I played Ur-Quan masters if thats close enough lol

well, the Andromeda Strain theory makes sense: the creators of the miniseries totally BOTCHED Crichton's amazing book, so it follows that it could be the downfall of an alien race as well...

Well.. there's two major options.

The first is most common. I'll name it the rebellion option.
The Vasari were experimenting with another form of population control / artificial slave race that got out of hand. Either cybernetic control chips or an artificial rase or a control virus got out of hand.

This is the least likely, in my opinion, even if it is in character for the Vasari. If nothing else, it should not have happened fast enough to prevent any message getting out, any reports of rebellion.

Which leads us to another option. I'll name it the precursor option.
Careful reading of the background material notes that of the races, the Vasari are the ones that does not understand the phase drives, but just use the precursor technology they found by copying it.... yet they have the most advanced phase technology - even using it in their missiles.

This establishes the existence of a precursor race.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the technology they found would be at what is now the centre of the Vasari empire. It is after all the technology that enabled them to create their empire. This was the first area hit.

As phase drives use hyperlanes, this means that if that planet was the precursor's link world, that is where they would return to, if at all.

Obviously whoever the Vasari copied it from had superior technology. Blindly copied technology may have included copying various backdoor controls, which would explain the vasari inability to fight the enemy. (Without making it so overpowered that the expansion pack would be a meaningless slaughter - the vasari may have finally removed the backdoors).

Biological ships are out of the question, considering that the phase drives they copied were not biological or biomechanical. A machine race would be more likely; considering the time passed, not unlikely at all, or just a very long-lived one.

Optionally, another race tracing the path of the precursors.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

Given that a Viturska Transport Lab - which immediately blows up, no less! - shows up as the very first scene in the intro, I'd say it's a good bet that the downfall of the Vasari had to do with experimental drive tech, whether phase or otherwise.

I don't know why you'd say the "rebellion" type is more common. The majority of 4X games I recall tend to deal with dimensional menaces. And Yeah, it's pretty clearly a drive malfunction. And aren't they the ones who use those tunnels? There's got to be some kind of risk in tunneling through spacetime.

As for the expansion and the new race...
They might be that 'precursor race' and haven't advanced technologically because all they need to do is find beacons and destroy them, where as the Vasari are on the front lines obliterating everything in their way, and war drives technology. Maybe the Vasari have finally caught up to them in tech, but just haven't realized it. After all, it's been 10,000 years.


As for biomechanical, I thought that's what the advent were.

The intro movie implies that some sort of Vasari propulsion experiment is involved.

Perhaps they opened a phase lane to some other place, and accidentally drew the attention of some greater power. This power is now following them, consuming all worlds in its path.

The manual also indicates that the one warship that made contact with whatever is following the Vasari and survived to return had not only sustained serious damage, but also had its crew driven mad with fear.

Maybe they released some sort of imprisoned or trapped ancient race? Perhaps it is something that can posses others and/or snap a beings mind like a dry twig.

In that case, it may be the Advent's knowledge of psi-tech that is the key to stopping this.

As an aside, the concept of cybernetic vehicles (craft which utilize both mechanical and biological properties) is quite viable, and may simply be the inevitable result of technology as it grows more sophisticated rather than some strange alien thing. The recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica (love it or hate it) presents a good example of how this technology might function. In the real world, our technology is gradually moving in this direction already. Early examples of human/machine integration can be seen in things like the Emotiv products. In fact, one theory posits that we might not ever develop "AI", and instead may simply use our own minds to control machinery. It is not nearly so fictional as the concept of psionics, which has no known viable method of function (though I suppose it could be discovered one day, if it even exists).

a race that the vasari long ago colonized and or experimented on and they made a death star in secret and are just blowing up planets with death stars. yea kinda like advent tec thing but whatever.Or mutated vasari.

It's also possible that the Vasari experiment is gradually destroying the entire universe, shifting matter into another dimension or something similar to what happened in Xenosaga.
A rift of nothingness expands from the initial Vasari station in all directions, so it looks like they're being chased, and anything coming into contact with this void space would be damaged and driven insane.

Of course this'd mean that eventually the TEC and Advent would be forced to flee too, which would be an interesting situation for a sequel.

Isn't that Battlestar Galactica, but with clones rather than robots?

I remember reading Niven's Ringworld, in which a cluster of very massive stars exploded, sending a huge amount of radiation into space. In order for the human race to survive, they need to escape to an area the was far enough away that the radiation would not kill them.

Maybe the Vasari accidentally caused a couple stars to blow up, killing most of the population and making those who survived the radiation go insane from radiation sickness. This could also be why all the beacons are destroyed, from the blasts of radiation.

Another point:

The Vasari believe they are being chased, but what if they are being...followed?

Perhaps whatever the Vasari are fleeing from is actually driving them forward. Intentionally staying one or two steps behind, using the Vasari (unbeknownst to them) to uncover new worlds for...conquest? assimilation? consumption?

It would explain why this force (or whatever) is expanding faster than anything the Vasari have ever encountered, and yet they are able to stay one step ahead of it in their flight.

I'm pretty sure that *I* am the one chasing them.

Sorry..

I just got done with a 10 man match, me (TEC) against 9 allied Vasari factions. I had the smallest fleet of all the teams and they still "retreated" even when they had 2x-3x more ships than me in any given skirmish.

*grumble*

wow.....you actually PULLED OFF a germany. (off topic)

(ON TOPIC) I think what they are really running from is themselves. Everyone assumes that the Vasari empire was unified. I dont see anything in the lore suggesting it was(please yell at me if I am wrong :D). It could be a splinter faction a la Korath.

Option 1: I say it was Replicators. For any non-Stargate fans, Replicators were created by the Vasari. A single person created an android, which could reshape solid matter into blocks. These blocks could form together tocreate spider like creatures. These creatures were given on command once the Android went into stasis: Come together and destroy, but most important, REPLICATE. Their objective was to destroy planets and use their resources to replicate. When they found the Android, they studied her and created more Androids. These androids where invincible to all weapons except for a Ancient-design modified disruptor. They even adapted to that too. They could also make exact android copies of real humans. They infiltrated the Vasari and took over from the inside.

Option 2: It was the Goa'uld. Again, for non-Stargate fans, The goa'uld are parasitic snake like creatures that enslaved thousands to worship them and do their bidding. They spread fear by using devices created by the Ancients to torture/kill people. They need human hosts when fully grown or Jaffa(Goa'uld modified human) as incubators when young. The Jaffa also needed the the young goa'uld as symbiotes to act as their immune system. The goa'uld start taking over/destroying worlds and take more hosts.

These two options are very likely!

note, I am replacing the actual creators with "the vasari" in my last message.

I that is true, they would have no choice now but to show themselves, or risk their intentions being exposed.

I still say it's the Dread Lords.

Edit:
Thinking about it, an experimental trans-dimensional drive puncturing a dimensional barrier letting team nasty in is quite a plausible storyline. (if not terribly original, but what is these days)

Thusly enters the expansion, which is promised to have a single player campaign.

Of course, I could always be wrong...

Dude its obviously Hitler who is chasing them or maybe its......Dick Chaney with a loaded shotgun.

Dude its obviously Hitler who is chasing them or maybe its......Dick Chaney with a loaded shotgun.

Umm sorry for the double post was some kind of error or George Bush is pissed that i said that that he was a crappy president and that i wouldn't even wipe my butt with his face.

of course its them cursed nano bots. some vasari tech screwed up and his bots went all genocidal.

and what happens if a nanobot crazy-epidemic is raging through your empire? its getting dark and silent.

i've been looking on other forums, and i think the Xin are responsible

http://www.mediafire.com/?zvnxtjcywlj

No no silly, it's Sauron controlling the fleets of the Sangheili.