' Wrote:So, a previously unknown outside power was weakening all the Houses using its undercover agents to provoke a war between them? This plot seems to be a bit... derivative.
Which is a bit weird considering they were living in an isolation for hundreds of years. Old Houses' technology was improved during/after the Nomad War. And the progress in Gallia was fuelled by what? Pure awesomeness?
Speaking of Gallia, expect neanderthals coming after all of the homo sapiens. You know, they were hiding and developing some uber weapons to kill us all and since they had a lot of time and absolutely no enemies their fleet must be a size no one have ever seen before. ;-D
I only hope that in one of the future versions it would be explained how the hell the French managed to not only survive the War of Sol but built a sleeper ship despite having their whole fleet destroyed (as it was clearly stated in Starlancer by both sides of the conflict).
Well. Time to start thinking of a BAF character.
It's not as nonsensical as you think, when you dig into it.
France had its fleet destroyed at the beginning of Starlancer. However, they had a fleet beforehand, and that means they needed substantial infrastructure- particularly shipbuilding infrastructure. Their agents figure out that the rest of the Alliance is building sleeper ships, but they aren't getting one- so rather than try to rebuild their fleet, they put their vast resources toward building their own sleeper ship. They wait for the Alliance to set off, then leave for someplace else. While the Alliance went for Sirius, large enough for five nations, France didn't need that much space- so they went for the place big enough for two.
Having double the resources of any of the other houses, an efficient (if not particularly "nice") government, and no competition requiring defenses or other such resource drains, Gallia could build quite quickly. If the Rheinland Empire was able to go from nothing (remember, the Alliance didn't take any warships with them) to a massive navy within 500 years with less resources than Gallia (and a similar government)- so massive, in fact, that it took eighty years to whittle it down to what would be considered "normal"- imagine the same but with less obstructions and more resources. Through the Junkers, Gallia could keep pace with any tech advances made in Sirius that were so crucial as to be universal, reverse-engineer simpler devices, and of course do their own tech.
Speaking of Gallic tech, while they have some technological superiority, they're not "uber" by comparison to Sirian tech. They're certainly behind the Nomads, just like everyone else, they're just- on average- a little better.
' Wrote:So, a previously unknown outside power was weakening all the Houses using its undercover agents to provoke a war between them? This plot seems to be a bit... derivative.
Where, pray tell, did you get the idea that Gallia was using its agents to weaken the houses? The recent wars were all caused by the usual suspects, Gallia had planned to sit in isolation for awhile longer. They've been watching quietly, not actively meddling.
Quote:Speaking of Gallia, expect neanderthals coming after all of the homo sapiens.
Someone living today could successfully have fertile children with people living in the Renaissance. Gallic people would be noticeably Gallic, but between the similar lifestyles and humanity's slow rate of reproduction (which continues to slow as living conditions improve), Gallic nationals are still well within the same species as Sirians.
If you meant that technologically... concurrent development, similar living conditions, identical starting tech level, and sustained interaction (however limited and secretive) means that it's more comparable to dark ages Spain and Austria than to neanderthals and homo sapiens.
As a side note, Freelancer is and always has been about perspective and subtlety. By that, I mean that nearly every faction controls someone by feeding them blatant lies or by twisting their ideals to suit their own ends. Gallia is particularly riddled with propaganda, don't believe everything they say. Just putting that out there.