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Jimmy posted 12-14-98 07:27 PM ET
episode 30 is up. The crew vote to go there separate ways to improve their chance to survive. We really see the factions forming.
The interesting thing is that it says that the next episode will be posted soon not next week. What do you make of that ?
Rang posted 12-14-98 07:34 PM ET
I liked this episode. The interaction between faction leaders is extremely intriguing. The dye is cast!
As for the "...soon," I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps they are tweaking the timetables because of the delay.
Frank Moore posted 12-14-98 07:37 PM ET
Cool episode I'm pretty fired up right now. as for the "coming soon" I take that to mean that the next episode will be posted when the demo becomes available. After all is there much left to do in the story? Also demo should be out in less than a week.
Spoe posted 12-14-98 07:37 PM ET
Eh, if you want my comments, you can look in the other thread for this episode.
Medivh posted 12-14-98 07:52 PM ET
Fire it up...it's hot!
This episode really beats the lot 8 wll maybe it's beacuse it signals the coming of the demo )
Ready set fire those darn landing pods
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 12-14-98 08:16 PM ET
The ending was nice. 'Next episode will be posted soon...'. That means the demo should be up the same day as the next story, which is soon!! Cool, finally, the wait is over!!
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
Jimbo2 posted 12-14-98 08:17 PM ET
I think Medivh is right, the demo is scheduled to be released this Saturday.
Old_Guy posted 12-14-98 08:52 PM ET
It will be interesting to see what the Captain has to say about all this. Will he object but get killed? Will he agree and take his own pod? If he agrees, wouldn't he go with Lal?
Intriguing possibilities thanks to an intriguing episode.
Hothram Upravda posted 12-14-98 08:59 PM ET
Personaly i believe the Capt does not get killed by one of the factions, but gets killed threw some unknown accedent.
They mention the probiblity of death due to the small chances of a pod geting to the survace. I think we can savly assume that one of those deaths is the Capt.
Hothram Upravda
TB
Elfi Wolfe posted 12-14-98 09:04 PM ET
Such a pity but the captain died in his sleep.

jsorense posted 12-14-98 09:07 PM ET
A pivotal episode, indeed.
Where does Mogan get off claiming he owns part of the ship? Companies provided services under contract to the UN, and for all anyone knows they actually paid for them. I'd give him about 1 cubic kilometer of space, just outside the hull.
And Garland, wake up dude! He is going to sleep through his own funeral.
Santiago was hardly mentioned, nor the fact there an unknown number of armed mutineers on board that may not wish to cooperate with the escape plan.
It is also interesting to see that Miriam supported Lal; A basis for future cooperation & treaties perhaps? (I guess Borodino & I got that right in our chronicles, he he)
And last but not least, I'm never going to get in the story now; whine, whine, and more whine.
Zorloc posted 12-14-98 09:07 PM ET
Old_Guy, I am sure the crew that met is planning on letting the Captain have his own pod. There are 7 pods and only 6 people met on the bridge. Santiago is not included in these discussions, she get's the captain's pod.
Lee Johnson posted 12-14-98 09:13 PM ET
If I may venture a prediction for the next (and possibly final) episode: The Captain will not respond to Officer Lal's wakeup call. Someone will be sent to the Captain's quarters to investigate and will find him, ah... dead. With time growing short, and the Captain no longer present to veto their plan, the faction leaders will round up their supporters, grab a colony pod each, and head down to Planet. Then the game begins. (Demo time!)
I take the "...soon!" to mean that the next episode will be posted concurrent with the release of the demo, hopefully before the 21st.
Zorloc posted 12-14-98 09:18 PM ET
If you look at those that want to split up, they are looking to new/futuristic societies which emphasize a singular aspect of society and turn that aspect into a society (Zahkarov - Scientific Methodology; Yang - No individual; Morgan - Economics; Dierdre - Environmental Awarness). While Lal is the status quo (but peaceful) and Miriam is looking back to a Theocratic Society.
Borodino posted 12-14-98 09:45 PM ET
jsorense,
Perhaps our storyline influenced Firaxis...?
To all,
As to the episode, all I can say is "yow".
Fluke posted 12-14-98 09:52 PM ET
I don't want to puncture anyones ballons but the writing in this episode was really bad. Earlier episode were much more immersive, this was to...childish somehow.
At least the Gaians showed some balls now.
Kick their ass!
Especially that ugly chick: Miriam.
Brother Greg posted 12-14-98 10:24 PM ET
Actually, I am disappointed that there has been little to no info on how most of the leaders gathered their followers. I was hoping for more interaction and info on how each leader attracted followers. Either the last episode will cover this, in which case it'll have to be a huge episode, or we only get info on the couple so far explored.
Nothing on why people follow Mirriam (well, nothing on her preaching to the staff).
Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission.
Nothing on Diedre other than a brief bit with her and Santiago. No real attracting followers.
In fact the only real attraction of followers we seem to have seen is Zhakarov running the engineers (which barely qualifies), Morgan and his speech while playing chess (yeah, one follower for Morgan), and Yang sparring with some people.
Apart from Santiago of course, with her ready made faction...
That's my main area of disappointment in the story. All in all, it has been entertaining though.
As for what will happen to Garland. Well, I dare say Santiago gets his pod after her "soldiers" break her out. He either gets left on the ship (The captain going down with the ship - long Naval tradition), or he is founf dead.
My guess is going down with the ship, which I am surprised nobody has thought of...
Shining1 posted 12-14-98 10:26 PM ET
My pick:
As I have said before, Garland is already dead (Murder mystery style - all the main subjects are assembled in one place, or otherwise occupied, when the murder occurs).
Current loose ends:
1. Santiago's emissionary (the one currently locked up and that Corazon was so keep to get into the command centre).
2. Santiago herself. Also most of her faction has been very quiet in the past dozen episodes.
SnowFire posted 12-14-98 11:31 PM ET
And let's not forget that we can no longer say that the members of a faction joined voluntarily, I think. With any luck they will, but other wise it's going to be just a bunch of average Joes going to the surface. That seriously weakens many factions and our argument that the factions are realistic, if it turns out that way.
Old_Guy posted 12-15-98 01:27 AM ET
I remember reading in one preview that Garland is murdered, but I while I assumed he would die, I'm not definitely sure it would be murder. But if he is murdered, I stick by my earlier assertion that we won't know who did it.
As for faction followers, this does raise an interesting point. We know Santiago already has some followers and Yang has been working his charms. And we know Imran is going with Morgan.
The leaders are acutely aware of their low chances of survival, but I imagine the rest of the crew is aware of mechanical problems with the Unity. Some folks would go with the pod most likely to survive--some might believe in Zakhorov's technical skills, others in Miriam's spiritual ones. Therefore, not all followers may be that loyal to the leader.
Furthermore, the leaders (aside from Santiago) may agree to put a fairly even number of people on board each pod to prevent putting all of their eggs in one basket. So some people may not make a choice at all.
Kurn posted 12-15-98 01:35 AM ET
I would hate to get stuck witht he Hive in that situation!
I thought this episode was one of the best so far. Exciting is the word.
Shining1 posted 12-15-98 01:39 AM ET
BG: It did occur to me, and seemed likely for a while, especially after seeing 'The Garland Crater' (heh heh ), in one of the screen shots. But the gamespot preview mentioned that the captain was murdered by an unknown assailant. Which probably makes more sense, in that the split occurs in a highly emotional, disordered environment.

As for faction selection, I'm betting the schism is still to come, seeing as how the leaders are currently organising to crew the pods in what looks like a fairly egalitarian manner - look for the real recruiting to start after Garland buys it.
Andrew Kasantsev posted 12-15-98 01:41 AM ET
Greg:
>Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission.
I think he take whatever is left... Lal strike me as one story's persona, which have almost NONE personality. In old forum there was thread, where I mention, that his 'humanitarism' is simply some words without any real meaning, not the program of action. And what he has DONE in whole story? Simply sat down and transfered captain's orders...
jdwells posted 12-15-98 02:19 AM ET
"Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission.
I think he take whatever is left... Lal strike me as one story's persona, which have
almost NONE personality"
Which makes for an interesting situation: Yeah, we think we know what the Peacekeepers' ideals are, but how to reach that end? Obviously, in the game, the Peacekeepers are going to be anything but peaceful (simple survival dictates this).
Each faction has a preset "outlook" based on their leader's. So what does that do for the PK's? The easy way out would be to make them a bland modern-day UN-ish sort of group.
One much more interesting alternative might be to make them a lot more fanatical: "Peace at *our* price! BOOM!" YYYH as a Peacemaker?
Where will Firaxis take us? Hmmmm?
Just a rambling thought while I prepare for the demo. CWAL might have something. It really is getting hard to wait!!!
Waiting somewhat impatiently,
Jeff Wells
Roswell, NM
"Where the only aliens are illegal!"
jdwells posted 12-15-98 02:21 AM ET
P.S. Garland's dead.
"You killed Garland! You bassssstarrrrrd!
MikeH II posted 12-15-98 07:24 AM ET
If Garland died peacefully in his sleep I'll eat my modem! That would be the most disappointing end to him I can imagine. I hope FIRAXIS aren't going to dissapoint us like that.
Where is Santiago? I am guessing that the shadowy Mike Hefferan has sprung her and the emmissary and they are already assembling in the first pod ready to go. He might also have killed Garland, his disdain for him was well known, and Santiago would want to remove the leader leaving the factions split and less of a united enemy for the mighty Spartan Federation. Although they'd have to do it secretly otherwise everyone would hate them.
BoomBoom posted 12-15-98 09:04 AM ET
Garland is going to the seventh pod, and in it he takes Santiago (to keep an eye on her), and she pops him off on the way down, thus merging the 8th faction with the Spartans.
Roland posted 12-15-98 09:12 AM ET
Talking about hostile takeovers...
Roland posted 12-15-98 09:22 AM ET
Which reminds me... do we have a firaxis statement anywhere that you can play with 3 to 7 factions like it was with the civs in civ2? Can't remember anything like that, but I'm suffering from a strain of brain-drain...and a not in the tongue...
Would be logical after the episode that some don't make it... think about the believer pod landing somewhere in space...
Anyway, for now we have 6 factions and landing pots:
Lal
Mariam
Deirdre
Morgan
Zakharov
Yang
Wild card:
Garland/Santiago (?)
MikeH II posted 12-15-98 09:31 AM ET
I'm pretty sure you can. Can't remember where I read that.
Seely posted 12-15-98 11:43 AM ET
I think they'll find Garland dead. Why else would Firaxis leave the story hanging with an urgent request for Garland to report to the bridge? He won't respond, they'll go to his cabin and find him... MURDERED!! Or at least everyone will suspect foul play.
Of course, I think it would be better if while all on the bridge, they see Garland float by the window-- he was on his way to take a nap, and so sleep-deprived was he that he stepped out of the airlock and into the vacuum of space!
Alternatively, I think the best course of action would be for Garland to be alive, consent to each officer (and Morgan) getting a pod and heading to Planet. Upon his arrival on the surface, he was the only one to have unfortunately landed in a forest full of the most hostile life-forms on the planet, which happen to be microscopic mind-controllers which transform him into a super being alien Overmind which controls all the lifeforms on planet-- from then on the UberMutant Garland is hell-bent on destroying all alien lifeforms, i.e., the humans. This would be a cool opportunity for Firaxis to draw a screen-shot of a hideously transformed Captain Garland, his head swollen to grotesque proportions, and a giant egg-sac attached to his abdomen that spits out biological war machines with which to unleash his Planet-defending fury. BWAAA-HAHAHAHA!!! See you all in hell you squabbling, authority-defiant faction leaders!
Fluke posted 12-15-98 11:49 AM ET
Garland will be killed as John Boone was in "Red Mars" but instead of smacking him into the farm he'll be put in an airlock without a suit. When the assasin pumps out the air Garland is gonna splatter all over the walls.
Pretty gross clean up I guess...
And of course the assasin will be found dead - impailed upon a cross or something like that. And no-one will ever know who killed Garland (it was Morgan of course ).
The DirectorGeneral posted 12-15-98 12:06 PM ET
From the Desk of the Director General;
RE: Garland and the current episode
Have they ever said officialy how many pods there are? An even number, i.e. 8, sounds much more logical. Garland gets pod #8, pod number eight fails to separate... and the Eighth faction goes boom!
As for Santiago, her followers do something nasty and get her free. They then comandeer pod #7 and beat feet.
Hey, FIRAXIS, I do think that a lot of us would like to see a bio and picture for Captain Garland.
Advinius Longinus Aurelius,
AKA the DG.
P.S.= MikeH II: so, does one serve a red or white wine with modem?
NIM SMAC FNORD PLIB ZORT
RM posted 12-15-98 12:25 PM ET
I think I read in the previews that there is an area on Chiron called Garlands crater. Maybe Garlands pod will crash and create that crater. Or maybe he will crash with Unity on Chiron, creating that crater. "The captain always goes down with the ship". This would be a way for Firaxis to avoid making one of the factions the bad guy.
Charon posted 12-15-98 12:31 PM ET
I'm guessing that there are 8 pods. one for each faction, and the captain. But, like Zakharov said, there is a chance that some won't make it down. I think the captain's pod will be the only one that gets unlucky.
Roland posted 12-15-98 12:45 PM ET
8 pods sounds convincing, but maybe one was destroyed by the meteor impact ? And garland... well, maybe one human being has to stay on the ship, and that's how he makes that lovely crater ?
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Author	Topic: new episode !
Jimmy	posted 12-14-98 07:27 PM ET episode 30 is up. The crew vote to go there separate ways to improve their chance to survive. We really see the factions forming. The interesting thing is that it says that the next episode will be posted soon not next week. What do you make of that ?
Rang	posted 12-14-98 07:34 PM ET I liked this episode. The interaction between faction leaders is extremely intriguing. The dye is cast! As for the "...soon," I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps they are tweaking the timetables because of the delay.
Frank Moore	posted 12-14-98 07:37 PM ET Cool episode I'm pretty fired up right now. as for the "coming soon" I take that to mean that the next episode will be posted when the demo becomes available. After all is there much left to do in the story? Also demo should be out in less than a week.
Spoe	posted 12-14-98 07:37 PM ET Eh, if you want my comments, you can look in the other thread for this episode.
Medivh	posted 12-14-98 07:52 PM ET Fire it up...it's hot! This episode really beats the lot 8 wll maybe it's beacuse it signals the coming of the demo ) Ready set fire those darn landing pods
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 12-14-98 08:16 PM ET The ending was nice. 'Next episode will be posted soon...'. That means the demo should be up the same day as the next story, which is soon!! Cool, finally, the wait is over!! Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
Jimbo2	posted 12-14-98 08:17 PM ET I think Medivh is right, the demo is scheduled to be released this Saturday.
Old_Guy	posted 12-14-98 08:52 PM ET It will be interesting to see what the Captain has to say about all this. Will he object but get killed? Will he agree and take his own pod? If he agrees, wouldn't he go with Lal? Intriguing possibilities thanks to an intriguing episode.
Hothram Upravda	posted 12-14-98 08:59 PM ET Personaly i believe the Capt does not get killed by one of the factions, but gets killed threw some unknown accedent. They mention the probiblity of death due to the small chances of a pod geting to the survace. I think we can savly assume that one of those deaths is the Capt. Hothram Upravda TB
Elfi Wolfe	posted 12-14-98 09:04 PM ET Such a pity but the captain died in his sleep.
jsorense	posted 12-14-98 09:07 PM ET A pivotal episode, indeed. Where does Mogan get off claiming he owns part of the ship? Companies provided services under contract to the UN, and for all anyone knows they actually paid for them. I'd give him about 1 cubic kilometer of space, just outside the hull. And Garland, wake up dude! He is going to sleep through his own funeral. Santiago was hardly mentioned, nor the fact there an unknown number of armed mutineers on board that may not wish to cooperate with the escape plan. It is also interesting to see that Miriam supported Lal; A basis for future cooperation & treaties perhaps? (I guess Borodino & I got that right in our chronicles, he he) And last but not least, I'm never going to get in the story now; whine, whine, and more whine.
Zorloc	posted 12-14-98 09:07 PM ET Old_Guy, I am sure the crew that met is planning on letting the Captain have his own pod. There are 7 pods and only 6 people met on the bridge. Santiago is not included in these discussions, she get's the captain's pod.
Lee Johnson	posted 12-14-98 09:13 PM ET If I may venture a prediction for the next (and possibly final) episode: The Captain will not respond to Officer Lal's wakeup call. Someone will be sent to the Captain's quarters to investigate and will find him, ah... dead. With time growing short, and the Captain no longer present to veto their plan, the faction leaders will round up their supporters, grab a colony pod each, and head down to Planet. Then the game begins. (Demo time!) I take the "...soon!" to mean that the next episode will be posted concurrent with the release of the demo, hopefully before the 21st.
Zorloc	posted 12-14-98 09:18 PM ET If you look at those that want to split up, they are looking to new/futuristic societies which emphasize a singular aspect of society and turn that aspect into a society (Zahkarov - Scientific Methodology; Yang - No individual; Morgan - Economics; Dierdre - Environmental Awarness). While Lal is the status quo (but peaceful) and Miriam is looking back to a Theocratic Society.
Borodino	posted 12-14-98 09:45 PM ET jsorense, Perhaps our storyline influenced Firaxis...? To all, As to the episode, all I can say is "yow".
Fluke	posted 12-14-98 09:52 PM ET I don't want to puncture anyones ballons but the writing in this episode was really bad. Earlier episode were much more immersive, this was to...childish somehow. At least the Gaians showed some balls now. Kick their ass! Especially that ugly chick: Miriam.
Brother Greg	posted 12-14-98 10:24 PM ET Actually, I am disappointed that there has been little to no info on how most of the leaders gathered their followers. I was hoping for more interaction and info on how each leader attracted followers. Either the last episode will cover this, in which case it'll have to be a huge episode, or we only get info on the couple so far explored. Nothing on why people follow Mirriam (well, nothing on her preaching to the staff). Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission. Nothing on Diedre other than a brief bit with her and Santiago. No real attracting followers. In fact the only real attraction of followers we seem to have seen is Zhakarov running the engineers (which barely qualifies), Morgan and his speech while playing chess (yeah, one follower for Morgan), and Yang sparring with some people. Apart from Santiago of course, with her ready made faction... That's my main area of disappointment in the story. All in all, it has been entertaining though. As for what will happen to Garland. Well, I dare say Santiago gets his pod after her "soldiers" break her out. He either gets left on the ship (The captain going down with the ship - long Naval tradition), or he is founf dead. My guess is going down with the ship, which I am surprised nobody has thought of...
Shining1	posted 12-14-98 10:26 PM ET My pick: As I have said before, Garland is already dead (Murder mystery style - all the main subjects are assembled in one place, or otherwise occupied, when the murder occurs). Current loose ends: 1. Santiago's emissionary (the one currently locked up and that Corazon was so keep to get into the command centre). 2. Santiago herself. Also most of her faction has been very quiet in the past dozen episodes.
SnowFire	posted 12-14-98 11:31 PM ET And let's not forget that we can no longer say that the members of a faction joined voluntarily, I think. With any luck they will, but other wise it's going to be just a bunch of average Joes going to the surface. That seriously weakens many factions and our argument that the factions are realistic, if it turns out that way.
Old_Guy	posted 12-15-98 01:27 AM ET I remember reading in one preview that Garland is murdered, but I while I assumed he would die, I'm not definitely sure it would be murder. But if he is murdered, I stick by my earlier assertion that we won't know who did it. As for faction followers, this does raise an interesting point. We know Santiago already has some followers and Yang has been working his charms. And we know Imran is going with Morgan. The leaders are acutely aware of their low chances of survival, but I imagine the rest of the crew is aware of mechanical problems with the Unity. Some folks would go with the pod most likely to survive--some might believe in Zakhorov's technical skills, others in Miriam's spiritual ones. Therefore, not all followers may be that loyal to the leader. Furthermore, the leaders (aside from Santiago) may agree to put a fairly even number of people on board each pod to prevent putting all of their eggs in one basket. So some people may not make a choice at all.
Kurn	posted 12-15-98 01:35 AM ET I would hate to get stuck witht he Hive in that situation! I thought this episode was one of the best so far. Exciting is the word.
Shining1	posted 12-15-98 01:39 AM ET BG: It did occur to me, and seemed likely for a while, especially after seeing 'The Garland Crater' (heh heh ), in one of the screen shots. But the gamespot preview mentioned that the captain was murdered by an unknown assailant. Which probably makes more sense, in that the split occurs in a highly emotional, disordered environment. As for faction selection, I'm betting the schism is still to come, seeing as how the leaders are currently organising to crew the pods in what looks like a fairly egalitarian manner - look for the real recruiting to start after Garland buys it.
Andrew Kasantsev	posted 12-15-98 01:41 AM ET Greg: >Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission. I think he take whatever is left... Lal strike me as one story's persona, which have almost NONE personality. In old forum there was thread, where I mention, that his 'humanitarism' is simply some words without any real meaning, not the program of action. And what he has DONE in whole story? Simply sat down and transfered captain's orders...
jdwells	posted 12-15-98 02:19 AM ET "Nothing on Lal attracting followers due to his sticking to the ideals of the mission. I think he take whatever is left... Lal strike me as one story's persona, which have almost NONE personality" Which makes for an interesting situation: Yeah, we think we know what the Peacekeepers' ideals are, but how to reach that end? Obviously, in the game, the Peacekeepers are going to be anything but peaceful (simple survival dictates this). Each faction has a preset "outlook" based on their leader's. So what does that do for the PK's? The easy way out would be to make them a bland modern-day UN-ish sort of group. One much more interesting alternative might be to make them a lot more fanatical: "Peace at our price! BOOM!" YYYH as a Peacemaker? Where will Firaxis take us? Hmmmm? Just a rambling thought while I prepare for the demo. CWAL might have something. It really is getting hard to wait!!! Waiting somewhat impatiently, Jeff Wells Roswell, NM "Where the only aliens are illegal!"
jdwells	posted 12-15-98 02:21 AM ET P.S. Garland's dead. "You killed Garland! You bassssstarrrrrd!
MikeH II	posted 12-15-98 07:24 AM ET If Garland died peacefully in his sleep I'll eat my modem! That would be the most disappointing end to him I can imagine. I hope FIRAXIS aren't going to dissapoint us like that. Where is Santiago? I am guessing that the shadowy Mike Hefferan has sprung her and the emmissary and they are already assembling in the first pod ready to go. He might also have killed Garland, his disdain for him was well known, and Santiago would want to remove the leader leaving the factions split and less of a united enemy for the mighty Spartan Federation. Although they'd have to do it secretly otherwise everyone would hate them.
BoomBoom	posted 12-15-98 09:04 AM ET Garland is going to the seventh pod, and in it he takes Santiago (to keep an eye on her), and she pops him off on the way down, thus merging the 8th faction with the Spartans.
Roland	posted 12-15-98 09:12 AM ET Talking about hostile takeovers...
Roland	posted 12-15-98 09:22 AM ET Which reminds me... do we have a firaxis statement anywhere that you can play with 3 to 7 factions like it was with the civs in civ2? Can't remember anything like that, but I'm suffering from a strain of brain-drain...and a not in the tongue... Would be logical after the episode that some don't make it... think about the believer pod landing somewhere in space... Anyway, for now we have 6 factions and landing pots: Lal Mariam Deirdre Morgan Zakharov Yang Wild card: Garland/Santiago (?)
MikeH II	posted 12-15-98 09:31 AM ET I'm pretty sure you can. Can't remember where I read that.
Seely	posted 12-15-98 11:43 AM ET I think they'll find Garland dead. Why else would Firaxis leave the story hanging with an urgent request for Garland to report to the bridge? He won't respond, they'll go to his cabin and find him... MURDERED!! Or at least everyone will suspect foul play. Of course, I think it would be better if while all on the bridge, they see Garland float by the window-- he was on his way to take a nap, and so sleep-deprived was he that he stepped out of the airlock and into the vacuum of space! Alternatively, I think the best course of action would be for Garland to be alive, consent to each officer (and Morgan) getting a pod and heading to Planet. Upon his arrival on the surface, he was the only one to have unfortunately landed in a forest full of the most hostile life-forms on the planet, which happen to be microscopic mind-controllers which transform him into a super being alien Overmind which controls all the lifeforms on planet-- from then on the UberMutant Garland is hell-bent on destroying all alien lifeforms, i.e., the humans. This would be a cool opportunity for Firaxis to draw a screen-shot of a hideously transformed Captain Garland, his head swollen to grotesque proportions, and a giant egg-sac attached to his abdomen that spits out biological war machines with which to unleash his Planet-defending fury. BWAAA-HAHAHAHA!!! See you all in hell you squabbling, authority-defiant faction leaders!
Fluke	posted 12-15-98 11:49 AM ET Garland will be killed as John Boone was in "Red Mars" but instead of smacking him into the farm he'll be put in an airlock without a suit. When the assasin pumps out the air Garland is gonna splatter all over the walls. Pretty gross clean up I guess... And of course the assasin will be found dead - impailed upon a cross or something like that. And no-one will ever know who killed Garland (it was Morgan of course ).
The DirectorGeneral	posted 12-15-98 12:06 PM ET From the Desk of the Director General; RE: Garland and the current episode Have they ever said officialy how many pods there are? An even number, i.e. 8, sounds much more logical. Garland gets pod #8, pod number eight fails to separate... and the Eighth faction goes boom! As for Santiago, her followers do something nasty and get her free. They then comandeer pod #7 and beat feet. Hey, FIRAXIS, I do think that a lot of us would like to see a bio and picture for Captain Garland. Advinius Longinus Aurelius, AKA the DG. P.S.= MikeH II: so, does one serve a red or white wine with modem? NIM SMAC FNORD PLIB ZORT
RM	posted 12-15-98 12:25 PM ET I think I read in the previews that there is an area on Chiron called Garlands crater. Maybe Garlands pod will crash and create that crater. Or maybe he will crash with Unity on Chiron, creating that crater. "The captain always goes down with the ship". This would be a way for Firaxis to avoid making one of the factions the bad guy.
Charon	posted 12-15-98 12:31 PM ET I'm guessing that there are 8 pods. one for each faction, and the captain. But, like Zakharov said, there is a chance that some won't make it down. I think the captain's pod will be the only one that gets unlucky.
Roland	posted 12-15-98 12:45 PM ET 8 pods sounds convincing, but maybe one was destroyed by the meteor impact ? And garland... well, maybe one human being has to stay on the ship, and that's how he makes that lovely crater ?