The official "story questions I want the answer to" thread (no answers here).

[x4000]

This goes for AI War, The Last Federation, and of course Stars Beyond Reach.  SBR is set in the future of the shared universe of the two other games, and I already am likely going to answer most of what you're wondering.  It's going to be in clues of sorts that you can piece together via playing the alternative victory conditions, and when you piece together the bits of info hopefully you wind up with a clear picture that answers all of your most burning questions.

That said: what all do you want to know?  If we can keep this thread purely to questions that you have for me, that would be really helpful so that I don't have to parse through a lot of conversation to find the questions themselves.  If there are questions you have that I have not answered, then I'll do my best to incorporate those into the clues that you'll find later on.

For actual discussion and theorizing and whatnot about the story, please do visit this thread instead: Background Story Discussion

Thanks!

[Captain Jack]

I've got two on the top of my head, related to AI War. Are the Spire descended from Zenith servitor races?

And, the Spire and Zenith have plot connections to the AI. Do the Neinzul as well? Or were they "just" the model used for its network?

And since ptarth's not here yet  , what's the reason the AI civs start out on your level in SBR?

[crazyroosterman]

your asking me to ask more question? OKAY THEN! 1 how is the planet sentient? 2 are the hydrals as a race completely extinct or just the ones that happened to inhabit the area that tlf is based in? 3 what happened to the hydral after tlf dead or just off in a galaxy far far away 4 were do the different races come from (not nessicerly in the games there from but were ever it is their species Is inhabiting) 5 what is the individual biology's of the races for example why do acid baths help the skylaxians breed? 6 if earths meant to be destroyed then how did you download schematics from it? 7 are the yalis smaller heads just sentient not controlling of the main body or do they share that duty with the main head 8 (I literally just thought of this) are the yali a sub species of the hydrals?.

[ptarth]

Sorry, but I had to parse this.

• How is the planet sentient?
• Are the Hydral, as a race, completely extinct or just the ones that happened to inhabit the area that tlf is based in?
• What happened to the Hydral after The Last Federation? Dead or just off in a galaxy far far away?
• Where do the different races come from (not necessarily in the games they're from, but wherever it is their species is inhabiting)?
• What is the individual biology's of the races? For example why do acid baths help the Skylaxians breed?
• If Earth is meant to be destroyed then how did you download schematics from it?
• Are the yalis smaller heads just sentient, not controlling of the main body, or do they share that duty with the main head?
• Are the yali a subspecies of the Hydral?

My main question:

• How can you have the SBR Market Item Spreadsheet open for over a month and still resist filling in all those cells in the Race Flavor tab?

[Captain Jack]

Thought of a few more. How did the TLF races come to be on their planets in TLF? The Evucks almost certainly should have evolved on a gas giant, and Boarines on any planet with positive temperatures is inconceivable. And yet there they are on completely odd planets.

Are any of the SBR original races native to Planet?

What ARE the Ark and the Mire? (actually Chris, have you considered adding one or both to the game as Natural Wonders?)

How did the Boarines manage to cooperate long enough to develop advanced technology? Cut and paste for all of the stand-offish races except the Evucks. No wait, especially the Evucks.

Who programmed the Acutians and the Andor?

[MaskityMask]

Obligatory "Does Obscura/AI/Hydrals(cloned or not) still exist in some form?" question :p

"Why do they have access to human technology anyway? I mean in Tales of Woe computer loaded it, but how, Where, What?" question

"Have humans yet evolved into something non human in far far future?"

"Does alternate universe were aliens with human tech who landed on planet were actually humans while all other playable and non playeble races are on the planet already?" obligatory joke question :p

"Are acutians and the andor like transformers origin wise?" Had to add to that since question about programming came up and I realized that maybe I shouldn't assume they are like transformers aka lifeforms that just happen to be robotic in nature

"Why multicultural society isn't a thing?"

"Does time travel on Last Federation's tech tree mean time travel is canon in these games?"

"So in Last Federation, when you set up porn industry on a planet, do Burlust enjoy burlust porn created by that industry or are they lusty enough to watch other races' porn?" :p What? I find it hilarious you can set up adult movie industry and burlust love it. I could remember wrong though, or have misunderstood a word...

"Was there offscreen war between united 8 races federation and obscura or did obscura never attack in TLF canon?"

"So wait, is andor society composed of robot ladies? .-. I didn't realize they were supposed to be gendered at all before Tales of Woe"

"Who would win in arm wrestling contest, burluts or lobster people?"

"Are skylaxians nudists or something? Actually, none of the races wear clothes so are everyone a nudist?"

"In Ai War "canon" did all win condition endings happen same time? :p As in, spire fleet united, exodian blade recovered(? hasn't played it yet) and AI warp disrupted"

I probably could think of more silly and less silly questions... Hope my jokey questions didn't annoy you guys xD

[x4000]

My main question:

• How can you have the SBR Market Item Spreadsheet open for over a month and still resist filling in all those cells in the Race Flavor tab?

I missed a lot of that, but I've been... a BIT busy.   I just filled in a ton for you.  Please make a different topic with any other questions you want to ask me about specific races and their background, and I'll answer those in there.  Thanks!

[Pumpkin]

Okay... Interesting topic. Very interesting, indeed.

I second Watashiwa's question:
Are the Spire descended from Zenith servitor races?
I'm sure it's related to the Exodian Blade lore, in any way. However, I would reformulate the question:
Are the Spire a fork from the Zenith race?

More related to Arcen's future plans, but not entirely disconnected to answers we could get in SBR:
Will we see races from TLF and/or SBR in AI War?

How TLF species made their way to SBR?
I think all but Thoraxians are born in the TLF solar system. (I don't remember where I read Thoraxians wern't born there.)

Also, the Yali-Hydral connexion question is very interesting. Well, "yes" to that question would be very interesting.

[x4000]

More related to Arcen's future plans, but not entirely disconnected to answers we could get in SBR:
Will we see races from TLF and/or SBR in AI War?

This one I'll go ahead and answer, because it's not likely to be answered in the game: no.  The TLF races did not yet exist at the time of AI War.

[crazyroosterman]

I have a question that's occurred to me over the last hour when you play as the zenith are the buildings still the zenith and the population their mini servants in that case are the mini servants their soldiers/ambassadors/spy's? if so I feel sorry for the zenith who has to spend his life as a shopping mall to entertain bored idiots or as a trash dump also does that mean the landers a zenith as well? if so then that's pretty interesting from a lore perspective and also if the zenith are capable of making these things with their own body why do they need currency?. ps not a question but an interesting observation of mine I think the yali live underground/underwater because one in my current game referred to me as a surface dweller

[ptarth]

• What do the other races call the planet since Ivoria got the boot?

[TheVampire100]

Were the Zenith so giantly to begin with? Or did they become so big because of their mechanical augmentations?
Do Zenith now get born as bio-mechanical beings or do they get augmented after birth or when they reach a specific age (1000 years?)?
Are Zenith born the normal way or are they artificially created with their technology.

What ARE the Neinzul actually? Their new look in the game is bizarre and does not look in any way like an insect.Are the buildings actually the Enclaves that hold the younglings? Are enclaves bigger Neinzul that live longer than the ordinary Neinzul youngling? Or are the younglings more of a servitor race similiar to the Zenith?

What happened to the AI after AI War? Is the victory ending the canon ending or did the AI wipe humanity after all? If the humas won, did the AI foresee it and fled the galaxy or was it trapped in the home station?

[Pumpkin]

More related to Arcen's future plans, but not entirely disconnected to answers we could get in SBR:
Will we see races from TLF and/or SBR in AI War?

This one I'll go ahead and answer, because it's not likely to be answered in the game: no.  The TLF races did not yet exist at the time of AI War.

Hm yeah, so it hints in the direction of TLF races were born on TLF's solar empire, after AI War events. Ok, thanks for the "ahead answer".

But there is still the question
How TLF species made their way to SBR?
and I assume SBR is latter than TLF... right? So there is no SBR->TLF backward relation, right?
Would you tell us if TLF->SBR relation would be revealed in SBR, Chris? This sounds like a core mystery in SBR, but maybe I'm wrong and it's just lore recycling. However, knowing you a little bit, I bet there is a grand design behind this. Also, Thoraxian have a special role in SBR (and their language is proto-thoraxian), and I don't know why but I think I remember reading somewhere that they were not born on TLF solar system... Does anyone else have the same strange memory?

Now, similar question: AIW->SBR
How AI War species made their way to SBR?
Zenith were remnants by the time of AI War. However, AIW < TLF and TLF < SBR. How did they survived so long after being dead? The question about Neinzul is less critical, and it can be "they were roaming the galaxy" as they were doing in AIW. But Spire is yet another question, as since there is no trail of AI or human (just a distant and one-way connexion with humans) in SBR, there is a big connexion between the Spire and the AI (according to the Fallen Spire and Exodian Blade campaigns -- no (more) spoil). Maybe the Spire-AI relation concern only one Spire galactic empire, and there is several spire empires and the others were not concerned by the AI story, so there is no SBR-AI connexion via this Spire.
If the game answer TLF->SBR question, I hope the AIW->SBR question won't be "same story for these guys", because I feel there is something else to tell about them.

Anyway, thanks a lot for having created this topic.
(Ouch... Was this sentence correct?)

[Captain Jack]

Why does the newcomer race start the game with a random language skills? Picked up in space, translated before landing?

What were the dead civilizations on the planet?

What does the planet think of the human transmissions? Can it HEAR radio?

[crazyroosterman]

not really a question but more of a crazy idea that doesn't really(at the moment) have any evidence to back It up what if the planet it self is a billions and billions and billions of years old zenith that grew to be planet sized and then some how developed an atmosphere and plant life sufficient to sustain life?.