The sowers are secretly planting a genetic timebomb of some sorts across the galaxy! Maybe that's where those random viruses I keep getting notices about are really coming from

Social-Pariah wrote:
...

Hissho = Klingon = Narn = Krogan.

Sowers = Borg = Xenon = Geth = Necron = Replicators.

...

Any thread that contains Trek, Gate, and X references deserves stars

1 for X; 1 for Gate; 1 for Trek; 1 for putting them so close together. = 3



EDIT: 3 stars because -1 for lack of originality.

Cadoras wrote:
Exactly my point. Parallels and similarities are unavoidable.

If someone on this planet has an original idea, one that is has no bases or relevance to any before it, ... Yeah and pigs fly, stars become habitable--that'll be the day.

Cadoras wrote:
That would be a good idea: a non-playable ninth faction that doesn't do diplomacy and is ultra hostile and powerful. A race against in multiplayer coop would gain another dimension.

Dar B pyr ates! may T Arrrgg!

supersoaker9 wrote:


If someone on this planet has an original idea, one that is has no bases or relevance to any before it, ... Yeah and pigs fly, stars become habitable--that'll be the day.

Sci-fi is so huge, you can rarely come with a new story / game without others saying "oh you got the Replicators from SG1" "sorry dude, the Replicator are a rip-off from [namesci-fibook/serie/film/game]". But that doesn't matter if the story you tell / the game you code is original in his own way.

GC13 wrote:
I mean, come on, what am I supposed to think? A synthetic race created by a race that has virtualized itself moves through the galaxy with a pre-programmed purpose and is named for the verb which they perform on the galaxy? Ye shall reap what ye shall sow indeed.



Was the reference to Mass Effect's Reapers intentional, or is there a limit on how many verbs synthetic races can perform on unsuspecting galaxies?

The reapers themselves are very like the inhibitors in alastairs reynolds revelation space novels, so much so people have complained the entire mass effect story is ripped off from his books.

If custom race will be, you can just make your own reapers)

saint242 wrote:
The Sowers actually remind me more of the Greenfly terraforming machines from Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space novels. Self-replicating terraforming machines gone amok.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_North#.22Galactic_North.22

That was my first thought too. Although they're much more anthropomorphic, since they're capable of diplomacy and trade like all the other factions. The Greenfly are much scarier concept for terraforming gone wrong.



It would be interesting to see a mod that converted the Sowers to more of a non-negotiating Greenfly terraformer, that made planetary systems totally unusable for other factions after they're through with it. Not sure the game can be modded that far, though.

We dont talk about Reapy...

chromodynamics wrote:
The reapers themselves are very like the inhibitors in alastairs reynolds revelation space novels, so much so people have complained the entire mass effect story is ripped off from his books.

This. It's amazing how it seems like a generation of people were introduced to sci-fi with Mass Effect and just assume that it invented every genre trope and stereotype. Kind of how like most people these days would assume a city planet to be a rip-off of Coruscant rather than Trantor.

Zenicetus wrote:
That was my first thought too. Although they're much more anthropomorphic, since they're capable of diplomacy and trade like all the other factions. The Greenfly are much scarier concept for terraforming gone wrong.



It would be interesting to see a mod that converted the Sowers to more of a non-negotiating Greenfly terraformer, that made planetary systems totally unusable for other factions after they're through with it. Not sure the game can be modded that far, though.

The Carvers are more like the Greenfly in that they don't negotiate and 'eat' through everything. I guess there's a bit of the Greenfly in both of the Endless' former servants.



I am pretty happy that two of the major races in ES are the evolved machines left behind from the Endless. It's a cool trope in more recent scifi than in older stuff, to have sapient machine races still kicking around when their progenitor races are long extinct.

Sowers - Reapers. Good one.

The pun seems to be intended but I see no significant similarities between those species. Yes, they are both machines but one is creating and other is destroying.

There are obviously more similarities between, for example, United Empire and WH40k Imperium of Man.

ShoMeYaMoves wrote:
This. It's amazing how it seems like a generation of people were introduced to sci-fi with Mass Effect and just assume that it invented every genre trope and stereotype. Kind of how like most people these days would assume a city planet to be a rip-off of Coruscant rather than Trantor.

No one is saying that ME invented the entire sci-fi genre. It's just been the biggest most recent success in the sci-fi universe which is why people are comparing to it. It's a good reference point which everyone knows.

Personally, I just like the fact that we can play a machine race that isn't (and isn't considered) genocidal maniacs and otherwise try take over/control everything. :P I can imagine for those that choose to avoid the politics of the other empires, they might very well welcome the Sowers as benevolent and non-intrusive leaders.



IE Sower citizens produce Sower plushies for all the children of varied racial origins.

They make more sense than the reapers.

ShoMeYaMoves wrote:
They did not coin the term 'Reapers'; they did not invent the sapient machine race; they merely read of them.

Fixed that for ya.



Less in jest, most people know that a genre as well-developed and beloved as science fiction will have covered most tropes already. Mass Effect would, however, be the only series that has something that is both so similar to the Sowers and possessing a name that means "Sowers" could very well be a pun.

ShoMeYaMoves wrote:
This. It's amazing how it seems like a generation of people were introduced to sci-fi with Mass Effect and just assume that it invented every genre trope and stereotype. Kind of how like most people these days would assume a city planet to be a rip-off of Coruscant rather than Trantor.

You win two Internets for mentioning Asimov's Foundation series!

Kulzar wrote:
You win two Internets for mentioning Asimov's Foundation series!

Though if you want to get particular, the idea of a world spanning city was developed by King Gilette back in the 1890's. Even went by the name "Metropolis". Suffice to say, it's probably more interesting and productive to worry about how make something yours rather than how you can avoid comparisons to your inspirations or contemporaries.

TheDarklite wrote:
Well... The Sowers remind me more of the Xenon from the X series of space sim games. They are a race of machines that were originally designed.... to terraform planets. IIRC something got messed up in their programming and they wanted to terraform life as well... Or something along those lines. Obviously that is where the similarities deviate, but you know, terraforming space robots?[/URL].

Reading this thread, the entire way I was thinking, I kinda get the comparison to the reapers, but not really, not when they are 100% the Xenon!

Also, my fav race to play, expand to everywhere because you can (love that faction trait), when you hit late game terraform everything to jungle, beef the facotries; endless swarms of big defence-y unkillable ships. That'll learn the squishies for being stupid and made out of meat.

Too bad their ships are so slow. Three move speed on a colony ship in the beginning of the game... Now that hurts, it really does.

GC13 wrote:
Too bad their ships are so slow. Three move speed on a colony ship in the beginning of the game... Now that hurts, it really does.

You are supposed to strap some engines on the thing, you know.

cerapa wrote:
You are supposed to strap some engines on the thing, you know.

I don't have enough dust to retrofit my starter colony pod. Or my starter scout, for that matter.