Author Topic: BP: War in Heaven discussion  (Read 918390 times)

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Offline General Battuta

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Not to pressure (since from my own rl creative projects I know annoying THAT is), but as a longtime Blue Planet fan I thought I'd inquire as to how WiH2 is coming along as we near the 1 year anniversary of the first half's release? Or are you guys mostly focusing on finishing the voice acting for part 1? Not that that would bother me, I've thought of auditioning myself now that I have a decent mic for work purposes.

I actually just reinstalled FS2 and started my first replay of WiH tonight. I WAS going to wait for the special edition but... well what can I say? BP is one of my favorite stories and I wanted to experience it again.

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=76041.0

 

Offline Anjelus

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Oh nice, that"s exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to see!

As far as Wings of Dawn, funny you should mention that since I just downloaded it overnight about two days ago and am just waiting for the weekend to start it up

 

Offline Deadly in a Shadow

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion

As far as Wings of Dawn, funny you should mention that since I just downloaded it overnight about two days ago and am just waiting for the weekend to start it up
It's worth the wait, trust me.
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Offline Anjelus

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Quick question while we're all here, will the next release be the end of the Blue Planet storyline?

 

Offline The E

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
No. We have plans for a Blue Planet 3 (after War In Heaven) that will wrap up the BP storyline as much as a storyline like that can be wrapped up.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
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Offline Buckshee Rounds

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
No. We have plans for a Blue Planet 3 (after War In Heaven) that will wrap up the BP storyline as much as a storyline like that can be wrapped up.

I know it's been said before but I can't find the post where it's at: what are the names for the WiH R2 acts?

 

Offline The E

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
They're called Tenebra, War in Heaven, and Revenant.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline Kolgena

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Quick question: How is the checkpoint system designed to work? I know it does some magic with ship teleportation and remembering damage, but there seems to be a bug with it in my current playthrough.

When loading a checkpoint in
Spoiler:
that mission where you run the blockade
, my ship Hull gets saved, but my secondaries do not. Loading a checkpoint always gives me full missiles. Also, disabled ships seem to get un-disabled once you load a checkpoint.

There is also this weird thing with AI shield management. I'm not sure why, but certain friendly fighters like to sit around with 0 shields, but have probably diverted energy away in the ETS so that they don't recharge. They can sit around for up to a minute sometimes without any observable shield charge. This is on insane difficulty. (Usually these are the guardian'd AI as well, if not exclusively, since most things die pretty quick if they don't care about keeping shields up)

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Quick question: How is the checkpoint system designed to work? I know it does some magic with ship teleportation and remembering damage, but there seems to be a bug with it in my current playthrough.

When loading a checkpoint in
Spoiler:
that mission where you run the blockade
, my ship Hull gets saved, but my secondaries do not. Loading a checkpoint always gives me full missiles. Also, disabled ships seem to get un-disabled once you load a checkpoint.
The checkpoint system uses campaign-persistent variables. Because of engine limitations, there is only a limited number of those. Which means that the BP team had to choose what they really wanted to save and what not. It seems that in this case, secondary ammo wasn't considered a priority.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2011, 05:43:36 am by MatthTheGeek »
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Offline General Battuta

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Yep, what Matth said.

 

Offline Kolgena

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Understood. I just never noticed it first run through because I didn't use checkpoints much, so I thought it might have been a bug that cropped up in the newer nightlies or something.

 

Offline Anjelus

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Spoiler:
So did SOC compromise the source that fed the UEF the information on the Agincourt and Carthage sometime between Aristeia and Delenda Est? Probably because they were well aware there must have been a leak somewhere for the UEF to be able to trap the Agincourt in the first place? And then Steele allowed the Carthage attack to go through with the intention of eliminating the War Gods?

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Spoiler:
So did SOC compromise the source that fed the UEF the information on the Agincourt and Carthage sometime between Aristeia and Delenda Est? Probably because they were well aware there must have been a leak somewhere for the UEF to be able to trap the Agincourt in the first place? And then Steele allowed the Carthage attack to go through with the intention of eliminating the War Gods?

It does seem so. (You can find out the identity of the leak if you read 'Conversations from War in Heaven', too. And I don't think anybody has yet figured out how the leak got the information she did.)

 
Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
vishnans did it

 

Offline Mars

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Wait, could we have figured out how she got the information?

 
Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Well, let's try. Here's the relevant conversion, from the original thread.

Quote
Bergher-Tanikawa Suites, Duchenne, New Berge, Hulldown Continent, Beta Aquilae

"Tell me why you did it."

"I don't owe you anything."

"You earned our trust, Thea. You were extraordinarily, painstakingly convincing. I would have sworn before a tribunal that you were as loyal as the day you left."

"Apparently you should find a new line of work, then."

"Is that a confession, Thea?"

"That's Rear Admiral to you, Captain."

"You were stripped of your rank and citizenship in the GTVA six hours ago. I could execute you summarily and you wouldn't even get a goddamn epitaph. So answer my question."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I will protest this injustice to the limit of my ability. Get your spooks out of my home."

"Don't play games with me. I'm here to offer you a chance at absolution."

"I wasn't aware that the Alliance had any morality left in its table of assets. Absolution seems like a stretch."

"My God. I don't know what those monsters did to you over there, but it really is as terrifying as they say, isn't it? You were the best, Thea. You knew who you were."

"Enlighten me."

"You were a patriot. You were...an honest-to-God champion of humanity."

"I wasn't aware I'd abrogated that responsibility."

"Abrogated? 'Abrogated'? You gave them the ****ing jump schedules, you traitorous piece of ****. There were ten thousand people in that - "

"Keep your voice down."

"Tell me why you did it."

"If I did something, I did it because I took an oath to secure the future of humanity."

"You are as irredeemably, unutterably lost as your commander was, aren't you?"

"I - "

"Shut up. Sergeant, secure Thea Carey and move her to the Blackbird Village site. She can still make up for the damage she's done...one way or another."

For those of you who don't remember (blasphemy! :p), Rear Admiral Thea Carey was the CO of GTD Temeraire in Age of Aquarius. She presided over most of the exploration of the alternate universe while Orestes was holding position in Delta Serpentis, and was the first flag officer to make contact with Sanctuary and see the Vishnans up close. Nonetheless, she was not among those who defected to the UEF in "Journey's End". Samuel Bei had a lot of respect for her as an officer and perceived her as quite professional and unlikely to entertain plans that involved him fulfilling his destiny and turning into a ship, which is why he stole a shuttle instead of asking nicely.

And with the summary out of the way, on to the conversation. Aside from telling us that Carey was the informant, it seems to imply that she spent some time in one of the UEF's infamous reeducation camps. Rather perplexing, as Temeraire and the rest of the 14th were stationed as far as possible from the Sol theatre to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening.

Hmm. It just occurred to be that Al'Faddil was captured by the UEF, too. So either the UEF was operating outside of Sol (unlikely in the extreme), or at least two 14th officers were allowed back in. In the latter case, the GTVA must have had very specific reasons.

My best guess is that Carey was selected by GTVI to stage her defection, got found out, and subsequently decided to defect for real. This still doesn't explain why she would have needed to know Agincourt's jump schedule, though.

The hell with it. Vishnans.  :p

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
it seems to imply that she spent some time in one of the UEF's infamous reeducation camps. Rather perplexing, as Temeraire and the rest of the 14th were stationed as far as possible from the Sol theatre to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening.
I don't think so. My hypotheses are :
1) either the arrester knew what happened to the 14th battlegroup and when he said "I don't know what those monsters did to you over there, but it really is as terrifying as they say, isn't it?", he was referring to Vishnans brain-washing em, or just the horror of facing Shivans again.
2) or, most likely, he doesn't know about that (I'd expect that to be classified to the highest level, and we don't know who this arrester is, but Captain seems a little low to have access to that info), and whatever the GTVA concocted to explain the 14th battlegroup disappearing for 2 months (or was it weeks ?) and return heavily battle-damaged involved the UEF being very terrifying or something, and that's what he refers to.
People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

Mod management tools     -     Wiki stuff!     -     Help us help you

666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

  

Offline Anjelus

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
He may be a Captain but he's interrogating her and is probably GTVI or affiliated with it. Not a stretch to assume he knows what happened to the 14th, the remaining crew were all extensively debriefed. I think it's clear he's referring to the Vishnans/Shivans.

What was he referring to when he says "there were ten thousand people in that..." though? He makes it sound like 10,000 people died but the Agincourt was taken intact?



p.s. The revelation that it was Carey blew my mind wide open. I'm not surprised they allowed her, al-Faddil and probably others to serve again, it has been 18 months and they've proven themselves extremely competent officers. I really would think it'd be interesting to learn in the future how they feel about serving with the GTVA after that fiasco... though I guess that question is certainly answered already in Carey's case.

p.p.s. When I first booted up War in Heaven I wondered what in the world a story about the Sol-GTVA war fit in with Age of Aquarius. Now though I'm realizing what an absolutely brilliant prologue that was. Kinda want to go play it all over again to start connecting more dots...

 
Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Hmm, it's possible he's talking about Shivans. I'm still leaning toward her having been one of the UEF's reeducation camp guests, though.

"My God. I don't know what those monsters did to you over there, but it really is as terrifying as they say, isn't it? You were the best, Thea. You knew who you were."

Emphasis mine. The 14th's adventure was a year and a half ago, and the reeducation camps are ongoing. The former would be referred to in the past tense, the latter would be referred to in the present tense, as it is here.

Or I might be giving way too much weight to the conjugation of one verb. :p

 

Offline Scotty

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Re: BP: War in Heaven discussion
Or it could just be the concept of fighting such a monolithic entity as the Shivans, who feel no remorse, give no quarter, and do not retreat.