Talk:Elerium-115
Has anyone ever came across an issue in the CE version of UFO in which a landed UFO gets assaulted and my guys leave the Power Source intact, however, at the summary screen at the end - there is no elerium, although the power source appears?? I'm confused - I don't understand how that could have happened! I've only seen it once so far - could have been data corruption... not sure :s - Phoenix
Elerium is the very last item to be spawned in a battlescape map (first X-Com equipment, then alien equipment, then Elerium).
If you brought too many items to the battle site, it's possible that there wouldn't be room in memory for the Elerium. Bring along enough stuff and you can also deprive the aliens of their equipment.
Was the Elerium visible during gameplay (little purple stun bomb thingy sitting on the power supply, or white + on the radar)? If so, try picking it up (the power supply won't explode if you just shoot it).
Cheers for that Bomb Bloke - I haven't seen it happen again, as there has always been elerium on the missions that I expect it. After having a read through this site, about the object table overflowing, I can understand how that can happen. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future. Cheers again! :) - Phoenix
If you used explosives (grenades or cannons) near the power source, it's possible the Elerium was destroyed (damage=20) while the power source remained intact (damage=50) --Ethereal Cereal 21:33, 8 May 2006 (PDT)
Re the "mining near Cydonia" issue. As per the UFOpedia:
"It is not naturally found in our solar system and cannot be reproduced."
However, in X-Com 3, Transtellar mines the stuff from Mars (and brings back regular shipments). Therefore, there must be a reserve near Cydonia.
While there is no official explanation, a meteorite seems to be the most likely cause of this.
- Bomb Bloke 21:41, 31 May 2007 (PDT)
- My apologies. I do not have access to X-Com: Apocalypse, and was basing my data merely on what was said in the game. In light of the new information, it can be reverted if you desire. `Arrow Quivershaft 21:56, 31 May 2007 (PDT)
Tequila, I've been away a while and am just noticing your "1 Elerium" section. Very interesting thoughts! Thanks for that bit of armchair science!!
But I can think of a couple of issues... on the one hand, surely at least the Avenger is space-worthy, which could mean it may fly in little or no atmosphere. This is also probably at least potentially true for all the researched craft, since they all use elerium engines and alien alloys, and are originally designed based on researching UFOs (all of which are space-worthy). Also known as, why not make is space-worthy, if you're designing something strong enough to face UFOs. (Even 1990s fighters could fly very high in the atmosphere, with a principle reason for not going to space being there's no air for their jet engines... but Elerium does away with that concern.) On the other hand, you left out of your calculations the price to be paid for fighting off gravity. That's surely energy expensive! (Look how big rockets have to be.) So you might consider toning down the drag factor... and introducing a big gravity factor, if you care to have another go at it.
I also really like the alternate approach to playing XCOM on your User:Tequilachef page. A few small conceptual constraints which make a huge difference in game play (a.k.a. there's always a real risk of losing).
- MikeTheRed 17:34, 10 October 2007 (PDT)
You are right I guess. I formerly had the gravity issue included by that: "Now we take that keeping the craft at max speed only uses 95% of required energy per mission..." I now changed that to 75%, which seems more likely to fit but is still far from exact. In reality, the aspect of overcoming gravity would create a VERY complex mathematical problem. Flying higher lowers the atmospheric density and therefore atmospheric drag, but raises fuel requirements for obtaining flight height. Considering that complex flying maneuvers might be necessary for interception and that the starting height might vary from base to base no absolute solution exists. Constant calculations by computers would be a necessity. Remember: Both atmospheric density and gravity depend on height (or distance from gravity source) and are both differential equations. If anyone reads this and has loads of time, feel free to work out that one. Else, I would prefer those educated guesses ;)
- tequilachef
- It's worth noting that while the UFO Power Source may be incredibly efficient in Elerium use, there is no guarantee that this is so in regards to the alien weapons. In fact, given the size of a power unit, I'd say it's more likely that the weapons are extremely inefficient in Elerium use. (Especially the heavy plasma clip; 3 times the Elerium for one-third more shots and just over double the killing power of the Plasma Pistol.) We also don't know exactly where that Elerium used in construction of the grenade(or anything else) goes; it's quite possible that only a fraction of it goes into the charge/warhead and some is used in the creation of functional parts. Also, it should be noted that explosions do NOT scale linearly; twice as large a warhead on an atomic or hydrogen bomb does not equal twice the explosive power. In addition, it's been theorized that the explosion from UFO Power Sources is not from the impact; its from trying to start the UFO's engines in order to escape incoming X-COM troops before it's ready(thus why the aliens are killed immediately before the X-COM turn begins, and not when the UFO crashes.)
- Of course, since this is fiction, it really doesn't matter, just thought I'd bring a few things to the table since you seem interested in scientific accuracy. Arrow Quivershaft 15:53, 2 November 2007 (PDT)
- After running the numbers myself (54000nm in 10hr is, indeed, 10000km/hr - or about 278m/s) I can say that the quoted figures are slightly off. According to some quick research the density of air at that altitude is the same as the density of air at sea level. However, I used the classic formula of the drag equation:
- Fd = 1/2ρv2CdA
- where ρ is the density of the air, v is the velocity, Cd is the coefficient of friction and A is the surface area. Using this we get Fd = 1/2 1.293 * (2782) * 0.3 * 20 - or about 299,785 Newtons of force. For total power requirement we use the Power Requirement equation P=FdR, where Fd is the result of the preceding Drag equation and R is the range - stated as being 100,000km (100,000,000m). Solving that equation we find that we require 2.99785*1013 Joules of energy. This figure, following the figures, is 75% of the total available power from the Elerium, so the total available power is 3.99712848*1013 Joules. With c equal to 299,792,457m/s plugged into Einsteins famous equation of: E = mc2 we get a result of 4.4*10-4 kilograms. However, this is stated as being 99% of the total, so we have a full load of Elerium fuel for the Avenger of 4.49*10-4kilograms. That is, 4.49 grams of fuel - and as the Avenger is stated as carrying 12 units of Elerium, the result is that each unit is 0.37 grams - that's right, 37 centigrams of Elerium per fuel unit. - Shadow 18:23, 2 November 2007 (PDT)
- After running the numbers myself (54000nm in 10hr is, indeed, 10000km/hr - or about 278m/s) I can say that the quoted figures are slightly off. According to some quick research the density of air at that altitude is the same as the density of air at sea level. However, I used the classic formula of the drag equation:
- As for a Terror Ship containing 200 units of Elerium, if my above math is correct (as I believe), the result of that Elerium detonating at 100% conversion, isn't even equivalent to a 2 Megaton nuclear device. (200 units is about 74grams - direct conversion of all that mass would release about 6.65*1015 Joules of energy. 1 Megaton is equivalent to 4.185*1015 Joules. This places a 200 unit, 100% efficient explosive at about 1.6 Megatons in size. IIRC the largest nuclear device ever built was around 200 Megatons. (Note that the edge of non-overpressure damage for a 1 Megaton blast is around 20 Miles) - Shadow 22:12, 2 November 2007 (PDT)
- Damn, this is all very cool armchair stuff. I just added a link at Realistic_Equivalents#Elerium-115. If anyone wants to summarize/move all this conjecture there, that's fine, but it sounds like it's still a moving target, as it were. And the E-115 page is a good enough place, anyway. - MikeTheRed 22:42, 2 November 2007 (PDT)