Messages

16

World / Re: Where in the World does this Game Happen?

« on: April 01, 2016, 01:18:13 am »

That case for Australia is really cool, but I am going to have to disagree with it  for a number of reasons. One of the things that worked out really well with my model (and yes, that scale was way off, I didn't know it was only 200 km across. Still, I hold that it is something similar to that, but smaller .) was that the Anglean Republic is based off of a Viking-esque culture, you can see it in the clothing. In the case for Germany the Angleans are decendants of Denmark, the original Vikings.

I do really agree that it is more likely for Asia to pull down into Australia rather than run right around to France/Germany, but let's consider the Leviathans (place holder name). They are the giant machines that dwarfed everything, their engines and control rooms are still in Battle of the Dunes and Duel at Dawn. A representation of their size was made somewhere on this part of the forum, I recommend checking it out if you haven't already. If one existed, it would be the size of a small town, potentially carrying a huge number of people from place to place. I propose that in some form of alliance or pursuit of self-interest, some Asian superpower (like China or Japan) took a few of these and landed a flank on France while they were fighting on the western front. If done at the right point in the war, it would cripple the already weakened France (over-exertion of resources) but may leave the army isolated from their homeland, and after all the fighting is over, they would have to create their own society in their conquered land. We have only ever seen what nations can do in a period of roughly ten years or so of hard war like this, and out of them we got nuclear energy, tanks, advanced air fighting machines, chemical warfare and much more. Imagine what a power mad alliance of tyrants could do in fifty, especially without the restrictions set in by the Geneva convention of 1925 preventing the usage and production of chemical and biological weapons. The effects are unimaginable, and potentially worse than even nuclear bombs themselves.

I'd also like to make the point that the Mercantile Guild is of Venician origin, a city directly south of this part of Germany. Because people didn't really interact with each other before the age of air, I don't think they had naval technology to even cross the Abyssal Gulf. Even if they did, would they really be able to navigate from the Mediterranean all the way to Australia? They would have to be extremely talented navigators and have tons of supplies, and besides, once they found this place, why would they stay? If they traveled that far, they likely are just traveling traders and while they might stop there a lot, there's no real reason to set up a country.

As for water levels, I wasn't saying they would raise up, the Firnfeld is proof they fell. Though I think the maps you are looking at are in the event of a maximum ice age, in which all of northern Europe is covered. In the game, and in my theorized location, the Ice only goes to the south of Denmark, leaving the north of Germany mostly ice-free. While the amount of water saved from that ice may not be much, it would be enough to flood a plane such as the Abyssal Gulf and the Sea of Devils should they have been bombed to a lower altitude. If there were some sort of mega-bomb deployed in carpet bombing runs enough times over generations, the result should affect the altitude significantly, seeing how low most of this piece of Europe sits. Again, the technology created is of unknown magnitude, but if human nature has anything to say about it, we should assume the extreme.

While Labyrinth shows no significant signs of bombing, that may just be a result of speedy construction. You can see the cranes everywhere, the place went up faster than they could manage, which would mean that this was definitely a time where the work was valued over the worker. Regardless of the cost of life, they would have to grow, and should they be bombed, they might have just picked up the rubble and continued building. That is a more fantastical idea, but a different slightly more practical explanation for Labyrinth is that is is not any major city at all. In fact, it may just have been a town that the people from the heavily bombed areas of Germany ran to, causing the massive need for shelter and jobs. If Germany was being forced into a corner on all sides, this may have been one of the last stands for the Germans. If so, all their military might would be on protecting this one city, which would probably allow for them to destroy any foreign bombing raids before they even come close. The tanks all over the streets of labyrinth could suggest extreme martial law, or the dying battle of Germany, the one that ended with everyone dead. From what I understand, Labyrinth is one of the few cities of it's kind, so having it as the final city for an entire country doesn't seem like such an unrealistic idea after all.

Cool stuff.

17

World / Re: Where in the World does this Game Happen?

« on: March 31, 2016, 12:34:28 am »

I think it would be a good thing to assume that this is an 'Alternate Earth' that followed an almost identical history up to the point of the World Wars, but with completely different landmasses. So, this takes place in Alt-Europe and Alt-East Asia.

Otherwise, you have to figure out what would cause a landmass changing event that would leave some cities mostly intact. I am not sure of a Crustal Displacement event (can't really happen) would fit the bill.

Yes, from what I have already gathered from the trailer for co-op 2014 especially, is that this is indeed a world that is a carbon copy of our own(up to about 1914), and it doesn't have to have an alternate landmass. See, there has never been a war that lasted 100 years with the kind of power from WW1 and beyond. From the strange planes also seen in that trailer, you can deduce that the years of war had a huge impact on technological development, setting the world decades ahead of where it would have been in our timeline. Even the basic technological achievements we had back in 1914 was enough to cause massive damage to the environment, some of which is still visible today. Also, keep in mind that massive gun in Anglean raiders (I think its that one anyways, either that or Firnfeld). They obviously went above and beyond weapon-wise. Perhaps there is some super-weapon, or maybe bomb development well surpassed our own technology without going nuclear. Such a mega-bomb, if deployed continuously could quite possibly sink an entire landmass. Such as Poland, seeing how that is the western front, a total destruction doesn't seem so strange. If such a large piece of land were sunk  the waters of both the Baltic and North seas would fill it, and would in turn lower the water levels in other parts, such as the Firnfeld. In the pictures below, there are four maps, one of the Alliance DLC and the other of northern Europe, a water depth map including the area in question, and the last one a very rough and not to scale sketch of what I am proposing. As you can see, the Angleans have a very similar land mass to a slightly less watered and totally glacier covered version of southern Denmark, the one island owned by Germany can clearly be seen in the top left corner of the Alliance map. The Firnfeld lies in the shallower area above Germany close to the one island they have on the top right of the European map. As it just so happens, there is a mountainous area known as the Fjord baronies roughly in the exact same place with a similar coastline to that island in our world. If you look at the depth map you can see that the water there isn't deep at all. If anything happened to lower the landmass of Europe, it would likely dry up while filling the void, but not before the water left in the North Sea (Glaciars do take a lot of water) rushed in. On a final note, looking at this map closer, Berlin was probably bombed and turned into the abyssal gulf. Makes more sense, considering it is a major city. Though seeing Poland with so much of it gone, this was probably a case of mutual assured destruction, without the agreement between nations.

Basically, we have no idea the kind of firepower and technology this alternate world achieved, and with such similarities as seen below its entirely possible for our world to look like this given the right, and utterly horrible circumstances. 50 years of straight bombing will have an effect on the world. Funny thing though, if this 100 year war started in the same or a similar way to our WW1, then it would mostly be due to spoiled, proud tyrants on pretty much every side. Sad, but funny. Crust Displacement doesn't work for a number a reasons and one of them would be this is just such a precise change that something so macro like that would probably not make this happen. Also, what if America is completely fine, and is just a little frozen over due to the partial ice-age? Anyways, I hope that covers this.

I read your wall of text. I enjoyed it. I would be interested if you somehow linked these two games.

I don't know what you mean by two games, but if I get some more info from Muse about the world, I'll make a video series to assemble all this lore together.


Maps:

Alliance DLC Map


Central Europe


Water Depth of North European Waters


My Great Representation of What I am Suggesting

18

World / Re: Where in the World does this Game Happen?

« on: March 28, 2016, 12:31:35 pm »

Thanks for the tip, I'll make sure to do that. I'm kind of a lore junkie, and I just find this lore so fascinating. Usually whenever I thought steam punk before I just thought how unlikely it was for humanity to take such a turn back in the early 1900s. This game really opens up a legitimate chance that could have changed the world if certain events took place. Also, on a side note, its been 300 years since the great war when the game itself takes place. Thats just about the same year as the Fallout series, somewhere in the 2200's.

19

World / Re: Where in the World does this Game Happen?

« on: March 28, 2016, 12:07:02 pm »

Wow, I meant Paritus every time I said Paritan. The map name Paritan Rumble must have just stuck in my head. Woops.

There is speculation that the world formed after a great way which left the land barren.

Do you mean war or wave? I also thought that it was canon that the great war that lasted 100 years caused the destruction everywhere. I just literally spent hours pouring over what little lore there is available, so I don't know if I missed anything.

20

World / Where in the World does this Game Happen?

« on: March 28, 2016, 11:18:29 am »

I haven't found any solid statements of where this mythical wonderland of steam exists on earth, so i decided to take a crack at theory craft. In case you are wondering, this does happen on earth, that much is certain. Also, one of my main pieces of evidence might be an oversight by Muse, but I doubt it. The solution just fits so perfectly.

Well, right off the bat you can say this world is definitely not in the Americas. There's too much history and European architecture in Labyrinth that proves otherwise. By the way, a lot of my guesswork is based on that massive city, as there isn't much given anywhere else. Labyrinth is the only link to our timeline we really have. That said, this also can not be in Africa, Australia or even Asia. Let me explain Asia for a second, as the Yeshan Empire is derived pretty much of complete Asian culture. There just isn't enough cities in that part of Russia, and not to mention the biggest clue we have, is the language of the original people of Labyrinth. Below, I posted a picture of the only remaining sign in the map from the time, its of a hotel. You can't really make out the name of it, but you can definitely see all the letters of the word "HOTEL". That alone tells us that Labyrinth was in a part of the world that used a modern English or like-English alphabet. So, now we have Europe, and with information gathered from the official website and here, we know that the north piece of the map in Alliance its at the edge of a massive ice sheet that blankets the earth from the north pole. That, along with the information that hotel in french is hôtel(throwing the entirety of France out of the question, even though the nearby town is called "Paritan"), takes out any southern European contenders, even though hotel in Spanish is hotel. Now, we have only northern Europe excluding countries with Slavic languages. So, pretty much, all we have left is Germany if we assume the temperate zones that make up the Firnfeld are actually pieces of anywhere Stockholm, Sweden down, that gives us Germany and Poland. Looking at Labyrinth, the pointy architecture on the railway and the construction of the clock tower all point to German styles over the Polish. Now, our only option is Germany, but wait you say, the current world looks nothing like the one in the Alliance map. Well, on the website there is a list of book names that supposedly explain everything (just the names and dates of their coverage) and the first book on the Great War has a timeline of 50 years. Then, the Red Death(sequel) lasts another 50 years all equating to a century of old world conflict. In the first fifty, keeping the trailer for Co-op in 2014 in mind, massive bombing would have happened everywhere. With all the technological advancement it isn't too much of a stretch to say that places like Poland, being the eastern front, was bombed into oblivion. This bombing and excessive resources required to sustain the armies and ships like the Leviathan and other sea-faring ships you see lying around the Firnfeld would have put massive strain on the environment, causing deserts in the forests of France (Arashi Desert) and the sea surrounding Chaladon(which we are now assuming as a surviving piece of Poland, or Polish wilderness). Also, the ships that are just left in the middle of canyons in the Firnfeld indicate there being a sea there, that sea could have very well been the North or Baltic seas. How the Yesha Empire existed in old France, well, it was 300 years. Perhaps Asian peoples sailed over there in that time, or a massive population of Asian people were gunned down over there. Maybe France is just exterminated by Asians and colonized during the war. The Mercantile Guild on the other hand, strongly enforce this theory. They are a nation of strong Venician influence, and Venice is right below Germany. On a final note, The Labyrinth, is probably Berlin or Frankfurt. That is if it is any city that existed before the Great War. The narrow streets and architecture, as I said before, strongly suggest that.


TL:DR (that really is a big wall of text, woops)

The Hotel picture below along with architecture from Labyrinth prove the location to be northern Europe. It can't be France (even though the town is called "Paritan") because they put a silly thing over the O in hotel that can't be placed on that sign (no supports or evidence of it, it also just doesn't work in that font). The mercantile guild to the south is from Venice, the sea-faring ships littering the Firnfeld suggest a dried up sea (the Baltic or North sea) and Germany is right in the middle. Its in Germany, and Labyrinth is probably Berlin or Frankfurt. It also makes Poland a sea except Chaladon, and France a desert run by Asians. Within the three hundred years, Asians either sailed over there or during the war a massive ship (or fleet) from Asia was gunned down around there, or maybe they took over France and got stranded, who knows.

Thank you for reading, if you think I missed anything or think I'm blatantly wrong please let me know. This kind of theorizing is really fun.


The Hotel (The E fell down a bit, but it's there)


The Clocktower


Nice Easter Egg Muse

21

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Role Play Friendly Port To Replace Parts Of The Menu

« on: March 25, 2016, 03:29:47 am »

Or a larger ship.

That sounds like a solid plan.

Simply reworking the menu into a 2d city map with clickable buttons

If I understand what you are saying correctly, that would be a cool idea. It wouldn't work for role playing, but it would be a welcome addition.

Many people I know (myself included) have just rediscovered the game in their library after a year of stagnation and decided to try it out again.

Maybe a 'tavern' lobby purely for chatting.

Yes, though if there is not some sort of a 3D or 2D element then it would be kind of meaningless to call it a Tavern. It would pretty much just be an IRC with voice. Still, some form of organized chat would be quite lovely for team bonding and strategy sharing in some cases.

22

Feedback and Suggestions / Role Play Friendly Port To Replace Parts Of The Menu

« on: March 24, 2016, 06:59:42 pm »

I know that there are many more important things to work on and I agree that this shouldn't be made top priority, but I really think everyone can benefit from this. If any of you have played Sid Meir's Pirates than you have an idea of what I'm proposing (without the menus). I think that to appeal more to lore enthusiastic people like myself a small map should be made where you can talk, use the store (one shop for the player and whatever the airship equivalent of a dry dock is for the ship), edit your character (that is a room in the background after all), deal with clans in a sort of Tavern, start the game, etc. I'm not proposing Stormwind's docks from World Of Warcraft here, I'm talking a small, two or three pier area just outside of some major town or city. This would definitely be good step in the direction of player retention as that is an apparent issue with the game. Many people I know (myself included) have just rediscovered the game in their library after a year of stagnation and decided to try it out again. Giving people a place to feel like they are actually in this world Muse created rather than just playing a one-of-a-kind team based game will definitely appeal to a larger player base rather than just the try-hards. Again, this is just a suggestion for a project in the future. Thank you for reading.

23

The Lounge / Re: Introductions!

« on: March 21, 2016, 06:31:10 am »

Like many people now are saying, its pretty great that this community hasn't died. I bought this game a long time ago and am just now getting back into it. Always nice to see thriving community like this.

In-game I enjoy piloting most rounds in a Pyramidion, though I do run many rounds as a Gunner or Engineer. I don't feel like committing so I don't join clans if you're wondering. In real life, I'm a transgender girl who has a fascination with writing and art (I love the lore to this game by the way). I do the read good. Anyways, if you think my voice sounds weird that's why. If you have questions I'll answer, but other than that, see you all in-game!