Ultronomicon - User contributions [en]

Star Control II facts

2006-03-03T14:15:35Z

Censored: paragraphs

Note: all Star Control II facts posted on the UQM forum by Core Team member, [[meep-eep]].
Fact #2 was deleted, current data taken from the [[Pages of Now and Forever]] - SC2 Facts[http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/sc2_facts_uqm.shtml].

===Star Control II fact #1 - Energy regeneration ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=32.0])===
When working on the source, sometimes some interesting things show up. Here's one (I'll share more in time):

Even though the Shiva Furnaces are more advanced than your standard Dynamo Units it's not always a good idea to replace all your dynamos by them. Shiva Furnaces and Dynamo Units actually don't do quite the same thing.

Dynamo Units affect the delay between recharge of your energy, while Shiva Furnaces affect the amount of energy gained each recharge.
The energy regeneration counter starts at 10, and every DU adds -2, to a minimum of 4. (so more than 3 DU's is never useful).

The energy regenerated per recharge starts off at 1, and every SF adds +1. There's no maximum other than the amount of SF's you can carry on your ship.

Put into a formula:
energy per time unit = (#furnaces + 1) / (10 - 2 * (min(#dynamos, 3))

To get the fastest recharge rate, follow this guideline:
- If you have less than 4 slots available, choose all furnaces.
- If you have 4 or more slots available, choose 3 dynamos and the rest furnaces.
(If you have exactly 4 slots available, the configuration doesn't matter for the recharge rate, but as the recharges come in smaller portions when using dynamos, you can often make use of it sooner then).

===Star Control II fact #2 - Slylandro Probe spawning===
When we first got UQM doing something and we started messing around, I wasn't the only one who wondered why there were always Slylandro Probes coming after me immediately when I enter hyperspace. I figured it might have been specific to the 3DO version, but the code proved this was not the case.

When in Hyperspace, each game day there is a chance a probe will be spawned. As long as you haven't had the encounter with the Ilwrath after supplying the commander with radioactives, that chance will be 100% (which explained my situation), encouraging you to finish your business in the Sol system first.

Otherwise, the chance depends on how much time the probes have had to multiply. At the beginning of the game, the spawn chance is 2%, and every 182 game days it is raised by another 2%, to a maximum of 8%, until you get the destruct code. At that time a probe will be reprogrammed, of which they will report you the next time you visit them.

Every 23 days after you got the destruct code the chance will be lowered by 2% until it reaches 0%.

* Additional posts by [[meep-eep]] and [[Fred Ford]]:

'''FF:''' (..the chance will be 100%..) This was one of our more heavy-handed attempts to direct the player. We felt that without getting at least some background for what it was you were doing, the game would make little sense. Also we didn't want to make every alien encounter have a branch based on whether or not you had talked to the starbase commander. 
'''ME:''' Were the Slylandro created specifically for this purpose? 
'''FF:''' No. But they seemed like a good, not too obvious mechanic to get you to do what we wanted you to do at the beginning of the game.

===Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0])===
The Slylandro use the 'Drahn' and 'Drahnasa' units for time-keeping.
During the game they will explain how they relate to the rotation time of their planet, but we don't actually get the chance to scan it.
We could only estimate these units by comparing their use by the Slylandro to describe historic events to what we know from the manual and the game.
But with the source, we can figure out these units in much more detail. All we have to do is remove the Slylandro, and we can scan the planet.
Ofcourse TFB might not have bothered to match the actual rotation time with the story, as noone would ever see it in the game, but it turns out that it matches the estimates perfectly.

The result you can see in the image below.

[[Image:Beta%20Corvi%20IV.png]]

So we know:
A Beta Corvi IV day (rotation) is 0.59 earth days, and
A Beta Corvi IV year (revolution) is 8.04 earth years.

(At least this is what is printed. Internally in the game the rotation period is stored in tenths of earth hours, which is 142 for Beta Corvi IV, which provides some more digits, but they're not significant anyway.
The revolution period is calculated from the distance to the sun and ends up at 4117/512.)

The time intervals that are described by Drahns are fairly large, so it could be that the rotation time has changed a little during that time, but for a planet which is old enough to harbour life, this is likely to be negligable.

Ok, now let's hear what the Slylandro have to say about Drahns:

*Quote: "The Drahn is our primary unit of time. It lasts for an interval equivalent to four million rotations of our planet. A Drahn is subdivided into two-thousand Drahnasa."

Which brings us to: 
Drahn = 0.59 * 4000000 / 365.25 = 6460 earth years 
Drahnasa = 0.59 * 2000 / 365.25 = 3.23 earth years 

So now we know what exactly the Slylandro mean when they talk about Drahn and Drahnasa. I've collected those remarks here:

*Quote: "We have gotten so few visitors over these many Drahn"
*Quote: "In the last five Drahn, we've had only one visitory. and now you have come twice in a single Drahnasa."
*Quote: "And visitors usually only show up every few Drahn"
*Quote: "You don't know how monotonous living on a gas giant for three or four Drahn can be."

(about the brown Ur-Quan)

*Quote: "They used to come visit us regularly about three Drahns ago"
*Quote: "Well, I guess a lot can happen to a species in three Drahn like turning green and evil."

*Quote: "You know, it's funny. We hadn't heard from the outside galaxy in a whole Drahnasa and then the Melnorme come by and sell us a probe and just a few hundred rotations later, YOU show up!"

(when asking about the other races that have visited over the years)

*Quote: "Years? Oh.. you mean Drahn. Well, let's see... there was the Melnorme just a few rotations back then we go all the way back over three Drahn ago to the Ur-Quan and the other Milieu guys... the Yuli and the Drall, I think."
*Quote: "The Yuli, the Drall, the Taalo, the Mael-Num, the Faz and the Ur-Quan who lived across a wide section of the galaxy. They talked with us fairly frequently for almost half a Drahn then suddenly the visits stopped and we haven't heard from them since."

*Quote: "Yes, there was another race... a highly sophisticated species of shaggy giants who made repeated trips to our world over a period of several Drahn."
*Quote: "I wish I knew more of the information you seek, Traveller but we last saw the Shaggy Ones just over 39 Drahn ago and very little from that era has remained intact in our history chants."
*Quote: "When the Shaggy Ones first arrived over 41 Drahns ago"
*Quote: "The Shaggy Ones taught us most of the New Words and after they departed we remembered them for the many long Drahn until ships from the Sentient Milieu arrived."
So they first saw the Precursors around 265,000 years ago, and last around 252,000 years ago. The manual mentions "The Precursors who designed your flagship 250,000 years ago", which gives some credibility to our calculation.

*Quote: "Our world, which we call Source has been home to our species for many thousands of Drahn."

A final remark: The probes, when estimating their numbers over time, talk about Drahnasa in the PC version, but years in the 3DO version.

===Star Control II fact #4 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1366.0])===
Directly from the source code, here are all the little facts related to crew cost:

Crew costs 3 resources at the start of the game.

*When you've recruited 1000 crew or more (minus the amount you've returned), the crew cost is raised by 2. If the total later comes below 1000 (by returning crew), the crew cost goes back down by 2.
*There is no actual limit to the amount of crew you can buy; the commander mentions that there are "almost 2000 highly-motivated, skilled professionals aboard this starbase" available to you, but appearantly there are also an infinite number of the unmotivated, unskilled and amateur kind at your service.
*When you've made an alliance with the shofixti, the crew cost goes down by 2. Also, the number of crew recruited is set to 0 and will never be raised (or lowered) again.
*When you've sold crew to the Druuge, but no more than 100, there's no change in the crew cost. The commander talks about "rumors".
*When you've sold more than 100 crew in total to the Druuge, but no more than 250, the crew cost goes up by 7. The commander talks about "evidence".
*When you've sold more than 250 crew in total to the Druuge, the crew cost goes up by 15. This is in addition to the cost increase when you crossed the 100 crew boundary. The commander talks about you being a "heinous slave-trader".

If you do your shopping at the Druuge with crew as semi-hard currency, here's the price list:
*Mauler ships: 100 crew a piece
The ship is worth 1700 resources and comes with 14 crew.
*Artifacts (Wimbli's trident, Glowing Rod or Rosy Sphere): 100 crew a piece
*Fuel: 10 per 10 units of fuel
The normal fuel cost is 20 resources per unit, or 10 Credits at a Melnorme trader.

===Star Control II fact #5 - Timed events ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0])===
In this "Star Control II fact", I'll elaborate on about all the details about time. This posting turned out longer than I expected, and it contains enough spoilers to reconstruct the game. Well, almost. Well, not nearly actually, but still a lot. The clock speed is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>5 real seconds per game day in HyperSpace and QuasiSpace </li><li>30 real seconds per game day in interplanetary Time stops when <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>in orbit around a planet or moon </li><li>in a menu </li><li>the game is paused </li><li>waiting for confirmation on quit </li><li>exploring planets or moons </li><li>in communication </li><li>waiting for talk/attack decision in encounter </li><li>in the Starbase </li><li>in battle</li></ul></li></ul> There are a couple of points in the game when time is fast-forwarded: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>When the starbase is being prepared so that it can service your precursor vessel, you lose 14 days. </li><li>When you get compelled by the Dnyarri to "Seek death at the hands of your enemy", you lose 15 days. </li><li>When the Chmmr install the Utwig bomb on your ship, you lose 14 days.</li></ul> These days are approximate. '15 days' actually means 'until the start of the 15th game day after this one plus a real-time second', not necessarily 15 * 24 game hours. Some game events happen at a specific date, others take place a certain time after the player triggers them. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The game starts at February 17, 2155. </li><li>The 17th of every month, a quasispace portal will open at (43.8, 637.2). It will close again at the 20th of the same month. </li><li>Every day, if you're in hyperspace, there's a chance that an alien ship (or group of ships) will appear. </li><li>February 17, 2159 (one year later if you've sent the Utwig and Supox on their mission against the Kohr-Ah), the Kohr-Ah have won the doctrinal war. 7 days later, the Kohr-Ah will begin their death march, starting with the Druuge. The Kohr-Ah travel with a speed of 15.8 standard HyperSpace units per day. Once the Kohr-Ah fleet reaches the fleet of the victim race, the latter is destroyed instantaneously. The Kohr-Ah then immediately begin moving towards the nearest race with a fleet, until all of them are destroyed. Then they will head for Earth. When they reach it, the game is over. The exact time depends on where all the fleets are at the time of the cleansing, and how many fleets are still remaining, but it's somewhere in the last quarter of 2159 (or 2160 if you earned an extra year). </li><li>10 days after you tell the Arilou that the Umgah are acting weird, they will tell you that the Umgah are under "psychic compulsion" originating from the Umgah home star. </li><li>When you command the Ilwrath to kill the Thraddash: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>They immediately leave to (250.0, 807.0), a bit to the southwest of the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>When they rach that location, after 90 days, the mutual genocide with the Thraddash commences, and both races slowly head for (251.7, 821.4), which is halfway between the location of the Ilwrath fleet and the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>After 127 days, the last of the Ilwrath fleet will have reached that location and it ceases to exist. The Thraddash are still one day off from that location, but their fleet is gone at this time as well.</li></ul> </li><li>When you tell the Mycon to go to the Syreen trap, <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>the Mycon will immediately leave, </li><li>arrive at Organon 30 days later, </li><li>spend there 14 days getting slaughtered, after which all Mycon and the Syreen know about the massacre, and </li><li>the Mycon return to their homeworld, where they </li><li>arrive 30 days later</li></ul> </li><li>6 months after you ally with the Pkunk, they leave (50.2, 40.1) (a bit southwest of their homeworld), heading towards (497.0, 40.0) (a bit northeast of the Yehat homeworld). If not stopped, they arrive there 182 days later to be instantaneously absorbed by the Yehat. If you meet them on there way and convince them to return, they will immediately head back to (50.2, 40.1). The way back takes as long as the journey so far took. Once they have arrived at their starting point, they will wait for 3 months, after which they head back to the Yehat. If convinced to return for a second time, the same thing happens. </li><li>2 months after you bring the Shofixti maidens to Tanaka or Katana, Shofixti ships and crew will be at your service. </li><li>Every 182 days the chance at any day that a Slylandro probe will appear in hyperspace (2% at the start of the game) is increased by 2% to a maximum of 8%, until the Slylandro tell you about the probe's self-destruct code. Every 23 days after that, the chance is decreased by 2%, until it reaches 0%. If you haven't got access to the Starbase yet, this chance is ignored and a probe will appear every day. </li><li>6 months after you've allied with the Spathi ("A Spathi delegation will depart immediately for the planet Earth."), they will return to a slave-shielded Spathiwa. If at that time the player is in their solar system, the move will be postponed by 7 days. This will happen as often as needed. </li><li>When you send the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (487.9, 720.1), which takes 14 days. They will remain there fighting for 14 days as well, and and will then return to their homeworld in another 14 days. </li><li>When you give the repaired Ultron to the Utwig and it tells them to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (720.8, 700.0), and the Supox leave for (746.8, 924.6). At this time you have earned the extra year before the Kohr-Ah win the war. After 21 days, the two races will arrive at their destination. They will then start fighting for 160 days, before returning home. The journey home takes another 21 days. </li><li>3 months after you ally with the Zoq-Fot-Pik, they will send out a distress call, if you are not currently in their home system. If you are, the distress call will be postponed by 7 days. This is repeated as often as necessary. Unless you rescue the ZFP, they will be destroyed 6 months after the distress call. This can again be indefinitely delayed by 7 days at a time, if you are in their home system at the time the destruction is scheduled. </li><li>The first time you visit the Pkunk on Januari 1 2156 or later, if the Kohr-Ah have not started their death march yet, the Pkunk will report a dream where the Kohr-Ah is defeating the Kzer-Za. </li><li>When you ally with the Pkunk, they give you 4 of their ships. If there's not that much room in your fleet, they give as much as there is room for. If you can't accommodate any at all, nothing is lost; you'll get to say the same remark (including your introduction) again the next time you visit the Pkunk homeworld. Exactly one year after you've accepted at least 1 Pkunk ship (on Feb 28 if you got the ship(s) on Feb 29 in a leap-year), a new batch of 4 ships will be waiting for you. This can be repeated for as long as the Pkunk are available to you. Each time, if there is room in your fleet for at least one ship, you'll have to wait another year and if there's no room at all, you can ask again the next visit. </li><li>After you've started the Yehat revolution, you can ask any rebel ship for ships, and they'll give you 4. New ships will available after a month. If you last got ships on the 29th, 30th, or 31th a month, new ones will be available on the 28th of the next month. For the rest, it works exactly in the same way as with the Pkunk. </li><li>If you visit the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld in the year 2158 (2159 if you gained the extra year), but before March, and you ask them about war news, they will report that the Kohr-Ah are winning the doctrinal war. If you visit them in March of that year, or later (but before the war is over), they'll report that the Ur-Quan are almost defeated. Note that if the Utwig are attacking the Kohr-Ah, the ZFP will report this instead. As each item is reported only once, they will report about the war if you leave and visiting the ZFP again.</li></ul> Some general remarks about all the above: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The fleet locations mentioned are the centres of the respective spheres of influence. </li><li>Except where specified otherwise, "n months later" or "after n months means the same day of the month n months later; if that month doesn't have enough days, the rest will be added in days. (So 1 month later than Jan 30 on a non-leap year will be March 2)</li></ul> Some of the reports you get from the Starbase commander are displayed if you visit after a specific time. These times depend on the time passed since you first visited the Starbase with the moon base on board. Only the day and month are recorded, which means that if you only visit with the moon base on some date after 2155, it will think you visited on the same date in 2155. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>After 7 days, if you haven't met Fwiffo yet, the commander will report faint alien signals from the direction of Uranus. </li><li>After 42 days, if you haven't visited Rigel or the ZFP homeworld yet, the commander will report Hyperwave transmissions from the direction of Rigel. </li><li>After 3 months, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme sought contact, and that you can find them at Alpha Centauri. </li><li>After 6 month, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme have sought contact again, and that you can find them in any supergiant system. </li><li>After 7 months, if you haven't acquired the Slylandro probe self-destruct code yet, the commander will report his worries about the probes.</li></ul> For the items where it says "after n months" and the original day of the month doesn't exist in the month n months later, the first day of the next month is used.

Star Control II facts

2006-02-24T00:50:36Z

Censored: /* Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0]) */

Note: all Star Control II facts posted on the UQM forum by Core Team member, [[meep-eep]].
Fact #2 was deleted, current data taken from the [[Pages of Now and Forever]] - SC2 Facts[http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/sc2_facts_uqm.shtml].

===Star Control II fact #1 - Energy regeneration ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=32.0])===
When working on the source, sometimes some interesting things show up. Here's one (I'll share more in time):

Even though the Shiva Furnaces are more advanced than your standard Dynamo Units it's not always a good idea to replace all your dynamos by them. Shiva Furnaces and Dynamo Units actually don't do quite the same thing.

Dynamo Units affect the delay between recharge of your energy, while Shiva Furnaces affect the amount of energy gained each recharge.
The energy regeneration counter starts at 10, and every DU adds -2, to a minimum of 4. (so more than 3 DU's is never useful).

The energy regenerated per recharge starts off at 1, and every SF adds +1. There's no maximum other than the amount of SF's you can carry on your ship.

Put into a formula:
energy per time unit = (#furnaces + 1) / (10 - 2 * (min(#dynamos, 3))

To get the fastest recharge rate, follow this guideline:
- If you have less than 4 slots available, choose all furnaces.
- If you have 4 or more slots available, choose 3 dynamos and the rest furnaces.
(If you have exactly 4 slots available, the configuration doesn't matter for the recharge rate, but as the recharges come in smaller portions when using dynamos, you can often make use of it sooner then).

===Star Control II fact #2 - Slylandro Probe spawning===
When we first got UQM doing something and we started messing around, I wasn't the only one who wondered why there were always Slylandro Probes coming after me immediately when I enter hyperspace. I figured it might have been specific to the 3DO version, but the code proved this was not the case.

When in Hyperspace, each game day there is a chance a probe will be spawned. As long as you haven't had the encounter with the Ilwrath after supplying the commander with radioactives, that chance will be 100% (which explained my situation), encouraging you to finish your business in the Sol system first.

Otherwise, the chance depends on how much time the probes have had to multiply. At the beginning of the game, the spawn chance is 2%, and every 182 game days it is raised by another 2%, to a maximum of 8%, until you get the destruct code. At that time a probe will be reprogrammed, of which they will report you the next time you visit them.

Every 23 days after you got the destruct code the chance will be lowered by 2% until it reaches 0%.

* Additional posts by [[meep-eep]] and [[Fred Ford]]:

FF: (..the chance will be 100%..) This was one of our more heavy-handed attempts to direct the player. We felt that without getting at least some background for what it was you were doing, the game would make little sense. Also we didn't want to make every alien encounter have a branch based on whether or not you had talked to the starbase commander.
ME: Were the Slylandro created specifically for this purpose?
FF: No. But they seemed like a good, not too obvious mechanic to get you to do what we wanted you to do at the beginning of the game.

===Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0])===
The Slylandro use the 'Drahn' and 'Drahnasa' units for time-keeping.
During the game they will explain how they relate to the rotation time of their planet, but we don't actually get the chance to scan it.
We could only estimate these units by comparing their use by the Slylandro to describe historic events to what we know from the manual and the game.
But with the source, we can figure out these units in much more detail. All we have to do is remove the Slylandro, and we can scan the planet.
Ofcourse TFB might not have bothered to match the actual rotation time with the story, as noone would ever see it in the game, but it turns out that it matches the estimates perfectly.

The result you can see in the image below.

[[Image:Beta%20Corvi%20IV.png]]

So we know:
A Beta Corvi IV day (rotation) is 0.59 earth days, and
A Beta Corvi IV year (revolution) is 8.04 earth years.

(At least this is what is printed. Internally in the game the rotation period is stored in tenths of earth hours, which is 142 for Beta Corvi IV, which provides some more digits, but they're not significant anyway.
The revolution period is calculated from the distance to the sun and ends up at 4117/512.)

The time intervals that are described by Drahns are fairly large, so it could be that the rotation time has changed a little during that time, but for a planet which is old enough to harbour life, this is likely to be negligable.

Ok, now let's hear what the Slylandro have to say about Drahns:

*Quote: "The Drahn is our primary unit of time. It lasts for an interval equivalent to four million rotations of our planet. A Drahn is subdivided into two-thousand Drahnasa."

Which brings us to: 
Drahn = 0.59 * 4000000 / 365.25 = 6460 earth years 
Drahnasa = 0.59 * 2000 / 365.25 = 3.23 earth years 

So now we know what exactly the Slylandro mean when they talk about Drahn and Drahnasa. I've collected those remarks here:

*Quote: "We have gotten so few visitors over these many Drahn"
*Quote: "In the last five Drahn, we've had only one visitory. and now you have come twice in a single Drahnasa."
*Quote: "And visitors usually only show up every few Drahn"
*Quote: "You don't know how monotonous living on a gas giant for three or four Drahn can be."

(about the brown Ur-Quan)

*Quote: "They used to come visit us regularly about three Drahns ago"
*Quote: "Well, I guess a lot can happen to a species in three Drahn like turning green and evil."

*Quote: "You know, it's funny. We hadn't heard from the outside galaxy in a whole Drahnasa and then the Melnorme come by and sell us a probe and just a few hundred rotations later, YOU show up!"

(when asking about the other races that have visited over the years)

*Quote: "Years? Oh.. you mean Drahn. Well, let's see... there was the Melnorme just a few rotations back then we go all the way back over three Drahn ago to the Ur-Quan and the other Milieu guys... the Yuli and the Drall, I think."
*Quote: "The Yuli, the Drall, the Taalo, the Mael-Num, the Faz and the Ur-Quan who lived across a wide section of the galaxy. They talked with us fairly frequently for almost half a Drahn then suddenly the visits stopped and we haven't heard from them since."

*Quote: "Yes, there was another race... a highly sophisticated species of shaggy giants who made repeated trips to our world over a period of several Drahn."
*Quote: "I wish I knew more of the information you seek, Traveller but we last saw the Shaggy Ones just over 39 Drahn ago and very little from that era has remained intact in our history chants."
*Quote: "When the Shaggy Ones first arrived over 41 Drahns ago"
*Quote: "The Shaggy Ones taught us most of the New Words and after they departed we remembered them for the many long Drahn until ships from the Sentient Milieu arrived."
So they first saw the Precursors around 265,000 years ago, and last around 252,000 years ago. The manual mentions "The Precursors who designed your flagship 250,000 years ago", which gives some credibility to our calculation.

*Quote: "Our world, which we call Source has been home to our species for many thousands of Drahn."

A final remark: The probes, when estimating their numbers over time, talk about Drahnasa in the PC version, but years in the 3DO version.

===Star Control II fact #4 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1366.0])===
Directly from the source code, here are all the little facts related to crew cost:

Crew costs 3 resources at the start of the game.

*When you've recruited 1000 crew or more (minus the amount you've returned), the crew cost is raised by 2. If the total later comes below 1000 (by returning crew), the crew cost goes back down by 2.
*There is no actual limit to the amount of crew you can buy; the commander mentions that there are "almost 2000 highly-motivated, skilled professionals aboard this starbase" available to you, but appearantly there are also an infinite number of the unmotivated, unskilled and amateur kind at your service.
*When you've made an alliance with the shofixti, the crew cost goes down by 2. Also, the number of crew recruited is set to 0 and will never be raised (or lowered) again.
*When you've sold crew to the Druuge, but no more than 100, there's no change in the crew cost. The commander talks about "rumors".
*When you've sold more than 100 crew in total to the Druuge, but no more than 250, the crew cost goes up by 7. The commander talks about "evidence".
*When you've sold more than 250 crew in total to the Druuge, the crew cost goes up by 15. This is in addition to the cost increase when you crossed the 100 crew boundary. The commander talks about you being a "heinous slave-trader".

If you do your shopping at the Druuge with crew as semi-hard currency, here's the price list:
*Mauler ships: 100 crew a piece
The ship is worth 1700 resources and comes with 14 crew.
*Artifacts (Wimbli's trident, Glowing Rod or Rosy Sphere): 100 crew a piece
*Fuel: 10 per 10 units of fuel
The normal fuel cost is 20 resources per unit, or 10 Credits at a Melnorme trader.

===Star Control II fact #5 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0])===
In this "Star Control II fact", I'll elaborate on about all the details about time. This posting turned out longer than I expected, and it contains enough spoilers to reconstruct the game. Well, almost. Well, not nearly actually, but still a lot. The clock speed is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>5 real seconds per game day in HyperSpace and QuasiSpace </li><li>30 real seconds per game day in interplanetary Time stops when <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>in orbit around a planet or moon </li><li>in a menu </li><li>the game is paused </li><li>waiting for confirmation on quit </li><li>exploring planets or moons </li><li>in communication </li><li>waiting for talk/attack decision in encounter </li><li>in the Starbase </li><li>in battle</li></ul></li></ul> There are a couple of points in the game when time is fast-forwarded: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>When the starbase is being prepared so that it can service your precursor vessel, you lose 14 days. </li><li>When you get compelled by the Dnyarri to "Seek death at the hands of your enemy", you lose 15 days. </li><li>When the Chmmr install the Utwig bomb on your ship, you lose 14 days.</li></ul> These days are approximate. '15 days' actually means 'until the start of the 15th game day after this one plus a real-time second', not necessarily 15 * 24 game hours. Some game events happen at a specific date, others take place a certain time after the player triggers them. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The game starts at February 17, 2155. </li><li>The 17th of every month, a quasispace portal will open at (43.8, 637.2). It will close again at the 20th of the same month. </li><li>Every day, if you're in hyperspace, there's a chance that an alien ship (or group of ships) will appear. </li><li>February 17, 2159 (one year later if you've sent the Utwig and Supox on their mission against the Kohr-Ah), the Kohr-Ah have won the doctrinal war. 7 days later, the Kohr-Ah will begin their death march, starting with the Druuge. The Kohr-Ah travel with a speed of 15.8 standard HyperSpace units per day. Once the Kohr-Ah fleet reaches the fleet of the victim race, the latter is destroyed instantaneously. The Kohr-Ah then immediately begin moving towards the nearest race with a fleet, until all of them are destroyed. Then they will head for Earth. When they reach it, the game is over. The exact time depends on where all the fleets are at the time of the cleansing, and how many fleets are still remaining, but it's somewhere in the last quarter of 2159 (or 2160 if you earned an extra year). </li><li>10 days after you tell the Arilou that the Umgah are acting weird, they will tell you that the Umgah are under "psychic compulsion" originating from the Umgah home star. </li><li>When you command the Ilwrath to kill the Thraddash: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>They immediately leave to (250.0, 807.0), a bit to the southwest of the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>When they rach that location, after 90 days, the mutual genocide with the Thraddash commences, and both races slowly head for (251.7, 821.4), which is halfway between the location of the Ilwrath fleet and the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>After 127 days, the last of the Ilwrath fleet will have reached that location and it ceases to exist. The Thraddash are still one day off from that location, but their fleet is gone at this time as well.</li></ul> </li><li>When you tell the Mycon to go to the Syreen trap, <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>the Mycon will immediately leave, </li><li>arrive at Organon 30 days later, </li><li>spend there 14 days getting slaughtered, after which all Mycon and the Syreen know about the massacre, and </li><li>the Mycon return to their homeworld, where they </li><li>arrive 30 days later</li></ul> </li><li>6 months after you ally with the Pkunk, they leave (50.2, 40.1) (a bit southwest of their homeworld), heading towards (497.0, 40.0) (a bit northeast of the Yehat homeworld). If not stopped, they arrive there 182 days later to be instantaneously absorbed by the Yehat. If you meet them on there way and convince them to return, they will immediately head back to (50.2, 40.1). The way back takes as long as the journey so far took. Once they have arrived at their starting point, they will wait for 3 months, after which they head back to the Yehat. If convinced to return for a second time, the same thing happens. </li><li>2 months after you bring the Shofixti maidens to Tanaka or Katana, Shofixti ships and crew will be at your service. </li><li>Every 182 days the chance at any day that a Slylandro probe will appear in hyperspace (2% at the start of the game) is increased by 2% to a maximum of 8%, until the Slylandro tell you about the probe's self-destruct code. Every 23 days after that, the chance is decreased by 2%, until it reaches 0%. If you haven't got access to the Starbase yet, this chance is ignored and a probe will appear every day. </li><li>6 months after you've allied with the Spathi ("A Spathi delegation will depart immediately for the planet Earth."), they will return to a slave-shielded Spathiwa. If at that time the player is in their solar system, the move will be postponed by 7 days. This will happen as often as needed. </li><li>When you send the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (487.9, 720.1), which takes 14 days. They will remain there fighting for 14 days as well, and and will then return to their homeworld in another 14 days. </li><li>When you give the repaired Ultron to the Utwig and it tells them to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (720.8, 700.0), and the Supox leave for (746.8, 924.6). At this time you have earned the extra year before the Kohr-Ah win the war. After 21 days, the two races will arrive at their destination. They will then start fighting for 160 days, before returning home. The journey home takes another 21 days. </li><li>3 months after you ally with the Zoq-Fot-Pik, they will send out a distress call, if you are not currently in their home system. If you are, the distress call will be postponed by 7 days. This is repeated as often as necessary. Unless you rescue the ZFP, they will be destroyed 6 months after the distress call. This can again be indefinitely delayed by 7 days at a time, if you are in their home system at the time the destruction is scheduled. </li><li>The first time you visit the Pkunk on Januari 1 2156 or later, if the Kohr-Ah have not started their death march yet, the Pkunk will report a dream where the Kohr-Ah is defeating the Kzer-Za. </li><li>When you ally with the Pkunk, they give you 4 of their ships. If there's not that much room in your fleet, they give as much as there is room for. If you can't accommodate any at all, nothing is lost; you'll get to say the same remark (including your introduction) again the next time you visit the Pkunk homeworld. Exactly one year after you've accepted at least 1 Pkunk ship (on Feb 28 if you got the ship(s) on Feb 29 in a leap-year), a new batch of 4 ships will be waiting for you. This can be repeated for as long as the Pkunk are available to you. Each time, if there is room in your fleet for at least one ship, you'll have to wait another year and if there's no room at all, you can ask again the next visit. </li><li>After you've started the Yehat revolution, you can ask any rebel ship for ships, and they'll give you 4. New ships will available after a month. If you last got ships on the 29th, 30th, or 31th a month, new ones will be available on the 28th of the next month. For the rest, it works exactly in the same way as with the Pkunk. </li><li>If you visit the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld in the year 2158 (2159 if you gained the extra year), but before March, and you ask them about war news, they will report that the Kohr-Ah are winning the doctrinal war. If you visit them in March of that year, or later (but before the war is over), they'll report that the Ur-Quan are almost defeated. Note that if the Utwig are attacking the Kohr-Ah, the ZFP will report this instead. As each item is reported only once, they will report about the war if you leave and visiting the ZFP again.</li></ul> Some general remarks about all the above: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The fleet locations mentioned are the centres of the respective spheres of influence. </li><li>Except where specified otherwise, "n months later" or "after n months means the same day of the month n months later; if that month doesn't have enough days, the rest will be added in days. (So 1 month later than Jan 30 on a non-leap year will be March 2)</li></ul> Some of the reports you get from the Starbase commander are displayed if you visit after a specific time. These times depend on the time passed since you first visited the Starbase with the moon base on board. Only the day and month are recorded, which means that if you only visit with the moon base on some date after 2155, it will think you visited on the same date in 2155. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>After 7 days, if you haven't met Fwiffo yet, the commander will report faint alien signals from the direction of Uranus. </li><li>After 42 days, if you haven't visited Rigel or the ZFP homeworld yet, the commander will report Hyperwave transmissions from the direction of Rigel. </li><li>After 3 months, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme sought contact, and that you can find them at Alpha Centauri. </li><li>After 6 month, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme have sought contact again, and that you can find them in any supergiant system. </li><li>After 7 months, if you haven't acquired the Slylandro probe self-destruct code yet, the commander will report his worries about the probes.</li></ul> For the items where it says "after n months" and the original day of the month doesn't exist in the month n months later, the first day of the next month is used.

Star Control II facts

2006-02-24T00:49:31Z

Censored: /* Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0]) */

Note: all Star Control II facts posted on the UQM forum by Core Team member, [[meep-eep]].
Fact #2 was deleted, current data taken from the [[Pages of Now and Forever]] - SC2 Facts[http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/sc2_facts_uqm.shtml].

===Star Control II fact #1 - Energy regeneration ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=32.0])===
When working on the source, sometimes some interesting things show up. Here's one (I'll share more in time):

Even though the Shiva Furnaces are more advanced than your standard Dynamo Units it's not always a good idea to replace all your dynamos by them. Shiva Furnaces and Dynamo Units actually don't do quite the same thing.

Dynamo Units affect the delay between recharge of your energy, while Shiva Furnaces affect the amount of energy gained each recharge.
The energy regeneration counter starts at 10, and every DU adds -2, to a minimum of 4. (so more than 3 DU's is never useful).

The energy regenerated per recharge starts off at 1, and every SF adds +1. There's no maximum other than the amount of SF's you can carry on your ship.

Put into a formula:
energy per time unit = (#furnaces + 1) / (10 - 2 * (min(#dynamos, 3))

To get the fastest recharge rate, follow this guideline:
- If you have less than 4 slots available, choose all furnaces.
- If you have 4 or more slots available, choose 3 dynamos and the rest furnaces.
(If you have exactly 4 slots available, the configuration doesn't matter for the recharge rate, but as the recharges come in smaller portions when using dynamos, you can often make use of it sooner then).

===Star Control II fact #2 - Slylandro Probe spawning===
When we first got UQM doing something and we started messing around, I wasn't the only one who wondered why there were always Slylandro Probes coming after me immediately when I enter hyperspace. I figured it might have been specific to the 3DO version, but the code proved this was not the case.

When in Hyperspace, each game day there is a chance a probe will be spawned. As long as you haven't had the encounter with the Ilwrath after supplying the commander with radioactives, that chance will be 100% (which explained my situation), encouraging you to finish your business in the Sol system first.

Otherwise, the chance depends on how much time the probes have had to multiply. At the beginning of the game, the spawn chance is 2%, and every 182 game days it is raised by another 2%, to a maximum of 8%, until you get the destruct code. At that time a probe will be reprogrammed, of which they will report you the next time you visit them.

Every 23 days after you got the destruct code the chance will be lowered by 2% until it reaches 0%.

* Additional posts by [[meep-eep]] and [[Fred Ford]]:

FF: (..the chance will be 100%..) This was one of our more heavy-handed attempts to direct the player. We felt that without getting at least some background for what it was you were doing, the game would make little sense. Also we didn't want to make every alien encounter have a branch based on whether or not you had talked to the starbase commander.
ME: Were the Slylandro created specifically for this purpose?
FF: No. But they seemed like a good, not too obvious mechanic to get you to do what we wanted you to do at the beginning of the game.

===Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0])===
The Slylandro use the 'Drahn' and 'Drahnasa' units for time-keeping.
During the game they will explain how they relate to the rotation time of their planet, but we don't actually get the chance to scan it.
We could only estimate these units by comparing their use by the Slylandro to describe historic events to what we know from the manual and the game.
But with the source, we can figure out these units in much more detail. All we have to do is remove the Slylandro, and we can scan the planet.
Ofcourse TFB might not have bothered to match the actual rotation time with the story, as noone would ever see it in the game, but it turns out that it matches the estimates perfectly.

The result you can see in the image below.

[[Image:Beta%20Corvi%20IV.png]]

So we know:
A Beta Corvi IV day (rotation) is 0.59 earth days, and
A Beta Corvi IV year (revolution) is 8.04 earth years.

(At least this is what is printed. Internally in the game the rotation period is stored in tenths of earth hours, which is 142 for Beta Corvi IV, which provides some more digits, but they're not significant anyway.
The revolution period is calculated from the distance to the sun and ends up at 4117/512.)

The time intervals that are described by Drahns are fairly large, so it could be that the rotation time has changed a little during that time, but for a planet which is old enough to harbour life, this is likely to be negligable.

Ok, now let's hear what the Slylandro have to say about Drahns:

*Quote: "The Drahn is our primary unit of time. It lasts for an interval equivalent to four million rotations of our planet. A Drahn is subdivided into two-thousand Drahnasa."

Which brings us to:
Drahn = 0.59 * 4000000 / 365.25 = 6460 earth years
Drahnasa = 0.59 * 2000 / 365.25 = 3.23 earth years

So now we know what exactly the Slylandro mean when they talk about Drahn and Drahnasa. I've collected those remarks here:

*Quote: "We have gotten so few visitors over these many Drahn"
*Quote: "In the last five Drahn, we've had only one visitory. and now you have come twice in a single Drahnasa."
*Quote: "And visitors usually only show up every few Drahn"
*Quote: "You don't know how monotonous living on a gas giant for three or four Drahn can be."

(about the brown Ur-Quan)

*Quote: "They used to come visit us regularly about three Drahns ago"
*Quote: "Well, I guess a lot can happen to a species in three Drahn like turning green and evil."

*Quote: "You know, it's funny. We hadn't heard from the outside galaxy in a whole Drahnasa and then the Melnorme come by and sell us a probe and just a few hundred rotations later, YOU show up!"

(when asking about the other races that have visited over the years)

*Quote: "Years? Oh.. you mean Drahn. Well, let's see... there was the Melnorme just a few rotations back then we go all the way back over three Drahn ago to the Ur-Quan and the other Milieu guys... the Yuli and the Drall, I think."
*Quote: "The Yuli, the Drall, the Taalo, the Mael-Num, the Faz and the Ur-Quan who lived across a wide section of the galaxy. They talked with us fairly frequently for almost half a Drahn then suddenly the visits stopped and we haven't heard from them since."

*Quote: "Yes, there was another race... a highly sophisticated species of shaggy giants who made repeated trips to our world over a period of several Drahn."
*Quote: "I wish I knew more of the information you seek, Traveller but we last saw the Shaggy Ones just over 39 Drahn ago and very little from that era has remained intact in our history chants."
*Quote: "When the Shaggy Ones first arrived over 41 Drahns ago"
*Quote: "The Shaggy Ones taught us most of the New Words and after they departed we remembered them for the many long Drahn until ships from the Sentient Milieu arrived."
So they first saw the Precursors around 265,000 years ago, and last around 252,000 years ago. The manual mentions "The Precursors who designed your flagship 250,000 years ago", which gives some credibility to our calculation.

*Quote: "Our world, which we call Source has been home to our species for many thousands of Drahn."

A final remark: The probes, when estimating their numbers over time, talk about Drahnasa in the PC version, but years in the 3DO version.

===Star Control II fact #4 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1366.0])===
Directly from the source code, here are all the little facts related to crew cost:

Crew costs 3 resources at the start of the game.

*When you've recruited 1000 crew or more (minus the amount you've returned), the crew cost is raised by 2. If the total later comes below 1000 (by returning crew), the crew cost goes back down by 2.
*There is no actual limit to the amount of crew you can buy; the commander mentions that there are "almost 2000 highly-motivated, skilled professionals aboard this starbase" available to you, but appearantly there are also an infinite number of the unmotivated, unskilled and amateur kind at your service.
*When you've made an alliance with the shofixti, the crew cost goes down by 2. Also, the number of crew recruited is set to 0 and will never be raised (or lowered) again.
*When you've sold crew to the Druuge, but no more than 100, there's no change in the crew cost. The commander talks about "rumors".
*When you've sold more than 100 crew in total to the Druuge, but no more than 250, the crew cost goes up by 7. The commander talks about "evidence".
*When you've sold more than 250 crew in total to the Druuge, the crew cost goes up by 15. This is in addition to the cost increase when you crossed the 100 crew boundary. The commander talks about you being a "heinous slave-trader".

If you do your shopping at the Druuge with crew as semi-hard currency, here's the price list:
*Mauler ships: 100 crew a piece
The ship is worth 1700 resources and comes with 14 crew.
*Artifacts (Wimbli's trident, Glowing Rod or Rosy Sphere): 100 crew a piece
*Fuel: 10 per 10 units of fuel
The normal fuel cost is 20 resources per unit, or 10 Credits at a Melnorme trader.

===Star Control II fact #5 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0])===
In this "Star Control II fact", I'll elaborate on about all the details about time. This posting turned out longer than I expected, and it contains enough spoilers to reconstruct the game. Well, almost. Well, not nearly actually, but still a lot. The clock speed is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>5 real seconds per game day in HyperSpace and QuasiSpace </li><li>30 real seconds per game day in interplanetary Time stops when <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>in orbit around a planet or moon </li><li>in a menu </li><li>the game is paused </li><li>waiting for confirmation on quit </li><li>exploring planets or moons </li><li>in communication </li><li>waiting for talk/attack decision in encounter </li><li>in the Starbase </li><li>in battle</li></ul></li></ul> There are a couple of points in the game when time is fast-forwarded: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>When the starbase is being prepared so that it can service your precursor vessel, you lose 14 days. </li><li>When you get compelled by the Dnyarri to "Seek death at the hands of your enemy", you lose 15 days. </li><li>When the Chmmr install the Utwig bomb on your ship, you lose 14 days.</li></ul> These days are approximate. '15 days' actually means 'until the start of the 15th game day after this one plus a real-time second', not necessarily 15 * 24 game hours. Some game events happen at a specific date, others take place a certain time after the player triggers them. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The game starts at February 17, 2155. </li><li>The 17th of every month, a quasispace portal will open at (43.8, 637.2). It will close again at the 20th of the same month. </li><li>Every day, if you're in hyperspace, there's a chance that an alien ship (or group of ships) will appear. </li><li>February 17, 2159 (one year later if you've sent the Utwig and Supox on their mission against the Kohr-Ah), the Kohr-Ah have won the doctrinal war. 7 days later, the Kohr-Ah will begin their death march, starting with the Druuge. The Kohr-Ah travel with a speed of 15.8 standard HyperSpace units per day. Once the Kohr-Ah fleet reaches the fleet of the victim race, the latter is destroyed instantaneously. The Kohr-Ah then immediately begin moving towards the nearest race with a fleet, until all of them are destroyed. Then they will head for Earth. When they reach it, the game is over. The exact time depends on where all the fleets are at the time of the cleansing, and how many fleets are still remaining, but it's somewhere in the last quarter of 2159 (or 2160 if you earned an extra year). </li><li>10 days after you tell the Arilou that the Umgah are acting weird, they will tell you that the Umgah are under "psychic compulsion" originating from the Umgah home star. </li><li>When you command the Ilwrath to kill the Thraddash: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>They immediately leave to (250.0, 807.0), a bit to the southwest of the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>When they rach that location, after 90 days, the mutual genocide with the Thraddash commences, and both races slowly head for (251.7, 821.4), which is halfway between the location of the Ilwrath fleet and the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>After 127 days, the last of the Ilwrath fleet will have reached that location and it ceases to exist. The Thraddash are still one day off from that location, but their fleet is gone at this time as well.</li></ul> </li><li>When you tell the Mycon to go to the Syreen trap, <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>the Mycon will immediately leave, </li><li>arrive at Organon 30 days later, </li><li>spend there 14 days getting slaughtered, after which all Mycon and the Syreen know about the massacre, and </li><li>the Mycon return to their homeworld, where they </li><li>arrive 30 days later</li></ul> </li><li>6 months after you ally with the Pkunk, they leave (50.2, 40.1) (a bit southwest of their homeworld), heading towards (497.0, 40.0) (a bit northeast of the Yehat homeworld). If not stopped, they arrive there 182 days later to be instantaneously absorbed by the Yehat. If you meet them on there way and convince them to return, they will immediately head back to (50.2, 40.1). The way back takes as long as the journey so far took. Once they have arrived at their starting point, they will wait for 3 months, after which they head back to the Yehat. If convinced to return for a second time, the same thing happens. </li><li>2 months after you bring the Shofixti maidens to Tanaka or Katana, Shofixti ships and crew will be at your service. </li><li>Every 182 days the chance at any day that a Slylandro probe will appear in hyperspace (2% at the start of the game) is increased by 2% to a maximum of 8%, until the Slylandro tell you about the probe's self-destruct code. Every 23 days after that, the chance is decreased by 2%, until it reaches 0%. If you haven't got access to the Starbase yet, this chance is ignored and a probe will appear every day. </li><li>6 months after you've allied with the Spathi ("A Spathi delegation will depart immediately for the planet Earth."), they will return to a slave-shielded Spathiwa. If at that time the player is in their solar system, the move will be postponed by 7 days. This will happen as often as needed. </li><li>When you send the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (487.9, 720.1), which takes 14 days. They will remain there fighting for 14 days as well, and and will then return to their homeworld in another 14 days. </li><li>When you give the repaired Ultron to the Utwig and it tells them to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (720.8, 700.0), and the Supox leave for (746.8, 924.6). At this time you have earned the extra year before the Kohr-Ah win the war. After 21 days, the two races will arrive at their destination. They will then start fighting for 160 days, before returning home. The journey home takes another 21 days. </li><li>3 months after you ally with the Zoq-Fot-Pik, they will send out a distress call, if you are not currently in their home system. If you are, the distress call will be postponed by 7 days. This is repeated as often as necessary. Unless you rescue the ZFP, they will be destroyed 6 months after the distress call. This can again be indefinitely delayed by 7 days at a time, if you are in their home system at the time the destruction is scheduled. </li><li>The first time you visit the Pkunk on Januari 1 2156 or later, if the Kohr-Ah have not started their death march yet, the Pkunk will report a dream where the Kohr-Ah is defeating the Kzer-Za. </li><li>When you ally with the Pkunk, they give you 4 of their ships. If there's not that much room in your fleet, they give as much as there is room for. If you can't accommodate any at all, nothing is lost; you'll get to say the same remark (including your introduction) again the next time you visit the Pkunk homeworld. Exactly one year after you've accepted at least 1 Pkunk ship (on Feb 28 if you got the ship(s) on Feb 29 in a leap-year), a new batch of 4 ships will be waiting for you. This can be repeated for as long as the Pkunk are available to you. Each time, if there is room in your fleet for at least one ship, you'll have to wait another year and if there's no room at all, you can ask again the next visit. </li><li>After you've started the Yehat revolution, you can ask any rebel ship for ships, and they'll give you 4. New ships will available after a month. If you last got ships on the 29th, 30th, or 31th a month, new ones will be available on the 28th of the next month. For the rest, it works exactly in the same way as with the Pkunk. </li><li>If you visit the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld in the year 2158 (2159 if you gained the extra year), but before March, and you ask them about war news, they will report that the Kohr-Ah are winning the doctrinal war. If you visit them in March of that year, or later (but before the war is over), they'll report that the Ur-Quan are almost defeated. Note that if the Utwig are attacking the Kohr-Ah, the ZFP will report this instead. As each item is reported only once, they will report about the war if you leave and visiting the ZFP again.</li></ul> Some general remarks about all the above: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The fleet locations mentioned are the centres of the respective spheres of influence. </li><li>Except where specified otherwise, "n months later" or "after n months means the same day of the month n months later; if that month doesn't have enough days, the rest will be added in days. (So 1 month later than Jan 30 on a non-leap year will be March 2)</li></ul> Some of the reports you get from the Starbase commander are displayed if you visit after a specific time. These times depend on the time passed since you first visited the Starbase with the moon base on board. Only the day and month are recorded, which means that if you only visit with the moon base on some date after 2155, it will think you visited on the same date in 2155. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>After 7 days, if you haven't met Fwiffo yet, the commander will report faint alien signals from the direction of Uranus. </li><li>After 42 days, if you haven't visited Rigel or the ZFP homeworld yet, the commander will report Hyperwave transmissions from the direction of Rigel. </li><li>After 3 months, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme sought contact, and that you can find them at Alpha Centauri. </li><li>After 6 month, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme have sought contact again, and that you can find them in any supergiant system. </li><li>After 7 months, if you haven't acquired the Slylandro probe self-destruct code yet, the commander will report his worries about the probes.</li></ul> For the items where it says "after n months" and the original day of the month doesn't exist in the month n months later, the first day of the next month is used.

Star Control II facts

2006-02-23T15:35:51Z

Censored: /* Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0]) */

Note: all Star Control II facts posted on the UQM forum by Core Team member, [[meep-eep]].
Fact #2 was deleted, current data taken from the [[Pages of Now and Forever]] - SC2 Facts[http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/sc2_facts_uqm.shtml].

===Star Control II fact #1 - Energy regeneration ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=32.0])===
When working on the source, sometimes some interesting things show up. Here's one (I'll share more in time):

Even though the Shiva Furnaces are more advanced than your standard Dynamo Units it's not always a good idea to replace all your dynamos by them. Shiva Furnaces and Dynamo Units actually don't do quite the same thing.

Dynamo Units affect the delay between recharge of your energy, while Shiva Furnaces affect the amount of energy gained each recharge.
The energy regeneration counter starts at 10, and every DU adds -2, to a minimum of 4. (so more than 3 DU's is never useful).

The energy regenerated per recharge starts off at 1, and every SF adds +1. There's no maximum other than the amount of SF's you can carry on your ship.

Put into a formula:
energy per time unit = (#furnaces + 1) / (10 - 2 * (min(#dynamos, 3))

To get the fastest recharge rate, follow this guideline:
- If you have less than 4 slots available, choose all furnaces.
- If you have 4 or more slots available, choose 3 dynamos and the rest furnaces.
(If you have exactly 4 slots available, the configuration doesn't matter for the recharge rate, but as the recharges come in smaller portions when using dynamos, you can often make use of it sooner then).

===Star Control II fact #2 - Slylandro Probe spawning===
When we first got UQM doing something and we started messing around, I wasn't the only one who wondered why there were always Slylandro Probes coming after me immediately when I enter hyperspace. I figured it might have been specific to the 3DO version, but the code proved this was not the case.

When in Hyperspace, each game day there is a chance a probe will be spawned. As long as you haven't had the encounter with the Ilwrath after supplying the commander with radioactives, that chance will be 100% (which explained my situation), encouraging you to finish your business in the Sol system first.

Otherwise, the chance depends on how much time the probes have had to multiply. At the beginning of the game, the spawn chance is 2%, and every 182 game days it is raised by another 2%, to a maximum of 8%, until you get the destruct code. At that time a probe will be reprogrammed, of which they will report you the next time you visit them.

Every 23 days after you got the destruct code the chance will be lowered by 2% until it reaches 0%.

* Additional posts by [[meep-eep]] and [[Fred Ford]]:

FF: (..the chance will be 100%..) This was one of our more heavy-handed attempts to direct the player. We felt that without getting at least some background for what it was you were doing, the game would make little sense. Also we didn't want to make every alien encounter have a branch based on whether or not you had talked to the starbase commander.
ME: Were the Slylandro created specifically for this purpose?
FF: No. But they seemed like a good, not too obvious mechanic to get you to do what we wanted you to do at the beginning of the game.

===Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0])===
The Slylandro use the 'Drahn' and 'Drahnasa' units for time-keeping.
During the game they will explain how they relate to the rotation time of their planet, but we don't actually get the chance to scan it.
We could only estimate these units by comparing their use by the Slylandro to describe historic events to what we know from the manual and the game.
But with the source, we can figure out these units in much more detail. All we have to do is remove the Slylandro, and we can scan the planet.
Ofcourse TFB might not have bothered to match the actual rotation time with the story, as noone would ever see it in the game, but it turns out that it matches the estimates perfectly.

The result you can see in the image below.

[[Image:Beta%20Corvi%20IV.png]]

So we know:
A Beta Corvi IV day (rotation) is 0.59 earth days, and
A Beta Corvi IV year (revolution) is 8.04 earth years.

(At least this is what is printed. Internally in the game the rotation period is stored in tenths of earth hours, which is 142 for Beta Corvi IV, which provides some more digits, but they're not significant anyway.
The revolution period is calculated from the distance to the sun and ends up at 4117/512.)

The time intervals that are described by Drahns are fairly large, so it could be that the rotation time has changed a little during that time, but for a planet which is old enough to harbour life, this is likely to be negligable.

Ok, now let's hear what the Slylandro have to say about Drahns:

*Quote: "The Drahn is our primary unit of time. It lasts for an interval equivalent to four million rotations of our planet. A Drahn is subdivided into two-thousand Drahnasa."

Which brings us to:
Drahn = 0.59 * 4000000 / 365.25 = 6460 earth years
Drahnasa = 0.59 * 2000 / 365.25 = 3.23 earth years

So now we know what exactly the Slylandro mean when they talk about Drahn and Drahnasa. I've collected those remarks here:

*Quote: "We have gotten so few visitors over these many Drahn"
*Quote: "In the last five Drahn, we've had only one visitory. and now you have come twice in a single Drahnasa."
*Quote: "And visitors usually only show up every few Drahn"
*Quote: "You don't know how monotonous living on a gas giant for three or four Drahn can be."

(about the brown Ur-Quan)

*Quote: "They used to come visit us regularly about three Drahns ago"
*Quote: "Well, I guess a lot can happen to a species in three Drahn like turning green and evil."

*Quote: "You know, it's funny. We hadn't heard from the outside galaxy in a whole Drahnasa and then the Melnorme come by and sell us a probe and just a few hundred rotations later, YOU show up!"

(when asking about the other races that have visited over the years)

*Quote: "Years? Oh.. you mean Drahn. Well, let's see... there was the Melnorme just a few rotations back then we go all the way back over three Drahn ago to the Ur-Quan and the other Milieu guys... the Yuli and the Drall, I think."
*Quote: "The Yuli, the Drall, the Taalo, the Mael-Num, the Faz and the Ur-Quan who lived across a wide section of the galaxy. They talked with us fairly frequently for almost half a Drahn then suddenly the visits stopped and we haven't heard from them since."

*Quote: "Yes, there was another race... a highly sophisticated species of shaggy giants who made repeated trips to our world over a period of several Drahn."
*Quote: "I wish I knew more of the information you seek, Traveller but we last saw the Shaggy Ones just over 39 Drahn ago and very little from that era has remained intact in our history chants."
*Quote: "When the Shaggy Ones first arrived over 41 Drahns ago"
*Quote: "The Shaggy Ones taught us most of the New Words and after they departed we remembered them for the many long Drahn until ships from the Sentient Milieu arrived. So they first saw the Precursors around 265000 years ago, and last around 252000 years ago. The manual mentions "The Precursors who designed your flagship 250,000 years ago", which gives some credibility to our calculation."

*Quote: "Our world, which we call Source has been home to our species for many thousands of Drahn."

A final remark: The probes, when estimating their numbers over time, talk about Drahnasa in the PC version, but years in the 3DO version.

===Star Control II fact #4 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1366.0])===
Directly from the source code, here are all the little facts related to crew cost:

Crew costs 3 resources at the start of the game.

*When you've recruited 1000 crew or more (minus the amount you've returned), the crew cost is raised by 2. If the total later comes below 1000 (by returning crew), the crew cost goes back down by 2.
*There is no actual limit to the amount of crew you can buy; the commander mentions that there are "almost 2000 highly-motivated, skilled professionals aboard this starbase" available to you, but appearantly there are also an infinite number of the unmotivated, unskilled and amateur kind at your service.
*When you've made an alliance with the shofixti, the crew cost goes down by 2. Also, the number of crew recruited is set to 0 and will never be raised (or lowered) again.
*When you've sold crew to the Druuge, but no more than 100, there's no change in the crew cost. The commander talks about "rumors".
*When you've sold more than 100 crew in total to the Druuge, but no more than 250, the crew cost goes up by 7. The commander talks about "evidence".
*When you've sold more than 250 crew in total to the Druuge, the crew cost goes up by 15. This is in addition to the cost increase when you crossed the 100 crew boundary. The commander talks about you being a "heinous slave-trader".

If you do your shopping at the Druuge with crew as semi-hard currency, here's the price list:
*Mauler ships: 100 crew a piece
The ship is worth 1700 resources and comes with 14 crew.
*Artifacts (Wimbli's trident, Glowing Rod or Rosy Sphere): 100 crew a piece
*Fuel: 10 per 10 units of fuel
The normal fuel cost is 20 resources per unit, or 10 Credits at a Melnorme trader.

===Star Control II fact #5 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0])===
In this "Star Control II fact", I'll elaborate on about all the details about time. This posting turned out longer than I expected, and it contains enough spoilers to reconstruct the game. Well, almost. Well, not nearly actually, but still a lot. The clock speed is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>5 real seconds per game day in HyperSpace and QuasiSpace </li><li>30 real seconds per game day in interplanetary Time stops when <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>in orbit around a planet or moon </li><li>in a menu </li><li>the game is paused </li><li>waiting for confirmation on quit </li><li>exploring planets or moons </li><li>in communication </li><li>waiting for talk/attack decision in encounter </li><li>in the Starbase </li><li>in battle</li></ul></li></ul> There are a couple of points in the game when time is fast-forwarded: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>When the starbase is being prepared so that it can service your precursor vessel, you lose 14 days. </li><li>When you get compelled by the Dnyarri to "Seek death at the hands of your enemy", you lose 15 days. </li><li>When the Chmmr install the Utwig bomb on your ship, you lose 14 days.</li></ul> These days are approximate. '15 days' actually means 'until the start of the 15th game day after this one plus a real-time second', not necessarily 15 * 24 game hours. Some game events happen at a specific date, others take place a certain time after the player triggers them. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The game starts at February 17, 2155. </li><li>The 17th of every month, a quasispace portal will open at (43.8, 637.2). It will close again at the 20th of the same month. </li><li>Every day, if you're in hyperspace, there's a chance that an alien ship (or group of ships) will appear. </li><li>February 17, 2159 (one year later if you've sent the Utwig and Supox on their mission against the Kohr-Ah), the Kohr-Ah have won the doctrinal war. 7 days later, the Kohr-Ah will begin their death march, starting with the Druuge. The Kohr-Ah travel with a speed of 15.8 standard HyperSpace units per day. Once the Kohr-Ah fleet reaches the fleet of the victim race, the latter is destroyed instantaneously. The Kohr-Ah then immediately begin moving towards the nearest race with a fleet, until all of them are destroyed. Then they will head for Earth. When they reach it, the game is over. The exact time depends on where all the fleets are at the time of the cleansing, and how many fleets are still remaining, but it's somewhere in the last quarter of 2159 (or 2160 if you earned an extra year). </li><li>10 days after you tell the Arilou that the Umgah are acting weird, they will tell you that the Umgah are under "psychic compulsion" originating from the Umgah home star. </li><li>When you command the Ilwrath to kill the Thraddash: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>They immediately leave to (250.0, 807.0), a bit to the southwest of the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>When they rach that location, after 90 days, the mutual genocide with the Thraddash commences, and both races slowly head for (251.7, 821.4), which is halfway between the location of the Ilwrath fleet and the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>After 127 days, the last of the Ilwrath fleet will have reached that location and it ceases to exist. The Thraddash are still one day off from that location, but their fleet is gone at this time as well.</li></ul> </li><li>When you tell the Mycon to go to the Syreen trap, <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>the Mycon will immediately leave, </li><li>arrive at Organon 30 days later, </li><li>spend there 14 days getting slaughtered, after which all Mycon and the Syreen know about the massacre, and </li><li>the Mycon return to their homeworld, where they </li><li>arrive 30 days later</li></ul> </li><li>6 months after you ally with the Pkunk, they leave (50.2, 40.1) (a bit southwest of their homeworld), heading towards (497.0, 40.0) (a bit northeast of the Yehat homeworld). If not stopped, they arrive there 182 days later to be instantaneously absorbed by the Yehat. If you meet them on there way and convince them to return, they will immediately head back to (50.2, 40.1). The way back takes as long as the journey so far took. Once they have arrived at their starting point, they will wait for 3 months, after which they head back to the Yehat. If convinced to return for a second time, the same thing happens. </li><li>2 months after you bring the Shofixti maidens to Tanaka or Katana, Shofixti ships and crew will be at your service. </li><li>Every 182 days the chance at any day that a Slylandro probe will appear in hyperspace (2% at the start of the game) is increased by 2% to a maximum of 8%, until the Slylandro tell you about the probe's self-destruct code. Every 23 days after that, the chance is decreased by 2%, until it reaches 0%. If you haven't got access to the Starbase yet, this chance is ignored and a probe will appear every day. </li><li>6 months after you've allied with the Spathi ("A Spathi delegation will depart immediately for the planet Earth."), they will return to a slave-shielded Spathiwa. If at that time the player is in their solar system, the move will be postponed by 7 days. This will happen as often as needed. </li><li>When you send the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (487.9, 720.1), which takes 14 days. They will remain there fighting for 14 days as well, and and will then return to their homeworld in another 14 days. </li><li>When you give the repaired Ultron to the Utwig and it tells them to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (720.8, 700.0), and the Supox leave for (746.8, 924.6). At this time you have earned the extra year before the Kohr-Ah win the war. After 21 days, the two races will arrive at their destination. They will then start fighting for 160 days, before returning home. The journey home takes another 21 days. </li><li>3 months after you ally with the Zoq-Fot-Pik, they will send out a distress call, if you are not currently in their home system. If you are, the distress call will be postponed by 7 days. This is repeated as often as necessary. Unless you rescue the ZFP, they will be destroyed 6 months after the distress call. This can again be indefinitely delayed by 7 days at a time, if you are in their home system at the time the destruction is scheduled. </li><li>The first time you visit the Pkunk on Januari 1 2156 or later, if the Kohr-Ah have not started their death march yet, the Pkunk will report a dream where the Kohr-Ah is defeating the Kzer-Za. </li><li>When you ally with the Pkunk, they give you 4 of their ships. If there's not that much room in your fleet, they give as much as there is room for. If you can't accommodate any at all, nothing is lost; you'll get to say the same remark (including your introduction) again the next time you visit the Pkunk homeworld. Exactly one year after you've accepted at least 1 Pkunk ship (on Feb 28 if you got the ship(s) on Feb 29 in a leap-year), a new batch of 4 ships will be waiting for you. This can be repeated for as long as the Pkunk are available to you. Each time, if there is room in your fleet for at least one ship, you'll have to wait another year and if there's no room at all, you can ask again the next visit. </li><li>After you've started the Yehat revolution, you can ask any rebel ship for ships, and they'll give you 4. New ships will available after a month. If you last got ships on the 29th, 30th, or 31th a month, new ones will be available on the 28th of the next month. For the rest, it works exactly in the same way as with the Pkunk. </li><li>If you visit the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld in the year 2158 (2159 if you gained the extra year), but before March, and you ask them about war news, they will report that the Kohr-Ah are winning the doctrinal war. If you visit them in March of that year, or later (but before the war is over), they'll report that the Ur-Quan are almost defeated. Note that if the Utwig are attacking the Kohr-Ah, the ZFP will report this instead. As each item is reported only once, they will report about the war if you leave and visiting the ZFP again.</li></ul> Some general remarks about all the above: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The fleet locations mentioned are the centres of the respective spheres of influence. </li><li>Except where specified otherwise, "n months later" or "after n months means the same day of the month n months later; if that month doesn't have enough days, the rest will be added in days. (So 1 month later than Jan 30 on a non-leap year will be March 2)</li></ul> Some of the reports you get from the Starbase commander are displayed if you visit after a specific time. These times depend on the time passed since you first visited the Starbase with the moon base on board. Only the day and month are recorded, which means that if you only visit with the moon base on some date after 2155, it will think you visited on the same date in 2155. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>After 7 days, if you haven't met Fwiffo yet, the commander will report faint alien signals from the direction of Uranus. </li><li>After 42 days, if you haven't visited Rigel or the ZFP homeworld yet, the commander will report Hyperwave transmissions from the direction of Rigel. </li><li>After 3 months, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme sought contact, and that you can find them at Alpha Centauri. </li><li>After 6 month, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme have sought contact again, and that you can find them in any supergiant system. </li><li>After 7 months, if you haven't acquired the Slylandro probe self-destruct code yet, the commander will report his worries about the probes.</li></ul> For the items where it says "after n months" and the original day of the month doesn't exist in the month n months later, the first day of the next month is used.

File:Beta Corvi IV.png

2006-02-23T15:35:23Z

Censored:

Star Control II facts

2006-02-23T15:34:32Z

Censored: all the facts released from the UQM forum

Note: all Star Control II facts posted on the UQM forum by Core Team member, [[meep-eep]].
Fact #2 was deleted, current data taken from the [[Pages of Now and Forever]] - SC2 Facts[http://starcontrol.classicgaming.gamespy.com/history/sc2_facts_uqm.shtml].

===Star Control II fact #1 - Energy regeneration ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=32.0])===
When working on the source, sometimes some interesting things show up. Here's one (I'll share more in time):

Even though the Shiva Furnaces are more advanced than your standard Dynamo Units it's not always a good idea to replace all your dynamos by them. Shiva Furnaces and Dynamo Units actually don't do quite the same thing.

Dynamo Units affect the delay between recharge of your energy, while Shiva Furnaces affect the amount of energy gained each recharge.
The energy regeneration counter starts at 10, and every DU adds -2, to a minimum of 4. (so more than 3 DU's is never useful).

The energy regenerated per recharge starts off at 1, and every SF adds +1. There's no maximum other than the amount of SF's you can carry on your ship.

Put into a formula:
energy per time unit = (#furnaces + 1) / (10 - 2 * (min(#dynamos, 3))

To get the fastest recharge rate, follow this guideline:
- If you have less than 4 slots available, choose all furnaces.
- If you have 4 or more slots available, choose 3 dynamos and the rest furnaces.
(If you have exactly 4 slots available, the configuration doesn't matter for the recharge rate, but as the recharges come in smaller portions when using dynamos, you can often make use of it sooner then).

===Star Control II fact #2 - Slylandro Probe spawning===
When we first got UQM doing something and we started messing around, I wasn't the only one who wondered why there were always Slylandro Probes coming after me immediately when I enter hyperspace. I figured it might have been specific to the 3DO version, but the code proved this was not the case.

When in Hyperspace, each game day there is a chance a probe will be spawned. As long as you haven't had the encounter with the Ilwrath after supplying the commander with radioactives, that chance will be 100% (which explained my situation), encouraging you to finish your business in the Sol system first.

Otherwise, the chance depends on how much time the probes have had to multiply. At the beginning of the game, the spawn chance is 2%, and every 182 game days it is raised by another 2%, to a maximum of 8%, until you get the destruct code. At that time a probe will be reprogrammed, of which they will report you the next time you visit them.

Every 23 days after you got the destruct code the chance will be lowered by 2% until it reaches 0%.

* Additional posts by [[meep-eep]] and [[Fred Ford]]:

FF: (..the chance will be 100%..) This was one of our more heavy-handed attempts to direct the player. We felt that without getting at least some background for what it was you were doing, the game would make little sense. Also we didn't want to make every alien encounter have a branch based on whether or not you had talked to the starbase commander.
ME: Were the Slylandro created specifically for this purpose?
FF: No. But they seemed like a good, not too obvious mechanic to get you to do what we wanted you to do at the beginning of the game.

===Star Control II fact #3 - Drahn and Drahnasa ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1169.0])===
The Slylandro use the 'Drahn' and 'Drahnasa' units for time-keeping.
During the game they will explain how they relate to the rotation time of their planet, but we don't actually get the chance to scan it.
We could only estimate these units by comparing their use by the Slylandro to describe historic events to what we know from the manual and the game.
But with the source, we can figure out these units in much more detail. All we have to do is remove the Slylandro, and we can scan the planet.
Ofcourse TFB might not have bothered to match the actual rotation time with the story, as noone would ever see it in the game, but it turns out that it matches the estimates perfectly.

The result you can see in the image below.
[[Image:Beta%20Corvi%20IV.png]]

So we know:
A Beta Corvi IV day (rotation) is 0.59 earth days, and
A Beta Corvi IV year (revolution) is 8.04 earth years.

(At least this is what is printed. Internally in the game the rotation period is stored in tenths of earth hours, which is 142 for Beta Corvi IV, which provides some more digits, but they're not significant anyway.
The revolution period is calculated from the distance to the sun and ends up at 4117/512.)

The time intervals that are described by Drahns are fairly large, so it could be that the rotation time has changed a little during that time, but for a planet which is old enough to harbour life, this is likely to be negligable.

Ok, now let's hear what the Slylandro have to say about Drahns:

*Quote: "The Drahn is our primary unit of time. It lasts for an interval equivalent to four million rotations of our planet. A Drahn is subdivided into two-thousand Drahnasa."

Which brings us to:
Drahn = 0.59 * 4000000 / 365.25 = 6460 earth years
Drahnasa = 0.59 * 2000 / 365.25 = 3.23 earth years

So now we know what exactly the Slylandro mean when they talk about Drahn and Drahnasa. I've collected those remarks here:

*Quote: "We have gotten so few visitors over these many Drahn"
*Quote: "In the last five Drahn, we've had only one visitory. and now you have come twice in a single Drahnasa."
*Quote: "And visitors usually only show up every few Drahn"
*Quote: "You don't know how monotonous living on a gas giant for three or four Drahn can be."

(about the brown Ur-Quan)

*Quote: "They used to come visit us regularly about three Drahns ago"
*Quote: "Well, I guess a lot can happen to a species in three Drahn like turning green and evil."

*Quote: "You know, it's funny. We hadn't heard from the outside galaxy in a whole Drahnasa and then the Melnorme come by and sell us a probe and just a few hundred rotations later, YOU show up!"

(when asking about the other races that have visited over the years)

*Quote: "Years? Oh.. you mean Drahn. Well, let's see... there was the Melnorme just a few rotations back then we go all the way back over three Drahn ago to the Ur-Quan and the other Milieu guys... the Yuli and the Drall, I think."
*Quote: "The Yuli, the Drall, the Taalo, the Mael-Num, the Faz and the Ur-Quan who lived across a wide section of the galaxy. They talked with us fairly frequently for almost half a Drahn then suddenly the visits stopped and we haven't heard from them since."

*Quote: "Yes, there was another race... a highly sophisticated species of shaggy giants who made repeated trips to our world over a period of several Drahn."
*Quote: "I wish I knew more of the information you seek, Traveller but we last saw the Shaggy Ones just over 39 Drahn ago and very little from that era has remained intact in our history chants."
*Quote: "When the Shaggy Ones first arrived over 41 Drahns ago"
*Quote: "The Shaggy Ones taught us most of the New Words and after they departed we remembered them for the many long Drahn until ships from the Sentient Milieu arrived. So they first saw the Precursors around 265000 years ago, and last around 252000 years ago. The manual mentions "The Precursors who designed your flagship 250,000 years ago", which gives some credibility to our calculation."

*Quote: "Our world, which we call Source has been home to our species for many thousands of Drahn."

A final remark: The probes, when estimating their numbers over time, talk about Drahnasa in the PC version, but years in the 3DO version.

===Star Control II fact #4 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1366.0])===
Directly from the source code, here are all the little facts related to crew cost:

Crew costs 3 resources at the start of the game.

*When you've recruited 1000 crew or more (minus the amount you've returned), the crew cost is raised by 2. If the total later comes below 1000 (by returning crew), the crew cost goes back down by 2.
*There is no actual limit to the amount of crew you can buy; the commander mentions that there are "almost 2000 highly-motivated, skilled professionals aboard this starbase" available to you, but appearantly there are also an infinite number of the unmotivated, unskilled and amateur kind at your service.
*When you've made an alliance with the shofixti, the crew cost goes down by 2. Also, the number of crew recruited is set to 0 and will never be raised (or lowered) again.
*When you've sold crew to the Druuge, but no more than 100, there's no change in the crew cost. The commander talks about "rumors".
*When you've sold more than 100 crew in total to the Druuge, but no more than 250, the crew cost goes up by 7. The commander talks about "evidence".
*When you've sold more than 250 crew in total to the Druuge, the crew cost goes up by 15. This is in addition to the cost increase when you crossed the 100 crew boundary. The commander talks about you being a "heinous slave-trader".

If you do your shopping at the Druuge with crew as semi-hard currency, here's the price list:
*Mauler ships: 100 crew a piece
The ship is worth 1700 resources and comes with 14 crew.
*Artifacts (Wimbli's trident, Glowing Rod or Rosy Sphere): 100 crew a piece
*Fuel: 10 per 10 units of fuel
The normal fuel cost is 20 resources per unit, or 10 Credits at a Melnorme trader.

===Star Control II fact #5 - Crew cost ([http://uqm.stack.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1612.0])===
In this "Star Control II fact", I'll elaborate on about all the details about time. This posting turned out longer than I expected, and it contains enough spoilers to reconstruct the game. Well, almost. Well, not nearly actually, but still a lot. The clock speed is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>5 real seconds per game day in HyperSpace and QuasiSpace </li><li>30 real seconds per game day in interplanetary Time stops when <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>in orbit around a planet or moon </li><li>in a menu </li><li>the game is paused </li><li>waiting for confirmation on quit </li><li>exploring planets or moons </li><li>in communication </li><li>waiting for talk/attack decision in encounter </li><li>in the Starbase </li><li>in battle</li></ul></li></ul> There are a couple of points in the game when time is fast-forwarded: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>When the starbase is being prepared so that it can service your precursor vessel, you lose 14 days. </li><li>When you get compelled by the Dnyarri to "Seek death at the hands of your enemy", you lose 15 days. </li><li>When the Chmmr install the Utwig bomb on your ship, you lose 14 days.</li></ul> These days are approximate. '15 days' actually means 'until the start of the 15th game day after this one plus a real-time second', not necessarily 15 * 24 game hours. Some game events happen at a specific date, others take place a certain time after the player triggers them. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The game starts at February 17, 2155. </li><li>The 17th of every month, a quasispace portal will open at (43.8, 637.2). It will close again at the 20th of the same month. </li><li>Every day, if you're in hyperspace, there's a chance that an alien ship (or group of ships) will appear. </li><li>February 17, 2159 (one year later if you've sent the Utwig and Supox on their mission against the Kohr-Ah), the Kohr-Ah have won the doctrinal war. 7 days later, the Kohr-Ah will begin their death march, starting with the Druuge. The Kohr-Ah travel with a speed of 15.8 standard HyperSpace units per day. Once the Kohr-Ah fleet reaches the fleet of the victim race, the latter is destroyed instantaneously. The Kohr-Ah then immediately begin moving towards the nearest race with a fleet, until all of them are destroyed. Then they will head for Earth. When they reach it, the game is over. The exact time depends on where all the fleets are at the time of the cleansing, and how many fleets are still remaining, but it's somewhere in the last quarter of 2159 (or 2160 if you earned an extra year). </li><li>10 days after you tell the Arilou that the Umgah are acting weird, they will tell you that the Umgah are under "psychic compulsion" originating from the Umgah home star. </li><li>When you command the Ilwrath to kill the Thraddash: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>They immediately leave to (250.0, 807.0), a bit to the southwest of the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>When they rach that location, after 90 days, the mutual genocide with the Thraddash commences, and both races slowly head for (251.7, 821.4), which is halfway between the location of the Ilwrath fleet and the Thraddash homeworld. </li><li>After 127 days, the last of the Ilwrath fleet will have reached that location and it ceases to exist. The Thraddash are still one day off from that location, but their fleet is gone at this time as well.</li></ul> </li><li>When you tell the Mycon to go to the Syreen trap, <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>the Mycon will immediately leave, </li><li>arrive at Organon 30 days later, </li><li>spend there 14 days getting slaughtered, after which all Mycon and the Syreen know about the massacre, and </li><li>the Mycon return to their homeworld, where they </li><li>arrive 30 days later</li></ul> </li><li>6 months after you ally with the Pkunk, they leave (50.2, 40.1) (a bit southwest of their homeworld), heading towards (497.0, 40.0) (a bit northeast of the Yehat homeworld). If not stopped, they arrive there 182 days later to be instantaneously absorbed by the Yehat. If you meet them on there way and convince them to return, they will immediately head back to (50.2, 40.1). The way back takes as long as the journey so far took. Once they have arrived at their starting point, they will wait for 3 months, after which they head back to the Yehat. If convinced to return for a second time, the same thing happens. </li><li>2 months after you bring the Shofixti maidens to Tanaka or Katana, Shofixti ships and crew will be at your service. </li><li>Every 182 days the chance at any day that a Slylandro probe will appear in hyperspace (2% at the start of the game) is increased by 2% to a maximum of 8%, until the Slylandro tell you about the probe's self-destruct code. Every 23 days after that, the chance is decreased by 2%, until it reaches 0%. If you haven't got access to the Starbase yet, this chance is ignored and a probe will appear every day. </li><li>6 months after you've allied with the Spathi ("A Spathi delegation will depart immediately for the planet Earth."), they will return to a slave-shielded Spathiwa. If at that time the player is in their solar system, the move will be postponed by 7 days. This will happen as often as needed. </li><li>When you send the Thraddash to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (487.9, 720.1), which takes 14 days. They will remain there fighting for 14 days as well, and and will then return to their homeworld in another 14 days. </li><li>When you give the repaired Ultron to the Utwig and it tells them to attack the Kohr-Ah, they will immediately leave to (720.8, 700.0), and the Supox leave for (746.8, 924.6). At this time you have earned the extra year before the Kohr-Ah win the war. After 21 days, the two races will arrive at their destination. They will then start fighting for 160 days, before returning home. The journey home takes another 21 days. </li><li>3 months after you ally with the Zoq-Fot-Pik, they will send out a distress call, if you are not currently in their home system. If you are, the distress call will be postponed by 7 days. This is repeated as often as necessary. Unless you rescue the ZFP, they will be destroyed 6 months after the distress call. This can again be indefinitely delayed by 7 days at a time, if you are in their home system at the time the destruction is scheduled. </li><li>The first time you visit the Pkunk on Januari 1 2156 or later, if the Kohr-Ah have not started their death march yet, the Pkunk will report a dream where the Kohr-Ah is defeating the Kzer-Za. </li><li>When you ally with the Pkunk, they give you 4 of their ships. If there's not that much room in your fleet, they give as much as there is room for. If you can't accommodate any at all, nothing is lost; you'll get to say the same remark (including your introduction) again the next time you visit the Pkunk homeworld. Exactly one year after you've accepted at least 1 Pkunk ship (on Feb 28 if you got the ship(s) on Feb 29 in a leap-year), a new batch of 4 ships will be waiting for you. This can be repeated for as long as the Pkunk are available to you. Each time, if there is room in your fleet for at least one ship, you'll have to wait another year and if there's no room at all, you can ask again the next visit. </li><li>After you've started the Yehat revolution, you can ask any rebel ship for ships, and they'll give you 4. New ships will available after a month. If you last got ships on the 29th, 30th, or 31th a month, new ones will be available on the 28th of the next month. For the rest, it works exactly in the same way as with the Pkunk. </li><li>If you visit the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld in the year 2158 (2159 if you gained the extra year), but before March, and you ask them about war news, they will report that the Kohr-Ah are winning the doctrinal war. If you visit them in March of that year, or later (but before the war is over), they'll report that the Ur-Quan are almost defeated. Note that if the Utwig are attacking the Kohr-Ah, the ZFP will report this instead. As each item is reported only once, they will report about the war if you leave and visiting the ZFP again.</li></ul> Some general remarks about all the above: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>The fleet locations mentioned are the centres of the respective spheres of influence. </li><li>Except where specified otherwise, "n months later" or "after n months means the same day of the month n months later; if that month doesn't have enough days, the rest will be added in days. (So 1 month later than Jan 30 on a non-leap year will be March 2)</li></ul> Some of the reports you get from the Starbase commander are displayed if you visit after a specific time. These times depend on the time passed since you first visited the Starbase with the moon base on board. Only the day and month are recorded, which means that if you only visit with the moon base on some date after 2155, it will think you visited on the same date in 2155. <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li>After 7 days, if you haven't met Fwiffo yet, the commander will report faint alien signals from the direction of Uranus. </li><li>After 42 days, if you haven't visited Rigel or the ZFP homeworld yet, the commander will report Hyperwave transmissions from the direction of Rigel. </li><li>After 3 months, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme sought contact, and that you can find them at Alpha Centauri. </li><li>After 6 month, if you haven't met the Melnorme yet, the commander will report that the Melnorme have sought contact again, and that you can find them in any supergiant system. </li><li>After 7 months, if you haven't acquired the Slylandro probe self-destruct code yet, the commander will report his worries about the probes.</li></ul> For the items where it says "after n months" and the original day of the month doesn't exist in the month n months later, the first day of the next month is used.

Ur-Quan Masters Universe

2006-02-23T15:07:53Z

Censored:

{{stub}}

*[[List of Characters]]
*[[List of Races]]
*[[List of Ships]]
*[[List of Homeworlds]]
*[[List of Alien Artifacts]]
*[[List of Flagship Modules]]
*[[List of star types]], [[List of planet types]], [[List of mineral types]], [[List of bio types]]
*[[Sentient Milieu]], [[Alliance of Free Stars]], [[Ur-Quan Hierarchy]]
*[[Timeline]]
*[[First War]], [[Second War]]
*[[TrueSpace]], [[HyperSpace]], [[QuasiSpace]]
*Interesting [[Star Control II facts]]

[[Category:Lists]]

Influences and references

2006-02-07T20:05:00Z

Censored: my bad, it's a syreen..

{{incomplete}}

The [[Star Control|Star Control 1]] manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: [[wikipedia:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]], [[wikipedia:Larry Niven|Larry Niven]], [[wikipedia:Andre Norton|Andre Norton]], [[wikipedia:David Brin|David Brin]], [[wikipedia:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein]], [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[wikipedia:Jack Vance|Jack Vance]], [[wikipedia:Alan Dean Foster|Alan Dean Foster]], [[wikipedia:Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer]], [[wikipedia:A. E. Van Vogt|A.E. Van Vogt]], [[wikipedia:E. E. Smith|E.E. "Doc" Smith]], [[wikipedia:Joe Halderman|Joe Halderman]], [[wikipedia:Dan Simmons|Dan Simmons]], [[wikipedia:Fred Saberhagen|Fred Saberhagen]] and 100 worthy others."

The [[Arilou]]'s final remark "Be seeing you..." may be a reference to the tv series [[wikipedia:The Prisoner|The Prisoner]].

The [[Orz]] and the disappearance of the [[Androsynth]] were influenced by [[wikipedia:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]]'s writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

[[The Captain]]'s remark to the [[Pkunk]] "Hey! Bird-brains! Got any fruit loops? Har-har-har!" refers to a brand of breakfast cereal called [[wikipedia:Froot Loops|Fruit Loops]], which features a toucan resembling the Pkunk as its mascotte.

The [[Ilwrath]] were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name [[Melnorme]] is a reference to jazz singer [[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]].

When the [[Spathi]] [[The Safe Ones|Safe Ones]] ask the player for the [[Secret Spathi Cypher]], one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!''", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's [[wikipedia:Cthulhu mythos|Cthulu mythos]].

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "[[wikipedia:The Day the Earth Stood Still|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]".

The [[Syreen]] are based on the [[wikipedia:Siren|Siren]]s from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The [[Yehat]] are inspired by the [[wikipedia:Scottish clan|Scottish clan]]s.

"[[Cheep-Guava]]", the name of the head of the [[Yehat]] revolution, is a pun on "[[Wikipedia:Che Guevara|Che Guevara]]", the Cuban revolutionary leader.

The [[Shofixti]] are inspired by the historical [[wikipedia:History of Japan|Japanese culture]].
"[[Kyabetsu]]", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the [[Androsynth]] computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in [[wikipedia:Roadside Picnic|Roadside Picnic]] refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The ''Roadside Picnic'' might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a [[Precursor]] artifact that Commander [[Hayes]] mentions in relation to the [[Ultron]].

The name [[Androsynth]] is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the [[Star Control II]] manual says it "fake men".

The [[Mycon]] is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

The [[Druuge]] is the Russian word for, ironically, "friend".

[[Tanaka]]'s opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie [[wikipedia:The Princess Bride|The Princess Bride]], in which the character [[wikipedia:Inigo Montoya|Inigo Montoya]] has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, [[wikipedia:Count Rugen|Count Rugen]].

When you choose the aggressive lines to speak towards the [[Slylandro]] [[Probe]]s, the third time you get the response "ENACTING THIRD LAW." before combat is initiated. This refers to [[wikipedia:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]]'s [[wikipedia:Three Laws of Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics]]. The third law says "A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.". The Probe's version must not have the first clause as the first law says "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.". (Alternatively, its First Law applies to solely to its creator race, which grant humans and other sentients no special protection.) Also the [[Slylandro]] will go "to seek out new life and new civilizations, to go where no catalog item 2418 Remote Self-replicating robot probe had gone before." when asked about the programming of the probes, a reference to Star Trek.

When the [[Utwig]] are trying to tell you what to do with the [[Precursor Bomb]], at one point they say that the "Bomb must be...Hugged." This is likely a reference to the movie [[Wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]].

One of the ways that the Utwig determined that the [[Ultron]] could have been saved was by cushioning the fall with a fuzzy wumpus. A Wumpus is a mysterious monster from the famous, early computer game [[Wikipedia:Hunt the Wumpus|Hunt the Wumpus]].

When describing the [[Kohr-Ah]], the Utwig say that their stated purpose is "to seek out new life and new civilizations...and then annihilate them," a clear play on the mission statement of the [[Wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] of [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]] fame.

When first meeting the [[Zoq-Fot-Pik]] at their homeworld, they warn you not to try stealing their atmosphere, a reference to [[Wikipedia:Spaceballs|Spaceballs]].

When [[The Captain]] gets to choose the name for the [[New Alliance of Free Stars|new alliance]], one of his options is "The United Federation of Worlds", a reference to the [[Wikipedia:United Federation of Planets|United Federation of Planets]] from [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]. [[Starbase]] Commander [[Hayes]] will reply to this choice by saying "we will make it so", another reference to Star Trek, where captain [[Wikipedia:Jean-Luc Picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] would frequently order to "make it so".

==Ship Captains==
Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

====Androsynth====
*'''1040-EZ''' is a common [[wikipedia:Form 1040EZ|tax return form]] in the United States.
*'''976-KILL''' is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094597/ 976-EVIL]. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
*'''[[wikipedia:AK-47|AK-47]]''' is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
*'''BHS-79''' ''(just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)''
*'''BIM-XT''' is an anagram for the [[wikipedia:IBM XT|IBM XT]] personal computer from the early 1980s
*'''BOOJI-1''' is a possible reference to the character [[wikipedia:Booji Boy|Booji Boy]] from the band [[wikipedia:Devo|Devo]].
*'''CRC-16''' is a 16 bits "[[wikipedia:Cyclic redundancy check|Cyclic redundancy check]] (an error-detecting checksum).
*'''DORN-3''' may be a reference to artist John Alfred Dorn III, who did several illustrations for the novels of [[wikipedia:Stanisław Lem|Stanisław Lem]]. It could also be a reference [[wikipedia:Michael Dorn|Michael Dorn]] who played Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*'''DOS-1.0''' is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems ([[wikipedia:PC-DIS|PC-DOS]], [[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]], [[wikipedia:Apple DOS|Apple DOS]], etc).
*'''HAL-2001''' is a reference to the [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]] computer from [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey]]
*'''JOR-15''' might be a reference to [[wikipedia:Jor-El|Jor-El]], superman's biological father in the DC comics universe.
*'''KORB-7B'''
*'''ME-262''' is a reference to the Messerschmitt [[wikipedia:Me-262|Me-262]], the first operational jet powered aircraft.
*'''NECRO-99''' may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie [[wikipedia:Wizards (movie)|Wizards]].
*'''SR-71''' is a reference to the Lockheed [[wikipedia:SR-71|SR-71 Blackbird]], an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
*'''[[wikipedia:Merkur XR4Ti|XR4-TI]]''' was a car model manufactured by the short-lived [[wikipedia:Merkur|Merkur]] brand.

====Human====
*'''Adama''' is the captain of the [[wikipedia:Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica]] in the television series by the same name.
*'''Belt''' is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story ''Sail 25''.
*'''Buck''' refers to [[wikipedia:Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers]], a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
*'''Decker''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Willard Decker|Willard Decker]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the movie [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].
*'''Ender''' is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel [[wikipedia:Ender's Game|Ender's Game]].
*'''Graeme''' is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the [[wikipedia: Childe Cycle|Childe Cycle]] novels by [[wikipedia:Gordon R. Dickson|Gordon R. Dickson]]. ''(This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)''
*'''Halleck''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Gurney Halleck|Gurney Halleck]] of the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Kirk''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:James T. Kirk|James T. Kirk]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the original series of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Pike''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Christopher Pike|Christopher Pike]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Pirx|Pirx]]''' is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
*'''Solo''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Han Solo|Han Solo]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Millennium Falcon|Millennium Falcon]] in [[wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] episode 4 through 6.
*'''Spiff''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Spaceman Spiff|Spaceman Spiff]], the fantasy identity of Calvin from [[wikipedia:Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin and Hobbes]]
*'''Trent''' is a reference to Jeff Trent, civilian airline pilot from [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Outer Space|Plan 9 from Outer Space]]
*'''Tuf''' is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in [[wikipedia:Tuf Voyaging|Tuf Voyaging]] by [[wikipedia:George R.R. Martin|George R.R. Martin]].
*'''VanRijn''' is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in [[wikipedia:Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson]]'s stories.
*'''Wu''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Louis Wu|Louis Wu]], the protagonist of Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld series]].

====Kohr-Ah====
*All of their ship names appear to be '''Death''' followed by a [[wikipedia:Prime_number|prime number]].

====Pkunk====
*'''Tweety''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Tweety|Tweety Bird]].
*'''WudStok''' is Snoopy's friend [[wikipedia:Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] in the comic strip [[wikipedia:Peanuts|Peanuts]].

====Shofixti====
*'''Bonsai!''' is actually [[wikipedia:Bonsai|the Japanese art of pruning trees]], but is most likely a reference to the cry [[wikipedia:Ten thousand years|Banzai]].
*'''Busu''' is a Japanese word for ugly
*'''Chimchim''' most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in [[wikipedia:Speed Racer|Speed Racer]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Daikon|Daikon]]''' is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''[[wikipedia:Gaijin|Gaijin]]''' is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
*'''Genjiro'''
*'''Ginzu''' is probably the [[wikipedia:Ginsu|Ginsu knife]].
*'''Hiyata'''
*'''Ichiban''' is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
*'''Kimba''' refers to the main character in the Japanese animation [[wikipedia:Kimba the White Lion|Kimba, the White Lion]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Katana|Katana]]''' is a Japanese sword.
*'''[[wikipedia:Kudzu|Kudzu]]''' is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
*'''Naninani''' is Japanese for "such and such"
*'''[[wikipedia:Sushi|Sushi]]''' is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
*'''Tanaka''' is Japanese for unexpected good fortune.
*'''[[wikipedia:Tofu|Tofu]]''' is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''Tora-3''' refers to the radio call announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [[wikipedia:Tora Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!]]
*'''Wasabe''' is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled [[wikipedia:Wasabi|wasabi]].

====Spathi====
*'''Jinkeze''' is a reference to the catchphrase of [[Wikipedia:Velma Dinkley|Velma Dinkley]], a main character in the [[Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]] cartoons, which she says when she's is scared or surprised.

====Supox====
*'''Crinoid''' is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the [[wikipedia:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]] episode ''The Seeds of Doom''.
*'''Trifid''' is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in [[wikipedia:The Day of the Triffids|The Day of the Triffids]].
*All of the other captain names are parts or types of plants.

====Syreen====
*'''Aelita''' possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film [[wikipedia:Aelita|Aelita:Queen of Mars]].
*'''Alia''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Alia Atreides|St. Alia of the Knife]], the sister of [[wikipedia:Paul Atreides|Paul Atreides]] in the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Alura''' is possibly a reference either to Princess Allura in the [[wikipedia:Voltron|Voltron]] cartoon series or to the mother of [[wikipedia:Supergirl|Supergirl]].
*'''Ardala''' is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
*'''Be'lit''' is a possible reference to [[wikipedia:Belit|Belit]], a pirate queen in the [[wikipedia:Conan the Barbarian|Conan the Barbarian]] stories.
*'''Brawne''' refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]] books.
*'''Dale''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Dale Arden|Dale Arden]], the girlfriend of [[wikipedia:Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon]].
*'''Danning''' is a reference to the actress [[wikipedia:Sybil Danning|Sybil Danning]].
*'''Dejah''' is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the [[wikipedia:Barsoom series|Barsoom series]] by [[wikipedia:Edgar Rice Burroughs|Edgar Rice Burroughs]].
*'''Maya''' refers to the attractive female [[wikipedia:Space 1999|Space: 1999]] character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
*'''Munro''' possibly refers to another genre actress, [[wikipedia:Caroline Munro|Caroline Munro]].
*'''Penny''' possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie [[wikipedia:The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]].
*'''Ripley''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Lieutenant Ripley]], as portrayed by [[wikipedia:Sigourney Weaver|Sigourney Weaver]] in the movie [[wikipedia:Alien (movie)|Alien]].
*'''Sparta''' is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[wikipedia:Paul Preuss|Paul Preuss]].
*'''Teela''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Teela Brown|Teela Brown]], one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld]] novels.
*'''Yarr''' may be a reference to [[wikipedia:Natasha Yar|Natasha Yar]] who appeared in [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]].

====Umgah====
*'''Brewz'k''' is likely the slang word brewski.
*'''Ei'Ei'o''' is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

====Utwig====
*'''[[Wikipedia:Nestor|Nestor]]''' was a hero celebrated as an elderly and wise counselor to the Greeks at Troy.
*'''Duna''' is Hungarian for the Danuba, a river in central and southeastern Europe.
*'''Jujuby''' spelled '[[Wikipedia:Jujube|Jujube]]', is the fruit of a certain tree, also known as "Chinese Date".
*'''Endo''' in Japanese is a type of pea, but most probably a reference to [[Wikipedia:Shusaku Endo|Shusaku Endo]], a twentieth century Japanese author of several critically acclaimed novels.

====Zoq Fot Pik====
*'''RinTin''' is likely named after the famous movie dog [[wikipedia:Rin Tin Tin|Rin Tin Tin]].

==Ship Designs==
*The '''[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]''' seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*The '''[[Syreen]] [[Penetrator]]''' is shaped after the [[wikipedia:V-2 rocket|V-2 rocket]], and a dildo.

==Constellation names==
According to the [[HyperSpace]] starmap, the names for the HyperSpace constellations were taken from "traditional astronomical designations." These are the in-game star and constellation names that don't directly correspond to real life astronomical designations. (Some, such as Lalande and Wolf, appear to be derived from astronomical designations).
*'''Arianni'''
*'''Brahe''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Tycho Brahe|Tycho Brahe]], the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
*'''Cerenkov''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov|Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov]], a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate.
*'''Chandrasekhar''' is a reference to the Indian-American astrophysicist [[Wikipedia:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], famous for his work on stellar evolution and black holes.
*'''Copernicus''' is a reference [[Wikipedia:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus]], the polish astronomer who proposed the sun was the center of the solar system.
*'''Gorno''' is a possible reference to the [[Wikipedia:Gorn|Gorn]], a race in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Hyginus''' is a reference to the attributed author of [[Wikipedia:Poeticon astronomicon|Poeticon astronomicon]].
*'''Hyperion''' is a reference to the main setting of Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]].
*'''Illuminati''' is a reference to a variety of conspiracy theories, especially those of the [[Wikipedia:Illuminati|Bavarian Illuminati]].
*'''Kepler''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|Johannes Kepler]] who discovered the three laws of planetary motion.
*'''Klystron''' is a reference to a kind of vacuum tube used in early radar systems.
*'''Lentilis'''
*'''Lipi'''
*'''Maksutov''' is likely a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Maksutov telescope|Maksutov telescope]] invented by the Russian optician [[Wikipedia:Dimtri Maksutov|Dimtri Maksutov]].
*'''Mersenne''' is a reference to [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mersenne.html Marin Mersenne] a Minim friar who lived in France from 1588-1648 and was a major founder of number theory.
*'''Metis''' is a moon of Jupiter, and correspondingly a character in Roman mythology.
*'''Olber''' is likely a reference to [[Wikipedia:Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers]], a German astronomer.
*'''Organon''' is likely either a reference to [[Wikipedia:Organia|Organia]], an important location in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]], or a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Organa family|Organa family]] in the [[Wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] universe.
*'''Ptolemae''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemaius]], an ancient astronomer whose Geocentric views Copernicus replaced.
*'''Raynet''' is possibly a misspelling of "Rayet", an existing astronomical designation. it could also be a reference to British amateur radio network [[Wikipedia:RAYNET|RAYNET]].
*'''Saurus'''
*'''Squidi'''
*'''Vitalis'''
*'''Zeeman''' is possibly a reference to the physicist [[Wikipedia:Pieter Zeeman|Pieter Zeeman]] for whom a [[Wikipedia:Zeeman (crater)|crater]] on the moon is named.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Influences and references

2006-02-07T20:03:32Z

Censored: I can't believe you guys missed Ripley :P

{{incomplete}}

The [[Star Control|Star Control 1]] manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: [[wikipedia:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]], [[wikipedia:Larry Niven|Larry Niven]], [[wikipedia:Andre Norton|Andre Norton]], [[wikipedia:David Brin|David Brin]], [[wikipedia:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein]], [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[wikipedia:Jack Vance|Jack Vance]], [[wikipedia:Alan Dean Foster|Alan Dean Foster]], [[wikipedia:Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer]], [[wikipedia:A. E. Van Vogt|A.E. Van Vogt]], [[wikipedia:E. E. Smith|E.E. "Doc" Smith]], [[wikipedia:Joe Halderman|Joe Halderman]], [[wikipedia:Dan Simmons|Dan Simmons]], [[wikipedia:Fred Saberhagen|Fred Saberhagen]] and 100 worthy others."

The [[Arilou]]'s final remark "Be seeing you..." may be a reference to the tv series [[wikipedia:The Prisoner|The Prisoner]].

The [[Orz]] and the disappearance of the [[Androsynth]] were influenced by [[wikipedia:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]]'s writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

[[The Captain]]'s remark to the [[Pkunk]] "Hey! Bird-brains! Got any fruit loops? Har-har-har!" refers to a brand of breakfast cereal called [[wikipedia:Froot Loops|Fruit Loops]], which features a toucan resembling the Pkunk as its mascotte.

The [[Ilwrath]] were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name [[Melnorme]] is a reference to jazz singer [[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]].

When the [[Spathi]] [[The Safe Ones|Safe Ones]] ask the player for the [[Secret Spathi Cypher]], one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!''", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's [[wikipedia:Cthulhu mythos|Cthulu mythos]].

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "[[wikipedia:The Day the Earth Stood Still|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]".

The [[Syreen]] are based on the [[wikipedia:Siren|Siren]]s from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The [[Yehat]] are inspired by the [[wikipedia:Scottish clan|Scottish clan]]s.

"[[Cheep-Guava]]", the name of the head of the [[Yehat]] revolution, is a pun on "[[Wikipedia:Che Guevara|Che Guevara]]", the Cuban revolutionary leader.

The [[Shofixti]] are inspired by the historical [[wikipedia:History of Japan|Japanese culture]].
"[[Kyabetsu]]", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the [[Androsynth]] computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in [[wikipedia:Roadside Picnic|Roadside Picnic]] refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The ''Roadside Picnic'' might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a [[Precursor]] artifact that Commander [[Hayes]] mentions in relation to the [[Ultron]].

The name [[Androsynth]] is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the [[Star Control II]] manual says it "fake men".

The [[Mycon]] is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

The [[Druuge]] is the Russian word for, ironically, "friend".

[[Tanaka]]'s opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie [[wikipedia:The Princess Bride|The Princess Bride]], in which the character [[wikipedia:Inigo Montoya|Inigo Montoya]] has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, [[wikipedia:Count Rugen|Count Rugen]].

When you choose the aggressive lines to speak towards the [[Slylandro]] [[Probe]]s, the third time you get the response "ENACTING THIRD LAW." before combat is initiated. This refers to [[wikipedia:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]]'s [[wikipedia:Three Laws of Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics]]. The third law says "A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.". The Probe's version must not have the first clause as the first law says "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.". (Alternatively, its First Law applies to solely to its creator race, which grant humans and other sentients no special protection.) Also the [[Slylandro]] will go "to seek out new life and new civilizations, to go where no catalog item 2418 Remote Self-replicating robot probe had gone before." when asked about the programming of the probes, a reference to Star Trek.

When the [[Utwig]] are trying to tell you what to do with the [[Precursor Bomb]], at one point they say that the "Bomb must be...Hugged." This is likely a reference to the movie [[Wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]].

One of the ways that the Utwig determined that the [[Ultron]] could have been saved was by cushioning the fall with a fuzzy wumpus. A Wumpus is a mysterious monster from the famous, early computer game [[Wikipedia:Hunt the Wumpus|Hunt the Wumpus]].

When describing the [[Kohr-Ah]], the Utwig say that their stated purpose is "to seek out new life and new civilizations...and then annihilate them," a clear play on the mission statement of the [[Wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] of [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]] fame.

When first meeting the [[Zoq-Fot-Pik]] at their homeworld, they warn you not to try stealing their atmosphere, a reference to [[Wikipedia:Spaceballs|Spaceballs]].

When [[The Captain]] gets to choose the name for the [[New Alliance of Free Stars|new alliance]], one of his options is "The United Federation of Worlds", a reference to the [[Wikipedia:United Federation of Planets|United Federation of Planets]] from [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]. [[Starbase]] Commander [[Hayes]] will reply to this choice by saying "we will make it so", another reference to Star Trek, where captain [[Wikipedia:Jean-Luc Picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] would frequently order to "make it so".

==Ship Captains==
Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

====Androsynth====
*'''1040-EZ''' is a common [[wikipedia:Form 1040EZ|tax return form]] in the United States.
*'''976-KILL''' is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094597/ 976-EVIL]. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
*'''[[wikipedia:AK-47|AK-47]]''' is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
*'''BHS-79''' ''(just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)''
*'''BIM-XT''' is an anagram for the [[wikipedia:IBM XT|IBM XT]] personal computer from the early 1980s
*'''BOOJI-1''' is a possible reference to the character [[wikipedia:Booji Boy|Booji Boy]] from the band [[wikipedia:Devo|Devo]].
*'''CRC-16''' is a 16 bits "[[wikipedia:Cyclic redundancy check|Cyclic redundancy check]] (an error-detecting checksum).
*'''DORN-3''' may be a reference to artist John Alfred Dorn III, who did several illustrations for the novels of [[wikipedia:Stanisław Lem|Stanisław Lem]]. It could also be a reference [[wikipedia:Michael Dorn|Michael Dorn]] who played Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*'''DOS-1.0''' is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems ([[wikipedia:PC-DIS|PC-DOS]], [[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]], [[wikipedia:Apple DOS|Apple DOS]], etc).
*'''HAL-2001''' is a reference to the [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]] computer from [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey]]
*'''JOR-15''' might be a reference to [[wikipedia:Jor-El|Jor-El]], superman's biological father in the DC comics universe.
*'''KORB-7B'''
*'''ME-262''' is a reference to the Messerschmitt [[wikipedia:Me-262|Me-262]], the first operational jet powered aircraft.
*'''NECRO-99''' may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie [[wikipedia:Wizards (movie)|Wizards]].
*'''SR-71''' is a reference to the Lockheed [[wikipedia:SR-71|SR-71 Blackbird]], an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
*'''[[wikipedia:Merkur XR4Ti|XR4-TI]]''' was a car model manufactured by the short-lived [[wikipedia:Merkur|Merkur]] brand.

====Human====
*'''Adama''' is the captain of the [[wikipedia:Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica]] in the television series by the same name.
*'''Belt''' is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story ''Sail 25''.
*'''Buck''' refers to [[wikipedia:Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers]], a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
*'''Decker''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Willard Decker|Willard Decker]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the movie [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].
*'''Ender''' is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel [[wikipedia:Ender's Game|Ender's Game]].
*'''Graeme''' is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the [[wikipedia: Childe Cycle|Childe Cycle]] novels by [[wikipedia:Gordon R. Dickson|Gordon R. Dickson]]. ''(This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)''
*'''Halleck''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Gurney Halleck|Gurney Halleck]] of the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Kirk''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:James T. Kirk|James T. Kirk]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the original series of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Pike''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Christopher Pike|Christopher Pike]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Pirx|Pirx]]''' is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
*'''Ripley''' is [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Ellen Ripley]], the protagonist in the Alien movie series.
*'''Solo''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Han Solo|Han Solo]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Millennium Falcon|Millennium Falcon]] in [[wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] episode 4 through 6.
*'''Spiff''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Spaceman Spiff|Spaceman Spiff]], the fantasy identity of Calvin from [[wikipedia:Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin and Hobbes]]
*'''Trent''' is a reference to Jeff Trent, civilian airline pilot from [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Outer Space|Plan 9 from Outer Space]]
*'''Tuf''' is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in [[wikipedia:Tuf Voyaging|Tuf Voyaging]] by [[wikipedia:George R.R. Martin|George R.R. Martin]].
*'''VanRijn''' is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in [[wikipedia:Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson]]'s stories.
*'''Wu''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Louis Wu|Louis Wu]], the protagonist of Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld series]].

====Kohr-Ah====
*All of their ship names appear to be '''Death''' followed by a [[wikipedia:Prime_number|prime number]].

====Pkunk====
*'''Tweety''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Tweety|Tweety Bird]].
*'''WudStok''' is Snoopy's friend [[wikipedia:Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] in the comic strip [[wikipedia:Peanuts|Peanuts]].

====Shofixti====
*'''Bonsai!''' is actually [[wikipedia:Bonsai|the Japanese art of pruning trees]], but is most likely a reference to the cry [[wikipedia:Ten thousand years|Banzai]].
*'''Busu''' is a Japanese word for ugly
*'''Chimchim''' most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in [[wikipedia:Speed Racer|Speed Racer]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Daikon|Daikon]]''' is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''[[wikipedia:Gaijin|Gaijin]]''' is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
*'''Genjiro'''
*'''Ginzu''' is probably the [[wikipedia:Ginsu|Ginsu knife]].
*'''Hiyata'''
*'''Ichiban''' is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
*'''Kimba''' refers to the main character in the Japanese animation [[wikipedia:Kimba the White Lion|Kimba, the White Lion]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Katana|Katana]]''' is a Japanese sword.
*'''[[wikipedia:Kudzu|Kudzu]]''' is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
*'''Naninani''' is Japanese for "such and such"
*'''[[wikipedia:Sushi|Sushi]]''' is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
*'''Tanaka''' is Japanese for unexpected good fortune.
*'''[[wikipedia:Tofu|Tofu]]''' is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''Tora-3''' refers to the radio call announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [[wikipedia:Tora Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!]]
*'''Wasabe''' is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled [[wikipedia:Wasabi|wasabi]].

====Spathi====
*'''Jinkeze''' is a reference to the catchphrase of [[Wikipedia:Velma Dinkley|Velma Dinkley]], a main character in the [[Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]] cartoons, which she says when she's is scared or surprised.

====Supox====
*'''Crinoid''' is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the [[wikipedia:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]] episode ''The Seeds of Doom''.
*'''Trifid''' is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in [[wikipedia:The Day of the Triffids|The Day of the Triffids]].
*All of the other captain names are parts or types of plants.

====Syreen====
*'''Aelita''' possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film [[wikipedia:Aelita|Aelita:Queen of Mars]].
*'''Alia''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Alia Atreides|St. Alia of the Knife]], the sister of [[wikipedia:Paul Atreides|Paul Atreides]] in the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Alura''' is possibly a reference either to Princess Allura in the [[wikipedia:Voltron|Voltron]] cartoon series or to the mother of [[wikipedia:Supergirl|Supergirl]].
*'''Ardala''' is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
*'''Be'lit''' is a possible reference to [[wikipedia:Belit|Belit]], a pirate queen in the [[wikipedia:Conan the Barbarian|Conan the Barbarian]] stories.
*'''Brawne''' refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]] books.
*'''Dale''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Dale Arden|Dale Arden]], the girlfriend of [[wikipedia:Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon]].
*'''Danning''' is a reference to the actress [[wikipedia:Sybil Danning|Sybil Danning]].
*'''Dejah''' is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the [[wikipedia:Barsoom series|Barsoom series]] by [[wikipedia:Edgar Rice Burroughs|Edgar Rice Burroughs]].
*'''Maya''' refers to the attractive female [[wikipedia:Space 1999|Space: 1999]] character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
*'''Munro''' possibly refers to another genre actress, [[wikipedia:Caroline Munro|Caroline Munro]].
*'''Penny''' possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie [[wikipedia:The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]].
*'''Ripley''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Lieutenant Ripley]], as portrayed by [[wikipedia:Sigourney Weaver|Sigourney Weaver]] in the movie [[wikipedia:Alien (movie)|Alien]].
*'''Sparta''' is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[wikipedia:Paul Preuss|Paul Preuss]].
*'''Teela''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Teela Brown|Teela Brown]], one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld]] novels.
*'''Yarr''' may be a reference to [[wikipedia:Natasha Yar|Natasha Yar]] who appeared in [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]].

====Umgah====
*'''Brewz'k''' is likely the slang word brewski.
*'''Ei'Ei'o''' is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

====Utwig====
*'''[[Wikipedia:Nestor|Nestor]]''' was a hero celebrated as an elderly and wise counselor to the Greeks at Troy.
*'''Duna''' is Hungarian for the Danuba, a river in central and southeastern Europe.
*'''Jujuby''' spelled '[[Wikipedia:Jujube|Jujube]]', is the fruit of a certain tree, also known as "Chinese Date".
*'''Endo''' in Japanese is a type of pea, but most probably a reference to [[Wikipedia:Shusaku Endo|Shusaku Endo]], a twentieth century Japanese author of several critically acclaimed novels.

====Zoq Fot Pik====
*'''RinTin''' is likely named after the famous movie dog [[wikipedia:Rin Tin Tin|Rin Tin Tin]].

==Ship Designs==
*The '''[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]''' seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*The '''[[Syreen]] [[Penetrator]]''' is shaped after the [[wikipedia:V-2 rocket|V-2 rocket]], and a dildo.

==Constellation names==
According to the [[HyperSpace]] starmap, the names for the HyperSpace constellations were taken from "traditional astronomical designations." These are the in-game star and constellation names that don't directly correspond to real life astronomical designations. (Some, such as Lalande and Wolf, appear to be derived from astronomical designations).
*'''Arianni'''
*'''Brahe''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Tycho Brahe|Tycho Brahe]], the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
*'''Cerenkov''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov|Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov]], a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate.
*'''Chandrasekhar''' is a reference to the Indian-American astrophysicist [[Wikipedia:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], famous for his work on stellar evolution and black holes.
*'''Copernicus''' is a reference [[Wikipedia:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus]], the polish astronomer who proposed the sun was the center of the solar system.
*'''Gorno''' is a possible reference to the [[Wikipedia:Gorn|Gorn]], a race in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Hyginus''' is a reference to the attributed author of [[Wikipedia:Poeticon astronomicon|Poeticon astronomicon]].
*'''Hyperion''' is a reference to the main setting of Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]].
*'''Illuminati''' is a reference to a variety of conspiracy theories, especially those of the [[Wikipedia:Illuminati|Bavarian Illuminati]].
*'''Kepler''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|Johannes Kepler]] who discovered the three laws of planetary motion.
*'''Klystron''' is a reference to a kind of vacuum tube used in early radar systems.
*'''Lentilis'''
*'''Lipi'''
*'''Maksutov''' is likely a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Maksutov telescope|Maksutov telescope]] invented by the Russian optician [[Wikipedia:Dimtri Maksutov|Dimtri Maksutov]].
*'''Mersenne''' is a reference to [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mersenne.html Marin Mersenne] a Minim friar who lived in France from 1588-1648 and was a major founder of number theory.
*'''Metis''' is a moon of Jupiter, and correspondingly a character in Roman mythology.
*'''Olber''' is likely a reference to [[Wikipedia:Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers]], a German astronomer.
*'''Organon''' is likely either a reference to [[Wikipedia:Organia|Organia]], an important location in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]], or a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Organa family|Organa family]] in the [[Wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] universe.
*'''Ptolemae''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemaius]], an ancient astronomer whose Geocentric views Copernicus replaced.
*'''Raynet''' is possibly a misspelling of "Rayet", an existing astronomical designation. it could also be a reference to British amateur radio network [[Wikipedia:RAYNET|RAYNET]].
*'''Saurus'''
*'''Squidi'''
*'''Vitalis'''
*'''Zeeman''' is possibly a reference to the physicist [[Wikipedia:Pieter Zeeman|Pieter Zeeman]] for whom a [[Wikipedia:Zeeman (crater)|crater]] on the moon is named.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Influences and references

2006-02-07T19:56:44Z

Censored: /* Utwig */

Influences and references

2006-02-07T19:48:53Z

Censored: added "Endo" Utwig captain

{{incomplete}}

The [[Star Control|Star Control 1]] manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: [[wikipedia:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]], [[wikipedia:Larry Niven|Larry Niven]], [[wikipedia:Andre Norton|Andre Norton]], [[wikipedia:David Brin|David Brin]], [[wikipedia:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein]], [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[wikipedia:Jack Vance|Jack Vance]], [[wikipedia:Alan Dean Foster|Alan Dean Foster]], [[wikipedia:Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer]], [[wikipedia:A. E. Van Vogt|A.E. Van Vogt]], [[wikipedia:E. E. Smith|E.E. "Doc" Smith]], [[wikipedia:Joe Halderman|Joe Halderman]], [[wikipedia:Dan Simmons|Dan Simmons]], [[wikipedia:Fred Saberhagen|Fred Saberhagen]] and 100 worthy others."

The [[Arilou]]'s final remark "Be seeing you..." may be a reference to the tv series [[wikipedia:The Prisoner|The Prisoner]].

The [[Orz]] and the disappearance of the [[Androsynth]] were influenced by [[wikipedia:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]]'s writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

[[The Captain]]'s remark to the [[Pkunk]] "Hey! Bird-brains! Got any fruit loops? Har-har-har!" refers to a brand of breakfast cereal called [[wikipedia:Froot Loops|Fruit Loops]], which features a toucan resembling the Pkunk as its mascotte.

The [[Ilwrath]] were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name [[Melnorme]] is a reference to jazz singer [[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]].

When the [[Spathi]] [[The Safe Ones|Safe Ones]] ask the player for the [[Secret Spathi Cypher]], one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!''", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's [[wikipedia:Cthulhu mythos|Cthulu mythos]].

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "[[wikipedia:The Day the Earth Stood Still|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]".

The [[Syreen]] are based on the [[wikipedia:Siren|Siren]]s from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The [[Yehat]] are inspired by the [[wikipedia:Scottish clan|Scottish clan]]s.

"[[Cheep-Guava]]", the name of the head of the [[Yehat]] revolution, is a pun on "[[Wikipedia:Che Guevara|Che Guevara]]", the Cuban revolutionary leader.

The [[Shofixti]] are inspired by the historical [[wikipedia:History of Japan|Japanese culture]].
"[[Kyabetsu]]", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the [[Androsynth]] computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in [[wikipedia:Roadside Picnic|Roadside Picnic]] refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The ''Roadside Picnic'' might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a [[Precursor]] artifact that Commander [[Hayes]] mentions in relation to the [[Ultron]].

The name [[Androsynth]] is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the [[Star Control II]] manual says it "fake men".

The [[Mycon]] is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

The [[Druuge]] is the Russian word for, ironically, "friend".

[[Tanaka]]'s opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie [[wikipedia:The Princess Bride|The Princess Bride]], in which the character [[wikipedia:Inigo Montoya|Inigo Montoya]] has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, [[wikipedia:Count Rugen|Count Rugen]].

When you choose the aggressive lines to speak towards the [[Slylandro]] [[Probe]]s, the third time you get the response "ENACTING THIRD LAW." before combat is initiated. This refers to [[wikipedia:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]]'s [[wikipedia:Three Laws of Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics]]. The third law says "A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.". The Probe's version must not have the first clause as the first law says "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.". (Alternatively, its First Law applies to solely to its creator race, which grant humans and other sentients no special protection.) Also the [[Slylandro]] will go "to seek out new life and new civilizations, to go where no catalog item 2418 Remote Self-replicating robot probe had gone before." when asked about the programming of the probes, a reference to Star Trek.

When the [[Utwig]] are trying to tell you what to do with the [[Precursor Bomb]], at one point they say that the "Bomb must be...Hugged." This is likely a reference to the movie [[Wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]].

One of the ways that the Utwig determined that the [[Ultron]] could have been saved was by cushioning the fall with a fuzzy wumpus. A Wumpus is a mysterious monster from the famous, early computer game [[Wikipedia:Hunt the Wumpus|Hunt the Wumpus]].

When describing the [[Kohr-Ah]], the Utwig say that their stated purpose is "to seek out new life and new civilizations...and then annihilate them," a clear play on the mission statement of the [[Wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] of [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]] fame.

When first meeting the [[Zoq-Fot-Pik]] at their homeworld, they warn you not to try stealing their atmosphere, a reference to [[Wikipedia:Spaceballs|Spaceballs]].

When [[The Captain]] gets to choose the name for the [[New Alliance of Free Stars|new alliance]], one of his options is "The United Federation of Worlds", a reference to the [[Wikipedia:United Federation of Planets|United Federation of Planets]] from [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]. [[Starbase]] Commander [[Hayes]] will reply to this choice by saying "we will make it so", another reference to Star Trek, where captain [[Wikipedia:Jean-Luc Picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] would frequently order to "make it so".

==Ship Captains==
Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

====Androsynth====
*'''1040-EZ''' is a common [[wikipedia:Form 1040EZ|tax return form]] in the United States.
*'''976-KILL''' is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094597/ 976-EVIL]. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
*'''[[wikipedia:AK-47|AK-47]]''' is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
*'''BHS-79''' ''(just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)''
*'''BIM-XT''' is an anagram for the [[wikipedia:IBM XT|IBM XT]] personal computer from the early 1980s
*'''BOOJI-1''' is a possible reference to the character [[wikipedia:Booji Boy|Booji Boy]] from the band [[wikipedia:Devo|Devo]].
*'''CRC-16''' is a 16 bits "[[wikipedia:Cyclic redundancy check|Cyclic redundancy check]] (an error-detecting checksum).
*'''DORN-3''' may be a reference to artist John Alfred Dorn III, who did several illustrations for the novels of [[wikipedia:Stanisław Lem|Stanisław Lem]]. It could also be a reference [[wikipedia:Michael Dorn|Michael Dorn]] who played Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*'''DOS-1.0''' is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems ([[wikipedia:PC-DIS|PC-DOS]], [[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]], [[wikipedia:Apple DOS|Apple DOS]], etc).
*'''HAL-2001''' is a reference to the [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]] computer from [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey]]
*'''JOR-15''' might be a reference to [[wikipedia:Jor-El|Jor-El]], superman's biological father in the DC comics universe.
*'''KORB-7B'''
*'''ME-262''' is a reference to the Messerschmitt [[wikipedia:Me-262|Me-262]], the first operational jet powered aircraft.
*'''NECRO-99''' may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie [[wikipedia:Wizards (movie)|Wizards]].
*'''SR-71''' is a reference to the Lockheed [[wikipedia:SR-71|SR-71 Blackbird]], an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
*'''[[wikipedia:Merkur XR4Ti|XR4-TI]]''' was a car model manufactured by the short-lived [[wikipedia:Merkur|Merkur]] brand.

====Human====
*'''Adama''' is the captain of the [[wikipedia:Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica]] in the television series by the same name.
*'''Belt''' is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story ''Sail 25''.
*'''Buck''' refers to [[wikipedia:Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers]], a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
*'''Decker''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Willard Decker|Willard Decker]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the movie [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].
*'''Ender''' is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel [[wikipedia:Ender's Game|Ender's Game]].
*'''Graeme''' is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the [[wikipedia: Childe Cycle|Childe Cycle]] novels by [[wikipedia:Gordon R. Dickson|Gordon R. Dickson]]. ''(This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)''
*'''Halleck''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Gurney Halleck|Gurney Halleck]] of the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Kirk''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:James T. Kirk|James T. Kirk]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the original series of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Pike''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Christopher Pike|Christopher Pike]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Pirx|Pirx]]''' is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
*'''Solo''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Han Solo|Han Solo]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Millennium Falcon|Millennium Falcon]] in [[wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] episode 4 through 6.
*'''Spiff''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Spaceman Spiff|Spaceman Spiff]], the fantasy identity of Calvin from [[wikipedia:Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin and Hobbes]]
*'''Trent''' is a reference to Jeff Trent, civilian airline pilot from [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Outer Space|Plan 9 from Outer Space]]
*'''Tuf''' is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in [[wikipedia:Tuf Voyaging|Tuf Voyaging]] by [[wikipedia:George R.R. Martin|George R.R. Martin]].
*'''VanRijn''' is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in [[wikipedia:Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson]]'s stories.
*'''Wu''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Louis Wu|Louis Wu]], the protagonist of Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld series]].

====Kohr-Ah====
*All of their ship names appear to be '''Death''' followed by a [[wikipedia:Prime_number|prime number]].

====Pkunk====
*'''Tweety''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Tweety|Tweety Bird]].
*'''WudStok''' is Snoopy's friend [[wikipedia:Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] in the comic strip [[wikipedia:Peanuts|Peanuts]].

====Shofixti====
*'''Bonsai!''' is actually [[wikipedia:Bonsai|the Japanese art of pruning trees]], but is most likely a reference to the cry [[wikipedia:Ten thousand years|Banzai]].
*'''Busu''' is a Japanese word for ugly
*'''Chimchim''' most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in [[wikipedia:Speed Racer|Speed Racer]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Daikon|Daikon]]''' is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''[[wikipedia:Gaijin|Gaijin]]''' is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
*'''Genjiro'''
*'''Ginzu''' is probably the [[wikipedia:Ginsu|Ginsu knife]].
*'''Hiyata'''
*'''Ichiban''' is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
*'''Kimba''' refers to the main character in the Japanese animation [[wikipedia:Kimba the White Lion|Kimba, the White Lion]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Katana|Katana]]''' is a Japanese sword.
*'''[[wikipedia:Kudzu|Kudzu]]''' is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
*'''Naninani''' is Japanese for "such and such"
*'''[[wikipedia:Sushi|Sushi]]''' is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
*'''Tanaka''' is Japanese for unexpected good fortune.
*'''[[wikipedia:Tofu|Tofu]]''' is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''Tora-3''' refers to the radio call announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [[wikipedia:Tora Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!]]
*'''Wasabe''' is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled [[wikipedia:Wasabi|wasabi]].

====Spathi====
*'''Jinkeze''' is a reference to the catchphrase of [[Wikipedia:Velma Dinkley|Velma Dinkley]], a main character in the [[Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]] cartoons, which she says when she's is scared or surprised.

====Supox====
*'''Crinoid''' is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the [[wikipedia:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]] episode ''The Seeds of Doom''.
*'''Trifid''' is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in [[wikipedia:The Day of the Triffids|The Day of the Triffids]].
*All of the other captain names are parts or types of plants.

====Syreen====
*'''Aelita''' possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film [[wikipedia:Aelita|Aelita:Queen of Mars]].
*'''Alia''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Alia Atreides|St. Alia of the Knife]], the sister of [[wikipedia:Paul Atreides|Paul Atreides]] in the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Alura''' is possibly a reference either to Princess Allura in the [[wikipedia:Voltron|Voltron]] cartoon series or to the mother of [[wikipedia:Supergirl|Supergirl]].
*'''Ardala''' is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
*'''Be'lit''' is a possible reference to [[wikipedia:Belit|Belit]], a pirate queen in the [[wikipedia:Conan the Barbarian|Conan the Barbarian]] stories.
*'''Brawne''' refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]] books.
*'''Dale''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Dale Arden|Dale Arden]], the girlfriend of [[wikipedia:Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon]].
*'''Danning''' is a reference to the actress [[wikipedia:Sybil Danning|Sybil Danning]].
*'''Dejah''' is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the [[wikipedia:Barsoom series|Barsoom series]] by [[wikipedia:Edgar Rice Burroughs|Edgar Rice Burroughs]].
*'''Maya''' refers to the attractive female [[wikipedia:Space 1999|Space: 1999]] character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
*'''Munro''' possibly refers to another genre actress, [[wikipedia:Caroline Munro|Caroline Munro]].
*'''Penny''' possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie [[wikipedia:The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]].
*'''Ripley''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Lieutenant Ripley]], as portrayed by [[wikipedia:Sigourney Weaver|Sigourney Weaver]] in the movie [[wikipedia:Alien (movie)|Alien]].
*'''Sparta''' is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[wikipedia:Paul Preuss|Paul Preuss]].
*'''Teela''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Teela Brown|Teela Brown]], one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld]] novels.
*'''Yarr''' may be a reference to [[wikipedia:Natasha Yar|Natasha Yar]] who appeared in [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]].

====Umgah====
*'''Brewz'k''' is likely the slang word brewski.
*'''Ei'Ei'o''' is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

====Utwig====
*'''[[Wikipedia:Nestor|Nestor]]''' was a hero celebrated as an elderly and wise counselor to the Greeks at Troy.
*'''Duna''' is Hungarian for the Danuba, a river in central and southeastern Europe.
*'''Jujuby''' spelled '[[Wikipedia:Jujube|Jujube]]', it is the fruit of a certain tree, also known as "Chinese Date".
*'''Endo''' in Japanese is a type of pea, but most probably a reference to [[Wikipedia:Shusaku Endo|Shusaku Endo]], a twentieth century Japanese author of several critically acclaimed novels.

====Zoq Fot Pik====
*'''RinTin''' is likely named after the famous movie dog [[wikipedia:Rin Tin Tin|Rin Tin Tin]].

==Ship Designs==
*The '''[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]''' seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*The '''[[Syreen]] [[Penetrator]]''' is shaped after the [[wikipedia:V-2 rocket|V-2 rocket]], and a dildo.

==Constellation names==
According to the [[HyperSpace]] starmap, the names for the HyperSpace constellations were taken from "traditional astronomical designations." These are the in-game star and constellation names that don't directly correspond to real life astronomical designations. (Some, such as Lalande and Wolf, appear to be derived from astronomical designations).
*'''Arianni'''
*'''Brahe''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Tycho Brahe|Tycho Brahe]], the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
*'''Cerenkov''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov|Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov]], a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate.
*'''Chandrasekhar''' is a reference to the Indian-American astrophysicist [[Wikipedia:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], famous for his work on stellar evolution and black holes.
*'''Copernicus''' is a reference [[Wikipedia:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus]], the polish astronomer who proposed the sun was the center of the solar system.
*'''Gorno''' is a possible reference to the [[Wikipedia:Gorn|Gorn]], a race in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Hyginus''' is a reference to the attributed author of [[Wikipedia:Poeticon astronomicon|Poeticon astronomicon]].
*'''Hyperion''' is a reference to the main setting of Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]].
*'''Illuminati''' is a reference to a variety of conspiracy theories, especially those of the [[Wikipedia:Illuminati|Bavarian Illuminati]].
*'''Kepler''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|Johannes Kepler]] who discovered the three laws of planetary motion.
*'''Klystron''' is a reference to a kind of vacuum tube used in early radar systems.
*'''Lentilis'''
*'''Lipi'''
*'''Maksutov''' is likely a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Maksutov telescope|Maksutov telescope]] invented by the Russian optician [[Wikipedia:Dimtri Maksutov|Dimtri Maksutov]].
*'''Mersenne''' is a reference to [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mersenne.html Marin Mersenne] a Minim friar who lived in France from 1588-1648 and was a major founder of number theory.
*'''Metis''' is a moon of Jupiter, and correspondingly a character in Roman mythology.
*'''Olber''' is likely a reference to [[Wikipedia:Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers]], a German astronomer.
*'''Organon''' is likely either a reference to [[Wikipedia:Organia|Organia]], an important location in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]], or a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Organa family|Organa family]] in the [[Wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] universe.
*'''Ptolemae''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemaius]], an ancient astronomer whose Geocentric views Copernicus replaced.
*'''Raynet''' is possibly a misspelling of "Rayet", an existing astronomical designation. it could also be a reference to British amateur radio network [[Wikipedia:RAYNET|RAYNET]].
*'''Saurus'''
*'''Squidi'''
*'''Vitalis'''
*'''Zeeman''' is possibly a reference to the physicist [[Wikipedia:Pieter Zeeman|Pieter Zeeman]] for whom a [[Wikipedia:Zeeman (crater)|crater]] on the moon is named.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Influences and references

2006-02-07T19:42:47Z

Censored: added some utwig captains.. not sure all were really influences though.

{{incomplete}}

The [[Star Control|Star Control 1]] manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: [[wikipedia:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]], [[wikipedia:Larry Niven|Larry Niven]], [[wikipedia:Andre Norton|Andre Norton]], [[wikipedia:David Brin|David Brin]], [[wikipedia:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein]], [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[wikipedia:Jack Vance|Jack Vance]], [[wikipedia:Alan Dean Foster|Alan Dean Foster]], [[wikipedia:Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer]], [[wikipedia:A. E. Van Vogt|A.E. Van Vogt]], [[wikipedia:E. E. Smith|E.E. "Doc" Smith]], [[wikipedia:Joe Halderman|Joe Halderman]], [[wikipedia:Dan Simmons|Dan Simmons]], [[wikipedia:Fred Saberhagen|Fred Saberhagen]] and 100 worthy others."

The [[Arilou]]'s final remark "Be seeing you..." may be a reference to the tv series [[wikipedia:The Prisoner|The Prisoner]].

The [[Orz]] and the disappearance of the [[Androsynth]] were influenced by [[wikipedia:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]]'s writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

[[The Captain]]'s remark to the [[Pkunk]] "Hey! Bird-brains! Got any fruit loops? Har-har-har!" refers to a brand of breakfast cereal called [[wikipedia:Froot Loops|Fruit Loops]], which features a toucan resembling the Pkunk as its mascotte.

The [[Ilwrath]] were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name [[Melnorme]] is a reference to jazz singer [[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]].

When the [[Spathi]] [[The Safe Ones|Safe Ones]] ask the player for the [[Secret Spathi Cypher]], one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!''", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's [[wikipedia:Cthulhu mythos|Cthulu mythos]].

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "[[wikipedia:The Day the Earth Stood Still|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]".

The [[Syreen]] are based on the [[wikipedia:Siren|Siren]]s from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The [[Yehat]] are inspired by the [[wikipedia:Scottish clan|Scottish clan]]s.

"[[Cheep-Guava]]", the name of the head of the [[Yehat]] revolution, is a pun on "[[Wikipedia:Che Guevara|Che Guevara]]", the Cuban revolutionary leader.

The [[Shofixti]] are inspired by the historical [[wikipedia:History of Japan|Japanese culture]].
"[[Kyabetsu]]", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the [[Androsynth]] computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in [[wikipedia:Roadside Picnic|Roadside Picnic]] refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The ''Roadside Picnic'' might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a [[Precursor]] artifact that Commander [[Hayes]] mentions in relation to the [[Ultron]].

The name [[Androsynth]] is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the [[Star Control II]] manual says it "fake men".

The [[Mycon]] is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

The [[Druuge]] is the Russian word for, ironically, "friend".

[[Tanaka]]'s opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie [[wikipedia:The Princess Bride|The Princess Bride]], in which the character [[wikipedia:Inigo Montoya|Inigo Montoya]] has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, [[wikipedia:Count Rugen|Count Rugen]].

When you choose the aggressive lines to speak towards the [[Slylandro]] [[Probe]]s, the third time you get the response "ENACTING THIRD LAW." before combat is initiated. This refers to [[wikipedia:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]]'s [[wikipedia:Three Laws of Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics]]. The third law says "A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.". The Probe's version must not have the first clause as the first law says "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.". (Alternatively, its First Law applies to solely to its creator race, which grant humans and other sentients no special protection.) Also the [[Slylandro]] will go "to seek out new life and new civilizations, to go where no catalog item 2418 Remote Self-replicating robot probe had gone before." when asked about the programming of the probes, a reference to Star Trek.

When the [[Utwig]] are trying to tell you what to do with the [[Precursor Bomb]], at one point they say that the "Bomb must be...Hugged." This is likely a reference to the movie [[Wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]].

One of the ways that the Utwig determined that the [[Ultron]] could have been saved was by cushioning the fall with a fuzzy wumpus. A Wumpus is a mysterious monster from the famous, early computer game [[Wikipedia:Hunt the Wumpus|Hunt the Wumpus]].

When describing the [[Kohr-Ah]], the Utwig say that their stated purpose is "to seek out new life and new civilizations...and then annihilate them," a clear play on the mission statement of the [[Wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] of [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]] fame.

When first meeting the [[Zoq-Fot-Pik]] at their homeworld, they warn you not to try stealing their atmosphere, a reference to [[Wikipedia:Spaceballs|Spaceballs]].

When [[The Captain]] gets to choose the name for the [[New Alliance of Free Stars|new alliance]], one of his options is "The United Federation of Worlds", a reference to the [[Wikipedia:United Federation of Planets|United Federation of Planets]] from [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]. [[Starbase]] Commander [[Hayes]] will reply to this choice by saying "we will make it so", another reference to Star Trek, where captain [[Wikipedia:Jean-Luc Picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] would frequently order to "make it so".

==Ship Captains==
Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

====Androsynth====
*'''1040-EZ''' is a common [[wikipedia:Form 1040EZ|tax return form]] in the United States.
*'''976-KILL''' is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094597/ 976-EVIL]. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
*'''[[wikipedia:AK-47|AK-47]]''' is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
*'''BHS-79''' ''(just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)''
*'''BIM-XT''' is an anagram for the [[wikipedia:IBM XT|IBM XT]] personal computer from the early 1980s
*'''BOOJI-1''' is a possible reference to the character [[wikipedia:Booji Boy|Booji Boy]] from the band [[wikipedia:Devo|Devo]].
*'''CRC-16''' is a 16 bits "[[wikipedia:Cyclic redundancy check|Cyclic redundancy check]] (an error-detecting checksum).
*'''DORN-3''' may be a reference to artist John Alfred Dorn III, who did several illustrations for the novels of [[wikipedia:Stanisław Lem|Stanisław Lem]]. It could also be a reference [[wikipedia:Michael Dorn|Michael Dorn]] who played Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*'''DOS-1.0''' is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems ([[wikipedia:PC-DIS|PC-DOS]], [[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]], [[wikipedia:Apple DOS|Apple DOS]], etc).
*'''HAL-2001''' is a reference to the [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]] computer from [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey]]
*'''JOR-15''' might be a reference to [[wikipedia:Jor-El|Jor-El]], superman's biological father in the DC comics universe.
*'''KORB-7B'''
*'''ME-262''' is a reference to the Messerschmitt [[wikipedia:Me-262|Me-262]], the first operational jet powered aircraft.
*'''NECRO-99''' may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie [[wikipedia:Wizards (movie)|Wizards]].
*'''SR-71''' is a reference to the Lockheed [[wikipedia:SR-71|SR-71 Blackbird]], an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
*'''[[wikipedia:Merkur XR4Ti|XR4-TI]]''' was a car model manufactured by the short-lived [[wikipedia:Merkur|Merkur]] brand.

====Human====
*'''Adama''' is the captain of the [[wikipedia:Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica]] in the television series by the same name.
*'''Belt''' is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story ''Sail 25''.
*'''Buck''' refers to [[wikipedia:Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers]], a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
*'''Decker''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Willard Decker|Willard Decker]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the movie [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].
*'''Ender''' is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel [[wikipedia:Ender's Game|Ender's Game]].
*'''Graeme''' is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the [[wikipedia: Childe Cycle|Childe Cycle]] novels by [[wikipedia:Gordon R. Dickson|Gordon R. Dickson]]. ''(This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)''
*'''Halleck''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Gurney Halleck|Gurney Halleck]] of the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Kirk''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:James T. Kirk|James T. Kirk]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the original series of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Pike''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Christopher Pike|Christopher Pike]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Pirx|Pirx]]''' is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
*'''Solo''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Han Solo|Han Solo]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Millennium Falcon|Millennium Falcon]] in [[wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] episode 4 through 6.
*'''Spiff''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Spaceman Spiff|Spaceman Spiff]], the fantasy identity of Calvin from [[wikipedia:Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin and Hobbes]]
*'''Trent''' is a reference to Jeff Trent, civilian airline pilot from [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Outer Space|Plan 9 from Outer Space]]
*'''Tuf''' is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in [[wikipedia:Tuf Voyaging|Tuf Voyaging]] by [[wikipedia:George R.R. Martin|George R.R. Martin]].
*'''VanRijn''' is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in [[wikipedia:Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson]]'s stories.
*'''Wu''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Louis Wu|Louis Wu]], the protagonist of Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld series]].

====Kohr-Ah====
*All of their ship names appear to be '''Death''' followed by a [[wikipedia:Prime_number|prime number]].

====Pkunk====
*'''Tweety''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Tweety|Tweety Bird]].
*'''WudStok''' is Snoopy's friend [[wikipedia:Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] in the comic strip [[wikipedia:Peanuts|Peanuts]].

====Shofixti====
*'''Bonsai!''' is actually [[wikipedia:Bonsai|the Japanese art of pruning trees]], but is most likely a reference to the cry [[wikipedia:Ten thousand years|Banzai]].
*'''Busu''' is a Japanese word for ugly
*'''Chimchim''' most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in [[wikipedia:Speed Racer|Speed Racer]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Daikon|Daikon]]''' is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''[[wikipedia:Gaijin|Gaijin]]''' is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
*'''Genjiro'''
*'''Ginzu''' is probably the [[wikipedia:Ginsu|Ginsu knife]].
*'''Hiyata'''
*'''Ichiban''' is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
*'''Kimba''' refers to the main character in the Japanese animation [[wikipedia:Kimba the White Lion|Kimba, the White Lion]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Katana|Katana]]''' is a Japanese sword.
*'''[[wikipedia:Kudzu|Kudzu]]''' is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
*'''Naninani''' is Japanese for "such and such"
*'''[[wikipedia:Sushi|Sushi]]''' is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
*'''Tanaka''' is Japanese for unexpected good fortune.
*'''[[wikipedia:Tofu|Tofu]]''' is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''Tora-3''' refers to the radio call announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [[wikipedia:Tora Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!]]
*'''Wasabe''' is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled [[wikipedia:Wasabi|wasabi]].

====Spathi====
*'''Jinkeze''' is a reference to the catchphrase of [[Wikipedia:Velma Dinkley|Velma Dinkley]], a main character in the [[Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]] cartoons, which she says when she's is scared or surprised.

====Supox====
*'''Crinoid''' is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the [[wikipedia:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]] episode ''The Seeds of Doom''.
*'''Trifid''' is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in [[wikipedia:The Day of the Triffids|The Day of the Triffids]].
*All of the other captain names are parts or types of plants.

====Syreen====
*'''Aelita''' possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film [[wikipedia:Aelita|Aelita:Queen of Mars]].
*'''Alia''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Alia Atreides|St. Alia of the Knife]], the sister of [[wikipedia:Paul Atreides|Paul Atreides]] in the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Alura''' is possibly a reference either to Princess Allura in the [[wikipedia:Voltron|Voltron]] cartoon series or to the mother of [[wikipedia:Supergirl|Supergirl]].
*'''Ardala''' is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
*'''Be'lit''' is a possible reference to [[wikipedia:Belit|Belit]], a pirate queen in the [[wikipedia:Conan the Barbarian|Conan the Barbarian]] stories.
*'''Brawne''' refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]] books.
*'''Dale''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Dale Arden|Dale Arden]], the girlfriend of [[wikipedia:Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon]].
*'''Danning''' is a reference to the actress [[wikipedia:Sybil Danning|Sybil Danning]].
*'''Dejah''' is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the [[wikipedia:Barsoom series|Barsoom series]] by [[wikipedia:Edgar Rice Burroughs|Edgar Rice Burroughs]].
*'''Maya''' refers to the attractive female [[wikipedia:Space 1999|Space: 1999]] character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
*'''Munro''' possibly refers to another genre actress, [[wikipedia:Caroline Munro|Caroline Munro]].
*'''Penny''' possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie [[wikipedia:The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]].
*'''Ripley''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Lieutenant Ripley]], as portrayed by [[wikipedia:Sigourney Weaver|Sigourney Weaver]] in the movie [[wikipedia:Alien (movie)|Alien]].
*'''Sparta''' is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[wikipedia:Paul Preuss|Paul Preuss]].
*'''Teela''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Teela Brown|Teela Brown]], one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld]] novels.
*'''Yarr''' may be a reference to [[wikipedia:Natasha Yar|Natasha Yar]] who appeared in [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]].

====Umgah====
*'''Brewz'k''' is likely the slang word brewski.
*'''Ei'Ei'o''' is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

====Utwig====
*'''[[Wikipedia:Nestor|Nestor]]''' was a hero celebrated as an elderly and wise counselor to the Greeks at Troy.
*'''Duna''' is Hungarian for the Danuba, a river in central and southeastern Europe.
*'''Jujuby''' spelled '[[Wikipedia:Jujube|Jujube]]', it is the fruit of a certain tree, also known as "Chinese Date".

====Zoq Fot Pik====
*'''RinTin''' is likely named after the famous movie dog [[wikipedia:Rin Tin Tin|Rin Tin Tin]].

==Ship Designs==
*The '''[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]''' seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*The '''[[Syreen]] [[Penetrator]]''' is shaped after the [[wikipedia:V-2 rocket|V-2 rocket]], and a dildo.

==Constellation names==
According to the [[HyperSpace]] starmap, the names for the HyperSpace constellations were taken from "traditional astronomical designations." These are the in-game star and constellation names that don't directly correspond to real life astronomical designations. (Some, such as Lalande and Wolf, appear to be derived from astronomical designations).
*'''Arianni'''
*'''Brahe''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Tycho Brahe|Tycho Brahe]], the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
*'''Cerenkov''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov|Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov]], a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate.
*'''Chandrasekhar''' is a reference to the Indian-American astrophysicist [[Wikipedia:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], famous for his work on stellar evolution and black holes.
*'''Copernicus''' is a reference [[Wikipedia:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus]], the polish astronomer who proposed the sun was the center of the solar system.
*'''Gorno''' is a possible reference to the [[Wikipedia:Gorn|Gorn]], a race in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Hyginus''' is a reference to the attributed author of [[Wikipedia:Poeticon astronomicon|Poeticon astronomicon]].
*'''Hyperion''' is a reference to the main setting of Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]].
*'''Illuminati''' is a reference to a variety of conspiracy theories, especially those of the [[Wikipedia:Illuminati|Bavarian Illuminati]].
*'''Kepler''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|Johannes Kepler]] who discovered the three laws of planetary motion.
*'''Klystron''' is a reference to a kind of vacuum tube used in early radar systems.
*'''Lentilis'''
*'''Lipi'''
*'''Maksutov''' is likely a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Maksutov telescope|Maksutov telescope]] invented by the Russian optician [[Wikipedia:Dimtri Maksutov|Dimtri Maksutov]].
*'''Mersenne''' is a reference to [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mersenne.html Marin Mersenne] a Minim friar who lived in France from 1588-1648 and was a major founder of number theory.
*'''Metis''' is a moon of Jupiter, and correspondingly a character in Roman mythology.
*'''Olber''' is likely a reference to [[Wikipedia:Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers]], a German astronomer.
*'''Organon''' is likely either a reference to [[Wikipedia:Organia|Organia]], an important location in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]], or a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Organa family|Organa family]] in the [[Wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] universe.
*'''Ptolemae''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemaius]], an ancient astronomer whose Geocentric views Copernicus replaced.
*'''Raynet''' is possibly a misspelling of "Rayet", an existing astronomical designation. it could also be a reference to British amateur radio network [[Wikipedia:RAYNET|RAYNET]].
*'''Saurus'''
*'''Squidi'''
*'''Vitalis'''
*'''Zeeman''' is possibly a reference to the physicist [[Wikipedia:Pieter Zeeman|Pieter Zeeman]] for whom a [[Wikipedia:Zeeman (crater)|crater]] on the moon is named.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Influences and references

2006-02-06T16:51:12Z

Censored: added Druuge = "friend" in Russian

{{incomplete}}

The [[Star Control|Star Control 1]] manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: [[wikipedia:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]], [[wikipedia:Larry Niven|Larry Niven]], [[wikipedia:Andre Norton|Andre Norton]], [[wikipedia:David Brin|David Brin]], [[wikipedia:Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein]], [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[wikipedia:Jack Vance|Jack Vance]], [[wikipedia:Alan Dean Foster|Alan Dean Foster]], [[wikipedia:Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer]], [[wikipedia:A. E. Van Vogt|A.E. Van Vogt]], [[wikipedia:E. E. Smith|E.E. "Doc" Smith]], [[wikipedia:Joe Halderman|Joe Halderman]], [[wikipedia:Dan Simmons|Dan Simmons]], [[wikipedia:Fred Saberhagen|Fred Saberhagen]] and 100 worthy others."

The [[Arilou]]'s final remark "Be seeing you..." may be a reference to the tv series [[wikipedia:The Prisoner|The Prisoner]].

The [[Orz]] and the disappearance of the [[Androsynth]] were influenced by [[wikipedia:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]]'s writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

[[The Captain]]'s remark to the [[Pkunk]] "Hey! Bird-brains! Got any fruit loops? Har-har-har!" refers to a brand of breakfast cereal called [[wikipedia:Froot Loops|Fruit Loops]], which features a toucan resembling the Pkunk as its mascotte.

The [[Ilwrath]] were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name [[Melnorme]] is a reference to jazz singer [[wikipedia:Mel Tormé|Mel Tormé]].

When the [[Spathi]] [[The Safe Ones|Safe Ones]] ask the player for the [[Secret Spathi Cypher]], one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "''Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!''", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's [[wikipedia:Cthulhu mythos|Cthulu mythos]].

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "[[wikipedia:The Day the Earth Stood Still|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]".

The [[Syreen]] are based on the [[wikipedia:Siren|Siren]]s from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The [[Yehat]] are inspired by the [[wikipedia:Scottish clan|Scottish clan]]s.

"[[Cheep-Guava]]", the name of the head of the [[Yehat]] revolution, is a pun on "[[Wikipedia:Che Guevara|Che Guevara]]", the Cuban revolutionary leader.

The [[Shofixti]] are inspired by the historical [[wikipedia:History of Japan|Japanese culture]].
"[[Kyabetsu]]", the name of the former Shofixti homeworld, means "cabbage".

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the [[Androsynth]] computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in [[wikipedia:Roadside Picnic|Roadside Picnic]] refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The ''Roadside Picnic'' might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a [[Precursor]] artifact that Commander [[Hayes]] mentions in relation to the [[Ultron]].

The name [[Androsynth]] is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the [[Star Control II]] manual says it "fake men".

The [[Mycon]] is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

The [[Druuge]] is the Russian word for, ironically, "friend".

[[Tanaka]]'s opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie [[wikipedia:The Princess Bride|The Princess Bride]], in which the character [[wikipedia:Inigo Montoya|Inigo Montoya]] has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, [[wikipedia:Count Rugen|Count Rugen]].

When you choose the aggressive lines to speak towards the [[Slylandro]] [[Probe]]s, the third time you get the response "ENACTING THIRD LAW." before combat is initiated. This refers to [[wikipedia:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]]'s [[wikipedia:Three Laws of Robotics|Three Laws of Robotics]]. The third law says "A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.". The Probe's version must not have the first clause as the first law says "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.". (Alternatively, its First Law applies to solely to its creator race, which grant humans and other sentients no special protection.) Also the [[Slylandro]] will go "to seek out new life and new civilizations, to go where no catalog item 2418 Remote Self-replicating robot probe had gone before." when asked about the programming of the probes, a reference to Star Trek.

When the [[Utwig]] are trying to tell you what to do with the [[Precursor Bomb]], at one point they say that the "Bomb must be...Hugged." This is likely a reference to the movie [[Wikipedia:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb]].

One of the ways that the Utwig determined that the [[Ultron]] could have been saved was by cushioning the fall with a fuzzy wumpus. A Wumpus is a mysterious monster from the famous, early computer game [[Wikipedia:Hunt the Wumpus|Hunt the Wumpus]].

When describing the [[Kohr-Ah]], the Utwig say that their stated purpose is "to seek out new life and new civilizations...and then annihilate them," a clear play on the mission statement of the [[Wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] of [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]] fame.

When first meeting the [[Zoq-Fot-Pik]] at their homeworld, they warn you not to try stealing their atmosphere, a reference to [[Wikipedia:Spaceballs|Spaceballs]].

When [[The Captain]] gets to choose the name for the [[New Alliance of Free Stars|new alliance]], one of his options is "The United Federation of Worlds", a reference to the [[Wikipedia:United Federation of Planets|United Federation of Planets]] from [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]]. [[Starbase]] Commander [[Hayes]] will reply to this choice by saying "we will make it so", another reference to Star Trek, where captain [[Wikipedia:Jean-Luc Picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] would frequently order to "make it so".

==Ship Captains==
Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

====Androsynth====
*'''1040-EZ''' is a common [[wikipedia:Form 1040EZ|tax return form]] in the United States.
*'''976-KILL''' is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094597/ 976-EVIL]. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
*'''[[wikipedia:AK-47|AK-47]]''' is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
*'''BHS-79''' ''(just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)''
*'''BIM-XT''' is an anagram for the [[wikipedia:IBM XT|IBM XT]] personal computer from the early 1980s
*'''BOOJI-1''' is a possible reference to the character [[wikipedia:Booji Boy|Booji Boy]] from the band [[wikipedia:Devo|Devo]].
*'''CRC-16''' is a 16 bits "[[wikipedia:Cyclic redundancy check|Cyclic redundancy check]] (an error-detecting checksum).
*'''DORN-3''' may be a reference to artist John Alfred Dorn III, who did several illustrations for the novels of [[wikipedia:Stanisław Lem|Stanisław Lem]]. It could also be a reference [[wikipedia:Michael Dorn|Michael Dorn]] who played Lt. Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
*'''DOS-1.0''' is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems ([[wikipedia:PC-DIS|PC-DOS]], [[wikipedia:MS-DOS|MS-DOS]], [[wikipedia:Apple DOS|Apple DOS]], etc).
*'''HAL-2001''' is a reference to the [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]] computer from [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[wikipedia:2001: A Space Odyssey|2001: A Space Odyssey]]
*'''JOR-15''' might be a reference to [[wikipedia:Jor-El|Jor-El]], superman's biological father in the DC comics universe.
*'''KORB-7B'''
*'''ME-262''' is a reference to the Messerschmitt [[wikipedia:Me-262|Me-262]], the first operational jet powered aircraft.
*'''NECRO-99''' may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie [[wikipedia:Wizards (movie)|Wizards]].
*'''SR-71''' is a reference to the Lockheed [[wikipedia:SR-71|SR-71 Blackbird]], an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
*'''[[wikipedia:Merkur XR4Ti|XR4-TI]]''' was a car model manufactured by the short-lived [[wikipedia:Merkur|Merkur]] brand.

====Human====
*'''Adama''' is the captain of the [[wikipedia:Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica]] in the television series by the same name.
*'''Belt''' is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story ''Sail 25''.
*'''Buck''' refers to [[wikipedia:Buck Rogers|Buck Rogers]], a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
*'''Decker''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Willard Decker|Willard Decker]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the movie [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Motion Picture|Star Trek: The Motion Picture]].
*'''Ender''' is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel [[wikipedia:Ender's Game|Ender's Game]].
*'''Graeme''' is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the [[wikipedia: Childe Cycle|Childe Cycle]] novels by [[wikipedia:Gordon R. Dickson|Gordon R. Dickson]]. ''(This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)''
*'''Halleck''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Gurney Halleck|Gurney Halleck]] of the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Kirk''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:James T. Kirk|James T. Kirk]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the original series of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Pike''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Christopher Pike|Christopher Pike]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Starship Enterprise|Starship Enterprise]] NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Pirx|Pirx]]''' is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
*'''Solo''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Han Solo|Han Solo]], captain of the [[wikipedia:Millennium Falcon|Millennium Falcon]] in [[wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] episode 4 through 6.
*'''Spiff''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Spaceman Spiff|Spaceman Spiff]], the fantasy identity of Calvin from [[wikipedia:Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin and Hobbes]]
*'''Trent''' is a reference to Jeff Trent, civilian airline pilot from [[wikipedia:Plan 9 from Outer Space|Plan 9 from Outer Space]]
*'''Tuf''' is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in [[wikipedia:Tuf Voyaging|Tuf Voyaging]] by [[wikipedia:George R.R. Martin|George R.R. Martin]].
*'''VanRijn''' is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in [[wikipedia:Poul Anderson|Poul Anderson]]'s stories.
*'''Wu''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Louis Wu|Louis Wu]], the protagonist of Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld series]].

====Kohr-Ah====
*All of their ship names appear to be '''Death''' followed by a [[wikipedia:Prime_number|prime number]].

====Pkunk====
*'''Tweety''' is likely a reference to [[wikipedia:Tweety|Tweety Bird]].
*'''WudStok''' is Snoopy's friend [[wikipedia:Woodstock (Peanuts)|Woodstock]] in the comic strip [[wikipedia:Peanuts|Peanuts]].

====Shofixti====
*'''Bonsai!''' is actually [[wikipedia:Bonsai|the Japanese art of pruning trees]], but is most likely a reference to the cry [[wikipedia:Ten thousand years|Banzai]].
*'''Busu''' is a Japanese word for ugly
*'''Chimchim''' most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in [[wikipedia:Speed Racer|Speed Racer]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Daikon|Daikon]]''' is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''[[wikipedia:Gaijin|Gaijin]]''' is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
*'''Genjiro'''
*'''Ginzu''' is probably the [[wikipedia:Ginsu|Ginsu knife]].
*'''Hiyata'''
*'''Ichiban''' is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
*'''Kimba''' refers to the main character in the Japanese animation [[wikipedia:Kimba the White Lion|Kimba, the White Lion]].
*'''[[wikipedia:Katana|Katana]]''' is a Japanese sword.
*'''[[wikipedia:Kudzu|Kudzu]]''' is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
*'''Naninani''' is Japanese for "such and such"
*'''[[wikipedia:Sushi|Sushi]]''' is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
*'''Tanaka''' is Japanese for unexpected good fortune.
*'''[[wikipedia:Tofu|Tofu]]''' is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
*'''Tora-3''' refers to the radio call announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [[wikipedia:Tora Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!]]
*'''Wasabe''' is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled [[wikipedia:Wasabi|wasabi]].

====Spathi====
*'''Jinkeze''' is a reference to the catchphrase of [[Wikipedia:Velma Dinkley|Velma Dinkley]], a main character in the [[Wikipedia:Scooby-Doo|Scooby-Doo]] cartoons, which she says when she's is scared or surprised.

====Supox====
*'''Crinoid''' is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the [[wikipedia:Doctor Who|Doctor Who]] episode ''The Seeds of Doom''.
*'''Trifid''' is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in [[wikipedia:The Day of the Triffids|The Day of the Triffids]].
*All of the other captain names are parts or types of plants.

====Syreen====
*'''Aelita''' possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film [[wikipedia:Aelita|Aelita:Queen of Mars]].
*'''Alia''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Alia Atreides|St. Alia of the Knife]], the sister of [[wikipedia:Paul Atreides|Paul Atreides]] in the [[wikipedia:Dune universe|Dune series]].
*'''Alura''' is possibly a reference either to Princess Allura in the [[wikipedia:Voltron|Voltron]] cartoon series or to the mother of [[wikipedia:Supergirl|Supergirl]].
*'''Ardala''' is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
*'''Be'lit''' is a possible reference to [[wikipedia:Belit|Belit]], a pirate queen in the [[wikipedia:Conan the Barbarian|Conan the Barbarian]] stories.
*'''Brawne''' refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]] books.
*'''Dale''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Dale Arden|Dale Arden]], the girlfriend of [[wikipedia:Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon]].
*'''Danning''' is a reference to the actress [[wikipedia:Sybil Danning|Sybil Danning]].
*'''Dejah''' is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the [[wikipedia:Barsoom series|Barsoom series]] by [[wikipedia:Edgar Rice Burroughs|Edgar Rice Burroughs]].
*'''Maya''' refers to the attractive female [[wikipedia:Space 1999|Space: 1999]] character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
*'''Munro''' possibly refers to another genre actress, [[wikipedia:Caroline Munro|Caroline Munro]].
*'''Penny''' possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie [[wikipedia:The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension|The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension]].
*'''Ripley''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Ellen Ripley|Lieutenant Ripley]], as portrayed by [[wikipedia:Sigourney Weaver|Sigourney Weaver]] in the movie [[wikipedia:Alien (movie)|Alien]].
*'''Sparta''' is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by [[wikipedia:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[wikipedia:Paul Preuss|Paul Preuss]].
*'''Teela''' is a reference to [[wikipedia:Teela Brown|Teela Brown]], one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's [[wikipedia:Ringworld|Ringworld]] novels.
*'''Yarr''' may be a reference to [[wikipedia:Natasha Yar|Natasha Yar]] who appeared in [[wikipedia:Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek: The Next Generation]].

====Umgah====
*'''Brewz'k''' is likely the slang word brewski.
*'''Ei'Ei'o''' is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

====Zoq Fot Pik====
*'''RinTin''' is likely named after the famous movie dog [[wikipedia:Rin Tin Tin|Rin Tin Tin]].

==Ship Designs==
*The '''[[Earthling]] [[Cruiser]]''' seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from [[wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*The '''[[Syreen]] [[Penetrator]]''' is shaped after the [[wikipedia:V-2 rocket|V-2 rocket]], and a dildo.

==Constellation names==
According to the [[HyperSpace]] starmap, the names for the HyperSpace constellations were taken from "traditional astronomical designations." These are the in-game star and constellation names that don't directly correspond to real life astronomical designations. (Some, such as Lalande and Wolf, appear to be derived from astronomical designations).
*'''Arianni'''
*'''Brahe''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Tycho Brahe|Tycho Brahe]], the famous Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
*'''Cerenkov''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov|Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov]], a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate.
*'''Chandrasekhar''' is a reference to the Indian-American astrophysicist [[Wikipedia:Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], famous for his work on stellar evolution and black holes.
*'''Copernicus''' is a reference [[Wikipedia:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus]], the polish astronomer who proposed the sun was the center of the solar system.
*'''Gorno''' is a possible reference to the [[Wikipedia:Gorn|Gorn]], a race in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]].
*'''Hyginus''' is a reference to the attributed author of [[Wikipedia:Poeticon astronomicon|Poeticon astronomicon]].
*'''Hyperion''' is a reference to the main setting of Dan Simmons' [[wikipedia:Hyperion Cantos|Hyperion Cantos]].
*'''Illuminati''' is a reference to a variety of conspiracy theories, especially those of the [[Wikipedia:Illuminati|Bavarian Illuminati]].
*'''Kepler''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|Johannes Kepler]] who discovered the three laws of planetary motion.
*'''Klystron''' is a reference to a kind of vacuum tube used in early radar systems.
*'''Lentilis'''
*'''Lipi'''
*'''Maksutov''' is likely a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Maksutov telescope|Maksutov telescope]] invented by the Russian optician [[Wikipedia:Dimtri Maksutov|Dimtri Maksutov]].
*'''Mersenne''' is a reference to [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mersenne.html Marin Mersenne] a Minim friar who lived in France from 1588-1648 and was a major founder of number theory.
*'''Metis''' is a moon of Jupiter, and correspondingly a character in Roman mythology.
*'''Olber''' is likely a reference to [[Wikipedia:Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers]], a German astronomer.
*'''Organon''' is likely either a reference to [[Wikipedia:Organia|Organia]], an important location in [[Wikipedia:Star Trek|Star Trek]], or a reference to the [[Wikipedia:Organa family|Organa family]] in the [[Wikipedia:Star Wars|Star Wars]] universe.
*'''Ptolemae''' is a reference to [[Wikipedia:Ptolemy|Claudius Ptolemaius]], an ancient astronomer whose Geocentric views Copernicus replaced.
*'''Raynet''' is possibly a misspelling of "Rayet", an existing astronomical designation. it could also be a reference to British amateur radio network [[Wikipedia:RAYNET|RAYNET]].
*'''Saurus'''
*'''Squidi'''
*'''Vitalis'''
*'''Zeeman''' is possibly a reference to the physicist [[Wikipedia:Pieter Zeeman|Pieter Zeeman]] for whom a [[Wikipedia:Zeeman (crater)|crater]] on the moon is named.

[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Inter-Dimensional Fatigue

2004-10-13T15:19:20Z

Censored: the Taalo are alive! (see TFB chats) -- "long dead member" --> "a member race.... which disappeared long ago"

'''Dimensional fatigue''' — also '''Inter-Dimensional Fatigue''', or '''IDF''' — is a process or force that weakens the boundaries between dimensions. It is most often used to access [[HyperSpace]] from [[TrueSpace]]. Dimensional Fatigue can be projected by devices, and occasionally occurs naturally.

IDF research is believed to be incredibly dangerous, a stance strongly supported by the [[Arilou]]. Indeed, most races that use HyperSpace either had the technology gifted to them by a patron, or somehow inherited the technology from elsewhere.

The [[Chenjesu]] were naturally attuned to HyperSpace, and may have been one of the few races to develop the technology on their own. While the [[Yehat]] are known to have achieved inter-planetary travel on their own, as did the [[Humans]], neither race independently deveoloped HyperSpace technology. However, a human offshoot culture, the [[Androsynth]], did seem to do so, although they may have received the technology via covert contact with some other race. The Androsynth continued IDF research after departing [[Earth]], but were destroyed utterly, perhaps by the [[Orz]], possibly because their research attracted that race's attention.

The [[Taalo]], a member race of the [[Sentient Milieu]] which disappeared long ago, were known to work in IDF and had experemental sites in the same area of space that has since been occupied by the Androsynth and Orz. Some of their research materials and other technologies can still be found there.

It is possible that the Arilou are lying about the danger involved in continued IDF research for their own inscrutable purposes; perhaps to keep the secret of [[QuasiSpace]] from becomming general knowledge. However, it is undeniable that HyperSpace travel has not been invented more than a handfull of times, and that some catastrophe indeed befell the Androsynth.

IRC chats with Toys For Bob

2004-10-04T19:57:25Z

Censored: moved links to end of line

* IRC chat dating the 18th of October, 1998; attendants: Paul Reich, Fred Ford and Dan Nicholson. Includes many answers for lingering questions mainly about the Star Control II plot and history. ([http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/files/scchatlog.txt raw])
* IRC chat dating the 22nd of August, 2003; attendants: Fred Ford, Paul Reiche III and Erol Otus. ([http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-raw raw]) ([http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-formatted formatted])

IRC chats with Toys For Bob

2004-10-04T19:56:42Z

Censored: Can these protocols be copied & pasted to the wiki somehow?

* ([http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/files/scchatlog.txt raw]) IRC chat dating the 18th of October, 1998; attendants: Paul Reich, Fred Ford and Dan Nicholson. Includes many answers for lingering questions mainly about the Star Control II plot and history.
* ([http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-raw raw]) ([http://uqm.stack.nl/files/chat/tfbchat-20030822-formatted formatted]) IRC chat dating the 22nd of August, 2003; attendants: Fred Ford, Paul Reiche III and Erol Otus.

List of FAQs

2004-10-04T19:10:35Z

Censored: added TFB chat protocols, not sure if this is the best place though

*[[Star Control II Gameplay FAQ]]
*[[The Ur-Quan Masters Technical FAQ]]
*[[The Ur-Quan Masters Project FAQ]]
*[[Hoaxes and Rumours FAQ]]
*[[TFB chat protocols]]

Mael-Num

2004-10-04T19:06:41Z

Censored: added comment: TFB acknowledging Mael-Num being the ancestors of the Melnorme

We know little of the Mael-Num, as with many of the species of the [[Sentient Milieu]]. Given that the [[Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah|Kohr-Ah]] refer to them as "one-eyed creatures", and the similarity of their names, it is suspected that the Mael-Num are the ancestors of the [[Melnorme]]. This assumption has been acknowledged true by [[Paul Reiche III]] and [[Fred Ford]] in the [[TFB chat protocols|October 1998 IRC chat]].

Skiff

2004-10-04T18:33:12Z

Censored: /* Overview */

__NOTOC__
==Overview==

After the establishment of the theory of relativity by Jewish German-American physicist Albert Einstein in the early 20th century, [[Humans|Terran]] scientists were disappointed by the fact that conventional physics cannot allow normal objects to travel faster than light in [[TrueSpace]]. Even after the discoveries of FTL (faster-than-light) technology and [[HyperSpace]] travel (thanks to the aid of the [[Chenjesu]]), they again encountered a second stumbling block on the limit of power produced by an engine. "If only we could control inertia...," the scientists complained again and again. Enter the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] '''Skiff'''.

Utilized mainly as a means of conveyance in [[TrueSpace]] and piloted by the pacifistic [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]], the blue saucer-shaped Skiff is designed mainly for exploratory missions and boasts minimal defensive weaponry, but it has one envious quality: an inertialess drive.

==Speed and control==

When not [[#Secondary|travelling at FTL speeds]], the Skiff flies, or rather glides, through [[TrueSpace]] at extremely fast speeds (though not as quickly as the nimble [[Spathi]] [[Eluder]], nee [[Discriminator]], or [[Pkunk]] [[Fury]]). Its inertialess drive gives it the smallest turning radius in the galaxy -- 0 m! -- and of course the turning rate itself can't be beat. No inertia also means instant acceleration (and deceleration), as well as no gravitational effects from planetary objects or anything else for that matter! Surprisingly enough, the helm contains no physical controls at all; the captain telepathically controls the ship, thus requiring only a skeleton crew to operate it!

==Armament==

===Primary===
The Skiff's main and only true weapon is a ventral 360-degree short range auto-aiming laser. Meant to simply deter prowlers and pirates from seiging the ship and to surgically cease the roamings of stray space debris, it can be used as an offensive weapon with limited results. Damage is minimal and technique and timing are crucial. Two of the major drawbacks of the targeting system are that:
# it only tracks the ion trails from warp-drive capable exhaust systems thereby neglecting smaller craft such as [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za|Ur-Quan]] slave ships or [[Orz]] marines.
# it has a discrete firing pattern, limiting the direction in which it can fire.
Particular skillful captains are able to minimize the shortcomings of the limited weaponry with carefully-timed firing and cunning [[#Tactics|tactics]].

===Secondary===
Utilizing the power of the inertialess drive, the secondary armament is a short-range [[HyperSpace]] shunt transportation device allowing instantaneous teleportation. While extremely useful in making a quick exit from a heated sortie, the range is limited once again to a single yet significant factor. Range is determined using fourth-dimensional [[QuasiSpace|QuasiSpatial]] movement, which is heavily distorted by FTL sub-spatial harmonics, particularly near starship warp drives. Thus Skiffs hardly have the ability to attempt a long-range teleportation when even a FTL-capable ship as small as a [[Umgah]] [[Drone]] is nearby. Additionally, the shunt is nearly impossible to guide due to the relatively minute range (on a galactic scale) that the Skiff is able to teleport when such an object is close by. Because of this, undesirable results often occur and, in the small chance of materializing inside of a planetary object or even another ship, can prove to be fatal. However, such catastrophic occurences are still extremely rare.

==Layout and design==
Due to the telepathic nature of the [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]], few conventional devices other than a hull that can withstand [[TrueSpace]] and a weak laser are needed to produce the shell of the Skiff. However, the building and implementation of the inertialess drive and the [[HyperSpace]] shunt teleporter are beyond current [[Humans|human]] techonology, not to mention finding a superlative telepathic crew of midgets who can bond to the ship's internal systems. Still, the hull of the Skiff is as simple as it gets: tall enough for a 1.5-meter tall person; and perfectly round for uniform psionic harmonics; and blue -- very, very blue... oh, and headlights. The guts... well, that's a little bit tougher to explain.

==Miscellaneous==

===Tactics===
Due to the difficulty in winning a dogfight through brute-force, [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]] captains have been forced to take more clever methods of vanquishing foes. The following are three of the most commonly used methods.
*'''Gun and run'''
::Agility and speed are the two strongest attributes of the Skiff. Why not exploit them? Heading directly into enemy fire can be advatangeous given the opponent's barrage is slow enough and the Skiff's captain is nimble enough. Once close enough to the enemy ship, even the directionally-challenged auto-aiming laser can do its job without missing. Leave enough fuel for a quick jump, and >poof< the Skiff is out of harm's way!
*'''Planetary ambush'''
::With no inertia, the Skiff is the only vehicle entirely immune to gravitational effects from nearby planets even when it's sitting right next to it! Letting the bloodlust overcome an adversary's judgment, the perceptive [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]] captain can capitalize on such egregious foolhardiness. Sitting on the far side of the planet as the enemy ship approaces, the opponent cannot both aim accurately and guide his ship to safe course (with some exceptions, eg. the [[Supox]]). Seizing such opportunities nets maximal damage to the opponent as he slingshots past the ambushing Skiff without ever having the ability to fire a single shot at the clever [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]]!
*'''Cyborg shimmy'''
::With the reactions of a well-timed computer, an expert Skiff captain can sometimes approach an enemy vessel in a direction that it can't even fire! This feint requires split-second timing at the helm that no [[Humans|human]] could possibly match! It's even more devastating for the ship captain who can't quite catch his [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] opponent off-guard!

[[Category:Ships]]

Skiff

2004-10-04T18:32:21Z

Censored: /* Overview */

__NOTOC__
==Overview==

After the establishment of the theory of relativity by Jewish German-American physicist Albert Einstein in the early 20th century, [[Humans|Terran]] scientists were disappointed of the fact that conventional physics cannot allow normal objects to travel faster than light in [[TrueSpace]]. Even after the discoveries of FTL (faster-than-light) technology and [[HyperSpace]] travel (thanks to the aid of the [[Chenjesu]]), they again encountered a second stumbling block on the limit of power produced by an engine. "If only we could control inertia...," the scientists complained again and again. Enter the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] '''Skiff'''.

Utilized mainly as a means of conveyance in [[TrueSpace]] and piloted by the pacifistic [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]], the blue saucer-shaped Skiff is designed mainly for exploratory missions and boasts minimal defensive weaponry, but it has one envious quality: an inertialess drive.

==Speed and control==

When not [[#Secondary|travelling at FTL speeds]], the Skiff flies, or rather glides, through [[TrueSpace]] at extremely fast speeds (though not as quickly as the nimble [[Spathi]] [[Eluder]], nee [[Discriminator]], or [[Pkunk]] [[Fury]]). Its inertialess drive gives it the smallest turning radius in the galaxy -- 0 m! -- and of course the turning rate itself can't be beat. No inertia also means instant acceleration (and deceleration), as well as no gravitational effects from planetary objects or anything else for that matter! Surprisingly enough, the helm contains no physical controls at all; the captain telepathically controls the ship, thus requiring only a skeleton crew to operate it!

==Armament==

===Primary===
The Skiff's main and only true weapon is a ventral 360-degree short range auto-aiming laser. Meant to simply deter prowlers and pirates from seiging the ship and to surgically cease the roamings of stray space debris, it can be used as an offensive weapon with limited results. Damage is minimal and technique and timing are crucial. Two of the major drawbacks of the targeting system are that:
# it only tracks the ion trails from warp-drive capable exhaust systems thereby neglecting smaller craft such as [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za|Ur-Quan]] slave ships or [[Orz]] marines.
# it has a discrete firing pattern, limiting the direction in which it can fire.
Particular skillful captains are able to minimize the shortcomings of the limited weaponry with carefully-timed firing and cunning [[#Tactics|tactics]].

===Secondary===
Utilizing the power of the inertialess drive, the secondary armament is a short-range [[HyperSpace]] shunt transportation device allowing instantaneous teleportation. While extremely useful in making a quick exit from a heated sortie, the range is limited once again to a single yet significant factor. Range is determined using fourth-dimensional [[QuasiSpace|QuasiSpatial]] movement, which is heavily distorted by FTL sub-spatial harmonics, particularly near starship warp drives. Thus Skiffs hardly have the ability to attempt a long-range teleportation when even a FTL-capable ship as small as a [[Umgah]] [[Drone]] is nearby. Additionally, the shunt is nearly impossible to guide due to the relatively minute range (on a galactic scale) that the Skiff is able to teleport when such an object is close by. Because of this, undesirable results often occur and, in the small chance of materializing inside of a planetary object or even another ship, can prove to be fatal. However, such catastrophic occurences are still extremely rare.

==Layout and design==
Due to the telepathic nature of the [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]], few conventional devices other than a hull that can withstand [[TrueSpace]] and a weak laser are needed to produce the shell of the Skiff. However, the building and implementation of the inertialess drive and the [[HyperSpace]] shunt teleporter are beyond current [[Humans|human]] techonology, not to mention finding a superlative telepathic crew of midgets who can bond to the ship's internal systems. Still, the hull of the Skiff is as simple as it gets: tall enough for a 1.5-meter tall person; and perfectly round for uniform psionic harmonics; and blue -- very, very blue... oh, and headlights. The guts... well, that's a little bit tougher to explain.

==Miscellaneous==

===Tactics===
Due to the difficulty in winning a dogfight through brute-force, [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]] captains have been forced to take more clever methods of vanquishing foes. The following are three of the most commonly used methods.
*'''Gun and run'''
::Agility and speed are the two strongest attributes of the Skiff. Why not exploit them? Heading directly into enemy fire can be advatangeous given the opponent's barrage is slow enough and the Skiff's captain is nimble enough. Once close enough to the enemy ship, even the directionally-challenged auto-aiming laser can do its job without missing. Leave enough fuel for a quick jump, and >poof< the Skiff is out of harm's way!
*'''Planetary ambush'''
::With no inertia, the Skiff is the only vehicle entirely immune to gravitational effects from nearby planets even when it's sitting right next to it! Letting the bloodlust overcome an adversary's judgment, the perceptive [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]] captain can capitalize on such egregious foolhardiness. Sitting on the far side of the planet as the enemy ship approaces, the opponent cannot both aim accurately and guide his ship to safe course (with some exceptions, eg. the [[Supox]]). Seizing such opportunities nets maximal damage to the opponent as he slingshots past the ambushing Skiff without ever having the ability to fire a single shot at the clever [[Arilou Lalee'lay|Arilou]]!
*'''Cyborg shimmy'''
::With the reactions of a well-timed computer, an expert Skiff captain can sometimes approach an enemy vessel in a direction that it can't even fire! This feint requires split-second timing at the helm that no [[Humans|human]] could possibly match! It's even more devastating for the ship captain who can't quite catch his [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] opponent off-guard!

[[Category:Ships]]

Utwig Bomb

2004-09-05T11:39:25Z

Censored:

Obtained from the [[Utwig]] in exchange for the [[Ultron]], the Utwig Bomb is affixed to your ship by the [[Chmmr]], and is used to destroy the [[Sa-Matra]], thus winning the game.

The Utwig Bomb is actually an ancient [[Precursor]] bomb, used to 'remove' unwanted moons and other small planetary-scaled objects. The same type of bomb was used by the [[Shofixti]], when they rammed into their sun at Delta Gorno, instantly vapourising one third of the [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za|Ur-Quan]] fleet. Unfortunately, the explosion almost completly annihilated them as well.

The bomb is also a very dangerous artifact, being a matter-antimatter bomb. The power of it is incomparable to a thermo-nuclear bomb, in which only a small fracion of the matter is disintegrated. In devices like this, a large quantity of matter and antimatter combine, resulting in the fusion of pure energy.

When brought back to the orbital station on Sol, the scientists are quite afraid of examining it, let alone unloading it from the cargo bay. They advise to conduct any experiments far away from the station.