[NGTM-1R]

Apparently mammalian. Breathe oxygen at roughly the same amount.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Do they live in similar architecture as well?

[ShadowGorrath]

You can see a sketch of what appears to be a Vasudan city/skyscrapers in FS2 credits.

[Rick James]

There's also that one cutscene removed from the final version of FreeSpace: The Great War that depicts the evacuation of one of Vasuda Prime's major cities, which looks shiny and oddly Terran to me.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I think you mixed that up with IceyJones' cutscene of the SD Lucifer arriving to bombard Vasuda Prime.

[Snail]

There's also that one cutscene removed from the final version of FreeSpace: The Great War that depicts the evacuation of one of Vasuda Prime's major cities, which looks shiny and oddly Terran to me.

That's not canon, it was done by a fan active on these forums. You might even see him once in a while.

But there is a command briefing animation in FS1 that is pretty much the same thing, and yeah, the city depicted in that command briefing animation is more or less the same as a large Terran city.

However, the Vasudan species entry describes Vasudan settlements as either underground, sheltered or domed.

[Solatar]

When do you think they first 'discovered' space travel? The Terrans achieved it in the 1900's, but the Vasudans were "forced prematurely" into space. Could they have gone even earlier?

[Stormkeeper]

Probably. Assuming they had contact with the Ancients, its safe to assume that the Ancients helped them achieve space travel, either through slavery or through technological assistance.

[colecampbell666]

But they never contacted the Ancients, they had been dead for 9000 years. I think it means that Vasuda was ill-equipped to support the population.

[Topgun]

they wouldn't have died if they beat the shivans.

[Eishtmo]

All of you are forgetting the theory that the Vasudans ARE the Ancients, or what's left of them at least.

I'm not strictly a fan of that in any case, rather not support it.

We don't know how long the Vasudans have been in space.  It is likely they were forced there, in mass, earlier than Terrans (we still don't have any colonies on other worlds, it's likely the Vasudans would have in the same time frame), but I doubt on the whole it's much longer than the GTA.  At the very least, the Vasudans probably achieved Inter-System subspace travel sooner as they seem to have more well established colonies than the Terrans do (considering they've been in space for something like 20 years when FS1 starts).

The real limitation is actually available resources.  Vasuda Prime is NOT a pleasant place, so resources to conduct early space flight, or anything beyond a very primative technology base might have been a strain.  10,000 years might be how long it took them to develop what few resources they had to build a truly industrial civilization.  But we can't really know, there just isn't enough information.

[colecampbell666]

The real limitation is actually available resources.  Vasuda Prime is NOT a pleasant place, so resources to conduct early space flight, or anything beyond a very primative technology base might have been a strain.  10,000 years might be how long it took them to develop what few resources they had to build a truly industrial civilization.  But we can't really know, there just isn't enough information.

What I was thinking is that Vasuda Prime, being a desert planet, had plenty of raw materials, and thus the Zods were able to build more technologically advanced ships, and mass-produce them cheaply.

[Droid803]

Deserts have plenty of raw materials?
I thought they just had lots of sand, and what rock there is is buried deep beneath it.

[Snail]

But they never contacted the Ancients, they had been dead for 9000 years. I think it means that Vasuda was ill-equipped to support the population.

The FS1 tech entry claims the same dynasty ruled Vasuda Prime for 10,000 years. The Ancients disappeared 8,000 years ago. The times overlap: They could have met each other.

[Droid803]

Humans have also existed for that long. We could have met them too. 

[colecampbell666]

and what rock there is is buried deep beneath it.

But they never contacted the Ancients, they had been dead for 9000 years. I think it means that Vasuda was ill-equipped to support the population.

The FS1 tech entry claims the same dynasty ruled Vasuda Prime for 10,000 years. The Ancients disappeared 8,000 years ago. The times overlap: They could have met each other.

Remember, the Shivans only go after subspace-faring races.

[Snail]

Humans have also existed for that long. We could have met them too. 

The Vasudans were ruled by the same dynasty for 8,000 years. Plus, it is hinted that the Vasudans were visited by the Ancients. In fact, it's pretty much common knowledge in the Vasudan population that some space-faring civilization visited the Vasudans in their infancy. That's where the HoL legends came from. So no rollyes there, mate.

[Eishtmo]

What I was thinking is that Vasuda Prime, being a desert planet, had plenty of raw materials, and thus the Zods were able to build more technologically advanced ships, and mass-produce them cheaply.

We can probably figure it has the same mineral resources as Earth, yes, but it definetly lacks one resource:  Water.  It has so little water, the Vasudans have develped ways to drink some of the nastiest water there is, and there is STILL some source of water on Vasuda Prime they won't touch.  You'd be amazed how much lack of water can retard the developement of a civilization.

The Vasudans were ruled by the same dynasty for 8,000 years.

A thought on that:  I'm willing to bet it is the same dynasty in name only.  The family linage has probably broken and scattered mutliple times, so when the new Emperor takes the throne, he (or she) simply BECOMES a member of the first family, even if they aren't related by anything at all.  10,000 years is a LONG time, and even the longest lived dynasties on Earth might only have lasted a couple hundred years at most.

[Snail]

We can probably figure it has the same mineral resources as Earth, yes, but it definetly lacks one resource:  Water.  It has so little water, the Vasudans have develped ways to drink some of the nastiest water there is, and there is STILL some source of water on Vasuda Prime they won't touch.  You'd be amazed how much lack of water can retard the developement of a civilization.

All the surface water is described as undrinkable even by Vasudans in the FS1 tech entry.

A thought on that:  I'm willing to bet it is the same dynasty in name only.  The family linage has probably broken and scattered mutliple times, so when the new Emperor takes the throne, he (or she) simply BECOMES a member of the first family, even if they aren't related by anything at all.  10,000 years is a LONG time, and even the longest lived dynasties on Earth might only have lasted a couple hundred years at most.

That's probably true, but there's a large possibility it's a lot more coherent than Terran early history (ie. more communication between populations and more knowledge passed down)

[Solatar]

I always thought that referred to the fact that one of the "dynasties" survived until modern times. One tribe rose to be the most powerful, and eventually united the entire planet.

I doubt very much the Vasudans were a planet-state 10,000 years ago.