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Messages - Mitthrawnuruodo

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1
Star Wars Discussion / What next for the Star Wars movies?
« on: December 21, 2019, 06:17:12 AM »
So now Episode IX has concluded the Skywalker/Palpatine arc for the second time, and we know there are going to be more main-story Star Wars movies to come, the question is where would you like to see the next installments go?

One thing I want myself is to see some real change. 7-9 were just too much of the same of 3-6 in terms of plot structure, character roles, and elements in the universe. I think the people behind production need learn and move on, and that's also exactly what I think would make a good theme for a new story. So below, I'm going to list some concepts I've come up with for how the Star Wars universe could develop after Rise of Skywalker.

Galactic politics: The New Republic was divided by the destruction of the Senate in the Hosnian System and the subsequent invasion by the First Order. The Resistance fought to restore the Republic, however, this has not happened; the galaxy has no appetite for re-centralising power. Now the galaxy is on-paper divided into independent planets and power-bases, but informally united by overlapping treaties and unions (think like how in real life, you've got NATO and the European Union etc). The idea is that everybody keeps an eye on everybody else and nobody can build enough power to be an overwhelming threat.

The Force, the Jedi, the Sith: My idea is that a new way of viewing the force and those sensitive to it develops. There is a new temple of Force Artists who look upon the histories of folly befalling both the Jedi and the Sith. They acknowledge that there is both the light side and the dark, and it is conflict between the two that has led to war and ruin. They look upon the Jedi strive for purity through a strict lifestyle-limiting code and hypocritical absolutism that the dark side is deserving of destruction as what has led to their downfall. They look upon the Sith, their lust for absolute power and likewise extinguishing the light as impossible ends to achieve, and that every attempt has led to defeat. So they embrace both sides of the force, and anyone who leans more to one side than the other acknowledges that survival depends on working together and keeping their ambitions within the realms of reality. This new order does not officially serve anyone like the Jedi Order of the Old Republic, but they are often called upon by individuals for services as both diplomats and muscle. They play a key role in keeping the balance of power throughout the galaxy in check.

The bad guys: Of course, old ideas die hard. While many Imperial and First Order holdouts are now cooperative participants in galactic society, there will always be the ambitious. An old warlord has always fancied himself the new Emperor, but the existence of the Force Artists is an insurmountable barrier to gaining power. However, he has discovered people with an incredibly rare ability; just as there are those sensitive to the force, there are those who have an essence that distorts the force, disrupting one's connection to it. If a Force Artist were to meet such a person, they would be rendered powerless in their presence, no better than any other normal being (yes I know, Ysalamiri, Yuuzahn Vong, you don't need to tell me). For years, he has been seeking out such people across the galaxy, studying them and looking to build his own army of these Force Nulls to combat the Force Artists. The faction has also been spreading propaganda throughout the galaxy, blaming the Jedi and Sith for all galactic strife since the Clone Wars, and stoking fears that the existence of the Force Artists will lead to another age of war and oppression. With the Force Null warriors now matching the Force Artists in numbers and the sway of galactic opinion towards their favour, they launch their campaign against the Force Artists, a "war to end all wars".

The good guys: Recognising the enemy faction as power-hungry, a coalition rallies to defend the Force Artists and the galaxy at large from their scheme. Worlds with history of supporting the Alliance, New Republic and the Resistance, put their trust in the Force Artists as figures of peace and they send soldiers and starfighters to help. There are those who served the First Order and saw defeat first-hand, and knowing how things like this have turned out for themselves and the Empire in the past, would prefer to join the winning side in the first place; new lines of battle cruisers and walkers are sent to the coalition. Force Artists both light and dark, technology and ideals descending from both the Rebels and the Empire, come together to face this new threat to galactic stability.

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Star Wars Discussion / Re: Your Most Bullcrap Star Wars Moments
« on: August 13, 2018, 06:41:31 PM »
Thinking back, the fact that Luke is inducted into the Rebel Alliance as a pilot between scenes and what must have been a matter of minutes. Sure, it was desperate, but it always feels like there's a scene missing where Luke at least signs a dotted line.

And there's the fact he can pilot an X-Wing without training. A bit like how Rey can pilot the Millennium Falcon competently too, although for those two, I can believe they were starship enthusiasts and would at least know the theory. For 9-year-old Anakin in a Naboo Starfighter? I'm not convinced.

3
I had the same problem, what worked for me was downgrading my graphics card driver.

4
The Lounge / Re: Marxism, Socalism, and Communism.
« on: June 30, 2018, 02:51:00 PM »
I think it's important to distinguish these terms between the colloquial and the political context, i.e. how a guy on the street uses the words compared to the textbooks.

Marxism - colloquially, Marxism means agreement with Karl Marx's outlook on capitalist society, but not necessarily advocating the following ideas of revolution, proletariate dictatorship, or a classless stateless society. Politically, this term only really crops up as an identifier for a certain brand of ideology, e.g. the Soviet Union was Marxist-Leninist as opposed to China which is Maoist, a different kind of Communism.

Socialism - colloquially, this means left-wing economic policy - nationalised industries and services, income tax, etc. In the Communist Manifesto, Socialism is a stepping-stone to Communism, the means to the end; a Socialist Society is one where changes are being made to achieve Communism. Communist States (which I'll get to next) claim to be such societies and use the word Socialism as a description of their ideology, policies and practices during the transitory period.

Communism - colloquially, Communism means left-wing dictatorship and a Communist would be someone who advocates for one. In the Communist Manifesto, Communism is the end-game, a functioning classless stateless society. A Communist State is one with a single-party dictatorship, and Communism means supporting the achievement of a classless stateless society. Note that a country with a Communist government in a multi-party democracy is not considered a Communist State.

5
Given that Rogue One is about putting together a team to steal the Death Star plans, and Solo is about putting together a team to do the Kessel Run, I can put money on the Boba Fett movie being about putting together a team to go after a big bounty.

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Star Wars Discussion / Re: Ideas for planets
« on: April 28, 2018, 04:15:40 PM »
A big rock planet with deep twisting cavern systems and natural electronic interference caused by the strength of the magnetic core. This makes it ideal for establishing secret bases and facilities - pirates and smugglers use the planet for hiding. But conducting warfare in the caves can be a nightmare when your sensors and communications are cut off. The planet was useful as a base for the Republic since the Droid Army couldn't operate in the caverns, but when the Galactic Civil War started, the Rebels attempted to establish bases which led to the "ghost war" with the Empire pushing deeper into the planet. Battalions have been lost with no trace, and there are myths that they survived and just carried on fighting each other down there.

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Discussion, Suggestions & Feedback / Re: Pentastar Alignment OP?
« on: April 16, 2018, 06:24:15 AM »
Yes, I did. It was past 3 AM in the UK when I posted that, so the names of everything were slipping me.

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Discussion, Suggestions & Feedback / Re: Pentastar Alignment OP?
« on: April 15, 2018, 10:19:38 PM »
I'm currently trying them out on 2.2's Stars Align and IMO, they're still quite powerful. Even with the new limits on economy building, you can turtle down and save up until you get to week 20, then go on a shopping spree for their awesome fleet and the game is more or less yours. Other eras may prove more difficult, but from what I can tell, Venator fighter spam still works a charm (alongside the new defence structures that deploy squadrons too) and the Dark Jedi auto-resolve bug is still present.

9
Thank you Corey, that fixed it for me too.

10
Oh, I just made a thread for the exact same issue.

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Imperial Civil War Tech Support / 2.2 launch exception
« on: April 12, 2018, 05:18:43 PM »
When I try launching 2.2 on retail Gold, I get an error message saying:

"An exception has occurred. See _logfile.txt and _except.txt for details."

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Star Wars Discussion / Re: Your Most Bullcrap Star Wars Moments
« on: April 11, 2018, 05:52:08 PM »
It's not a major one but the dialogue wheel in The Old Republic. The option paraphrases don't always convey the tone correctly, so when I want to reply with a polite "yes, I understand, thank you", I might end up with my character taking a snide sarcastic tone getting all like "yeah, I get it, thanks!"

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Star Wars Discussion / Re: The Last Jedi (spoiler free)
« on: December 17, 2017, 04:39:14 PM »
I've just seen The Last Jedi today, and to quote Luke in the film, "this is not going to go the way you think!" I can tell you right now, it is not a straight-up rehash of Empire. In fact, I think this one adds weight to the interpretation of The Force Awakens as not being a remake of A New Hope, but taking inspiration from all three original films. That one failed to differentiate itself from A New Hope due to the fact that it did the films in order which made it look like just A New Hope from a zoomed-out less intricate view of the film. The Last Jedi pays its story-telling homages differently which makes it appear more original. Sure, it owes most of it to Empire, but while Empire starts with a land-battle evacuation and the Rebel Alliance as a faction basically disappear for the rest of the film, Last Jedi starts with a space-battle evacuation, half the story is dedicated to the survival of the Resistance, and it ends with a land-battle instead. But when Rey confronts Snoke, that sequence takes cues from Return of the Jedi, and without spoiling it, the final confrontation of the film then harks back to A New Hope. All of this is interspersed with new story beats and new twists that steer the film in a different direction.

My main criticism is that for a lot of the film, it's a laugh-a-minute, almost making it a comedy film. Captain Phasma is still poorly treated, but I guess it is what it is with her. And Snoke is still a big mystery, one that I guess will be covered one way or another eventually. Otherwise, this is definitely the Star Wars sequel we've been looking for.

14
Ugh, no, making it all just a dream would be even worse.

15
It's certainly not what it could have been, and it's not what it should have been. It wasn't the bridge of 30 years, it was the same 1-year-war then a huge gap as we already had. There was a great opportunity to tell a story about the Empire in decline but the sheer determination of the loyal troops fighting to survive and rebuild. This is from the Star Wars wiki article on the time-period we expected to be covered.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cold_war

Quote
The defeat of the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Jakku one year after the Battle of Endor,[7] and the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War[5] in 5 ABY[7] marked what would prove to be the beginnings of decreased hostilities between the shattered superpower and the New Republic. Not long after, a conference was held on Chandrila between Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, during which the latter formerly surrendered to the New Republic. Although peace was formerly declared, fighting between the new government and certain Imperial factions would continue for quite some time, until the hostilities would finally die out, with some warlords either suing for peace or escaping into deep space. Those Imperial officers who did not yield were then declared enemies of the state.

Some elements of the Empire's leadership and military rejected the stipulations, and, while the violence did not resume, the New Republic and an organized remnant of the Galactic Empire became locked into a cold war.[8] While this standoff was of certain significance, the rest of the Empire, while disjointed, did not cease to exist by any means. As per the conditions of the Galactic Concordance, the Imperial capital of Coruscant was ceded over to the New Republic, where a provisional government was established. Agreeing to the terms of the Concordance, all non-military officials and those officers who respected all conditions were granted pardons. Many Imperials within the higher echelons of the armed forces refused to immediately agree to the terms, and, in turn, they were branded as war criminals. Despite this, the empire was allowed to survive in the form of successor states that maintained full sovereignty over territories that did not fall under the New Republic's jurisdiction. With Coruscant no longer the seat of executive power for the Empire, Imperial leadership was forced reconstitute itself. As such the central Imperial government was officially dissolved, with some of its leaders going as far to leave the Empire altogether and joining the New Republic. Additionally, those territories that fell under the authority of these former Imperials were assimilated into the New Republic.[5] Although some chose to do this, there were still those who remained loyal to the actual Imperial establishment, unlike their comrades who joined the restored Republic, those Imperials who sought independent sovereignty, and the aggressive hardliners who refused to acquiesce to the Concordance's stipulations.

As patriotism and loyalty towards what remained of the true Empire did not die with its fragmentation, there were still dedicated Imperials, both civilian and military, who remained dedicated to its existence. The organized Imperial Navy and constituents the Empire's war machine were still very much consolidated, as not all forces had joined with warlords or the hardliners who had retreated and partitioned themselves in regions outside of the New Republic's influence. As the Empire was simply too vast to disband altogether, a conditional accord was decided upon between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire in regards to what would finally become of the latter's foundational aggregation and the powers that it still held. The agreement called for a conditional restructuring of the Empire, allowing it to persist as an official and self-governed entity, but ensuring limitations on its ability to wage war. Imperial borders were redrawn and a successor state was formed by what remained of the old Imperial establishment, and, as per the terms of the Galactic Concordance, the new government that would ultimately agree to the stipulations. At the command of the New Republic, the remnant leaders ordered that all fleets that were still loyal to the Empire be recalled to the Core and Inner Rim, although Empire remained a divided force, with the remnant factions that went rogue refusing to acknowledge the order, now standing as a hawkish confederation locked into a cold war with the New Republic.[16]

Despite the reluctant agreement, some militarized factions of the Empire refused to admit defeat, as the empire in the Core Worlds and Inner Rim had. While these hardliners did not actively carry out any major military campaigns against the New Republic and vice versa, both powers remained hostile towards one another. Although the Old Empire was decentralized and divided into various official and recognized states that preserved the Imperial tradition in certain non-Republic sectors, the residual empire founded by those hardliners was considerable enough to be a cause of concern to the New Republic, thereby prolonging the cold war. Since resentments left over from the Galactic Civil War never truly went away, with those on both sides despising the other, the cold war between the non-compliant Imperial remnant and the New Republic would last for decades. As it wore on, the remnant began to retreat and then colonize the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy, where it would reconsolidate its power and initiate a rapid military buildup. During this period, political hardliners who opposed the Republic assumed leadership of the remnant and transitioned it into the First Order, a powerful military junta based upon the policies and principles of the "Old Empire".[8]

See, there's the story we could have had. You could have kept Iden Versio's disapproval of Operation Cinder, but you needn't have had her defect to the Rebels/Republic. It might have made a better story if she upheld her ideals in the Empire and worked as a Special Forces Agent to sabotage Operation Cinder from inside. With that out the way, she continues as an Imperial to the Battle of Jakku where again she must retreat from the conceded battle. From that point on, she could have been a character watching the remnants of the Empire crumble around her while still holding strong to the Imperial dream. You could have had missions ideal for a Special Forces Operative in a Cold War - intel, assassinations, extractions, political manipulation, until eventually she is invited to join the fledgling First Order - no need to give away plot details that the Story Group may wish to expand upon later.

16
I watched the battlefront 2 story and while its cliche, its still alot better than the classic BF 2 story.

That's because the original BF2 story wasn't about drama, it was about context. It was the voice of one soldier amongst many, which is the point of Battlefront, you play as expendable grunts that are a dime a dozen. You die, you respawn as another grunt, but your grunt's life isn't important, it's the objective that's important. The plot of old BF2 reflected that, it was about the macrocosm; you're fighting to build the Empire, and it's a fight we hadn't seen in detail before.

What people wanted in the new BF2 story was to fight to build the First Order. They got shafted with a predictable defection story set during events we mostly already know about.

17
I think I can understand what the story group's rationale behind Operation Cinder is. I believe the 30 years of nothing really interesting happening is a deliberate method of sectioning-off eras. I imagine they wanted to avoid the scenario of the old Expanded Universe where post-Endor was up for grabs by multiple authors all contradicting each other. So they wanted to punch a void in the timeline where nothing happens, and that means they need the Empire out of the picture very quickly. So they have the Empire commit suicide then disappear in one year, and then nothing really interesting happens until the Resistance and First Order get at each other so you've got neatly sectioned definable eras. Hence why Battlefront II jumps from Jakku to the First Order, because I imagine the story writers were specifically told not to put anything in between.

18
So to summarise, what people wanted was a story akin to the original Battlefront 2 which showed us the perspective of a clone trooper who fought all the way through the Clone Wars, the rise of the Empire, and the Galactic Civil War up to the Battle of Hoth. We got to see how the Republic became the Empire and what that meant for the soldiers. What people wanted in Disney/EA's Battlefront II was the same treatment for the post-Endor Empire, to show us the story of a soldier sticking with the Empire through 30 years worth of history to become the First Order. In terms of the material of canon we know so far, even though there's the whole thing about the Empire disappearing and not causing much trouble for that time, I say there was still potential to tell that kind of story, especially with Inferno Squad, a Special Forces team.

However, there were others who had a prediction; that the player character would defect. They were right. And we didn't get to see how the Empire became the First Order at all. The story goes from Endor, does Operation Cinder as depicted in the Shattered Empire comics, does the Battle of Jakku and then skips to just before The Force Awakens to an abrupt cliffhanger ending. So there's no new key plot points to the timeline in Battlefront 2, it just covers what's already been depicted in other material with a personal story tacked on. So if you were expecting the rise of the First Order, you haven't got it. Basically what you've got is Shattered Empire the game.

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Star Wars Discussion / Impending doom of canon Thrawn? (SPOILERS)
« on: September 24, 2017, 06:17:10 PM »
I've just read that Warwick Davis will be joining Star Wars Rebels season 4. And who is he playing?

Rukh, the Noghri that killed Thrawn in Legends.

And here I was hoping they'd go for exile to the unknown regions instead of his death.

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Star Wars Discussion / Re: Disney Star Wars cannon? Or EU (Legends)
« on: August 23, 2017, 07:37:33 PM »
Just to add to what I've already said, I find saying "Legends is better than canon" to be far too broad a brushstroke to be considered true. Because if you say all Legends is better than all canon, then you're putting The Crystal Star, Holiday Special, and everything Ewoks above Tarkin, Thrawn and Rogue One.

The best of Legends may well be better than the best of canon, but the worst of Legends is far far worse than anything canon.

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