Part 31: Onderon: Oh Captain My Captain

Last we left off, we were talking to these aliens about local Onderon politics.



I think I may have confused a few people about the significance of this conversation; siding with Vaklu is not a single decision (yet), it's the sum of several choices you make in this area, one of which is the reply you give to these guys. It doesn't decide anything, it just nudges the bar one way or the other.



I don't really know what's going on with Visas' writing. 10% of the time she's hopelessly naïve, as Kreia points out; another 10% of the time, she's more worldly and Sith-ish. The other 80% of the time she's mumbling something about Force echoes. Her confused characterization carries over to her influence gains as well; she and Atton are the only ones who get influence increases from both light side and dark side actions. Make up your mind, woman!



As per request, we'll side with Vaklu for the time being. The excuse I came up with is that right now, Jedi Jesus doesn't know where Kavar is or who Kavar is siding with; once Kavar shows his face, then maybe we can make a final decision on which side to go with. Or something.

Regardless, it's easy to get through this without getting Dark Side points at all, or doing anything overtly evil, so it's okay.





... what does that even mean?





The guy shouting revolutionary slogans at the town square is at it again. We can join in too.



No blood for oil! No blood for oil!



Four more years! Four more years!





Yes, by all means, march on the palace and overthrow the government. All 6 of you.







That's G0T0 speaking, by the way. You can't tell because he's too fat and the camera is clipping through his body.





There's a couple of different kinds of evil; there's the cackling Darth Malak/HK-47 type, and then there's the bureaucratic lawyer type. Goto would probably think the former kind is a waste of energy.





The problem with Goto in combat situations is that he's horribly designed in the context of the game. He's less combat oriented than HK-47, and has less skills than T3-M4, so the min/max streak in people would cause them to take either one of the other droids. His main strength is his ability to dominate other droids into fighting for the other side, which is a great ability. Unfortunately about 90% of the droids in the game are on Nar Shaddaa, and we get Goto after that planet is finished, so that ability is totally useless. He's also the only droid who can stealth and he can't trip off mines (seeing as he floats), but... neither stealth or demolitions are class skills for him. All in all he's quite frustrating to use.

Still, give him some good pistols and a plasma thrower like this and he'll kick as much ass as anyone else.



The terminal updates with news of the latest chaos we caused.





Sounds like Vaklu has control of both the military and the media too.



Siding with Vaklu and inciting the riot is what allows us to start this conversation; otherwise she won't talk to us.

"What's this about?"
"I am a strong supporter of General Vaklu. The Merchant Quarter is an important area. Not only financially but strategically, as well. It is one of the few districts that is directly connected to the Royal Palace. The Queen and her advisors are well aware of this and have ensured that the Captains here are extremely loyal to her."



"Tell me about these captains."



"Tell me about Gelesi."
"He is the most junior of the captains. His superior, Captain Sullio, met with an accident. I believe you are familiar with that."
"What about Riiken?"
"He's been responsible for the Merchant Quarter for years. He has been chastised repetitively for his criticism of General Vaklu."
"Bostuco?"
"A true veteran, years of honorable service. Completely dedicated to the Queen. Sadly I think he is more on our side than the Queen's. But he is an old soldier that can't adapt to today's... complex situation. Regardless of what the best interests of Onderon are, he won't swerve from executing the Queen's misguided decrees. Persuasion may be ineffective. Take this military security card. It can be used to slice into security terminals. Perhaps you will find solutions there."





"Queen Talia is young and too idealistic. A veteran leader is what this planet needs and would make a better ally."
"I agree, Vaklu has a lot more to offer us."



Ok, this was the entire sidequest line that we couldn't do if we sided with Talia.



There's 3 captains in the area we have to get rid of, and there's a good way and a bad way to do each one. The bad way would be to murder each of them in cold blood. See that power conduit behind the soldiers?



It would be so easy to just blow it up. But that's a horrible thing to do and you should be ashamed for even considering it.



"Why aren't you on the Wall any more?"
"I was requested to guard the Sky Ramp in the Merchant Quarter."



"My personal feelings on the matter are irrelevant. I received an order, and I carried it out."
[Force Persuade] "Tell me your feelings."
[Success] "I... I feel a little light-headed. Let me tell you what I feel. I have many good years of service left in me; I feel like I'm being set aside."



"I couldn't do that. I heard the reassignments came from the Queen herself."





1 down, 2 to go.



This is Riiken, the token black guy.



"How did you get in trouble?"
"Times are too complex for a simple soldier like myself. Sometimes I made the mistake of answering questions honestly. If you say anything bad about a superior officer they call that disrespecting the rank. Do that too many times and it's not long before you're a civilian."





Vaklu's soldiers have a pretty... interesting look; the bellboy hat doesn't really do it for me, but the mask is nify. It's better than those toga things that everyone else on Onderon seem to wear.

"I don't think so. I know you'd like nothing better than me getting drummed out of the military. But I'm not going to say a word."







2 down, 1 to go.



If we couldn't persuade him into saying the wrong thing, you'd have to go kill him. He patrols near another area here and you'd have to go over and do a bit of back alley stabbing.



Oh great, an army of thugs.

"A good friend works at the starport and noticed this. It raised some questions. Questions I've answered."





As a nod to Boba/Jango Fett, Mira's got a wrist mounted rocket launcher that can fire special ammo.

How would that work anyway? Wouldn't the force of it firing shatter your wrist into little pieces? Unless it's some kind of like, gauss rocket launcher.



I'm really liking this whole Mandalore the Barbarian look he's got going.











We head to the cantina to find the last guy we have to get rid of. His predecessor just got murdered (different subplot!), so he shouldn't be hard to talk down.

"You seem tired."





"I have a wife and daughter to look after. And I feel like I'm a target now. I'm tempted to just grab my family and take the first shuttle out of here."
[Persuade] "That sounds like a good idea. You need to think of your family first."
[Failure] "I really am torn. There are days... There are some days where I think I'm a fool to stay."





[Persuade] "You're right to worry. I know people want to get rid of the captains."



If you can't convince him to leave, then there's another way. In the cantina nearby, there's a group of thugs you can hire to beat the captain up; he leaves the planet in a hurry after that.



If you murder the captains instead of doing the peaceful solution she'll get really pissed. After all, you're not suppose to be attracting too much attention to the whole secret revolution thing.



So that's how you can side with the power hungry military dictator-in-waiting without compromising our peacenik morals. We still haven't committed to either side, which is good.

The update ran long and I had to cut it in half, but the second part should be coming shortly. Next time, CSI: Iziz!