#And then to defeat a mechanoid so easily

[pushing500]

Guess who fixed their rimworld save?? That's right, it's me! :D

I immediately got raided by mechanoids when I loaded back in, which was scary until I looked closer and-

A group of mechanoids have *single solitary mechanoid has arrived nearby. Just one little guy all by itself.

Poor little pikeman. It almost seemed too easy to just use Tamarind's skip psycast to get melee-inspired Irwin and Xanxalbur in close, then defeat it in three hits.

The zeushammers are extra good against mechanoids since they give EMP bursts, so the pikeman never stood a chance. And even better, Irwin has a little mood bonus because of his fulfilled inspiration and Xanxalbur's kill-happy trait. This raid was basically just a "welcome back" present from Randy!

It was a little disorienting as Benevolent-Overseer Gracie to read about Colonist Gracie getting into a relationship, but I guess I'm happy for her. Not so sure about Wyn'yeysh, whoever he (or she, I guess) is. Sounds like a Yttakin name- of course. Are any of my colonists not related to Yttakin??

Hot Minute doesn't even have a partner listed in her social tab, so I am going to assume she doesn't care about him (or her, I guess) that much.

And then I just thought you should all see Ro as a child, with his perpetually irate expression and his magnificent hair. Isn't he the cutest little thing?? I love him so much.

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[romanadvora]

The Chase

season 002 : story 016 : episodes 072-077

22 MAY - 26 JUN 1965 || 03 - 04 JUN 2023

I really love the opening to this story; we've got a nice slice of life inside the TARDIS with the Doctor tinkering away at the TSV, Ian chilling out reading a [rather far-fetched] story, Barbara making a dress for Vicki… once again some lovely comfort Who. Everyone getting excited for the Visualiser is really fun.

I find Ian & Barbara's familiarity with the Beatles (especially Ticket to Ride) pretty funny since their second album came out on the 22nd of November 1963, when Ian & Barbara presumably left London earlier that week (23rd November wasn't a school day).

Vicki and Ian getting a lot of time together is easily one of my favourite parts of the serial; the two of them running off up the dune becoming silhouettes is one of my favourite shots of the show so far, and the pair just wandering around and Vicki telling stories of her childhood is so personal and a really intimate scene, you really feel the bond the two have.

The same can be said for the Doctor and Barbara sunbathing when Barbara starts complaining about not the Doctor's singing, but the *other* awful noise. 

The Dalek rising out of the sand has absolutely got to be a callback to the Dalek rising out the Thames right?

Gosh this whole tangent with the Aridians just… isn't it. "We have been told by the Dalek's we have ½ a day to hand you over to the Daleks- our elders are now discussing whether they will do this"... 10 minutes later… "our elders have decided to hand you over to the Daleks".

The Mire Beasts attacking allows the Doctor, Barbara & Vicki to reasonably escape, and it's nice to see Ian already up and planning an attack on the Daleks- Ian asking for Barbara's cardigan again and the continuity of her complaining, "not again" was a nice little touch.

Ian jumping up yelling "yoo-hoo, Dalek!" is yet another iconic Chesterton moment.

First appearance of the Time Vortex in Flight Through Eternity?

Vicki mentioning NYC as an ancient historical city, destroyed in the Dalek invasion, is a really nice seasonal continuity.

Episode three is quite minimal, but the connection to real-life history and explaining real mysteries with sci-fi excuses is a creative choice I really like; the abandonment of the Mary Celeste here, or the disappearance of Agatha Christie in Unicorn and the Wasp.

And it's fun to see Peter Purves being an Alabaman country boy ahead of his debut as 25th century astronaut, Steven Taylor.

Really not a fan of the whole haunted house episode because of how goofy the Daleks get as opposed to their typical sinister and manipulative selves- and the Doctor's theory of the mansion being some a physical manifestation of human nightmare would fix the plot holes of Frankenstein's Monster & Dracula surviving extermination. That being said, the Doctor figuring out they're in an artificial environment because everything is so typically scary is a creative element.

While the cliffhanger of the Daleks making a robot Doctor clone is cool and threatening, it's defeated like halfway through the next episode so you don't really feel a continuous anxiety that the Doctor could be an imposter. Showing the Doctor double next to Vicki and Barbara while Ian is unintentionally fighting the real Doctor was a good use of dramatic irony though. And the reveal being done with the robot calling Vicki "Susan" continues with the established continuity of having met the Daleks earlier; perhaps the memory scan where "the young girl" is Susan was done during the invasion of Earth…

The last episode is where this really picks up, as you’ve got this wonderful futuristic Mechanoid city above the trees, and some great world-building via newly introduced astronaut Steven Taylor. Him explaining how the Mechanoids were initially Human inventions to aid in the colonisation of Mechanus, and why he’s marooned on this planet due to an all-out war between Earth and an.. unnamed[?] enemy makes the world feel quite grounded. 

The Dalek / Mechanoid battle is also really well done, not just with great tracking shots and use of lighting, but how the rapid cuts, angles, and superimposed flames on the picture make the whole sequence really fast paced and somewhat hard to keep track of; generally good for a chaotic and bloody fight. 

Vicki being deathly afraid of heights add to the danger of their rooftop escape from the burning city, and Maureen really sells the performance in my opinion.

Now. The end is here. The Daleks and Mechanoids have destroyed themselves, leaving the travellers free not just to leave in the TARDIS, but see the Dalek’s timeship too. Ian’s imitation of a Dalek is a fun calmer after a rather hectic finale, and their departure is really well done. It can be frustrating that the Doctor is so mad at them, and it does *kind of* feel unexpected on Ian and Barbara’s front. Although with moments like Ian being knighted, the downtime scenes of everyone dancing to the Beatles in the TARDIS, and the slower more intimate moments like Ian and Vicki running up the dunes… you can really feel that their time is at an end. I love Ian’s passion for wanting the simple things in life; a drink at the pub, walking in the park, wanting to belong somewhere (other than the rather nebulous and fluctuating address of the TARDIS, 76 Totters Lane*). It’s the time of exit that could only work back in the 60s because of how random all their adventures were; not like now when you can deliberately go to any point in time or space, down to the specifics of “in time for tea”. I do also like how it’s then Vicki who convinces the Doctor to get over his anger-veiled sadness and let them do this thing; you see the connection between the pair, how Vicki really has taken the role of the granddaughter in the Doctor’s life, and how she can appeal to him when no one else is able to get through. 

The montage of Ian and Barbara back in London 1965! is just really heartwarming, and them bursting with laughter when a ticketer asks if they’ve been on the Moon because they’re so out of touch feels so personal and close. Vicki and the Doctor watching them on the TSV is not only a good narrative choice by tying it back to the serial’s beginning, but it also allows for both parties to have their goodbyes of sorts. The Doctor staring off into the middle distance saying “I will miss them” seems really simple, but that’s not a bad thing, because it is that simple. They’ve been together for two years and the Doctor has grown considerably since meeting them, and he got so upset with the prospect of them leaving that he started shouting at them about how stupid their idea was. Not exactly a… healthy… response. But powerful? Absolutely. 

Because of those great first and finale episodes, even though the story got a bit too meandering in the middle, and lost sight of the Daleks’ menace for a bit too long, it’s still a great send off for two of my favourite companions.

I will miss them. 

★★★★☆

[ohblushblushblush]

“He never failed” MegaSound fanfic

A little note from me before the work itself:  It is my first fanfic in English, I am super sorry for any mistakes in advance, please bear with me here :D Since MegaSound is a rare pairing in general, I would love to find (or attract :D) more of it's enjoyers. So if you wanna talk about them, feel free to message me anytime! 

I want to also thank my friends and my absolute sunshine @tubinator, without you this work would not exist at all! And of course thanks to my amazing secret editor, the best jokes about my works are coming from you!

***

He never failed.

D-16, even as a miner working under slave conditions, knew that his life would be something more than the endless, exhausting labor assigned to him for life by the higher mechanoids. His first duel, held for the amusement of his comrades, was a success, experienced hard workers noted the abilities of the young Cybertronian. It was not even a duel, but rather sparring, no one then demanded spectacles, small fights could simple mechs from their miserable lives. It was enough.

The expulsion of the Quintessons, the invention of space bridges, the colonization of new planets - it seemed that the hopes for a better future were justified, and the departure from the caste system was not far off. In one moment, everything built in vorns of hard work collapsed, a plague that passed from colony to colony, led to the destruction of space bridges and economic collapse. The age of despair has begun. In the worst times, the worst people always profit easily, and now small fights without casualties have turned into bloodybaths to the death, without rules and honor, there were only a show and miserable drops of fuel for those who participated in them. Time passed, the audience grew and now the gladiatorial fights turned into a place of exaltation, where it was possible to discard your number and the destiny given to you, sometimes for the first and last time.

The closing of the mines was fatal for many of the mechs who worked in them. Desperate workers saw no way out of the hell that their own government had doomed them to, hunger would overtake everyone faster than they could find a place where they could earn at least some pennies. D-16 has never been an optimist, but he saw this event as an opportunity to finally throw off the shackles of a slave and become something more.

The first entry into the arena, where a painful death is almost a sentence, was not terrible for the former miner, he had nothing to lose, he was completely left to fate. Luck stood on his side, not experienced, but rather smart and daring young gladiator made a strong enough impression on the crowd. But this day was remembered by the fighter not by the howl of the audience amazed by his victory, but by the desperate look of his opponent and his lifeless body. The mech covered in blood stood over an alive fighter seconds ago, the awareness of this muffled the noise of the arena, he crossed the line, fate still gave him a chance, but the way back was closed. It was at this moment that his past became clouded, his number ceased to exist, and now every Cybertronian who met him proudly called him by his name.

Megatronus!

The first day in the arena was only a memory, now Megatronus became the champion of the arena. Every time he went into battle, he enjoyed the look of his opponent, no matter how hidden their eyes were, he knew how they see him. They came, if not to overthrow God, then to defeat his semblence, something created by higher powers, but still similar to them. Megatronus became a symbol of the arena, its heart, hundreds, if not thousands, of Cybertronians lived for his fights, it seemed to them that they were touching a reality where life was a little simpler than their repeating cycle of finding ways to survive in a city that was forgotten by Primus.

…

This match was different.

Megatronus entered the arena proudly, he never let the crowd doubt him, and she always greeted him with a loud shout in return. From the stands came the exclamations of those who came

"Megatronus, tear them apart!"

"Leave no trace of them!"

"Yes! Kill them, show them who is the best in the arena!"

The gladiator raises his hands up, responding to a warm welcome, but no promises before the battle, narcissism and empty promises are not for him, even if he is confident in his triumph. As expected for fights without rules, no one even thought of introducing opponents before the fight, and also the sponsors wanted to reduce the risk of some agreements between the rivals. Megatronus stood at his gate, waiting for another mech to appear. Uncertainty added excitement, made you feel at least a little vulnerable, after many victories it is difficult not to imagine yourself immortal. One could get into the fight either through ranks or through a sponsor, and given that the name of the fighter was unfamiliar to him, someone decided that putting him against the champion right away would be an interesting sight. But it was yet to be seen.

The gates opened, raising the sand and dust of the arena into the air.

Although not so warm, the crowd greeted another gladiator. Tall and massive, almost as tall as Megatronus himself, mech entered the arena slowly, calmly. No poses, no words, no promises, he seemed to be in the wrong place. Finally, the dust settled and the champion got a better look at his opponent. Blank visor showed no emotions, his posture said nothing, he was looking at Megatronus. The experienced gladiator was surprised, for the first time in many battles, he did not feel the arrogance emanating from ordinary fighters, rather calmness and confidence in his actions, but not confidence in victory. Although Megatronus himself prescribed the latter, he was still not a telepath, and he wanted to find some peace, because for the first time he had the opportunity to fight against someone more or less noble, and now the usual strategy may not work.

"Opponents prepare for battle! Dear viewers, today you will witness an amazing duel between multiple champion Megatronus and Soundwave. We wish the fighters good luck. The fight begins...NOW!"

The gong announced the beginning of the battle, but Soundwave did not move, he looked at Megatronus, holding two thin swords in his hands. He was waiting for the first blow, not intending to deliver it with his own hands. This was unexpected for the champion, after all, this Soundwave is full of surprises, this provoked Megatronus, and he decided to give the enemy what he wants. Abruptly starting to run at the opponent, the warrior raised his sword to strike, but the purple mech did not move. The distance between them was shrinking, and just before the impact, Soundwave made a sharp jerk to the side. Megatronus turned, placing his sword in defense against the blades that fell on him. Forces balanced on crossed blades and for the first time in the battle the gladiator spoken: “I have never seen such a silent fighter before, is there really nothing to say to the champion of the arena?” Megatronus smirked as something hit him in the stomach in response and he recoiled, only to see a cable flecked with the purple lights that proto-forms normally possessed. Surprises did not end there, the excitement only inflamed, this battle will really be amazing.

The next blow was delivered by Soundwave, his maneuverability could be envied. Megatronus saw the gladiator begin to fight more aggressively, without losing some cold calculation. The champion swiftly repelled the blows, still trying to get his opponent to talk: “Good technique and interesting ammunition, you are full of surprises, is this all part of the strategy?” The gladiator expected any answer, but was not ready for his own words, which came to him from the mask: "... the words are empty, their beautiful phrases are just a way to distract you from reality...". The visor showed no emotions, but Megatronus saw in his choice of line a sneer, a sneer that was based on his speeches. The gladiator was amazed and angered, he jumped away from Soundwave, and, overtaking him on the right, cut off part of his manipulator. The opponent burped, but his posture showed no fear, only slight annoyance. The tension in the air grew, Megatronus ran at the enemy, but was thrown aside by two long cables. Some kind of "tentacles", which seemed to him only a weak help for an unexpected attack, but they turned out to be a powerful weapon. The gladiator lying on the ground for the first time in a long time saw his opponent towering over him, but, oddly enough, he was in no hurry to end the duel. "What is the point of all this?" - Megatronus's thoughts were only about this, his opponent was in no hurry to end the match, as if he was demonstrating something. And what exactly, the champion could only guess.

The gladiator got up in one motion, Soundwave recoiled, and only now Megatronus realized that he had not heard the crowd at all, although it was bursting with screams, as if their fight was taking place somewhere else, as if they were now just the two of them and only Primus was a witness to their battle. It's not just a fight, it's more than that. Megatronus went at his opponent again, dodging the gladiator with deft and strange grace, it was not necessary, the champion realized that this was part of the demonstration, the show that was made for him. The warrior, distracted by his own thoughts not noticed the blow that cost him his arm. The limb was cut off with lightning speed, an unprecedentedly fast blow and a sharp blade did not give the gladiator a chance to react. Now the two mechs stood in the arena, losing their energon but still ready to continue this fight, no, a show, a demonstration put on for each other. The stakes were raised, the sound of sword strikes and rapidly running ventilation filling his mind. And so, Soundwave lies on the ground, his cable holding the tip of the remaining part of the sword near the throat of Megatronus, and the champion aims his charged cannon at the opponent's spark chamber. A couple of nanoclicks pass, the cable starts to tremble, and the gladiator's optics go out, another nanoclick and both gladiators lie on the arena. The crowd falls silent.

Draw

The battle to the death ended in nothing, for the first time in his career, Megatronus spared the enemy and was himself spared by him. Megatronus, while still in the medbay, thought that even if it was a draw, but for him it was a failure, he did not reach the end, he could not kill his opponent, who imagined himself worthy of his attention. He allowed himself to be led by his interest and played along with his show.

It took a little time to heal all the wounds, a little more to find Soundwave, and now, standing before his former opponent, Megatronus realizes...

He never failed.

[2000adonline]

40 Years of Thrillpower - Judge Dredd’s Greatest Epics

Last month, of course, saw our beloved weekly Prog reach the big 40. Cue cliches about life beginning at 40, or how 40 is the new 28, or some other bullstomm, that makes middle-aged people feel better about growing old.

In the case of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic however, similar to the anti-ageing drugs that Dredd himself is occasionally required to take, the mighty mag is regularly infused with youthful talent, keeping it fresh and vital.

But we’re not here to discuss the present roster of top-rate talent, this is a brief history of Dredd’s most memorable multi-part adventures, or as we know them better - the mighty mega-epics! 

Dire, deadly threats to the future metropolis, Mega-City One, and its bizarre, vulnerable citizens, are an unsettlingly frequent occurrence. The only defence to these city-shattering challenges are the Judges, sworn to protect MC-1 and its inhabitants. One such lawman in particular takes this oath incredibly seriously, his name, of course, is Judge Dredd and he will do whatever it takes to ensure that his city remains the pre-eminent superpower of his post-nuclear world.

Unfortunately, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, or should that be heads.., Sadly, this sprawling megalopolis that once housed 800 million citizens, over the years has been decimated, and is presently a shadow of its former self. 

Recent tragic events aside, Mega-City One would have perished many years ago, several times over, if not for the iron will of Justice Department’s legendary lawman, Judge Joseph Dredd. Prepare for a tour-de-force of mega-epic proportions, strap in it’s gonna be a bumpy ride...!

The first multi-part storyline, Robot Wars (Progs 10-17, 30Apr-18Jun’77). John Wagner (w). Carlos Ezquerra, Mick McMahon & Ron Turner (a), deals with an idea, that has now become a science fiction staple: robotic servants rebelling against their human masters. In Mega-City One unemployment makes up over 85% of the human population, a robotic workforce deals with the menial tasks deemed beneath mankind. In reality, it’s a lot cheaper to use machines that don’t require payment, complain about workers’ rights or require time off! In other words; the perfect labour force.. Even robots, though, can apparently be pushed too hard. So when a messianic leader, a lowly carpentry droid (sound familiar?), known as Call-Me-Kenneth), malfunctions, overcoming his programming, he hacks the city’s broadcasting  outlets and urges his fellow robots to turn on their human owners, with the battle cry: “Death to the Fleshy Ones!” The machines rise up. Only one man can stop this crazed robot, but can even Dredd stop an army of messed-up mechanoids?!”

Possibly the most popular and fondly remembered of all of Dredd’s mega-epics, is timeless classic, The Cursed Earth (Progs 61-85, 22Apr-7Oct’78). Pat Mills takes a rare outing into the world of Judge Dredd, but produces a vintage Thrill-powered tour-de-force. On a mercy mission across the atomic wasteland that was once middle America, the future lawman reveals a more heroically humane side by bringing a life-saving serum from Mega-City One to its west coast counterpart, Mega-City Two, where the inhabitants are tearing each other apart due to the 2T (Fru-T) virus. Fighting all sorts of vicious desperadoes, back-stabbing townsfolk, mutant gangs, and even roaming dinosaurs...not to mention the myriad of mutated Cursed Earth fauna! Breathtaking art duties are shared between two Judge Dredd creative legends, Mick McMahon and Brian Bolland, although employing wildly differing styles, the pair are master storytellers even at this early stage of their careers. A must-read true classic.

The Day the Law Died - Having just saved Mega-City Two from certain doom, you’d think that Dredd would be given a hero’s welcome on his return to his own city, however not everyone is pleased to have the legendary lawman back at Justice Department. A certain ambitious senior Judge, head of the infamous Special Judicial Squad (SJS) - the Judges who judge the Judges - Judge Cal, through blackmail, coercion and ultimately murder has managed to seize the reins of power, in Dredd’s absence, and install himself as Chief-Judge. Cal, aware of Dredd’s influence and possible obstacle to his plans for absolute domination over Justice Department and the city, has been plotting the heroic lawman’s downfall.. The twisted despot successfully frames Dredd for murder. Fatigue and some convincing video footage has even Judge Dredd questioning his innocence. Put on the shuttle to the penal colony on Titan, reserved for Judges who break their own rigid laws, Dredd finally snaps out of the haze of confusion fogging his mind, and with almost superhuman strength breaks the cuffs he is wearing. Dredd overpowers the pilot and guards, and escapes from the downed craft, with the help of Judge Giant who also distrusts Cal and believes in his friend’s innocence. Meanwhile the crazed Cal has enlisted the help of an army of reptilian alien mercenaries known as the Kleggs, appointed his pet goldfish as Deputy Chief-Judge and humiliated, bullied or creatively executed anyone who dares to criticise his increasingly bizarre behaviour. But Dredd isn’t the kind of Judge who goes down easily, as Cal rightly feared, and together with a rag-tag rebel army made up of other Judges and citizens, including a gigantic, baseball bat-wielding simpleton, known as Fergee, ‘King of the Big Smelly’, prepares to fight back.Can Judge Dredd succeed against all odds and defeat Judge Cal before he destroys the entire population of Mega-City One? Find the answers in The Day the Law Died.. wth artwork from a plethora of top UK art talent: Brendan McCarthy, Brett Ewins, Brian  Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Garry Leach, Mick McMahon & Ron Smith.

When Judge Feyy, Mega-city One’s oldest pre-cog has a vision of the city being destroyed in 2120, Judge Dredd and a select group of other Judges (including future Chief-Judge Hershey), are sent on a mission to find a boy bearing a birthmark of the Justice Dept. eagle, thereafter referred to as the Judge Child. Apparently, young Owen Krysler may have the power to stop the apocalyptic event from ever happening. It is discovered that an insane 22nd century self-proclaimed pharaoh, Filmore Faro ‘the Garbage God’, has also learned of the child’s alleged psychic powers. In turn, an infamous Texas City badlands family, known as the Angel Gang, steal him away from Faro’s followers and swiftly spirit him off-planet.  With the fate of the ‘Big Meg’ in the balance, Dredd follows the boy’s trail through the irradiated wastelands of the Cursed Earth and venture out into the depths of uncharted space to find him!

Often the most critically acclaimed of the multi-part Dredd epics, The Apocalypse War stands out (and holds up) due to the sheer scope and genuine threat to the survival of Mega-City One, Justice Dept., and even Judge Dredd himself. Moreover, it sees the return of art droid, Carlos Ezquerra, to the strip that he co-created after five years away from his character, single-handedly drawing every panel of this 25 episode, 150 + page classic. Mega-City One has maintained an uneasy peace with it’s eastern European counterpart, East-Meg One, for years. However, the Sov-diktatorat, the ruling, military government of East-Meg One, led by the warmongering Supreme Judge Bulgarin, along with Judges Vlad and Snekov, break this detente by releasing the Block Mania virus on the citizens of the Big Meg. The effects of this contaminant, introduced into the city’s water supply by the Sov’s top agent, Orlok the assassin - a thorn-in-the-side of MC-1 and Dredd’s human nemesis time and again - turned citizen against citizen, driving people into a murderous rage, causing all-out wars between neighbouring citi-blocks. Weakened by this viral attack, East-Meg One press home their advantage by launching a devastating nuclear assault against Mega-City One.  After the missiles have flown, ground forces invade, led by ruthless War Marshall 'Mad Dog' Kazan. Supported by Strato V aircraft, Rad Sweeper tanks and killer robot Sentenoids, overwhelming numbers of Sov troops cause Dredd and the remaining survivors to engage in a desperate guerrilla war to maintain control of the streets. Kazan, mad with power, eliminates the diktatorat, and takes complete control of the Sov forces, setting up base in the captured Grand Hall of Justice. Chief-Judge Griffin is held prisoner, and becomes a victim of Sov psycho-surgery, transforming him into a propaganda tool - forcing Dredd to assassinate him. The lawman, apparently dead by his own hand, pulls off a dramatic escape, assisted by his loyal droid - Walter the Wobot.  Dredd hatches a plan to end the war once and for all, leading a small hand-picked team on a virtual suicide mission. Against all the odds, the squad successfully infiltrate a Sov missile silo and a steely, battle-hardened Dredd, having witnessed 150 million of his citizens die at the hand's of the Sov-Blokkers, destroys East-Meg One along with its population of half a billion people by launching their own nukes at them. Dredd ends the conflict by publicly executing Kazan, and a deflated, dispirited Sov army agrees to unconditional surrender, with remaining survivors fleeing to East-Meg Two. A brutal story, with a massive toll on the population of the ‘Big Meg’, virtually cutting the population from it’s initial 800 million, in half to a more manageable 400 million, and the utter annihilation of another, showing a ruthless, win-at-all-costs side to the heroic lawman, effectively making him the biggest mass murderer in history. One which could come back to haunt him in the decades to come...

The next major mega-epic, Oz (Progs 545-70, 24Oct’88-16Apr’89) focuses on an infamous citizen; serial offender, Marlon Shakespeare aka Chopper, wall-scrawling graffiti artist-turned-illegal World Powerboard Champion, aka the ‘Midnight Surfer’, is a hero to many of the city’s disenfranchised youth. Unfortunately, he is currently serving 18 years in an Iso-cube, for his reckless-but-death defying aerial exploits, in Supersurf 7, that made him the greatest sky surfer of his generation. However, a new, cocky, powerboard protégé, Jug McKenzie, a beer-swilling loudmouth from the Sydney-Melbourne Conurb in Oz, is boasting of his prowess on a ‘board, claiming that Chopper is deliberately avoiding attending the now-legalised Supersurf 10, despite being barely 3 years into his 18 stretch in the most secure detention facilities in the world! The resulting backlash from fans of the ‘Midnight Surfer’ in MC-1 caused a demand for his release to attend the forthcoming world championship on the other side of the planet. Of course, Justice Department were having none of it. But the burgeoning outcry from an outraged populace to silence the mouthy McKenzie and restore the pride of Mega-City One, caused the Judges to move Chopper to an even more secure unit. Somehow, the citizens get wind of this extreme resolution, and when Shakespeare is led from one Iso-cube, carrying his property, including the World Championship-winning powerboard, to a new location, a crowd had formed leading to an unruly mob clamouring for a glance at the high profile prisoner, and perhaps, even a chance to spirit their hero away. In the intervening chaos the ever-expanding horde of highly-charged onlookers burst through the hastily erected Justice Dept. cordons, jostling Chopper’s judicial escorts causing the keys to the prisoner’s cuffs to be dropped. Seizing his opportunity, Shakespeare unlocks his restraints and leaps onto his board, zooming off into the Mega-City skyline. Hiding amidst the towering citi-blocks, avoiding the intense glare of searchlights from Justice Dept. hover-wagons, Chopper makes his way cautiously to his childhood friend, and fellow powerboarder, Flip Tillis’ apartment window. Flip had inherited Chopper’s spare suit, power cells and other paraphernalia associated with their chosen pastime, after Mrs. Shakespeare couldn’t bear to keep them once her son was sent to the isolation cubes for many years. Flip also supplies Chopper with food, whilst informing his friend of the huge clamouring of public support for the Mega-City skysurfing ace to take part in the upcoming Supersurf 10, though it would be held thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean in Oz. The ambitious Shakespeare, ever rebellious with a yearning to be free of MC-1′s harsh laws, has a dawning realisation: give himself up to the authorities and go back to the Iso-cubes - probably for decades, after his daring escape - or make a near-suicidal dash for freedom, cross the Pacific Ocean on a powerboard, win Supersurf 10, in Oz and, most importantly for Chopper, prove that he is the best in the world and, unlike his parents, along with most of MC-1, he is somebody! Meanwhile, as angry as Dredd appears that Chopper got away, it conveniently coincides with a series of attacks on Justice Dept.’s top brass. Mysterious, strange-looking, physically superior assassins, garbed in a twisted version of a Judge’s uniform, have been teleporting straight into the Grand Hall of Justice and targeting important senior Judges. Justice Dept. set up a trap, putting a huge security detail on any vital, veteran Judges, including Dredd himself. They succeed in capturing two of these ruthless killing machines, and killed a third. After interrogating one, who immediately commits suicide by crushing a lethal vial hidden in his tooth, they reverse the controls on the attackers’ teleporters and make the return journey back to a hidden base in the middle of Ayers Rock in Oz. Whilst there, Judge Dredd discovers a hidden race of Judges, cloned and controlled by a former, founding Judge, Morton Judd. Judd was a brilliant, but radical, senior Judge whose cloning programme kick-started the success of Justice Department. The problem was that he wanted to clone the citizens of MC-1, from Justice Dept. material, ensuring a law-abiding, controllable populace. Fortunately, the ‘father of justice’, first Chief-Judge Eustace Fargo vetoes this somewhat sinister solution to crime and public order. A furious Morton Judd storms from the room, but later returns to the Grand Hall, using Judges loyal to him, and attempts to assassinate Fargo. The coup fails, but before he can be captured, Judd flees the city, ending up in Oz, founding a base in Ayers Rock, from which he could build an army of Super-Judges without detection. So, armed with this knowledge, using the cover story that he is there to extradite the fugitive Marlon Shakespeare aka Chopper, should he make the unlikely journey across the Pacific Ocean, Judge Dredd heads to Oz. Fighting muties, giant birdmen, dodging random gunfire and the odd Justice Dept. H-wagon, Chopper has made it across the Cursed Earth to the Pacific Ocean. He looks across the endless horizon and is faced with the sheer enormity of what he has set himself to achieve - crossing the largest body of water on the planet, thousands of miles of hostile conditions, and unknown horrors lurking beneath the waves, on nothing more than a flying plank! After an incredibly eventful journey of stunning wildlife encounters, adverse weather conditions and murderous robotic ship’s cooks, Chopper eventually makes the perilous voyage, barely standing on his board, to a hero’s welcome in Oz. Of course, there is one person who isn’t giving the intrepid skysurfer such a triumphant reception: Judge Dredd.. Immediately, the Mega-City lawman attempts to take Marlon into custody. However in a country where low-level powerboarding is not a crime, and has hosted the last three Supersurf World Championships, the Oz judiciary refuses to cooperate with MC-1, denying any extradition orders, threatening to arrest Judge Dredd himself if he uses any force to bring his fugitive back to Mega-City. A disgruntled Dredd turns his attention back to his primary mission: to capture Morton Judd, destroy his base in Ayers Rock and possibly turn his army of cloned Judges into assets for MC-1′s Justice Dept. Dredd succeeds in destroying the base, but Judd is killed and the brainwashed Judda are too far gone psychologically to be of any use to the Mega-City Judges. Supersurf 10 goes ahead meanwhile, and in a death-defying demonstration of powerboarding mastery, between the ‘Wizard of Oz’, Jug McKenzie, and ‘Midnight Surfer’, Marlon Shakespeare aka Chopper, a nail-biting race for the line ensues. Sadly, for all Mega-City One proud Chopper supporters, the Ozzer, McKenzie pips the ‘Midnight Surfer’ to the post. Fickle fans of the MC-1 man, quickly forget his impossible Pacific Ocean crossing, and no longer want anything to do with the heroic ‘loser’. A begrudgingly respectful Judge Dredd is at the finish line, determined to bring his fugitive to justice, despite Chopper’s fantastic feats, and has a clear shot at his quarry, as Shakespeare turns his back on his nemesis. In an increasingly rare moment for the cynical aging Judge, Dredd hesitates. The previously boastful Jug McKenzie, too, has a newfound respect for his rival surfer, and, ‘accidentally’, flies into Dredd throwing off his aim, as Chopper disappears into the Oz outback, and freedom! An unimpressed Oz Justice Dept. take Dredd into custody, and he leaves the continent empty handed. Back in MC-1 however, there is one of the Judda still alive in custody. Taken from the genetic material of former Chief-Judge Fargo, Judge Kraken, as he is named, is basically a younger version of the aging Judge Dredd. Assigned to Dredd, as his Rookie, Kraken’s future rests in the hands of his older counterpart. Although an outstanding specimen, crackshot, and takes to the streets of the ‘Big Meg’ very quickly, Dredd spots something in this flawed ex-Judda. Others in Justice Dept. disagree, including current Chief-Judge Silver, and overrule the veteran lawman, forcing Dredd to resign and take the ‘Long Walk’ out into the Cursed Earth, but that’s another story... 

Which brings us neatly into our next mega-epic, the terrifying nightmare which would lead to Necropolis (Progs 672-99, 31Mar-6Oct’90)  After Dredd left, Chief-Judge Silver faked Kraken's death, and kept Dredd's resignation secret from the public, to instil Kraken as a replacement for Dredd, regardless of his failed assessment by the departed Dredd. Kraken was easily manipulated by the Sisters of Death, who had attacked and left Dredd for dead in the Cursed Earth in The Dead Man saga, to bring about the Dark Judges; Judge Death, Mortis, Fire and Fear. They would go on to wreak havoc in Mega City One, creating their own Necropolis, with life the ultimate crime. Kraken was also made a Dark Judge for the duration of their reign. Dredd, who had regained his memory, although visibly scarred, returned from the Cursed Earth along with ex-Chief Judge McGruder, as he sensed that something was wrong with the city he had served so loyally. The Dark Judges had soon taken control of the remaining Judges, who were now executing citizens, that were often committing suicide or succumbing to disease or starvation.  Dredd and McGruder met with a group of cadets who were in hiding from the Dark Judges, along with Psi-Judge Anderson, and a plan of action was formed. Firstly, Dredd killed fellow Judge Kit Agee, who had been used as a psychic bridge for the Dark Judges to return. This caused the remaining judges to return to normal, free of the Sisters of Death's control.  With the Judges now together and able to form a unit, they began to capture the Dark Judges. All but Death himself were captured, who had flung himself from a city block down into the city bottom, and vanished among the sixty million dead from the Dark Judges' tenure. Judge Kraken, now free of Death's control, accepted his execution at the hands of Dredd. Among the chaos of the Dark Judges' reign, Chief-Judge Silver was killed and then reanimated as a zombie.

Judgement Day (Progs 786-99, 6Jun-5Sep’92) & (Megs 2.04-09, 13Jun-22Aug’92). This multi-part adventure was significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, this was only the second mega-epic not written by Judge Dredd creator, John Wagner (the other was early classic The Cursed Earth by Pat Mills), scripted instead by future comics superstar, Garth Ennis. Ennis himself, admits that it wasn’t his best writing, citing his closeness and childhood affinity to the strip and character as reasons for his below par storytelling Secondly, this was the first ever crossover event, sharing story arcs with recently-released sister comic, the Judge Dredd Megazine (of which Wagner & Alan Grant had been editing, as well as writing, to ensure its success), essentially meaning regular readers had to buy both comics to keep up with the storyline. Set mainly in 2114 it tells of how the Fourth World War took the lives of three billion people when a powerful necromagus called Sabbat raised all the corpses in the world as zombies. It also killed off most of the supporting cast of Judge Dredd. On top of this. it was the first story to feature Johnny Alpha since he was killed off at the end of the Strontium Dog series (from Alpha's point of view it was set two years before his death). The pair had encountered each once before, leaving Dredd initially distrustful of the future bounty hunter who had transgressed one of Justice Dept.’s minefield of strict laws, and escaped unpunished. Alpha & Dredd resolve their issues, and assemble an elite squad of world Judges to bring the fight to the all-powerful dark sorcerer, Sabbat. Using hi-tec Hondo City combat suits, capable of HALO jumping, whilst protecting the wearer from all-manner of threat, including zombie attack, of course. Many Judges are killed off in their frontal assault, including another former adversary of the mega-city lawman, Hondo’s Judge-Inspector Sadu.  Alpha and Dredd are also captured, but eventually turn the tables, with their usual mixture of cunning, wile and extreme violence! The lodestone, a massive-crystalline object Sabbat was using to tap into the Earth’s leylines, harnessing the power of the planet, finally became his headstone when Dredd decapitates the planetary overlord, skewering his head onto the crystal’s sharpened point. Although Ennis is critical of this mega-epic, read in one volume, Judgement Day is still a drokking good adventure story. it didn’t quite work, mainly because it was split over the two publications (it’s very rare to have Megazine crossovers these days). Artwork is a slight issue, too, as multiple art droids were drafted in to lighten the load of main artists, Carlos Ezquerra and Peter Doherty, including Chris Halls (aka Chris Cunningham, creator of disturbing Aphex Twin videos) and Dean Ormston. Judge Dredd is a notoriously difficult character to pin down, and other than the legendary Pat Mills who played up Dredd’s heroic side, as opposed to Wagner’s grim-faced stickler for the law, it is only the recent crop of Dredd script droids who understand the relationship between the legendary lawman, and the crazy city he loves, laying down his life over and over, again to ensure its survival; let’s be honest life in the ‘Big Meg’ is rarely boring! Ennis, whilst commendably showing us a view of the larger picture of Dredd’s world outside of MC-1, he takes away the main protagonist, the future megalopolis itself. The most memorable scene from this mega-epic, now an iconic image from co-creator, Carlos Ezquerra, comes in the full-page final scene, showing a bruised and bloody Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha striding side-by-side; Alpha reminds Dredd that they have a long walk through the most dangerous, inhospitable place on the planet, the Cursed Earth. Dredd simply replies: “Who the hell’s gonna mess with us?”! Classic 2000AD! Great fun, with a massive worldwide death toll, Judgement Day is an enjoyable read, showcasing the talents of a young comics writer, who would go on to write some of the best comic books in recent memory.

Origins - The ambitious, epic history of Justice Dept. and the reign of the Judges. A box is delivered to Chief-Judge Hershey, who informs Dredd that it contains a ransom note and a sample of living tissue which matches the DNA of Judge Eustace Fargo, the first Chief-Judge and the revered founder of the Judge System. (Forensic tests establish that toxins in the tissue show that the source lived through the last century, and so the sample must be Fargo's rather than Dredd's.) The note requires payment of a billion credits in exchange for Fargo's body. As required by the terms of the exchange, Dredd leads a small, lightly armed party on a mission across the hostile Cursed Earth to retrieve their esteemed "Father of Justice". Since Fargo was believed to have died in the year 2051, and the mission takes place in 2129, much of the story consists of Dredd explaining to the members of his team how it is that Fargo could still be alive – a secret history which was concealed from the public for decades. The middle chapters of Origins cover Fargo's life history, and how he founded the Judge System in 2031. After serving twenty years as Chief-Judge, however, Fargo succumbed to a moment of weakness and had an illicit affair with a female colleague, something strictly forbidden by the Judges' code of celibacy. Unable to cope with his own lapse in the exacting moral standards he had inflexibly demanded of his subordinates, Fargo tendered his resignation to the President of the United States. Spurning the entreaties of his two deputies, Judge Solomon and Judge Goodman, and of President Pierce, to reconsider his decision and resume his office, Fargo instead chose to commit suicide. However his attempt to take his own life failed, leaving him with significant brain-damage and without the use of his legs.Fearing that their political enemies would use the scandalous circumstances of Fargo's resignation and injuries to destroy Fargo's legacy, Solomon and Goodman covered them up. Using sophisticated video technology, they faked footage of Fargo bravely sacrificing his life in the line of duty, gunned down in a brutal drive-by shooting. This enabled them to present Fargo as a martyr, increasing public support for the Judges. This deception had been conceived while Fargo's doctors had predicted that he would not long survive. However Fargo defied their expectations and began to slowly recover. He was therefore kept in a secret medical facility, isolated from the world so that the cover-up would not be discovered. When his condition began to deteriorate again, Chief-Judge Solomon had him cryogenically frozen in suspended animation until such time as medical science could cure him.By 2070 President Robert Linus Booth was in the White House, having illegally rigged the voting computers to win the 2068 presidential election, and murdered one of his aides who threatened to expose the fraud. Booth pursued an aggressive foreign policy, openly stating that he would begin a nuclear war if the rest of the world did not comply with his demands. The Judges – now led by Chief-Judge Goodman – attempted to dissuade him, but to no avail, and the Third World War laid waste to most of the world. Booth had believed that his new "nuclear screens" would protect America from retaliation, but only Mega-City One on the east coast, Mega-City Two on the west coast, and Texas City survived. The rest of America was virtually annihilated, creating the Cursed Earth which became populated by mutants and outlaws. Consequently another of Booth's aides turned against him and provided Goodman with evidence of Booth's earlier crimes. Goodman made the evidence public, and public opinion turned against Booth. A demonstration outside the White House became a massacre when troops opened fire on the crowd. But the evidence of election fraud was not conclusive, and impeachment proceedings against Booth were too slow for Goodman to protect his position, for Booth had discovered that Fargo was alive and had been revived from suspended animation. Booth sent troops to arrest Fargo, intending to expose the myth of his death and thereby destroy the Judges' reputation for integrity. Joe and Rico Dredd, cadets at the time, managed to rescue Fargo from capture. However Goodman realised that urgent action was needed to defeat Booth, and the constitutional mechanism for trying him and removing him from office could not be completed in time. On Fargo's advice, Goodman deposed Booth, suspended Congress, and usurped the government of the United States. For his crimes Booth was sentenced to 100 years in suspended animation, to let posterity decide his ultimate fate. Goodman became dictator of the United States (which soon split into three sovereign city-states), with Fargo – his existence still a secret – advising him from behind the scenes.However Fargo soon deteriorated again. He also became demoralised, having intended that the overthrow of democratic government should be temporary, and regretting his own part in establishing a lasting dictatorship. Shortly after surviving an assassination attempt by renegade Judge Morton Judd, Fargo was returned to suspended animation once more. However only one month later Fargo's body was stolen by Judd's agents. When Judd was eventually brought to justice and Fargo's body was still not recovered, it was thought lost forever. Thirty years later Booth's cryogenic machinery failed, and he was inadvertently revived. Judge Dredd resentenced him to life working on a farm in the Cursed Earth, to make amends for the destruction he unleashed on America. (This was first portrayed in the The Cursed Earth.) Instead, however, Booth raised an army of mutants, the "New Mutant Army," who he intended to use to overthrow the Judges and become president again. By 2129 he had discovered Fargo's stolen cryogenic unit, which had been lost in the Cursed Earth when Judd's agents' hovership crashed. When Dredd attempted to exchange the ransom for Fargo, Booth double-crossed him and put him on trial for treason, intending to execute him. However Dredd had anticipated this and planned a timely rescue by his comrades. Taken hostage for use as a human shield, Booth was killed by his own side during the ensuing battle.Back in Mega-City One, Fargo was revived again, but this time he did not survive. His final words were spoken to Dredd alone: "We created a monster ... we're the monster!" He told Dredd that the Judges had gone too far and had destroyed America, and urged Dredd to do everything he could to undo it. Dredd's reaction to this plea was not shown, but when Chief-Judge Hershey asked him what Fargo's last words had been, Dredd lied and pretended that Fargo had said something else less controversial. It was speculated at the time that this theme may be followed up in later stories. This speculation was soon proved correct. Origins was indeed expounded upon in a series of stories, starting with "Mutants in Mega-City One", written by John Wagner. In the first episode Dredd admitted to Hershey that he had lied about Fargo's last words. Hershey in turn admitted that Fargo had said the same thing to her, and that she had told the same lie to Dredd! However, whereas Dredd took Fargo's warning seriously, Hershey dismissed it as the ravings of a brain-damaged invalid, adding that she hoped Dredd would not consider resigning over their differences.This story also featured the return of some of the mutant Fargo Clan (who were first seen, briefly, in Origins) – mutant descendants of Fargo, and therefore Dredd's relatives. In this story, Dredd put forward a motion to repeal the anti-mutant laws, beginning a new story arc about mutants.

Tour of Duty - This far-reaching mega-epic will possibly be Dredd’s toughest test to date. Full of intrigue, betrayal and ultimately murder, primarily within the hallowed corridors of power inside Justice Department itself, who can the city’s greatest lawman truly trust? Dredd’s softening on the ‘mutant issue’, largely in part because of his own mutated genetic heritage, causes him to review the harsh laws on mutant’s rights. Dredd’s new stance to repeal the anti-mutant laws, has not gone down well with the citizens, and this is reflected with many of his colleagues in the department, earning him powerful enemies. With only the backing of Chief-Judge Hershey (and precious few others) Dredd knows that other factions within the Grand Hall are vehemently opposed to his proposed legislature, and feel the time is right for a regime change. Enter Judge Dan Francisco, star of his own hit reality TV show, The Streets of Dan Francisco. Having Mega-City One’s top-rated vid show means that he is a familiar face to the citizens, with a massive fan base. Behind the scenes lurks the ambitious desk jockey, Judge Martin Sinfield. Recently promoted from Head of Traffic Division, to re-organise Administration, the shrewd Sinfield notices Hershey’s dramatic fall in popularity. Together with fellow senior Judges, Cardew and Millan, Sinfield just needs a credible figurehead to lead a campaign to remove Hershey from office in a recall election. Heroic street Judge and TV star, Dan Francisco, is the perfect patsy - a good Judge with a high profile, and massive public approval rating. After an on-screen assassination attempt, with Francisco barely surviving, the popular candidate wins the election hands down. With new Chief-Judge Francisco still in critical condition, Sinfield is made Deputy-Chief. However, he easily establishes himself as the real power behind the throne. His first act, realising the necessity to remove any opposition in his rise to power, was to send Judges Dredd and Hershey to oversee the construction of the newly-built work farms out in the Cursed Earth. Having sidelined Judge Dredd into managing the Cursed Earth mutant camps, the manipulative Judge Sinfield’s plan to take over Mega-City One starts to unfold. With the newly appointed Chief-Judge Dan Francisco being too ill to carry out his duties, Sinfield’s inexorable rise seems to go without a hitch; that is until he unknowingly clashes with the wrong man - notorious serial killer PJ Maybe.  Maybe, bored with life of luxury in the corrupt Central American mega-city of Ciudad Barranquilla, concocts an elaborate scheme to install himself as Mayor of Mega-City One, and it turns out he was pretty damn good at it! With his life in danger, Sinfield can only turn to one man for help - Judge Dredd! Mega-City One’s toughest lawman returns to his streets determined to bring Sinfield down and a killer to justice! This hugely significant story arc, is a riveting read, with plot twists galore and a fantastic pay-off. It also reprises Dredd and Alpha’s monumental Cursed Earth crossing, with Joe’s younger clone,  Rico Dredd replacing the mutant bounty hunter - worth the cover price for that iconic final page alone!

There are a few multi-part storylines we’ve missed out, including, City of the Damned, The Pit & the more recent seismic shock of Day of Chaos, but the featured classic mega-epics cover most of the disaster-prone history of Mega-City One. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and read them. And even if you have, heck- read ‘em again!

[ciathyzareposts]

Star Control II: Deadlines and Dead Ends

The Prydwen butts up against the literal edge of the universe.

           I started this session wondering what would happen if I flew to one of the “borders” of the galaxy. Would it wrap around? Or would I fall of the edge of the universe? To check it out, I only had to fly “south” a few sectors. The answer had implications for how I would navigate for the rest of the game, so I figured I’d check it out now.

On the way, I stopped by the Centauri sector where I’d previously met the race that I want to call the “Mel Tormé,” which amuses me enough that I’m not even going to look up their real name. They had previously said that they were interested only in data on life forms and data on planets that confused sensor readings. I didn’t have any of the latter, but I’d stunned and scanned a few life forms on a previous expedition. I sold them what I had and got a modest number of credits to spend on information or technology. It wasn’t enough to do much with, so I just left the balance for now.

But during the course of the conversation, the aliens related that they had a device called a MetaChron, “a kind of trans-time alarm system.” It warns of oncoming dangers by predicting its own demise, slowly turning from white to black at a rate commensurate with the amount of time it has remaining. Apparently, while the Velvet Fogs are in this sector of space, the MetaChron is slowly turning black, at a rate that suggests some kind of disaster in the early part of 2159. It’s late 2155 now, so that gives me a little more than three years to solve this quest.          

That extra month might be vital.

        That’s a generous time allotment but not an infinite one. An expedition from starbase to a handful of planets, returning with a full cargo hold, can take a couple of months. I can’t spend a lot of time just randomly exploring. While I don’t want to engage in save-scumming, I suspect that as time goes on, I’ll be likely to reload when a visit to a planetary system turns out to be a complete waste of time.           

A system with this many planets (including several gas giants with their own moons) can easily burn an hour or two of playing time.

         I got hung up for a while in the Ptolemae system, which had four stars, one of which had about eight planets, including several gas giants with a handful of moons. I picked up a fair amount of new lifeform data on a marine world. The variety of planetary life forms is interesting and amusing. Among them are simple blobs, giant ape-like creatures, fleet little goblins with mean faces, giant urchins, tree-looking things with tufted tentacles, and bio-mechanoid beings that are rooted in place. They take anywhere from one to six shots to stun, and some of them will proactively attack the landing craft. I’ve learned to count myself lucky if I can bag half a dozen, and not to push my luck trying to clear the planet of all of them.         

Three local life forms swarm and destroy me in the lower-right corner.

           During these expeditions, I’ve also been paying more attention to the type of mineral I’m collecting, especially since I noticed that the rarer ones are worth more “resource units” than the more common ones. This game doesn’t seem to be like Starflight, where you had to find specific elements for ship repair and whatnot. Since everything gets converted to generic “RUs,” you might as well prioritize the valuable stuff. Every once in a while, the game explicitly tells you that you’ve arrived at a “treasure world” full of platinum and gold. Supposedly, there’s a way to identify the more valuable planets by color, which means I might as well just guess.           

This one mining trip will be worth more than all of the other planets I’ve visited on this expedition combined.

         Anyway, my question was answered when, in hyperspace, I butted up against the edge of the galaxy and could go no further.

On the way back to Earth, I was pulled out of hyperspace by another ship belonging to some beings that the game labeled the “Slylandro.” The aliens on the ship looked crystalline, but the ship said it was a “probe,” so they might not have been individual aliens at all. Anyway, the encounter started off friendly, with the probe claiming it was on a “peaceful mission of exploration.” But all of a sudden, it said that its protocols had changed, and it was now required to “break target into component compounds.”          

Way to ruin a nice conversation.

          I had to reload several times to beat it in combat. I don’t know if I’ll ever come to enjoy the game’s approach to combat. I don’t even understand what’s happening most of the time. Once you’ve selected your ship and you’re tossed into the battlefield, gravitational forces pull you this way and that with no logic that I can discern. Sometimes, the ships are just about to close in on each other when something suddenly flings them apart. It seems like every time I turn in the enemy’s direction, at that moment, something happens that reconfigures the entire battle map and has him suddenly come up behind me. I have to spend more time in practice mode, I guess.            

I have trouble taking screen shots in the chaos of combat, but here I am just after having destroyed the Slylandro ship.

          Despite readers’ claims that the Spathi ship and its BUTT missiles made the game too easy, I couldn’t get anywhere with that ship. It’s too hard to tell which direction is forward, for one thing. Every time I managed to get the ship’s rear facing the enemy and launch the missiles, the fast-moving Slylandro just darted away from them.

I had installed ion cannons on the Prydwen that launched missiles from the sides of the ship as well as from the front. The only way I could defeat the Slylandro, after multiple tries, was to use my flagship. But I lost a couple dozen crewmembers with every victory.

Back at Earth, pondering my next move, I took the time to have the full set of dialogues with the base commander. I know, it’s shocking that I didn’t do that when I first met him, but for some reason I wasn’t in the mood. Now, I was curious about the dispositions of each of the former Alliance races so I could determine if they were worth a visit. This had become particularly important because the commander was telling me that the Prydwen had been upgraded enough and what we really needed now was to find allies. To recap the game’s lore as well as the commander’s answers:

              The Yehat are an avian race (they look like pterodactyls) organized into warrior clans and ruled by a queen. They specialize in fast ships called Terminators. According to Fwiffo, they surrendered to the Ur-Quan and became battle slaves. 

The Shofixti were a mammalian race (“sort of a killer shrew”) who were found and given advanced technology by the Yehat. Fierce, proud warriors, they refused to submit to the Ur-Quan and destroyed their own planetary system rather than surrender. I still added them to the list in case there were any remnants.

The Chenjesu were crystalline beings who first contacted humanity and warned us about the Ur-Quan. Ancient and technologically advanced, they were also peaceful and philosophical, which didn’t serve them well in the war. The last anyone heard of them, they were fighting the Ur-Quan alongside the Mmrnmhrm in the Procyon system.

The Mmrnmhrm are self-aware robots built for an unknown mission by an unknown alien race. The commander thinks they’re the “leading edge of a colonization project.” Like the Chenjesu, they were last seen in the Procyon system.

         When microphones gain sentience . . .

         The Ariloulaleelay are classic pointy-eared, large-eyed aliens who may have visited Earth in the past and been responsible for stories of kidnappings and experimentation. Their homeworld location is unknown, and they have some technology that lets them move faster through hyperspace than any other race. The commander doesn’t like them (“something about them gives me the creeps”).

The Syreen were the almost all-female race of buxom humanoids who can ensorcel other races. Their ships were often a motley of crewmembers form multiple species working to please a Syreen captain. They reportedly allowed their planet to be quarantined (as Earth did) after the Ur-Quan victory.

           The commander also filled me in on some odd and horrific aspects of Earth’s surrender. Apparently, the Ur-Quan required Earth’s surrender conditions (to become battle slaves or be quarantined under a shield) to be put to a popular vote. After Earth voted for the shield, the Ur-Quan told us to vacate any cities and ruins more than 500 years old, and then they systematically destroyed them. The Earth of Star Control II is one with no Athens, no London, no Great Pyramids, and so forth, but the Ur-Quan also destroyed some oddities like “a kilometer of land in central Iraq,” several acres of Amazon rainforest, and an underground section of the Antarctic. This suggested that they weren’t just trying to destroy humanity’s history but perhaps also some ancient secret or technology capable of defeating them.           

He goes on to say that the United States made out comparatively well. U.S.A! U.S.A!

         Other things that came up during the discussion included the possibility of a second ancient alien race (other than the Precursors) that settled in the Vulpaculae constellation, now in Androsynth space. Also, the Ur-Quan might have some kind of doomsday device that they’ll use if the tide turns. I need to find out what it is and deactivate it. Finally, he mentioned that there are three races that were neither part of the Ur-Quan hierarchy or Alliance and he gave me their approximate locations.           

The mini “conversation logs” for each topic really help in organizing notes.

          When I was done with the discussion, I had a potential “to do” list of 11 items, one for each of the surviving Alliance races, three for the unknown races, one for the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld, one for the Spathi homeworld, and one for the possible ancient race. I selected rolled a random number and landed on the Mmrnmhrm.

To make a long story short, my expedition to their home system, Virginis, was a waste of time. None of the four stars had any sign of energy or ships. (It was lucrative for minerals and life form scans, however.) I therefore headed for Procyon and the site of their last known battle. There, I found a red shield around the second planet of the system, and a space station in orbit around the planet.

When I approached the space station, my away team reported that it was deserted except for maintenance robots From what they could tell, the Ur-Quan set up the same thing at Procyon that they did on Earth: the Mmrnmhrm and Chenjesu were confined to the shielded planet, with a rotating crew brought to the space station for several years at a time. However, just as on Earth, the supply ships stopped visiting the station, so the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm crewmembers somehow figured out a way to penetrate the shield and return to their colleagues on the planet. There were also indications that the two races were exploring ways to create a hybrid Chenjesu-Mmrnmhrm being.              

I’m not sure how you create a half-crystal, half-robot.

          The findings have a lot of implications, particularly if there’s a way to penetrate the barriers. But I couldn’t figure out anything else to do in this system, and it didn’t give me any new leads, so the expedition was also a bit of a waste of time.

I was dogged throughout this process by the Slylandro. I think they attacked me four times between Earth, Virginis, Procyon, and back to Earth. By the time I limped back to the starbase, I had 26 crewmembers out of an original 100, and there were ships more chasing me through hyperspace that I fortunately managed to avoid. At each encounter, my contact options got increasingly desperate, from selections like “We are from Earth, on a mission of peace” to “Is there something wrong? We seem to be miscommunicating” to “We too come in peace! Please believe us!” But no matter what I chose, they just kept initially claiming peace and then suddenly changing their moods.             

The four black dots on the mini-map represent enemy ships chasing me.

           I was in for a bit of a surprise when I got back to the starbase after this futile expedition. The commander said that he’d analyzed my contact with the Slylandro, and they were the same species that destroyed the Tobermoon in the introduction. I didn’t put that together because they were described as “black as midnight” or something in the intro, and they’ve been red or orange or green when I’ve encountered them. Anyway, if that’s the case, then the same probes must be bedeviling the Ur-Quan, too. Commander Hayes suggested we try to find their source and stop them but didn’t offer any clues along those lines.          

Sure, I’ll get right on that after I defeat the Ur-Quan.

          0 for 2 on my attempts to advance the plot, I rolled the dice again and landed on the Shofixti. Yes, they apparently destroyed their own system to avoid surrendering to the Ur-Quan, but I figured visiting the system might still be useful, if for no other reason than to see how the game graphically depicts the destroyed worlds.

There are five stars in the Gorno cluster. At the first one I visited, I saw a little ship darting around. I approached, and it turned out to be piloted by a Shofixti! He introduced himself as Tanaka. Unfortunately, he’d been driven mad by the loss of the rest of his race. He refused to accept my pleas that we were allies, not Ur-Quan, and attacked us. I destroyed him in one shot. Reflecting that there must have been a better way–perhaps one of the other dialogue options–I reloaded, but I was back on Earth and my time to play games had run out. We’ll have to check it out next time.             

Is a “roof-rabbit” like a “trash panda”?

          Despite what seems like very little progress, I am still very much enjoying the game. They seem to have taken the best parts of Starflight, including the open exploration, the nonlinear plot, and the sense of wonder and mystery within the galaxy. I love the excitement of arriving at each new system, not knowing exactly what I’ll find, or even if I’ve interpreted the clues correctly. I love piecing together my next move from some vague allusions in a dialogue, or from references in the manual. Although I admit part of me wonders if the path is supposed to be this mysterious and open-ended, and that perhaps I missed something obvious in the opening moments.

I appreciate everyone’s restraint in the comments–so far there have been no game-spoiling “hints.” Please keep that up. I’d rather bungle the game and have to replay than have the next step spoiled.         Time so far: 11 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/star-control-ii-deadlines-and-dead-ends/