Subset Games Forum

Lanius, so that if I want it then the living-room couch is mine.

Though the Mantis are my style of fighting, quick and deadly.

How about what do you NOT want to be and why:

Humans - If you're not in the Federation which can't hold itself together from pirates or Rebels, you are one of them or a slave. Chances are you'd be a redshirt on a pirate ship and if you're part of the Rebellion, you're most likely a space racist. Do you want to have the wonder and mystery of the universe ruined by hating all alien life you encounter? Didn't the Conquistadores do that (Hey we found a new world with new people! Let's kill them!)

Zoltan - Energy being. Sounds cool, you'd probably make a sweet light show at parties. But that's the thing. You probably won't be going to a party as you'll be studying Zoltan Law or coming down with Space Madness.

Rockman - Imagine living in a fascist, highly religious society where your piousness has to be watched lest you be taken away for "reeducation." They also seem to have some sort of caste system and can arrange marriages to people you don't like...

Mantis - You fight or you die. A simple existence. You might be lucky to be revived at a Clone Bay but you'll be fighting all day. If not with the meatsacks, with your comrades.

Engi - Robots. Robots are cool, but considering how Engies can be reprogrammed and can work for the Mantis, you probably won't enjoy your life. If enjoyment was programmed into you.

Slug - Telepathic and manipulative. Your thoughts are always kept guarded and you're constantly having to fight other Slugs with your mind. So like the Mantis except when you serve with non-Slug crew, you'll be alienating (irony!) them from you because you can read their thoughts and they know it. Sleep tight...

Lanius - You're asleep. Hungering. Craving. The signal comes and you're awake. There's all this metal around you in the galaxy. Satisfaction. A bunch of pink air-breathers are flapping their meat at you. You have no idea what they're saying and keep on consuming. Then a great big piece of metal flies towards you and you find yourself dead. You're asleep and still hungry. You'll never be satisfied.
If you're on another starship, you are constantly told not to eat the hull but you're so very hungry.

Crystals - Why are they in isolation? Were they running from something? Does opening the gate bring that something into their peaceful world? We know nothing of their society though - they seem to be a warrior culture as they might attack you out of nowhere to test their strength, but for all we know it could be like Rock and Mantis society.

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Out of all those though, I think I'd rather be a Human in the Federation. Chances are I'd be dead when the pirates attack or enslaved but hey... I'm a Human and I'd rather stay with that.
Of course all those points I made above are based on what I would say "your average alien" because we all can't be badasses.

Definitely Lanius. I have a knack for sucking the life out of the room.

Rockman. You should be too so you can be immune to my mixtape when it drops.

Engi.

(in theory) I will recover faster.
I can't bleed.
I have a more calmer mind set as (in theory) It's just a controlled vote so to say based on the billions of sentient conscious nanobots/ nanites that my body is made up with, in a way a more advance version of how cells communicate to each other in the body.

but instead of "ouch, skill cells being set on fire. that must imply I am on fire, hey nervs, tell brain skin is on fire and then brain decides what to do..."
it's more of a "okay... this Federation ship has jumped to this beacon and asks for aid, us engi are part of the Federation and are supposed to help the federation but the we're at a peace pack with the Rebels and we do not want to damage relationships... nor do we want to jeopardise our safety, if we turn the out dated federation cruiser to the rebels we will maintain relationships while stay safe... The federation are losing the war so sidding with the Rebels will give us the upmost highest safty... What shall we do?" then they analyse the situation together and kind of like how a goverment works in a country -kind of like a democracy, ideas are put forward to the table and then a form of 'vote' occurs. Which will give the end output of the "body" of the Engi. Of course instead of taking years like some govts... the Engi does this in milliseconds.

Also I can morph into what ever shape I want, as seen in some events in FTl, Engis can morph out of the common bipedal shape and even combine with other engis to form massive cranes to operate on ships... using this idea of putting multiple engis together at work, it also gives the idea that Engi can also... separate... into the basic nanobots they are. Not being as 'strong' as usual, they can still do some tasks... like flood the ship with nano-bot basic components to perform medical operations... (yes, I am referring to medbot dispersal augment), but that's just a theory...

Also assuming I got the Respiratory system correct on the Engi... Altitude sicknesses won't affect me at all and thin/ heavy oxygen / atmosphere will not affect me to heavily...

In all realism, if you shoot a human in the head- they are dead... no questions asked.... Shoot a engi with a shot gun 5 times, they can still make a full recovery.


However I would like to be a more of an outlier of an engi, not exactly correct in the noggin so to say. probably express a tad more emotion (which is possible, Engi are already known for basic being petrified in fear. It's the only emotion they ever show in FTL vanilla!) and probably spawn more into the creativity section but heavily work in science operations with the Zoltan.


Can you turn into godzilla if you want to with your friend engi's and shoot lasers while reciting the first 9 million characters of Pi?
I don't think so

stylesrj wrote:How about what do you NOT want to be and why:
Engi - Robots. Robots are cool, but considering how Engies can be reprogrammed and can work for the Mantis, you probably won't enjoy your life. If enjoyment was programmed into you.

There is a huge debate if Engi are Robots or Organic beings.

they show strong elements of being Organic and peform all the actions of "MRS GREN" which is the scientific classification of a living thing and for something to be alive it's generally considered 'organic'

Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity

Growth
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition.

Movement: Yep, they definitely move, no questions ask...

Respire: well we know they require Oxygen Gas to survive and without it they die in less then a minute, such as most life.

Sensitivity: they react to touch, they can see light and adjust to it, etc...

Grow: debate, We know they can morph into different shapes and with other engi's... technically growing?

Reproduce:

Well it isn't normal rock formations or putting together parts...

Excrete:
Unknown, we can't tell as there is no "toilet" system in FTL, but this goes for all species in FTL...

Nutrition:
No kitchen system in FTL, unknown if they require to "eat"... but they require O2 gas at the very least. Not meaning it requires nutrients or to eat... but it is a relatively large part of it... as I said earlier for Excretion, we can't tell due to FTl limitations.


So far it shows a lot of living signs... we know they are Conscious as well due to the ability to make choices and also reasoning... for a bit of a darker meaning durring the Fed-Reb civil war...


Comment on "reprograming?" technically this can go for most living things. But I assume you mean simple rewriting software and such... which.... isn't the case. Under events we know, text from FTL, and such, they are held as slaves and not equals or reprogrammed assistance... The Mantis and Engi are at war, it is no surprise you may see some captives... you do not see the Engi doing anything important such as being the commander of the Mantis Fleed nor seeing them on the boarding party. they just slave away and build ships or repair them. This behaviour mirrors most interactions with Engi:- they put others first before them self as they are scared that not putting others first or directly harming them will result into greater harm into themself and thus the Engi Race. In every event with them they consist of being in fear... this is evidence in the Stealth cruiser quest... the event where you find a engi cache... Engi ran out of fuel... etc...

The minute the crew of all the Mantis are gone [not in game... game limitations as you know] they would probably ditch there custody and go back to there coreworlds or the Zoltan occupied sectors.

In a way: there will is pretty weak, but they got the mental capacity to endure the pain.


In a way, unless you trying to use clever words, programing doesn't work for engis so to say. It may be used by engi but keep in mind... English isn't there native language. They speak a different language and direct translations probably cause the weird speech patturns so to say- at least perceived by humans. For all we know Engi to Rockman communications will sound like 1960's Gang Slang....

R4V3-0N wrote:Can you turn into godzilla if you want to with your friend engi's and shoot lasers while reciting the first 9 million characters of Pi?
I don't think so

Personally, I wouldn't want to be part of a Hive-Mind. I like being myself with my individual flaws and quirks etc. If you merge with another mind, wouldn't it create a completely new mind and personality? And if not, which half would be more prominent?

So if you turned into Godzilla, it wouldn't be Youzilla, it'd be Engi#46354zilla. And that Engi probably doesn't want to go back to being an isolated platform. So now you're stuck as Godzilla's butt forever

Look at that event where the two Engi ships are collided together in an unspeakable ritual. If you disturb them, one of the ships breaks free fully formed and intact while the other is mostly in pieces. That could be you.

stylesrj wrote:

R4V3-0N wrote:Can you turn into godzilla if you want to with your friend engi's and shoot lasers while reciting the first 9 million characters of Pi?
I don't think so

Personally, I wouldn't want to be part of a Hive-Mind. I like being myself with my individual flaws and quirks etc. If you merge with another mind, wouldn't it create a completely new mind and personality? And if not, which half would be more prominent?

So if you turned into Godzilla, it wouldn't be Youzilla, it'd be Engi#46354zilla. And that Engi probably doesn't want to go back to being an isolated platform. So now you're stuck as Godzilla's butt forever

Look at that event where the two Engi ships are collided together in an unspeakable ritual. If you disturb them, one of the ships breaks free fully formed and intact while the other is mostly in pieces. That could be you.

eh, we do not know how hive minds work to be exactly, we know that engi to have differences between each individuals and vague personalities. So something happens that they are the same-old same-old engi there were before and after this. From one example I once heard- it may work kind of similar to the UK or the USA, where there are multiple countries/ states who are joined to become the US / UK. but also not really new or odd legal constraints over you and the others. complicated topic...

but the hive mind presence in a way is around with just your body/ entity... but in a way- isn't that how your normal mind works? it is more then one cell...

R4V3-0N wrote:but the hive mind presence in a way is around with just your body/ entity... but in a way- isn't that how your normal mind works? it is more then one cell...

So you're taking what's already a hive-mind and becoming an even bigger hive-mind. But it's even worse because you think and have hopes and dreams (unlike your cells who tend to have a single task. As far as we know... unless Parasite Eve wasn't lying) and you're sacrificing it all to become Godzilla's rear.
Hope the laser eyes were worth it

what if I told you your butt is a butt.