The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

In the gamethread we are currently playing an interesting question occurred to me, and I was wondering about it ever since: besides the telepathically endowed races like Arilou and use of talking pets by the Ur-Quan, how are the Alliance and Hierarchy races communicating with each other and within themselves when not on their starships relying on their supercomputer translators to do the job? Was this explained in any of the games (SC1&2)? I've searched the wikia (not overly thorough though) but to no avail  :P here are some of the iconic ways for communication in all of SF that I could think of at the moment:

1 Universal Translator Computer and Xenolinguists (Star Trek + Star Trek: Enterprise (which sux so badly by the way imho, I had to comment on that :) )
2 Babel Fish (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
3 Galactic Standard Dialect (Foundation)
4 Star Wars (I'm not sure about this one...hmm...xenopolyglots? Space Esperanto?)
5 Microbe Interpreters (Farscape)

Is UQM using any of these (or similar to these) or they have their own unique way of communicating? I'll thinker about it some more, but I want to hear your opinions as well!

I can't recall if canon backs me up here, but I've got the distinct impression that the Precursor ship in SC2 had a much more effective translator than other races in the SC universe had access to. I doubt the Hierarchy races have any sort of translating software anyhow. After all, the Ur-Quan rely on telepathic translation. And their Thralls aren't supposed to do much communication on their own. It'd seem appropriate (from the Ur-Quan point of view) to have their slaves communicate with each other in the Ur-Quan language.

On the Alliance side I imagine that there is a much larger interest in learning each others languages, but how effective their translation program is I don't know. I think it's doubtful that it's effective enough to translate completely unknown languages. I'd imagine that alliance members serving on other ships could get a crash language course, and then learn by immersion.

So I'd think that computer translators do exists, but not as effective as the ones you have access to during the game and that a lot of people learn at least a secondary language as well. Of course, this also opens up the whole can of worms regarding languages... We have several, why wouldn't others? Presumably every race has settled on a lingua franca within the race though.

As for some sort of standardised language, I think the Alliance might have some interest in this but I doubt it'd be very widespread. They'd only have gotten a proper incentive to use it during the war, in which they were defeated and enslaved. So it'd hardly have spread outside their respective spheres of influence.

In Judge Dredd there was a special alien language. I only have the comics in Finnish so I don't know the original name for it, but in Finnish it was "jokakieli".

What made it special, was that it was understood by everyone (humans and aliens) without any knowledge of the language itself.

About Star Control:
When the legendary captain Jeffry L. Rand had the infamous first encounter with the Vux, he didn't know that the Vux would understand his words. But they did.

Ok for the Ur-Quan and the pets, but we know from the game that UQ have assigned different races on same missions - the Earth guard force was composed from Ilwrath and Spathi soldiers. And they did communicate, but how? I bet the Quannies didn't gave their pets away to other races  whatever the reason or need they may have...and the alliance had such diverse mix of races that I cannot imagine them learning xeno languages (how can you teach an Earthling to speak in Chenjesan? Do they even have a language in the manner similar to ours?) or having a common talk (~too diverse physiology of some species), even if it was some sort of simple sign language (ditto). Even more puzzling are the Slylandro: now that I think about it, I don't understand how they could communicate with anyone at all; they would be unable to give any kind of return information :P They had no technology to back them up, and their perception of the world is totally different then that of other "groundling" races. I think that even the Orz would have easier time in getting by then the poor Slyl. Zoq Fot Pik are right behind. I also considered the same idea as Luki did that other races could have 10s or 100s of different native languages and dialects which would just make the things more complicated. And if you can't understand the other side you can't do diplomacy with them or trade, let alone make friends. Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke both envisioned us using the universal language of mathematics to communicate with aliens, but I'm not sure how that would work for the races on different levels of civ development. As for the common script, I think that that part would be hellowa lot easier; I imagine them using some sort of pictograms similar to the ones that were used by Aztecs (hieroglyphs also come to mind) but adapted for the space age and the culture specific phrases/words  ::) Who knows what would happen if all "Xenotranslation Modules" would somehow malfunction at the same time (masterplan sabotage perhaps...); it would end the star age for sure. I can imagine all of the Alliance races on the command bridge of some starship as they yell, speak and scream (each in their own mothertounge), nervous and irritated, trying to talk and explain their intentions to each other but with little to no success, while stream after stream of superheated plasma pummels the ships hull into oblivion and the Kzer-za captain laughs his tentacles out, happy that he installed the new type of comm jammer on his battlecruiser. Man, what noise would that be, so loud...and so hilarious ;D It seems to me that the greatest obstacle on our ascension to the stars won't be mastering the hyperspace drive or peace on Earth, but interstellar grammar.


I like this idea; would make for great and somewhat mystic bacground plot.

Like I said, ship translators and basic knowledge of each others languages. As was helpfully supplied, the VUX figured out human language pretty much straight away, so some races are clearly able to learn languages very quickly.


Some of the languages are probably close enough that one can make oneself understood, and if everyone has a written language then you can always communicate that way. Plus, once you've learned a bit of someone else's language, it's quite possible to create a very basic translator even today. What's hard is understanding every nuance of every language you encounter straight away.


You are the only one in game to speak to them through their Precursor satellite. Presumably the satellite is as advanced as your ships translator, meaning they can talk to anyone.

Keep in mind the VUX just used the insult to hurry them into the war, they would have declared war on the alliance eventually, knowing that we have 3 humanoid species (Humans and Syreen are nearly identical in appearance (Syreen also got worn down by VUX attacks showing hostility) and the Shofixti, an anthro race) unless say the Chenjesu/Mrns turned them around. Also their superior translators can be true or false (another source says Rand's officer didn't turn off the viewscreen), as they could just be saying that to glorify themselves.

The Chenjesu first arrived to speak with Humanity when they didn't have any alien communication, are known to have been "the best Hyperwave receptors" and so if any old Chenjesu is parked on any world they'll be able to pick up signals from Hyperwave receivers used by any race. They've also been observing a lot of races for a long time enough to pick up on their languages from radio broadcasts and such. They're probably the main translators beaming stuff from place to place to ensure they're in full communication (and the main communicator) with all alliance races. Hayes says "they were the main leaders even though they didn't accept the title" which kind of fits.

Other examples:

Mrns were known to speak in consonants in all languages (for some reason) meaning whatever made them had knowledge of how to get them to commune around with everyone.

Arilou arrived on Luna and offered the alliance admittance mysteriously, showing they have a knowledge of communicating with any race. Also communicated a lot with the Umgah so who knows, maybe they're that old and are that good at observing or are just natural telepaths or something.

Syreen can capture then lull an enemy into telling them their language perhaps, so communication might not be much of a problem.

A critical element to keep in mind is the fact that the communicating races have been oberving each other for some time before contact. The Chenjesu have a natural advantage; natural hyperwave receivers make analyzing transmissions as easy for them as listening is for us humans. Regardless, each species is aware of it's immidiate neighbors. I would say that it is reasonable to assume that Chenjesu-provided translation software was provided to all alliance members, like the hyperspace charts. The SIS must have used alliance or human translation software otherwise the ship would be that much harder to crew (or are we to believe that there are that many people on the Earth station who are Precursor language experts?)

Excellent points, which in my opinion underlines the difference between your Precursor translator which is capable of talking to previously unknown races and what the old races had.

Er... How did Zelnick talk to the Sylandro if the Sylandro had no technology? Nobody could've given a device because it would be too heavy. They couldn't have been taught OUR languages, could they?
Some sorta psychic communication?

Okay, so Content To Hover was a Speaker, but how did he learn English?

No, the Precursors installed a translation satellite a long time ago, and it still works.

In A Deepness in the Sky, one group of interstellar traders has been flying around from system to system, NAFAL, for a long time, broadcasting a lot of information at every planet all the time.
That way, whoever's there will have a way of understanding the traders, and also a technological boost large enough that, they'll be worthwhile trading partners - in particular, able to refuel their ships.

That doesn't seem to have been happening here, exactly.

Also, a related conversation: http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=1812.0

The VUX I believe had automatic translators, and so does the Precursor ship (proof: the message that appears when you first meet the Orz). The Precursor one is probably better than the VUX one, of course.

:o I came up with this exact same idea independently of Judge Dredd...

I seem to recall reading somewhere that their language is unpronounceable for humans. Either that, or they communicate via HyperWave transmissions.

I expect they just happen to be telepathic. ;)

I'd say their language is based on movements – ie like a sign language.

A common script for multiple languages exists today; it's called Chinese. I think it would be like learning a second language, though, except the second language has no spoken form – only a written form.

...Wait, there's a satellite? :o

I'm pretty sure they are telepathic.

...No, there is a translation satellite built by the Precursors for the specific purpose of communicating with the Slylandro, orbiting the Slylandro homeworld.

See my question further down in my post.

Yes, they mention that the precursors gave it to them a long time ago. I suppose it probably does use psi to beam signals to the Slylandro as they don't have any other way of getting messages from it on the... well surface isn't the right word but you see what I mean. They used the same sattelite to communicate with the Ur-Quan and I think the Draali or one of the other Mileu races (they mention one or two others race but I forget if they only knew them through the Ur-Quan).

Hmm. I have checked the conversation and found that my earlier memories of a mention of a console were erroneous. They are hardly inconsistent, though. Could be a console, could be psi.

But if it is psi, then how we get to see Sullen Plummet's naughty bits eludes me.

Hmm... true. Even if it were capable of creating an image from psi data scanned from the Sly then the human captain would not see anything the Sly could not. But then it's Precursor tech, if we have Google Earth here and now then maybe they can zoom in on an individual well enough to see their genetalia from orbit.

what!?!?/me quickly covers himself  :-[

Actually , current technology is not good enough to read a book over someone's shoulder from space , but you can already read car license plate , and it's civilian use . I believe military's resolution is way better .

I'm pretty sure Google Earth is not allowed to use the highest available resolution. Google Earth also doesn't have the most current footage, I believe.

I wasn't implying civilian satts could do it now... just that given what we can do now, I see no reason the Precursors couldn't have put a camera on the sattelite.

Actually , the Slylandro are not aware of player seing in different spectrum than they see , and if there was precursor imaging device on the sattelite , it would be known to them already from previous encounters that  their "bits" are visible , but it could be cameras on board Vindicator . I see absolutely no reason to believe those to be not sesitive enough .

Gas giants are pretty opaque. To get down to the depths the Slylandro live at, you need to go through a lot more than our atmosphere. The 3x higher gravity will cut into that a little, but for the Slylandro to be truly utterly incapable of being removed, they're going to need much more than 3, or even 30 x air pressure.

That means extinction and scattering would be at least 10 times as severe. And since it's exponential, you have to take our non-extinction and non-scattering fraction and take it to the 10th power.

There is no camera that can take pictures of the Slylandro because the information isn't getting out to the camera.

Yeah , you're probably correct - I forgot about the dencity and fact they live not at external layers , but somewhat deeper .

It's possible the Precursors could do it relying on principles we haven't even conceived of but I realize it's moot anyway because the Slylandro can describe the Precusors, Ur-quan and Earthlings meaning it either has to be a psi relay beaming directly to the Slylandro or the Precursors did drop a console and viewscreen designed to withstand the preassure down to them. And it can't be a psi relay because Zelnick can see things the Sly can't. So they must have a console and camera at their level I suppose.

As for the fact that other races can see their glowy bits... the Precursors may never have known what they saw or perhaps found out more tactfully, having their biologists exchange data in in a scientific discussion as opposed to randomly asking what bits of their anatomy do at first contact. Perhaps they simply adjusted their viewscreens after that and didn't reveal the embarassing facts of what they could see to the Sly. The Ur-Quan may not even be able to see them for all we know.

As for the Slyandro being irremovable that always seemed suspiscous to me... if the Precursors can make the Sun Device, those bombs, and countless other ridiculous things I doubt it was beyond their power to make a super-reinforced ship that could maintain Slylandro preassure. I can see why they wouldn't have preformed such an undertaking, they may have liked the Slylandro but it would be a lot of work and the Sly would have nothing to offer in return, and no race today is likely to be up to the challenge. Still I wonder if they are truly planetbound or just for all practical purposes.

Also, remember that the Slylandro said that when the Precursors contacted them they were 'concerned' about something and on their way out of that region of space. The Precursors were fleeing from something, and it would make no sense to give the Slylandro technology which at that time would enable them to fly and be spotted by whatever it was that was troubling the Precursors. The Precursors probably thought it safest for the Slylandro to stay on their homeworld, where they had a good chance of remaining unnoticed.

In less troubling times, I think it entirely possible that the Precursors would uplift the Slylandro :)

The idea of a camera deep in the atmosphere also makes sense because of the way we see just a small area; presumably some of the Slylandro like to hang around the camera in case someone just happens to show up.

Hook a gas bladder up to a computer and voila.