Distant Worlds: Introduction of the alien races.

Mad Russian · Post by **Mad Russian** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:31 am

ORIGINAL: Duckfang

They're waiting for the final pieces of race art, not for all the race art that we haven't seen.

How do you know that?

Good Hunting.

MR

Duckfang · Post by **Duckfang** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:53 am

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

How do you know that?

Good Hunting.

MR

You asked what the difference was: that's the difference.

Wade1000 · Post by **Wade1000** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:24 am

ORIGINAL: Wade1000

17. Sulken
I assume that Erik Rutins spelling "Sluken" is a typographical error. If it is, let's hope that someone reviews it to prevent the typo from appearing in game!

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

Indeed, the insectoids ARE named "Sluken", not "Sulken" in the new game screen shots.
tm.asp?m=2402878
In the the race portrait art it is "Sulken". So maybe the artist made the mispelling.
Which is it and will it be corrected?

Gargantou · Post by **Gargantou** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:50 am

Personally I like the name Sulken more than Sluken.

Deto · Post by **Deto** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:25 am

ORIGINAL: Gargantou

Personally I like the name Sulken more than Sluken.

Sluken sounds swedish while sulken is sulk like

Gargantou · Post by **Gargantou** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:30 am

ORIGINAL: Deto

ORIGINAL: Gargantou

Personally I like the name Sulken more than Sluken.

Sluken sounds swedish while sulken is sulk like

Indeed, it's quite problematic.

I'm Swedish myself so I guess that's why I dislike the name Sluken [;)]

Shark7 · Post by **Shark7** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:28 pm

ORIGINAL: Sarissofoi

My My. Cartoonish aliens you say?
Many of alien race from sf novels or games are as you say cartoonish.
See by yourself.
Kzinti or Killrathi. Simply Lions in space

Reguls. Simply frogs in space.
Many others. Most games have them.
Space operas are full of them. Some are more wierd than others. Hard sf on the other hands dont have aliens or they are to diffrent to comunicate(and thinking about conquering them and ruling in hard sf is a blasphemy).
BTW What is a possibility that two alien race obtain in the same time faster than light drive? And then you take 3, 4 or 5? And then you take 20 race.How much is this possible? XVIII empires in space. Or even vikings in space have better propability.

But nevermind this. I hope that customisation will be easy and quick. Then anyone can do some modding for his liking.

Isn't pretty well accepted that most 'alien' races in movies and games are pretty cliche by this point?

After all, you have the almost obligatory Insectoid, Cat-people, Bear-people, Grey, etc...

Gargantou · Post by **Gargantou** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:59 pm

What we need is sharks in space to be perfectly honest!

Shark7 · Post by **Shark7** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:12 pm

ORIGINAL: Gargantou

What we need is sharks in space to be perfectly honest!

Get's my vote. [:D]

Gertjan · Post by **Gertjan** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:06 pm

Sharks? What happened to the more star trek type of aliens?

Deto · Post by **Deto** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:53 pm

ORIGINAL: Gertjan

Sharks? What happened to the more star trek type of aliens?

You mean humans with little face features?

I'd prefer more alien looking aliens vs humanoid aliens we've seen so far

Webbco · Post by **Webbco** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:01 pm

Agreed! Not just Star Trek, but I also look at aliens in games like Mass Effect 1 and 2 and assume they are humans with face paint. Ridiculous.

Gargantou · Post by **Gargantou** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:48 pm

Well let's face it, Star Trek basically pictures the milky way as some sort of galactic ZOO, personally I've become quite bored with science fiction movies/books with an abundance of alien species.

My fav sci-fi universes, Dune and BattleTech, both feature none/minimal interaction with alien civilizations.

Especially Star Wars and Star Trek makes me puke because they make it appear as though almost every planet we explore will have some form of intelligent alien species.[:'(]

In games like this though, they serve their purpose by adding variety and fun to the exploration and interaction with other species.

Wade1000 · Post by **Wade1000** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:47 am

Well, are you familiar with the Drake Equation and other estimates on the number of communicating alien civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy? Would you agree with the estimates of most scientists/astronomers?

I think that each galaxy is abundant(like millions) in communicating alien civilizations. Also, I think each galaxy is teeming with lesser advanced life.

Some might ask then why we have not yet heard from others. It's partly a matter of scale/distance. If you zoom out from our point in space to a view of the full galaxy then the range traveled by our radio signals would still be a tiny dot.

tm.asp?m=2386321&mpage=6&key= (Drake Equation page of this thread)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation
http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondearth/listening/drake.html : Drake Equation calculator
-----
from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drake.html
Drake estimates 10,000 communicating civilizations in the Milky Way today.

from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_v99FSTYc : Carl Sagan Explains the Drake Equation
Carl Sagan estimated millions of communicating civilizations in the Milky Way today.

(from http://www.angelfire.com/indie/anna_jones1/drake.html )

So, depending on the value of L, N can range from about 100 to several billion. Most likely, an intermediate value is closer to the truth, so most scientists take N = 106. Thus, there may be a million or so civilizations within our own galaxy with whom we might communicate.

This number refers to the Milky Way Galaxy only. The universe contains at least as many galaxies as there are stars in the Milky Way. The reason for the restriction to the Milky Way is because intragalactic communication seems far easier than extragalactic communication. The nearest star in our galaxy would require several years for a round-trip message, while the farthest stars require tens of thousands of years. In contrast, to exchange a message with a civilization in the Andromeda galaxy would require about 4 million years, while further galaxies would require several billion years (by which time we might well be extinct). So chances for a real conversation is much better if we limit the equation to only the Milky Way galaxy.

-----

Scale of our Milky Way galaxy and the universe sites/links:

Here are some very interesting visual scales.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U (good scenery video as it zooms from earth, travels far, then returns)

http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/un ... /index.htm (left and right slider with objects on grids)

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/525347 (wait for load then push play: VERY interesting fast or slow zoom in or out with slider; try zooming out at the human while trying to know your size significance as you slowly zoom all the way out.)

Gargantou · Post by **Gargantou** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:01 am

The Drake equation has very little basis on empirical data and factual evidence, and is based mostly around conjecture and very large assumptions.

To quote this page, http://www.michaelcrichton.com/speech-a ... rming.html

"The problem, of course, is that none of the terms can be known, and most cannot even be estimated. The only way to work the equation is to fill in with guesses. [...] As a result, the Drake equation can have any value from "billions and billions" to zero. An expression that can mean anything means nothing. Speaking precisely, the Drake equation is literally meaningless..."

Whilst I am open to the possibility that we might encounter intelligent life in our travels, I am still very doubtful that it'll be as abundant with intelligent space-faring life as is pictured in Star Trek.

Only time will tell, and as I said, I wouldn't rely on the Drake equation for estimating how likely it is and generally the only ones who do are those who absolutely want to try to prove that there is intelligent life out there. Ironic that they try to do it with a equation that is essentially useless.

And I'm well aware of how little we've seen of the universe, and how much more there could be out there(Due to how 'short' our universe has existed it's very likely there's other galaxies out there whose light hasn't yet reached our solar system.)

Sarissofoi · Post by **Sarissofoi** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:14 am

Mathematic examples and reality is two difrent things.

Wade1000 · Post by **Wade1000** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:15 am

Alright. I understand. That is the common argument against the Drake Equation. But, even applying very conservative figures into the calculation results in many numbers of communicating civilizations in our galaxy. But, yeah, that would mean nothing to those that don't accept the Drake Equation idea in general. Yes, it IS a sort of theory equation but based in the knowlede of science and the estimates of scientists.

Xenoform21 · Post by **Xenoform21** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:18 pm

Wade, i am not quite sure where you get your conservative figures, but according to current NASA estimates, the average intelligent life forms that would exist in our milky way at any given time is 2.31, which sadly i can only quote off of wikipedia. And as for conservative estimates, truly conservative estimates, the value is < 0.1, which indicates for a galaxy the size of the milky way the chance of any intelligent life existing at any point in time is one in ten.

It all depends on how you interpret the last few factors of the equation.

Sadly, the field of xenobiology is only in its infancy, and these estimates may as well be sheer guesses. Once our civilization begins to travel beyond our solar system, then we might be able to hazard a more approximate guess. As of now the error in drakes equation is equivalent to the equation itself. The factors are all there and accounted for, however, nobody can say for sure what some of those factors are.

Science may argue for a good probability of a few, but the factors of number of planets with sustainable life conditions, number of those planets evolving life, number of those planets evolving intelligent life, and number of those intelligent lifeforms with the ability to communicate are just guesses.

And, bringing this thread back to where it should be.....
Any chances of us seeing some more of these fantastic races we can play with?
Or a few more screen-shots?
I'm just dying for some more content to chew on here.

Duckfang · Post by **Duckfang** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:21 pm

Personally I'd love a short video showcasing the ship design and research portions of the game. [:D]

For me at least, those two sections of a 4X can really make or break a game and it looks like DW has done them quite well. That doesn't mean I'm not eager to take a peek, though!

Sarissofoi · Post by **Sarissofoi** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:22 pm

BTW
I am not even sure that our laws of phisics work in others part of galaxy.
End even if inteligent life exist in our galaxy comunication with them will be another thing.

BTW2
CXonservative numbers says 0.
Why? Becoze only on Earth life was created by god. Or gods. Or smething like that.

Distant Worlds: Introduction of the alien races.

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