Discrepancies in the Star Control universe

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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

  • 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 Safe Ones.
  • Unzervalt is Vela I in the game, but called Vela II in the SC2 manual.
  • In the 3DO opening video, Unzervalt is not a Water World.
  • 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".
  • Two (not necessarily contradictory) reasons are given for the insults used by a Pkunk Fury's captain. The manual says that the Fury's secondary recharges the ship's batteries. The Pkunk say that the insults, in fact, throw them into a frenzy, lest their peaceful nature forbids them from attacking the enemy ship.
  • The SC2 manual implies that the Androsynth warped into HyperSpace from near the Asteroid Belt during their Clone Revolt, while all other canon sources deem hyperspacing from inside a planetary system impossible.

Simplifications

Some aspects of the game are simplifications of features described elsewhere in the game, or the real world. They are often simplified representations of what is actually going on, and as such are not strictly inconsistencies. These simplifications are probably made out of technical limitations, or for putting gameplay above accuracy.

  • Missing features of real objects (eg. moons and rings in the Sol system, no asteroids or nebula)
  • No relativistic effects
  • Ships "warp in" into Super Melee even if they both started in TrueSpace.
  • When the Flagship is in TrueSpace, battlegroups in HyperSpace do not move.
  • In certain dialogs, some events are described as occurring "X years ago" or "X years in the future". 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.
  • Leyland gravity whips are a warped and simplified version of Gravitational slingshots.
  • 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.
  • Enemies are dumb, both in Super Melee and in HyperSpace.
  • Super Melee is not to scale, contains an exaggerated number of asteroids (and asteroid-planet collisions) and has ships fighting one by one instead of all together.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Differences with the real world

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