Science-
Lava Issues referring to units trucking thru dried lava
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Pillow lava (actually the nickname given to lava that flows underwater, but it works for my explaination) typically oozes out of volcanic areas at a slow rate. These lavas are usually composed of denser materials (granite) and form thick lava fields. These lavas dry densely and would basically harden into bedrock. Very drivable.
The mechanisms that drive a volcanic explosion are determined by : depth of magma, composition, pressure, gases. When magma is under pressure for long periods of time, the lava becomes gas-saturated much exactly like a bottle of coke is carbonated. When the colvano erupts, the gasses immediately leave the magma and escape at high velocity due to the change in pressure. Typically lava that comes from these types of eruptions are still heavily saturated with trace gases and are comparatively brittle to other types of lava. A lava field from this type of eruption would be crunchy and difficult to drive thru.
I think this opens up an option to allow volcanoes to erupt in more than one way: constnatly oozing, slow-moving lava that once dried is easy to drive on or sudden, violent, convulsive eruption that blankets an area with brittle ejecta. I kind of like the idea of having more than one lava type. Lava walls to redirect slow-moving flows and then having much more rare, violent explosions that are harder to defend against.
This brings to memory custom CnC maps where meteors constantly rain down on certain parts of the map. It would provide extra strategy in multiplayer too. If you simply drive your tank column directly to the enemy, theyll likely get pumelled by falling ejecta aside from avoiding obvious flows.
Id also like to see additional lighting features: if theres an electrical storm, have the lighting for the map dim and change shade (once again, like Cnc).
This thread is prolly old and dead, but Im bored and needing to flex my geology geek muscle!
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Aircraft.
Ive always envisioned militarized versions of hi-flying atmospheric drones. You could make early available air units look like simply modded weather drones and as the tech tree expands, make them look progressively more specialized (fighters, bombers, scouts, etc).
Look to those US military bots. Theyre basically modded versions of university science weather drones with a maverick missile duct-taped underneath.
I always thought aircraft would be a more reliable, REPLENTISHABLE means of surveying than satellites. IN OP2 the colonies decided to shut them all down anyway (until you send up the EDWARD sat). Arent lynx just modded scouts? It would stand to reason scientific aircraft would be modded into attack craft.
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Building/Unit Evacuate-
Colonists can evacuate buildings or units at anytime. If a building is about to explode, you can remove all staff from them to avoid population loss. However, colonists can only survive for a limited amount of time on the surface due to exposure issues. Colonists do not move swiftly on the surface, so evacuation transports or another building to load into would have to be reasonably close. Colonists on the surface have no offensive capabilities. You could even incorporate "tube exits" to where if a building is evacuated, colonists can re-enter the colony by entering a small building (maybe less than the size of a defense turret) connected to a tube.
This would kinda replace the system of "global population" in that if you build a command center on the other side of the map, colonists magically appear there to staff it. But I suppose this would only really be desired if you wanted to make the game much more realistic.
On second thought, this isnt really a good idea. Since units arent staffed, it doesnt really make sense anyway.
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Thanks for the heads up, Hooman! That's what I get for hitting the forum first thing in the morning 
