I'm sure the Ur-Quan has thousands of Dreadnoughts as commented by both Hayes and the Dynarri which IMO makes them as a race that basically brute forces things down to enslavement. The fact they have cloaking technology, automated drones and other such technological things aboard their ships (plus an intricate analysis of the Sa-Matra which they man and probably studied for a long time since the end of the First Doctrinal War) shows they have a massive tech advantage. However they don't seem to be too bothered about implementing it within their own ships as the Dreadnoughts are made to be planetary siege platforms. The Ur-Quan initially attacked the Alliance weak spots, avoiding strong resistance, probably because every lost Dreadnought hurts the war effort for the Second Doctrinal War so instead I guess their tactics was for every individual Dreadnought that hams at a weak spot they also have a bunch of slaves helping out. From this, the thralls would suffer all the losses and hard work, whilst the main Dreadnought fleet remains in the home systems to enforce the Kzer-Za thralls/warm up for the Second Doctrinal Conflict. Also I guess from this the Kzer-za would grant some portions of their tech to the races that would fight for them competently but as of yet had no means of helping out (for example, giving the Ilwrath cloaking tech).

Then as we all know the Alliance resisted too well by which they could defeat the Ur-Quan stationed on the front lines and with the Kohr-Ah approaching they became desperate, so they used the Sa-Matra and pulled out the fist from the glove with their thousands of Dreadnoughts but unfortunately strayed right into the Shofixti which, upon seeing defeat from the Ur-Quan steamrolling everything blew up their sun reducing their fleet by 30%. The impression the game gives is that the Ur-Quan were really fooling the Alliance around before they just mowed everything down and then lost a massive chunk of their of fleet when they actually tried to speed up the annexing of the Alliance.

"Dozens" I think is just Fwiffo being Fwiffo, describing how the Shofixti wiped themselves out not really bothering on ship specifics (they were probably hearing about their dominance unfold being stationed away from the Sa-Matra so that might place them around the Earthling-Vux-Yehat triangle when the Delta Gorno sun blew).

The Ur-Quan are not a civilization that enjoys the company of even it's own race. How many of the race are there? How quick do they reproduce and then mature?

I imagine the Kzer-za reproduce slowly, having territorial instincts that would force them to kill one another should two actually meet, hence the need for only one aboard a single Dreadnought which that Ur-Quan claims as his. They're also somewhat nomadic yet they all bow to Kzer-Za Lord #1 who makes the decisions apparently. I guess they can reproduce under controlled conditions, perhaps the Kzer-za have some sort of gene bank held somewhere where they can make new Kzer-za (perhaps a relic from the Dynarri's gene tinkering days) without engaging in a "violent mating ritual". I'm sure they have a strong genetic memory of sorts as well, which would explain why every Ur-Quan can feel the pain of being enslaved under the Dynarri from their parents and their grandparents..

Everyone will be downloading the Kzer-za ditty, oh the nostaglia when that theme plays just to show how badass imperial they are. That simple clump of beats was one of the things I remembered most about Star Control as well.

Hey this looks like fun- especially when I'm also a sucker for sprite games and making sprites (do you have some sort of process to which you draw/pixel them? Finding how artists sprite as such is usually hard to find save for replicating certain styles from ripped sprites in old games)

Perhaps having the game set on a slave shielded world would in some ways limit the exploration and races arriving to said planet-  as everyone would have had to piledrive there for some shoehorned reason before being shielded off. I guess you could explain it by having some sort of precursor tech superweapon but to stave off RPG cliches (especially those of the JRPG which do not/find it extremely hard to innovate) I'd probably go for something else. Slave shields also are red (at least the Ur-Quan/Spathi retro engineered ones and give the environment on the surface a dull red from the light and thus this would mess around with palletes?).

Perhaps have it like some sort of Dyson Sphere? With the fall of the Ur-Quan sphere of influence an age of exploration starts as a gold rush of venture captains and their motley crews start exploring the galaxy (Star Control only really exists as an entity thanks to Zelnick, this doesn't stretch to corporations or mercs that could leave after the Earth slave shield fell?). Eventually ships go missing in this particular sector which starts a frenzy of curiosity- many blame Kohr-Ah but they can't really find evidence of them being there, raises more questions, etc.

So anyways more ships arrive upon this whole Dyson Sphere (that probably has a cloaking device that uncloaks whenever something is in range to prevent it being found) that zaps whatever ship approaching it inside that gets too close a la Star Trek TNG's "Relics" and they find themselves unable to get out. Thus you could have individual ships that were just minding their own business until *zap* and they end inside (so you have a bunch of alien types/classes there as well as explorers/military patrols etc).
Fortunately the interior of the sphere contains a bunch of worlds that are very habitable and thus the search to escape (or remain/use it as a base of ops/claim it) begins as well as asking who built it.

Some idea anyway, could be interesting whilst also keeping it solar system bound (restricting all races from their faction support, putting everyone on equal terms) whilst introducing solar system battles, the ships of Star Control and diplomatic intrigue. You could choose your race but your interactions would change depending if you decided to go rogue or stick to the tenets of your race/faction, etc. Intact spaceships from the outside are ultra-valuable and can't be worth losing as they can serve as ad-hoc colony ships/flagships for some races as they try to establish a foothold in the system. Perhaps the New Alliance and Hierarchy are different factions, then you have the Unaligned ones that band together? A sort of RPG with Strategy and such if you will with an atmosphere of isolation, colonization, mining and mystery (whilst being able to include all the races with a bit of thought).

Personally I could stomach it if they had to stick the races of SCNot3 in somehow only if it was part of some agreement to make a SC3, I trust FF and PRIII would come up with some creative way to explain it whilst brushing it off as discontinuity. I maintain the view though that it's better for all of us if SCNot3 was forgotten, how such a poor game rode on the back of a good one and garnered top shelf reviews back in the day is just..

By which case at least we'd be getting a SC3 but I'd have a sour face stuck as to what would go on. It's like PR3 and FF would be forced to accept a fanfiction as canon- a horrible prospect and insulting.

Lol, was funny to include again to see how it could potentially work out

"You still have xx credits"

Heh, have the Melnorme fade to black as you calculate what credits are available should do it, I can imagine now:
"..and taking into consideration inflationary interest as well as the terms and conditions of underused account inactivity, coupled with also noting the cost of your last previous request for the "Garden of Energon Crafting Kit" the one choice for all post-apocalyptic reconstruction for your homeworld, we have finally calculated the grand total of all your remaining available credits, Captain."

"How many credits do I have in my account?"

"42."

So I found the Lurg on Youtube..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBof9enfm_8&feature=related

Excellent to see these dudes, especially the "you can feel it in the back of your mind can't you!". TMC also did a good voice for these aliens although I think they need to sound more brutal, like evil calculating thinkers. Some thoughts:

They seem to say "die" a lot, I think I had my fair share of "die" from the Druuge and Kohr-ah..
They easily get down to questions even though it should be of no concern to them, other SC2 species for example had it really tough to get hostile aliens to say stuff, with the exception of Ilwrath, Thraddash and the Spathi who had flaws such as pride and cowardice that the Captain could turn against them. The Ur-Quan required something that resonated with their trauma before they told you anything genuinely.

Things I did like-
Mycon quote, although as a little reworking to throw my $2 to see if it sounds better, it was in my head at the time:
"Human flesh, you are not as powerful as you would like to believe. If we wanted you dead, we could have let the Mycon destroy your world a thousand years ago as you embroiled within the darkness of what was barely a civilization. You were all so oblivious and vulnerable to those that could have easily controlled your fate but instead you used your planetary resources towards your own internal genocides. We know you more than you realise. You are nothing to us."

I also love the "you would have died within two generations" line. Lurg have lots of script goodness that just needs that little bit of kick and less like "hey we are Lurg so lets tell you everything about us, now DIE".

Lurg probably lied though when it came to the Ur-Quan "wisely avoided" being that the Ur-Quan don't avoid, they go straight for threats.

Not sure why they'd tell you the ship spec though, seems like something they'd say if they were allies and not enemies. It's like if the VUX told you that the Intruder could come up real close and zap you with a laser upon first meeting a new captain.

I don't mind helping out with dialogue too, either to make it sound better or just to help out here and there incase you folks need it.

Well I can give some insight into dialogue writing for you chaps, you seem to have got something rolling pretty well

Several things I think though:

The Explorer, now it in itself is a decent ship design but it seems too Chenjesu, the Chmmr usually have metallic streamlining. As for the Melnorme confuse burst, I'm not sure about the Melnorme would sell their trade secrets relating to the weapons they use on their ships or that the Chmmr would have some basic understanding of how they worked unless it was through combat (but then, why would they attack the Melnormes?). The forward crystal weapon seems a bit out of place for the Chmmr and more Chenjesu, as the Chmmr are more into bold, upfront and personal conflicts. The design of the Avatar is certain of this method of attack.

Personally I'd have the Explorer as some sort of large heavily modified Avatar derived flagship. It cannot serve as a battleship, but there's plenty of room for more of the sciencey gizmos and stuff onboard.
Alternatively I'd also throw around that the Chmmr secured the Precursor shipyard on Undzervalt and assimilated it, producing Precursor-Chmmr hybrids under the watchful eye of the Earthers who grow nervous at their growing power and that they're trespassing on their fields of expertise.

Perhaps the Explorer gets a few Zapsats of its own, especially when you're told you might be up against Kohr-Ah and whatnot.

You're told the Shofixti got wiped out, but where? I'm told to go, but no indication where they were last?

Orz wormhole, on approach I think it would be better to have the Captain having some sort of trippy mind programming put there by the Arilou saying Beware! etc, like (From the back of your mind you hear a calming unknown voice).

As for the Ilwrath, maybe have them around but with some sort of cloaked pirate base somewhere, which serves as a sideplot or something. I just find it hard to believe all of them would have died out, same with the Thraddash who might now be the equivalent of space biker gangs that now drive around the universe.

Oh and finally, the Slylandro piloting Kohr-Ah ships. I had to go back a bit and say lolwut. What would have been better (and what I would rather prefer) was them being sold Umgah ships after letting the blobs look at their gassy biology but they came with some dodgy hologram technology that makes them appear as Kohr-Ah for some stupid reason the gasballs haven't figured out. Then they're left wondering why people are fragging them, until you fix the way that they should appear by which they want to come onto your side. Mainly I just found that an unknown faction selling them fully geared Marauders after prying them from their cold dead tentacles was wrong as hell, but if the Umgah are making them fly around scaring the pants off everyone as Kohr-Ah that's just gold.
Maybe the Umgah start bragging that they took some Ilwrath junk here and there from the Thraddash war, changed stuff around from "cloaking device" (as light gets manipulated by Ilwrath ships) to "hologram device" and gave it to them, before going Har Har Har!. The Slylandro might have been able to synthesize some sort of probe thing with their ships though, could use it as a DOGI that is released with the image of a small probe that zaps the enemy vessel a bit.
Maybe as a joke I'd have a single Slylandro probe harass the captain once, "We come in peace" "Oh dear lord not this again, please tell me I can remember what that self destruct code was..".

I presume the reason they turned was probably an act from the developers to limit the amount of Dreadnoughts that were available to the player because they practically waste every SC3 ship in the game (even Plexor's precursor tub). So they get around this by mutilating the canon and keeping the Ur-Quan to one planet, not that it matters much anyway as the amount of Dreadnoughts you get are enough to win the game with. This isn't also counting Chmmr which also waste every other ship in the game as well but they too get their own little shut down sidestory that you have the option of fixing. It's as if they tease you with the big battleships then shut them down/limit them later in the game to force you to use the small ones but they still manage to utterly mess up in this regard.

An alien race can also give you hints.

In any case of the guard's resistance there is a hole in the backstory - upon realizing the compultion , I am sure they would immediately destroy the talking pets on board ... But they don't and you can still chat with the guards via it .

And they seemed pretty cordial when chatting with them, not really in any pain. The Kzer-Za calmly stating the price of siding with the Neo-Dynarri the annihilation of humanity and the Kohr-Ah really just acting as they usually do. Most likely the Neo-Dynarri overexerted itself and the confused guards had enough time to piece two and two together knowing its limited capabilities.

Do the Ur-quan still have their excruciators? Perhaps they have them available if needed but don't use them most of the time? I wouldn't expect them to just throw them away, but then if they had them they could have used them against the Dynarri. Or perhaps the Umgah genetic modifications strengthened the neo-Dnyarri so they wouldn't work anyway.

My idea is that the UQ would indeed have been safe if they used their excruciators (which they likely still have)... however, when the Sa-Matra was attacked, the Neo-Dnyarri's psychic attack was unexpected and thus they were influenced before they could activate them.

So, in order to be protected, the UQ need to activate their excruciators before they are mind-controlled. Once they get controlled, it's too late... they have no free will with which to activate them then.

Explains the Sa-Matra guard, although I think the Dynarri just didn't have enough power to afflict those, I kind of imagined the Dynarri just using his psychic powers to do a compulsive "scare them off" rather than control them as he lacks the power to do so (otherwise he'd compel the fleet to his own whims).
The Ur-Quan obviously get scared after having the Dynarri invade their minds and flee although the Sa-Matra guards stay behind, maybe out of spite, using an excruciator or something which wasn't made clear.

Is it possible that some of them survived the Dnyarri genetic alteration process? That some of them actually were able to fled into the *pretty space* after the Taalo and join with their only friends in their mutual exile (as arne suggests)? And that these Ur-Quan influenced by their silicon-based friends never developed any sort of "ultra-genocidal"/"enslave all" behavior? That there may be such thing as...almost tolerant Ur-Quan (no matter how contradictory or exotic that sounds)?

The Brown Ur-Quan were dominated by the Dynarri- they couldn't have fled with them for the whole race was psionically compelled to kill the Taalo, which they did. The Taalo fled, and are now housed with the Orz in some way.

The ultra-genocidal/enslave all behavior came out of the aftermath of the slaved Ur-Quan-Dynarri war. Before that they were just voracious predators, which the Dynarri "tweaked" genetically for they made the superior slave lifeform in the galaxy. They made them more fallow to obey, and split the genome into two, Green- thinkers, scientists and Black, laborers and soldiers. After having to torture themselves constantly until every last Dynarri fleet was crushed and every last of their species was eradicated/turned into "talking pets" this basically drove them completely insane enough that they feared their species would fall under the same enslaved influence. Due to their torture, their reasoning was extreme- Blacks chose to eradicate all aliens to prevent the problem should their species demise, and the Greens wanted to enslave harshly, yet to them benevolently to prevent their own species demise.

So - what happened to the original, "brown" Ur-Quan? Huh

They were dominated by the Dynarri to genocide "unworthy" races to the Dynarri and act as their personal servants and labor force, eventually erased through them becoming Green/Black Ur-Quan subspecies as the original Brown died off.

But that's quite inconsistent with the original Star Control game, because the main antagonists there are the "brownies"...

SC1 was instigated by the Kzer-Za Ur-Quan (Green) rousing a massive warcry after completing their warfleets and solidifying enough thralls (like the Androsynth) to conquer the other part of the galaxy where the Alliance of Free Stars was, which the Alliance lost.

Keep in mind the Mrns were a stagnant race, then dragged into a war on the Alliance side- every loss of a Mrn costs them a lot in the long run. As the main Mrn fleet was destroyed at Rigel it probably forced the Mrn with extinction, the "process" of them with the Chenjesu was probably to save their legacy by merging with a compatible race (being silicon) to start their species as one that can reproduce. That and they were good friends either way.

The Chenjesu on the otherhand being vast intellectuals probably couldn't turn down the offer to become a new advanced form of life by becoming one with the Mrn's superior technology. That and the Ur-Quan at the time were becoming the dominant lifeform in the galaxy. What makes me curious though is if they had the vast tech, then why were the Mrns in SC stuck with an interceptor? Is it because they're built as one specification that way and can't build any other way and the Mother Ark holds all the Mrn tech and secrets?

As it's been said the Mrns were built from another alien race from across the galaxy, it's probably hinted they were made by another force (hopefully not Precursor). It might be interesting to have "our" Mrns as some Ark which was sent to find galaxies to find for preparing (hence the weakish advanced X/Y form class the Mother Ark in our galaxy can only produce), but then ran into the Chenjesu, a non organic lifeform and became good buddies. Then possibly they developed their own sense of self with the Chenjesu's help, but with a lot of secrets that they still kept under wraps? So they became more than just terraforming tools and a new species.

There's also the realms of possibility that if there were more Mother Ark's out there, some might be geared to producing Battleship Mrns, others being Colonization Mrns (to terraform planets for their master race) and so on. Alternatively, they could have been a race that was sent out like Nomad from Star Trek, one of a kind robots originally sent to prepare planets in other galaxies for long dead/lost masters given a new lease of existence thanks to the Chenjesu, then they wouldn't want to lose their legacy, or that of their old masters by being reborn as the Chmmr.

I had around 16, perhaps even 20 at one point, farming them using Syreen at the time at their homeworld.