1. If you're looking for help-related things (for example, the key rebinding tutorial), please check the FAQ and Q&A forum! A lot of the stickies from this forum have been moved there to clean up space.
    Dismiss Notice

Support for the Terrene Protectorate?

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by Combozone, Jun 29, 2017.

  1. florinblain

    florinblain Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Really? In that case I haven't a clue why Esther would think you're the last Protector in existence. (Then again even if there aren't Protectorate bases beyond the one on Earth I don't know why she'd jump to that conclusion.)
     
  2. M_Sipher

    M_Sipher Oxygen Tank

    Never mistake technological advancement for not being stupid.

    It's impressive how often those two things do NOT go together.
     
  3. florinblain

    florinblain Subatomic Cosmonaut

    The impetus to establish colonies as far and wide as possible has very little to do with either intelligence or technology, though. Even the most basic organisms do it.
     
  4. whipping post

    whipping post Cosmic Narwhal

    guys, the protectorate is just a rip off of star trek. and they were basically like the UN, except they did more stuff. while there was certainly conflict in that show, their overarching organization (idk what its call- OH YEAH STARFLEET RIGHT?) was pretty small, for example didn't have like huge standing armies and shit, no dreadnoughts or whatever. what they had were scientifically advanced vessels, well-equipped science crews, and they did a lot of what we do in game. fix problems, guide civilizations, generally help out. and yeah, they had some enemies (where allegories can be drawn to other major factions in the SB universe) but they weren't constantly at war trying to preserve their fantastic tech, they were running around helping people in crisis

    i mean, who tries to rob the red cross? it happens, but it's pretty damn taboo. i've always imagined the protectorate as insulated like this. like, why would you wanna kill that guy? he's on his way to help Marv find water

    anyhow, on the notes of human population at least, w/r/t @florinblain 's point about the populated universe, there are two codexes of note that tell us canonically human presence was quite small. one excerpt lists the largest family unit recorded universe wide as a settlement with five families, and another puts the total number of humans at a little over fifteen million permanently settled, whiiiiich is freakin paltry. this canonically establishes that, in the starbound universe, most humans do not, in fact, wanna go out and colonize worlds.

    EDIT: ah, i see you've seen these codexes and simply don't care. nothing for it, then!

    given this sort of homebody character trait, and the fact that the humans were the ones who spearheaded the protectorate, them being centralized totally makes sense
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
  5. M_Sipher

    M_Sipher Oxygen Tank

    Those codexes also note that the number of NOMADIC humans is UNKNOWN.

    And I broke down just how friggin' common humans are in the game earlier. Seems like humans are everywhere, they just either keep wandering or return to Earth after some wandering.

    Basically, I have no problems with the idea that, given a post-scarcity world where interstellar travel is a matter of hours-to-days, and our penchant for romanticizing travel, that humanity could -especially in the rather silly universe that is Starbound- basically turn into a race of this guy:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. florinblain

    florinblain Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Heh, if you don't think the Federation was ever at war, or that they didn't have a giant fleet or a massive presence in the galaxy, then you need to watch more Star Trek.

    I absolutely do care about those codices: I'm specifically criticising them, because it makes little sense for humans to be the only species in the galaxy with no interest in establishing colonies away from their home planet. Unless the writers at Chucklefish felt they urgently needed to create a situation in which the attack in the intro left an entire species "endangered" and the player character as the "last Protector".

    If they had wanted to increase the narrative impact of the attack on Earth by having it also trigger an extinction event they could've also made it more believable by having humanity be a "young race" that hadn't done much spacefaring, but on the contrary, they're one of the more technologically advanced species in Starbound and also the driving force behind the Protectorate. And that's to say nothing of the USCM. The game presents humans as simultaneously a race of homebodies who have little interest in spreading beyond their home planet, and galactic bandits, and a uniting force for all races in the galaxy. Their characterisation in the game is just all over the place.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
  7. Namtazar

    Namtazar Subatomic Cosmonaut

    This conversation start to be a little tense. Relax friends! Everybody here have they ovn vision of Protectorate. This game is great because you can write your own story based on what you see. For me it is more like an Orden (order? not good in english, sigh) like jedy one or another semi religious or philosophical organisation that turns to be really powerful somehow. You know - giant book of Protectorate rules and codexes, first Protectorate uniform that looks like a robe or mantle, matter manipulator as a symbol (almost worship symbol, yeah).
    So we have humans, that acting like isolationists ans prefer to be on Earth. It is make sense because humans have this gift - matter manipulator. With all this time they have it i am sure humans just make Earth a living paradise. And with pixel printer tech combined with matter manipulator you really don't need to go outside Earth looking for better life. Of course there is always be adventurers who seek something new, but they always can return to Earth with teleporter! Knowing about this can make even a strongest adventurer a little lazy, you know... "I can make this adventure tomorrow. Just mark this coordinates on my nav screen or teleporter.." I can imagine that Protectorate on Earth was started as an organisation who really want to brake this isolation, explore the Universe. They start to Protect all this Explorers who really want to go outside usual places . First from Earth, but then from any race.
    And about Esther says that Protagonist a very last of the Protectors... She really choose a strange way to call for help. I mean - radio signal sended through ancient gates that placed on forbidden planets, really? Maybe she just CAN'T reach another Protectors by usual radio or whatever connection? She can be a little panicked then, start all this "help me - activate Gates to Outpost" things and call our hero the last possible Protector... We know some anomalies starts in space after Ruin attacked. Erchius ghosts and creatures, cultists.... Maybe something wrong with space communications too? Also our ship doesn't have any coordinates of really important places at all. I mean 0 we cant fly to any racial Homeworld, we dont know where in space is actually Outpost are. We can teleport to Floran, Hylotl and other homeworlds on this missions, but we dont know its space coordinates - only this teleport specific! It can be some sort of protection - You cant send much forces thought teleport and if you dont know space coords - you cant send ship to this planet. If this theory is right - we simply don't know coordinates of existent Protectorate bases. We just a graduates.
     
    STCW262 likes this.
  8. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Actually, about the ships, it now turns out that, according to the Starbound Chronicle (And the wiki, which mentions this), "powering up the ship's FTL drive in the atmosphere causes a massive explosion on the planet, but the ship survives", which seems to be copt-out of how the ships in the background of the end of the prologue apparently explode. This seems to indicate that there's clearly more surviving ships.
    As for fuel, for all we know, the methods of harvesting it could change. For instance, Erchius harvesting operations could change to be as quick as possible in order to minimize the risk of Erchius Ghosts, or be automated...
     
  9. Namtazar

    Namtazar Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Good, but i wonder how many of this ships is from Protectorate? We met at least one survival from Earth on Outpost. This woman say she just barely escape Earth but she is obviously not a Protector. Still we don't know how many of Protectors could escape from Earth on ships or with teleport devices. Esther can mistake to call Protagonist the last one. And again. Protagonist ship was damaged after escape so i guess if any other ships can survive Ruin attack and go away - they can be heavily damaged too, can be in unknown part of space as our hero are and without matter manipulator they sure have problems with repairs.
    Of course they change methods of fuel harvesting or even the source of fuel itself. Question is - how fast they can do it and how much this "fuel crisis" can hurt the universe. With last update we see many ships flying around, many space stations and other things... and they all need some fuel for FTL drives.
     
  10. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Well, the latter could result in the sci-fi equivalent to what happened during the 1973 oil crisis.
     
  11. samuel9900

    samuel9900 Void-Bound Voyager

    I really don't get the love for the Protectorate. It's a lazy, idiotic concept. Protectorate doesn't even mean a thing protecting people, It's A VASSAL STATE. And the protecting thing sounds stupid. Okay, a UN like organization is logical, but it clearly is only partly that (oh and the only members would probably be outcasts, not the official "nations"). Protectors are just flinged off into space to "protect the innocent" when there are much more important problems which they ignore. And I also don't get the matter manipulator hype. A pickaxe is much more useful than a basic matter manipulator, and the other functions are also easily done.
     
  12. Guest0241525

    Guest0241525 Guest

    At this point we can rename this thread to "Complaining for complaining's sake".
    Awful idea - I'd say humanity's status as a fallen grace works with their premise much better. Their peaceful world was suddenly torn to shreds, and they find themselves scattered across the universe. The fact that they used to be an important force on the galactic stage makes it hit harder, and gives humanity a past to feel nostalgic about.

    Your version would just have it as "we were always kind of an underdog tbh".
    Okay.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 16, 2017
    STCW262 and Namtazar like this.
  13. Namtazar

    Namtazar Subatomic Cosmonaut

    You really look at this things directly as you see it in game play process, right? Well' we have game mechanic that make pickaxe worthy enough as a mining tool that can be faster than matter manipulator. But this is only because game mechanic. Look at this tool as it was in real life. You can manipulate matter! Absorb any material or liquid, lift and place any object, construct buildings and wired electronic systems with literally one hand! One hand with matter manipulator in it. And all this power in the hands of Terrane Protectorate.
     
    Guest0241525 likes this.
  14. Guest0241525

    Guest0241525 Guest

    Well, it's also important to note that Matter Manipulator is responsible for your ability to place blocks, and that its mining power easily surpasses the pickaxes once you upgrade it with manipulator modules
     
    STCW262 likes this.
  15. M_Sipher

    M_Sipher Oxygen Tank

    STRBND IS SRZ BZNS YOU GUIZ

    (It's a game with fucking medieval robots and cowboy gas bags and its Big Brother analogue has a mandated #1 jam maybe taking it quite this seriously is a shade unhealthy)
     
    STCW262 and Namtazar like this.
  16. Namtazar

    Namtazar Subatomic Cosmonaut

    List'n to dat talk'n flower :nurudapper:
     
  17. Combozone

    Combozone Existential Complex

    You like the game because it's silly, and we'll like it because it's serious.
    Everyone wins!
     
  18. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Actually, the Matter Manipulator is superior to picks and drills, considering that it doesn't break, and it can be upgraded to the point that picks become another form of pixels that have to be redeemed at a vendor (Or just clutter, considering that they take up space that could be taken by something more valuable), which, while it takes a while to do, actually remains in the character's MM.
    Finally, judging by how Manipulator Modules can be found almost everywhere, and by how this includes Pod Chests, it seems that they're not supposed to have to be exclusively obtained from chests or Reward Bags. For all we know, Protectors may be rewarded with modules if they're promoted, or are supplied periodic ones, etc... along with finding them
    As for the name, frankly, that is the worst part of it. It sounds like how an Earth government in a "Vichy Earth" situation would be named, rather than an organization that tries to "offer aid to the vulnerable and sanctuary to those living in fear". It sounds more like NGOs like the Red Cross, that aren't interested in actually causing political change as much as they're doing this such as, in the case I put, providing humanitarian aid; rather than the UN in space (Which, considering that, out of the 7 playable species, one has a totalitarian regime for a government, another has a theocracy that sacrifices people, and another one is socially conformed of a lot of tribes that are often very violent, would be difficult to actually do. And that is assuming that there's no more factions within species).
     
  19. samuel9900

    samuel9900 Void-Bound Voyager

    So a matter manipulator is a pretty useful tool. Still not the super awesome thing that people call it. And the TP IS an alliance, which somehow incorporates the Apex. Probably the rebels, because they're good and the Miniknog is blind.
     
  20. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Just because it allows all species (I prefer to not use the term "races" unless it turns out that all of them can interbreed with each other) to join does not mean that they're some sort of political alliance. If anything, that one shows that the other species are on good terms with it to the point of allowing their members to join the Protectorate.
    As for the Apex, well, you said it. Loyal Miniknog Apex wouldn't want to join the TP because that would mean being away from Big Ape (The Apex from Miniknog towns can join because they may or may not really be loyal, or at least not very ardent supporters).
     

Share This Page