RE: Distant Worlds: Introduction of the alien races.
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:04 pm
Yeah paranoidal bears from the east with their own GRU. But passive? Hm.
Thit is getting better.
Thit is getting better.
What's your Strategy?
https://forums.matrixgames.com:443/
Characteristics
Race Family: Ursidian
Default Reproduction Rate: 12%
Quite Intelligent (+15)
Extremely Passive (-40)
Very Cautious (+17)
Quite Unfriendly (-10)
Extremely Unreliable (-30)
Cunning Schemers: better spies +50%
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives.
The Ursidae family belongs to the order Carnivora and is one of nine families in the suborder Caniformia, or "doglike" carnivorans. Bears' closest living relatives are the pinnipeds, a clade of three families: Odobenidae (the walrus), Otariidae (fur seals and sea lions), and Phocidae (true or earless seals). Bears comprise eight species in three subfamilies: Ailuropodinae (monotypic with the giant panda), Tremarctinae (monotypic with the Spectacled Bear), and Ursinae (containing six species divided into one to three genera, depending upon authority).
The origins of Ursidae can be traced back to the very small and graceful Parictis that had a skull only 7 cm (3 in) long. Parictis first occur in North America in the Late Eocene (ca. 38 million years ago), but this genus did not appear in Eurasia and Africa until the Miocene.[2] The raccoon-sized, dog-like Cephalogale, however, is widely regarded as the most primitive ursid and is ideally suited as a representative basal taxon for the family. Cephalogale first appeared during the middle Oligocene and early Miocene (approximately 20–30 million years ago) in Europe. Cephalogale gave rise to a lineage of early bears of the genus Ursavus. This genus radiated in Asia and ultimately gave rise to the first true bears (genus Ursus) in Europe, 5 million years ago. Even among its primitive species, such as C. minor, it exhibits typical ursid synapomorphic dentition such as posteriorly oriented M2 postprotocrista molars, elongated m2 molars, and a reduction of the premolars. Living members of the ursids are morphologically well defined by their hypocarnivorous (non-strictly meat-eating) dentitions, but fossil ursids include hypercarnivorous (strictly meat-eating) taxa, although they never achieved the extreme hypercarnivory seen in mustelids. Cephalogale was a mesocarnivore (intermediate meat-eater).[3] Other extinct bear genera include Arctodus, Agriarctos, Plionarctos and Indarctos.
ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort
Well Mad Russian, you've got Dog-Bears and bugs - you getting excited yet? [;)]

ORIGINAL: shinobu
All the races look great! When do we get to preview the hot female warrior humanoid Amazonian race? (Sorry, just wishful thinking... [;)] )
ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
ORIGINAL: shinobu
All the races look great! When do we get to preview the hot female warrior humanoid Amazonian race? (Sorry, just wishful thinking... [;)] )
My wife has been following along about the game and she said to tell you that all the art has been of female warriors so far...can't you tell by looking....[&:]
That doesn't seem right, heh. Arthropod and reptilian should be two different types of creature. The Haakonish look and seem octopus-like. If they are then they maybe should be called "a bipedal cephalopod"(Class).ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Next up, the Haakonish:
A bipedal arthropod race...
Characteristics
Race Family: Reptilian
I always like the aliens to have a variety of body shapes other than just humanoid and at least one of each of:
-a robotic/android race
-a cyborg race(part machine, part biological)
-a parasitic assimilating(absorbs and incorporates), bio-mass using race similiar to 'Zerg' of Starcraft, 'The Flood' of Halo, 'Tyranids' of Warhammer 40,000, or others similiar. (Sulken most likely for now)
-(one or more) insectoid race similiar to ants, wasps, mantis, and roaches (Sulken can be one)
-a spider like race
-a crab like race (Done)
-an under water habitat race (Done)
-an ice habitat race (Done)
-a floater, gas giant planet dwelling race
-a scaled reptilian race
-a feathered avian race
-a furred mammalian race (Done)
-an amphibious race (Done)
-a tentacled race (Hakonish maybe)
ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Getting back on topic, here's the race I've most recently been at war with and they are tough!
Short insectoid race with thick black exoskeleton covering. Sluken have many small forearms enabling them to perform multiple actions simultaneously.
Sluken are very aggressive and intelligent. A central theme in their customs involves a macabre reverence of death.
Sluken have the bizarre and gruesome ability to incorporate into their own bodies the biological appendages and organs from other alien races. Thus some Sluken have additional limbs, eyes or other body parts.
Some other alien races allege that Sluken are in fact genetically modified creatures, designed as an ultimate warrior race. But the Sluken themselves denounce such claims as outrageous slander.
Sluken technology includes the StarBurner XX-12, a very fast and powerful engine. With these engines, Sluken star ships are able to outrun nearly any opponent.
Sluken are found in dry temperate regions of Continental and Marshy Swamp planets
Characteristics
Race Family: Insectoid
Default Reproduction Rate: 16%
Quite Intelligent (+8)
Very Aggressive (+19)
Slightly Cautious (+3)
Very Unfriendly (-18)
Very Unreliable (-20)
Warrior Class: troop maintenance -20%
Fierce Rivalry: lower war weariness -40%
Special Government: Hive Mind
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Heh, funny and intersting point.ORIGINAL: shinobu
ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
ORIGINAL: shinobu
All the races look great! When do we get to preview the hot female warrior humanoid Amazonian race? (Sorry, just wishful thinking... [;)] )
My wife has been following along about the game and she said to tell you that all the art has been of female warriors so far...can't you tell by looking....[&:]
Russian: It's very obvious that your wife is a formidable warrior in her own right. Touché, milady. [&o]
ORIGINAL: Wade1000
If the following assumptions are correct then I really love the way you are organizing the races. I already really like the way the race orginizations seem to be. They might need fine tuning/polish though.
(In this post, {"family"} refers to your terming in the race characteristic statistics. {Family} refers to real life biological science grouping Family.)
(*Referencing www.wikipedia.org for the taxonomy classification by typing in animal names and such.)
(Life-Domain-Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(biology)
For simplicity of organizing this post I am assuming that you want to "family" group the races according to one of the most appropriate narrowed down, real life, biological science, groupings like: Phylum, Class, Order, or Family.
I recommend doing that. It might be better to change your "family" word to maybe "grouping".
For our Human perspective, this could just mean that lore wise, it is a way for the in game Humans(or aliens using their translated words and similiar planetary flora and fauna) to relate to and understand the foreign biologies of alien races. (I hope that made sense.)
Also, I will assume that the descriptive terms you use in the introduction of some of the races(not the "family" terms in the statistics) are just popular descriptive nicknames(like "insectoid" and "amphibian").
You might be using popular, (non-scientific/non-biological), nicknames(like "insectoid" and "amphibian") to describe the in game "family" for the race characteristic statistics. Also, maybe your in game "family" is just to group races for planetay environment habitation and diplomatic relations.
If these two are correct then that can get odd or confusing though when we see a picture of a race yet it doesn't seem to fit your "family" name.
If you are using biological Family as the "family" race characteristic then it might be good to stay on that .
The Keterovs of "family" Ursidian does match as "bear" Family of Ursidae. (Thus, they are more bear than dog but bear-dog sounds good as a description.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursidae
Dogs, as we know them, are of Family Canidae.
That doesn't seem right, heh. Arthropod and reptilian should be two different types of creature. The Haakonish look and seem octopus-like. If they are then they maybe should be called "a bipedal cephalopod"(Class).ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Next up, the Haakonish:
A bipedal arthropod race...
Characteristics
Race Family: Reptilian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
Their "family"(group) maybe should be Cephalopoda(Class) or Octopoda(Order)...if they are not reptile.
An arthropod is a crustaceans, spider, or insect. They have exo-skelotons and segmented bodies.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Arthropod
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
Reptiles are of Class Reptilia. If the Haakonish are reptiles(reptilian) then they maybe should be described as "a bipedal reptilian" with a "family"(Grouping) of Reptilia(Class).
-----
(*Referencing www.wikipedia.org for the taxonomy classification by typing in animal names and such.)
We have:
descriptive nickname ----- Grouping(maybe change your "family" title to "grouping")
01. Keterov: mammalian ----- ursidian(maybe should be Ursidae(Family))
05. Quameno: amphibian ----- amphibian(maybe should be Amphibia(Class); like frogs, toads, and salamanders)
07. Ackdariun: none(if lthey are like seals then maybe should be mammilian) ----- none(if they are like seals then maybe should be Pinnipedia(Superfamily))
(They look like a mixture of mammal and reptile with insect or reptile like-eyes: maybe something like Monotremata(Platypus and Echidna)
-Platypus has: genetic makeup/ties of/to mammals, birds, and reptiles; has fur, milk through skin, feathers, duck-like bill, webbed feet, venom-filled spurs
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/2545
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/ge ... -map_N.htm
http://www.itsnature.org/news/secrets-o ... -revealed/
08. Haakonish: arthropod(means crustaceans, spiders, insects thus wrong; maybe should be Cephalopoda(Class) or amphibian) ----- Reptilian(maybe should be Cephalopoda(Class) or Octopoda(Order) or if reptiles: Reptilia(Class)
.12 Weekarus: none(maybe should be amphibias crustacean)(crab/lobster people, heh, cool) ----- Amphibian(maybe should be Crustacea(Subphylum))
.15 Ugnari: none(maybe should be rodent) ----- rodent(maybe should be Rodentia(Order))
17. Sulken: insectoid ----- insectoid(maybe should be Insecta(Class))