Some thoughts on mines and mine sweepers

[Baron Munchausen]

Component 75 looks close enough to "Mine Casing" to fill the bill. It's an extra armor image that isn't used in the current techs. The only thing I'm not sure about is if "Level 1" cloaking will prevent normal visibility or if stealth armor starts at level 2 because that's the first level that works. I'll have to test. Otherwise:

Name := Mine Casing I
Description := Advanced absorbing materials which render a mine nearly invisible.
Pic Num := 75
Tonnage Space Taken := 5
Tonnage Structure := 15
Cost Minerals := 100
Cost Organics := 10
Cost Radioactives := 20
Vehicle Type := Mine
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 550
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Mines
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 6
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr := Takes damage before any other components on a vehicle.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 2 Descr := Prevents level 1 Active EM scans.
Ability 2 Val 1 := EM Active
Ability 2 Val 2 := 1
Ability 3 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 3 Descr := Prevents level 1 Passive EM scans.
Ability 3 Val 1 := EM Passive
Ability 3 Val 2 := 1
Ability 4 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 4 Descr := Prevents level 1 Psychic scans.
Ability 4 Val 1 := Psychic
Ability 4 Val 2 := 1
Ability 5 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 5 Descr := Prevents level 1 Gravitic scans.
Ability 5 Val 1 := Gravitic
Ability 5 Val 2 := 1
Ability 6 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 6 Descr := Prevents level 1 Temporal scans.
Ability 6 Val 1 := Temporal
Ability 6 Val 2 := 1
Weapon Type := None

Should mines really be able to cloak against all the other special types of detection? Hmm... if they can't they become useless in the late game. Note the organic cost for this component. Current stealth technology uses a lot of weird epoxy and carbon composite materials, so I figure it will be a component of any stealth in the future.

[Baron Munchausen]

CommanderG:

What's this "Malkari" game? I've never heard of it. If you want to see good space-physics in a game try to get Alien Legacy. Basically it's a space exploration game rather than combat, but you will get some combat out of it. It's old, MS-DOS only, and may only be available on "Abandonware" sites now, but it had system full of planets orbiting in real time and their distance/travel time varied greatly because of it. Your ships had to move in the same way, and often you had to time their movement to reach a certain planet.

[Jochen Schmidt]

I´m happy to see, that it is not only me, who thinks, that the present "mine-situation" is unsatisfactory.

Go on, guys, your ideas are great.

MM, please listen to them.

Jochen

[dmm]

Shadow99 said:
Actually even modern mines can use IFF (identify friend or foe) signals to turn off mines while they are in the area... I've always assumed each race had it's own IFF frequency and that's included with the basic sensors they give the ship...

Reply:
Some current-day mines do, some don't. That's why you're constantly hearing in the news about the difficulties of getting rid of mines in countries like Bosnia. And the reason isn't always that they used junky old surplus mines. Many of these mines are quite advanced, and IFF was purposely left out. The problem with IFF (in general, not just for mines) is that it can be spoofed if the code is broken, and then either your weapons are useless or else your IFF is useless. Another problem is that allies, and even different weapon platforms in the same military, often use incompatible IFF solutions.

[Commander G]

quote:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
CommanderG:

What's this "Malkari" game? I've never heard of it. ....

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Malkari was put out by Interactive Magic before they went out of business. It was a directx game based on the aftermath of a rogue star entering a races solar system to form a binary star system. The planet is ripped apart sending astroids everywhere with biogen bunkers that restart civilization once the radiation levels receed. Each player starts with one astroid and attempts to get as many as he can. The astroids have elliptical orbits around one or both of the suns. The game had 3d capability, but for the most part, you dealt with the plan of the solar system. I could never run it long because it would crash. Others had more luck. I guess you tended to be at the mercy of your video drivers with respect to how they programmed it. I found copies in a software bargin bin. You might still find someone selling it on ebay. It looked promising, but it did not work for me.

[Dweeb]

quote:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
CommanderG:

What's this "Malkari" game? I've never heard of it. If you want to see good space-physics in a game try to get Alien Legacy. Basically it's a space exploration game rather than combat, but you will get some combat out of it. It's old, MS-DOS only, and may only be available on "Abandonware" sites now, but it had system full of planets orbiting in real time and their distance/travel time varied greatly because of it. Your ships had to move in the same way, and often you had to time their movement to reach a certain planet.

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If anyone wants my copy of Malkari, I would part with it real cheap.