Update Historical Timeline #19
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Added new events for lore tidbits, explanations of certain things in the main game, hints to alien encounters, and generally more flavor.
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
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(you can also do add to batch to keep commit history cleaner) |
Co-authored-by: Loymdayddaud <[email protected]>
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| This timeline is provided mainly to assist with story writing, to make sure that all the story lines are in harmony with each other. This is the history of the galaxy as it is known to the player in the year 3013; over the course of the game the player may discover that certain things they took for historical fact turn out to be untrue, and that the history books have left out key information about the forces at work behind other events... | |||
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| * 2080: First human settlement on Mars. | |||
| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | |||
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| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | |
| *2030: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. |
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Do we need this? Is either date suggested here even correct? Didn't humanity begin to look "skyward" about 1900. Certainly overpopulation and war are ongoing issues.
If this is being kept:
| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | |
| * 2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warming, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. |
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Well, thinking about it, this seems to say the whole Earth is being, so I think 2030 or later should be fine.
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I would personally rather just not include anything this early on the timeline. I think it was a deliberate choice by MZ to leave the near future (from the present day) intentionally vague, and I think there are good reasons for doing so.
| * 2980: Many Dirt Belt worlds are growing in population, but many of those worlds are barely habitable and too poor to afford terraforming. The gap between rich and poor worlds is growing. | ||
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| * 2990: Lionheart begins production of a modified colonization ship, intended for both commerce and convoy defense. |
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| * 2990: Lionheart begins production of a modified colonization ship, intended for both commerce and convoy defense. |
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I understand this is supposed to be alluding to the Bactrian, but the Bactrian dates back to the era of City-Ships, and we know that era was over before the Alpha Wars, since Firebirds were used in those wars.
What I would maybe suggest is instead having an entry at some time in the 2300s along the lines of
Advances in technology make smaller starships economically feasible for the first time, bringing the era of city ships to an abrupt end. The newly established Betelgeuse Shipyards quickly becomes a major player, with a range of small cutting-edge ships available at low prices which would have been unthinkable a decade prior.
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| * 2310: A small anarchist colony is established on Freedom, far north of Sol. | ||
| * 2310: A small anarchist colony is established on Freedom, far north of Sol. The colony becomes self-sustaining, able to operate outside of the influence of any corporation or government. |
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| * 2310: A small anarchist colony is established on Freedom, far north of Sol. The colony becomes self-sustaining, able to operate outside of the influence of any corporation or government. | |
| * 2310: A small anarchist colony is established on Freedom, far north of Sol. The colony becomes self-sustaining, able to operate outside of the influence of any corporation or government. | |
| * 2312: In response to the new threats, Lionheart begins production of a modified colonization ship, which is intended for both commerce and convoy defense. |
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2312 is oddly precise when most? all? other events are rounded to the nearest decade. I'd just lump it in with 2310. Also, it's plausible that the Bactrian actually dates back to even before then, to shortly before the Midgard colony.
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It wouldn’t be 10 years after the pirates, for sure.
And it’s unlikely they would do it at the same time. But, @piper8823’s choice.
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Oh boy, do I have a lot to say about this.
First of all, I really appreciate that you're taking the time to rework a wiki page that hasn't changed in just about forever. A lot of what you've added is really well written and helps add a lot more flavour to a very bland page.
With that said, I do one big warning and a few smaller criticisms.
The big warning is that, generally speaking, this timeline is the canon decided on by MZ and backed up by what is already in-game. In order to change it, you're probably going to have to get it approved by the devs, including Derpy. Some of what you've added (especially the parts elaborating on pre-existing events) should be just fine, but other bits might cause issues where they don't fit with current lore.
As for my smaller criticisms, I found when going through this that you seemed to be removing events when they occurred simultaneous to others. This might make sense if it was minor events, but Buccaneer Bay, Greenrock, and the ramscoop are all pretty important. I think it's fine to have multiple major events for a given decade: that happens in real life, too.
At the same time, I feel like you've been filling in the gaps. That makes sense, but it also starts to feel a bit artificial when each decade is covered by exactly one event. Having gaps of twenty, thirty, or even more years is more random, and so seems more natural.
Most of my other comments have to do with (gasp) realism. Obviously, realism isn't all that important for the actual game, but when writing lore (like this is), I think it's best to be at least believable. For example, I can't imagine humans going 600 years in space without an anti-missile system when it took the USSR only 16 years to build an atmospheric anti-missile system, and we already have such systems in place in atmosphere. I also have difficulty imagining us still using plasma and ionic rocket engines 1000 years from now... but at least there we didn't somehow manage to lose that tech for several centuries.
Beyond that, the only thing I can think of that didn't make it into my individual comments is that "Update" probably isn't the best label for this PR, as it implies that you're adjusting the contents of this file to match what's currently visible in-game. I'd go with "Rework," "Flesh Out," or even "Add Detail to" instead.
With all of that said, these are some really great ideas, and I hope and believe that at least some of them will be able to make it into the timeline.
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| This timeline is provided mainly to assist with story writing, to make sure that all the story lines are in harmony with each other. This is the history of the galaxy as it is known to the player in the year 3013; over the course of the game the player may discover that certain things they took for historical fact turn out to be untrue, and that the history books have left out key information about the forces at work behind other events... | |||
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| * 2080: First human settlement on Mars. | |||
| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | |||
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Do we need this? Is either date suggested here even correct? Didn't humanity begin to look "skyward" about 1900. Certainly overpopulation and war are ongoing issues.
If this is being kept:
| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | |
| * 2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warming, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. |
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| * 2200: Humanity is poised on the brink of an era of space exploration and colonization. | ||
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| * 2210: A physicist named Charles Plot discovers charged particles traveling along a "gravitational slipstream" between the Sun and Alpha Centauri. He builds a device that allows objects to travel along that slipstream. The Plot device becomes the basis of the modern hyperdrive, allowing faster-than-light travel between certain stars. | ||
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| * 2240: All the star systems adjacent to Earth have been colonized. | ||
| * 2230: A civil war breaks out between rival governments over colonies on Mars. The use of biological weapons encourages new rules of engagement that ban such devices in combat outside of Earth. |
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I'm pretty sure biological warfare is already illegal in space, since WMDs are and I think the UN classifies any biological weapon with equal or greater potential for damage as a 1948 atomic bomb as a WMD.
| * 2080: First human settlement on Mars. | ||
| *2020: As Earth is ravaged by global warning, overpopulation, and war, humanity begins to look skyward. | ||
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| * 2050: First human landings on a series of moons and asteroids in preparation for settlements throughout the Sol system. |
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Not sure how well this fits with existing lore, or the real world. We've already landed on many moons/asteroids.
Number of Objects Landed On
| Crash | Unmanned Landing | Manned Landing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planets | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Moons | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Asteroids | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Comets | 1 | 1 | 0 |
If what you mean is manned landings, then I see no guarantee that we're going to land on "a series" of moons and asteroids ever. Most asteroids are too small to be useful, and most useful moons are well beyond Mars, which is even more useful for us.
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| * 2050: First human landings on a series of moons and asteroids in preparation for settlements throughout the Sol system. | ||
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| * 2080: First human settlement on Mars. The settlement is abandoned soon after, due to a disease outbreak. |
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A disease outbreak is probably pretty unlikely on Mars considering the amount of screening that astronauts have to go through, and the fact that there's not really an easy vector for transmission. For an outbreak to happen, people would either have to screw up really badly, or Mars would turn out to be uncolonizable, both of which I'd expect to be mentioned in the game data.
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| * 2250: Powerful governments and corporations begin exploring the galaxy with long-range scout ships and unmanned drones, "prospecting" for prime planets. | ||
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| * 2260: Invention of the deuterium ramscoop, allowing ships to generate their own hyperspace fuel. A privately owned colony fleet begins traveling out from Sol looking for a place to settle far from Earth, and eventually founds the colony of Valhalla. | ||
| * 2260: A privately owned colony fleet begins traveling out from Sol looking for a place to settle far from Earth, and eventually founds the colony of Valhalla. |
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Any reason why you removed the part about the ramscoop here?
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The invention of ramscoops is a pretty major point in space history; the ability to travel long distances without needing to return to inhabited space to refuel was a major factor in shaping subsequent space exploration. With that in mind, I do not think that section should be removed.
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| * 2770: A new wave of colonization is beginning, in part because the terraforming tools of the paradise worlds have led people to believe that any planet can be made perfect for human habitation given enough time. | ||
| * 2770: A new wave of colonization is beginning, in part because the terraforming tools of the Paradise worlds have led people to believe that any planet can be made perfect for human habitation given enough time. Permanent colonies are established on mining and farming worlds that before had been inhabited only by temporary worker settlements. |
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| * 2770: A new wave of colonization is beginning, in part because the terraforming tools of the Paradise worlds have led people to believe that any planet can be made perfect for human habitation given enough time. Permanent colonies are established on mining and farming worlds that before had been inhabited only by temporary worker settlements. | |
| * 2770: A new wave of colonization is beginning, in part because the terraforming tools of the Paradise worlds have led people to believe that any planet can be made perfect for human habitation given enough time. Permanent colonies are established on mining and farming worlds that have previously been inhabited only by temporary workers. |
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| * 2800: The space renaissance. For the first time in human history, technology has advanced to the point where many individual private citizens can afford to operate starships, and with a galactic Republic responsible for eliminating piracy, captains can work as freelancers without needing to be part of a larger, well-armed fleet. | |||
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| * 2810: The Syndicate shipyards begin producing small freighters to be piloted by one person or only a small crew. This is the first time that small merchant ships have been produced - previously all small ships were shuttles or fighters. | |||
| * 2810: The Syndicate shipyards begin producing small freighters to be piloted by one person or only a small crew. This is the first time that small merchant ships have been produced - previously all small ships were shuttles, interceptors, or fighters. Courier jobs and light transport between systems becomes both popular and affordable for many. | |||
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I'm not sure that interceptors should be added here. The rest is a good addition, though.
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Strictly speaking, adding interceptors here fixes a factual inaccuracy, in that the Berserker, an interceptor, most likely did exist at this point. So, I think that addition is good.
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| * 2860: Space travel has become cheap enough that on all but the poorest worlds, middle-class citizens can afford to travel off-world either to resettle elsewhere, or for tourism. Populations begin to drop on many of the least hospitable worlds. | ||
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| * 2870: The Syndicate and other mining and manufacturing corporations are funding people to move to their colony worlds as workers. | ||
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| * 2880: Lovelace Labs is established as a producer of defense systems for starships. | ||
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| * 2890: As a result of the increased planetary exploration, a hidden colony of Alphas who survived the Alpha War is discovered in the Dirt Belt. Because the Alphas have unstable genetics and most of their offspring have fatal gene combinations, they have not succeeded in growing larger than a group of about 50 people. While the Republic is trying to decide how to deal with them, they disappear from their colony, possibly into alien space. | ||
| * 2890: As a result of the increased planetary exploration, a hidden colony of Alphas who survived the Alpha War is discovered in the Dirt Belt. Because the Alphas have unstable genetics and most of their offspring have fatal gene combinations, they have not succeeded in growing larger than a group of about 50 people. While the Republic is trying to decide how to deal with them, they disappear from their colony, possibly into alien space. A wave of panic sweeps the wealthier worlds in the Republic, and new laws allocate resources to their defense from any future reemergence of the Alphas. |
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Very nice. This could explain the Betas.
| * 2950: The space renaissance has spurred the creation of many other manufacturing companies, including Delta V, Tarazed, Betelgeuse Shipyards, and Megaparsec. This leads to increased creativity and variety in starship design. | ||
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| * 2970: The Republic Parliament passes the Galactic Human Rights Charter, outlawing slavery across the galaxy. Several wealthy families on the Paradise planets refuse to emancipate their slaves, resulting in a temporary occupation of Glory by the Navy. |
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I can't imagine the Navy would occupy a Paradise planet, especially with the threat of piracy.
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Agreed, I don't think this point fits very well with what we know about the relationship between the Navy, Parliament and the Paradise Worlds.
Apart from anything else, if the Navy had outright occupied Glory 44 years before the start of the game, their actions on Hope would have been far less surprising and unexpected - people in-universe would be talking about this event, not the events on Hope.
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| * 2920: The spread of new colonies has stretched the Republic Navy thin, and piracy is once again on the rise in the corners of Syndicate space and on the Rim. | |||
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| * 2940: For the first time, large warships are made available for private use, as merchant fleets increasingly rely on their own defensive forces rather than the Navy. | |||
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Weren't warships originally for private use? Private entities predated the Navy in space.
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This would close #6530 from the main repo. |
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I personally don't believe that the historical timeline is something that needs developed upon. If we want to tell more of a story than the timeline provides, that should be done with missions in the game. |
tibetiroka
added
the
standalone
Added new events for lore tidbits, explanations of certain things in the main game, hints to alien encounters, and generally more flavor.
New feature
Correction/Clarification
Typo fix