Couple of questions about the main Split and Paranid plot lines

[Gregorovitch]

Just looking for a bit of clarification on my understanding of what's going on, not spoilers as such.

With the split my understanding is roughly this (note I'm bascially playing a canon and boring Argon homeboy game here):

* Split society is based on slavery and that's not going to change so there is no realistic way to stop the Split helping themselves to Argon slaves were they can without wiping the whole lot them off the face of the galaxy.

* The Patriarchy is an enemy and a serious military threat to Argon. A stronger Patriarchy (made so with my help for example) will be a bigger threat to Argon.

* The Free Families are essentially pirates and gangsters, wannabes. The stronger they get (made so with my help for example) the less of a threat the Partiarchy is to Argon.

* The Patriarchy treat their slaves "reasonably" well.

* The Free Families are currently in "free the Argon slaves" mode. But this is purely to help them fight the Patriarchy by weakening them. If the Free Families won, they'd back into slaving big time and seeing as they are basically organised criminals this is not likely to be good news for honest Argon folk going about their lawful business in the future.

So the dilemma is that although the Patriarchy are marginally the lesser of two evils from a moral point of view, and from the point of view of hapless future Argon captives, helping them neutralize the Free Families is against the geopolitical interest of the Argon Federation? A bunch of gangsters reigning over anarchy in Split space would be the preferred option from that point of view?

With regards to the Paranid "Lever to Move The Wold" thing I am somewhat at a loss as to WTF happened as a result of the Grida/blowing up the monument episode. Reason being that an aweful lot of dialog kicked in with various people jabbering at me left and right whilst I was fighting for my life in a series of battles in the aftermath so I haven't the faintest idea what was actually said by any of them.

Noting how strong the HOP are now in 3.0+ (they've been wasting Second Contact and Argon prime as well as clearing out the new Xenon sectors off The Void, whacking great HOP fleets all over) I had taken the view that the Argon Federation needs HOP unification with the Godrealm like it needs a hole in the head. I had thought that I would have the option to exacerbate tensions between the HOP and Paranid bit from what I can deduce from talking to Busta later, and I have a new mission called "The Mediator" or something, this is not what has happened. Maybe Busta getting me to release the five dudes inside the monument was what threw me, I couldn't figure out from what he said (or more likely I missed what he said because of sound interruptions and/or him jabbering at me whilst I was making a panicked dash for another tankful of air whilst trying to navigate the bloody maze), so perhaps if I'd gone against him and just blown up the monument things would have been different?

Any I still have no idea what Grida's angle was, I simply couldn't make out anything she was saying with all hell breaking loose as she was talking. Whatever, it is what it is and I'm not going back to do it all again now, but I don't like the sound of this peace between HOP and Godrealm, I don't like it at all, and I'd be interested to know if there is actually a way to get them properly at each others throats.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Just looking for a bit of clarification on my understanding of what's going on, not spoilers as such.

With the split my understanding is roughly this (note I'm bascially playing a canon and boring Argon homeboy game here):

* Split society is based on slavery and that's not going to change so there is no realistic way to stop the Split helping themselves to Argon slaves were they can without wiping the whole lot them off the face of the galaxy.

* The Patriarchy is an enemy and a serious military threat to Argon. A stronger Patriarchy (made so with my help for example) will be a bigger threat to Argon.

* The Free Families are essentially pirates and gangsters, wannabes. The stronger they get (made so with my help for example) the less of a threat the Partiarchy is to Argon.

* The Patriarchy treat their slaves "reasonably" well.

* The Free Families are currently in "free the Argon slaves" mode. But this is purely to help them fight the Patriarchy by weakening them. If the Free Families won, they'd back into slaving big time and seeing as they are basically organised criminals this is not likely to be good news for honest Argon folk going about their lawful business in the future.

So the dilemma is that although the Patriarchy are marginally the lesser of two evils from a moral point of view, and from the point of view of hapless future Argon captives, helping them neutralize the Free Families is against the geopolitical interest of the Argon Federation? A bunch of gangsters reigning over anarchy in Split space would be the preferred option from that point of view?

With regards to the Paranid "Lever to Move The Wold" thing I am somewhat at a loss as to WTF happened as a result of the Grida/blowing up the monument episode. Reason being that an aweful lot of dialog kicked in with various people jabbering at me left and right whilst I was fighting for my life in a series of battles in the aftermath so I haven't the faintest idea what was actually said by any of them.

Noting how strong the HOP are now in 3.0+ (they've been wasting Second Contact and Argon prime as well as clearing out the new Xenon sectors off The Void, whacking great HOP fleets all over) I had taken the view that the Argon Federation needs HOP unification with the Godrealm like it needs a hole in the head. I had thought that I would have the option to exacerbate tensions between the HOP and Paranid bit from what I can deduce from talking to Busta later, and I have a new mission called "The Mediator" or something, this is not what has happened. Maybe Busta getting me to release the five dudes inside the monument was what threw me, I couldn't figure out from what he said (or more likely I missed what he said because of sound interruptions and/or him jabbering at me whilst I was making a panicked dash for another tankful of air whilst trying to navigate the bloody maze), so perhaps if I'd gone against him and just blown up the monument things would have been different?

Any I still have no idea what Grida's angle was, I simply couldn't make out anything she was saying with all hell breaking loose as she was talking. Whatever, it is what it is and I'm not going back to do it all again now, but I don't like the sound of this peace between HOP and Godrealm, I don't like it at all, and I'd be interested to know if there is actually a way to get them properly at each others throats.

I didn't finish either of the two plots, but from what I understood, here's my two cents.

About the Split: you don't want spoilers, so I will just tell you that the position of the Argon will be more clear to you at a certain point of the plot.

About the Paranids: So, basically Grida wants the war between the Paranids' factions beacuse she thinks his "Duke" (a buccaneer) softened him up while dreaming about Paranid unification. Grida hoped, once the war was inevitable and his duke's mediation failed miserably (if you blew the monument), she hoped her faction (the buccaneers) could gain benefits from it (the war and the fact the duke had somewhat a free mind after failing). You self-appointed best friend tells something in the lines of "wow, both Paranid factions fighting together against a common enemy! Let's see if we can push this union in the future!" If the Paranid empire unifies, Dal suggests that the war vs. Argon is going to end.

But, as I told you, that's my point of view from both unfinished plot chains.

[LostSoul]

With the destruction of the monument and follow-up plot, you help to establish the Buccaneers as new faction, distracting HOP from fighting the Argons somewhat.

Unification of the Paranid realms causes peace between them and all other factions. As consequency the Realm of the Trinity concentrates on fighting the Xenons. There is a catch however, as this choice puts the "Duke" in a very powerful position. Probably, his Buccaneers will benefit much, but hidden from the public/players eyes.

For both plot paths, the released cocoons are needed in the end, but for different things.