The Zoq-Fot-Pik were just eliminated on my game. The date that I heard the Starbase Commander tell me about the Ur-Quan transmission (it was most likely an Ur-Quan transmission, as he describes it as 'exhultant') was February 21, 2157.  I had visited the Starbase a week before that, so they were elminated within that week.

Does making allies with them affect when they die?

Yes, soon after you contact them on their homeworld, a Kohr-Ah Marauder shows up and bombards their planet. If you don't eliminate it quickly, the Zoq-Fot-Pik are destroyed and you hear the said 'exultant war cry'.

Which is why I never contact them until the Precursor ship is fully armed, or I am able to build ships that are a match for the Marauder.

Something I wondered about the game, is how absolutely quickly you could win the game, if you knew where to go.

Your main concern would be sufficient RU from not mining at all, which would be alleviated by Chmmr anyways. But up to that point, I imagine you'd want to invest all your RU in thrusters and fuel.

Obviously, 'optionals' like the Portal Spawner would be in your best interest to obtain, from the sheer time they save you. You'd best refrain from other 'optionals' like the Shofixti revival / Yehat insurrection and Slyandro Probe however. Still, I think if you played things right, you could win the game within a year.

you have to go to where the mycon "deep children" are. take the device there and you'll have to use it at a certain place, but I won't ruin the game for ya by telling you exactly what to do with it.... play on, mate!

Speaking of Deep children, I've always wondered if there's any other source other than the Melnorme where you can obtain enough information to bring a case to Talana. When playing the PC version, I'd hoped that when the Arilou eventually tell you about Deep Children, that it would trigger the event, but it never did.

And it CHASES YOU LIKE A MO-FO!   :-/

It took me about 9 landers to bag that thing on my first go.

Well, injuries inflicted by your stunner are still counted when you send another lander to the surface. I usually clear out all the other life forms on the planet, then try to get it to intercept my path, and pelt it with the stunner. The shots actually knock the creature back a step, but unless you have improved firing installed, it'll eventually come in contact with your lander. Though what irritates me is that the atmosphere is at least marginally hostile, so you might take casualties before you facedown the beast (in which case contact could easily blow up the lander).

I usually recall the lander the moment it starts touching the lander, and send it down for another try. Usually on the second or third try you'll manage to grab it.

One thing I always do to keep the cute new-age bird mystics alive-- I never visit them whatsoever until I have absolutely everything else I need to complete the game.
Then I visit them, and it's just a matter of three quick quasispace trips before the game ends.

Of course, doing it this way means it makes no sense when the Yehat mentions what he says about 'absorption'.

[blue]

When you first meet the Melnorme their bridge is red. When you're ready to trade the bridge turns purple. For a clue to the reason why, try threatening the Melnorme when you first meet them. Their bridge turns blue. You can ask them why and they'll tell you (for free).

I imagine that their bridge turns purple because it makes it easier to see their trading consoles. *amused look*

For a more convoluted explanation, I also imagine that the presence of the color purple in Melnorme society would also represent the extensive use of logical and analytical ability, which are important skills in trade negotiations, to properly assess the value of trade items to be purchased or sold, and the act of convincing other beings of the importance of the inventory that you wish to sell to them.

I suppose revealing this information would also give you leverage in trading with the Melnorme, for you could always cause your own bridge to emanate colors diametrically opposite to purple, causing the Melnorme's trading ability to be compromised. Which is why it is so expensive, whereas being told the color blue represents gearing for combat is free. (it's a basically a diplomatic way of saying, 'do not screw with us').

But seriously, would you really want to spend 12,000 (or 12 million) credits for this information on how to better trade with them, when you could really just spend all that on their actual wares?

On a side note, I wish you had the ability to purchase those 'trivial and useless facts at a discount' that he offers. I happen to be -quite- curious in trivial things like 'how Frungy is played' and the plot to 'Winky's Happy Night'..

Sounds like a good idea to me. At some stage, we'll have to pick up an Umgah as well though. He could be the ship doctor or some such. Going to the doctor can be real fun!

Real fun, you say...? With the infamous Umgah penchant for twisted humor?

Listen human Earthling! We add some extra eyes! A few tentacles!
Other organs of whatever size and shape you desire!!
What?! You not want more organs?... You sure?... How strange... how sad.
This was best gift.

*shudders as crew costs suddenly start to skyrocket after you pick up the Umgah doctor*


I think Hayes said it best:

If anyone here is stupid enough to join your crew, I expect the RU cost will be skyhigh.

LOL.  The Slylandro Probe music isn't even music.  lol, I don't think it counts dude.    Hehe.

The first time I ran into that Probe, I had just won over Haye's assistance and was exploring Hyperspace for the very first time ever. Then a mysterious ship came by, and wanted to chat, and I figured 'sure, why not.'
I was too busy taking in the detail of the crystalline entities on board (obviously I had no idea yet that they were simply computerized drones) and thinking, "These guys look incredible." to notice any music. (Though whenever I ran into them afterwards, I laughed at the little squeaky voices in the background before you hear 'We come in peace'.)

I figured they wouldn't send anything overly hostile against you so early in the game. So I decide to make peace--- and they agree, and I'm smiling... then they say they want to crush me into little bits. I wonder what the heck I just said wrong, and I'm too stunned to react as I'm blown to bits by the probe. Next thing I know the ship blows apart and I just stare at the Menu Screen in shock.

....I imagine that was the same reaction of most of the alien races that ran into the probes.

The only other starships we have encountered
are strange tumbling red probes which profess to be on a peaceful mission But then attack like slavering Zebrankys.

I have a bit of a personal theory that perhaps as things stand, we might actually be the 'Precursors' to other alien races that might spring up on other planets in time. After all, someone has to be first. Why not us? (Well, us and the Arilou, it seems.)

For some reason when I first played SC2, I got a tremendous kick out of the concept of invading alien worlds, and kidnapping the indigenous life forms. It made me ponder if that's what's in store for humanity's future---visiting alien worlds, kidnapping members of the alien species, and performing experiments on them before allowing them to return to their planet.

Greenish, I would like some information on alien races.


I AM irked that some of the info he sells you in the current events and alien races overlaps 100%. Paying twice for the information is bad business.

Yeah, but who really spends their hard-earned bio credits on information rather than technology? *laughs* I know that the first time I played, I utterly ignored purchasing information in favor of technology. Then I started getting evil and saved the game before buying all the information he had to sell, took down notes, then reloaded my saved gave and simply loaded up on technology. *evil look*

Adding randomness to the locations of the Rainbow worlds might work, but then you wouldn't have that neat-looking arrow that points towards Groombridge and the centre of the galaxy.

If they added a optional 'randomize planet/star stats? (y/n)' feature to the game, and suggested that only folks who've already won the game use this feature, I'm pretty sure that'd already take into consideration that the setup of the galaxy isn't how it was pre-plotted according to the story.

But again, they'd still have to keep the location of Artifact Worlds and Alien Home Worlds consistent, to match the spoken dialogue.

Speaking of the Zoq-Fot-Pik, I'd always wondered about the Zoq. (The green female one on the left.) She looks somewhat plantlike, I wonder if that's intentional, (as in, she's a plant-based life form!). I suppose she could also be some sort of beak-less duck-like creature as well, if you look at her body differently. Kinda like one of those bunny/duck optical illusions.

I think the fact that the Mmrnmmhrm Mother Ark was breaking down resulted in a mass gathering of these robot dudes.  I've heard alot of talk about 'rogue Mmrnmmhrm' still flying around in space.  However, considering the Mother Ark is destroyed and that their numbers would quickly diminish makes this highly unlikely.  Maybe there are some Mmrnmmhrm who don't rely on the Mother Ark to survive, but it was my understanding that its breaking down would result in the end of their species.  The Chenjesu, even as individuals, don't seem the type to break from coherency and go off on their own.  They're too diplomatic to resort to those ends.

True, but there are always going to be individuals within a society that feel like there's a 'better way' to get what they want. Did the Mother Ark truly get destroyed? Didn't Hayes say it just broke down..? Anyways, for the Mmrnmhrm, I imagine that a small colony of them might have pursued a method to create more of their own kind, perhaps by analyzing the inner workings of the Mother Ark or by rejuvenating it. Much like the Androsynth are sterile clones, but immediately researched a way to propogate despite their genetic limitations. Certainly I am sure they would have had second thoughts on the 'merge' with the Chenjesu, had they managed to get the Mother Ark working before the merge began.

As for the Chenjesu, I imagine every society has its criminals, its purists, its extremists, its rebels (Admiral ZEX!), its conservationists, its rogues (Black Spathi Squadron!). Even one as harmonic as the Chenjesu.

Perhaps I'm just poking at a moot issue.

But it just doesn't seem feasible that absolutely every single member of two races, with -no- exception whatsoever, agreed to merge itself with a counterpart with an utterly foreign and alien biology. It just strikes me as likely that there are would be (a very few) individuals who'd have no part of that. Not to mention, how did they get the pairing up of Mmrnmhrm and Chejesu down to the exact number without extras left over on either side? Did they perhaps join two Mmrnmhrm to a Chenjesu (or vice versa) in special cases?

What would you do if you had a million credits?  ...  or a million resource units, whatever.  This is obviously a topic that's meant to be fun, not serious.  Try to be creative and funny if at all possible.  

Yes, your vessel is unique, and here is the crux of the problem.
A `Unique', meaning singular, starship is not equal to the task of destroying the entire Ur-Quan armada.
If you had, say, ten thousand similar starships, we could take your boasts more seriously.

Purchase a fleet of ten thousand similar starships. Or as many as I could afford, anyways.

Some people have been asking me lately... "Where did I get all of these credits/RUs all of a sudden?  Why should I believe you that I've now got a million credits...?"

Perhaps you found a way to create Rainbow Worlds. I'd always guessed that a Melnorme's (Mael-Num's?) inclination towards colors was because of their race's reliance on ocular perception. I'd thought that perhaps their species nourishes themselves through starlight, and that is why they are always found at Supergiant stars. Perhaps they'd lost almost all sensitivity to any senses other than sight, and their sense of vision would be incredibly acute and far more perceptive than any other alien species. (which would also explain why they're able to readily perceive Verenzy while Verenzy are clearly invisible to humans.) And to them, the light reflected off of Rainbow worlds would be the equivalent of... hrmm... some incredibly addictive and pleasurable drug.

Well, I suppose they could also just be interested in the Rainbow Worlds in hopes of finding leftover yet-to-be-disposed-artifacts. I just figured the convoluted explanation was more entertaining than them simply harvesting Precursor artifact spare parts from Rainbow Worlds.

Yeah, well your Kohr-Ah pic is squished. It's possible that you did that intentionally to show that it was a female Kohr-Ah with an eating disorder that caused it to be skinnier and therefore more attractive to male Kohr-Ahs, but something tells me that's not the case.

Yes, I was thinking of taking an existing Kohr-Ah screenshot and modifying it with Photoshop or something similar to match the dimensions they ask for, but ever since I moved, I've only Windows Paint to work with, and this version doesn't seem to save files in jpg or gif form. I suppose I could've downloaded some program or other, but I am too lazy to do so. And yes, it did cross my mind once or twice that the Kohr-Ah looked a bit anorexic, but it wasn't an intentional decision on my part.

I don't think it's a big deal that there's a new female member at the boards.  What I mean is that it's great to meet you and see you're really contributing to these boards, K-P, but your gender to me isn't a big deal.  I think it's great to know that at least there's one girl out there who likes SC2 just as much as us guys, but other than that it's nothing out of the ordinary.  I guess there are a few more guy geeks out there than girls, but I've met lots of girls on forums like these.  Still, it's gotta be pretty cool to be one of the few here.  You have a monopoly.    You've already contributed a great deal to this forum, K-P, and I hope you continue to do so in the future!

Thank you for the welcome and your compliments, Omni. I don't know about it being 'cool' or anything of the sort; like you said, it's not a big deal. As for contributing to the forum, that's what we're all here for, right? But I do thank you again for the compliment.

Wow, who's ressurecting all these ancient topics off the boards?

Our one and only female memebr I think : ) Kinda gives the nostalgia a rise, don't you think?

Yes, that would be me. I apologize if it's point of contention with you all. I filtered through the old threads, seeing if there were any older posts that would still be relevant if I were to offer up my opinion or commentary on them. (e.g. posts that converse about in-game tactics, queries on personal opinions on aspects of the game, etc.)

I had figured it might provide something extra for some of us to chat about, and to chew the fat so to speak. If it's an issue, let me know, and I shall refrain from it from now here on in.

btw -- Kohr-Ah Primat -- how does it feel to be the only declared female around? I guess if you're here you're used to it by now.

I'm used to it to be honest, being the geekish sort. When I  come to sites and forums like these, I tend to get a lot of flak from folks that to say "there's no way you are female" because "girls don't know how to use the net" and all of that similar nonsense. It's all old hat to me, really.

To actually answer your question though, I'm a little amused by it but that's about it. It's not like I'm intimidated or anything. After all, I'm here to chat about a game I like playing.