[corvette108048]

What race is your fav mine has to be The Ancients because you don't know if they still exist or where wiped out by the Shivans.

[Dark Hunter]

My favorite is the Shivans. How can you not like Shivans. They are what few great enemies are anymore: mysterious. Mysterious and powerful. Very very powerful.

[Fang_Taichou]

If the Ancients were still around after 8000 years, where would they be?  Wouldn't they have rebuilt by now?

Anyways, Shivans as a race are awesome.  I mean, who doesn't like those cuddly 5-legged, compound eyed cybernetic beasts with freakin' lasers attached to their heads!?   

That plus their suicidal attitude of 'lets supernova this system and kill everyone including our guys for the heck of it' comes out as a winner 

Although, the guys you fly with in the last mission of the 2nd SOC loop (the one with the comm nodes) gives humanity an honourable mention 

[corvette108048]

Well the thing is with The Ancients you don't know anything about them if there good if there bad I remember back like in 2001 when they where making a story for FS3 that the Shivans where the least of the GTVA's worries

[IceFire]

Who was making a story about what?

All that was ever said about that subject was from Dave Baranec who said he was interested in showing that the Shivans were only part of the problem (or thereabouts) and that they were interested in doing ships that affected the gameplay environment like a planet.  So we can derive from that two things:

1) The Shivans are only part of a greater problem.  Problems aren't always physical in terms of species versus species.  You cannot draw conclusions.  The problem could even be subspace or something even more abstract.

2) They wanted really big ships of the deathstar size/variety (although perhaps not purpose).

From what we know from the writers of the two FreeSpace stories the ancients have served their purpose and passed their messages along but they aren't mean to ever come back.  They are dead and gone as far as we know.  Having them come back I think would ruin the whole thing although I'd love to run into more left over stuff.

[Frosty]

I'd have to say the shivans. I don't think that I  have ever played another game like fs2 where the bad guys end up soundly kicking your butts in every single way (also extremely aggravating I WANT CLOSURE!!).

[Flipside]

I think it's that lack of closure that has kept Freespace alive all these years to be honest

[corvette108048]

Who was making a story about what?

All that was ever said about that subject was from Dave Baranec who said he was interested in showing that the Shivans were only part of the problem (or thereabouts) and that they were interested in doing ships that affected the gameplay environment like a planet.  So we can derive from that two things:

1) The Shivans are only part of a greater problem.  Problems aren't always physical in terms of species versus species.  You cannot draw conclusions.  The problem could even be subspace or something even more abstract.

2) They wanted really big ships of the deathstar size/variety (although perhaps not purpose).

From what we know from the writers of the two FreeSpace stories the ancients have served their purpose and passed their messages along but they aren't mean to ever come back.  They are dead and gone as far as we know.  Having them come back I think would ruin the whole thing although I'd love to run into more left over stuff.

Thanks that is about what I exactly read 4 or 5 years ago Time must have twisted my mind

[Snail]

Me likes Shivans.

[Ghostavo]

The Shivans are what makes the FS series unique. In spite of being the main oponent in two games, the Shivans still give the player a feeling of helplessness unlike any game. In most other games the player's oponent comes off as an overhyped pushover that doesn't inspire anything but boredom.

Shivans FTW.

[foolfromhell]

If the Ancients were still around after 8000 years, where would they be?  Wouldn't they have rebuilt by now?

They might have kept a low profile and stopped using subspace so the Shivans didnt come to them...

[Jeff Vader]

Has anyone else read novels written by Alastair Reynolds? Maybe a year ago I read Redemption Arc and was actually mind-boggled, because the Inhibitors presented there seem quite similar to Shivans. Not in all aspects, of course, but for example in the sense that they passively monitor the happenings of the world and, when necessary, prevent civilisations from becoming too advanced. The Shivans were apparently doing the same, if we listen to what the Ancient narrator tells in FS1. When the Ancients entered subspace, the Destroyers took note. In the same way the Inhibitors interfere with a species, if it triggers a passive alarm system set up by the Inhibitors.

[Fang_Taichou]

If the Ancients were still around after 8000 years, where would they be?  Wouldn't they have rebuilt by now?

They might have kept a low profile and stopped using subspace so the Shivans didnt come to them...

Possible, but the xenocidal nature of the Shivans probably doesn't distinguish between space-faring races or planetary ones.

I'd guess the Shivans were 'programmed' by someone else eons ago on a mission of extermination, or...
They are ancient 'caretakers', like the Nomads from Freelancer.

But Shivans are still awesome nonetheless.  I mean, what other race has a ship that looks like a giant bug which can toast a Colossus juggernaut within a minute and sacrifices their juggernauts as if they were zerglings?

[Jeff Vader]

[Possible, but the xenocidal nature of the Shivans probably doesn't distinguish between space-faring races or planetary ones.

I disagree with that part, since it was implied that the Shivans were most sensitive about subspace activity and the Ancients draw the Shivans' attention to themselves by traveling via subspace.

Then again, your Nomad comparison doesn't sound impossible at all. Good point.

[Ghostavo]

The Ancient's monologue indicates that when a species is being hunted by Shivans, they won't stop even if they retreat to their home planet.

And we retreated to our home system.
Abandoned our empire.
We believed at home we would be safe.

For they are not a terrestrial 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.

[Black Wolf]

The Ancient's monologue indicates that when a species is being hunted by Shivans, they won't stop even if they retreat to their home planet.

The destruction of Vasuda Prime and near destruction of Earth didn't tip you off to that little tidbit?

[Ghostavo]

No, I need a pretty monologue to get the hint.

[Bob-san]

Shivans were awesome--their very presence is a nightmare in the mind of every Terran and Vasudan.

We all can imagine this--we encounter something that shares no commonality with us. They're faster, stronger, and smarter then us, not to mention outnumber us a thousand to one. They have weapons we have only dreamed of and are nearly immune to our offensive. They seem immortal--even after we finally squish one, they're immediately replaced by another. They appear out of nowhere and destroy everything--they leave nothing.

Anyways--the Shivans are definitely the #1 race in all sci-fi... in my opinion at least!

[Snail]

If we're thinking about ALL sci-fi, what about the Space Chicken? It wiped out all of Andromeda in 3 days!

[akenbosch]

shivans with notepad and and FRED2. they can do anything.