is that planet killer tentacle thing really a planet killer?

skollulfr · April 2014

i was thinking, the undine can already blow up planets, so what would they need with a planet "killer" like that?

which led me to this thought, the undine dont have a lot in the way of solid ground and the associated resources, so what if that thing is a planet "stealer"?

mustrumridcully0 · April 2014

Maybe they just build it specifically for our dimension?

It seems to me that the regular Undine ship formation being able to blow up planets is retconned.

mrspidey2 · April 2014

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

Maybe they just build it specifically for our dimension?

It seems to me that the regular Undine ship formation being able to blow up planets is retconned.

No it's not, they blow up Kessik IV the old way in the revamped Borg missions.

mbk2014 · April 2014

Perhaps it was just meant to be more efficient. Improvements in undine counter tech has meant they have had to up their game as well.

markhawkman · April 2014

mrspidey2 wrote: »

No it's not, they blow up Kessik IV the old way in the revamped Borg missions.

Also, they use the old approach when they blow the door off the Jenolan Sphere.

But yeah, it seems to be more durable than the old approach. I can't really visualize the old approach working when you have a fleet trying to shoot you to pieces.

senatorvreenak · April 2014

Yeah I mean the old attack involves using multiple smaller ships in formation, ships that we now have the technology to easily destroy.

The planet killers are essentially armored self-contained artillery platforms, almost impervious to our weapons, the only weakness being the maw with the weapons array.

theroyalfamily · April 2014

Seems to me every planet they've blown up the old way has been Borg - ie, heavily techified. The ships they've blown up that way - the door to the dyson sphere (totally counting that as a ship), the Voth dread, the vger, etc - are all big ships. When you the player do it to smaller constructs, though, you don't do nearly the damage. That makes me think the old attack actually is some sort of tech-eating beam - the more tech it hits, the more powerful it gets. It can even blow up planets if they are basically assimilated.

However, the planets they are attacking now aren't borg planets, they're just normal planets. Player-able ships aren't that big, so the player version doesn't do a whole lot of damage (at least not "blowing up planets" level). So the undine need something else, something much bigger to take out a regular planet.

kitsunesnout · April 2014

theroyalfamily wrote: »

Seems to me every planet they've blown up the old way has been Borg - ie, heavily techified. The ships they've blown up that way - the door to the dyson sphere (totally counting that as a ship), the Voth dread, the vger, etc - are all big ships. When you the player do it to smaller constructs, though, you don't do nearly the damage. That makes me think the old attack actually is some sort of tech-eating beam - the more tech it hits, the more powerful it gets. It can even blow up planets if they are basically assimilated.

However, the planets they are attacking now aren't borg planets, they're just normal planets. Player-able ships aren't that big, so the player version doesn't do a whole lot of damage (at least not "blowing up planets" level). So the undine need something else, something much bigger to take out a regular planet.

I think you may have explained it!

Nicor Bio-Warships are equipped with a Console - Universal - Fluidic Energy Focusing Array. This series of high-capacity energy conduits is specifically designed to intake energy from other Undine bioships, amplify it, and then release it at a target ship or planetoid. The resulting blast can be made strong enough to destroy entire planets under the right circumstances, but is more frequently used as artillery strikes against space-bound enemies. Scientists from the Alpha Quadrant have learned how to tune the focusing array to emit a communication pulse that pierces the barrier to Fluidic Space. Bioships that hear this pulse will quickly join your ship in battle and channel their energy into the focusing array before it is released in a massive blast. The summoned ships will immediately return to Fluidic Space afterwards.

So apparently it does require something about the target to be just right in order to yield such a level of destruction.

legendarylycan · April 2014

theroyalfamily wrote: »

Seems to me every planet they've blown up the old way has been Borg - ie, heavily techified. The ships they've blown up that way - the door to the dyson sphere (totally counting that as a ship), the Voth dread, the vger, etc - are all big ships. When you the player do it to smaller constructs, though, you don't do nearly the damage. That makes me think the old attack actually is some sort of tech-eating beam - the more tech it hits, the more powerful it gets. It can even blow up planets if they are basically assimilated.

However, the planets they are attacking now aren't borg planets, they're just normal planets. Player-able ships aren't that big, so the player version doesn't do a whole lot of damage (at least not "blowing up planets" level). So the undine need something else, something much bigger to take out a regular planet.

i was going to refute this by mentioning kessik 4...until i remembered the borg nanovirus had almost completely borgified the planet when it got destroyed, so maybe there's something to this

warpangel · April 2014

kitsunesnout wrote: »

I think you may have explained it!

Nicor Bio-Warships are equipped with a Console - Universal - Fluidic Energy Focusing Array. This series of high-capacity energy conduits is specifically designed to intake energy from other Undine bioships, amplify it, and then release it at a target ship or planetoid. The resulting blast can be made strong enough to destroy entire planets under the right circumstances, but is more frequently used as artillery strikes against space-bound enemies. Scientists from the Alpha Quadrant have learned how to tune the focusing array to emit a communication pulse that pierces the barrier to Fluidic Space. Bioships that hear this pulse will quickly join your ship in battle and channel their energy into the focusing array before it is released in a massive blast. The summoned ships will immediately return to Fluidic Space afterwards.

So apparently it does require something about the target to be just right in order to yield such a level of destruction.

No, "under the right circumstances" means "when the plot says so." It does not limit the Undine when they turn Cutscene Power to the Max, it exists only to (try to) avoid players complaining the attack is too weak when they use it. Just like thalaron weapon can wipe out a whole planet in cutscene but when you get the Scimitar pack its a green sneeze.

is that planet killer tentacle thing really a planet killer?

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