Since the end of Sins of a Solar Empire is almost upon us, in the form of Diplomacy, there are some unanswered questions the campaign (or storyline) of SOASE leaves un-checked in both the Vanilla and Entrenchment expansions. I hope that Diplomacy will shed some light on this.
As the very name of the game suggests, each of the Empire's in the known Galaxy has had some sort of sin or sins in it's past or present, and that the current war is the result of this. Not only does the story-line say this, but several very early trailers say this as well. To begin, let's re-cap on the 3 races.
The ancient Vasari race, once the most powerful in the Galaxy, until an experiment at a transportation research facility went haywire 10,000 years ago, and began ravaging everything in it's path.
The Advent, a group of deeply psionic people who exiled themselves from the rest of humanity on a Desert planet to escape what they called the "Great Wars of Antiquity". The Advent lived well, until the Traders arrived, and banished them from their homeworld.
The Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC) the Traders were a prosperous people, whose society was based on expansion, trade, and peace. They flourished without war for centuries, until the Exodus Fleet, all that was left of the Vasari, started to take over the Trader worlds. The Traders formed the TEC to combat the threat, and quickly turned a civilian fleet into a fleet of war. However, the Advent have returned to exterminate their long lost bretheren.
Now, there are several question's I'd already like to ask, but let's see how our races match up in terms of sinners and saints.
The Vasari have sinned in many ways, genocide, enslavery, stealing... and what else?
The Advent are called sinners by the TEC for their unusual and "Taboo'ed" Psitech, they also seem to have a lust for revenge.
The TEC, however, aren't prominent Sinners. Their most sinful recorded act is their exile of the Advent 1,000 years ago. And that's nothing compared to the thousands of races the Vasari did this to before.
Now, for my questions. I sincerely hope that at least 1/3 of these will be answered in the Diplomacy expansion.
What have the Vasari created (or unleashed) that is so powerful they had to flee for thousands of years?Is the current war the Final Chapter in Vasari history?Why are the Vasari suffering the least in this war, when technically, they have the most Sins to account for?
Is the Advent Psitech a gift, or is it the sin that will lead to their demise?How long do the Advent plan on revenge?At what point will their bloodlust cease?
What have the Trader's done in their past to deserve such punishment as they are recieving in this war?What was the "Great war of Antiquity" that the Advent refer to as the ancestors of the TEC?Why are they suffering the most during this war, when they've Sinned the least?
Who holds the key to the Future of the Galaxy?When will the Vasari Nemesis arrive?Is Diplomacy saying that, once the Nemisis does arrive, the 3 factions will form 1 to fight off this unknown foe?
Ideas?
Koda0 (^)
The Traders forcefully expelled the original Advent people from their homeworld, which obviously has enormous religious and cultural meaning to them. This is a large sin to the Advent, which thereafter based their entire culture on revenge for this injustice. In addition, the Trader worlds were largely ineffective and bickered even as the Vasari threat loomed, so they may be paying for that sin as well, until the TEC was organized. Even then, the game mentiones the formation of TEC as highly controversial, as individual Trader worlds gave up their home rule to face their enemies. Their indesiviness is definately a sin that the Traders must be punished for. Oh, and they created Marza Dreadnoughts.
The Advent obviously used rather shady technologies and bioengineering, and again based their entire culture on revenge, a grevious sin. They're losing their resources and worlds to the other two sides over what could possibly be settled diplomatically.
And the Vasari are evil alien conquerors. Forced labor, cloning and eugenics, and they refuse to try any peaceful methods with dealing with the Traders. Heck, their looming theat could be a divine punishment for their rather cruel treatment towards native species.
Of all the races, I'd say the Vasari are suffering most, as they are losing any way to continue their Exodus. The Traders also are suffering, but that's because they're in a two-front defensive war, instead of any repentance.
each of the three factions is guilty of some very unpleasant deeds and have some very unpleasant characteristics about their society.
the Vasari subjugate and enslave what they consider "lesser races". they also ruthlessly strip down planets of natural resources, knowing that they're temporary and expendable since the Vasari exile fleet is just going to move on in a century or so.
the Advent are religious fanatics who react violently to "non-believers". they're also obsessed with revenge against the Trader Worlds for sending them into exile.
the Trader worlds are basically bigots and out of control capitalists. they could not tolerate the different society of the Advent so they threatened them and forced them to leave. they couldn't unite against the common Vasari threat until it was almost too late already because they were too concerned with protecting their individual profits. the Trade Emergency Coalition (TEC) is a totalitarian military junta formed at the last minute to confront the Vasari.
Entrenchment indicates a change in all the races' philosiphies towards war: they are focusing on defense.
I think that the next expansion will take this to the next level. I think it will indicate that each race will evolve in its own unique direction.
Whereas Entrenchment indicates that all races are focusing on one thing defense, I think that the next few expasnions might have the races focus in different areas.
Of couse, the next one is still on non-combat, but I think we will see more and more differences between them.
That is an interesting thought. It is questions like these that make me want to see a campaign.
Very interesting thought there. We know the Advent did something horrible that got them cast out by the rest of humanity. But what price did they pay to gain thier psionic gifts?
And the opening cinematic of Sins would have us believe that the Vasari did something 10000 years ago that may have forced thier exodus. To play a quote from Star Control 2: "The Androsynth showed themselves, and something noticed them. There are no more Androsynth now. Only Orz."
To be fair to the Traders, the original Advent people, when contacted, apparently broke all the moral guides which the Trader Coalition was founded upon. However, this wouldn't of been a problem at all if the Traders never made contact, which was purely a result of expanding trade routes. Furthermore, then the Traders demonized the Advent, and used them as fantastical monsters in stories to justify expelling them.
I was under the impression that the main reason TEC was hugely unpopular was because the individual planets would be forced to give up self-rule instead of simple greed. Kind of like the ancient Greeks, in a way.
Me, personnaly I think that the Trader's true Sins lie in thier past (hence the reference to what the Advent call the "Great Wars of Antiquity") all throughout the TEC there are references to how violent and destructive humanity was until the Traders formed. The sins of their past seem to be dominating their future, as the TEC seems to be losing the war the most. I get how the Vasari have sinned, and how the Advent continue(?) to sin, but the TEC continues (to me, anyway) to be the race that holds the future of the galaxy, by unlocking the destructive ways of thier past. At least, for now, anyway. If not, the Vasari's retribution is marching this way...
Koda0
Also, w/ Entrechment being out now, Will the Sinners or the Saints be able to re-group and attack?
After diplomacy happens causing a lessening of the wars between the factions, then perhaps what is chasing the Vasari will arrive, forcing the factions who are starting to be diplomatic into becoming allies. It may require the economy of the Trader Emergency Coalition to be the backbone for the war, the phase and nanotechnology of the Vasari to enhance the other two factions technologically, and the psionic abilities of the Advent to creep the hell out of the enemy.
If this is supposed to be a debate over who has sinned the most, I think it is Vasari>TEC>Advent. If it is who is suffering the most, I'd have to say Vasari=TEC>Advent, mainly because the Advent have already suffered the loss of their homeworld and seem to have taken much TEC territory.
Maybe I'm sympathetic to the Advent because I don't think revenge (for this crime anyways) or psytech (and whatever techniques were used to gain their powers) should count as Sins, though they can certainly be weaknesses. The real Sins of the Advent seems to be their fanaticism (though they've yet to give any specific examples so this is kind of an assumption) and their caste system. I know the latter has been debated in regaurds to the extent of female and "super" psyonic domination of Advent society, but it seems to be pretty significant. Of course Diplomacy or what comes after it could change all of these assumptions.
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