Cpl. Facehugger

"WHAT???, DAMMIT :Rant:" Well, It's not my fault that you didn't check the previous posts before you started proofing it. "Alex would be Alejandro in spanish, maybe you already know that. I just feel that the latin arms/drug dealer is widely used in many many occassions and has turned into a stereotype, which I dislike totally and wouldn't want Xenocide to further reinforce it" Why yes, I know that Alejandro is Alex in Spanish, but I chose Carlos as my spanish name for personal reasons. Okay, I'll nix the nationality. How's John Smith grab you? "Well, part of this is, I admit, personal bias. As I see it, when you're writing in an established setting, allusions should be obvious enough to be noticed, yet subtle enough so as not to make the reader think more about the reference (the real world, Microsoft, Windows, Bill Gates, BSOD) than what the text is actually about (Xenocide, Sidewinder IIb). It'd be a distraction, and it's a balance of sorts. On the other hand, if you're writing satire or parody, it's the exact opposite." I see your point. In the latest version (coming within the week, I hope) the MS references will be a lot more subtle. "I just feel like they are kinda... ridiculous, no offense , but is it plausible that in 2012 is there going to be a company so similar to MS?, even with the owner called so similar to Bill Gates?, it sounds kinda odd in an X-net entry." Meh. Difference of opinion. I thought it was cute when I was writing it. "I did note that the XC-1 Gryphon entry saying it was the first hydrogen-based aircraft, but it implies that the hydrogen fuel cell technology was "just discovered." If the Sidewinder and Titan have used hydrogen since 19xx, then there might be a little problem with the chronology. However, I think this can be cleared up by saying something like: "the Sidewinder and/or Titan missiles were unveiled to the world shortly before the experimental XC-1 Gryphon design was slated for flight testing." Good idea. I haven't read the XC-1 entry for quite some time, so I wasn't up to date on what it contained, so I didn't add it in. That's something else to add in. "Titan entry says Sidewinder has hydrogen fuel cells, Sidewinder does not say that, or it is not very clear." It says a 'Fuel core of hydrogen stored in Carbon Nanotubes for added stability.' Reworked into 'fuel cell' for easier comprehension in the WIP version.

If you post conceptual/fluff/nonspelling problems with the text, I fix them. I don't see the problem here.

I shall also rewrite this one for flow. But to answer some of your questions, yes HEAT is an acronym. It stands for High Explosive Anti Tank. Composite armor is also a *real* armor, but it isn't very descriptive. I could have used chobbham or reactive armor, which *is* very descriptive. Also, where did the Auto-Rifle come from?

I shall rewrite this one as well. Especially that fluff.

*Gasp* You're right! I can't believe I didn't catch that! Anyway, for the rest of the comments: "Why is that they realized that they needed a new missile? Do Sidewinder AA missiles really exist?" Sidewinder AAMs do exist, and they're used at medium range on average American fighters. The thing is that AFAIK, they're getting on in their years. Personally, I would rather have a different name for the missile, but 'Sidewinder' is the name that was voted upon. So I'm stuck with it. "This two paragraphs were edited by me previously, as I felt that they was leading to political issues. I’m not even sure if I like the revolution to obtain weapons by an 'unscrupulous arms dealer', which is also a latin man, that could be taken as political, I know I can. I personally don’t want the US stereotype of the unscrupulous latin arms/drug dealer to be further reinforced. We’ll see about this later." What's wrong with a revolution getting arms from an unscrupulous arms dealer? Those are pretty much the only places that Revolutions can get weapons if they aren't proxies of a wealthy government. (As the Mujhadeen rebels were in the Soviet-Afganistani war) Anyway. Carlos is my adopted spanish name. If you'd like, I can change it to my normal, American name. Alex. Or any other name would work too. Bob, Fred, Billy-Joe... Carlos was just chosen to sort of work in a little personal easter egg. "It does not explain why that security feature is needed" Another Microsoft reference, how 'bugs' tend to become 'security features.' You obviously didn't understand it, so I should probably nix it. "*Snip* Various other Microsoft references" I don't see why they should all go. I can see them being less obtrusive, but I am kind of fond of them. If you can give me a reason for why they should be axed, I'll delete them. As it stands though, I'll rewrite them to make 'em a bit more subtle. Meh, I'll have to rewrite this CT anyway. It was my first, and, looking back, not very good. "Sidewinder missile does not mention the hydrogen fuel cell stated in Titan, we have to add that or take it out of the Titan." Actually, it is mentioned. But I guess it isn't very clear, so I'll have to rewrite it. Edit: Az, looks like you got the wrong CT. The current one was on my previous post, not the first post. Many of the grammar and some of the word choice errors are corrected on the new version. Astynax, thanks for the input.

2. Okay. I suppose that works. Conceeded. 3. Ditto the above. 4. Hydralisks can penetrate 2cm of neosteel, but they can't penetrate 2cm of glass windshield? If Hydralisks can penetrate 2cm of Neosteel and can't penetrate a glass windshield, then wouldn't that, logically, make Neosteel weaker than glass? 4b. The book I mentioned earlier also has a small group of hydralisks shooting down a battlecruiser with relative ease. The BC wasn't destroyed in one hit, but it didn't take thousands either. 5. Pheonix missiles have a range of 160 kilometers. Hmmph. My sources say 184. Guess I made a mistake. But anyway, the Pheonix isn't exactly the most maneouverable missile out there. Certainly not enough to take a fast-moving, dodging UFO which, by most accounts are extremely quick and maneouverable. It also doesn't carry the big warhead necessary to damage a UFO that can take fusion weapons. Avalanches do. 5a. Of course the Wraiths can load their missiles with regular explosives. But unless they load their missiles with enough explosive to deal kilotons of damage, they aren't going to be shooting down alien battleships with any semblance of speed. Further, we've never seen Wraiths deal out the kind of damage that even a very small fusion weapon would by necessity deal out. So unless they suddenly redesign all their missiles to use fusion warheads (something that isn't particularly likely, especially given that fusion warheads aren't the easiest things in the make right) the wraith is going to be no match for an armed alien ship. As for the anti-matter, it's not very widespread amongst the Terrans in SC. The nukes have it, and the battlecruisers/science vessels *may* use it in their reactors, but that's it. We've never heard of it being used for anything else. heck, the containment systems probably take up more mass than the rest of the missile combined! 1. It's most likely space velocity. If something as big as a BC moved that fast in an atmosphere, it would be ripped apart by windshear. Further, as for the 'travel throughout the galaxy' part, they *must* have used a FTL drive of some sort, otherwise, even going at .9c, it would have taken years to get from planet to planet. Finally, for the Wraiths, we don't know how they get inbetween systems. They're probably carried on battlecruisers or some carrier we haven't seen since a craft that small couldn't carry enough fuel to go interplanetary in a reasonable amount of time. 2. Of course there are things that don't make sense. But that doesn't change the fact that they are the only hard numbers that we have for the X-Com side. Going by ingame only means that SC is even more doomed than they already are. Since, ingame its weapons are weak.

) 7. To fire a plasma you must at least suspect where they are comming from. And plasma weapons are precise weapons, so until the wraith´s captain first shoot (that will be made in all possible directions, even mixed with batteships) the BS won´t know where to hit or to suspect. That´s surprise and is the lethal element of wraits that bring terror and panic to the fleets. To fire a FB... well, i wonder how would you fire them without getting the BS´s unaffected by the explosion... with a single wraith on their very nose or between them!!! That´s a palestine behaviour... . Moreover, at the velocity in wich a wraith goes, it can easily change it´s position by 70 km is a second. So you fussion ball will be overun and also it´s explosive area (taking the fussion explosion area as 30 miles, if the wraith/s go/es away in the last second.). 8. Well, if you analize it here http://www.battle.net/scc/zerg/units/hydralisk.shtml you will se that the needles can perforate 2cm of neosteel. But they are covered with acid that will corrode the metal. Moreover, how much thick was that glass? Perhaps that glass is about 2 metters thick and that would be and interesting point. I know BC neosteel armor is even thicker, but the acid covering the spines thorough those 2cm helps a LOT. 1. Using common sense, alien bases are strong enough to take point blank nuclear impacts. Just like UFOs. Further, I wasn't serious about the city destroying blaster bombs. As I have said repeatedly, I am just using that as an example to prove why game balance arguements when you're talking about two games are foolish at best. 1a. Same situation as above. However, we do know that Etherials can void the laws of physics with their minds, which is far more than anything the Protoss have demonstrated. 2. The Xel'naga were idiots who got themselves eradicated by the Zerg, and that was before the Zerg got any of their nastier units. Their choices are suspect. After all, they 'chose' the Zerg too, and look where that got them. 3. So the Protoss power things psionically? That makes them even weaker than I suspected, because there is no way a sentient being can power say...a plasma shield system with its mind alone, unless we're talking about godlike psi entities here. (And by godlike, I mean truely godlike, killing whole planets with just a thought, et cetera.) 4. I'm afraid that I don't have the money to purchase the book. I spent all my money on a shiny new computer. Anyway, more speed in space is a good thing, usually. It means that the enemy has less time to intercept you with point defenses. Further, the mission the Wraiths were doing (a quick hit and run by the looks of it) means that they would want all the acceleration that they could muster to get in and get out. 5. And Shadows of the Xel'Naga is also sold by blizzard, and that is the novel that has Zerglings killed by pitchforks, and the battlecruisers with armor less effective than glass. Point? 6. Ten primitive interceptors that can move at mach 2.3 in atmosphere, firing missiles that have ranges in excess of sixty kilometers. It's pretty safe to say that those missiles are a lot more advanced than normal AAMs. In the X-Com novel, it's stated that an X-Com cannon can penetrate 16 inches of steel. That's 333mm RHA. X-Com interceptors can resist said cannon fire 'easily.' They're so overpowered that the USAF would kill to get their hands on just a squadron of them. Further, we have no reason to assume that Wraith missiles are equivelent to Avalanches. Avalanches have a longer range, and *probably* do more damage. After all, they can shoot down alien battleships, which can resist elerium boosted nuclear ordinance. Starcraft Wraiths have shown nowhere near the range, velocity, or armor as an X-Com interceptor. Therefore, my quote runs true. Your wraith may be more *advanced* than my interceptor, but it's still inferior when it comes to capabilities. 7. Meh. Conceeded. I don't feel like argueing on that. 8. The glass was a thin, unarmored, unreinforced windshield on a jeep (or a jeep like vehicle.) Further, a small projectile like a Hydralisk's shot shouldn't do appreciable damage to anything the size of a battlecruiser, unless the battlecruiser's armor is really weak (which the spines vs glass and spines vs battlecruiser armor scenarios show.)

Yeah, but not everyone has a DS or the money to shell out for one. Advance is a much more widespread system that still has the capability to make a decent X-Com.

1. Not necessarily. You'd actually need only a few well placed nukes to totally alter the planet's ecosystem, and ta da, turn it into a desert. But the fallout is the main threat from a nuclear, or anti-matter explosion, and the fact that it was safe to live on Korhal within a lifetime indicates that there wasn't much fallout, meaning that the nukes were probably low yield. It's not like Korhal was glassed, it was just contaminated with nuclear weapons, not had its entire surface turned to a glittering ball of molten glass. 2. The balance I'm talking about is also common sense. Specifically, If the blaster bomb is a fusion explosive, it should have a minimum yield, and that minimum yield, IIRC is around one kiloton, or 1/40th the bombs that were detonated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or, in other words, enough to wipe out anything in the Terran arsenal in one hit. Similarly, from the UFOpedia, we know that Etherials are so powerful mentally that they can violate the laws of physics at will. And if they're powerful enough to do that, there isn't really a *limit* to what they can do. Perhaps disrupt the strong nuclear force of all the terran units they can see? Do the same to the planet perhaps? 3. There is nothing that indicates that anything in starcraft, with the possible exception of the overmind, has the necessary psi-strength to resist mind control. 4. That statement makes no sense. The protoss obviously have a way to protect themselves from their own shields, but the shields can't be *too* powerful, or the protoss will need a big battery or small reactor to power them and their containment systems, which we don't see on the Templar, Zealots, or most other shielded protoss units. 5. And yet, we don't see wraiths move that fast in cutscenes, why? Come to think of it, we don't see battlecruisers more that fast in cutscenes. Why? As for the fusion balls, I was refering to proximity detonations. If something gets too close, blammo. As for the wraiths, their lasers and missiles are still too weak to do any appreciable damage to the alien fleet. Unless they've got nukes hidden in those tiny missiles that nobody ever mentions... To fire the plasma beams, they don't *need* a target. They can just fire randomly where the enemy fire is coming from. Since they essientially have infinite ammo, they can do that for as long as need. 6. The aliens fleet won't be defeated. How many times do I have to mention 'it takes multiple fusion bombs to destroy a battleship' before you understand that Terran weaponry isn't up to the task? 7. Incorrect. There is no reason to assume that they have range proportional to their speed. That we see wraiths firing within visual range means that they don't have that kind of range, and since we never see evidence of BCs with that kind of range either... 8. Remember that we're not talking about acid here, we're talking about hydralisk spines that couldn't penetrate a glass windshield. These very same spines that then went on to shoot down a battlecruiser. Thusly, BC armor is weaker than glass. Conclusion? BCs get stomped utterly by superior alien weaponry. In addition, BCs in that book never fire at targets beyond visual range, and then there's the fact that BCs never move as fast as they do in Liberty's Crusade...

It's all in the X-Com backstory, which you can find by searching certain X-Com fansites and message boards. Oh, and we're doing something similar for Xenocide.

1. Okay, that's more like it. But remember that Korhal wasn't glassed. It was just reduced to a desert and it's even inhabitable within a lifetime. The fallout from those nukes obviously wasn't very long lasting, certainly not as long lasting as the fallout from modern nukes that lasts for centuries. 2. Balance again. Blaster Bombs can level entire cities, Etherials can destroy planets with their minds. Balance arguements do not work when debating two games because BOTH sides can pull the same arguement. 3. Forgotten how to use low level psi abilities? My god, they must really poor memories, and they obviously couldn't write it down... I'd be willing to accept the explanation that they aren't trained to do it. Yes, you can MC more than one unit with a Dark Archon, but you have to wait for it to recharge its energy. Etherials and Sectoids...don't. They can mind control two people right after the other. 4. What system are we talking about here? The weak field to protect the user from the plasma shields? Because, that's common sense, they'd have to have it otherwise they'd be burning themselves to death their own shields. It's like Marines, we're never told that their armor is powered, but given its size it would have to be, otherwise the person inside couldn't move with it on. 5. There are two things that the aliens can do about the wraiths: 1: Find them with their mental detection systems (Referenced in the UFOpedia entry for the Mind Shield) or simply fire at where the lasers/missiles are coming from. Or they could just use Fusion balls and randomly detonate them near suspected Wraith squadrons. 6. Of course the tank suffers no damage in the process. What I'm saying is that, by the laws of common sense, the siege tank is easier to damage than one that doesn't transform. Further, the fact that it uses 'plasma shells' doesn't mean anything. We don't know the yield of these shells, and there is no reason to assume them equivelent to alien plasma beams, which may not even be plasma at all. (TFTD's gauss weapon branch is supposedly an 'outgrowth' of plasma technology, and it shoots anti-protons...) Now, I've finally dug around and found where I read about the Hydralisk vs glass and Hydralisk vs Battlecruiser that I mentioned in the Zerg thread. Specifically, in Starcraft Book #2, Shadow of the Xel'Naga, we see Hydralisk spines are unable to penetrate normal glass. Later in that same book, we see Hydralisks fire at a Terran Battlecruiser, and actually shoot it down, with their very spines that couldn't pierce glass. What's this mean? That Terran 'Neosteel' is weaker than glass. Now, that book is crap IMO, but it's still just as canon as Liberty's Crusade, so... Terrans may go 250,000 miles per hour, but they still can't take a plasma hit and survive. Therefore, they still get just as pasted by the aliens, but the aliens take more casualties than I originally thought.

1. All we know is that Korhal was turned into a desert. We do not know how many missiles that the Confederacy used. It could have been millions for all we know. Nor do we know what kind of missiles they were. 2. We can compare numbers using a common base. For instance, I know that alien plasma weapons are more powerful than Protoss photon cannons because the alien plasma weapons can kill an unarmored civilian in a single hit. Photon cannons cannot. 2a. You're assuming that X-Com laser cannons are the same power as Wraith lasers, which certainly isn't the case. X-Com laser cannons are as overpowered as the rest of the X-Com arsenal. Tank mounted laser cannons can kill civilians almost as well as a heavy plasma, something which your wraith laser certainly can't do. 3. Okay. But why can't normal Dark Templar mind control enemies then? Or high templar after the Protoss exodus to Shakuras? 3a. Furthermore, I was contesting that there are a lot more MC capable Etherials and Sectoids than there were dark archons. (And then there's the nasty fact that Sectoids and Etherials can MC multiple enemy units, something that the Dark Archon can't do, and it even loses its shields when it does...) 3b. Plasma shields...Well, the Protoss probably have some method of keeping it away from the skin, probably by using weak magnetic fields or similar. The fact remains that if the plasma was truely high energy, any zerg attacking the protoss would take damage, and the protoss would probably take damage too. 4. Blizzard can rate it as well as they want, but unless they've made it official, its story isn't part of the canon starcraft. 5. Thank you. Concession accepted. 6. Strategic weapons are a deterrent. If both sides have strategic weapons (as they do in this scenario) then you can't use strategic weapons because the other guy will use their strategic weapons, and that would result in your terrans being glassed completely and totally while the aliens still have other colonies. Strategic nuclear weapons have never been used in a war for precisely this reason. 7. Aircraft are not tanks. Further, the transforming aspect of the siege tank makes it more complicated, expensive, and prone to damage than a regular tank. To add onto that, Fighter/bomber aircraft are less effective at either role than a dedicated fighter or bomber.

1. Yes of course. I do not dispute that Anti-Matter is more efficient in causing destruction than deuterium fusion, or plutonium fission. What I dispute is your claim that Terran Anti-Matter nukes are hundreds of times more powerful than modern nukes, because you haven't told me how much anti-matter terran nukes have. Anti-matter isn't like plutonium, it doesn't have a critical mass that is required for an explosion. For all we know, there are only a few milliigrams of anti-matter in a terran nuke. Given its use as a tactica nuclear weapon, it probably doesn't have much more anyway, but I digress. If you used an equivelent amout of anti-matter in an AM bomb as you do plutonium in a fission bomb, you'd get a much more massive and powerful explosion. The problem is that Terran nukes don't demonstrate anywhere near that kind of yield, so we are forced to conclude that they use less anti-matter than they would plutonium in a fission bomb. Because, let's face it. If terran nukes used several pounds of anti-matter (the critical mass for a fission bomb), the whole planet would be contaminated for thousands of years. As well as having a huge chunk blown out of it. Anything Hit with a nuke would be vaporized instantly, and there would be a massive crater where the target was. 2. Of course the Terrans have the technology to contain the anti-matter. My point is that the containment systems (not to mention the redundancies that would be necessary to prevent the thing from blowing up on the launch pad) will take up a lot of space. Conventional Nukes are finely tuned devices, if just one step fails, the nuke won't explode. Anti-matter bombs are the opposite. If just one thing fails they will explode, completely destroying the area they exploded at. Therefore, the Terrans, unless they are totally incompetent, must use a lot of redundancy in their anti-matter containment systems. And that redundancy takes space. Space that you wouldn't need for a fission/fusion device. Quoting Mike Wong's site eh? Good for you. Perhaps you should reread the photon torpedo section, it details just what the difficulties are in producing a workable anti-matter weapon far better than I could. Here But I digress; Terran anti-matter weaponry is not a particularly widespread technology. They use it in their nukes, and possibly the reactors for large ships and that's it. If they solved the problems that anti-matter has as easily as you suggest, Most of the Terran units would have anti-matter generators, anti-matter powered guns, et cetera. Compare the rarity of terran anti-matter tech to the aliens' plasma tech. Practically every alien weapon uses plasma in some form, with the exception of the blaster bomb and alien grenade. The aliens have clearly beaten the problems with plasma technology. Probably by accelerating it to extremely high velocities, as Wong suggested. The point is that the aliens plasma technology is more mature and widespread. Terran anti-matter technology, on the other hand, is incredibly rare. 3. Err...That Sickel addon is just a fanmod. It has no bearing on the official Starcraft Story. It'd be like me using a X-Comutil stats to prove that human tanks can take blaster bombs. Or like me using the Starcraft-Robotech addon to prove that Goliaths can really transform into fighter jets. 4. Of course the aliens will send scouts. But they'll send far less scouts than they did against Earth, because there is less they want. And because there is less of a population on the major terran worlds. 5. Incorrect. The UFOpedia entry says that it can be easily used by humans and reproduced with alien alloys. In addition, it says that it's an optical processor. Optical as in, light. At worst, it's some sort of crystal based rig and at best it's a quantum computer. Both are functionally immune to EMP. But even if they weren't, Remember that alien craft can stay flying after a nuclear explosion at point blank range. That's a huge amount of EMP being released, far more than a terran science vessel's EMP shell. (otherwise, marine armor would cease working, goliaths would stop moving, dragoons would fry their occupants, et cetera.) EMP isn't going to help the Terrans against the Aliens. 6. Sickle is a fan addon, not produced by blizzard. It is not part of the Starcraft story, therefore it's contents are inadmissable. Just like how I'm not trying to introduce Xcomutil's improved stats, or Xenocide's more indepth plasma explanations. Further, Protoss technology is weaker than X-Com alien technology for the following reasons: A. Protoss plasma shields are just that, plasma. Further, they can't be very powerful because they don't burn their user, or the Zerg that killed Fenix in the cutscene. Plus, the Protoss psionic tech is pathetic. It takes a Dark Archon, a rediculously high cost unit to mind control something. And even then, it loses its shields and most of its energy. Compared to an expendable Sectoid leader...The aliens are better at mind control. Sure they can't use psi-weapons to the same extend as the Protoss, but they don't have to. Their plasma weapons are far more efficient. B. Of course. But once again, that is related to a mental ability of the Arbiters inside the ship, and it cannot be used frequently, certainly not as frequently as alien mind control. The aliens don't need such special abilities to make them a formiddable fighting force. Their weapons speak for them. C. Allow me to refer you to Mike Wong's style over substance essay from SD.net. Here. It basically says that it doesn't matter how advanced your weapon is, if it's less powerful than my rifle, it's still less powerful. So essientially, your Protoss can have their phaser disruptors and whatnot, but since they don't do the damage of an alien plasma rifle, they are inferior weapons. D. Elerium 115 is an element that, before the alien invasion, was never seen on Earth, and probaly never even theorized to exist, much less have the properties it does. Futhermore, there is no need for the Aliens to use psionic power as the protoss do. It is inefficient compared to Elerium reactor, which can, in sufficient quantities, generate enough power to keep a plasma cannon firing forever. The aliens don't need to rely upon pylons to provide power for their ships or weapons or anything else. (For that matter, today we have wireless power transmitters that work like pylons. They're noisy and inefficient, so that's why we don't use them. I'm actually kind of surprised that the Protoss are so backwards. ) The X-Com scientists can go from not understanding alien alloys to designing and producing a superior combat craft within a year. That dwarfs anything the terrans have ever done in the R&D field. Actually, the Terrans have had more experience with psionics than the X-Com humans, so they should have understood Protoss technology more than they do. Ghosts are said to be selected at birth because of their psionic abilities, something that X-Com never had the ability to do until the construction of a psi-lab. Therefore, the Terrans should have been able to reverse engineer protoss psi technology if they were as skilled as X-Com scientists precisely because they have had experience with psionic events before, whereas X-Com had none. Heck, X-Com went from having next to no knowledge of psionics to being able to mind control psionic entities like Etherials, which are so powerful as to void the laws of physics. Terran scientists aren't dumb, it's just that X-Com scientists are obscenely smart. 7. Most tanks can't function as artillery, and most artillery can't function as tanks. The Siege tank can, but that just means that it's a jack of all trades but a master of none. 8. Explosive power depends on the amount of anti-matter you place into the bomb. That means to have a tactical weapon, you'll have to have a tiny amount of anti-matter, while a strategic one can have more. If you put too much anti-matter into your strategic weapons, you'll end up with a planet that nobody can live on. That means that your nukes are limited by evironmental effects just as conventional nukes are. Unless you want to live on an irradiated planet that has nothing alive on it but cockroaches... So your nukes that are hundreds of times more powerful than a fusion warhead are completely unusable because they'd screw you just as well as they screwed the aliens. And that's even assuming that you can get enough anti-matter to put in one of those nukes. On an aside, I was just reading the Elerium 115 UFOpedia entry. It can generate anti-matter in quantity. So if the aliens wanted to, they could just load up a battleship with Elerium and crash it into your bases, vaporizing half the planet. Strategic weapons are never used precisely because they incite your enemy to bring out their own strategic weapons.

Now that I disagree with. Goliaths are larger, but they've got light, most likely 12.7 mm autocannons. Sectopods take 40mm shells (from the Heavy Cannon) like candy. Plus, Sectopods also have a plasma cannon that is far more powerful than a 40mm cannon. Unless the Goliath has a laser hidden away, it loses by virtue of not being able to effectively harm a sectopod before the sectopod blasts it away with a plasma blast.

1. As I implied earlier, I don't believe that Sectopods can fire miles of distance. That's just another arguement to show you that "Unit X can only do this ingame, but in real life they are so much better because the game's balanced" is not a viable tactic when you're debating two games. Conceeded about the Siege Artillery though. The ingame model looks like the turret raises at an angle, as opposed to a normal tank cannon or field gun. 2. That is true, missiles are mostly engine and tracking device. But if you went with anti-matter, you'd have to work out a good containment system, which takes up space and adds cost. So to have an anti-matter bomb equal to a nuke, you can use a smaller warhead, but the space you saved will be taken up by containment measures, less the nuke explode inside your base. So, in essence, you've got something equivelent to a normal nuke at a much greater cost with a far greater margin for error. Okay, that site you posted has only bare bones information. First off, anti-matter is theoretically one hundred percent efficient. The problem is that the 100% efficiency figure refers to the absolute upper limit, assuming that each and every atom and subatomic particle reacts with the anti-matter at once. Not too likely, given that most of an atom is just empty space, with a small nucleus in the center and even smaller electrons circling around it. That 100% efficiency figure assumes that each and every particle will react, that none will get tossed away by other particles reacting with the anti-matter. It also assumes that the particles will get close enough to hit at all, not at all a given since these matter and anti-matter atoms will be repelling each other as much as they attract each other. 3. I said that a Wraith's cloak doesn't last too long. It certainly lasts more than a few seconds, but I doubt that it lasts for more than a few hours. As for the wraith laser, why did they fire more than once at the tiny confederate sattelite in that scene if one laser was enough to do the job? Surely they wouldn't want to waste power and by extension fuel...? I don't remember the orbital platform they shot at, so I'm not even going to try and argue about that one. Ingame though, the lasers are really weak, and that's what I was basing them on. 4. As for the anti-matter, as I said above, the only advantage of anti-matter is that it is more efficient than fusion. We don't know that it's more powerful because as I said earlier, what you get is dependent on how much anti-matter you put in. You're assuming that the Terrans use the same amount of anti-matter in their nukes as they would plutonium or deuterium. This is probably not the case due to two things: Cost (anti-matter takes an incredible amount of energy and therefore money to produce) and Safety (You need really good containment systems or your anti-matter bomb will explode on your base before you get a chance to use it. I'm waiting with bated breath for the battlecruiser quote. Finally, for the neosteel: Until you can give me a quantifiable yield for the anti-matter bombs (or even just how much anti-matter they use, which I can use to calculate yield) we don't know how effective it is. That it can resist anti-matter bombs when we don't know how much anti-matter the bombs contain is useless. For the Battleships vs fusion bomb scenario, we can assume that for the absolute lower limit, they can resist 1 kiloton of energy, which IIRC is the minimum yield for a fusion device. Not like lower limits mean very much in this situation though. 5. Where can I find this addon? I've never even heard of it. 6. True. But remember that most of the alien recon missions in X-Com were based around harvesting people and animals, as well as finding X-Com bases and terror site locales. If the aliens were just going to annhilate the Terrans, there certainly wouldn't be as many scouting missions. 7. X-Com scientists are in a class of their own. They can go from barely understanding alien alloys to manufacturing fully functional assault troop transports that are better than anything the aliens have produced within a year. To contrast, the Terrans have probably been studying protoss technology since the first time they fought the protoss and recovered destroyed protoss materials and equipment. We see no advances as a result of this research. No improved marine armor or similar inventions. What we do get, Valkeries and Medics, come from Earth, not from the Colonies. Now, I don't know the timeframe of Starcraft, but I'd wager that it's more than a year. In that year, X-Com went from a group of cannon fodder with weak rifles to plasma toting, powered armored assault troops that are psionically capable. X-Com humans advance hideously fast. heck, even the *official* timeline says that the first alien war lasted only five years, and much of that time was trying to find where the alien's main base was while holding the line against the aliens' superior numbers. Five years is not a long time to research and reproduce (and even improve upon!) completely alien technology. SC humans don't advance so fast. If they did, we'd be seeing new equipment that uses protoss technology, materials, or designs. X-Com humans are masters of reverse engineering, but the Terrans aren't.