]

11 minutes ago, Luminara said:

 

It would be more economically feasible to make the coolant system double as complex heating and hydroponics and greenhouse climate control, as well as easier to package for transport and assembly on site.  There would also be the cost of power delivery if the reactor were housed away from the terraforming rig and colonial settlement.  Presumably, these rigs are in large-scale production and use, and rarely fail, otherwise WY wouldn't be in control of a colonial operation, and cost-saving measures like combining a reactor, terraforming rig and colonial outpost would be exactly what one would expect

 I don't know.. compared to the energy demands of something like terraforming using a giant fusion reactor to "bake" the atmosphere, worrying about cost savings vs. running electric heaters for a few hundred colonists seems a like a rounding error. 

 

Considering the safety risks.  Plus the plumbing would be a nightmare.  Even if they just used water, it would be under pressure like in a normal LWR cooling.  

 

But that would at least make the idea of bullet risks semi plausible.  "Our reactor is old and stupid and we repuporsed the coolant for heating this hab.  All the fail -safes have been bypassed and if there is a leak it will overheat and not shut down in time."

[Blood Speaker]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:25 PM, Myrmidon said:

The only one that I stuck with for any length of time was Secret World/Secret World Legends. The story is pretty good and the play was acceptable, although, I do miss the time spent in Fusang on the latter incarnation.

I loved The Secret World. I gave up on TSW (and Funcom) when they stripped it of several of the better story arcs, repackaged it, and handed it back as an "improvement".

[Haijinx]

7 minutes ago, Blood Speaker said:

I loved The Secret World. I gave up on TSW (and Funcom) when they stripped it of several of the better story arcs, repackaged it, and handed it back as an "improvement".

Why did they remove arcs? 

 

This seems like a bad idea.  

[Luminara]

6 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

Considering the safety risks.  Plus the plumbing would be a nightmare.  Even if they just used water, it would be under pressure like in a normal LWR cooling.  

 

They were using buckets to add plutonium solution to a mixer in Japan.  Caused a criticality event that killed three people.  There was a US Army small reactor that went critical when one of the men climbed on top and yanked the primary control rod out (it was stuck, and they were operating the reactor with far too few control rods in that particular assembly).  Three people died... one when he was impaled on a strut on the ceiling (the rod yanker).

 

These are real events.  These actually happened.

 

Never underestimate human stupidity.  Especially when there's a bottom line involved.

[Blood Speaker]

1 minute ago, Haijinx said:

Why did they remove arcs? 

 

This seems like a bad idea.  

*shrugs* No idea. And yes; especially bad considering many (all?) of them were additional content that had to be purchased separately by non-sub/LTS players.

 

There's a reason Funcom is on my "Never Do Business Of Any Kind With These Morons Ever Again... Even If They Get Bought Out Or Change Their Name" list. It's a short list, but I'm sure we can all think of another company or two that might be on it.

[Blood Speaker]

2 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Never underestimate human stupidity.  Especially when there's a bottom line involved.

"Human intelligence is limited. Human stupidity is not." ~paraphrased from somewhere-or-other

[Luminara]

16 minutes ago, biostem said:

Well, what if the whole reason that they diverted the Nostromo to LV-426, instead of their own better suited vessel was because it would take decades to get one there, so it was stupendous luck that said ship was in the right place at the right time.  Now, why they wouldn't immediately cordon off the crash site of the ship is another question.  Again, we have little to work from, but W-Y certainly doesn't seem like a super efficient and intelligently run organization...

 

Plausible, but we have to go back to that 30+ year period between the Nostromo and the founding of the colony.  That alone implies that they didn't know the alien ship was there.  Someone knew, but that knowledge apparently disappeared in that span of time.  Had the person who knew really been keen on further investigation, he/she could've had a ship there in far fewer than 30 years.  In Alien, the cockpit chatter after they wake up suggests that, despite using sleep pods, ships travel relatively quickly.  Ripley also promised her daughter that she'd be home for her twelveth birthday, again indicative of ships traveling fast enough to transit large sections of space in a comparatively short period of time.

 

Where you see inefficiency, I see conspiracy and cover-up.

[Haijinx]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

 

They were using buckets to add plutonium solution to a mixer in Japan.  Caused a criticality event that killed three people.  There was a US Army small reactor that went critical when one of the men climbed on top and yanked the primary control rod out (it was stuck, and they were operating the reactor with far too few control rods in that particular assembly).  Three people died... one when he was impaled on a strut on the ceiling (the rod yanker).

 

These are real events.  These actually happened.

 

Never underestimate human stupidity.  Especially when there's a bottom line involved.

Good points.

 

Bad idea for a reactor years away from help.  But yeah.  People make bad design choices all the time.

 

I can maybe even buy the nebraska thing then.  

 

Lets say its some multi-terrawatt direct Proton to Proton Fusion Reactor using Gravity Containment.   Which is probably impossible outside of a star, but with artificial gravity possible changes.  

 

And you have water at some point in your cooling process.

 

At that point if your cooling system fails, the hydrogen from the water itself would actually be potential fusion fuel.  As it disassociates and ionizes from the heat ... it then feeds the reaction.   So does the water in the air.

 

It would be over quick though, since the run away reaction would destroy the gravity machine.

 

====

The upsides? 

 

You don't need to find any more exotic sources for hydrogen (deuterium or trtium) to fuel the reactor.  You just can use any water at all.  

 

And you can sell the He3 byproduct to passing starships to use as fusion fuel in presumably saner fusion reactors.

[Haijinx]

13 minutes ago, Luminara said:

 

Plausible, but we have to go back to that 30+ year period between the Nostromo and the founding of the colony.  That alone implies that they didn't know the alien ship was there.  Someone knew, but that knowledge apparently disappeared in that span of time.  Had the person who knew really been keen on further investigation, he/she could've had a ship there in far fewer than 30 years.  In Alien, the cockpit chatter after they wake up suggests that, despite using sleep pods, ships travel relatively quickly.  Ripley also promised her daughter that she'd be home for her twelveth birthday, again indicative of ships traveling fast enough to transit large sections of space in a comparatively short period of time.

 

Where you see inefficiency, I see conspiracy and cover-up.

I think the FTL in Alien is slow compared to Trek and Star Wars, but 30 years is not typical. 

 

Long enough people need cold sleep.  Short enough people can travel and still have people back on Earth's lives not go by while they are gone.

 

 

[WanderingAries]

On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2020 at 6:39 PM, Bill Z Bubba said:

I've looked. I've failed to find anything that gives me the same feeling as CoH for pure visceral excitement in combat.

 

Quite frankly, every other MMO I've touched bores the living #*($& out of me.

This and the fact that the UI here is SO much easier for me to deal with as I don't use the mouse much.

[KaizenSoze]

54 minutes ago, WanderingAries said:

This and the fact that the UI here is SO much easier for me to deal with as I don't use the mouse much.

This! So many of the games I have tried are primarily mouse driven. Path of Exile was causing me shoulder pain because it's so mouse driven.

 

Side note, I was enjoying Neverwinter online, until I tried to make a third char and they said I had to purchase a slot. Screw that!

[Lockpick]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:31 AM, Uun said:

I dropped my sub when CoH came back.

Ditto.

 

I enjoyed SWTOR for what it was, but my heart was always with CoH.  When I found out it was back I dropped SWTOR like a bad habit. 

[DougGraves]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:01 PM, Luminara said:

 

Of course they knew it was there.  WY issued the original order which took the Nostromo off course and woke the crew.

 

But that doesn't tie in with your theory.  The 30+ year gap between the disappearance of the Nostromo and the founding of the colony on LV 426 indicates that whatever information WY had was purged (by whomever was responsible for sending the Nostromo to investigate) and LV 426 was forgotten until it popped up as a potential colonization prospect, with little more than a celestial map reference and basic passing scan data.

 

In other words, they knew it was there, but nothing else.

 

It was a major corporation.  People who work for large corporations know that there is no such thing as a corporation knowing something.  Someone in the corporation knew.  There is no reason to believe the information would have been widely shared.