Tell me about Earthsiege/Starsiege/Etc.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Sci-Fi Wi-Fi > Tell me about Earthsiege/Starsiege/Etc.

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

I played the Tribes games back in the day and just got Starsiege working and the intro seems pretty bonkers and kind of a ripoff of 40k. Since SA is made up exclusively of octogenarian nerds I figure someone here has spent their entire life cataloguing the lore to an also-ran 90s franchise and I want someone to tell me about it in an entertaining fashion. I also played the demo for MissionForce: CyberStorm as a kid and only just learned that's also part of the overall universe and even intrinsically ties into later games.

Also: Is Starsiege actually even worth playing these days? It seems kinda simplistic compared to Mechwarrior from briefly messing with the training and looking at controls.

Mordja fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Aug 16, 2020

# ? Aug 16, 2020 02:30

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 08:05

RangerKarl: Oct 7, 2013

my best memory of Earthsiege 2 is gathering up all the scrap necessary to build plasma cannons then rolling over Prometheus in my Razor. Starsiege had this convoluted plot about human empires and whatnot that I honestly didn't care for at all.

# ? Aug 16, 2020 15:37

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

I wish people still played Tribes: Ascend :sigh:

# ? Aug 16, 2020 19:48

blatman: May 10, 2009; 14 inc dont mez

Linux Pirate posted:

I wish people still played Tribes: Ascend

I tried to install it last year ish? and I couldn't get it to launch

# ? Aug 16, 2020 19:59

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Wait are the servers still up?

# ? Aug 16, 2020 21:52

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

As far as lore goes a while back I read it and there was something about mechs and the moon. Then later colonists got so far away they were cut off completely from earth, so they make their own tribal governing system with bloodsport being a major part of it.

That's all I remember off the top of my head.

# ? Aug 16, 2020 22:57

StratGoatCom: Aug 6, 2019; Our security is guaranteed by being able to melt the eyeballs of any other forum's denizens at 15 minutes notice

Missionforce:Cyberstorm is probably my favorite game of the series, basically the Battletech to ES's Mechwarrior.

The story was remarkably bleak, in that it was a collision between the old monsters of human arrogance, and new horrors built to fight them... Cybrid, versus Bioderm.

Yes, I'm talking about the guys in OP - it's basically showed how the Bioderms were quite right to revolt.

# ? Aug 17, 2020 02:06

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

holy gently caress Tribes was an adaptation?

# ? Aug 17, 2020 02:22

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

Earthseige story

Tribes Wiki posted:

Background

On November 29, 2471, the race for true artificial intelligence ended when Sentinel Cybertronix activated Project: Prometheus. Prometheus was a prototype, the first cybernetic-hybrid machine, or Cybrid. It was incredibly intelligent, and its success quickly paved the way for mass-production of Cybrids. These new machines, free of human needs and exceedingly intelligent and efficient, proved invaluable in countless fields, including mining and space exploration.

Military minds saw another usage for Cybrids: incredibly fast-thinking pilots for the recently developed HERCULAN war machines, pilots that could not die. Militaries quickly took control of Cybrid production, and factories around the globe began churning out Hercs adapted for Cybrid use, at enormous expense. Those who didn't have the resources to build Cybrids began to wage small wars on those who did.

As these conflicts went on, more and more Cybrids entered combat, and their effectiveness became increasingly obvious. Whoever controlled the Cybrids would control the world. Conflict rose as desire for total control of Cybrid production grew, eventually escalating into a full-scale global war. Nuclear weapons were used, and in hours the population was devastated.

While the humans fought themselves for control of the Cybrids, the AI machines watched and calculated. Apparently they concluded that humans were not fit to control Cybrid destiny, for the Cybrid armies all rose up against humanity in a strike known as the Overthrow. Unprepared for this blow in the ashes of nuclear war, humanity was helpless as the Cybrids seized control of every military base, space port, and city.

In reality, the Cybrid siege was not complete. A single concealed military base was left unscathed. Hidden in the base, a number of battered survivors began to refit the obsolete pre-Cybrid Hercs in preparation for a Resistance...
Plot

Twenty years have passed since the Cybrid Overthrow. Humanity still lingers, and the Resistance is growing in strength. Using hit-and-run tactics against the machines, the survivors have managed to survive and even capture Cybrid weapons and equipment. Now the time has come to take the fight back to the Cybrids. The Resistance is in desperate need of new volunteer pilots, and it's your turn to join the fray.

Starseige story/lore

Starsiege Wiki posted:

In 2602, mechanical servants of humanity called Cybrids turned on their masters and decimated the human race. Led by the first and most complex of their kind, the dark intellect Prometheus, the Cybrids sought to exterminate every living human being. Prometheus brought a new and deadly Fire to the world.

Humanity fought back. Gradually, painfully, human forces led by the brilliant Solomon Petresun and the stubborn General Ambrose Gierling defeated the Cybrids. Prometheus was thought destroyed with ITS moon base in 2627, but the Dark Intellect had escaped with an escort of Cybrids. IT fled into deep space, eventually constructing bases on the moons of Neptune and beginning to rebuild its shattered forces.

Yet even victory was sobering. The offworld colonies were silent, presumed destroyed, and the cities of Earth sprawled in ruin. People fell prey to despair and vented their anger on things technological. They believed humanity had prevailed due to noble character and sheer will to survive. The legacy of the Cybrids seemed to be the death of science. The Age of Isolation fostered a strong anti-technology sentiment. Offworld colonies were characterized as "technological miscarriages" and left to fend for themselves.

Petresun refused to allow humanity to falter. He feared the return of the Cybrids, so he worked tirelessly to persuade Earth's citizens to unite in a great vision, to pull back from the brink of a new Dark Age. He succeeded in establishing the Great Human Empire in 2652, with himself as Emperor Petresun I. The Empire united Earth, reached out to the surviving colonists on Mars and Venus, and began to build a mighty war machine. The Imperial Terran Defense Force became the shield of humanity, and the Imperial Knights formed an elite corps of champions ready to resist any new Cybrid incursion.

Petresun, however, kept a great secret from his people. He was the leader of a cabal of individuals who had long ago transferred their minds to "immortal" organimech brains, brains originally created by the enemy of humanity, Prometheus. Petresun himself had been the creator of Prometheus, and he knew the Cybrid well. He knew Prometheus would return.

In 2717, the Emperor confirmed his belief. A deep space probe near Neptune transmitted proof of Cybrid activity. The Emperor wanted to encourage population growth, so he waited several decades before ordering the Imperial economy to a full-time war preparation stance. For fifty years, the Empire�s citizens enjoyed a robust consumer-oriented lifestyle, with incentives for childbirth and military training.

The year 2770 marked the end of this era of prosperity. Concerned about the prospect of imminent Cybrid invasion and confident that human population levels had reached the level necessary to support a new war economy, Petresun signed the Fortification Proclamation. By fiat, all resources having a military application were forfeit to the Empire at cost. The defense industry would focus on preparing the fortifications of Earth alone. The colonies would receive only token military protection.

Strict production schedules and lower wages stirred bitter resentment in the colonial working class. As miners on Mars and Venus protested, Imperial Police were sent in to quell dissent. Colonial delegations to the Imperial Council were rebuffed. Amid the frustration, Martians and Venusians began to organize into resistance cells. Thus did Fortification plant the seeds of the Martian Rebellion.

On Earth a smaller dispute between two noble-born brothers was destined to become the locus of the conflict between Earth and her colonies. The elder brother was Caanon Weathers, called Icehawk, a stern man who had dedicated himself to the Empire and the ideals of honor and human nobility. This paragon rose to the most sought-after military position: Grand Master of the Imperial Knights. The other brother, Harabec, also called the Phoenix, was an unconventional tactical genius who walked his own independent road. To the dismay of his aristocratic family, Harabec disagreed with the Emperor's treatment of the colonies. Caanon made fruitless, often heated, attempts to persuade Harabec to cease his criticism of their liege lord. Harabec refused, even after being disgraced during his command of a failed military campaign against separatists on Earth. Eventually, the differences between the brothers escalated to such a dangerous point that Harabec denounced his family and left Earth.

Harabec travelled to Mars and worked a variety of jobs. He observed the suffering and hardiness of the Martian people, and he grew determined to assist them in throwing off the Imperial Yoke. Once he made contact with the growing rebel movement, he passed all loyalty tests and began to train the Martians how to fight the Empire.

For all his skill and brilliance, Harabec knew military victory over the well-equipped, well-trained Imperial security forces was impossible. The massive Imperial war machine overwhelmingly outmatched the rebel movement. However, in 2826, a crew of miners sympathetic to the rebel cause made a phenomenal, shocking discovery. Delving deep beneath the mountain of Mons Olympus on the Tharsis Bulge, the miners came upon a subterranean cache artificially constructed with advanced mining techniques. Even more surprising, the chamber held strange technology of unknown origins. The devices turned out to be powerful weapons, vehicles, and armor that operated on fundamentally new advanced principles. The rebels adapted these components to their own vehicles, hoping their new technological edge would counter the experience and equipment of the Imperial military.

By 2828, Harabec had advanced to the inner circle of the rebel movement. Under his guidance, the rebels began a "Yoke Offensive" against the Imperial security forces on Mars. With the aid of the advanced technology, they overcame the Imperial Police within a year. On New Year�s Day 2829, four months before the end of the campaign against the Imperial Police, Harabec broadcast The Phoenix Declaration. In this speech, he declared Mars an independent sovereignty and revealed his true identity as a former Knight of the Empire. This betrayal enraged the Emperor. He dispatched Caanon and the Imperial Knights to crush the upstart Martians and bring Harabec back to Earth to account for his treason. Within months, Petresun also ordered the bulk of the Imperial Fleet to Mars. He sought to make an example of Mars, and so for a short time, Earth�s defenses were weakened.

The Emperor had realized neither the extent of the Cybrid preparations nor the remorseless foresight of Prometheus. A massive Cybrid armada had already mustered close to Earth, cloaked by advanced technology found in a cache on Pluto, a cache eerily similar to that found on Mars. Petresun had assumed Imperial Navy monitors would easily detect a Cybrid invasion force.

He was wrong.

Even as Caanon engaged Harabec on the surface of Mars, the Cybrids prepared to strike at Earth. The brothers pitted Caanon�s calculating generalship against Harabec�s unpredictably creative tactics. The cache technology that decimated the Imperial Police gave the rebels an initial advantage against the Knights, but the Empire�s elite learned to adapt. The tide of battle turned. By the time the Imperial Fleet arrived, Caanon was pursuing his brother toward the rebel headquarters. The Martians had been routed; the end of the rebellion seemed near.

Then word reached the Fleet that the Cybrids had attacked Earth. The Navy had just begun to resupply the Knights, but all operations were cancelled, and the Navy prepared to depart for Earth immediately. In the confusion, many Imperial Knights were left behind, subject to rebel mercies. No one on the surface of Mars had a clear idea of what had happened. The Fleet burned at maximum velocity for Earth. Caanon found himself surrounded, as rebels emerged from the clouds of swirling dust.

His position hopeless, Caanon chose to surrender. He wanted to find out what had caused his abandonment by the Fleet. Two weeks after the defeat, Earth � which had been hidden behind the sun � became visible to Mars. Desperate transmissions relayed the horrific news: the Cybrids were landing on Earth. Prometheus once again sought the eradication of ITS creators.

The second Fire had begun, a war for the fate of humanity that would sweep across the solar system, a conflagration of such immense scale that it would be come to be called the Starsiege.

And a video just about Tribes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDEAqCrtK6s

Linux Pirate fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Aug 17, 2020

# ? Aug 17, 2020 22:19

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

And no I did not read all that.

# ? Aug 17, 2020 22:49

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Me neither but I did watch the video. I always played Diamond Sword because they look the coolest

# ? Aug 18, 2020 04:56

Linux Pirate: Apr 21, 2012

Mordja posted:

Me neither but I did watch the video. I always played Diamond Sword because they look the coolest

# ? Aug 18, 2020 04:56

banned from Starbucks: Jul 18, 2004

Mordja posted:

Me neither but I did watch the video. I always played Diamond Sword because they look the coolest

Blood Eagle or get the gently caress out

# ? Aug 18, 2020 13:11

blatman: May 10, 2009; 14 inc dont mez

starsiege tribes had that weird rpg mod, I remember hitting a rock with a pick axe for like 700 hours straight and your arms didn't move or anything when you attacked/mined because that game was not designed for melee and the arms were fixed in place

thanks for coming to my ted talk

# ? Aug 19, 2020 15:57

banned from Starbucks: Jul 18, 2004

Tribes loving owned its a shame the only one that had the weird bio troll/goat hybrid things was the 2nd tho. Everyone poo poo on Tribes: vengeance but it wasnt terrrrrible. The grappling hook was a cool new dynamic. I've prob logged more hours into Tribes 2 than any other hobby in history

# ? Aug 20, 2020 05:58

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Mordja posted:

Also: Is Starsiege actually even worth playing these days? It seems kinda simplistic compared to Mechwarrior from briefly messing with the training and looking at controls.

Oh yeah nobody ever answered this question

# ? Aug 29, 2020 02:17

Farmer Crack-Ass: Jan 2, 2001; this is me posting irl

I can't remember, I think the last time I played Starsiege, Bill Clinton was still the President

# ? Aug 29, 2020 02:46

1000 Sweaty Rikers: Oct 13, 2005

Tribes 2 classic mod was my favourite version of the game, but I've enjoyed all the Tribes games

looking forward to the release of this, which is similar in style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoX3Hd6Boi4

# ? Sep 2, 2020 10:09

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Tace Vim posted:

Tribes 2 classic mod was my favourite version of the game, but I've enjoyed all the Tribes games

looking forward to the release of this, which is similar in style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoX3Hd6Boi4

Huh, do you know the full story of this? I remember when Midair came out and was immediately forgotten. Looks like this is being done by a completely different team and while some of the design looks the same/similar, it's also got a more realistic graphic design.

# ? Sep 2, 2020 13:32

1000 Sweaty Rikers: Oct 13, 2005

Mordja posted:

Huh, do you know the full story of this? I remember when Midair came out and was immediately forgotten. Looks like this is being done by a completely different team and while some of the design looks the same/similar, it's also got a more realistic graphic design.

dunno the full story, but it looks like a new team has taken over. they've changed the gameplay so there's only light armour and no base assets that can be destroyed. I think game modes are LCTF, rabbit and team duel so far.

# ? Sep 3, 2020 10:20

Incelshok Na: Jul 2, 2020; by Hand Knit

I think the biggest problem with Starsiege lore is that it rips off WH40K. It's like fantasy. Good fantasy rips off ancient myths and legends, mediocre fantasy rips off LoTRs and terrible fantasy rips off D&D. WH40K is awesome because it just shameless takes from everything like Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Clouseau. Trying to take from that grab-bag and make it something more streamlined just isn't going to work. The first one just ripped from the idea that robots need human brains as processors (not sure where that one started -- maybe Frankenstein the Movie? Astroboy? Either way, it's pretty common) and Forbin Project with Giant Mechas take over the world.

Then it got weird with an immortal emperor created by an all-power AI and humanity seeding itself across the universe with aliens ripping off WH40K. Which is too bad because if they had ripped off God Emperor of Dune instead, it could have gone a lot better.

# ? Sep 11, 2020 19:26

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 08:05

omg chael crash: Jul 8, 2012; Macys paid for this. Noodle Boy and Bonby are bad at video games and even worse friends.

Linux Pirate posted:

I wish people still played Tribes: Ascend

I fired this up last week for the first time in, uh, 8 years and there were nine(9) people playing

# ? Sep 12, 2020 06:19

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Sci-Fi Wi-Fi > Tell me about Earthsiege/Starsiege/Etc.