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Poll
Question: Why? (read below)
There are just types of species   -3 (25%)
They have been placed by the Precursor   -0 (0%)
They have been placed by the Arilou   -2 (16.7%)
They have been placed by somebody else   -1 (8.3%)
Other (specify)   -3 (25%)
The lander minigame is too symbolic   -3 (25%)
Total Voters: 11

Author Topic: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)  (Read 3053 times)
Valaggar
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The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« on: January 31, 2007, 02:25:35 pm »

Have you ever wondered why there are only a few species of animals occuring all over the quadrant? How could the same species have evolved on multiple planets at once?
There would be two different views on the matter: either the bio-types are just types of species, so in fact the same species never occur on two different planets (well, unless placed there by the Arilou - i.e. the humans) OR
someone (for example, the Precursor) has placed them there for mysterious reasons.
Also, why do the Melnorme pay multiple times for info about the same species? This would support the first hypothesis, the "realistic" one.
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Kolrad
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2007, 02:59:14 am »

I have decided that what happens on the lander screen is just symbolic of what's actually happening-- otherwise, I'm responsible for completely wiping out the life on several planets!    Shocked
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2007, 04:41:14 am »

They were placed there by the Melnorme, who left them there to collect information about the planets.  Different types are either for different things, or can survive in different conditions.  The Melnorme don't care about the "bioforms" themselves, but the information they've gathered!  Either they're mechanical or partly so, or they're engineered to somehow give up the data they've gathered, or the Melnorme have some kind of memory-reading device.  I favor the former.

My other theories to explain why there's no diminishing rate of returns include:
1)The Melnorme use them as test subjects for creepy experiments.  They have lots of experiments to do, so they keep needing test subjects.  The experiments might be scientific, military(weapons-testing!  Target practice!), or something else.
2)They are using them in a large-scale project--perhaps seeding a planet with life or conducting population experiments, either of which would need a large number of lifeforms.
3)They eat them, or use them for some kind of entertainment that uses them up--possibly some kind of gladiatorial events.
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Valaggar
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2007, 02:37:58 pm »

I won't think they were placed by the Melnorme... you see, think about the Rainbow Worlds. They could find them themselves, but don't want. The Melnorme seem reluctant to get information themselves. They want trade. And they are recently arrived in the quadrant. They couldn't have seeded so many planets with life... especially in the Ur-Quan influence sphere.
Plus, I don't think they are conducting experiments (same reason - reluctance to get information themselves). And they aren't SO addicted of entertainment - even with that tune they're continuously listening to. (They talk about it in the PC version, but I'm not sure if they do the same in UQM)
Best guess - similar species, not the same (similar maybe because of the Precursor that tinkered with their genes just like us Dnyarri with the Ur-Quan - that doesn't mean they were placed by Precursors)
I'll finally vote, then...
<<votes "types of species">>
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Cedric6014
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2007, 08:04:01 pm »

Well i tried to select other but it wouldnt give me a field to 'specifiy'.

I'm sure its just all about game-play with no significance whatsoever. The game's focus is a story. I'm sure that TFB intend the quadrant to be a typical section of the galaxy with life forms every now and then, and if you're REALLY lucky, you MIGHT find a sentient species which talks back at you.
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2007, 07:53:31 am »

I won't think they were placed by the Melnorme... you see, think about the Rainbow Worlds. They could find them themselves, but don't want. The Melnorme seem reluctant to get information themselves. They want trade.  And they are recently arrived in the quadrant. They couldn't have seeded so many planets with life... especially in the Ur-Quan influence sphere.

Ah, therein lies the story: they've been through this section before (most likely before the Kohr-Ah came and forced them to leave their planet and go into hiding.  It seems reasonable to me that such a massive upheaval would have resulted in cultural changes (and possibly the loss of some technology?  Especially if they didn't colonize and most of their stuff was on their home planet.  They might have turned to the information trade in an attempt to rebuild their knowledge base).  Maybe seeding planet with life/monitoring devices isn't something they'd do now, but it might well be something they did back then) and left them there at that time.  They're probably earlier Self-Replicating Probes, designed to land on planets and observe, and to look like lifeforms (to blend in better?).

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Plus, I don't think they are conducting experiments (same reason - reluctance to get information themselves). And they aren't SO addicted of entertainment - even with that tune they're continuously listening to.

That's a good point--but I have an answer!  It wouldn't necessarily be experiments they conduct themselves or entertainment for themselves.  Maybe they trade them to the Keel-Verezy (or another race whose culture we know nothing about) and they use them.


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I'm sure its just all about game-play with no significance whatsoever.
That's probably true of a lot of things, but 1) it doesn't make for a very interesting discussion and 2) it explains nothing in the context of the story.  It's a little like reading a book and saying, "Oh, of course ___ isn't going to die; they're the main character."
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2007, 10:43:31 am »

My vote is for "types of species". The quantities make more sense that way (using our planet's diverse life as a guideline), and the different species (or subtypes of species) you hunt down, or, more likely, take a specimen from, are sufficiently different from each other to be of interest to the Melnorme. That would mean that your scanner only shows (groups of) unknown lifeforms, not individual organisms.

This resolves the issue of why nobody's complained about you cleaning up all life on a planet (you aren't; you're just taking one of each). Species that behave in a similar manner (and a planet is likely to have lots of similar species, due to evolution (or efficient intelligent design, to avoid an unnecessary debate here)) are shown as identical icons to make the scanner clearer and allow more effective assessment.
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2007, 01:53:06 am »

But you can't find Melnorme ruins anywhere. They are not from this quadrant for sure.

I never said they were, just that they'd been through here before.  Maybe they sent a few scouts out this way (the way we know the Ur-Quan did) or maybe they came from beyond this sector. (Scenario: They had a homeworld at Point A, which something happened to and they had to/decided to leave it for some reason.  They could have mined it out or polluted it into unlivability or something. (This could have been a much more leisurely evacuation than the one where the Kohr-Ah were going to kill them all; maybe they didn't have to leave anything of importance behind.)  They look for somewhere else to settle, going through this sector and scattering a few "lifeforms" as they go, and end up at Point B, where they put down roots and live until the Kohr-Ah come.)


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For sure! That's what the Melnorme behave like!

I'm glad you agree! Smiley But seriously, what do we really know about them?  If you're trying to imply that they're not that a/immoral, I always thought it was interesting that when they're telling you what very bad people the Druuge are, they don't mention the slave trading or the furnaces.  It's possible that they didn't know, but I'd consider that an outside chance at best.
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Valaggar
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2007, 08:55:52 am »

Quote from: waywardoctagon
I never said they were, just that they'd been through here before. etc.
Of course it's possible. Think of it - we know next to nothing about the Melnorme. Although it seems a bit not like Fred Ford & Paul Reiche III.

Quote from: waywardoctagon
If you're trying to imply that they're not that a/immoral, I always thought it was interesting that when they're telling you what very bad people the Druuge are, they don't mention the slave trading or the furnaces.  It's possible that they didn't know, but I'd consider that an outside chance at best.

They ARE moral. But they have a very different definition of "morality". Do you know what they say when you annoy them and say "Isn't altruism the highest pinnacle of morality?"? They say that it's not; that in their culture, GIVING without a fair trade is vulgar and inappropriate! Then of course slave-trading doesn't seem that immoral to them: it's, after all, a FAIR trade! If the slaves are thought about as trade goods, there's nothing wrong.
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2007, 09:13:22 am »

Think of it - we know next to nothing about the Melnorme.

Yes; that's what I just said.  So any crackpot theory is fair game as long as it doesn't directly contradict canon. Cheesy

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They ARE moral. But they have a very different definition of "morality". Do you know what they say when you annoy them and say "Isn't altruism the highest pinnacle of morality?"? They say that it's not; that in their culture, GIVING without a fair trade is vulgar and inappropriate! Then of course slave-trading doesn't seem that immoral to them: it's, after all, a FAIR trade! If the slaves are thought about as trade goods, there's nothing wrong.

And by that reasoning, they might well see nothing wrong with taking the bioforms they get from you and trading them to someone else for whatever purpose.  So why wouldn't they "behave like" that?
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Re: The bio (the species in our home quadrant)
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2007, 09:23:15 am »

Even modern day scientists gather many specimen, since one specimen doesn't reveal all the facts hiding in the species' culture, physiology, psychology, evolution, recent events etc.

I don't seek any kind of realism from the lander sequence. For one you can't travel across the north or south pole.  The species are not the same, just shown the same as some others.
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