Fleshing out the StarCraft Universe [Re-renditioning]

[solidsamurai]

This project must involve a process of world building.

Consider it an alternate, more realistic, more sci-fi, look at the starcraft universe, which doesn't stray far from the image originally presented to the nostalgic among us in 1998.

The reason I'm interested in doing this is because I've been wanting to write a fan fic and/or run a wargame/rpg online in the starcraft universe, for quite some time - and I think a solid universal backing to help readers avoid confusion without all the lengthy exposition would be neat.

Again, none of this would be official. It's world building. It doesn't involve the main plot of the games - although events of the plot may shape the surrounding world. All bets point to blizzard ignoring this.
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So currently...

Whenever I get inspiration, I'll write down some ideas and gradually flesh out the universe of starcraft. You guys can help out if you like - ie. providing information that could be unique, cool or original to the flavour of the universe, etc.

[solidsamurai]

StarCraft seems to be all about personal vendettas, ever since Brood War. So why are personal vendettas allowed to shape the universe?

Here's my consideration:

In a universe at war, StarCraft (at least for the terran) is a story of personal vendettas. Governments rise and fall, but politics and ideology is dead. The human population is too spread out and where it is the most organized, it is too dense. There is no law except that which the man wielding the gun says there is. Beyond that, digital and plastic bonds tie citizens to a variety of corporations that struggle for claim over various properties, mint credits (the actual value of a credit being tenuous beyond the estimated value of services rendered) both human, technological and land related. In the midst of all this struggle for meaning, and all this disposable power available within the grasp of man, corporate funded mass-entertainment and the variety of state propaganda provides a mere illusion of the full scope of the sector in all its scale, an imaginary culture and a presence of order and friendship that does exists with no more substance than the belief of citizens.

Despite all this, a person’s meaning and their existence are a personal discovery. Hate and war is often a result of personal vendettas. Mengsk’s Dominion is a personal accomplishment, despite the tenuous laws and sovereignties it holds sway over, or where the money is tied. Older states such as Kel Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate shy away from war. In the face of a non-solid budget, military engagements are designed for close, cost-effective confrontations and the technology ensures an ever-prevalent resource economy. Ideology is meaningless, as causes are no longer championed. The most well informed citizen is too distracted and over stimulated to worry about the war light years to the left of his planet.

The existence of two alien lifeforms means things will stay interesting, however.

So, effectively the greatest amount of law would have been provided in the UED, but the human gut reaction to change is so powerful that virtually every force opposes the UED until it's too late.

Ironically, overthrowing the confederacy, despite how chaotic the confederacy seemed, overthrew the last semblance of order within its borders.

Mengsk's government institutes simpler laws, however a civilian of the dominion is now more of a tribesman than a citizen under law. Appointed officials may have to obey codes of honor. In either case, the dominion I envision is highly elitist - no actual laws exists for the lowly citizenry. In fact, citizens most likely obey corporate or local laws that derive from confederate constitution or state-wide laws and acts that may still remain in place. On the other hand, the only things the dominion says are simple 'morals' that could almost become like religion, such as 'watch your neighbors'.

In fact, in some colonies, there's probably 'under new management: terran dominion' signs, and the colonists simply shrug. Who cares! Some pirates declared ownership of this place weeks ago, before that, it was some rebels, before that, it was my neighbor (he was feeling megalomaniacal that day), and before that the confederacy. We all know that the man who ensures your pay check is the real law and order. At least for your colonist butt.

Mengsk's government would be very clumsy if its presence wasn't merely symbolic. It's a bit communist in a way. The elitists (ie. military officers, bureau managers, etc.), are above the law but are required to obey the newly instated dominion laws to the letter. It's their duty to control the citizens and those that fall under their management. They have many privileges as elitists, but are also slaves in a way. In fact, their laws are probably called the 'code of honor', as if following these laws is a privilege and a grant.

In other words (again), an officer can be resocialized or be required to murder civilians because the document labeled 'your code of honor' requires that he must, given the nature of his mission, whether its a prevailing continuous assignment or something else.

So, again, everything would be run very military-like. Principles of public schools may often be seen wearing fancy military uniforms that look like something circa 19th century (ribbons and everything). That sorta thing.
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The above is in stark contrast to the UED, which may actually be no worse than Halo's UNSC. A domineering, if superbly efficient government war machine that nonetheless preserves as a form of democracy - this doesn't necessarily earn it points for team good, however. People may still be educated to consider careers in the military as that opportunity to get out of your boring neighborhood on earth. Of course, to the dominion, the UED is basically a rabid beast, no worse than the zerg, and made even more painful by the fact that they're all human.

Sorta like Neil Stephenson's 'Snow Crash', where opportunity seekers have to venture into lawless wasteland in order to fulfill their mad desire for stimulation beyond the 'burb claves'. The same applies to why citizens of the UED are pressured to 'serve'.

[Hawki]

Idon't trust blizzard to effectively flesh things out. I mean, think about it - they've ignored the universe for going 14 years now!

Or rather, just 12 years since Brood War. The universe was certainly neglected between 2002 and 2006, but that was in part due to Ghost being developed in that time and ultimately being canceled.

The universe of starcraft as it stands is a world building mess. Tropes are almost contradictory or counter intuitive. There's major fridge logic such as the terran population densities, whether or not the dominion even matters (or just presented itself as the juiciest target for the UED). Some of the conflicts that drive the main plot feel very shoehorned, etc. Villains have hardly any motivations!

You'd need to be more specific with the tropes and indeed, the population figures are iffy. I think it's well established that the Dominion matters though. As for villains, there's just too wide a range for me to generalize, and the line between villain and anti-hero is often blurred.

The overmind had the most motivation and then we learn that it's a sham. Kerrigan just enjoys killing things. Mengsk just wants to rule.

The Overmind's motivation was hardly that in-depth, and I've explained elsewhere why I like the "sham" revelation. Kerrigan has never just "killed things," it was established that her motivations prior to SGW were continuing the zerg's MO and revenge. With revelations of the coming threat, that differed to acquiring the means to go out as best she could. As for Mengsk, of course he just wants to rule. It's the climax of his character development. While he probably had some level of idealism when the SoK was first formed, but as that decision was influenced by revenge, the end result is hardly surprising.

Older states such as Kel Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate shy away from war.

I wouldn't give them too much credit. The KMC fought openly in the Guild Wars and post-BW, was perfectly willing to antagonise the Dominion. The UP lacks the military power to go head to head, but again, it conducted espionage against the Confederacy and Dominion.

Mengsk's government would be very clumsy if its presence wasn't merely symbolic. It's a bit communist in a way. The elitists (ie. military officers, bureau managers, etc.), are above the law but are required to obey the newly instated dominion laws to the letter. It's their duty to control the citizens and those that fall under their management. They have many privileges as elitists, but are also slaves in a way. In fact, their laws are probably called the 'code of honor', as if following these laws is a privilege and a grant.

Actually think the Confederacy was a bit more communist in nature, or at least anti-capitalist. Many corporations have been seen in Dominion space whereas the Confederacy had Old Family corporate dominance.

The above is in stark contrast to the UED, which may actually be no worse than Halo's UNSC. A domineering, if superbly efficient government war machine that nonetheless preserves as a form of democracy - this doesn't necessarily earn it points for team good, however. People may still be educated to consider careers in the military as that opportunity to get out of your boring neighborhood on earth. Of course, to the dominion, the UED is basically a rabid beast, no worse than the zerg, and made even more painful by the fact that they're all human.

UED hasn't been fleshed out enough for me to comment, but I don't really see it being a democracy. It's evident from BW that some old human triumphalism from the UPL seems to linger and while it's administered by a Council, whether it's democratically elected or not is up to debate. Certainly its Confederate coutnerpart had no mandate from the people.

[solidsamurai]

Why isn't the future simply fought with guided warheads at range and massive fleet ships?

For whatever reason, it's my opinion that mankind underwent some kind of technological stagnation. Fleets aren't as effective as they could be and the guild wars certainly didn't stimulate demand for fleets.

Also, the naval blockade becomes darn impractical - it's much harder to blockade a planet for example. In addition, the existence of fleet ships assumes the most powerful available weapons. Terran armor simply isn't advanced enough to withstand the might of fully loaded battlecruisers (not the basic hulls you get from building them at a ground base), let alone ion cannons.

Proper armor and engines is a resource heavy commodity, and I'm guessing the guild wars was basically an arms race to get bigger ships until the idea of 'big anything' (apart from battlecruisers) proved futile and that every war can be fought bush fire style - almost feudal like. Less bomb dropping means most engagements are optimal for reducing civilian casualties as well. War can be fought at a corporate 'risk assessment' level.

This is made even more apparent with the very real life comparison to the war in Iraq, which had utterly ridiculously exhorbitant costs, compared to what their mission was and who they were fighting.

In the future, logistics is easier. Simply put. So, why not spend as little money as possible while creating a flexible attacking force? The most flexible attacking force in any military is infantry combined with armor and some air support. That's essentially terran right there.

In fact, it's probable that the terran dominion even have some battleships (very big, heavily armored, consisting of more than one battlecruiser hull probably smattered together) lying around the dylarian shipyards. However, a battleship just isn't effective enough to be worth sticking a warp drive on, let alone devoting to any individual ground scale combat engagement.

Of course, this also assumes that important plot twisting mission in SC and SC: BW are expert insertions. Which also makes some level of sense. It's a bit like a duel - the enemy assigns their best commanders to guard the objective while the only feasible defense is to patrol and maneuver randomly with other forces. And such forces can't stand still with a base, either, because of logistical limitations between multiple commanders.

An Alternative: Targeting software simply isn't advanced enough to allow naval guns to strike at great ranges. However, the use of simple triangulating satellites and heavier, heat-resistant ammo (guided missile or even dumb round; in fact, terran have guided rockets) could make it really easy.

For whatever reason though, I think a naval blockade being very non-cost effective holds way more water than the excuse that 500 years of schizo-techy progression means that they lack the technology to perform basic space logistics, such as planetary bombards.

So, in terran mission 8, the naval blockade that the confederates do could be an act of desperation - either to keep zerg at bay or whatever.

For whatever reason, they don't want to just nuke the SoK base from orbit, and instead send a strike force down - possibly the goal is capture of leaders. The reason by this could be internal politics. It could be that no particular old family members want Mengsk dead. It could also be that the confederacy is just making desperate efforts to reign in order. Their internet networks are alive with confusion.

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If the enemy decides to bring in the fleet and bombard away your base, then they've wasted valuable resources on the required ammunition! They've also moved their fleet from a key defensive location. Powerful fleet defense turrets such as ion cannons are made to guard the real assets - such as cities within the core worlds.

Also, I don't think terran warp drives can be produced at a ground base.

Only a bit of knowledge was restored from ATLAS.

It's the innovations of corporations such as CMC and the original inventors of the goliath 'chicken walker' mech, that really undercut the military market.

Suddenly, a single infantry man could be as efficient as any support vehicle short of a vulture's incredible speed or the raw armor and fire power of a siege tank. The goliath was merely the next step from the marine or firebat in powered armor.

Powered armor in its current form is fairly new to the koprulu sector. Suddenly, many other components of military cease manufacture. W

We may not see it in the real world - but warfare becomes revolutionized at an infantry level when enough simple rifleman can shoot through a tank (provided they shoot enough, of course), resocialization ensures men will always fight to the death, add this to a combination of targeting HUDs and armor suitable for robust travel through incredibly harsh environments, and you have some highly efficient infantry. If you can have 200 marines versus a nuke, what would you pick? Consider that the nuke attack only needs to fail once for all money spent on the nuke to go down the drain, whereas every individual failure of the marines involves another of that group making up for the failure. Resocialized marines may be especially prone to sacrifice for the sake of covering up failure - at the expense of all ideology (motive towards actions), of course.

Guerilla warfare is history's lesson to attest to what infantry can do.

It also explains why every terran in-game strategy will involve marines to some degree.

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Kerrigan has never just "killed things," it was established that her motivations prior to SGW were continuing the zerg's MO and revenge.

Okay, but why? Even saying 'the zerg are mind controlling her' feels like a hand wave in that case. Why is kerrigan still evil when the overmind is dead? Should we even care?

Eh... but then, it's just a video game. Right?

Also, consider that the overmind IS the zerg. The overmind's motives were the zerg's motives. The overmind was the reason they went to the K-sector. Why do the zerg want revenge against the dark templar, etc.? Because the overmind wanted it. It could easily be concluded that he instilled the feeling of rage in kerrigan - after all, he instilled the feeling of her being his daughter. Even when the overmind is slain, this suggestion continues to linger within her, as if that's going to be her entire villain motivation. From that, I can only guess she wants to become queen of the zerg because its the next logical to fulfilling her desire to make people upset and feel alive by demonstrating how mighty she is. Sure, at second glance, it's pretty cool. But at that first glance, it seemed kinda 'this is the next logical step'. Basically, I suppose, all zerg have a desire to dominate, so as the superior lifeform, she felt it necessary to rise to the top (I think this is actual dialogue that she made; 'I am clearly a superior lifeform, daddy said so', etc.).

I don't know, but to me (first glance again), this seems really simple. Kerri became a one off of a greater villain and never really received enough development for me to care. When she was infested, I always originally assumed 'oh she's a zombie now, whatever'. So really, she just wants to kill things. Because she's evil. That's it right there.

Oh, but like most blizzard characters, her looks are what define her.

Actually think the Confederacy was a bit more communist in nature, or at least anti-capitalist. Many corporations have been seen in Dominion space whereas the Confederacy had Old Family corporate dominance.

Right from the manual: They were oligarchical. Meaning they had entitled aristocracies - which consisted of maybe a few hundred people that were above the law out of millions or billions. Other than that, the economy was probably rather capitalist. The old families would bicker with one another too.

The oppressiveness probably stemmed from the 'plutocratic' element. Meaning the rich step on the poor and can make the laws and probably had better clout with the old families.

Communism is quite different - mostly just a dictatorship and plenty of enforced ideas that demand conformism to one ideology. It's close to fascism, but it's different... somehow. It mostly has to do with economy - anyone with influence, anyone at all, must be affiliated with the party in some way.

Whereas a fascistic society would more obligely beat their beliefs into people, I guess. Basically; obey, or get out! As long as you obey, do what you want; while communism says 'you don't have to obey, in fact there's the door' and the door leads out to a cold winter storm that will surely kill you.

However, I'd read up on wikipedia before going further into this. :P

The KMC fought openly in the Guild Wars and post-BW, was perfectly willing to antagonise the Dominion. The UP lacks the military power to go head to head, but again, it conducted espionage against the Confederacy and Dominion.

The KMC is kinda the sorta state that will furiously defend itself, while remaining intrusive. It's basically a bunch of corporate entities working together, so it is very profit minded. I could see it as a sort of meritocratic state. Possibly fascist - it doesn't like outsiders. The meritocratic element determines how willing it is to pursue logic.

KMC miners were described as 'bored' and with 'nothing to do but mine' in some of the most recent lore, though. Dunno if that says anything.

In either case, the KMC will only go to war over profit. While the dominion doesn't consider risk/reward on a broad scale, the KMC does. They only went to war with the confederacy, because they thought it'd be profitable risk vs. reward. Most of the time they'll shy away. Especially with the current theater.

The UP does espionage, because they aren't stupid. KMC probably does it all the time. It's part of their risk/reward assessment. The dominion probably does espionage on the other two as well.

Espionage isn't full out war.

In fact, the incident of a russian spy caught in canada caused an international disturbance because canada was afraid of what to do without causing too much of an incident.

In other words: If two states are technically allies (or at least not at war, because war wouldn't be convenient), they often find ways of covering up incidents such as catching spies. It's possible that terran colonists in the same state or corporation fight amongst each other all the time and kill each other. It's possible that armies have 'accidents' where they kill each other.

The states only represent broad tapestries of the people, and the motivations (many of which clash within the same state), living under them.

It's up to a few officials to determine full out war, however. And of course, war isn't just a word either - there's still a lot more casualties in war. It's just that, people still die for conflicting beliefs outside of it as well.

UED hasn't been fleshed out enough for me to comment, but I don't really see it being a democracy. It's evident from BW that some old human triumphalism from the UPL seems to linger and while it's administered by a Council, whether it's democratically elected or not is up to debate. Certainly its Confederate coutnerpart had no mandate from the people.

Consider that more than one kind of democracy exists in this world.

Some are lead to be more violent than others. You can vote against a military leader, but you can't publicly denounce him and convince more people to see your point of view without losing your job or going to jail or whatever. That's kinda how I'd see it.

The UED is efficient and they seem to choose the best military leaders for the job. Whereas, in the confederacy, it was merely the 'next guy in line' - a rich person could bribe another rich person into getting his nephew a promotion; Consider that Edmund Duke, whom certainly isn't top notch, was actually general of an important confederate task force because the honor needed to be bestowed upon an old family member. Someone else must have received a favour. For whatever reason, the old families also remain in power because much of the wealth trickles back to them. The less rich ones had less influence or were generally misremembered (I think I read about this). In the dominion, it's whoever 'gets appointed' or probably 'shares the vision'.

or at least anti-capitalist.

Aggressive capitalism does not equal anti-capitalist. I think your confusing free market capitalism (what exists in the real world) vs. any other type of capitalism that can go as far back as roman times.

[RODTHEGOD]

I agree. I think Blizzard took the wonderful world of starcraft and took it in a terrible direction. I've personally been exploing the idea of doing campaigns for the histories for the three races. Here are some basic concepts I've quickly written down;

Terran - After reading through the Terran history, I've come to the conclusion that a good terran story is about two sides. One side is about the law, maintaining it, as well as doing what is necessary for the state. Parts of the campaign will involve things like preventing panic from spreading, hunting down criminals and pirates, as well as killing dissidents, in military(rebels) and civilian(rioters, media, internet) forms. The other side of the coin is about opposing tyranny. It's supposed to show you what tyranny is and how it murders, lies and manipulates people. It's supposed to show you what you may or may not have to do to bring that tyranny down.

Zerg - After reading through the Zerg history, I've come to the conclusion that a good zerg story is about one thing, evolution. This campaign will follow the Xel'naga as they perform their evolutionary experiments. It will show you various concepts of evolution and biological controls such as eugenics or "mating disruption." It will also show you evolutionary advantages, things like social group size vs brute strength. You will also be shown your greatest adversary, the Protoss, and see how they are the true pinnacle of evolution. Finally when the Xel'naga get to Zerus, you will be able to apply these lessons in developing the Zerg, both before and after the Overmind comes into being. Once the Overmind comes, you will advance rapidly throughout Zerus and finally to the stars where the Xel'naga and your great rivals await.

Protoss - After reading through the Protoss history, I've come to the conclusion that a good protoss story should be about different aspects of one thing, that is superiority. The first part will make you feel physically superior to all other life forms, show your physical strength, your advantages due to telepathy and finally psionics. You should feel like a member of a Master Race. You will also be made to feel other kinds of superiority too. You will fight Alien empires, in Alexander-like campaigns. Your superiority in intellect and technology will be without question. Finally, you will be made to feel morally superior. You will be made to feel that you are making the moral choices, and that you and you alone have the right to steward over lesser races.

[solidsamurai]

in military(rebels)

Granted, not all rebels are part of the military. One of the novels (despite its flaws) did point out that rebel and their leaders typically sometimes portray themselves as being so for the romance, but are in reality just mercenaries and pirates like most of the 'lawless' types out there. And even pirates and mercenaries can have their own laws - they just don't 'jive' with the state (and... yeah, starcraft is one of those worlds where characters use 70s-90s 20th century slang ). There are also mercenaries that do jive with the state (or the local corporation or whatever).

(rioters, media, internet)

I always imagined the internet as being sort of an underground thing. Imagine a future where government continually reigns in the internet over a period of about 500 years or so. The internet is an incredibly useful form of communication and time killing, but people's lives don't revolve around it. It's mostly corporate driven. And yes, there's probably the odd hacker folk that are ostracized by other society for using funky decks for surfing the internet.

Not to mention, the internet is probably not global. So it exists in some places and not others. It's not like there's any stigma against the internet, because the future does allow some weird things out there, but it's just not as

Information wise - one locale uses acoustic radios, while another uses digital. Another uses box tvs and another still uses flat screen TVs but box computer monitors. It's a bit clumsy when corporations begin using trade laws and embargos on one another and then unify into guilds (mega corporations, if you will; although I suppose some of these corporations are already 'mega', when they technically own territory in some form or another),

If you're a local business, you might have no chance of shipping your product off world (even simply taking it with you), because the local transport business that monopolizes sub-warp route A to B from planet x to moon y, has out-lawed it as a means of driving down competition.

Against the state, none of these corporations has a chance, of course. But does the state care? It's really massive, so it's mostly just concerned with pushing the agenda of its leader (where the personal vendetta theme comes into play again). But it also explains why piracy is so rife within terran space.

In most places, people's lives literally depend on whatever corporation is running things at the time. That corporation might depend on another one's ability to provide infrastructure out of a favour they owe or something. In more bereft areas, it depends on the favours of one given family or individual or another.

The exception is in the thick of truly big, population dense cities, where someone is free to live life artificially and trivially (in relation to anywhere but those places) - but at the same time, having little to no impact on others; simply because they aren't allowed to (if by social convention, or bylaw).

Zerg - After reading through the Zerg history, I've come to the conclusion that a good zerg story is about one thing, evolution. This campaign will follow the Xel'naga as they perform their evolutionary experiments. It will show you various concepts of evolution and biological controls such as eugenics or "mating disruption." It will also show you evolutionary advantages, things like social group size vs brute strength. You will also be shown your greatest adversary, the Protoss, and see how they are the true pinnacle of evolution. Finally when the Xel'naga get to Zerus, you will be able to apply these lessons in developing the Zerg, both before and after the Overmind comes into being. Once the Overmind comes, you will advance rapidly throughout Zerus and finally to the stars where the Xel'naga and your great rivals await.

Actually, I think that it was the overmind's clairvoyance/telepathy, or the zerg scouts, that allowed the zerg to learn about the protoss in the first place.

[solidsamurai]

Taken from another Thread

-Psychic potential is just that-potential. Ghost Program seems to have been founded sometime in the 2470s/perhaps early 80s, so I'm guessing that psionics were becoming manifest around the same time.

I'm thinking psychic abilities have existed for a long time and throughout history, governments have been trying to reign it in. The ghost program is a recent invention, made to actually take advantage of psychics.

Ghost Academy sort of (but doesn't really touch on enough) of the theme of governments trying to reign a human's power that is so different from ordinary human ability to perceive and probably comprehend (basically, it's the period of time needed for the birth of a new science; like actual psychology's origins in the 19th century to 20th century, to 21st; in fact, the 21st century psychology has made quite a few advancements from 20th!) - if it were written more intelligently, it would have had a similar theme to the world of Akira (manga); where Akira is initially an experiment gone wrong, and then later on, Akira doesn't like being Akira.

In fact, the ghosts were uniquely confederate units.

For whatever reason, the UED used them as well though - with similar technology, I think the UED had non-psychic agents that worked similarly to ghosts as well. It could be that UED stole the idea from those wily confederates - and it wouldn't be surprising if, given the level of surveillance they'd ascertained from the K-sector, grew their technology in that pattern as well.

Basically, they have the ability to assimilate a culture from range. Which has never been done before in the history of humankind. The only way we're even coming close to that is through the internet - and even the internet RIGHT NOW doesn't provide enough depth. We're still forced to withdraw from it to carry on our daily lives.

It's possible that UED surveillance was tied to their own internets. And I bet that back on earth, there really is a globular internet. However, outside of a certain range of space (into the expeditionary zones), only robust craft can exist (such as battlecruisers and similar technology that has to mimick confederate/dominion tech).

Compared to the confederacy and dominion's 'sparse internet networks', I think the UED waging warfare on their own turf would entirely change up the battle. Obviously, it wouldn't be about resources any more. There'd be a lot of electronic warfare involved.

Even the Jacob's installation compound missions were compound missions, because there was no resource extraction that could be done in those zones.

For whatever reason, in starcraft 2, the raiders' invasion of korhal, lets them harvest minerals. I like to imagine they're probably just salvaging through the many metal scrap heaps that probably exist. Maybe recycling industry is so big on Korhal that excess vespene waste has to be shipped into articially created new tunnel geysers.

[RODTHEGOD]

I always imagined the internet as being sort of an underground thing. Imagine a future where government continually reigns in the internet over a period of about 500 years or so. The internet is an incredibly useful form of communication and time killing, but people's lives don't revolve around it. It's mostly corporate driven. And yes, there's probably the odd hacker folk that are ostracized by other society for using funky decks for surfing the internet.

If you're a local business, you might have no chance of shipping your product off world (even simply taking it with you), because the local transport business that monopolizes sub-warp route A to B from planet x to moon y, has out-lawed it as a means of driving down competition.

Against the state, none of these corporations has a chance, of course. But does the state care? It's really massive, so it's mostly just concerned with pushing the agenda of its leader (where the personal vendetta theme comes into play again). But it also explains why piracy is so rife within terran space.

In most places, people's lives literally depend on whatever corporation is running things at the time. That corporation might depend on another one's ability to provide infrastructure out of a favour they owe or something. In more bereft areas, it depends on the favours of one given family or individual or another.

The exception is in the thick of truly big, population dense cities, where someone is free to live life artificially and trivially (in relation to anywhere but those places) - but at the same time, having little to no impact on others; simply because they aren't allowed to (if by social convention, or bylaw).

The way I see it, is that these colonists started in concentrated groups and reached space traveling capacity quickly. So they first didn't really need the internet because everyone was right there infront of them (not to mention perhaps it was a security problem since alot of the colonists were hackers). Then once they reached the stars, communication become much more akin to early 20th century so the internet never become a huge thing.

On Earth, there are big super powers all over the place so the internet was needed to drastically increase response time. Alot of governments and government leaders are constantly complaining about the internet. I remember Bill Clinton talking about how he wanted to destroy the internet so they could get back to the Big 3 News Networks on T.V. The internet is the ultimate form of free speech; no authority to grovel to, no consequences, direct or indirect for saying things people might not like.

Anyways the way the terran history makes out the UED is that they are basically a Soviet Union version 2.0. Atleast to me anyways. So the UED destroys the internet so that it can do whatever it wants to all of its dissidents. So anyone who doesn't say they believe in the "Equality of Man" is simply rounded up and shot. Anyways thats where the Confederacy comes from. Basically I'm planning on starting it as an early republic type thing that gets overthrown with inspiration from the HBO series John Adams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=cUeOCjcgVsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvpZxMfKaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaWBs46USqE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notJuFGXQ9w
(I was actually pretty anti-american until I watched this series. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's a great series.)

From that, it basically gets corrupted into a corperate state. A state that innevitably gets into conflict with the other states in the K-Sector. The Guild Wars

Actually, I think that it was the overmind's clairvoyance/telepathy, or the zerg scouts, that allowed the zerg to learn about the protoss in the first place.

Ya I know. But I'm thinking in more of a narrative point of view. Where you almost play as the xel'naga from the fall of the first born to the rise of the zerg and from there you almost take what you have learned throughout the xel'nagas experiments and evolve the swarm. I guess I could have the protoss part after the Overmind assimilate the xel'naga

[solidsamurai]

because everyone was right there infront of them

Pffft. That's not exactly how communication psychology works. Chances are they spread out quickly. Especially if the planet they were on was already terraformed, you'd have the adventurous types that are more than willing to go hunting (especially if they brought weapons), the withdrawn types that probably get abused by the women. Etc. :P

It's like, "Honey did you collect the food you promised today?"

"No, I was too busy chatting with a scientist/preacher/town-hall administrator, who's been looking over all this crap that ATLAS told him for some reason." Or, "No, I decided to bang your cousin. Because marriage no longer needs to exist since it's the end of the world as we know it? Y'know?" or "I wanted to go hunting that seventeen foot long purple geese, because some guy says he'll let me join his gang if I do. Oh, and I also banged your cousin. Because she's hot? What? Why else? I said, why else? What?"

Ya I know. But I'm thinking in more of a narrative point of view. Where you almost play as the xel'naga from the fall of the first born to the rise of the zerg and from there you almost take what you have learned throughout the xel'nagas experiments and evolve the swarm. I guess I could have the protoss part after the Overmind assimilate the xel'naga

Or you could just make the player feel guilty by playing zerg and slaughtering faceless super-aliens for no reason. It'd be like a game of spore or something.

Then once they reached the stars, communication become much more akin to early 20th century so the internet never become a huge thing.

Or it did. It's just that people preferred skyping and using 'adjutants' to act as secretary for their calls (see: every mission briefing SC 1).

Either way, my reason for the internet existing is just as valid as your reason for it not existing. Except that your reason just says 'retro in some areas for no reason, because it's unique or something'. Anyway, that's the feeling I'm getting.

On Earth, there are big super powers all over the place so the internet was needed to drastically increase response time.

Terran militaries have incredible response times as it is. They can build a forward operating base from the ground up to assault an enemy at their doorstep (see: every map in which you play terran).

Anyways the way the terran history makes out the UED is that they are basically a Soviet Union version 2.0. Atleast to me anyways.

I actually considered them more of the 'new world order' that every conspiracy theorist has feared for about 30 years going on. :P

Not exactly communism, so much as it's own potentially unique totalitarian thing. Corporate or state cyberpunk is the best way to play it safe (enslavement through technology; mostly information based, but probably drugs and psychology too).

When you say communism, people think of russians. Even though it's racist. They think of the red army and the commisariat. And then they probably think of warhammer 40k. And yeah, it's good to stay away from warhammer 40k in respect to starcraft in everything but art. :P

Also, tyranids would totally be owned by zerg (in long war of attrition that is). Why? Because they feed on organic matter. Zerg can feed on inorganic as well (why do units require minerals? why does creep continue to grow over map terrain such as the wasteland and korhal desert?), so zerg could eventually outnumber the 'nids. Just thought I'd throw that in there. xD

[solidsamurai]

From another thread.

I doubt the stealth is any good. You're lumbering around in a piece of heavy metal armor that makes you a foot taller. The only thing stealth does is make you clank less. If you didn't wear the armor, you'd actually be stealthier, I think.

I agree with this. They mentioned silenced foot falls however (utterly impossible by any notion of physics, given the weight of power armor), but I'd consider that an expensive custom fitting.

The ghost armor might have silenced foot falls though.

Said marine still got a zergling skewering him from behind. (That happened so many times, either zerg are super-strong, or CMC armor is made of tissue paper.) Infra-red goggles are really old tech; it's easy to bypass those.

Eh... I'd say zerg are super strong. Why would marines have paper-thin armor that's incredibly bulky. Suspension of disbelief is slightly lain askew at that, unless you denounce the entire thing as shoddy manga, and that would piss at least a few fans.

It's simple really. Hydralisks have 680-something muscles. Zerglings (at least with adrenal glands and metabollic boost) are super fast, and it can only be assumed that they are incredibly strong. It takes strength to be that fast - it takes energy to bite through all the layers of a siege tank that quickly (3 lings with adrenal glands can knock through a tank amazingly quickly... like 1.5 seconds in brood war - that's insane - it's like they probably burrow through the hull, burrow through metal).

It's basically the level of aliens, except include only the alien jaws and not the acid blood, but it make it about 20 times stronger and faster, and more horrifying. A hydralisk would pick a bone clean, but a zergling would be the one to rip and rend off huge chunks. Or suicidally dive into a body. Zerglings have very powerful pounces - their talons are designed to act like spears when they pounce.

So yeah, a talon could stab through CMC armor, which is mostly designed to maybe REACT to ballistic force in a small surface area (resists 'small arms fire', so maybe anything 10mm or below, non-gauss), rather than a larger one like a flexible, probing, zergling spear. o.0

The only way marines can avoid death is actually noticing the zergling charging in a straight line. Which is avoidable. The whole 'detecting movement!' line and then immediately followed by the zergling impaling the guy in the back before he can even turn around in the direction of the movement (and there's no real guestimate of how fast CMC armor lets a pilot turn), implies that the critters are quite fast.

Hydralisks are also strong and quite fast (implied by the amerigo cinematic where the beer chugging marine gets Eli Roth faced in half of a half second, mid-chug), but much of their strength lies in how co-ordinated they are. So they can skin somebody in a matter of moments. Because everyone was obsessed with predator back then.
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Another idea could be that the armor is just ablative.

I'm gonna move what I wrote here over into my other thread.