Also, the Ilwrath will tell you exactly where their homeworld is, if you talk to them enough.  I think so, at least.  I never actually went there (damn cloaking devices!).

That's one thing that always blew my mind. Trying to use the Umgah caster in every single system in Ilwrath space... only to discover that their homeworld is outside their bloody (no pun intended) sphere of influence.

*suppresses a giggle at the previous message and the notion of resurrecting this old thread*

*reads your new status as 'enlightened' and chuckles*

Yes, I'd imagine so.

Scaling down to tiny, really.

Also, the Quan have a lot of subservient races on their Dreadnoughts. And even if they had to go down themselves, the Quans are supposed to be huge fearsome predators, not to mention they probably have all sorts of high tech gear. So they could probably pretty much walk over whatever human resistance that greeted them

Here's a question I have. It's been established that there is only one Ur-Quan per ship, because Ur-Quans have a tendency to try and slaughter each other in close proximity.

Yet the Kohr-Ah say:

The ignominy of slaving we leave to our Kzer-Za cousins.
We have no need for inferiors as servants.

So... how are Kohr-Ah ships crewed? Paid employees?

*takes a deep breath and intercepts the likely explanation*
I know, I know. They probably have a small pool of 'to-be-exterminated ship crew' that yes, are slated to die someday, but for the moment, would be used to wreak genocide on existing races.

Better than the alternative; splicing those individuals who have been conquered with Ur-Quan genes.

If you eliminate all non-Ur-Quan sentient races, including yourselves
then we will stop.
We have made this offer before. No one accepts.
So we cleanse.

I wouldn't be surprised if a threatened race or two have made the offer to genetically modify their own race so that they are (mostly?) Ur-Quan in geneaology..

Speaking of genetic modification, the Ur-Quan have that technology in spades, don't they? What with the Dnyarri using the Ur-Quan scientists to splice the race into two subraces, and the technology the Kzer-Za subsequently required to genetically alter the Talking Pets into sub-sentience.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were a small group of Kzer-Za hidden away who would be working to revive the Brown Ur-Quan by splicing Kohr-Ah and Kzer-Za genes together. It might not even be a step backwards, so to speak, if they tinkered enough to eliminate the weaknesses of each and combined the strengths of both. (The Kzer-Za's creativity, analytical ability, and intelligence with the Kohr-Ah's strength, keen combat instincts, and battle prowess).

And why can't Orz Marines take over ships??

In theory, Captain, we could build alien starships here if we had designs for them
however, it is a well known fact that alien vessels just can't be flown in combat
without native starship captains at the helm.

Surely, if this was the case, other races in other quadrants would have already figured this out, and taken over. I mean, if the Melnorme is duped as easily as that, by light emissions, then they would have such a huge weakness that they'd fall aprt as traders pretty quickly..

Well you have to also remember that you can't actually gather 12,000 credits in the game; I believe I read on Now & Forever that even if you gather the Rainbow World locations, all alien life forms from each planet, and are rewarded by the Umgah, you still fall short by a great deal. Basically this means you'd have to clear out the whole galaxy of life and yet some, if you wanted to buy this one fact. (An incredibly expensive purchase, in other words.)Technologies that are more potent than the ones your *Precursor* Ship's computer has in its database are available to you for only 150 credits each. (Which raises another point in the Melnorme/Mael-Num debate; how could Melnorme have such potent technology in their grasp unless they've been around a very, very long time.)

Granted, the base the Precursor Ship was found at probably only had the most 'basic' of defensive precursor technology, but my point is that you can obtain battle technology far superior to that of all the other alien races for all of 2,000 or so credits.

Even if the 12,000 credit purchase were to tell you that the color purple was a key part of their trading affairs, I am sure they wouldn't tell you how to use this against them. (Sure you can make your bridge emit yellow light, but their bridge still emits purple light, and they're obviously standing closer to their bridge. Are you really going to expend the resources to build an anti-purple light field generator thingamabober when you don't even know if it'll work against one particular race? Or even if it worked, who is to say they would agree to trade with you until you turned it off?

First and foremost among these factors
is our unwillingness to GIVE away information about
our history, psychology and mental powers,
our unique physiology,
the exact locations of homeworlds,
or our potentially ominous, long-range plans.
However,
these important and relevant pieces of information
ARE available
for a nominal sum of Credits.

Information about their unique physiology/psychology for a nominal sum of credits? Hmmm...

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

Under the authority of Druuge Statute 3429, subsection A86
`Definition of Starship Derelicts'
I hereby declare your undefended vessel as my salvaged property.
You have five seconds to vacate the premises before I am forced to remove you by force
Time's up!

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'.

Why would they want the eggshells anyways?

I believe the Druuge inform you that they use the eggshell's fungal fibers to create inescapble slave harnesses for their slave crew. Which to be honest, makes me feel a bit less enthusiastic about selling them the egg cases. But still better than 50 of your crew, I suppose.

It's especially fulfilling to fill up your ship with tons of fuel tanks and then trade an egg shell for max. fuel.  Ahhh... ripping off the Drudge.

Yes, it feels quite amusing to see the '1610' fuel units listed on the screen. An easy 32200 RU, pretty much most of what you need to completely outfit your Precursor ship with everything you could want. (except a complete armada of fighting ships).

I wonder if you can do this with both the Burvix Caster and the Mycon Shell, or if the Druuge refuses to fall for the same ploy twice...

I've never had the Trader offer the fuel refill for the Eggshells in the PC version, though-- he only offers me a Mauler starship. So as far as I know, you can only do this trick with the Caster (unless you really want to trade the Portal Spawner or the Shofixiti females.)

I prefer facing no ships (I mean, you beat on these guys enough as it is) and two galactic nusiances eliminated at once.

But you have to admit, it's an expensive and satisfying way to gather up some easy RU. Especially if you have guidance modules installed, which isn't by any means necessary.

What also always annoyed me was accidentally picking up a huge mineral deposit (especially radioactives on Rainbow Worlds) when my lander capacity was filled up completely.

What I'd have liked is some way to leave a smaller mineral deposit behind container the remainder of what you didn't pick up. That or even a manual toggle that allows your lander to ignore minerals if you ran over a deposit that contained more minerals than your capacity.

I seem to recall that she threatens to blow spores at some stage, so that definetly puts her in some sort of plant category. Of course, she could be a vegetabilic duck.

Either way, it opens up the possibility for cordial relations between the Zoq and Supox.
*envisions a crisis as the Zoq migrate to Supox space and the former-Zoq-Fot-Pik become the Fot-Pik and their entire civilization starts to come apart at the seams without the Zoq to balance out the triad, and a side-quest for Zelnick to solve this problem*

Does anyone know if going to Vela does anything?  I've been there, but it's just surrounded in a slave shield and can't talk to anyone on the planet...

Well, you get to be yelled at by an Ur-Quan!
(not to mention, if you win, you get yourself a nice bundle of RU). Other than that though, I figure you'd want to go to Vela only because you're also harvesting a supergiant(yay!) white(double yay!) star. Given that minerals are superplentiful at white stars or at supergiants, Zeeman certainly fits those descriptions.

What I don't get is how the whole story works.
The Tobermoon arrives at Vela, with a crew compliment of 18, right? Then dumps off some crew, returns to Earth to carry scientists to Vela again. So you imagine that at most, you have 17 passengers traveling with Burton to Vela. That's 35 total on Vela, minus the dozen colonists that are stated to die over the years. Total: 23. Then the next twenty years are marked by the births of 40 colonists. Total: 63. Then they send up the Tobermoon to return to Earth. "All of the crewmembers are gone" comes the report, so you assume at minimum, they sent 1 additional member with the captain. Total on Vela: 61. Then Burton crews the Tobermoon and Zelnick fully crew the Precursor ship. Total on Vela: -7. Burton is killed, so I presume they picked up a new captain for the Tobermoon. Total on Vela: -8.

They also said in the intro, "When the vessel was completed, some of us could go home". So obviously some of the colonists had to stay on Vela. Even if none stayed despite what the intro says, I have no idea why in god's name the Kzer-Za elected to slave shield the planet. (maybe it was more economical than to waste time and resources to excavating the Precursor site in the midst of a Doctrinal War?)

I suppose you could argue, 'maybe the tobermoon made two return trips to Vela' or 'maybe the tobermoon had a mini crew boat full of scientists that they brought with them
on their return to Vela' which are both feasible. And probable. (I just like pointing out possible plot holes, I suppose.)

Or even: "The Earthling cruiser's efficiency in combat is horrifically impaired if extra crewmembers are housed within, but it is possible to house twice as many individuals within the vessel if absolutely no combat activity is to be undertaken."

I recall something saying the Mnrnrema-whatever-the-hell-they're-called were basically an advance terraforming device......you could even say they might have built a 'caster.

Yes, Commander Hayes says:

My personal guess as to why they were sent here is that they are the leading edge of a colonization project
and once the Mmrnmhrm have tamed enough new worlds, the genuine colonists -- whoever they are
will arrive to claim their due.

Which is a lot more reassuring than what the Mycons' masters had in mind. Taming new worlds versus destroying all the ideally inhabitable ones in existence, that is. Unless of course, the Mmrnmhrm's creators are the evil domineering sort after all...

I can even envision a giant chessboard from a group of superior alien races that are using the Mycon and Mmrnmhrm as tools in a 'contest' against each other to achieve supremacy over known space. I would even imagine that the Mmrnmhrm (and the Mycon) have 'remotely activated shut off/self-destruct commands' integrated into them.

I don't imagine that the Mmrnmhrm's owners will be too pleased with the prospect that their terraforming tools have abandoned their purpose and have gone and integrated themselves with another race instead.

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!

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

Also, didn't you ever wonder why the Melnorme trader seemed so interested in BOTH bio info AND Rainbow worlds?

I always thought that perhaps the reason they were interested in biological information was to search for ways to improve their own genetic information, to modify it. Remember, the Mael-Num fled from the Kohr-Ah eons ago, and when they reappeared as Melnorme, they are notably physically different (and probably much more competent and resourceful) from the Mael-Num that the Kohr-Ah pursued a long time ago. I imagine that they've modified their own race sufficiently so that the Kohr-Ah cannot correlate them from before-- otherwise I imagine the Kohr-Ah would vengefully focus their efforts on the one single race that so very narrowly escaped their grasp years ago.

From the surface came a plea... identical to the words you spoke a few moments ago.
The one-eyed creatures, the Mael-Num, asked so simply, so clearly
that we felt compelled to explain. While we did so, the Kzer-Za appeared.
They would not permit us to destroy, they said. Enslave, yes. Imprison, yes. But never destroy.
The moment was tense. Someone opened fire. The first Doctrinal War had begun.
While we fought, the Mael-Num escaped. We never found them again.

This would also explain why particularly powerful or resilient life forms are particularly valuable to the Melnorme, while relatively 'useless' ones like the flowers or the lavender slugs are worth almost nothing.

Actually I think it was TFB's own idea that the Mycon were the tools of the Precursors.  If you listen to their speech files, there are "flashbacks" where the Mycon repeat (presumably) the Precursors' spoken orders to them.

Based on what the Umgah say about the Mycon being genetically engineered:

We found that pretty hard understand, so when nobody looking, we clonk one on head
bring it back here to homeworld and slice it up for detailed study.
Those guys not product of ANY natural evolutionary process
they constructs!... some kind of multi-purpose biological tool.
We don't know who made them or for what purpose
but they WAY beyond anything we ever heard of.

I always figured the Mycon were tools of some malicious race that used them to eliminate/prevent sentinent life on other planets. Using them as some sort of galactic 'disinfectant' to clear out all the competition before the master race moves in. At which point they might utilize some sort of auto-destruct code (like the Slyandro Probe) or other means of easily eliminating all the rampant Mycons.

The 'flashbacks' the Mycon has:

`...the system requires more energy. A convenient source lies beneath the crust...'
`...incorporation of dense amphibole fibers ensure survival in environmental extremes...'
`...entry of noise into the signal is unavoidable. We must include a filtering mechanism...'
`...Survival is a priority. Expansion is a priority. Processing is a priority...'
`...look... think... act... look... learn... remember... teach...look... think...'
`... planetary transformer biot 94-18: take your place at the dais...'

...don't necessarily indicate that their creator race was the Precursors. Just some race that created them to convert habitable worlds into inhabitable ones.