[CRAFT][WIP] E-3 Sentry AWACS

[moriarty]

now if only UFOs could attack Xcom craft... that would be really cool. I could imagine a game variant where you cannot build base radars but have to rely on radar craft... and protect them from the UFOs all the time


on the matter of ultra-fast troop carriers, you can always give the interception craft (very) limited troop carrying capacity. 2 soldiers for an interceptor and 4 for a firestorm would totally make sense...

[Solarius Scorch]

Also, unless the minimum size for an object can be smaller than 0.1, holding fuel is going to be a massive PITA - as a full fuel load for a Skyranger would be like 150 units of size.

Yes it can, one tank minigun bullet in my mod has size 0.001.

As for the AWACS itself, it's nice and creative, but I also feel it's a bit... anal to use. I don't scout with aircraft, except when I know an alien base is there, and I fear the day when it becomes obligatory. Hence I don't really think this craft has any use.

[Sturm]

One thing that is interesting is that actual E-3 Sentry AWACS has only a 400 mile radar while the default radar range in X-Com is 600 miles.

[ibanix]

It's for game play, not reality 

A highly advanced jet fighter (ala Interceptor) wouldn't cost only $600k, either....

[Hobbes]

It's for game play, not reality 

A highly advanced jet fighter (ala Interceptor) wouldn't cost only $600k, either....

But you can actually buy a MiG jet fighter for §260k (and just like in the game, you have to purchase its armaments separately)... so with §600k you can get two MiGs in real life

[Sturm]

It's for game play, not reality 

A highly advanced jet fighter (ala Interceptor) wouldn't cost only $600k, either....

I know. Renting combat aircraft is also pretty absurd.

But you can actually buy a MiG jet fighter for §260k (and just like in the game, you have to purchase its armaments separately)... so with §600k you can get two MiGs in real life

It's a 43 years old type and additionally a training model with removed radar.
Interceptor is a cutting edge craft. By the way, its description says that it has pulse detonation engines. The purpose of pulse detonation engines is to allow hypersonic speed. Interceptor's speed is supersonic 3,1 mach. It should have speed of about 3500 knots instead of 2100 knots.

[ibanix]

The F-22 Raptor, which has sort of a resemblance to the Interceptor, has a unit cost of $150 million.

[Falko]

The F-22 Raptor, which has sort of a resemblance to the Interceptor, has a unit cost of $150 million.

and is in use for 25 years -> 10 million/year -> 500k/month its not that far off

[ibanix]

I think you wanted '17' years; the F-22 had first flight in 1997. (Which actually makes it a good candidate for being the Interceptor).

Besides, the unit cost is how much it costs to purchase one at the date of manufacture. We're not assuming X-COM gets to own it for 25 years!

[Falko]

no idea i have no military knowledge and dont care much about that
but we rent this thing - if we would buy it there would be no monthly costs
if the difference is still just a bit too much then just imagine there are aliens attacking the world! wouldnt you give the defenders some sort of price bonus

[ibanix]

That's true. We're also way off topic - it's not meant to be real, it's meant to be a fun game to play.

I hope the AWACS plane gives some interesting options to players.

[Hobbes]

I present you the Dark Star.



I've reduced its speed and acceleration by half and increased the fuel capacity by three. From my current experience the AWACS needs longer legs to be more useful.

[ibanix]

6000 fuel!? Does that thing ever need to land?

[Sturm]

and is in use for 25 years -> 10 million/year -> 500k/month its not that far off

I don't think anyone would assume that it's going to survive more than a few months at the best.

That's true. We're also way off topic - it's not meant to be real, it's meant to be a fun game to play.

I hope the AWACS plane gives some interesting options to players.

It's a very good idea. I decreased detection radius of Interceptor to 200 miles and of Skyranger to 50 miles and added a specialized Skyranger AWACS with 400 mile radar radius.

[Hobbes]

6000 fuel!? Does that thing ever need to land?

Depends on the flight profile but for instance a Darkstar based on Europe can stay airborne for about 72 hours over South America. Now it is was possible to assign it to automatically patrol an area then it would be perfect to watch over a region.

EDIT: I've actually even increased the fuel to 15000 units since the craft's speed has been reduced to 750 and the time it takes to reach its patrol area actually can cut a bit of the time patrolling.

It is an interesting craft to use. Besides patrolling regions for days you can also send it after a UFO that just flew out of ground radar coverage and it can redetect it quicker than an interceptor. The drawbacks are the max speed which doesn't allow it to keep up with fast UFOs and refueling takes a while.