Discrepancies in the Star Control universe

This page is currently incomplete. We encourage you to edit and expand it.

For the most part, the rich and diverse lore of the Star Control Universe as created by TFB is self-consistent. However, there are certain notable discrepancies within the games and its associated canon. This page is intended to organize and catalog these inconsistencies. A certain number of discrepancies occur between the PC and 3DO versions of the game; though not listed here, most of these can be found at the Version Comparison.

Discrepancies between Star Control I & II

• Historical events
  • Star Control places the relevant events within the 26th and 27th centuries while Star Control II places most events within the 21st and 22nd centuries.
  • The Battle at Draco, mentioned in one of the full game campaigns, probably did not happen in Draconis.

• The Spathi ship is known as an Discriminator in SC1, and as an Eluder in SC2.

• The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za captains are known as Masters in SC1, but as Lords in SC2.

• The Insult, according to the Sega version of SC1, was "That is one ugly sucker", while the SC2 manual identifies it as "That’s the ugliest freak-face I’ve ever seen!".

• During a full game in SC1, Life Worlds where Mycon colonies have been established do not become inhospitable to other races (i.e. Shattered Worlds).

• The full game campaigns in SC1 give the impression that races have more colonies than they have in SC2.

• In the Sega SC1 campaign The Nebula, it is stated that the Yehat have multiple homeworlds hidden in a nebula, while in SC2 they have a single homeworld, outside of any nebula.

• In SC1, there is a large number of minor Precursor artifacts that can be found on various worlds and improve certain statistics of the ship that picks them, while in SC2 there are only major Precursor relics.

Discrepancies within Star Control II

• Syreen
  • The SC2 manual states that their homeworld in the Arianni constellation.
  • The SC2 manual also calls their homeworld Syrea.
  • Beta Copernicus I, as a shattered world, doesn't seem to match Talana's descriptions: it has no atmosphere (no sulfur clouds), and is not very hot (only 7 degrees centigrade).

• The Insult
  • Jeffry L. Rand's ship is given multiple names: Miwok in the SC2 manual, or Far Voyager in Hayes' account.
  • The timing of the event is also different: Hayes says that the encounter happened in 2119, while the SC2 manual says the event happened in 2126, which also conflicts with other elements in the Hayes' summary of the Ur-Quan Slave War.
• Only Hayes refers to the Yehat ruling clan as the Veep-Zeeps, every other source identifies them as the Veep-Neeps.

• Different versions of "The Words"
  • "Hold! What you are doing to us is wrong! Why do you do this thing?" -The Safe Ones, Arilou, and The Captain
  • "Hold! Why do you do this! What you are doing is wrong!" -Pkunk
  • While the Role Playing Resource Guide correctly identifies the Pkunk, it misidentifies the Melnorme and Spathi ships as places where the Words can be learned; it should list the Arilou and the Safes Ones.

• Unzervalt is Vela I in the game, but called Vela II in the SC2 manual.
• Unlike every other encounter with them, the first Probe attack on the Tobermoon just disabled it, not destroying it and everyone on board.
• According to the Resource Guide, the Faz joined the Sentient Milieu 2000 years ago, long after the first Doctrinal Conflict — this is probably a typographical error, the exclusion of the first "2" in "22,000".
• The Whackin' Bush is listed in the Role Playing Resource Guide as being harmless, while it in fact defined in the game's source code to be moderately dangerous.
• Hayes also says that the Precursors lived 200,000 years ago, while the manual and the Slylandro identify their age as 250,000 years ago.
• When impersonating Dogar and Kazon, you have the option to command the Ilwrath to deform certain words, but they don't do this except when confirming the commandment.
• The Melnorme describe the Sentient Milieu as spanning five hundred light-years, though distance in HyperSpace is not measured in light-years, but standard HyperSpace distance units.
• Mycons are described as "thriving in temperatures close to the melting point of lead" (327.5 degrees centigrade), yet none of the Shattered Worlds have surface temperatures that high (though the Mycon may live beneath the surface where the temperature is not indicated).
• The paper starmap shows that the galactic spin is to the "northwest", while in-game it is suggested that it is to the "southeast", since the Ur-Quan had traveled spinward and arrived in our region in the "northwest".

Gameplay oddities

• The Kohr-Ah wipe out the Arilou Sphere of Influence, but their homeworld is untouched (they may have just been forced to retreat entirely to QuasiSpace).
• Melnorme Trade Master Greenish is not the same captain in combat if you choose to be hostile the first time.
• Thraddash Torches can still be built at the Earth Starbase after taking the Aqua Helix; individual Thraddash will attack you, but for the rest, the game behaves as if the Alliance is still intact (bug #973).
• Normally VUX Intruders warp into the combat zone right next to the enemy ship, but in the SC2 full game this does not seem to apply.
• Although the Supox and the Utwig mention that they fight the Kohr-Ah in tandem, their spheres of influence are separated while in battle with the aforementioned Ur-Quan subspecies.
• There exists the ability to have non-Orz use Orz Marines, though it is explicitly stated that vessels of a certain species may only be captained by that species. Also, regardless of whether your crew is entirely non-human, there will always be a Bukowski, Liebermann triplets and so on.
• When the Utwig start moving towards their homeworld (retreating after their offensive against the Kohr-Ah), ships immediately appear in their star system, saying that they have returned from the battle.
• Ships "warp in" into Super Melee even if they both started in TrueSpace.
• Homeworlds are untouched until the corresponding Sphere of Influence disappears.
• Slave-shielded worlds (Gaia, Spathiwa and Unzervalt) are not cleansed by the Kohr-Ah during their Death March.
• Shattered Worlds are uninhabited by Mycon in-game.
• When the Flagship is in TrueSpace, battlegroups in HyperSpace do not move.
• If the Thraddash fleet is off fighting the Kohr-Ah, the Ilwrath still move to their space and fighting ensues... with several distance units between the opposing sides.
• In certain dialogs, some events are described as occurring "X years ago." However, this number is the same regardless of what year in the game the conversation occurs. For example, Hayes, when asked about the events after the Great War, will always say that he was transferred to the Starbase eight years ago.

Differences with the real world

• The Flagship is able to traverse the Solar System at half the speed of light without experiencing any side effects.
• The representation of star systems is simplified: planets do not move, moons are too few (especially in the Sol system), the scale (of planets, ships and distances between planets and the sun) is upside down, there are no asteroids or nebulae.
• Leyland gravity whips are a warped and simplified version of Gravitational slingshots.
• Super Melee is not to scale, obeys unrealistic physics, contains an exaggerated number of asteroids (and asteroid-planet collisions) and has ships fighting one by one instead of all together.
• Enemies are dumb, both in Super Melee and in HyperSpace.
• Some argue that the Precursor Bomb used by the Shofixti to "nova" their sun couldn't possibly be powerful enough to do that.
• Planet landings are highly unrealistic (an exaggerate number of dangers, a planet too small), and time does not pass while orbiting or exploring a planet. For example, it is possible to completely exterminate the Evil Ones species from Spathiwa with a single lander (and store them inside it), in a very short time.
• The star color ladder is not scientifically accurate (see here).
• Planetary systems are misnamed in-game "star systems".