Man, this is brilliant. If you happen to write more, I'll run to read it!
Hmmwell, I have been rewriting many entries for my own version of the en-US.yml descriptions file, up to v1.3.1 now, if you want to take a peek. It usually takes me about half a day, casually, to merge my changes back in whenever there's an update you made which I want to grab. I like to put a standard comment on all my own changes to identify them as my own desc, for that reason.
Here's a few snippets:
STR_SMALL_RADAR_SYSTEM: "UFO Detector" #modded, added
STR_SMALL_RADAR_SYSTEM_UFOPEDIA: "Using the basis for the UFO detector found in the Alien Communicators, a larger version was built. It reaches a few hundred nautical miles and will do a sweep for UFOs every 30 minutes.{NEWLINE}Most of the research was trying to figure out how large the facility could be and still get as much theoretical detection as possible, a challenge due to waveform deformation and a second problem: This detector technology is inherently noisy, Commander, so the use of it could give the position of the base doing the detecting away, potentially." #modded, added
STR_IONIZER_UFOPEDIA: "If there weren't so many of this weapon on the field, we'd think this huge piece of junk was a prototype. Its governor firmware, needed so this autofire-only weapon doesn't melt in the hands of the operator, has extensive comments and inactive subroutines. From that, we figured the weapon wants to grow up someday to be a fearsome anti-machine ion cannon, but all it does right now is spew photons and cause encumbrance issues. It is powered by a Cyberweb Battery." #modded
STR_BOLT_ACTION_CLIP: ".30 Cal M1 Ammo" #modded
STR_BOLT_ACTION_BUY: "M1 Garand Acquisition" #modded
STR_BOLT_ACTION: "M1 Garand" #modded
STR_BOLT_ACTION_UFOPEDIA: "A rifle employed by the US Army in WW2 and the Korean War. Its clip holds eight .30-06 rounds and the rifle is semi-automatic. Famous for its 'ping' sound when the clip comes out, the M1 is also infamous for causing 'Garand-Thumb' so be sure to count the rounds you fire. Very reliable, the M1 is deadly with enough patience.{NEWLINE}Securing M1's from Turkey where they all seem to be these days, is trivial but requires Promotion I, Commander." #modded
I also modified the number of rounds for that rifle (five->eight). The graphic looks just like an M1 and I just couldn't resist throwing this classic weapon into the mod. ;)
I really like these. In fact, I'm considering actually using them in some form. Would you be OK with that, dptheog?
Why sure. Many of them are simply minor edits to the grammar or to remove some spoiler I thought was there like, psionics references in dossiers when psi-tech wasn't a prerequisite,
or to explain established plot rationale more, like, why the ZSRR Red Dawn grunts are so eager to perform for their masters, as listed in STR_ZSRR_BIO_ENHANCEMENT_UFOPEDIA.
Attached is my version. Many descs imply another modification done elsewhere, like, how I removed the turn limit on crop circles missions.