Disasters

[Combine Crusier]

I believe it would be appropriate to organize the thoughts on possible disasters.
I have already read about the salt mines but there hasn't been much on it's particular effects and classes.

Previous games disasters.
Meteor OP2
Vortex OP2
Earthquake OP2
electrical storm OP2
solar flare OP1
alien virus OP1


Got to cut this short.

[Combine Crusier]

Volcanic eruption OP2

Possible other new disasters.
Magma vein = Micro volcanic eruption
Eclipse = night during 1 entire rotation (effects solar power plants)
Acid rain = similar damage to eden acid cloud (fast moving)
tremor = minature quake damages structures only
Cooling lava = lava that does damage over time (not instant) effects speed
Dust storm = Effects visibility and weapons effectiveness
Presure burst = gas pockets that exploded when vehicles move over them causing heavy damage
Volatile minerals = explode when shot causing damage to surrounding units
Volcanic explosion = hurls rocks into nearby terrain damaging units.

[Savant 231-A]

Volcanic eruption OP2

Possible other new disasters.
Magma vein = Micro volcanic eruption
Eclipse = night during 1 entire rotation (effects solar power plants)
Acid rain = similar damage to eden acid cloud (fast moving)
tremor = minature quake damages structures only
Cooling lava = lava that does damage over time (not instant) effects speed
Dust storm = Effects visibility and weapons effectiveness
Presure burst = gas pockets that exploded when vehicles move over them causing heavy damage
Volatile minerals = explode when shot causing damage to surrounding units
Volcanic explosion = hurls rocks into nearby terrain damaging units.

My opinion


Volcano OK

Magma Vein NO :Reason: Hmm... i don't wanna worry about 1001 micro lava eruptions on my base

Eclipse No = Solar Power Stations use satelites -> satelites send light to Solar Power station or microwaves?)

Acid Rain NO = It will only happed if there is pollution (aliens probably)

tremor NO = again... i don't wanna worry about 1001 micro earthquake eruptions, Eden or Plymouth i think have made defense from micro earthquakes

Cooling Lava OK = Just leave the damage over time part and it will be OK

Dust Storm NO = Micromanagment... a little bit too much

Presure burst NO = micromanagment....

Minearals NO =aarr.... micromanagment.....

Volcanin Explosions 50:50 = not sure why.... This ain't Pompeii. "Aaaarrrggg... We are the gladiators, we can't be harmed by smoke 'n fire *a stone lands on gladiatiors head*

[Freeza-CII]

Magma Vein.  Not so good as a Volcano, hot spot or caldera would have formed already.

Eclipse.  I do think that this planet had moons so it is possible.

Acid Rain.  If the specs of the planet are still the same and its Venus like no drop of acid will ever hit the ground.

Tremor = small earth quake nuff said

Cooling Lava.  What?  If its cooling you really have nothing to worry about and your not going to build on it.  Only possibly driving over it.  But then i think it would still be cool in game mark standards.

Dust Storm I think this is a nice idea.  As it could work to both a advantage and disadvantage.  Yes it would effect those things but i think it should be treated more like fog and just have a viewable distance shortened.

Pressure Bursts.  No This would not work as with a gas if you try to press it into the ground it will only escape out to some where else.  Its not going to make a combustion reaction like a diesel engine.

Volatile Mineral.  NO.  If you want a explosion to take out a few vecs or buildings use a star flare.

Volcanic Explosion (Eruptions).  I am not so sure about the rocks but there are other things that come out of them.  Ash clouds and Lava.  the Ash clouds themselves maker stupendous amounts of lightning.  But it would also work a little like your Dust storm idea.  And we all know what the lava will do.  

[White Claw]

The eclipse thing also gives me another idea. You research "Eclipse Predictions" (which is kinda silly because I think they would already know how to calculate that). In either case you would get warning of an impending eclipse. This could give you a tactical advantage because you would know of an "unscheduled night" episode where you could launch a surprise attack (which vech lights off).

I also like the dust storm idea. Probably implimented like the electrical storm but with less damage and less random. (i.e. a constant sand blasting vs. random lightening strikes)

Cooling lava and random gas pockets don't sound likely to me either. Though I might be convinced with additional ideas to support them. Same things as mentioned, why would you build on lava? And if gas is so close to the surface that a vech would release it, then it would probably have already escaped.

Perhaps we could include "sink holes" depending on planetary geology and geologic history.

[Arklon]

What about supervolcanoes? They'd only work (well) as special, directed events, though, not random occurrences (except maybe in a Doomsday-like multiplayer mission). Unless people don't mind getting their entire colony wiped out by one randomly going boom from right underneath them.

[dm-horus]

Meteor - Sure. It really depends on the age of the star system.

Vortex - Yes.

Earthquake - Yes.

electrical storm - Yes.

solar flare - Yes. These happen quite often and most planets do not have an atmosphere or magnetosphere and rarely the two together. Because of that flares would reach the surface and cause increased radiation levels and short out electrical systems.

alien virus - No way. An alien virus would first have to get into the structures and vehicles somehow to cause any harm which is unlikely because any alien organism would not have the equipment necessary to work with our genetic structure to reproduce. Earth viruses hurt us because we share 3% of their genetic material. We evolved with them and vice versa so they are well equipped to enter and hijack the inner workings of our cells. Thats how viruses reproduce. An alien virus would have developed methods for attacking life common to where it evolved, therefore it would not affect us or even be able to survive within us. Viruses are very pragmatic and contain only the genes needed to work with a specific target. Thats why canine viruses dont infect us and why dogs dont get human colds. So an alien virus wouldnt even harm us. Also, if a disease was detected those affected sections of the colony would be simply closed off and methods for air purification which would already be designed to filter biological contaminants would take care of it from there.

Magma vein - No. Magma "veins" dont just pop up out of the ground. They appear in areas of intense geological activity and then only near an event like a volcano. If you go strolled 50 feet from a volcano you could expect to see lava erupting out of small vents but not out in the open of an otherwise calm and featureless terrain.

Eclipse - No. An eclipse wouldnt affect solar power because solar satellites are located in high orbit. Even in the off chance that a sat fell under the narrow shadow of an exlipse because it is in moving orbit, it would swing out from under it within seconds due to their high speed.

Acid rain - Sure. If the planet is geologically active and has an atmosphere, sure. Most planets with atmospheres are caustic to ferric metals and plastics like Venus. Mars is mostly CO2 so even if it had a denser atmosphere it would be fine but thats an exception. Planets that are geologically active have volcanoes. Volcanoes spew out dozens of caustic gases that would disintegrate metal and plastic that would fall to the ground in rain or even fog. Therefore any geologically active planet would have a very high chance of having a caustic atmosphere and therefore acid rain.

tremor - No. Just another type of quake. OP2 had 3 levels of quakes from what ive seen.

Cooling lava - No. In OP3 I think lava should cool naturally, not be constantly molten like in OP2.

Dust storm - Why not. Makes sense, but it shouldnt cause damage. Just make it hard to see units.

Presure burst - No. Again like the magma veins this would only appear in places of obvious geologic activity which you would be avoiding and be aware of anyway AND things like this make no sense. If it takes only a minor disturbance to set these things off, how could they possibly build up enough pressure to damage a vehicle? These things dont exist, but the effect would happen if you were drilling to depths greater than 200 feet. Any shallower than that and it would not be able to build the pressure youre talking about without discharging slowly and safely over time.

Volatile minerals - No. Theres no such thing as a naturally forming vein of TNT so this makes no sense. Only when elements are combined would anything be considered volitile, like throwing a bucket of water on a purified pile of refined Potassium. But if things like this existed on the surface of a planet they would have reacted eons ago and reached equillibrium.

Volcanic explosion - Sure. This goes with volcanoes.

[Freeza-CII]

I am not sure that we need a full blown volcano why have some thing else that flings CC killing rocks.  Keep it to Lava and Ash clouds.

No arklon no super Wyoming Caldera volcanoes that kill the entire planet.

[Combine Crusier]

Your arguments make sense.

As for the pressure burst perhaps it could be used as a sink hole instead and when it occured you could use a dozer to plow it over.

The ash clouds causing lightning sounds like it would be nice! Also if the cloud covers a large area it could interfere with solar power recievers.

The cooling lava idea was the idea that it is still hot but is cooling and hardening.... It's like it's in a mid. phase.

The magma veins could just be from those magma wells. It would spurt up a small portion of lava that would cool quickly but it would destroy any mine that is on top of it.

Perhaps the Tremor could be an advanced warning to a larger quake. Or an aftershock.

Agreed volatile minerals are not common enough to be a hazzard.

Agreed Eclipse would only be a strategic advantage.... May effect ground base solar plants ie ones like we have today.

The alien virus occured in OP 1.5 but after you researched the cure it was rendered ineffective. Also.... If planet Bob (Hey that's my nickname!) is Venus like it may have micro life forms up in the clouds which is theorized about Venus now! That could be the source of the alien virus.

Warning Biocontaminent is loose in Hot Lab 4!

[Combine Crusier]

P.S. (So as to keep post from getting to long)

The Mega Volcano idea could be applied to Krakatoa (think that's how it's spelled) if we had a volcano like that we could set the blast to be similar to that of 4 spaceports similtaniously blowing up. MMMMM nothing like incinerated lynx for breakfast. Of course it would be ULTRA rare as to prevent the map from being to dangerous to inhabit. Of course there may be no lava but what about the pyroclastic flow    Short!!! (As the Russians say.) It would present a challenge but if this was added everyone would biuld far away from the volcanoes of course you should do that any how. (You certainly could tell when it's going to happen!
Also.... I'm rammbling aren't I?

[Freeza-CII]

Pyrocastic flows would only be as dangerous as the Ash cloud.  Since all the buildings and vecs are sealed environments.

If the microbes are up in the cloud they wouldnt have to worry about them on the surface.

I dont think we need a explosive dooms day volcano like Kracatoa or Mt. Saint Helens.  Just lava and the ash cloud to add that effect that would look good in a 3d world and have some impact on the game as a short time disaster.

Oh yes you dont need to double post (two posts in a row) Make the first post as long as needed.  Plus there is always the edit button.

[dm-horus]

again alot of this would rest on the history of planet bob. its age and geologic activity. if its active enough to have doomsday wyoming calderas popping up every once in a while you probably wouldnt want to settle there and youd be aware of them. those kinds of things dont just appear out of nowhere.

the lava vein thing to me still makes no sense. youre not digging down deep enough to reach molten lava. you wouldnt exactly try to drill for oil on the side of a volcano would you? the sinkhole idea is ok, but id keep it limited to areas of high geologic activity....

.... and speaking of which, youd have to keep alot of this stuff centered around the immediate area of a volcano. if all this stuff made it in the game youd be pretty much 100% assured of losing anything you send into an area like that. meaning youd just totally steer clear. wouldnt it be simpler to just have standard disasters instead of 5 or 6 that only happen in close proximity to volcanoes that youd try to avoid anyway? it would be easier just to explain away the danger with regular lava and falling debris.

[Combine Crusier]

Agreed.

Perhaps certain disatsters involving geological activity could be aroun d extinct volcanoes which is where lava is unlikely to be flowing in large amounts but activity can still be moderate.

The magma veins were an idea since i've heard that in Hawaii there have been several instances where people have .... encountered magma veins which run under cooled lava.... Also seen it on Tv. This basically indicates that the sufarce may be travesable but hit a thin area and ..... well you get the picture.

[White Claw]

I thought the planet's name was Cytheria?

A caldera might be an idea for a campaign type mission (run from the volcano), but I agree with Freeza in that it doesn't make sense in the short term. Super volcanoes don't just pop out of no where. A caldera is hard to miss as the crater alone can be several miles across. In terms of map scale, the crater itself could take up a whole map. The campaign idea (running from the volcano) might give creedence to the magma vein as underground magma tubes can extend for several miles in tectonic active areas.

(But then again, why would you land in such an area?)

I don't think there will be ground based solar panels. At least, that's the assumption since it's a Venus type planet, there is a constant cloud cover.

[Combine Crusier]

If I haven't said it already..... You do know that there is actually LIFE in the clouds on Venus! EDIT: Oh I did say that.... anyhow, you have to settle somewhere close to your landing site and the clouds can distort sensors. HOLY SHORT!!!! That's right how are we going to use sattilites with all the dang interference! So much for planetary views....

[White Claw]

There's life in the clouds of Venus? Since when?

[Combine Crusier]

I don't know..... They just say that they found microbes in the clouds of Venus. Now.... How are we going to fix the sattilite problem, we can't see the surface of the darn planet with all the cloud cover!!

[White Claw]

My last post to the off topic part: Who is "they" and in what article is it said that microbes were found? It is theory that microbes might be found in the clouds of Venus, but I have yet to hear of any conclusive evidence. (Same theories af life on Mars and on frozen moons of Saturn, but none yet proven.)

As for other off topics, cloud cover is also not a disaster. However, the cloud cover can be overcome by using radar on sattelites as current topographic mapping is done (and how Venus was originally mapped). Though it's now moving to lasers, but they would have their obvious limitations.

[Combine Crusier]

Another possible for a type of disaster could be a land slide.

[Combine Crusier]

I have a new idea for a disatster! In OP 1.5 there was a chance that your Advanced (Hot) Lab would explode while doing a volitile project, perhaps this could be implemented.

[Tramis]

No, the Hot Lab researches in OP1.5 were few and far between - in OP2, and probably in OP3, the Adv Lab researches are key.  It wouldn't be fun if they just randomly kept exploding - think if they did that when you're trying to out-rush someone, and there you are, having to rebuild your Advanced Lab because it exploded in the middle of researching Mobile Weapons Platform, while the enemy's just finished researching their own Lynxs. You my friend are COOKED.

I can see sandstorms on Cythera - it's supposed to be Venus-like, so why not?  It makes sense for the story.  Just find a way to implement them into the game.  Maybe it slows units down, and perhaps incurs minor damage on unarmored vehicles, and if one came at night, it would reduce the range of their lights.  

One thing that bugged me about OP2 disasters - they're so localized!  Since when does a thunderstorm cover 50 square yards??  I'm thinking that certain disasters - electrical storms, sandstorms - might affect the entire map, or almost all of it, not just a small portion.  Perhaps there could be small caves like the one in the terrain demo, that offer shelter from things like sandstorms and thunderstorms.

[Combine Crusier]

Da...... I was thinking that the advanced lab would explode......... RARELY... when you are researching something more volitile like thors hammer or explosive charges...

Also another type of disaster could be an electro magnetic pulse that disables all unprotected things on the map.

And yet another possible disaster could be............... disease brought by the starship, colonists, structure breach, or a genetic experiment. Of course you could research a cure that would render this ineffective. Also if the planet doesn't have a strong O-zone layer radiation pulses from the sun could cause colonists to die in structures that aren't partially underground or protected by dense armor... For instance colonists would have to evacuate to the basement of their resident when this happens but the people in the CC would be protected by it's armor system.

You could say that structures with heavy or medium armor also have lead shielding.

Yet another and possibly more dangerous disaster would be a plate quake which is where a tectonic plate slides over another creating a cliff face or hill. And last but not least.... a plant blight that reduces the output of agridomes thus causing a potential food shortage. Darn gophers!

[Freeza-CII]

I think there are enough disasters already.

[BlackBox]

I think it's a bit of a problem to have the advanced lab explode when you're doing any research -- the explosion radius is large and would wipe out anything nearby it. Also, it would change game dynamics a little bit (it would basically require the player to have two Advanced Labs in case one explodes, because it would set them too far back to have to build another one, assuming the first one didn't destroy anything important).

Besides, from a science perspective, artificial lightning isn't really going to cause an explosion unless it were to say, strike a fuel container which explodes (Thor's Hammer reminds me of a Tesla coil that outputs a lot more amps and can be directed somewhat). Sounds like more of a fire / heat issue than an actual explosion risk.

Btw, explosive charges is a standard lab research. It's basically a TNT bomb mounted on a turret and there isn't a huge risk there. TNT is a modern (as in later 19th - 20th century) high explosive and is very shock insensitive. (Though many people think TNT = dynamite, which is not true; dynamite is nitroglycerin absorbed into clay to stabilize it. Pure nitroglycerin is quite shock sensitive). In other words, we know how to handle it safely.

As far as EM radiation, the atmosphere and the magnetosphere of the planet (should it have one) blocks out a lot of that (that's why on earth, we aren't getting poisoned by stray cosmic radiation). Besides the vehicles and buildings can be assumed to have shielding from those sort of events, in the case that the planet doesn't have a magnetic field (Venus does not and Cythera is supposed to be Venus-like).

"Plate quake": All earthquakes are caused by tectonic plate action as far as I am aware.

Plant blighting: aren't the plants engineered to be resistant to that sort of stuff? Also, they're in a controlled environment (would have to be the work of terrorists, there aren't going to be bugs roaming loose).

[Combine Crusier]

This is true.

What I mean by quake plate is that one plate actually slides on top of another. Most quakes are caused by pressure. Plate quakes occur when there is A LOT of pressure almost like an 8.4 on the scale.

There was actually a plate quake that lengthend all the days on earth for the rest of time by like 64 micro-seconds! It occured in an ocean an caused on plate to move over top of another...