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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

CTD - Stun Baton


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You just need enough voltage to get the shock through the body. The amps are what does the damage. If the stun rod is a touch weapon than the voltage is negligable.

 

Rather than having an autocalculating weapon or one that recharges, just have the stun rod use a set of batteries that charge a capacitor. Once the capacitor is up to speed you can discharge all of the energy at once.

 

I think that a stun rod, in reality, when facing an enemy bent on killing you, would be set high enough so it incapacitates 100% of mansized creatures that it hits. This might facilitate a 50% death rate in the process, but if I was a squaddie I would never leave it up to chance.

 

Multiple quotes are handled like: Fux0r said, "Mom said, 'You can have all the cookies you like.'" or Fux0r said, "Mom said I can have all the cookies that I like," or Fux0rs said that his mom said that he can have all the cookies he likes.

 

Conversely, multiple paragraphs in the same quote look like:

 

Fux0r said, "Soandso walked down the street in in front of the old barn. It was a nice day and the sun was shining.

"Boy I'd like to kill that son of a dog."

Edited by fux0r666
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  • 4 months later...

That stun rod sounds very complicated. It would probably be cheaper to equip X-Corps officers with baseball bats. :spank:

I don't think that the stun rod needs to worry about safety. Today's capacitors can hold huge voltages, yet barely hold enough energy to burn your finger tip. The real danger is when that electric current hits your heart, and everything goes haywire. You could say that X-Corps officers are trained in the safe use of it (ie. don't aim for the heart). So set the stun rod to 11 and let them have it! :devillaugh:

 

"Those floaters are a pain, man. The captain wanted us to capture one, but our stun rod would kill them all the time. It short circuited their life support, they said. That's when I found out, these things are hard! Two dents later, and we were dragging their leader aboard the [skyranger]!" -Squaddie Hans Wolfman, recently promoted.

Edited by Robo Dojo 58
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Heh heh heh heh! I love the quote! I think the bit about "That's when I found out, these things are hard!" is a little odd sounding...maybe something along the lines of "I was watching the intra-squad baseball game in the hanger when I had an idea...next mission, a leader was captured with only a mild concussion."

 

-The Captain

Edited by Cpt. Boxershorts
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maybe something along the lines of "I was watching the intra-squad baseball game in the hanger when I had an idea...next mission, a leader was captured with only a mild concussion."

I dunno about that. It sounds too scientific, for just hitting an alien over the head. ^_^ I wanted the quote to sound like Hans just came back from the mission, and he's bragging to his buddies. :beer:

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Yes, that is funny, but do we really want to give the player the idea that the best way to use this super tech stun rod is as a simple club. A police baton would be cheaper, and probably more effective.

 

Also, that auto calculation for the amp/volts raises some awkward questions. How does it know what it's shocking? How did X-Corps know to program it for aliens they hadn't even seen yet, much less done medical studies on?

 

Also if we go too far into the specifics of how it works, we walk into a minefield. If we get it right, it's really cool, but not many people will notice it, and if we get it wrong, not many people will notice it, but the people who do will think less of the game. Also, we don't want to overwhelm the player with obscure techno babble, when all they really need is an explanation of what it does in the game, and how it does it. I think it would be better to just say that the stun rod "is designed to incapasiate opponenets by overloading the nervious system with a surge of electricity, esentally scrambleing the signals sent from the brain to the muscles." Or something like that.

 

It also seems that there are a whole lot of high tech, and seemingly delicate, components going into something that is essentially a cattle prod. Just beacuse X-Corps is a high tech outfit doesn't mean that they can't use simple, tried and true meathods.

 

I think that the fact that it does not always work can be explained by saying that the stun rod is basically an up gunned version of a standard police issue riot prod, and because of that, it's default setting is enough to put down a large sized male suspect for a period of several minutes, allowing the officers enough time to 'bring order to chaos', which usually involves dealing with other suspects and immediate threats, cuffing or otherwise restraining suspects, confiscating weapons and contraband, and securing the immediate area. This would probably translate to about 5 minutes of total incapacitation, and a few minutes more before full recovery.

 

If we want to go ahead and include the autopsy research bonuses to the use of stun prods, it would be simplest to just say that it has a controll knob or some other simple manual controll device that could be quickly used in the feild to adjust it to different settings, and that the research reviles which settings are most effective on different aliens, and that the soliders are assumed to automaticly choose the most effective setting.

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Galvanic resistance can be measured in an instant, and it puts out the voltage needed to push current. This takes like 1/100 of a second to make the adjustment. The rod tries to push a certain current which knocks down the average person. Some aliens are more resistent though, so it's not a perfect system. I don't think it has to be very fancy or elaborate to do this.
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Seeing how long this entry has been worked on, why don't we take everything we have up to the holidays and finish a final draft so we can move on. Let's say the end of the month we should finish this up.
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I ALWAYS hate it when I see Breunor as last poster. It always means one of two things:

 

1) I have done something wrong, or

2) I haven't done something.

 

I believe this falls into the latter category.

 

I will do my best.

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:crying: My mere POSTS are hated? :crying:

 

Let me reword my previous comment, hopefully so I can better state what I meant and not fall into either of your categories.

 

There's been lots of good ideas that IMO have been worked into the text, and at this point the differences that I see are minor differences in taste rather than major issues with the text itself. So unless other people still have issues with this text, let's wrap up the discussion and post a final version in the next week or so.

 

:beer: Cheers!

 

:D

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Ok, but I was merely saying that if you just posted an amendment or suggestion, you get overruled/put behind j'ordos or Cpl; you are never last poster :D But if you put your foot down about something, the thread dies, usually. :D
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size 17? oh my...and I thought my size 12 was big :o

 

 

Why just not give the aliens a blaster bomb down their throats? :devillaugh:

 

On a more serious tone...Let's just focus on the main rod function. Shocking aliens. So..it shocks them...like "bzat". If we get too deep into tech stuff we're walking on a marsh....How about we set a fixed voltage(like 5k Volts...that should punch through those damn mutton skin)? Now for the amperage(which is what actually counts) I don't know....which makes me feel quite useless about this post... 2 amperes are enough to stop an human heart..suppose it should be more than enough to stop the heart of something smaller like a sectoid... dunno

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Like in other texts where discreet numbers can raise questions, I think it's best not to give specifics in the text like how many amps or volts. I agree that since the original game's stun rod was only for disabling and not for killing, the text should reflect this. Saying the voltage is sufficient to affect most humanoids, and the current is strong enough to incapacitate an average adult without killing a child sized adult, something vague like that...
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Weeeeell. *points vaguely at thread somewhere* I did say sometime that it was roughly 0.1A to frazzle a human heart, and I don't recall (many) people objecting, so I would imagine that would be nearer it. That would mean that to stun someone the rod must put out a pretty pathetic charge. Just a thought, but does electricity interrupt neural activity at all?? (RE: Vague fuzzy plot mechanism)

 

Also: SIZE 17 FEET!!! WTF DO YOU WEAR; THE BL00DY SHOEBOXES??

 

I feel so puny with size 11 :D

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That would mean that to stun someone the rod must put out a pretty pathetic charge.

Here's an AWESOME link on how tazers and stun guns work. http://www.personal-selfdefense-online.com/stunguninfo.htm

And another one... http://www.personal-selfdefense-online.com...information.htm

According to it, you only need 3 milliamps (.003Amps) at 15-20KVolts (minus resistance) to utterly confuse the nervous system. Shock devices usually work off of 9V batteries, and the total current is at highest 3 Watts. For those of you that tried, it's hard to even burn your tounge by putting a 9V on it. :blink: Stun devices aren't made to bake someone from the inside, you're trying to disable them by f$cking around with the nervous system. It doesn't take too much to do that.

I think it's okay to use numbers. Just take some from our modern tazers, and add a few thousand volts, for better combat use.

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Some fluff text:

 

"we figured if it could make an offensive lineman pee his pants and drool on himself, it should work for these alien bugs too."

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  • 2 months later...

I have put off the inevitable for a long time, procrastinating all the way; I am presently rewriting the stun rod entry for the X-net, just give me a few minutes to finish it. This time round I plan to actually close the deal; I am off school, and so shoudl have plenty of time to devote to this masterpiece.

 

Yeah right, you believe that this is a masterpiece' and you'll believe anything! :rolleyes:

 

I will upload shortly.

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Good one Dipstick. Fluff text could read something like.

"Those goddamn stun batons, man they really hurt. Left a bruise like being hit with a tank and the headache... I'll never complain about hangovers again." Anonymous vict... testee.

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I'd like to see somthing added about the fact that they needed a melee weapons of sorts that would be effective against the wide range of alien physiologies. Prefferably a none lethal method so that aliens could be captured. Since many of the recruits had come from the armed forces and military police, the stun baton was an obvious choice.

 

Fluff text?

 

"About that time a new contraption arrived. Unmarked car, a team of suits: the works. Looked like they were from the government or something. They wanted us to help test a "control weapon for unspecified but hightened physiology". The director asked us to test it out. I took one look at the specs and told Mikey that if he tested it instead of me, I'd take his taser shots and rubber bullets for a month. Judging the amount of time he spent in the hospital, I'm sure I got the better deal."

 

- "Moving Target - tales from the UN non-lethal weapons research center" by J. Spliner.

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Bigger is always better: "Even the long-time ex cons shuddered when they saw that baton come out of the case. We nicknamed it the King Dong stun baton." Sorry, I'm just being silly I guess...
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  • 3 months later...

What about me? I think I should have the honours as this has been the scene of my only CTD entry forming over many weeks.

 

I shall savour this thread (as will many other people :rolleyes: ) and, so, with a heavy heart, this is the Stun Baton thread....signing out...... :crying: :boohoo:

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  • 7 months later...

Capitalizations of “Aliens” have not been denoted.

 

I understand the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance (V=IR), but I feel that the text is more easily understood without getting into the fine details, hence the nature of my suggestions.

 

Red text indicates additions, orange text indicates deletions, and blue text indicates comments.

 

STUN BATON

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Weapons/Stun Baton

 

This device The Stun Baton is designed with one purpose in mind, and that is to incapacitate an enemy soldier without killing him.  In this field it is truly exceptional.  In experimental trials testing, every single animal and human fell subject was rendered unconscious after a single encounter with a [stun Rod Mk4 'Attack Rod'] the Stun Baton.  It has been designed by using existing counter-rioting stun rods and extending them further using cutting-edge technology.

 

The world's best biophysicists have developed this piece of technology by through extensive testing on terrestrial beings organisms, so it is may not neccessarily going to be 100% effective against extraterrestrial beings. Possible inconsistency: isn’t the stun baton available before the Alien threat?  If so, suggest changing reference to Aliens to “untested specimens/species/creatures/animals.”  This is despite there is Although an on-board computer which automatically calculates the estimated force needed to incapacitate the being presented to it target, because the computer it has not been programmed using Alien specifications so it and may not be correct err when encountering Aliens with vastly different physiologies than the ones used for testing.

 

From the outside Externally?, this device the Stun Baton appears to be like any other crowd controlling device, with a handle and a tip which that discharges a powerful electric shock.  On the inside interior, however, is one of the most impressive technological displays in any modern weapon.  The precise voltage required is determined by the aforementioned computer.  This is immediately fed to a capacitator, which begins to charge.  Within milliseconds, the Stun Baton’s capacitator is charged charges to the required amount, and the rod weapon is ready to discharge into the enemy for use.  As the tip of the rod baton makes contact with the an enemy and discharges, the an electrical shock disperses into the target's body, and targeting two places in particular: are targeted.  One is the voluntary nervous system, and the other is and the heart.  Both are severely disrupted by the minimum of minimal electrical shocks; the only trouble is getting administering the correct voltage the exact voltage to overcome the resistance of the body that the shock has to travel through.  For example, if the voltage is too great, then the resultant amperage may be too high.  If this occurs, critical damage may be done to the nervous system, and in particular, the heart; cardiac arrest and death may occur very quickly.  On the other hand, if the voltage and consequent amperage electrical current Changed because amperage was used only shortly before.  are too low, then the subject may either be unaffected, or merely stunned for a very short period of time.  The latter case is usually generally preferable, and this is why the computer on within the device has been programmed to err on the side of caution, in line with current riot control models.  This is to ensure that the rod does not accidentally kill anyone safety feature helps prevent accidental deaths..

 

It is the advice of the weapons department The Weapons Division advises that this weapon be used cautiously and sparingly in tactical situations, with caution, because actual contact is required with the enemy to ensure that this weapon is effective.  I don’t quite understand what this last sentence means.

 

"Those goddamn stun batons, man they really hurt. Left a bruise like being hit with a tank and the headache... I'll never complain about hangovers again."

- Anonymous testee.

 

"About that time a new contraption arrived. Unmarked car, a team of suits: the works. Looked like they were from the government or something. They wanted us to help test a "control weapon for unspecified but hightened physiology". The director asked us to test it out. I took one look at the specs and told Mikey that if he tested it instead of me, I'd take his taser shots and rubber bullets for a month. Judging the amount of time he spent in the hospital, I'm sure I got the better deal."

- "Moving Target - tales from the UN non-lethal weapons research center" by J. Spliner.

Edited by Astyanax
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Y'know, I only briefly scanned your changes...my first instinct was: WHAT THE £$"£$£"$ DID YOU DO TO IT!!

 

But then, I can't really comment too much :D I am rather biased on this one.

 

My poor text....my poor poor text.....what did it ever do to you??

 

As my brain is rather frazzled atm, I cannot fully assimilate the changes!! too many colours!!! LOL

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You know, I was a bit worried about my "rainbow" treatment of the texts, but then I thought it better to err on the side of excess, since changes can always be discarded. When I have something proofread, I prefer there to be lots of comments and changes rather than a few sparse notes- the changes and commentary and changes signal what a reader was thinking while reading my text and their ideas on how the meaning can improved. It also helps me improve my own writing. Just because I've marked something, don't think that you HAVE to change it. After all, you're the author, and I'm just the proofreader, and you have the final say. But before deciding anything, read the text out loud- that's usually my test to make sure the text is clear.

 

But seriously, dipstick, I'm not maligning you or the text (honest!); it's just that I have a tendency to want to simplify things to clarify their meaning. But then again, I sometimes get carried away, too. :unsure: Still, even though you might not believe me, I have been toning down my comments and changes- most of my proofreadings only include 40-80% of what catches my eye (with the exception of Az's Alien Goal CT- I think we have an understanding). In this Stun Baton entry, it's closer to 80%, because I'm sick and a little grumpy so I'm not really watching myself as closely. So forgive me that. But your text is pretty good- if you'll notice, most of the changes don't really change the meaning of the text. That means structurally, your text is sound; I've just done some cosmetic touch-ups- little things to sharpen the meaning, streamline the flow, reduce passive tenses, etc.

 

I'll admit, it's difficult for me to leave alone something that catches my attention while proofreading. If you think that I'm going doing too much, I suppose I'll have to tone down my commentary even further. :( But I hope everyone realizes that I do not proofread to attack the author or their writing style, but I proofread in hopes of improving the text.

 

-Asty

Edited by Astyanax
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(with the exception of Az's Alien Goal CT- I think we have an understanding).

We don't, I hate you for what you did to my text :cussing:

Nah, just kidding :D, dipstick was not serious, it is our job as proofreaders to improve as much as possible, everyone understands (or I hope they do) that nothing is personal, it's all in the best interest of the game, so no need to constantly apologise or 'tone down' your comments, we're here to make these texts the best, so tone up or else... :devillaugh:

Now let's get down to business...

 

edit: seriously, don't make me angry :sly:

edit 2: don't worry dipstick, I don't use colors, so it won't hurt as much :D

Edited by Azrael
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STUN BATON

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Equipment/Stun Baton

 

The Stun Baton is designed with one purpose in mind: to incapacitate an enemy unit; for which it has proven to be truly exceptional. In testing trials, every single animal and Human subject was rendered unconscious after a single encounter with the Stun Baton. It has been designed by using existing counter-rioting stun rods and extending them further using cutting-edge technology.

 

The world's best biophysicists have developed this piece of technology through extensive testing on terrestrial organisms, so due to lack of test subjects the Stun Baton might not be completely effective against extraterrestrial beings as it is with terrestrial ones. Although an on-board computer automatically calculates the estimated force needed to incapacitate the target, it has not been programmed using Alien specifications; thus it may err when encountering Alien targets with vastly different physiologies than the ones used for testing.

 

Externally, the Stun Baton appears to be like any other crowd controlling device, with a handle and a tip that discharges a powerful electric shock. On the interior, however, is one of the most impressive technological displays in any modern weapon. The precise voltage required is determined by the aforementioned computer. Within milliseconds, the Stun Baton’s capacitor charges to the required amount, and the weapon is ready for use. As the tip of the baton makes contact with an enemy, an electrical shock disperses into the target's body, targeting two places in particular: the voluntary nervous system and the heart. Both are severely disrupted by minimal electrical shock; the only trouble is administering the correct voltage. For example, if the voltage is too great, critical damage may be done to the nervous system, and in particular, the heart; cardiac arrest and death may occur very quickly. On the other hand, if the voltage and consequent electrical current are too low, then the subject may either be unaffected, or merely stunned for a very short period of time. The latter case is generally preferable, and this is why the computer within the device has been programmed to err on the side of caution, in line with current riot control models. This safety feature helps prevent accidental deaths.

 

The Research Division advises that this weapon be used cautiously and sparingly in tactical situations, as actual contact is required with the enemy to ensure that this weapon is effective.

 

"Those goddamn stun batons, man they really hurt. Left a bruise like being hit with a tank and the headache... I'll never complain about hangovers again."

- Anonymous testee.

 

"About that time a new contraption arrived. Unmarked car, a team of suits: the works. Looked like they were from the government or something. They wanted us to help test a "control weapon for unspecified but hightened physiology". The director asked us to test it out. I took one look at the specs and told Mikey that if he tested it instead of me, I'd take his taser shots and rubber bullets for a month. Judging the amount of time he spent in the hospital, I'm sure I got the better deal."

- "Moving Target - tales from the UN Non-Lethal Weapons Research Center" by J. Spliner.

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