How Infinite Space Influenced CRASH Chronicles, Part 1
CRASH Chronicles, a series of short stories I recently created, owes a lot to the Infinite Space trilogy of roguelike games, which I like very much - and continue playing to this very day. Here, I will show are some of the more important ones. Some of these references are actually derived from content which, despite being omitted from Sea of Stars, the latest game in the series, is still fondly remembered. So here goes.
CRASH Commander Claire Hayes (shown above in a variety of outfits) is known primarily for her psionic abilities.
First up is CRASH Commander Claire Hayes, who underwent training to utilize her psionic abilities prior to founding the CRASH Alpha Squad. Her expertise in psionics somewhat reminds me of the Zorg from the Infinite Space trilogy; this race of small bipedal alien beings is best known for their "bizarre mental capabilities", as the games put it. Specifically, Zorg fighters can teleport themselves during combat, taking themselves to the opposite side of the battlefield in combat, with the caveat that they are always pointing in the same direction before and after teleporting. Zorg helmsmen, meanwhile, can fold space within a distance of two parsecs to instantly transport a flotilla to a nearby star, with a short cooldown period (2-3 weeks, depending on the game) between folds.
A Zorg helmsman folding space. This is where I got the idea for one of Claire Hayes' new abilities: Psionic Shift.
With this in mind, I now have plans for Claire to acquire a similar ability. Called Psionic Shift, it allows her to instantly go to a particular location within a short distance, but with a short cooldown period. Also, just like the Zorg fighters, she cannot change direction while teleporting - a limitation explicitly stated in the manual to the tie-in tabletop game Eat Electric Death!. Although this ability was not present in earlier chapters of CRASH Chronicles, I plan on introducing it in later ones.
Next we have Ellie Watts' introductory quote: "Eat Electric Death, tyrant scum!" I chose this as a means of paying tribute to one of the most powerful weapons in the entire Infinite Space trilogy, the Particle Vortex Cannon. Speaking of which, its description ends with a quote from the old arcade game Tempest 2000: "Eat Electric Death, alien scum!". Moreover, firing it will release a glowing sphere of energy which releases a powerful lightning bolt at any target it passes. In the future, I think Ellie Watts should be capable of doing exactly that during combat - a fitting addition to her abilities, and one which she could learn after some advanced training.
Earlier in this series, I stated that Kayla Brooks could sense the anima (life force) of nearby living organisms. This is exactly what the Snailopus (inexplicably absent from Sea of Stars, strangely enough) is capable of, but apart from this and its inability to smell, this creature's sensory suite is identical to that which us humans possess. Moreover, a snailopus feeds by devouring the anima of its prey, thereby making it "animavorous", as supplementary material puts it. However, Kayla Brooks does not need to feed on another person's anima to survive, and can even restore someone else's anima as long as they are still living.
Kayla's unique ability to recover from injuries more quickly than usual also brings to mind one of the most useful devices one can find in any Infinite Space game - the Multibot Repair Drone. Compared to the cheaper Hyperfoam Injector, it can repair ship hulls and onboard systems more quickly and efficiently, making it highly sought after whenever it appears. In fact, the Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought, Urluquai Station and Primordius are the only ships or space stations to have it as standard equipment, making them more difficult to defeat. As an homage to this, I plan to include a story arc where unscrupulous individuals hatch a plot to reverse-engineer her advanced healing capabilities and use it for their own evil ends. Naturally, Kayla will do anything she can to prevent this from happening, lest the balance of power swing further away from CRASH and its agents.
In addition, one of Kayla's ranged attacks is called "Nova Cannon", in reference to a highly powerful weapon used only by the Yellow Kawangi (unless the player "creates" it from a Timeless Bauble). Just like its namesake, it fires slowly and only ever travels in a straight line, but moves very quickly across the battlefield, and delivers immense amounts of damage with each direct hit. This makes it more useful against slow-moving targets than fast ones.
Alexa Lowe's decloaking ability is reminiscent of the effect bestowed by a rare artifact known as the Eye of Babulon. In combat, it confers the player a considerable advantage whenever AI-controlled flotillas have at least one cloaked ship deployed. In such situations, the Eye will reveal the location of every cloaked ship on the battlefield, thus obviating the need to wait until these vessels have decloaked. Given that cloaking techniques in CRASH Chronicles can mask the user's anima, psionic, and electrical signatures, Alexa would thus be able to detect anyone or anything which is cloaked, unlike her teammates. That said, personal experience in Sea of Stars and its predecessors has shown that stray shots (such as those from a Particle Vortex Cannon) can still hit cloaked targets, and in some cases, destroy them outright.
Ellie Watts has the ability to make her foes Eat Electric Death.
Next we have Ellie Watts' introductory quote: "Eat Electric Death, tyrant scum!" I chose this as a means of paying tribute to one of the most powerful weapons in the entire Infinite Space trilogy, the Particle Vortex Cannon. Speaking of which, its description ends with a quote from the old arcade game Tempest 2000: "Eat Electric Death, alien scum!". Moreover, firing it will release a glowing sphere of energy which releases a powerful lightning bolt at any target it passes. In the future, I think Ellie Watts should be capable of doing exactly that during combat - a fitting addition to her abilities, and one which she could learn after some advanced training.
The Particle Vortex Cannon (shown here being used in support of a Garthan Frigate armed with two Cobalt Torpedo Tubes) is essentially ball lightning in a can. It should come as no surprise that I referenced it when creating Ellie Watts; it is one of my favorite weapons in the entire Infinite Space trilogy.
Ellie Watts was the first character I created in the X-Girl Creator, but she wasn't the last. She wouldn't be the only one either - far from it, in fact. Having already introduced Ellie & Claire, I chose to create another team member to complement them. That character, Kayla Brooks, also had a set of powers strangely reminiscent of the Infinite Space Trilogy.
Kayla Brooks can detect anima signatures from several feet away, and packs a nasty punch to boot.
Earlier in this series, I stated that Kayla Brooks could sense the anima (life force) of nearby living organisms. This is exactly what the Snailopus (inexplicably absent from Sea of Stars, strangely enough) is capable of, but apart from this and its inability to smell, this creature's sensory suite is identical to that which us humans possess. Moreover, a snailopus feeds by devouring the anima of its prey, thereby making it "animavorous", as supplementary material puts it. However, Kayla Brooks does not need to feed on another person's anima to survive, and can even restore someone else's anima as long as they are still living.
The Snailopus' unique ability to detect anima served as the inspiration for one of Kayla Brooks' powers.
Kayla's unique ability to recover from injuries more quickly than usual also brings to mind one of the most useful devices one can find in any Infinite Space game - the Multibot Repair Drone. Compared to the cheaper Hyperfoam Injector, it can repair ship hulls and onboard systems more quickly and efficiently, making it highly sought after whenever it appears. In fact, the Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought, Urluquai Station and Primordius are the only ships or space stations to have it as standard equipment, making them more difficult to defeat. As an homage to this, I plan to include a story arc where unscrupulous individuals hatch a plot to reverse-engineer her advanced healing capabilities and use it for their own evil ends. Naturally, Kayla will do anything she can to prevent this from happening, lest the balance of power swing further away from CRASH and its agents.
The Multibot Repair Drone can repair any ship very quickly and effectively - hence my decision to use it as the inspiration for another one of Kayla Brook's abilities.
In addition, one of Kayla's ranged attacks is called "Nova Cannon", in reference to a highly powerful weapon used only by the Yellow Kawangi (unless the player "creates" it from a Timeless Bauble). Just like its namesake, it fires slowly and only ever travels in a straight line, but moves very quickly across the battlefield, and delivers immense amounts of damage with each direct hit. This makes it more useful against slow-moving targets than fast ones.
Behold the Nova Cannon! Its immense damage per shot and long range more than make up for its slow fire rate. No wonder it is my favorite weapon in the game, period - even more so than the Particle Vortex Cannon.
Finally, let's move on to the fourth and last of the original members of the CRASH Alpha Squad, Alexa Lowe, whose uncanny ability to create a decloaking field around her can potentially be a lifesaver in desperate situations.
Alexa Lowe's decloaking field can reveal anything that's cloaked within a short distance, making them more vulnerable to attack.
Alexa Lowe's decloaking ability is reminiscent of the effect bestowed by a rare artifact known as the Eye of Babulon. In combat, it confers the player a considerable advantage whenever AI-controlled flotillas have at least one cloaked ship deployed. In such situations, the Eye will reveal the location of every cloaked ship on the battlefield, thus obviating the need to wait until these vessels have decloaked. Given that cloaking techniques in CRASH Chronicles can mask the user's anima, psionic, and electrical signatures, Alexa would thus be able to detect anyone or anything which is cloaked, unlike her teammates. That said, personal experience in Sea of Stars and its predecessors has shown that stray shots (such as those from a Particle Vortex Cannon) can still hit cloaked targets, and in some cases, destroy them outright.
The Eye of Babulon, which grants players the ability to detect cloaked ships in combat, served as the inspiration for Alexa Lowe's primary ability. Without the Eye, it would be impossible to detect the Necrodrones launched from Primordius until they decloaked and opened fire on your fleet.
This concludes a rundown of CRASH Chronicles' references to the Infinite Space trilogy, as far as the original four members are concerned. However, there may be more references to come as additional characters are added, so stay tuned for any information regarding these future developments.
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