Why doesn't the Captain warn DuGalle about Duran's treachery?

[Turalyon]

Woot, 20 pages!

Don't know about that, the Zerg infinite power is the ability to destroy anything that opposed them, and that's consistent. They certainly did a lot of damage to the Terran forces on Char, but a significant number managed to survive long enough for the deus ex machina to activate. That the Terrans would eventually have been wiped out is not something either of us questions, this is only a question of how fast they would be wiped out.

We know that the Zerg OPness is linked to how fast they can decimate their opponents, as BW attests. The fact of the matter is the Zerg obviously didn't do any significant damage to the Dominion (not talking about just their fleet mind you) initially despite having the majority of their strength (and what incredible strength it should be considering the damage they caused even when in disarray during BW) out and about because the length of time spent during this invasion in WoL is about the same amount of time you spend having to defeat the Dominion in HotS.

They obviously weren't that OP in wiping out Valerian's half of the Dominion fleet because there were many Battlecruisers in the sky as shown in The Showdown. This is even in consideration that the majority of the Zerg having comeback to Char to engage what was left of Valerian's fleet.

That's what you said. If the second half of the fleet suffered grievous damage, and we know that the half that went to Char did, where do all of Mengsk's forces in Heart of the Swarm come from? You're saying I have no basis to assume that Mengsk's half of the fleet suffered superficial damage - which is not entirely accurate, we know that Mengsk pulled the fleets back and avoided engaging the Zerg on the Fringe Worlds, that implies that those fleets didn't see a lot of action, and therefore didn't take a lot of damage - which is fair, but you have no basis for assuming that they did suffer grievous damage, and why would you assume that, since it creates contradictions?

Fair enough. I didn't realise I was leaning so heavily on the "grievous damage" part in regards toward Mengsk's half of the fleet. I was more along the lines of whether the Zerg could do any noticeable or apparent damage during their invasion in WoL. Apparently, they didn't do any damage nor did they find any information on any artifacts despite having a headstart. The Zerg were not OP in WoL because they did nothing in it. We would be none-the-wiser in HoTS in not knowing that they invaded at all except for the possibility that it was engineered just to maneuver the Zerg out of the way to enable Raynor to land on Char and deinfest Kerrigan.

We know that the Dominion is still a threat to her by her current condition, but that doesn't mean it isn't weaker than it was before it took the damage from the invasion of Wings of Liberty.

It's hard to tell. By the time she invades Korhal, she is supposed to have all the Zerg back on her side plus the Primal Zerg yet the Dominion seem to be capable of resisting her indefinitely had it not been for convenient turns of plot.

You think so? Her quote about Narud's "pathetic charade" implies that she knows Narud is behind that, and I doubt she'd believe that guy is subservient to Mengsk.

Both Mengsk and Narud are in cahoots. Doesn't matter who's behind what, the fact that they're supporting each other would give off the idea that Mengsk may know more than what he's letting on.

Can you rephrase the question? I don't know that the UED recovered at all for Omega, as I pointed out The Reckoning clearly tells us that the UED still have forces that have escaped.

I can only give you context for that question. You mentioned that To Slay the Beast can be considered the last mission of BW - from which, I assume, the current ending cinematic and epilogue will naturally follow on from. in that specific regard, the quote that Duran makes in The Reckoning can be seen as evidence of an absurd comeback much as it does Mengsk's mentions of concessions and favours to explain his presence in Omega.

You say that Mengsk would never admit or even feign weakness, but he quite clearly did just that earlier in the campaign. He was visibly rattled in the missions prior to the liberation of Korhal.

I've looked back over Mengsk's exchanges in BW and I see nothing there that indicates fear. Anxiety due to his obsession and anticipation regarding retaking Korhal perhaps, but not fear.

Actually, True Colors does imply that the Dominion has been severely damaged physically. That's why that Omega fleet is an absurd recovery.

The implication of which comes only from Kerrigan. Didn't you say she was an unreliable narrator and that the only truth she ever spoke was "I lied"?

Also, since you are so keen on hard evidence, "implications" should mean nothing to you. Therefore, the Dominion wasn't really damaged in any significant way and there was no absurd recovery but just a general recovery.

Doesn't gel with his attitude in those missions, and would imply that he also had reserve forces after Omega, since for consistency he would have let DuGalle and Artanis fight themselves. Also, we know that he had an army, and that Duke was in command of it. There's no reason to believe what you're suggesting.

Do attitudes constitute as hard evidence for you now? Especially, one from a master orator and propagandist who is capable of lying? Who's undervaluing Mengsk now?

I asked for evidence though, not a hypothetical.

I've demonstrated a precedent for such a thing to occur without it happening specifically the way you think it must be.

No... having the ability to raise a fleet and having a fleet are entirely different things.

Not when it's so easy and quick to raise the fleet - afterall, we are in consideration that it's absurd.

I don't bat an eyelid at Mengsk's recoveries either... this started because people decried Mengsk's recovery in Wings of Liberty, and I pointed out that this wasn't the first time Mengsk had an absurd recovery. You're just reinforcing my position.

Except if you reread that quote, you'll note that I have no problem accepting excuses to make this recovery plausible. I'm just being consistent in my approach to Brood War and Wings of Liberty. Absurd, not absurd, whichever you prefer, it is of no concern to me.

I don't mind if I'm reinforcing your position. As I said before, I'm not wholly against the idea of Mengsk coming back again, I'm just ruing it as a lost opportunity for potential exploration. Especially for a character who got treated so badly in BW.

I think the biggest issue is that you expect others to be Ok with it because of it merely being consistent without consideration of other potential finer details. First, one has to wrap their heads around the recovery being absurd/impossible in BW (which is debatable) and accept that fact before even re-considering the Dominion's position in WoL as actually being Ok as well. Also, how much stock/faith can we put into something being consistent (and being Ok with that) when there are many other considered cases of inconsistency in Sc2 - like with the Overmind thing in WoL and the Primal Zerg in HotS - where we are supposed to be Ok with those?

I didn't say "should" be about, I said "is" about.

But what it "is" about is part of the debate. How can you have a game that is supposedly about the war of three races without exploring the nature of the dominant representatives of one of those three races when each installment is supposed to feature each race in depth?

It's not unreasonable. It's not necessarily right though.

I don't necessarily care about being right for everything. That you can say "it's not unreasonable" is enough because it acknowledges other viewpoints that have some validity.

No, I mean whether you go to Char or Kaldir first, you start off with a similarly sized force. And that force was large enough to compete with Zagara's Brood, so I see no reason why it couldn't compete with Nafash's Brood.

That's not quite true. On the surface of things, Zagara has a much larger base and standing force (more established) than Kerrigan at the start of the mission. The tipping point is the acquistion of eggs to spawn an army of banelings to decisively win that encounter. Without that gimmick, Zagara is indeed more powerful than Kerrigan in an initial comparison.

[RetlocLive]

FanaticTemplar...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7YIKXREk5t...4f3a7bd4_o.png

The fact this thread reached 20 pages is just sad.

[FanaticTemplar]

We may just have reached a breakthrough.

The implication of which comes only from Kerrigan. Didn't you say she was an unreliable narrator and that the only truth she ever spoke was "I lied"?

Also, since you are so keen on hard evidence, "implications" should mean nothing to you. Therefore, the Dominion wasn't really damaged in any significant way and there was no absurd recovery but just a general recovery.

Absolutely agreed.

I don't mind if I'm reinforcing your position. As I said before, I'm not wholly against the idea of Mengsk coming back again, I'm just ruing it as a lost opportunity for potential exploration. Especially for a character who got treated so badly in BW.

I think the biggest issue is that you expect others to be Ok with it because of it merely being consistent without consideration of other potential finer details. First, one has to wrap their heads around the recovery being absurd/impossible in BW (which is debatable) and accept that fact before even re-considering the Dominion's position in WoL as actually being Ok as well.

Ah, but we don't. Just above, you've already come to the conclusion that we don't know that the Dominion suffered crippling damage in True Colors because we have only Kerrigan's word to go on, and she is completely unreliable. Therefore, his appearance in both Omega and Wings of Liberty are plausible.

When you say you'd want Mengsk to be broken, or Gradius says he wants him to go back to his Sons of Korhal roots, that's not a new avenue of potential exploration. That's regressing his character back to what it was in StarCraft. We've seen underdog Mengsk. What we haven't seen is tyrannical dictator Mengsk, because the Terrans quickly become irrelevant in the second half of StarCraft and Mengsk is immediately deposed in Brood War. StarCraft II was a new perspective on his character.

[Turalyon]

Absolutely agreed.

I'm glad you do, I was reflecting your opinion back to you afterall...

Ah, but we don't. Just above, you've already come to the conclusion that we don't know that the Dominion suffered crippling damage in True Colors because we have only Kerrigan's word to go on, and she is completely unreliable. Therefore, his appearance in both Omega and Wings of Liberty are plausible.

Ah, but the audience is led to believe that the Dominion did suffer crippling damage, what with the UED and Kerrigan trouncing Mengsk in what seem like significant ways. Kerrigan's comments only just top this off. It's only after we nutted this all down across 20 pages that we realise that the Dominion did (or may) not suffer damage to account for Mengsk's showing in Omega). It's quite apparent that this conclusion you've reached is nowhere near intuitive at all.

So tell me, do you really believe that the casual gamer who plays through BW takes the message from all the stuff that Mengsk goes through that he/the Dominion was unscathed throughout the whole thing? This is in effect, what you're saying.

When you say you'd want Mengsk to be broken, or Gradius says he wants him to go back to his Sons of Korhal roots, that's not a new avenue of potential exploration. That's regressing his character back to what it was in StarCraft. We've seen underdog Mengsk. What we haven't seen is tyrannical dictator Mengsk, because the Terrans quickly become irrelevant in the second half of StarCraft and Mengsk is immediately deposed in Brood War. StarCraft II was a new perspective on his character.

There is plenty of avenue of potential exploration with Mengsk being broken - it's just that that exploration will most likely come in the form of not involving Mengsk at all. I heard somewhere (it's hearsay I admit, I can't find the direct quote for you) that the Blizz writers felt that Mengsk's story pretty much ended at the end of Sc1 and going by what came next in BW (and consolidated since Sc2 came out), there's merit to that assertion. Given Mengsk's extreme one-noteness and his incompetence in BW, having him then become the antagonist (a very unworthy one as it turns out) for 2 of the 3 installments in the proper sequel is even further unjustified. Just look at what Sc2 presents Mengsk as - it's just another long-winded iteration of his BW self. There is NO further exploration of him as a tyrannical dictator whatsoever apart from what we already have gleaned in Sc1 - Mengsk was not an underdog in Rebel Yell but already a tyrannical dictator in disguise even from then and he was an effective one at that up until BW changed that.

[FanaticTemplar]

Ah, but the audience is led to believe that the Dominion did suffer crippling damage, what with the UED and Kerrigan trouncing Mengsk in what seem like significant ways. Kerrigan's comments only just top this off. It's only after we nutted this all down across 20 pages that we realise that the Dominion did (or may) not suffer damage to account for Mengsk's showing in Omega). It's quite apparent that this conclusion you've reached is nowhere near intuitive at all.

So tell me, do you really believe that the casual gamer who plays through BW takes the message from all the stuff that Mengsk goes through that he/the Dominion was unscathed throughout the whole thing? This is in effect, what you're saying.

No, I'm actually providing you with options.

You could go for the probable route that the Dominion was crippled after True Colors but the writers decided to just make Mengsk powerful again for Omega because they wanted to throw all their notable antagonists at you for the big final mission, and then decided to make him powerful again in StarCraft II because they needed a powerful Terran antagonist for their story to work and they'd already established a notable villain whose last known actions were rebuilding the Terran Dominion, so why not use him? That's what I believe. I don't care that Mengsk "shouldn't" be that powerful - because honestly, all three races got completely wrecked in StarCraft. Nine of the thirteen Terran Worlds consumed by the Zerg, with their government falling to insurrection? Aiur and the Protoss people completely devastated? the Swarm broken, scattered and defeated? The game is based on the concept of these great sci-fi powers waging interstellar war with each other, you need to boost their strength back up to write a story that goes with that. Same thing happened for StarCraft II, and again I had no problems with it.

Some people did though, and that's where this unintuitive conclusion we've reached comes in. You want an explanation that covers why the Dominion can still be a force to be reckoned with after Brood War? There you have it, Kerrigan was simply an unreliable source. If this is what you want to believe, I am perfectly fine with that too.

Either choice is completely okay with me. Honestly, I feel like I'm being very flexible in this conversation. I just want a consistent answer.

There is plenty of avenue of potential exploration with Mengsk being broken - it's just that that exploration will most likely come in the form of not involving Mengsk at all. I heard somewhere (it's hearsay I admit, I can't find the direct quote for you) that the Blizz writers felt that Mengsk's story pretty much ended at the end of Sc1 and going by what came next in BW (and consolidated since Sc2 came out), there's merit to that assertion. Given Mengsk's extreme one-noteness and his incompetence in BW, having him then become the antagonist (a very unworthy one as it turns out) for 2 of the 3 installments in the proper sequel is even further unjustified. Just look at what Sc2 presents Mengsk as - it's just another long-winded iteration of his BW self. There is NO further exploration of him as a tyrannical dictator whatsoever apart from what we already have gleaned in Sc1 - Mengsk was not an underdog in Rebel Yell but already a tyrannical dictator in disguise even from then and he was an effective one at that up until BW changed that.

Sure, you get to see what life is like in the Dominion from a variety of sources, you get to see how he reacts to diverse situations, like the Zerg invasion, you see him make plans as with Tychus or using Raynor as a hostage, none of this happened in Brood War, where he was just complying with anything Kerrigan demanded and whining about everything.

Incidentally, I didn't have any serious problem with Mengsk's performance in Wings of Liberty, aside from the major issue of inconsistently portraying the media propaganda. I think he was far more interesting there than in Brood War. Especially when he talks to Raynor directly.

[Turalyon]

You could go for the probable route that the Dominion was crippled after True Colors but the writers decided to just make Mengsk powerful again for Omega because they wanted to throw all their notable antagonists at you for the big final mission, and then decided to make him powerful again in StarCraft II because they needed a powerful Terran antagonist for their story to work and they'd already established a notable villain whose last known actions were rebuilding the Terran Dominion, so why not use him? That's what I believe. I don't care that Mengsk "shouldn't" be that powerful - because honestly, all three races got completely wrecked in StarCraft. Nine of the thirteen Terran Worlds consumed by the Zerg, with their government falling to insurrection? Aiur and the Protoss people completely devastated? the Swarm broken, scattered and defeated? The game is based on the concept of these great sci-fi powers waging interstellar war with each other, you need to boost their strength back up to write a story that goes with that. Same thing happened for StarCraft II, and again I had no problems with it.

You know, this is partly why I thought (and wanted) BW as the full-stop for the story that was Starcraft even way back when. There already was a sense in BW that things were happening "just for the sake of it", such as the sudden Zerg overpoweredness to overcompensate for the loss of the Overmind, the Protoss having another homeworld in the form of Shakuras to make up for Aiur and the UED's sudden appearance all in order for the story to continue. Thing is, they were willing to tip the scale way off balance and give total victory to the Zerg in BW (whereas in Sc1, the three sides may have balanced each other out at the end), which usually suggests that the writers had an ending/direction that they were steering towards. Because of this heavily weighted ending towards the Zerg being unassailable, any further continuance was largely pointless since only contrivance could make a sequel work to equally include all three races again.

Some people did though, and that's where this unintuitive conclusion we've reached comes in. You want an explanation that covers why the Dominion can still be a force to be reckoned with after Brood War? There you have it, Kerrigan was simply an unreliable source. If this is what you want to believe, I am perfectly fine with that too.

We are not given any indication that she lies to the player character though, which makes the explanation of her being unreliable somewhat difficult to conclude on one's own.

I just want a consistent answer.

In what regard? We either have to accept that Kerrigan is lying and that the UED did no damage (thereby nullifying their impact even more because it'd be happening during BW itself and not at the end) or that Mengsk is all powerful because he has a fleet. Things aren't that simple.

Sure, you get to see what life is like in the Dominion from a variety of sources, you get to see how he reacts to diverse situations, like the Zerg invasion, you see him make plans as with Tychus or using Raynor as a hostage, none of this happened in Brood War, where he was just complying with anything Kerrigan demanded and whining about everything.

These are hardly illuminating nor unexpected reactions given or compared to anyone else being in that position. Of course one would defend themselves for self-preservation reason when the Zerg invade - that shows nothing new about Mengsk. He had no concrete plans with Tychus as he was just "fishing". Using Raynor's "death" but keeping him alive as leverage was nonsensical and as misguided as him misjudging Kerrigan the first time when he thought "revenge was only secondary". Everything about Mengsk in Sc2 is just compounded incompetence which we already got a load of in BW!

Incidentally, I didn't have any serious problem with Mengsk's performance in Wings of Liberty, aside from the major issue of inconsistently portraying the media propaganda. I think he was far more interesting there than in Brood War. Especially when he talks to Raynor directly.

Mengsk is such a non-character in Sc2 that I honestly don't remember much of what he does at all in Sc2... so I guess that's an improvement over his open buffoonery in BW.

[FanaticTemplar]

You know, this is partly why I thought (and wanted) BW as the full-stop for the story that was Starcraft even way back when. There already was a sense in BW that things were happening "just for the sake of it", such as the sudden Zerg overpoweredness to overcompensate for the loss of the Overmind, the Protoss having another homeworld in the form of Shakuras to make up for Aiur and the UED's sudden appearance all in order for the story to continue. Thing is, they were willing to tip the scale way off balance and give total victory to the Zerg in BW (whereas in Sc1, the three sides may have balanced each other out at the end), which usually suggests that the writers had an ending/direction that they were steering towards. Because of this heavily weighted ending towards the Zerg being unassailable, any further continuance was largely pointless since only contrivance could make a sequel work to equally include all three races again.

That's a fair opinion to have. But then, you can always ignore future games if you don't like them. Or maybe that's just me. I definitely have a number of arrangements of headcanon, including one that just stops after StarCraft. Brood War isn't my favourite stopping point though, because until Heart of the Swarm I considered it to be a pretty terrible ending to the series (both of my least favourite games revolve around Kerrigan, go figure) but it's a legitimate stopping point.

In what regard? We either have to accept that Kerrigan is lying and that the UED did no damage (thereby nullifying their impact even more because it'd be happening during BW itself and not at the end) or that Mengsk is all powerful because he has a fleet. Things aren't that simple.

Either you're willing to make excuses to explain away how things happened, or you're not.

These are hardly illuminating nor unexpected reactions given or compared to anyone else being in that position. Of course one would defend themselves for self-preservation reason when the Zerg invade - that shows nothing new about Mengsk. He had no concrete plans with Tychus as he was just "fishing". Using Raynor's "death" but keeping him alive as leverage was nonsensical and as misguided as him misjudging Kerrigan the first time when he thought "revenge was only secondary". Everything about Mengsk in Sc2 is just compounded incompetence which we already got a load of in BW!

Let's assume I agreed with you. What does this change?

Mengsk is such a non-character in Sc2 that I honestly don't remember much of what he does at all in Sc2... so I guess that's an improvement over his open buffoonery in BW.

He's a very minor character (which is insane considering the way Wings of Liberty is set up, you'd think he'd play a major role) but I still think he was quite interesting.

[Turalyon]

That's a fair opinion to have. But then, you can always ignore future games if you don't like them. Or maybe that's just me. I definitely have a number of arrangements of headcanon, including one that just stops after StarCraft. Brood War isn't my favourite stopping point though, because until Heart of the Swarm I considered it to be a pretty terrible ending to the series (both of my least favourite games revolve around Kerrigan, go figure) but it's a legitimate stopping point.

It wasn't really about it being a "favoured" ending or liking/not liking things, but rather that it seemed the story was running out of gas at the point and trying to cap itself off with an end point. Sc1 was definitely a more open, sequel friendly ending than BW was. I guess that's why it was probably somewhat acceptable to have BW happen the way it did and not feel it was just "...then this happened". After what we got in BW, Sc2 definitely has this feeling of "...then this happened" to it.

Either you're willing to make excuses to explain away how things happened, or you're not.

But we have made excuses to explain how things have happened using the same exact information that you had but have just drawn different conclusions. Given that the only thing we can all really agree on is that a majority of the stuff/evidence we are using to justify our positions are actually based on "well, we don't really know the specifics about anything", it's still all up in the air. Besides, you're asking us to trade what you perceive as a non-existent inconsistency (the Mengsk always having had or being in power as evidenced by commanding a fleet) - a bad thing because it's a source of unneccessary grief - for another one (we are led to believe that Mengsk was trashed as the story plays itself out but somehow that's not true because Kerrigan is unreliable?).

Let's assume I agreed with you. What does this change?

What do you mean? I was just making a statement in reply to you saying how diverse Mengsk's characterisation was in Sc2 in that there really was no further interesting potential realised for Mengsk being a tyrant in Sc2 that wasn't already elucidated from his previous showings.

He's a very minor character (which is insane considering the way Wings of Liberty is set up, you'd think he'd play a major role) but I still think he was quite interesting.

Yeah, like what stupid things will he do next and get away with?

[FanaticTemplar]

It wasn't really about it being a "favoured" ending or liking/not liking things, but rather that it seemed the story was running out of gas at the point and trying to cap itself off with an end point. Sc1 was definitely a more open, sequel friendly ending than BW was.

I honestly can't see that. Not with something as blatantly sequel-baiting as Dark Origins.

But we have made excuses to explain how things have happened using the same exact information that you had but have just drawn different conclusions.

Which isn't the issue. If you want to believe that Mengsk gloating about how easily he managed to scrape together a new fleet proves that he's indebted or that it's not his fleet or that he's selling his kidneys or whatever, I don't have a problem with that. If you want to believe that the end narration telling us that Mengsk is going to rebuild the Dominion means that Mengsk is defeated and out of the game, then as long as you can deal with the ramifications of that belief, it's not a problem to me. But these aren't, as you would say it, intuitive. If you're willing to make up excuses like that, what right do you have to complain about the Dominion's resurgence in StarCraft II? You're willing to make up extremely counter-intuitive excuses to explain away Mengsk's fleet in Omega - or even if you're willing to accept the game's provided excuse of 'I talked to some people' - but you're unwilling to accept the completely straightforward excuse of 'five years' provided for Wings of Liberty? How is that consistent?

What do you mean? I was just making a statement in reply to you saying how diverse Mengsk's characterisation was in Sc2 in that there really was no further interesting potential realised for Mengsk being a tyrant in Sc2 that wasn't already elucidated from his previous showings.

Actually, you argued that he was incompetent in doing those different things, which isn't the same as denying that he had a different role. So even if I were to agree that he was incompetent in everything he did, how does this change the fact that he was serving a new role?

Yeah, like what stupid things will he do next and get away with?

No, in his interactions with Raynor mostly. I liked his appearance in Media Blitz where you first get to hear the obvious contrast between his speeches on television and his annoyed personal relationship with Raynor, that was amusing. Most importantly was his comments in Dangerous Game - "even you've got to realize that treacherous bitch cannot be saved... And neither can you." which is crucial in informing my understanding of the story of Wings of Liberty and the character of Jim Raynor, and displays surprising insight from Mengsk, while also being a nice barb thrown at his enemy.

Another one of the multiple reasons why Tychus would have made a better point-of-view character than Raynor for Wings of Liberty is that we could've gotten conversations between Tychus and Mengsk on the Hyperion, and I can only imagine that as being amazing.

[Turalyon]

I honestly can't see that. Not with something as blatantly sequel-baiting as Dark Origins.

I meant that in a way that Sc1 felt a lot more open in terms of what that sequel could entail. BW felt a little more hackneyed/tacked on for the sake of forcing a continuation a story where none was to be naturally continued with to begin with.

Eh, I don't get all the fuss with Dark Origins. It was a secret mission that had elements with nothing to do with the main story at hand and could've been easily excised without anyone being none the wiser. To me it was an interesting sidebar, no more no less. As to actual trope of sequel-baiting/hooking, doesn't mean they were necessarily obliged to write a follow-up, that it'd be any good or that they knew what they were going to do in the continuation at the time. When a story blatantly leaves sequel hooks, it's often a sign that the story is being artificially bent for sake the of extending it not because there's an actual new story worth telling. In all likelihood, it's more of the same but watered down. BW has some signs of this going, but Sc2 is just overripe with it.

Which isn't the issue. If you want to believe that Mengsk gloating about how easily he managed to scrape together a new fleet proves that he's indebted or that it's not his fleet or that he's selling his kidneys or whatever, I don't have a problem with that. If you want to believe that the end narration telling us that Mengsk is going to rebuild the Dominion means that Mengsk is defeated and out of the game, then as long as you can deal with the ramifications of that belief, it's not a problem to me. But these aren't, as you would say it, intuitive. If you're willing to make up excuses like that, what right do you have to complain about the Dominion's resurgence in StarCraft II? You're willing to make up extremely counter-intuitive excuses to explain away Mengsk's fleet in Omega - or even if you're willing to accept the game's provided excuse of 'I talked to some people' - but you're unwilling to accept the completely straightforward excuse of 'five years' provided for Wings of Liberty? How is that consistent?

Simple. It's a consistent extension of that initial belief that Mengsk was defeated in BW. One doesn't go into it thinking that their "excuses" to justify a certain belief are actually flimsy and certainly not easily interchangeable to justify an opposing viewpoint to the one they were led to believe in the first place.

Actually, you argued that he was incompetent in doing those different things, which isn't the same as denying that he had a different role. So even if I were to agree that he was incompetent in everything he did, how does this change the fact that he was serving a new role?

What new role? He was Emperor of the Dominion in BW just the same as he is in Sc2. And that somehow isn't a retread whilst him being an underdog again is?

Most importantly was his comments in Dangerous Game - "even you've got to realize that treacherous bitch cannot be saved... And neither can you." which is crucial in informing my understanding of the story of Wings of Liberty and the character of Jim Raynor, and displays surprising insight from Mengsk, while also being a nice barb thrown at his enemy.

Is it still insightful when Mengsk is clearly wrong (and eventually proven to be) on both counts?

Another one of the multiple reasons why Tychus would have made a better point-of-view character than Raynor for Wings of Liberty is that we could've gotten conversations between Tychus and Mengsk on the Hyperion, and I can only imagine that as being amazing.

Huh, I always thought that Tychus had no real communications (or perhaps wouldn't communicate) with Mengsk throughout WoL because that would be risky to do on a ship full of geniuses - it'd be odd that no-one was able to notice these transmissions throughout the whole time.