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Author Topic: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?  (Read 9626 times)
Kohr-Ah_Primat
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2003, 01:12:32 am »

Also note that the closest Hyperspace Portal in QuasiSpace to their homeworld leads to the point in Hyperspace that is very very close to the 'naturally occurring portal'. It's probably the most convenient one to head towards in order to pop into HyperSpace. I figured the Arilou just 'camped out' around the area where they would most frequently appear in QuasiSpace, so that it wouldn't be hostile to their brethren if the area remained unguarded.

I'd guess that they don't have the sheer manpower to operate a guardian fleet around the portal site, so they just station regular patrols.

The naturally occurring portal is open three solid days a month-- that's ten percent of all the time, which is pretty significant (and dangerous to the Arilou). I imagine it could quite possibly be a side effect of the Arilou ships constantly popping into Hyperspace from Quasispace all the time. (weakening the fabric between the two).
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2003, 01:24:13 am »

Wow, I can't believe you found this old thing! Smiley

It still doesn't explain it though. Yes, we know that the portal is where it is, and Scotts explanation of the sphere for mining purposes makes sense, but as I recall there were a few other questions that never got solved. for example, you never see any Arilou on the quasispace side. And as good old Omni pointed out, they have the ability to pull back to Quasispace completely, they've done it before. So they can clearly surivive without their spehere.

And guarding the natural portal from the inside wouldn't require much, even a booby trap would suffice, if a few Skiffs charging the unprepared intruder didn't do the trick.

Btw, was that really Omni telling me I had a valid point? Heh, that must've been the first and last time   Wink
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Death 999
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2003, 02:22:46 am »

Yeah, no arilou in quasispace is sort of weird.

Also, I figured that - in terms of out of game reasons - the portal closest to the homeworld was the one nearby so that you wouldn't suddenly find yourself in the middle of Ur-Quan space with arbitrarily low fuel (with no portal spawner if you haven't gotten the Warp Core first!!)... the closest one was the most likely for you to 'randomly' sample, and if is pretty close, that's fairly neutral (principle of least surprise).

Edit: d'oh! The pet has already come and gone; it's the warp core you need. Silly me.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2003, 02:44:39 am by Death_999 » Logged
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2003, 02:29:14 am »

Aslo, putting the portal closest by leadin out at roughly the same place enables you to actually make it back from Alpha Pavonis in time to get into the next natural portal (even though it is close). Otherwise, you'd have to wait a month and try to time it so that you were there at the right time...
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Death 999
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #19 on: April 09, 2003, 02:44:00 am »

I've sometimes wondered why you can't split your fleet and give them instructions to go somewhere, to make a delivery, say. Of course, the simple answer is game playability and programming...
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Lukipela
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2003, 02:52:18 am »

I was going to amke a whole bunch of points about why you OBVIOUSLY can't do that, but then I relaized that none of them were valid. Duh.

The only one I can come up with is the fuel issue. Inside their own speheres I assume that ships have frequent access to refueling stations, but you'r fleet wouldn't have, unless travelling through allied territory...

Oh, and I'm assuming the Slylandro make their own fuel as they go.
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RockasaurusRex2000
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #21 on: April 09, 2003, 03:14:08 am »

It's pretty obvious why the Arilou would stay in the galaxy and keep a circle of influence.

Your well-being is of paramount concern to every Arilou.
Surely you know, that it was the day after Humanity joined the Alliance Of Free Stars
that we appeared in the open for the first time. This was no coincidence.
We wanted to protect you.


They do mention they are in many *times*, maybe there aren't even enough Arilou to make their circle bigger. They might be fighting wars we have no idea about in other *times*, or other things may prevent them from making their circle bigger? Or maybe they beleive that they have a sufficient amount of Arilou already standing guard. Maybe their too cautious to make their circle bigger, for fear of the Ur-Quan killing so many Arilou with no chance? I dunno, It's probably cause of resources.
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #22 on: April 09, 2003, 03:17:43 am »

They don't NEED a sphere of influence to watch over us humans though, do they? They can just pop out of Quasispace close to us and take a look for as often as they want to....
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Omni-Sama
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #23 on: April 09, 2003, 03:28:03 am »

Quote
And as good old Omni pointed out, they have the ability to pull back to Quasispace completely, they've done it before...
...
Btw, was that really Omni telling me I had a valid point? Heh, that must've been the first and last time   Wink

No!  I won't admit it!  It never happened!   Tongue  By the way, when does someone reach "good old status"?  I feel honoured by your kind, yet demeaning gesture.   Grin

Anywho, I seem to believe that the Arilou have a sphere of influence in TrueSpace because of the Umgah.  I think that if they left that area of space undefended, the Umgah would be glad to pick it up as their own, greatly hindering Arilou ships from spilling in and out of their re-occuring hole into Quasispace.  I assume the juvenile pranksters have played one or two jokes on the Arilou in their past and they're guarding the door so that they can't do it again.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2003, 03:29:31 am by Omni-Sama » Logged

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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2003, 03:30:47 am »

Quote
They don't NEED a sphere of influence to watch over us humans though, do they? They can just pop out of Quasispace close to us and take a look for as often as they want to....


No, I agree, they definetly wouldn't if they were to watch over us. But I thought they were to protect us, not check on us.
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #25 on: April 09, 2003, 03:34:18 am »

In that case, I'd put my sphere closer to the humans. Just because they don't have a sphere in Truespace doesn't mean they can't have a fleet... They could have a thousand ships at their homeworld on standby to pop in and save us, without ever needing to establish a presence in our Quadrant. In fact, if they did that, they would have an edge, surprise attack!
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #26 on: April 09, 2003, 03:51:28 am »

Well, I suppose then it serves two purposes. To protect the portal, and to protect the humans. Good question though.
I guess a surprise attack would be better. Maybe they prefer to keep the portal guarded from the outside, to keep the location of Quasispace from ever being found, even if it meant facing thousands or Arilou, maybe they still didnt want to take the chance.
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #27 on: April 09, 2003, 03:56:34 am »

As is stated further up in this topic, they're not doing a very good job of making sure the portal is never found in that case. Both Spathi and Melnorme know where it is, and I'm guessing at least the Umgah have a fair idea as well... So there must be another reason. Resources is the only one that's plausible so far, although it can be argued against as well...
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #28 on: April 09, 2003, 04:02:30 am »

Perhaps they have control over the shape of quasispace, so that if anyone of whom they did not approve entered, they could just fold the place up and squeeze the intruders out? Meanwhile, you can get to their homeworld...

Just an idea.
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Re: The Arilou sphere of Influence -Why?
« Reply #29 on: April 09, 2003, 04:05:07 am »

yes, but do the Arilou know that the Spathi and Melnorme know? Maybe the Arilou still think their secret is safe. They did say the human was the first to visit them at their homeworld, Faly-ahh whatever. Grin. Yes, i agree though, minerals does sound the most plausible.
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