The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Is it just me or is this race a bunch of ultra-elite conmen?

I ran out of fuel in hyperspace...and I thought some ur-quan would come over and blow me to pieces...and this guy shows up..

his text can be summarised as...

"You're screwed, I know it, and in my generosity I will only charge you your soul and your next life for half a tank of fuel."

What a bastard! how about I shoot mr melnorme to pieces and *take* his fuel!

They're shrewd businessmen.

Yes, they DO seem elitist, but I don't mind;  They have some nice technology.

well, first, you should never put yourself in a position where you're gonna run out of fuel.
if you are ever really low, use the umgah caster to summon the melnorme and use the fuel cheat to fill your tanks for free =)

Melnorme aren't that bad. If you've got _nothing at all_ on your ship he will give you fuel for free. Heh, he sounded so bitter when he did that. *)

I love the Melnorme!  They're mysterious, funny, and generally fascinating.  (And also they have the coolest music IMO, but I don't want to start one of those debates.)

As mentioned, they are shrewd.  I mean, even giving free fuel is good business sense.  After all, they know you're going to end up doing a lot of business with them.  If you die, they don't get that business, do they?  :)

Yeah, but if they give it away for free you'll abuse their kindness (they made their life around trading, so they must've incountered hundreds of races who have tried to pulled thousands of tricks on them). This way they get all the credits they want, because they know you have no choice but to buy from them.  ;D

Actually, paulsid, I agree with you that their music is one of the coolest.  I remember always looking forward to it when I was ready to buy new info or tech.  That initial drum beat ... it was so addictive!

Since this is the Melnorme topic, I figure what better place to bring this up then hear.

  We are told that the Yuli and Drall (and Taalo?) were destroyed by the mind controlled Ur-Quan and that the Foz were slave shielded by the Kzer-Za, which means they could still exist, somewhere.
  The Kohr-Ah cleansed the Yuptar, but the Mael-Num escaped after they used THE WORDS and the Kzer-Za showed up in time and provided a distraction for them.
  Now, my point is ... is there any one out there that DOES NOT believe that the Melnorme ARE the old Mael-num race that escaped?!  Am I wrong, but were the Mael-num described to have one large eye? ... not that that's unique given the Spathi and VUX.

"Captain, you are our favorite customer."

- PsiPhi

The Melnorme are awesome, how could you hate them? They are shrewd business people and it's not like they extort you or something. If you're out of fuel they'll come and give you a special deal which is FAIR. They don't screw you, the stuff they take is worth that amount of ResUnits anyway, so quit complaining. Swallow your pride, buy that damn fuel so you can be on your way home and quiting biting at the hand that feeds ya. Maybe after this you'll learn not to run out of fuel when you've got no credits, eh? </rant>

Also, I like to think that the Melnorme are the Mael-Num, but I'd like to see some more evidence somehow. I've been trying to find the connections between them for years, does anyone have any additional insight into this?

Well, let's see.

They both have one large eye.

Their names sound an awful lot alike.

Only by being so old could they get "a thousand secret sources in space and time"

they refuse to talk about their origins, which I take as evidence that they ARE that old.

Basically, there's no other plausible alternative.

Either that or very new... it's possible that they were created by some other race in recent history. If so, they would not be the first - remember that the Mrnmhmrmn (spelled wrong) and (probably) the Mycon were created as well.

That said, I think it's more likely that they really are the Mael-Num.

Yeah ErekLich, those are all great points.  I mean, these guys have some awesome technology.  If the Ur-Quan have been around for over 20K years, and these Melnorme have better weaponry available for sale, that really makes you wonder.  The fact that they are one of the few races that refuses to talk about their past really enhances the mystery.  They also know a lot about galactic history, including the story of the Ur-Quans.  Aside from that, it seems only poetic that these guys, who once fled from utter destruction at the hands of the Ur-Quan would be assisting someone aimed to take them down.

(maybe some day I can save up enough credits to find out why their bridge turns purple.)

-PsiPhi

I think the Melnorme are very generous with their fuel, 1 credit per fuel unit; that's 20 RU! for 1 credit! I stopped mining after I found that out, now I just collect data (takes no room) mod my ship for fuel tanks, fill 'em up and take them home to the starbase so sell the fuel. After a few runs of that I have all the RU I need.

I tell a lie, I do mine a little, but only at the start, and only radio-actives or better - maybe a few precious metals here and there if convenient.

However, by mid-game I am fully converted to the data/fuel industry.

It serves me well so bless the Melnorme.

I only mine at the start to get resources for modules. Mid and late game I use credit for fuel and any resources I need I get from killing ships or selling ships that the Pkunk, Zot-Fot-Pik, Umgar etc give you.

I think buying fuel from the Melnorme is kind of foolish, unless you are in a serious jam or you've already acquired all the tech from them and the info or you just don't want to bother returning to the Starbase to fill up.  Once you have the Portal Spawner your fuel problems should be minimal.  If you've played the game before, knowing the location of the rainbow worlds makes getting all the tech very easy.
  In fact, I think the fastest way to beat the game is to get enough fuel to make it to the Ur-Quan Pod, then to the Arilou homeworld in Quasi-Space for the Portal Spawner and finally back to your starbase, using the nearest opening, which is about 6 units away.
 Then you need to look at most of the rainbow worlds, which are much easier to reach if you've got Quasi-Space mapped to HyperSpace.  Along the way, you can pick up the Umgah or Burvixese caster or both.
  At this point, the Melnorme should be contacted, all info sold, all tech purchased, and if you need it, refueling.  Now, getting the rest of the RUs to buy all those ship upgrades is a lot easier since your shuttle is safer.  And you can hit the really dangerous worlds on ultra hot planets to pick up the largest and most valuable minerals.
  Selling all these minerals will then allow you to remove all your cargo holds (you won't need them any more) and make your ship into a Dreadnaught killer.
  All the rest of the quests can be done with little worry about fuel, since collecting bio on dangerous worlds is easier, and getting RUs from destroyed ships is easier.
  The one thing you must watch out for is losing the ZoqFotPik (unless you are heartless and don't care).

  The Melnorme are the pivotal role (aside from you and your ship) of this game.  They have the greatest effect on increasing your chances of success.

-PsiPhi

The Melnorme are veritable angels compared to what the Druuge do when they find your ship and it is without fuel.

What happens then? I never had that situation...

Considering that they're the druuge, and they've got you over a barrel, it probably amounts to "Well, captain, before we get to trading, one quick question...can you fly that thing all alone?".  Somehow, I suspect not too many of your shipmates will be going home on your ship.

As for the Melnorme, what bothers me is that they help you at all.  You've got a race of intelligent, space fairing aliens with devices some complicated it can predict death, and yet they still pay you for medical scans of the insides of anything unfortunate enough to be near your ground crew.  Considering that they're obviously capable of doing it themselves - they did, after all, sell you the technology that lets you do it so well - and considering that they're likely capable of making robot probes to do it for them - We come in peace*ZAP* - it seems like an awfully odd thing to do.

I imagine that any alien who would trade you schematics for something called a 'hellbore cannon' in exchange for slides of squirrel inerts should probably be treated with just a little bit of suspicion, neh?

The Melnorme may or may not be innocent, but I don't think their credit system is a very good way to judge such a thing.

They can't get all the information themselves because there don't seem to be that many of them in an area at once. One ship per supergiant star. That isn't even enough for a small fleet.

And yeah, they could make robots to gather info for them but those run the risk of being destroyed by other aliens. In fact, among the more belligerent species, violating territory in such a manner could be considered an act of war. Purposely provoking a war like that is bad business in general, but in the Melnorme's case it either keeps them from getting what they want or else they have to expend far too many resources in order to get it.

It wouldn't be very efficient for those robots to gather information from places that another race has already studied anyway!

Hence, the credit system. It's not perfect, but what is? Besides, they're not forcing anybody to buy weapons. THey offer fuel, information, and tech in general. Most of their tech is defensive in nature anyway. =)

I believe they say something similar, declaring you a derelict (and state boldly that you cannot possibly escape without any fuel) and begin the act of 'salvaging'.

heh, the way I see it, I'd imagine they are so far away from their homeworld, that they have no means of getting extra fuel/resources ect. Maybe they trade away their info to one of their "secret sources" for fuel and other necessities? I could be very wrong, but maybe that's why they never tell you of their bio-secrets. They could be actually quite desperate for your animal info and rainbow world locations. Some races, may need rainbow worlds and animals for survival?