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[Toaster]

Hey Steve!  You left an N off that project name.

[PyroDesu]

Also, what is that problem you're thinking of?

Well, what do you get when you make a compound out of a metal and a nonmetal? More specifically, mixing an anion (Arsenic, in this case) and a cation (Uranium).

Spoiler: Answer (click to show/hide)

It's an ionic compound, which is by its nature crystalline rather than metallic.

As for naming things, it's for flavor, something to use as shorthand once it's adopted, and the full name of the thing is usually there and more descriptive (though I know me and Sean try to make the shorthand somewhat descriptive - Spektr and Raduga referencing the multiple wavelength possibilities of his FEL, Brisant referencing explosives for a grenade launcher).

[Radio Controlled]

Pyro, that forum says you posted a reply, but I can't actually see it. It's just blank after the first reply. Going to your profile foto and clicking latest posts also turns up empty. No idea why that is. So, what did you post there?

Also, all three construction crews are idle! If nobody knows what to do with them, perhaps let them build a dedicated stevebot production line, or more fleshpits. Or expand space defenses. Or continue on spess magick facility. Oh, and get that modular shipyard producing things.

There are also 2 science crews idle. Have them work on stuff. Such as researching some of our artifact backlog.

We really need more personnel on Hep it seems.

About names: if I had given an extra name to the sticky goop launcher like 'the gossamer' or whatever, would that have added anything of value or clarity to the project? Even if people would learn to associate the name with the weapon, and even if the flavor name has a thematic connection to it, for new players it would still be wholly undescriptive/unhelpful.

[PyroDesu]

Pyro, that forum says you posted a reply, but I can't actually see it. It's just blank after the first reply. Going to your profile foto and clicking latest posts also turns up empty. No idea why that is. So, what did you post there?

Also, all three construction crews are idle! If nobody knows what to do with them, perhaps let them build a dedicated stevebot production line, or more fleshpits. Or expand space defenses. Or continue on spess magick facility. Oh, and get that modular shipyard producing things.

There are also 2 science crews idle. Have them work on stuff. Such as researching some of our artifact backlog.

We really need more personnel on Hep it seems.

About names: if I had given an extra name to the sticky goop launcher like 'the gossamer' or whatever, would that have added anything of value or clarity to the project? Even if people would learn to associate the name with the weapon, and even if the flavor name has a thematic connection to it, for new players it would still be wholly undescriptive/unhelpful.

I did - and it was there, until I tried to edit it. Then it vanished, I tried reposting it, and got something saying it needed to be approved by an admin or something like that. Might have accidentally tripped a spambot filter, who knows. The edit did contain a URL tag (that source paper - not a direct link, for those not on a university connection), that might've done it. Anyways, it was just me clarifying the point of Uranium Arsenide (the similarity in magnetic dipole strength to iron) and seeing if someone would say whether a paramagnet would act in a similar fashion to a ferromagnet in that situation. Also trying to put the discussion back on track with the whole ferromagnetic sabot thing. First guy to respond wasn't exactly helpful - we know how coilguns work, and why things like DU and lead are used in projectiles.

One of them is busy - the wiki needs updating (and PW never gave an ETC for them). I'll see about something for the other two.

Same with the scientists. We do have a large backlog, that's fairly easy.

Spoiler: Warning - Rant made by a tired person (click to show/hide)

You know, it's funny - nobody complained when I (being the first player to get a new weapon in the armory) gave it a project name, so to speak. Everyone seemed to pick up Sibilus pretty quickly, instead of 'Rocket/Gauss Hybrid Rifle', or even just the shorter, less descriptive 'Hybrid Rifle' that could've been picked up. Heck, I also haven't seen a single person go, 'what's a Sibilus?', as far as I know. I mean come on, the entry in the armory doesn't just say Brisant or Spektr or Testament - it includes the full name and even a description writeup, and I'm fairly sure I'm not the only player who actually uses the armory page. Hell, I actually keep an entire tab dedicated to it, even though I don't purchase from it anymore, for reference. So I see no problems with confusing new players (hello - if you've not read the armory page, how do you know what you're getting or what you and your teammates are using?), and as for value, so you don't value flavor in the game, that's fine by me, just why are you complaining when other people do?

[Radio Controlled]

Hmm. Yeah, maybe it's because you put links in your first post or something, that could have triggered it. We'll just wait and see how it develops.

As for names, you seem to be getting the wholly wrong idea of this. I don't really care that much what you name your stuff, I'm active enough that I'll know most of the names either way. The question was more about what would be the superior naming scheme, in this case weighing practicality against flavour. Of all people, I thought that you would be able to hold an academic discussion about what is better in theory, without necessarily then expecting people to adhere to it.

Also, what makes you think I don't value flavor? If that was the case, why would I name my battlesuit and try to give it a personality? Why would I give silly team names beyond 'team a' or 'team 1'?

Finally, I have noticed that there are quite a few people who never consult the wiki when they don't know something. Instead, they ask in the thread or just roll along with it in blissful ignorance. No offense, but when thinking about these kinds of issues, you should try not to only consider your point of view, or reason from an ideal situation (which in this case would be an attentive player who uses the wiki to search for info he doesn't know).

[Execute/Dumbo.exe]

Spoiler: Sleep Derived Rambling (click to show/hide)

Alright, I'll try to remember that.
On that note, there is quite a lot of Miscellaneous stuff that doesn't really have much more text beyond a general description of what it does (Like the various specialized suits, for example, we don't know how much Extreme Heat or Pressure the Extreme Heat and Pressure suit can really take.) Though on reflection, I doubt it would really be useful or moral to be torturing PW to give us precise measurements about how much Dex the Impact Boots would really require before you stop getting Spess Magic assisted Face-plants.

Also wouldn't mind seeing some more specifics on that Single Seat Rocket Bike, like how much (Very little, I know, but I don't want to go tumbling down out of the sky from a glancing laser blast) punishment it can take or if it has a good stabilization system so I can use recoil heavy...
Dammit, forgot we're talking about a text game, PW has to ease off on the simulating at some level, I doubt he has the time or The OCD to bother figuring out at what level will recoil start to effect the rocket chair.
Perhaps I'll test it on Tinker myself.

[Parisbre56]

Actually, with automanipulators on this scale, is making it so that the ship can accept any manipulator of the same size as the compactor possible (and be able to swap it out after it's done) possible, or does this need to be specialized. Also, what else could a manipulator on that scale do?

A more interesting question would be: could the compactor be used offensively? Perhaps enclosed inside a giant mobile moon? We could call it the Dense Star.

More seriously, are manipulators of that size cost effective weapons? Could they be used to compact an enemy fleet? An entire star? Or is the process too long/delicate/works by creating exotic dark matter?

[Dorsidwarf]

Is it possible to create an amp which compresses reality? That could solve a lot of problems and lead to interesting r&d possibilities.

[AoshimaMichio]

Is it possible to create an amp which compresses reality? That could solve a lot of problems and lead to interesting r&d possibilities.

How about expanding space? Then we can get our own soundworms.

[Parisbre56]

Doesn't increased gravity mean compressed spacetime? If so, then a gravity manipulator could be used to do that.

Now that I think about it, couldn't you use gravity automanipulators to create an alcubierre drive?

[AoshimaMichio]

It should work in theory. Like microwave amp can be used to cool things down should equally opposed thing be possible with gravity manips. But alcubierre drive requires expansion of space behind and compression ahead, so you would need at least two automanips.

If heph quys could make it work it would give us big tactical advantage as we can go other systems without using jump gates. But if UWM figures it out then our minefield around Hep jumpgate will become very useless.

[Empiricist]

If we do get it to work, it may not matter if the UWM figures it out as well eventually. After all, seeing as such a drive would theoretically unleash an immense blast of radiation, a coordinated strike could pretty much cripple the UWM by taking out vital planets before they knew what's happening.

[Radio Controlled]

Handwaving the issue is easy though, just say "we'd need an unreasonable amount of automanip fuel" or (in case they are truly self-fueling once large enough) "Even then, we cannot make them go fast enough to really matter".

Do note that the UWM doesn't seem to use FTL chokepoints, as far as we've seen, since there was nothing at the Hep point until we build it ourselves.

[AoshimaMichio]

Do note that the UWM doesn't seem to use FTL chokepoints, as far as we've seen, since there was nothing at the Hep point until we build it ourselves.

It also could be because they didn't expect rebels to have FTL ships.

[Radio Controlled]

Do note that the UWM doesn't seem to use FTL chokepoints, as far as we've seen, since there was nothing at the Hep point until we build it ourselves.

It also could be because they didn't expect rebels to have FTL ships.

Then again, if you don't expect your enemies to have FTL ships, why have a defensive fleet around Hep (which was gone when we came there due to a ruse by Steve)? And why the laser cannon batteries all over the planet?

But yes, now that they know we mean business, they might very well start installing defenses around their FTL chokepoints.