By Captain Starkiller for BlackOps Station, 2001-04-18

Founder of The Tholian Will

(Interview conducted over MSN)

Starkiller
Ok *clicks record on the cassette player*
How old ARE you? Guesses range from 14 to 83, btw...

Brezgonne
22 as of April 4th.

Starkiller
Belated Happy Birthday

Brezgonne
thx

Starkiller
Younger than I expected
How long have you been into Star Trek?

Brezgonne
define "into star trek"

Starkiller
Hmm... ok, I am 'into' Star Trek. It is more than just a game. It is a rich source of creative material, and a great source of inspiration...
for me... how do you define it?

Brezgonne
It's a sci-fi show that got worse with age
i.e.
the new shows are worse then the old ones

Starkiller
in what way?

Brezgonne
no regard at all for a storyline and lack of consistency. More so then in earlier programs and the premise behind TOS and the TOS/TMP movies was better then with the "blame everything on the Borg" that they basically use now

Starkiller
Writing aside, what about the impact the series has had on the world? Do you see any such impact?

Brezgonne
not really aside from a parody here or there of the show.

Starkiller
Why the Tholians?

Brezgonne
Why not?

Starkiller
Seems to be a race that got very little airplay... what about them attracted you to their plight?

Brezgonne
Seriously thought they match my playing style

Starkiller
what "style"? Can you expand on that?

Brezgonne
I put more stock in Coles version of star trek history then Paramount's
Rule #1: Your enemy plays your game. You don't play his.
Rule #2: If there are more then two sides to a engagement allow through either web herding or persuading them to engage each other before engaging them your self
i.e.; Lets you and him fight. Never reveal you weakness to your enemy and capitalize on your strengths

Starkiller
How long have you been playing as Tholian? Do you have a second favorite race to play? And I assume you are playing a lot of SFB.

Brezgonne
The Tholians strength is their ability to archive local firepower superiority

Atticbat says:
oh... wait
what do you mean 'archive'? I really have not been exposed to a lot of Tholian tactics
other than the Klingon Training Runs back in the day with SFB

Brezgonne
I make a bunch of types they can gain local firepower superiority by creating a web firewall between them selves and the target since their phasers can fire through the web and their opponents cannot they have a marked advantage

Starkiller
I did not know that...
kewl

Brezgonne
that's also the reason attacking a Tholian 3 tier web, aka a wedding cake is so nasty
the base in the middle of the web can fire it's phaser 4's with impunity

Starkiller
nasty!
How do you see the Tholians in TMP? What would their political standing be?

Brezgonne
personally or historically?

Starkiller
personally, and historically if you do not mind.

Brezgonne
personally I would have them proceed on a slow expansion policy. setup a base and defend it. doesn't have to be a very fast expansion due to the way base assaults work against Tholian bases

Starkiller
in which direction?

Brezgonne
uniform and the LMC

Starkiller
The LMC?

Brezgonne
Lesser Mallagenic Cloud
satellite galaxy to the MW

Starkiller
ahh, kewl
Are there any Tholian Allies?

Brezgonne
no.
nominal ones yes
but not really official ones
more along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"

Starkiller
kewl
what is the historical version?

Brezgonne
they stay put and reinforce their current holdings and possibly advance in the LMC I still find it amusing that while Cole has the better background history then Paramount he still can't explain some of it

Starkiller
like what?

Brezgonne
like the Coalition's Operation Nutcracker
i.e.; a determined attempt to wipe out the Tholians historically they damaged the Dyson's Sphere but there simply isn't a way for them to do that with the way both DF&E and SFB are setup because the entire Tholian fleet would have had to been destroyed and it wasn't

Atticbat says:
Coalition of what races?

Brezgonne
The Coalition was the Lyran, Klingon and Romulan
Alliance was the Feds, Kzinti, Gorn, Hydran and later Tholians

Starkiller
nice
have you thought of writing a 'timeline'?

Brezgonne
like this one: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/general_war.htm ?

Starkiller
Where do you get your inspirations for the excellent Tholian Models?

Brezgonne
accidental mucking around with the polygons

Starkiller
heheh
what year do you place SFC at? if it were actually possible to merge the two universes

Brezgonne
it's not possible because Taldren has quite literally altered the timeline twice thy advanced all years by +10 for SFC2 for example despite the fact that it throws major wrenches in anyone's fiction stories with specific dates

Starkiller
yeah
That is one thing I abhor about Star Trek sometimes...
hard to get everything to jibe
More like seventy two versions of the Alternate Universe episode.

Brezgonne
it's part of the reasons I prefer Cole's history to Paramount's
he's at least consistent

Starkiller
What about SFC2? Not as a historic addition, but as a game...
what is your feeling on it?

Brezgonne
dull. They altered so much from the source material it's not even funny.
and much of it was simply for the sake of looking cool which is the WORST reason to change something

Starkiller
Ack... speaking of cool... where did you get those Plasma Textures?

Brezgonne
made them from the Organians texture

Starkiller
nice
are you going to make those available for d/l?

Brezgonne
I suppose
I hadn't really thought about it

Atticbat says:
please
love them
gorgeous
I wish there was some way to add the Web to the game, have you heard any rumors of Taldren modding them in eventually?

Brezgonne
nope
I'm actually somewhat concerned about Taldren implementing the web considering some of the other things they have done web is not one of the systems they can be choosy about the rules

Starkiller
cool

Brezgonne
like they were for a number of other systems

Starkiller
yeah... constant fuel for the forum fire.

Brezgonne
either they implement the entire rules set (which consists of about 12 pages counting casters and snares) or they are going to run into more issues then plasma has even dreamed of

Starkiller
the second I am sure. It is a huge unexplored dynamic...
I imagine something like the Coalition attack would be easier, myself...
but, who knows.

Brezgonne
not really
Tholia has about 60 phaser 4's

Starkiller
Are you OC/MC, or IC?

Brezgonne
OC
I disagree with Taldren to much to be either of the other two

Starkiller
How is that? Is there a lot of communication between the circles and Taldren?

Brezgonne
yes

Starkiller
Do you use the circle-forums a lot then?
would be kewl to get those published someday, imo...

Brezgonne
I read them but don't find cause to post there very often since any issues I usually find are already reported on

Starkiller
What is your opinion of Taldren?

Brezgonne
they started out good but they seem to have developed a big head as of the last game producing more things that stray quite a ways form the source material with little or no cause to do so and with more regard put to something looking good then balancing the CFS, EGO and SPZ are prime examples of this.

Starkiller
Ship Edit=the singlecoolestgametoolever, imo...
fixes a lot of issues

Brezgonne
yes it certainly does help
certainly made fixing Taldren's "tweaks" easier in the spec file I use

Starkiller
What about the Forum-based Community that seems to thrive at the Taldren Forums... how do you feel about that? A good thing?

Brezgonne
for the most part it is.
I'm somewhat concerned about the tendency for someone to get bashed for expressing their opinion however

Starkiller
yeah...
Forunately, there are those that are just honest, and can handle the bashing
and others that cant...
sometimes it can get very ugly.

Brezgonne
the point is that a lot of it is done to first time posters

Starkiller
Yes, I agree.
I see your posts a lot, and they always appear informative and insightful... do you ever find people to be 'rude'?

Brezgonne
with 3 siblings it takes quite a bit for me to consider someone rude

Starkiller
heheh
Which are you? Oldest, youngest?
middle child?

Brezgonne
Oldest

Starkiller
What else do you do? Outside of gaming...

Brezgonne
I'm attending school again this summer after realizing I'm in this unhappy grey area where I know much more then I have bits of paper to prove

Starkiller
going for a degree?

Brezgonne
will be

Starkiller
nice.

Brezgonne
I'm using summer to relearn and adjust to my little problem

Starkiller
(only if you care to answer) what little problem?

Brezgonne
I have a disorder that the neurologist name Hemiballism. Basically it causes my right side to try and jerk around on it's own. Of course he thinks I have some other problems as well considering the memory loss and attention problems

Starkiller
is this degenerative?

Brezgonne
it's gotten worse with time
but not very quickly

Starkiller
makes the work you have done that much more impressive, wow...

Brezgonne
so the answer to that is "We don't know"

Starkiller
Where do you see yourself going with SFC2?

Daniel says:
in what regard?

Starkiller
modeling
will you stay with the Tholians?
will you branch further into TMP designs?

Brezgonne
probably
I may do the bugs as well for something to do

Starkiller
the 'bugs'?

Brezgonne
err, Seltorians

Starkiller
Haha... ok
Do you have any additional comments or statements you would like to make?

Brezgonne
hmmm...
not that I can think of.

Starkiller
one more quickie
if that's kewl?

Brezgonne
sure

Atticbat says:
I have heard rumors that the new SFC2 Orion Pirates pack will introduce user created models... I am a huge fan of Unreal Tournament and the way that Epic has supported the players... would be a nice touch... any ideas whether that is a valid rumor?

Brezgonne
haven't really heard that

Starkiller
ok... getting excited, heheh...

Brezgonne
I can sure tell you that I haven't been asked and seriously don't expect to be

Starkiller
thanks... I really do appreciate the time. You are THE man when it comes to the Tholians and to SFB rules

Brezgonne
yeah, I kind of have a rep for the second part