Arzamas-16

Nuclear industry RTS Game

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"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer

Key Features

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Real nuclear physics

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All nuclear related calculation are based on real life scientific formulas like multigroup diffusion equations.

Reactor designer

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Design your own nuclear reactor ! From simply uranium-graphite pile to most advanced accelerator-driven subcritical reactor.

Nuclear bomb designer

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Design most powerful weapons in mankind history. From few kilotons fission bombs to dozens megatons multistage fusion bombs.

Build and manage

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Build and control all aspects of the nuclear industry, from uranium mines to spent fuel reprocessing plants.

Control the production process

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From ore mining to bomb assembly, you can control every step in production chain.

Arms race

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Building few bomb isn't easy, but what about whole country nuclear weapons stockpile ?

Contamination and radiation simulation

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Your actions have consequences, especially in the nuclear industry.

Economy simulation

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Mod support

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You can create your own game items like elements, isotopes, chemical compounds, vehicles, working equipment,... virtually every game item with simple XML file edit.

Some numbers

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3 100+
Isotopes
118
Elements
7300+
Cities
500+
Chemicals

Roadmap

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Project history

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around 2010

First ideas about something like "Nuclear tycoon"

I've always enjoyed games and programming, and I've always been fascinated by nuclear energy. So the idea was simple. How about a game about making nuclear weapons ? And so the first completely futile attempts began, at that time in visual basic with output to windows form...

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some time after that

The realization that this is not the way to go

After a while, a big discovery came - visual basic and windows form are not good tools for creating games. So the selection of more suitable tools followed - C++ and another big mistake, own graphic engine based on SDL.

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some more time after that

Alternating successes and failures

While I fell in love with C ++ and the "tycoon" game core itself didn't look bad at all, the custom graphics engine was a disaster. After a while I decided that I would not waste any more time on the graphics engine and I would focus on the game core, so the console became the new graphical output.

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even more time after that

Nuclear physics kicked in

The time has come to program the nuclear items themselves, the initial plan was simple - to clearly define individual items such as fuel rods, moderators and so on. However, the results of this approach were not good. So we need to call science to help. The idea was simple. How about the equations that are used to simulate a real reactor? That's the way ...

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around 2015

...a very long way

full of terrifying mathematics, fortunately my friend studied nuclear physics at university, so I had access to many very good books and other study materials. The development itself has essentially stopped.

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around 2017

Resurrection and salvation...

...in the form of Unity engine. Unity was the answer to the problems with graphic output - professional engine with great support for free, there was only one flaw - no C++ support. Fortunately, C# is a good friend of mine, so that wasn't a major issue.

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around 2018

Welcome to New Nuclear World

after rewriting all the original C++ code into C#, it was time for a new version of the library for calculating nuclear things. This time the results were more than interesting. The door to simulate all possible nuclear devices, from simple accelerators to fusion bombs, has been opened.

Already done

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Elements and isotopes

Game contains all currently known elements and the vast majority of all known isotopes.

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Chemicals

There are currently more than 500 chemical compounds in the library.

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Building construction

From wooden shack to underground bunker.

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Workers

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Mechanization

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Ore mines

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Criticality calculations

Can this pile of uranium and graphite sustain a fission reaction? This thing can calculate it.

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Radiation simulation

What distance from that spent fuel rod over there is a safe distance ? Let's find out...

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World map

200 countries, 7300+ cities, 1400+ rivers

Work in progress

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User interface

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Local sites map

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Pollution spread

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Buildings visualization

Plans for the future

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2021

First playable version

for now with very basic graphics, but with most of the core game mechanisms - simulation of reactors and radiation, production chains (from ore processing to reactor production), simulation of workers (including radiation and chemical poisoning) and others.

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2022

Graphics overhaul

Some numbers

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3 100+
Isotopes
118
Elements
7300+
Cities
500+
Chemicals

Path to the bomb

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Obtain uranium

At the beginning of every nuclear program is uranium ore.

Design bomb

Gun type or three stage hydrogen bomb ? The choice is yours, but keep in mind the capabilities of your industry.

Obtain fissile material

What do you need for a bomb? Weapons-grade enriched uranium or high purity plutonium ? Either way, get ready for the long and dangerous journey.

Build bomb

Test it!