OldUnreal (Engine)

I've got an interesting little topic about Na Pali that I'd like to share with you guys. I just hope I can word everything correctly.

Now everyone who plays Unreal knows there are two suns for Na Pali, right? Well, first off, which of the suns does Na Pali orbit? Second, imagine if Na Pali were to be tilted in the same way as Earth at 27 (?) degrees. Now imagine Na Pali falling right between both suns during it's orbit. You would have sun during the day, and sun during the "night". Also, during the "day", the North Hemisphere facing the parent sun would be Winter, the other Summer. But on the other side, North facing the other sun gets Summer and South gets Winter! And to top it all off, it would alternate as the planet rotated. Imagine how messed up the weather would be! And it would have to be like that until Na Pali passes all the way through. Sheesh. I don't even want to imagine what it must be like at the poles. Both poles getting daylight at the same time? Global warming hell to say the least. How do the Nali survive like this!?

Now let's spice it up a little. The gravity of the other sun would pull Na Pali towards it as it passed between the stars. Then as it moved, Na Pali would be pulled back towards the parent sun. This would give Na Pali a highly elliptical orbit. As it passed between the stars, everything listed in the first paragraph would come into effect, but to a much more severe degree. Both sides of the planet get almost equal amounts of sunlight, causing a global daytime. Holy sh*t! Temperature levels soar, the poles would melt, sea levels rise, and everybody dies (hey, that last part rhymed). Wow.

The above may even apply to the possibility that Na Pali may have a figure 8 orbit. But that doesn't rule out the last possibility. It may seem unlikely, but perhaps Na Pali orbits both the stars at the same time! It would be like placing two objects on the floor, and then running around in a circle with the two objects in the middle of your "orbit". That may explain why Na Pali is able to support life. Yeah...

Well, that's all. I hope this interests you and that I didn't confuse you. As you're all probably aware of by now, I suck at describing things.

And maybe the 2 stars are close together at the moment of time the game takes place. What if one of the stars widely orbits the other star. And the planet orbits one of those stars. It may be the stationary one, or the orbiting one. Both ways would result in interesting things.

It's most likely a binary solar system, 2 stars revolving around each other at the center of the entire system. Na Pali possibly rotates around both suns. That may cause a time period of chilling (where one sun covers up/eclipses the other producing less heat for the planet due to the other sun being so distant) and a time of warming (both suns are seen like the setting of the game). So temperatures therefore will not change dramatically to cause a global warming that extreme, but there will be temp. fluctuations giving Na Pali seasons (whether they're more intense changes than the Earth is unknown, obviously). I have thought of this topic numerous times.

If anyone didn't know, our solar system could have had 2 suns, but Jupiter didn't get hot enough to turn into a star. No binary star system for us

It may surprise you to know that more than 50% of all stars in the known universe are binary star systems. The ones that don't get a partner star get a Brown dwarf (Gas planet) instead. But that's beside the point.

After some more thought and looking back at my post, I realized that Na Pali DOES orbit both stars. Here's what I think now:

In Na Pali's early stages, it probably started out orbiting one star, then as the orbit got wider (meaning it moved away from the sun as it orbited.), the other star got a hold of it sending it in a figure 8 orbit. This probably sped up the orbit so much that neither star was able to hold onto the planet well enough to initiate the figure 8. So instead Na Pali orbited around both stars and during this time period, life started to form.

A process like this would take much longer than 4.8 billion years (as old as the Earth is) so Na Pali probably started producing life WAY after Earth did. This explains why the Nali are so primitive.

The guys at Epic REALLY thought this out, didn't they?

Oh, and Primeval, Jupiter didn't become a star because it's too small (compared to the Sun anyway ). However, it still produces its own heat. In fact it makes more heat than it receives from the Sun. I lvoe talking about space

Hmm, interesting. And what about the Gravity? UMS Vortex Rikers got into the planet's huge gravitation field and crashed, as did ISV-KRAN and probably UMS-Prometheus... But on Na Pali, people don't feel any gravity changes. Why is that? And why other ships can orbit Na Pali, like UMS Bodega Bay?

KillerSkaarj: Yeah, that's coming back to me now. Man, I just got out of Astronomy class several weeks ago and already starting to forget things

GreatEmerald: I often heard that the Tarydium on the planet affected the mechanical systems on starships so most of them couldn't get out of the pull because they didn't have the power or something. Other's weren't affected probably because they were further away.

Why no, they weren't further away. Like Skaarj jets - they were very near even though they could fly high in the air. And the escape pods did manage to get out of the pull and like I've said UMS Bodega Bay was really near the orbit, and nothing happened.

The guys at Epic REALLY thought this out, didn't they?

Epic... think..... oxymoron anyone?

Epic... think..... oxymoron anyone?

lol

By chance have you ever seen Cliffy B's blog? He goes into detail about gameplay philosophy and 'his experience' really passionately.

When I read the part where he said "No game should be longer than 10 hours" I laughed and said to myself 'No, just not yours'.

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It could be possible that Na Pali orbits only one sun (the one with the most mass), but in its circuit passes between them both (during this time the game of Unreal begins).

When Na Pali would go the other side of it's parent sun however, the presence of both stars in the same spot in the sky may cause one side of the planet to be rediculously hot while the side in night is absolutely freezing.

All these forces, applied by its moons and suns account to explain the extreme vertical depths on the landscape of Na Pali.

i personally think this topic is a total wth. this is UNREAL, real life logic in UNREAL does not even exist.

When they called the game Unreal I think they were reffering to the scenario.

Unreal is always realistic. They try keeping it as real as possible, and that is just a contrast with the title

Yea, the strange form cliffs were bugging me as well.

Do Skaarj use Tarydium for power? And what's the tarydium liquid in the Foundry?

I've said this alot of times, realism in games is great when you combine it with an event or situation which is that of fantasy; because if you get a player to forget about being conscious and start believing what is actually happening for about half an hour, he will consequently start to take things more seriously and become involved.

Just realised some things, especially about The Sunspire.

Ever wondered why there are only a few Skaarj in there, and none in the chambers? Why there are tables that are not broken but you can take them out easily? Why there are tons of Gasbags and Tentacles in there? Why pupae? Why the lava moat? Why the plank over one part of it? Why there are some alive Nali and why the Skaarj didn't take them to the mines?

Well I think I figured the answers to all of these questions.

First, the moat. You can see that there are loads of titans in the Spire Village. They are native of Na Pali, but they only rarely come to bash everyone around (At the time of around 2213 the Titans were hyperactive for some reason. Maybe that is because the Skaarj managed to get them out of their dwellings?). But the builders of the Sunspire knew that the Titans were a mighty threat and therefore chose the Sunspire valley that had a natural moat of lava and a small path going to a mountain (it originally was not as it is seen in the year 2213 - the Nali changed some parts of the valley. The path was not even as well, therefore the Nali came with the plank idea). The Titans are too big to hold onto the small path and would simply be incinerated. Even if they managed to walk on th path, the plank isn't strong enough to hold a Titan.
There might have been another threat to the Nali at the Sunspire, and that threat might have been small and walking on the ground. (It wasn't the Skaarj, the Sunspire is a lot older than the Skaarj invasion. There are no more native walking creatures - so maybe the Nali are not really that peaceful and battle each other? The castles built by Nali might be defence from other Nali as well.) That is why the Nali built the gates to the Sunspire (a Nali is big enough to use the key without a need to jump). It might have also been used as a border guard. The plank could be used as a movable bridge so any other ground enemies would be stopped.
The huge Tarydium crystal was obviously not only used as a contact device (the big Tarydium crystals can generate a very powerful beam that burns down any mechanisms and even other things like living creatures). It was a weapon against the Gasbags (native and can fly high enough to cross the mountains) and probably the big Mantas. The Tentacles (native as well) were killed by the Nali using knives in their early living stages.

The Skaarj attack probably was like this: a few Skaarj Skimmers flew through the Spire valley to the gates at the morning. The Nali saw the incoming Skaarj and knew that they were around, so they didn't wait much and used their huge Tarydium crystal to message their friends at the Na Pali Haven, and also shot one Skimmer down. The Skaarj had no choice but to land at the gates as the path is too small for a good landing and the roof is defended by the Tarydium crystal. So the rest of the Skimmers landed at the gates. The first wave of Skaarj didn't go into the gate guard building, but tried assaulting the Sunspire building itself. A Nali sacrificed himself and managed to throw the plank into the lava before being gibbed by the Skaarj Eightball launchers. This was no threat to the Skaarj though, they used their portable forcefield generators and made a bridge. Then they crossed the bridge and gained access to the Sunspire. After that, they got directly to the Primary Ascension and took every Nali they could see hostage. They didn't have time for looking into all of the chambers there as they wanted to know the location of the Na Pali Haven. At that time Nali were quickly evacuated from the Sunspire to the Na Pali haven. Then the Skaarj got access to the cistern and some Skaarj figured out that it was a great place for the Pupae to grow, and let off several Pupae. The Skaarj then advanced to the Great Hall, used the turbo lifts, and saw a Sky Elevator disembarking. They managed to throw in some grenades, but didn't take the elevator down. At that time a part of the Skaarj took control of the Tarydium crystal and shut it down. The Skaarj Skimmers then followed the Elevator and got the location of the Na Pali Haven. Then all the Skaarj got on the Skimmers, leaving only a few of them to guard the Pupae.

From that day the Skaarj that were left didn't wander too far from the Pupae as more and more Gasbags and Tentacles chose the empty Sunspire as their dwelling... The few Nali that were left there had to hide, but fortunately the Skaarj didn't search for them. After some time, the Pupae population increased and spread over the upper floors of the Sunspire. The Skaarj even started to patrol the path to the Sunspire, knowing that some humans can try to take control of the building. They didn't touch the furniture in the first place as it was a waste of time, and after that they were too afraid to go to the dark chambers full of Tentacles and Gasbags.

Well that pretty much covers it all Any comments?
Oh, and I might try to make a cutscene of this in UT once the UT Extension pack is out.

According to the books, the Nali weren't a warring species.

-Humans were in the building so that could explain the lack of Skaarj at the time (humans killed them or the skaarj captured them and took them away leaving behind guards).
-Why would the tables be broken? Cross fire? Well, maybe if you're a sloppy fighter
-For the tentacles and gasbags, the Skaarj don't see them as a threat (in game, there not).
-Pupae probably got onboard cargo that was being dropped off at the Sunspire.
-Lava moat is most likely there because of volcanic activity (great spot for a peaceful place, no?).
-There was probably a bridge where the plank is and it collapsed (Titan possibly). The Nali got lazy and stuck a plank there.
-The Skaarj love torturing and poking fun at the Nali for their own amusement so they kept some alive when they invaded. Sometimes they'll just randomly throw a Nali off the edge (as some may have witnessed in the game when you walk to the main entrance).
-The chambers were pretty useless to the Skaarj so that's probably why you don't see many down there.
-The Tarydium Crystal won't be a very good weapon because it can only fire in one direction.

According to the books, the Nali weren't a warring species.

-Humans were in the building so that could explain the lack of Skaarj at the time (humans killed them or the skaarj captured them and took them away leaving behind guards).
-Why would the tables be broken? Cross fire? Well, maybe if you're a sloppy fighter
-For the tentacles and gasbags, the Skaarj don't see them as a threat (in game, there not).
-Pupae probably got onboard cargo that was being dropped off at the Sunspire.
-Lava moat is most likely there because of volcanic activity (great spot for a peaceful place, no?).
-There was probably a bridge where the plank is and it collapsed (Titan possibly). The Nali got lazy and stuck a plank there.
-The Skaarj love torturing and poking fun at the Nali for their own amusement so they kept some alive when they invaded. Sometimes they'll just randomly throw a Nali off the edge (as some may have witnessed in the game when you walk to the main entrance).
-The chambers were pretty useless to the Skaarj so that's probably why you don't see many down there.
-The Tarydium Crystal won't be a very good weapon because it can only fire in one direction.

Need proof? Look here: http://liandri.beyondunreal.com/Nali near this:
"As peaceful as the Nali are, there are suggestions toward more brutal aspects of their culture."

-Maybe, but the time they were killed is not known. Plus they shouldn't be so much of a threat to the Skaarj to hold them hostage. And humans didn't kill any as there are no corpses.
-Seen the Eighballs in the hands of the Skaarj? They create nasty explosions that would surely break all furniture. Bots with Eightballs in Sunspire Deathmatch always break the furniture.
-But the creatures are in the dark and there are too many of them.
-How they would do that? And what cargo? The wooden boxes can't be dropped as they are fragile.
-Yes, it is a product of volcanic activity. That's the reason the Nali chose the valley for the building.
-What, lazy Nali? Seen any LAZY Nali ingame? The plank is obviously for protection.
-The Nali would simply escape the building as they built it and must have made some exits. Or at least jump off to lava instead of getting tortured (as seen in SkyCaves, the Nali jumps even if there are no Krall around). And no Skaarj pushed any Nali off the path, there was just a sound of Nali saying something.
-No way. All of that ammo and things like that is VERY useful for any Skaarj.
-The crystal can be moved higher and then turned to any direction. Just that the player didn't want to do anything like that to save time.

The Dark Arena and torture chambers of the castle were built by Nali, yes, but the Skaarj forced them to do it. Sacrificial stuff... well... it's religion, messed up things seem to happen with that stuff... o.O

-True, there are no corpses of Skaarj so maybe none were killed. However, since there are no threats in the Sunspire (besides you), they don't have many guards there, most of them went up to Na Pali Haven.
-Bots??? When the creators made the storyline, they probably weren't thinking about bots. The human corpses didn't have Eightballs, they had Automags which do not give off nasty explosions. Some of the Skaarj also had Stingers.
-Yes, there are a lot of the creatures in the dark, but they're not a threat to the Skaarj apparently.
-If not the cargo, maybe the drop off of the Skaarj brought in some Pupae.
-I was agree with you on the laval part XD
-Yes, I have seen lazy Nali in the game. Instead of using their muscles to push a small lever, they use their telekenetic abilities.
-And there is a Nali being thrown off the Sunspire. Go to the bridge, when your hear the Nali yell, turn to the right a bit and you'll see a Nali fall to it's death.
-Sure, the ammo in the dark may be useful to the Skaarj, but there is no threat down there for them to use it and they have all they need up in the lit area.
-How do you know it can be raised higher?
-And why aren't more people in on this? lol

"As peaceful as the Nali are, there are suggestions toward more brutal aspects of their culture."

MASOCHISM

Why no way, the Skaarj would better build their own structures, like in Na Pali Haven.

-Yeap, just what I said, they were too busy to be in the Sunspire.
-But most of the Skaarj had Eightballs. And they DO break furniture easily.
-For all of the Skaarj, they aren't, but for those few guards, they are...
-Well, that's what I said, some Skaarj brought Pupae to the Cistern.
-OK
-Lol, they just try to practise more And some of them use their hands, look at Bluff.
-Hmm, maybe, didn't see that.
-But they could stock up or at least sell something Who don't want free stuff?
-The beam had to go through the tunnel. And why not?
-There is, Kaj Funny stuff there. And probably people don't like reading huge posts

Why no way, the Skaarj would better build their own structures, like in Na Pali Haven.

-Yeap, just what I said, they were too busy to be in the Sunspire.
-But most of the Skaarj had Eightballs. And they DO break furniture easily.
-For all of the Skaarj, they aren't, but for those few guards, they are...
-Well, that's what I said, some Skaarj brought Pupae to the Cistern.
-OK
-Lol, they just try to practise more And some of them use their hands, look at Bluff.
-Hmm, maybe, didn't see that.
-But they could stock up or at least sell something Who don't want free stuff?
-The beam had to go through the tunnel. And why not?
-There is, Kaj Funny stuff there. And probably people don't like reading huge posts

But nothing's better than old fasioned torture lol

-Well maybe these were very careful Skaarj XD, and besides when I fight them, not many tables get broken in the process...
-In game, Tentacles and Gasbags rarely attack Skaarj. In "reality", Tentacles and Gasbags are usually where Skaarj are not (and you will find more corpses with them). And with the lack of Skaarj, they probably don't realy bother clearying out the entire Sunspire.
-Last time I checked, Skaarj weren't buying/selling/bartering creatures. And maybe they were down there for a raid, but were lazy when they left the chambers? They have a lot of pride and figured they wouldn't need much inventory against the Nali.
-Mmmmmm, good point

But that still means that Nali built the place by their own so they can be warring.

-That means you're a good fighter and kill them quicker than they fire at you And how do you imagine careful Skaarj? Lol
-They rarely attack each other as they see the player and they simply can't stand players! And yes, they are rarely seen together as Gasbags are native while Skaarj are not, so they choose to live separately (the tentacles live everywhere though ) And like I've said, that many Skaarj that are left there can't get every creature there dead and don't like dying too much themselves
-Why not against the Nali, there is that ISV-KRAN, UMS Bodega Bay, UMS Prometheus and even that company that examines Na Pali and tries to save it's nature So they need loads of stuff, check out Dasa, there are huge crates full of stuff. So they really need that!

I have always wondered about the diverse mix of high and low tech we find on the planet. These are my conclusions:

The Nali are obviously a species older than both man, Mercs, Krall, and Skaarj and have previously reached pinnacles of technology beyond our highest levels of development. An overt example of this is their creation of and operation of a gravitational field cancellation and/or enhancement device. The NaPali Haven (sky cities) don't float because they are full of helium after all...

It seems that the Nali (as a species) have chosen the path of retreating from their technological past and pursuing a life of spiritual enlightenment. We see many examples of their devout spirituality. I believe that most remaining Nali high technology runs as originally designed and has not been serviced in many millenia. Everything remaining in operation continues operating without input and maintains itself. Eventual failure should occur.

The Skaarj and Mercs are interested in the remaining operational Nali technology, that is the main reason why they are on the planet in the first place. Unfortunately for them, they cannot find anyone who understands it among the remaining populace and cannot reverse engineer it for themselves (yet).

We see that in the past the planet used to have much more severe weather and seismic activity. Evidence of this can be inferred through the great terrain disruptions, gaping canyons, sharp peaks, and heavy volcanic activity. Much of this chaotic terrain was driven by the gravitational flux of the binary star situation and their original orbital path. As a final proof of their technological past, I suspect the planet has been shifted from its original orbit and placed in a much more forgiving orbital path through the use of massive gravitational drives. It still requires some active manipulation now and again, this explains why some many spaceships have crashed on the planet. The gravitational flux required to move planets has odd effects on current stardrive technology.

I also suspect that the Nali were masters of biological manipulation, note the Gasbags, obviously a manufactured biological entity. Why would a floating creature need hands? They were meant to serve the Nali in their floating cities. Other examples would be the Slith. Purpose made to work in dangerous environments. The Brute with its defense system consisting of biologically grown, flying and exploding rockets? How unnatural can you get? But good footsoldiers all the same.
Warlords provide the same purpose for their flying cities.

Titans are holdovers from earlier days...they are the remaining dinosaurs from before the Nalis had evolved to their higher states and shifted the planet orbit.

Things have evolved naturally since the Nali have release control and retreated from involvement in the greater universe.

I think the ultimate example that best points to the Nali's once great mastery would be to look at their bio-engineered teleportation capability. They must be able to tap into some source of extraplanar energy to allow the warp to happen.

What other wonders will we find? Did the Nali travel elsewhere in space beyond the world we see? Is this their original homeworld?

About the Na Pali Haven, I think that it might be natural. Tarydium in the planet is known to do many gravitational tricks, it can hold things above ground just as pulling ships on it. Maybe the ground there is special, lightweight. Another story is the SkyElevator... That's really Nali-made, and obviously it uses Tarydium to get up and down (the crystal you activate has to do something). Or maybe Tarydium creates a special gravity field that is one way, that is, usually it creates a gravity field depending on the place they are pointing at (the gravity is heavy when they're pointing down, light when they're pointing up). So maybe the SkyElevator has down-pointing Tarydium, and the SkyTown has more of that. That would explain the fact that in Spire Valley you can see the
Elevator broken - simply the Skaarj took the Tarydium off it. Or maybe (even a beter idea) the lightning destroyed the Tarydium pack of the Elevator (the log states bad weather).

If Nali had high technology, we would see something high-tech. We do not though.

Those "gravitational drives" you're talking about is the fields of Tarydium. It's stated everywhere in the game that Tarydium is the cause of the gravitational pull.

Gasbags... They're native. Why shouldn't they have arms? If they need to catch their pray, they can use them. That includes small prey that hides in cracks, and enemies that they can pummel with their hands while sending out belches.

Slith come from the Skaarj. That's a fact, in the manual. Brutes are genetically boosted, but by the Skaarj. They are "Skaarj-made killing machines". Look at the log of Dusk Falls. And their rockets aren't biological, they have handguns. Now Warlords are Skaarj clan lords. They have Skaarj faces, uses Skaarj rockets, talk Skaarj and come to aid the Skaarj. They are Skaarj with wings, that's all.

Titans are native... They're mysterious though. Like I've said, probably something caused their movement, as evidently Nali village near the Sunspire was not prepared for the ambush.

Now the limited telekinetic abilities... They just had them. All along. But they're limited to helping others - if you don't help, you don't get telekinetic hormones (or sth) and can't use telekinetic abilities. They can use them if someone helps them as well. But I wonder, where do they all teleport to?

I think that they're simply native, they lived on Na Pali and that's all.

The fact that Nali can teleport brings up another question: How come the prisoner Nali do not teleport away from their cells?

I think I've found the answer to this question, though. When you play as the NaliPlayer, hit the F key to do a 'feign death', however the NaliPlayer doesn't feign death. Instead, the nali levitates, then simply goes invisible, not teleport. So many that's what these gameplay Nali do, they turn invisble then get the hell outta the place they're in.

Or the Skaarj may have control over them some how via implanted computer chip.

Hah Did you read what I wrote? My idea:

But they're limited to helping others - if you don't help, you don't get telekinetic hormones (or sth) and can't use telekinetic abilities. They can use them if someone helps them as well. But I wonder, where do they all teleport to?

And yea, feign death is strange. Didn't know you turn invisible... Either way bots don't care, unlike with invisibility. And this IS telekinetic, look at the manual.