Discrepancies in the Star Control universe

For the most part, the rich and diverse lore of the Star Control Universe as created by TFB is self-consistent. However, there are certain notable discrepancies within the games and its associated canon. This page is intended to organize and catalog these inconsistencies. A certain number of discrepancies occur between the PC and 3DO versions of the game; though not listed here, most of these can be found at the Version Comparison.

Discrepancies between Star Control I & II

• Historical events
  • Star Control places the relevant events within the 26th and 27th centuries while Star Control II places most events within the 21st and 22nd centuries.
  • The Battle in Draco, mentioned in one of the full game campaigns and by Hayes, probably did not happen in Draconis.
  • The Androsynth Clone Revolt is described completely different in the SC1 manual.

• Name changes
  • The Spathi ship is known as a Discriminator in SC1, and as an Eluder in SC2.
  • The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za captains are known as Masters in SC1, but as Lords in SC2.
  • In SC1, the plural forms for "Yehat" and "Mycon" are "Yehats" and "Mycons", respectively, in contrast with the same form as the singular in SC2.

• The Insult, according to the Sega version of SC1, was "That is one ugly sucker", while the SC2 manual identifies it as "That’s the ugliest freak-face I’ve ever seen!".

• During a full game in SC1, Life Worlds where Mycon colonies have been established do not become inhospitable to other races (i.e. Shattered Worlds).

• The full game campaigns in SC1 give the impression that races have more colonies than they have in SC2.

• In the Sega SC1 campaign The Nebula, it is stated that the Yehat have multiple homeworlds hidden in a nebula, while in SC2 they have a single homeworld, outside of any nebula.

• In SC1, there is a large number of minor Precursor artifacts that can be found on various worlds and improve certain statistics of the ship that picks them, while in SC2 there are only major Precursor relics.

Discrepancies within Star Control II

• Syreen
  • The manual for the PC version of SC2 states that their homeworld in the Arianni constellation. The 3DO manual gives the correct location in the Copernicus constellation.
  • The PC manual also calls their homeworld Syrea.

• Hayes
  • Jeffry L. Rand's ship is given multiple names: Miwok in the SC2 manual, or Far Voyager in Hayes' account.
  • The timing of the event is also different: Hayes says that the encounter happened in 2119, while the SC2 manual says the event happened in 2126, which also conflicts with other elements in the Hayes' summary of the Ur-Quan Slave War.
  • Only Hayes refers to the Yehat ruling clan as the Veep-Zeeps, every other source identifies them as the Veep-Neeps.
  • Hayes also says that the Precursors lived 200,000 years ago, while the manual and the Slylandro identify their age as 250,000 years ago.

• The Words
  • The Pkunk give "Hold! Why do you do this! What you are doing is wrong!" as the Words, instead of "Hold! What you are doing to us is wrong! Why do you do this thing?", as The Safe Ones, the Arilou and The Captain say them.
  • While the Role Playing Resource Guide correctly identifies the Pkunk, it misidentifies the Melnorme and Spathi ships as sources from which the Words can be learned; it should also list the Arilou and the Safe Ones.

• Typographic errors
  • Unzervalt is Vela I in the game, but called Vela II in the SC2 manual.
  • According to the Resource Guide, the Faz joined the Sentient Milieu 2000 years ago, long after the first Doctrinal Conflict; the correct date is 22,000 years ago.
  • The paper starmap shows that the galactic spin is clockwise, while in-game it is suggested that it is counter-clockwise, since the Ur-Quan had traveled spinward and arrived in our region in the "northwest".
  • The Whackin' Bush is listed in the Role Playing Resource Guide as being harmless, while it in fact is defined in the game's source code to be moderately dangerous.

• In the 3DO opening video, Unzervalt is not a Water World.

• Unlike every other encounter with them, the first Probe attack on the Tobermoon just disabled it, not destroying it and everyone on board.

• The Melnorme describe the Sentient Milieu as spanning five hundred light-years, though distance in HyperSpace is not measured in light-years, but standard HyperSpace distance units.

• The SC2 manual implies that the Androsynth warped into HyperSpace from near the Asteroid Belt during their Clone Revolt, while all other canon sources deem hyperspacing from inside a planetary system impossible.

• The Melnorme say that the Ur-Quan spread the Dnyarri across Milieu space in a month, allowing them to mentally compel all the member races, while the Role Playing Resource Guide says that a slave war took place, which lasted for several months and resulted in the eventual enslavement of all Milieu races.

• Thraddash Torches can still be built at the Earth Starbase after taking the Aqua Helix; Thraddash battle groups will attack you, but for the rest, the game behaves as if the Alliance is still intact

• The Utwig claim that the Precursor Bomb "has the power to destroy entire planetary objects, perhaps even galaxies", but if you ask for more information, they say "From what our scientists can tell, it appears to be a planeteering tool capable of reducing moon-sized objects to particulate dust clouds."

• In the 3DO dialogue Fwiffo says that the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za departed "towards the edge of the galaxy" after defeating the Alliance. This is the exact opposite of the truth, as they actually departed coreward, as is correctly stated in the PC dialogue.

Simplifications

Simplifications of features described elsewhere in the game, or found in the real world — either simplified representations of what is actually going on, or simplifications made out of technical limitations, or for putting gameplay above accuracy.

• Physics/astronomy-related simplifications
  • Missing features of real objects (e.g. moons smaller than Triton and ring systems in the Solar system, asteroids, and nebulae). Also, the data of some of the game's Solar system objects, such as their mass or their atmospheric pressure, are sometimes different of the real ones.
  • Despite the passage of months and years, the planets and moons around any given star do not move relative to each other. Such motion should be observed irrespective of where the Flagship drops out of hyperspace, except for systems with only one planet or moon, because of Kepler's Third Law.
  • All orbits are coplanar with all others, including that of Pluto
  • No relativistic effects
  • Ships "warp in" to Super Melee even if they both started in TrueSpace.
  • Leyland gravity whips are a warped and simplified version of Gravitational slingshots.
  • Planet landings are highly unrealistic (an exaggerated number of dangers, planets too small), and time does not pass while orbiting or exploring a planet. For example, it is possible to completely exterminate the Evil Ones species from Spathiwa with a single lander (and store them inside it), in a very short time.
  • Super Melee is not to scale, obeys unrealistic physics, contains an exaggerated number of asteroids (and asteroid-planet collisions) and has ships fighting one by one instead of all together.

• When the Flagship is in TrueSpace, battle groups in HyperSpace do not move.

• In certain dialogs, some events are described as occurring "X years ago" or "X years in the future". However, this number is the same regardless of what year in the game the conversation occurs. For example, Hayes, when asked about the events after the Great War, will always say that he was transferred to the Starbase eight years ago.

• Enemies are dumb, both in Super Melee and in HyperSpace/TrueSpace.

• There exists the ability to have non-Orz as Orz Marines, though it is explicitly stated that vessels of a certain species may only be captained by that species. Also, regardless of whether your crew is entirely non-Human, there will always be a Bukowski, Liebermann triplets and so on.

• When the Utwig start moving towards their homeworld (retreating after their offensive against the Kohr-Ah), ships immediately appear in their star system, saying that they have returned from the battle.

• Homeworlds are untouched until the corresponding Sphere of Influence disappears.

• If the Thraddash fleet is off fighting the Kohr-Ah, the Ilwrath may still move to their space and fighting ensues... with several distance units between the opposing sides.

• The Ilwrath don't notice the absence of the Pkunk after their assimilation into the Yehat culture.

• The neo-Dnyarri talks about the Taalo Shield being aboard even if he was rescued from Beta Orionis I after the Death March (in which case the Shield is not needed, as the creature does not try to use its compulsion powers)

• After the mutual genocide of the Ilwrath and the Thraddash, although the Ilwrath at their homeworld, Alpha Tauri I, are exterminated, they still can be talked to by impersonating Dogar and Kazon with a HyperWave Caster (with the same dialogue options as during the Ilwrath-Thraddash war)

• Spheres of Influence are simplified representations of a species' territory or fleet.

• Important devices aboard The Flagship (such as the Sun Device, the QuasiSpace Portal Spawner or Deep Child Egg Case Fragments) are not taken from The Flagship before it is sent against the Sa-Matra.

Apparent discrepancies within Star Control II

Discrepancies which may have a reason behind them.

• The Kohr-Ah wipe out the Arilou Sphere of Influence, but their homeworld is untouched. (It is possible that they have just been forced to retreat entirely to QuasiSpace)

• Melnorme Trade Master Greenish is not the same captain in combat if you choose to be hostile the first time. (It is possible that piloting the ship is not within a Trade Master's duties)

• Normally VUX Intruders warp into the combat zone right next to the enemy ship, but in the SC2 full game this does not seem to apply. (It is possible that The Flagship's massiveness impedes warping so close to it, or that the upkeep of the warping systems is very large and they keep them for wartime)

• Beta Copernicus I, as a Shattered World, doesn't seem to match Talana's descriptions: it has no atmosphere (no sulfur clouds), is not very hot (only 7 degrees centigrade) and its day is not fifty percent longer than Earth's as in the 3DO version dialogue, but actually somewhat shorter, as in the PC version dialogue. (It is possible that during the time passed since the shattering, these variables have greatly changed)

• Shattered Worlds (except Epsilon Scorpii I and Beta Brahe I) are uninhabited by Mycon in-game, and are (including the two inhabited ones) anyway too cold (100 degrees centigrade or even 7 degrees in the case of Syra) for Mycon, who are described as "thriving in temperatures close to the melting point of lead". (It is possible that they live underground, where the temperature is not indicated, or that the temperature in certain locations is maintained at a high enough level, either through natural or artificial means. It is also possible that they do not shatter worlds for the purpose of living there)

• When impersonating Dogar and Kazon, you have the option to command the Ilwrath to deform certain words, but they don't do this except when confirming the commandment. (It is possible that they are simply focused on the other orders, forgetting these).

• Slave shielded worlds (Gaia, Spathiwa and Unzervalt) are not cleansed by the Kohr-Ah during their Death March. (It is possible that they save those for the end, exterminating the more dangerous species first).

• Star Control II's manual claims that in 1940, ten years after the first radio broadcasts on Earth, these radio broadcasts were intercepted by the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za. However, traveling with the speed of light, these radio waves could not have reached the Ur-Quan so quickly. It is possible that radio waves leak into HyperSpace, but that they are not as efficient for HyperSpace communications as HyperWave, the usual means of communicating in HyperSpace, is. Another possibility is that the signals were intercepted by an Ur-Quan Kzer-Za vessel on a reconnaissance mission.

• Two reasons are given for the insults used by a Pkunk Fury's captain. The manual says that the Fury's secondary recharges the ship's batteries. The Pkunk say that the insults, in fact, throw them into a frenzy, lest their peaceful nature forbids them from attacking the enemy ship. (It is possible that both are true — the psychic energy generated is somehow converted to electrical energy and fed to the batteries).

• Hayes describes the Arilou as "pale little weirdoes" and "have white skin", when they are green.

Differences with the real world

• The star color ladder is not scientifically accurate (see here).

• Planetary systems are misnamed in-game "star systems".

• Agoraphobia is misunderstood as a fear of open places (see Umgah), while in reality it is a fear of leaving one's "safety zone".

• "Redux" (as in "Redux World") is misunderstood as being synonymous to "reduction", while it means instead "brought back".

• "Sentience" is misunderstood as being synonymous with "sapience".