SCII Flashpoint novel

[l33telboi]

Well it means they have 39 ships left, and there are two more expansions coming out, with there's at least one largish battle in HotS. So they're probably going to be down to just the Hyperion by the time the game ends.

...But yeah, there definitely are more then that in the sky above Char in the ending cinematic, so it doesn't add up however you look at it. Should probably read the novel first since that particular bit was just something put out by blizzplanet. Maybe it'll make sense in context.

[phazonjunkie]

Question. If the White Star is Emperor Mengk's personal flagship, just what is the hell is the Bucephalus supposed to be?

[Hawki]

I wondered the same thing. Maybe something happens to the Bucephalus in the novel, or Valerian takes it as his own or something.

[Medievaldragon]

I wouldn't be too worked up about battlecruisers looking the same. It's been that case ever since the Hyperion.

50 battlecruisers in the Dominion fleet? Hmm...I guess it's reasonable in itself given rebuilding times post-BW, industrial capacity and the reliance on some older models. Kinda systemic of the whole "terrans are actually weak cause people said the Dominion was too strong," but meh, I can roll with it.

Hmm my login still works. It's been a long time. During a Google search found this thread.

I am not infallible, but most of the characters and locations info I posted in the review were written right away as I found them rather than by memory.

Valerian brought 25 Battlecruisers to Planet Char. 11 were destroyed, and only 14 survived.

However, what happens after Raynor brings Sarah's body to Valerian's flagship reduces the amount of Battlecruisers to much less. =)

These 25 Battlecruisers brought to Planet Char were Valerian's. Not the Dominion's. Remember -- Valerian and Arcturus have different philosophies. Valerian wants to demonstrate he is better than his father -- as per Valerian and Jim Raynor's chat in the cinematic where Jim and Tychus assaulted the Bucephalus.

I have no idea if Valerian has more Battlecruisers stationed elsewhere. Just don't think these 25 were all the Dominion has, because these were Valerian's. These men are only loyal to the Prince, and would give their lives for him if it meant confronting the Dominion. There are far more battlecruisers, and you will find that out in kind in this novel.

[Medievaldragon]

Maybe something happens to the Bucephalus in the novel, or Valerian takes it as his own or something.

Valerian took the Bucephalus as his own. Far as I know Valerian has been acting behind Arcturus's back for a long time. Valerian funded the Moebius Foundation, and hopefully everyone read StarCraft: The Dark Templar to learn things he kept to himself without sharing with the Dominion.

There is more than meets the eye in StarCraft II: Flashpoint and Wings of Liberty. When you put two and two together, you'll see a lot of deception throughout both stories. Things Valerian wasn't aware of and came back to bite him.

A few times I went: "Oh shit!"

Emil Narud

[NaruDuraN] -- this is one enigma many might have pondered for a while since his name was first mentioned. In reverse, Narud = Duran.

This novel doesn't reveal that. However, Sarah senses something about his psionic imprint. As if Narud was familiar to her, but can't place it.

Actually, I think what she said is that his psionic imprint is different to the last time she saw him. Kerrigan met Narud during the Wings of Liberty mission at Tyrador VIII.

It could be Duran, or maybe not. Narud didn't defend himself in a powerful manner to hint he's Duran. But then again Duran only used his gausse rifle to shoot Stukov rather than powers.

In order to have fooled Kerrigan, the person we saw as Duran should have some sort of extreme psionic power to mask his thoughts from Kerrigan in Brood War.

In Brood War, Duran appeared to be an infested black human. But no man lives for a milennia, which means he is either a shapeshifter, or a spirit taking a human body as host. We might not see the entity on Duran's body again. Otherwise, Kerrigan would have remembered his face.

Whether a shapeshifter or a spirit, whoever that entity is might inhabit different body hosts. Duran said he was known by many names throughout the milennia.

[l33telboi]

These 25 Battlecruisers brought to Planet Char were Valerian's. Not the Dominion's. Remember -- Valerian and Arcturus have different philosophies. Valerian wants to demonstrate he is better than his father -- as per Valerian and Jim Raynor's chat in the cinematic where Jim and Tychus assaulted the Bucephalus.

I have no idea if Valerian has more Battlecruisers stationed elsewhere. Just don't think these 25 were all the Dominion has, because these were Valerian's. These men are only loyal to the Prince, and would give their lives for him if it meant confronting the Dominion. There are far more battlecruisers, and you will find that out in kind in this novel.

People are referring to the "you took half the fleet" comment that Arcturus said when Valerian contacted him. Which would mean the Dominion had a total of 50 battlecruisers before the battle on char, 39 after that... and presumably even less after this novel, given what you just said.

Could you possibly post the paragraph that has the bit about the Battlecruisers, just to check. I'll get the novel some time next week (hopefully), but I can't wait.

Oh, what do you know about the White Star and the Gorgon-class Battlecruiser, anything new? And while I'm asking a billion and one question, there's a mention of a Herakles named "battleship", what's up with that?

[Visions of Khas]

MedievalDragon, how would you say this book compares to other SC novels? How is the prose and characterization? And please tell me it's better than Spectres.

[Medievaldragon]

MedievalDragon, how would you say this book compares to other SC novels? How is the prose and characterization? And please tell me it's better than Spectres.

It's hard for me to compare StarCraft II: Spectres and StarCraft II: Flashpoint. There were some interesting elements in Spectres, and Nova has a special place for me. I have read both novels and the manga.

I will rather not debate a Christie Golden vs Nate Kenyon writing-style. It's easier to critic when you haven't interacted with the authors, and you are anonymous.

I have met both of them in person. Christie gave me a ride on her taxi from Huntington (Long Island) to Manhattan, New York when I interviewed her for StarCraft: The Dark Templar part 3. I had an Amtrak train ticket to get back, but hey -- I couldn't resist having a 30 minute chat about the book.

I met Nate at the New York Comic Con 2011 and interviewed him for StarCraft: Ghost --Spectres and Diablo III: The Order.

I'll focus more on content from the point of view of the lore we learned in the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty single-player campaign.

From that point of view, StarCraft II: Flashpoint opens your eyes of what really happened throughout the span of Wings of Liberty concerning Valerian, Arcturus+Tychus deal, and Valerian's Moebius Foundation. You literally go: "huh? Whoa?! damn!" Even after you are done reading, you go in your mind through the events of the video game, and things start to make sense. Take in mind also there is a traitor among the Raynor's Raiders. It's never implied how long -- before Tychus vs Raynor skirmish or after.

I'm not sure if I should open a new thread or stick to this one. I'll interview Christie again on Wednesday Nov 7 concerning StarCraft II: Flashpoint.

The Battlecruisers

When I wrote the review I had to watch the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty "Showdown" cinematic to take some screenshots for the article.

I noticed the many battlecruisers on the sky, and I went: "hmm..."

Now that you guys are commenting about it, I used photoshop to mark all the battlecruisers. I slided back and forth the scene and there are some distant battlecruisers behind the closer ones, and as the camera moves up three more show up at the center-top. There are in total 38 battlecruisers (unless I missed some).

In terms of "The Red Shirt Guy" observation -- uh-oh, boo-boo detected.

[Visions of Khas]

StarCraft II: Flashpoint opens your eyes of what really happened throughout the span of Wings of Liberty concerning Valerian, Arcturus+Tychus deal, and Valerian's Moebius Foundation.

[...]

Take in mind also there is a traitor among the Raynor's Raiders.

Whelp, that sold it for me.

[Medievaldragon]

Whelp, that sold it for me.

Glad to hear. It's not easy to talk about the book without spoiling -- especially because it's not on sale yet (2 days from now).

I mentioned some of the flashbacks because basically those are already public knowledge in the video games single-player, some of those had extra info we didn't experience in-game in the original StarCraft.

Back to Valerian -- throughout the novel you are wondering if Valerian will betray Raynor. The dropship taking Raynor and Sarah's body into orbit is badly damaged, and they have no other option but to accept the Bucephalus' help.

Now this is Valerian, and only he can help Sarah. Raynor is surely not liking the situation he is in. Sometimes Valerian's actions make you change your mind about him, and out of the blue another thing happens and you go: "Darn, treacherous bastard". The author plays with your mind lol.

Now you will have to find out on your own the outcome though.