[karajorma]

The monlogues never say that their homeworld was last.

Ancients 3
And we retreated to our home system. Abandoned our empire. We believed at home we would be safe. For they are not a terrestial species.
We know when we entered subspace we were trespassers. But our planet is our home. And yet still they came. And our world is gone.

Ancients 4
There are a few of us left. We know we will soon be gone. And so we can see our fate as others will see it. There will be little legacy. No great expressions of what we once were. Our technology, our achievements if ever they are seen again will spawn none of the awe that filled our conquests.
We know our fate. We are being eliminated. When we travelled subspace the cosmic destroyers took note.
When we conquered and colonised in galaxies where we had no place the destruction and the anguish and the loss were the clarion call of our doom. And so the destroyers came for us

Ancients 5
There is little left for us. Little time. But much irony.
We did discover they are not invulnerable. The destroyers that darkened our skies like a plague can be harmed. But we have no way to deliver the hurt.
We have the knowledge but not the means. And so this is our legacy.
In subspace they can not use their shields. And into subspace they can be tracked.

They definately lasted a while past the end of their homeworld. Looks like they retreated to their homeworld but went back out again after it was gone.

(I really ought to finish off the FAQ. I've got an unfair advantage having the text of all those monologues at my fingertips)

[aldo_14]

Thinking about it, the Shivans never attacked planets except the homeworld in FS1.... maybe the last of the Ancients were simply left for later.... maybe the Shivans aren't interested in extermination, but simply destroying the culture and the technology.

[TopAce]

But then how is that the Ancients became extinct? How come if they Shivans only destroyed their homeworld?

[aldo_14]

Who says they did?  

Maybe they simply regressed to a pre/low technology state, and simply died off slowly?

Or maybe the Shivans destroyed just enough(infrastructure, technology, key food sources) to make survival impossible?

[TopAce]

Or maybe the remaining Ancients are in unexplored space?
Isn't Inferno based around this theory?

[aldo_14]

I don't think it is, I've never played it.

One theory is that some Ancients survived and made it to Vasuda, but their technology regressed to a state that they couldn't escape elsewhere, and they either guided the Vasudans, or even became them.

(in the latter case, it assumes Ancient technology and society essentially disintegrate to a point where the true history of Vasudans was lost).

[TopAce]

Originally posted by aldo_14
I don't think it is, I've never played it.
...

This is at least common in us.

[WMCoolmon]

R1 isn't.

[BlackDove]

Anything that contains Ancients, and is set within the FS1-FS2-After timeline, doesn't make sense whatsoever.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by aldo_14
Thinking about it, the Shivans never attacked planets except the homeworld in FS1....

Well, here's what the FS1 tech room says...

The Lucifer is the greatest threat to the survival of the GTA, the PVN, and both the Terran and Vasudan species.  It wields three massive Flux Cannons which can destroy one of our capital ships in a few hits.  These same cannons have been seen bombarding colonized worlds.

Notice it says worlds, plural.  Not just Vasuda.

[TrashMan]

Originally posted by Ghost
Yeah, Trash.. Typhon is way more awesome, and more powerful... that's just how it is.

I say again...NO..

The Tech description didn't say it was the Typhon alone (it was a vasudan battlegroup WITH the new destroyer)

It never said if it was an ambush or not (attacking a damaged Orion is no real test of strength)

It could be the terrans underesitimated the new ship and lost becouse of that, and not the ships superiority.

[pyro-manic]

Or it could have jumped in and kicked the living hell out of the 4th Fleet. We don't know. There's no info either way, so it's pointless to debate it. The fact is, the Typhon is a badass ship, on level terms with the Orion (fewer weapons, but significantly more armour). The Terrans and Vasudans were stalemated for years, so it's unlikely that either side would have been able to achieve any kind of meaningful victory over the other. The two possibilities are either a mutual truce and peace treaty, or a total collapse of one or both sides, either economically or politically (or even both). Some sort of peace would have happened eventually, even if it only occurred through the inability of one or both sides to carry on fighting (no ships left, no resources to sustain the war effort).

Aldo: Was the OTT story ever published? I kind of missed the collapse to be honest...

[Ghost]

Hmph. Now, if I was any decent sort of FREDer, I'd make a mission(no beams) with an Orion vs. Typhon, and I know that should be easy, but I blow ass at making missions. Someone want to make one, just so one of us will back down?

[karajorma]

Originally posted by TrashMan


I say again...NO..

The Tech description didn't say it was the Typhon alone (it was a vasudan battlegroup WITH the new destroyer)

It never said if it was an ambush or not (attacking a damaged Orion is no real test of strength)

It could be the terrans underesitimated the new ship and lost becouse of that, and not the ships superiority.

And then they underestimated it and got ambushed in every other battle of the 14 year war?

If all the terran ships are superior then how the hell did the vasudans manage to stalemate them for so long?

[BlackDove]

They're more intelligent.

[Carl]

it says in the ending cutscene that if the shivans had never come than the terrans and vasudans would have wiped each other out.

[Kie99]

If the Typhon and the Orion fight with no beams its very dependent on position as to who'd win.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Carl
it says in the ending cutscene that if the shivans had never come than the terrans and vasudans would have wiped each other out.

No it doesn't
[q]
(6)    End of Game.  In the player’s voice.  With visuals similar enough that it will be obvious this narration is of a similar nature to the previous five.

I know why the Ancient Ones were destroyed.  And I know what they knew.

I know that if not for the Shivans they would have been conquered long before.

Without the Shivans, someone would have discovered them long before, in their infancy.  And destroyed them, just as surely as they destroyed countless billions of others.

I believe it is only the destroyers who are destroyed.  The Shivans are the great destroyers, but they are also the great preservers.  That is why there was no one to destroy us.

Long had we been the destroyer.  Our turn had nearly come.

In the Vasudan war we learned how to adapt.
We learned how to study our enemy.
We learned how to overcome.
We learned how to survive.
And so we did.

All the jump points from Earth have been destroyed.
But the Shivans can rebuild them.

[Timbre of voice shifts, closer, more personal, no reverb.]

I’m told we can expect them again.
But not in my lifetime.
Such is liberation.

May you live to see your home.
[/q]

[Ghost]

Question... where are you getting that "May you live to see your home" bit? I've never heard that before...

EDIT:: Uh.... yeah.. dependent on position? See, that's why they have engines.. so they can MOVE.

[aldo_14]

FS Ref Bible.