Creating a plot for the 1.3 Community Project: Part 2

[Clavin12]

WAIT: I GOT IT.

Biometal is alive-ish, correct? But how "ish" was never really settled?

What if it was bio-metal that made the Ark crash into the moon, to secure it's own discovery?

Bi0-metal itself is kind of an enigma. Why can't it be a bigger thing, maybe even an inter-universal problem? Perhaps use this analogy: Think of the universe like a tree: bio-metal is a vine, crawling, spreading itself through warring factions across the universe, pitting life against life until bio-metal is the only thing left.

It repeats a common theme in Battlezone: You can't control bio-metal. (Furies, Scions, ect) Also: What was thought to be a blessing turns out to be a curse.

What is the biometals motivation?

[sabrebattletank]

If we are time-hopping Timesplitters 2 style, then it could be the biometal leading us.

[Clavin12]

Why would the biometal want to lead us?

[sabrebattletank]

I don't know. Ideas?

[mrtwosheds]

Same as any other lifeform, survival and replication, it uses other lifeforms to achieve this just like plants use bees, War generates maximum dispersal of its material and exposes it to positive evolutionary forces.

[Clavin12]

Plants don't know that they use bees. Should the biometal be sentient?

[Mr X]

Well, we know that it has a memory of sorts, that seems to indicate some sort of brain. So I wouldn't be surprised if it could think for itself.

Thing is, this would suggest that if you added to a peice of biometal another peice of biometal from somewhere else, its "knowledge" would increase. Like plug in memory devices for computers if you will.

[sabrebattletank]

I tend to think of biometal more of having a collective unconcious.

[bb1]

It sounds so great because it's the reason we fell in love with BZ in the first place.

You are flying otherworldly death constructs, and those lovable tanks suddenly fly and shoot lightning at anything that isn't them...

I had nightmares of Furies chasing my pilot in my youngen days... coupled with the slow hovering and the eerie noise, heart stopping! Bio-metal in itself is the best plot device in the arsenal for a BZ related story, but this has decreased steadily over the run of bz2 mods.

[sabrebattletank]

So: I do think we need to keep bio-metal central to the story, perhaps even to the extent of having bio-metal direct the story in ways the characters weren't expecting.

[bb1]

Since Scions are part biometal anyway, the possibilities are endless. Perhaps when they decided to check out the energy disturbance (gravity well) the biometal part of them swayed over the reasoning of it being a bad idea and so they redirected their course.

We can only leave this in the eyes of the player, you'd have to make a fairly explicit mod with that as the central plot. Biometal as a device in other plots doesn't work so well because it leaves the player wanting more, to get deeper into it.

[Clavin12]

I think we need to come up with the basic time travel plot and then sort of sharpen it into our storyline with all the twists and details. Like you would sharpen a camera lens.

[sabrebattletank]

I'm confused at this point, what the current plot we're vetting is: Is it ScrapPool's? Mr. X's? Mr. X's modified version of ScrapPool's? Is it Mr. X's version of ScrapPool's with additions, like we have been discussing here? Did I spell ScrapPool right, with the capital letters and everything?

Anyone have any insight?

[Nielk1]

Things sort of broke down it seems. Many suggestions are being made that don't fit even with stock let alone FE or the provided base stories.

[Clavin12]

That's why I made my suggestion two posts earlier. You just take a basic time travel plot idea and then sharpen it into the story. I think scrap pools represents one time plot and mr. x's another. Scrap pools with the accidental time travel built with the ship and mr. x's with the time portals and the intended time travel. We just have to pick one outline and add the details.