Re: Battlezone II Remodeled 1.0.8 released 2/21/17
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:30 am
AHadley, I don't think there's any reasonable way to say that the Dark Planet has data-banks to contain the information about Core in the first place, but there is an alternative. It might be that whatever alchimated the original Core also had the information about it spread through the wormhole link. That would explain the relics you have to deal with on the Pluto missions. This would not specificly be a purposeful action but an incidental one. It could also be information that came back into Sol via the Cthonians using the wormhole, as they clearly have ruins on Mire. Ofc, there's no reason for the Cthonians to leave the Mire system if they were the ones who performed the alchimization, but I have some ideas on how to explain all that in the extended universe of Heracles Brigade projects. (The HB universe consists of BZ1, TRO, RotBD (with tweaks), BZ2, FE, FS1, FS2, Uler (with some large adjustments) and possibly QF but not QF2 or any other mods. The HB projects of note are the Rise of the Black Dogs Redux, the Return of the Old Gods, and a BZ2 project that we hope to kick into gear as the BZ98R projects wind down.)
For an entire planet to emit that much energy, even if it was just the visible spectrum, it would have to be destroyed. Core was destroyed at the end of the ISDF campaign, though it was already dying. It seems logical that the computer was critical to keeping the planet stable for some reason. We had interestingly never considered the mechanism of the destruction of Core, simply that it happened. I proposed the idea of a type of implicit dialysis for the Scions via Core, but maybe the true source of the stability was the Core Computer? Of course, this makes less sense when combined with FE where the Core Computer is explicitly stated to have been moved from Core to Dark Core and subsequently lost in the Night of Infamy only to return as the Cerberi Mother God. That whole course of events in FE presents 2 questions: Why did Core not explode when the Computer Core was removed, and why did Dark Core not come with a computer given that the alchimating created all the large computer like structures? It's possible that a controlled removal of the Computer Core is non destructive even when the planet is in dire straights, but if the Computer Core is removed while it is performing a critical action such as power management the planet vaporizes into energy, at least partially in the visible spectrum. Perhaps the Computer Core was prefabricating the planet to try to save it. If the Computer Core alone was needed for the Scions to survive, it would not need a home planet to sit in, nor would moving it to a new planet make it work better, further more the Scions would have no reason to return to Core after Dark Core is rendered into Ruined Core in FE's backstory as it would be pointless. This supposes that the Computer Core needs to be important, but not the deciding factor in the stability of Core and the Scions.
Another question is the origin of the power crystals and alchimators: If the Scions made them or the Cthonians, or if it predates both. Also, Bane quite explicitly has a civilization that ended due to nuclear war+winter, quite different from Mire which appears to be some form of primitive structures made with aluminum (according to concept art) and Rend which has ruins of unknown origin with their own unique imagery. This all implies that the Mire system was either entirely controlled by the Cthonians, the Cthonians controlled Mire and were part of the original Alchimator project, or the Cthonians simply briefly squatted on Mire and the Alchimators had already been created and used by this time. I best like this latter option and it does partially jive with the original concept art and design of BZ2 involving the ISDF, Furies (Scions), and Aliens. However, given that those concepts did not come to be I feel this could be 1 race with 2 or more subfactions, or 2 or more races. The most notable element is that Bane has to under go a nuclear event that triggers a nuclear winter. Nuclear reactors cannot do this, they can't explode in that way, nor can anything else other than a weapon or a classical Orion Project propulsion nuke cluster. The only reason for an Orion Project style event would be the impending doom of the planet, so it doesn't make a good cause of said doom as it would be the escape of it, and as to a greater doom the planet still exists. Also, it is noted, at least in concept art and such materials, that the Bane ruins are biometal. This leaves only a nuclear war to explain the state of Bane, meaning at least 2 factions were fighting. As for Mire and Rend, they can be occupied be either more members of that race or by other races. Bane might be this system's Icarus, however with the stability and density of Mire I have to wonder why such a race would not simply resettle there. It is highly possible that an alien race still exists to be found in the universe, if not 3. Additionally, further fanon has expanded the Bane ruins into a set of AI weapons and there were even plans for a mini-faction used by the AI in MPI maps (I still have GreenHeart's walker model designed for this as well as my factory and tunnel set models). This fanon, while obviously not canon, when combined with the extra-canon materials of the concept art, create a universe where while the race from Bane are of an unknown status, their machines still exist and sit dormant. Of course, if we use the HB universe which is informed by ideas from Avatar, AHadley, and myself, they could have easily died off in the battle with a Biometaloid that they only defeated in the end by Alchimating.
For your reference, the HB universe plans to explain much more of the Cthonian world (we are expanding greatly on your original concept of the Ularians) as well as show multiple Core type planets exist and their reason for existing. You don't need to go along with any of that, but I thought it might at least poke your brain with some ideas. You can always ask any of us what we're planning and we could trade ideas or even help each other were our skills are best suited. (I find your models ugly as sin, but I'm not going to prevent that from allowing us to work together in any situation that could be advantageous; though I understand you are one of those 'work alone' types. I'd love to see the Uler done again in your current model style as I do feel it fits there, though if so done I'd prefer you kept the baked or bump map based specular effects to a minimal.)
For an entire planet to emit that much energy, even if it was just the visible spectrum, it would have to be destroyed. Core was destroyed at the end of the ISDF campaign, though it was already dying. It seems logical that the computer was critical to keeping the planet stable for some reason. We had interestingly never considered the mechanism of the destruction of Core, simply that it happened. I proposed the idea of a type of implicit dialysis for the Scions via Core, but maybe the true source of the stability was the Core Computer? Of course, this makes less sense when combined with FE where the Core Computer is explicitly stated to have been moved from Core to Dark Core and subsequently lost in the Night of Infamy only to return as the Cerberi Mother God. That whole course of events in FE presents 2 questions: Why did Core not explode when the Computer Core was removed, and why did Dark Core not come with a computer given that the alchimating created all the large computer like structures? It's possible that a controlled removal of the Computer Core is non destructive even when the planet is in dire straights, but if the Computer Core is removed while it is performing a critical action such as power management the planet vaporizes into energy, at least partially in the visible spectrum. Perhaps the Computer Core was prefabricating the planet to try to save it. If the Computer Core alone was needed for the Scions to survive, it would not need a home planet to sit in, nor would moving it to a new planet make it work better, further more the Scions would have no reason to return to Core after Dark Core is rendered into Ruined Core in FE's backstory as it would be pointless. This supposes that the Computer Core needs to be important, but not the deciding factor in the stability of Core and the Scions.
Another question is the origin of the power crystals and alchimators: If the Scions made them or the Cthonians, or if it predates both. Also, Bane quite explicitly has a civilization that ended due to nuclear war+winter, quite different from Mire which appears to be some form of primitive structures made with aluminum (according to concept art) and Rend which has ruins of unknown origin with their own unique imagery. This all implies that the Mire system was either entirely controlled by the Cthonians, the Cthonians controlled Mire and were part of the original Alchimator project, or the Cthonians simply briefly squatted on Mire and the Alchimators had already been created and used by this time. I best like this latter option and it does partially jive with the original concept art and design of BZ2 involving the ISDF, Furies (Scions), and Aliens. However, given that those concepts did not come to be I feel this could be 1 race with 2 or more subfactions, or 2 or more races. The most notable element is that Bane has to under go a nuclear event that triggers a nuclear winter. Nuclear reactors cannot do this, they can't explode in that way, nor can anything else other than a weapon or a classical Orion Project propulsion nuke cluster. The only reason for an Orion Project style event would be the impending doom of the planet, so it doesn't make a good cause of said doom as it would be the escape of it, and as to a greater doom the planet still exists. Also, it is noted, at least in concept art and such materials, that the Bane ruins are biometal. This leaves only a nuclear war to explain the state of Bane, meaning at least 2 factions were fighting. As for Mire and Rend, they can be occupied be either more members of that race or by other races. Bane might be this system's Icarus, however with the stability and density of Mire I have to wonder why such a race would not simply resettle there. It is highly possible that an alien race still exists to be found in the universe, if not 3. Additionally, further fanon has expanded the Bane ruins into a set of AI weapons and there were even plans for a mini-faction used by the AI in MPI maps (I still have GreenHeart's walker model designed for this as well as my factory and tunnel set models). This fanon, while obviously not canon, when combined with the extra-canon materials of the concept art, create a universe where while the race from Bane are of an unknown status, their machines still exist and sit dormant. Of course, if we use the HB universe which is informed by ideas from Avatar, AHadley, and myself, they could have easily died off in the battle with a Biometaloid that they only defeated in the end by Alchimating.
For your reference, the HB universe plans to explain much more of the Cthonian world (we are expanding greatly on your original concept of the Ularians) as well as show multiple Core type planets exist and their reason for existing. You don't need to go along with any of that, but I thought it might at least poke your brain with some ideas. You can always ask any of us what we're planning and we could trade ideas or even help each other were our skills are best suited. (I find your models ugly as sin, but I'm not going to prevent that from allowing us to work together in any situation that could be advantageous; though I understand you are one of those 'work alone' types. I'd love to see the Uler done again in your current model style as I do feel it fits there, though if so done I'd prefer you kept the baked or bump map based specular effects to a minimal.)