[-Norbert-]

Exactly how do you prevent vapours from, well, expanding due to zero external pressure, so you can collect it again? O_o
You must have some massive vapour collectors.

Mass Effect fields. Among other things, they can be used to create shields (called kinetic barriers) and artificial gravity.

Since FS2 ships use artificial gravity, they could mimic a similar effect with their gravity generation technology I think.

[Jellyfish]

About heat, why not do the Shivan thing and shove it into subspace? Unless that's beyond the GTVA level of technology

[Mars]

About heat, why not do the Shivan thing and shove it into subspace? Unless that's beyond the GTVA level of technology

Alliance analysts have no explanation for this weapons system. The Sathanas' main beam cannons discharge kilotons of magnetically confined plasma at .9998 lightspeed. They are capable of continuous fire without overheating. It is unclear where the heat goes, leading GTI analysts to the unsettling conclusion that these weapons are not compatible with thermodynamics as we understand it. It is possible that waste heat is somehow shunted into subspace, or that the Shivans use quantum sleight-of-hand to process the heat out of local space. No allied warship can survive engagement with one of these weapons. Current GTVA tactical doctrine calls for concentrated bomber strikes to destroy these weapons before they can be brought to bear on allied capital ships.

Sounds a little beyond them.

[General Battuta]

If somebody actually calculates the yield implied by that techroom description I bet it would blow up star systems or something 

freespace physics

[Liberator]

Wouldn't a captive singularity make for a pretty decent heat sink?  Maybe that's that the Shivans do?

[General Battuta]

Well...it's an interesting notion and I couldn't immediately reject it, but I believe a black hole with a mass of 'merely' 10^11 kilograms will radiate blackbody emissions at something like 10000000000000 degrees, and probably evaporate right quick.

[Doko]

What kind of timeframe can we expect for R2 at this point?

Days/months/years? I have no idea what kind of time it takes to complete a mod of this magnitude and there's an overwhelming amount of posts in these boards. (just joined a couple of days ago)

[Mars]

If somebody actually calculates the yield implied by that techroom description I bet it would blow up star systems or something 

freespace physics

1 short ton at 99.98% light speed is "only" 973.96 Megatons of TNT

[General Battuta]

What kind of timeframe can we expect for R2 at this point?

Days/months/years? I have no idea what kind of time it takes to complete a mod of this magnitude and there's an overwhelming amount of posts in these boards. (just joined a couple of days ago)

Well, R1 was in development for 18 months, which was good time all in all. That timespan included a lot of hurfing and blurfing about that we won't have to do on R2, and most of the team didn't even show up until towards the end. We also had to help identify and fix a few SCP bugs.

On the other hand, R2 is significantly more complex than R1 in terms of its missions. It's been about 5-6 months since R1 came out and we're closing in on 1/3rd 'done' with R2 mission-wise. So I'll tentatively say 12 months to go.

When we push Act 3 to beta we'll try to do a veiled preview. We're very happy to have a lot of deep, multi-angled gameplay, but the big challenge we're facing right now is that we have to explain it all to players in a way that's transparent and fun.

One thing I can say is that you're not likely to have any less reading in R2, but more of it will (hopefully) be optional or set up in a way that you can easily breeze by it.

[crizza]

I would kill for a screenshot...

SRy for double posting...
but who was the godfather for the GTD Raynor?^^

[General Battuta]

Stratcomm, Lt.Narol, CODEDOG ND and mikhael.

[crizza]

Ah...I think I...asked the question the wrong way...
The GTVA ships classes all have mythical and other sources for their names...Hecate,Orion, Deimos, Titan, Diomedes etc...
but Raynor? Marshall James Eugene Raynor?^^

Next question...how "big" are gauss cannons and massdrivers?
To big to be mounted on the turrets of a Raynor or Titan?

[General Battuta]

The Raynor's name was never altered from that of the original design (by the above chaps), probably in part as a tribute to their work getting the model worked up and available to the community. Why they selected that name I don't know. I'm not sure it's ever uttered in voiced dialogue which would make it reasonably simple to change to the Atreus-class if we ever felt so inclined.

[Hades]

It was named Raynor because it looks very similar to his Vulture bike.

[Liberator]

Which he doesn't ride any more....

[Hades]

Which he doesn't ride any more....

No, but you have to remember that the Raynor was made way before SC2 was released, and the retail-quality model even before that.

[-Sara-]

I sort of got used to Raynor, but it does not fit in the list now that I know what it's named after.

[Mars]

All of the Titan class ships we've seen have been named after British vessels. The Raynor isn't the only one with naming differences.

[Hades]

Not exactly. Even in FreeSpace 1 and FreeSpace 2 have Terran ships had mythological names for its type (prominently Greek) but used different geographical names for each individual ship, such as Soyokaze, Intrepid, Eisenhower, Carthage, Repulse (which is also the name of at least one British naval ship), and Aquitaine. In fact, most ship names were probably not Greek.

[-Sara-]

All of the Titan class ships we've seen have been named after British vessels. The Raynor isn't the only one with naming differences.

Cannot be compared, I don't think there's much which can change that. Titan's were mythical beings. Raynor, if called after the Starcraft character is an entirely different source. But it sticks to the player by now.