Topic: Descent plotholes thread

[Kaiaatzl]

I thought this would be fun.
Basically post any plotholes/fridge logic -- small story elements that don't make sense when you examine them closely -- you can find in the Descent series (probably D3).  Parallax and Outrage didn't exactly write robust stories so you should be able to find plenty (bonus points if you suggest something silly that would fill the hole).  It could be about things that happen in-game or things that happen in the backstory -- but stay away from big things like "how does the ship fly", I think we already have a thread for those (if not, make one!) and besides they fall under "Willing Suspension of Disbelief," so they're not even the same thing.

And please limit yourself to one plothole per post, and don't double post obviously -- a lot of people have probably come up with the same things so this ensures everyone gets to say something .

Even I have a couple, but I'll let someone else start the meat of the thread.

[Scyphi]

I remember some one pointed out once that there wasn't really any logical reason for the robots to keep hostages, and I've personally never been able to fill in that little plothole.

...Maybe the robots were fascinated by how paper-thin those hostages always were...

[Ronin RedFox]

...Maybe the robots were fascinated by how paper-thin those hostages always were...

Like chips. Computer chips. *ba dum tss*

Yeah. That was bad.

[Kaiaatzl]

The nomads in D3.
They were created when the pilot in Mercenary sabotaged the first Martian colony.  By D3 Retribution they have their own culture full of "bizzare rituals and strange beliefs".  How did their culture evolve so quickly?

The humans in the colony seem to have merged essences with the robots in the colony... maybe there were a couple of mayflies trapped in the essence merge too!

[Scyphi]

Actually, it's commonly assumed that it was the same colony, but there is no real confirmation that they were the same, and that there haven't been other martian colonies that had been established. Could have easily been a different colony that failed many years ago. Maybe it was because of that failure that rules had been put in place that had made the PTMC's unauthorized attempt to build a colony such a problem.

Which brings up another plot hole of sorts, and that's the fact that for an organization dedicated to preventing terrorism (the CED) with the goal of maintaining order and peace, they sure end up doing a lot of terrorist-like acts themselves. Nor they do they seem to have a very good intelligence organization, because they don't even take the time to investigate a situation. They just immediately buy the first theory that gives 'em something to shoot, and go to blow it up. *cough*cough*Red Acropolis*cough*cough*

[Wraith-1]

The part that bugs me most would be the part where you and the Red Acropolis are trying to convince the CED that you are good and PTMC is bad. How exactly do you do this? You steal a high-tech assault fighter from them, blow up the factory you steal it from, and then infiltrate the CED's command center with said assault fighter. Totally not a terrorist.

[Matthew]

Is it ever really explained why Dravis wants to shut down his own mines and then pay you to blow them up? Perhaps he's just so filthy rich he can think of nothing better to do with his money...

[Kaiaatzl]

And... what motive did Dravis have for wanting to kill you?  It can't be that he didn't want to pay you; he paid both his other pilots -- even the one who told him to shove his long term employment down a black hole .

[Scyphi]

...blow up the factory you steal it from...

Now wait, wasn't said factory PTMC property? In that case, blowing it up would be a blow to the bad guys, and that's a language the CED can understand. Blowing up what they (the CED) perceive as the good guys doesn't make sense to them, but blowing up what they perceive as bad guys makes total sense to them. That said, personally, I think the CED are more than a little trigger-happy.

But then again, so's the player playing the game. Maybe we should just assume that in the Descent universe, everybody's just trigger-happy, and somehow they've built a stable society on that premise.

And... what motive did Dravis have for wanting to kill you?

Is it ever really explained why Dravis wants to shut down his own mines and then pay you to blow them up?

No, it's not really explained why Dravis wants to blow up mines, so theories abound here. I was of the opinion that blowing up the mines was kind of a cover, make it seem like Dravis was trying to stop the virus from spreading while he secretly worked to harness the virus's power for his own purposes. That, and we have no confirmation of exactly when Dravis starts trying to harness the virus, so maybe at first, he really was just following orders at first, at least up until he got his big idea. By then MD had been hired, and so...well...

Actually...now that I think about it...that is a pretty good point. Why DID Dravis want to do you in? You were just doing your job so to earn a paycheck. It wasn't like you were poking around, trying to find out things you weren't supposed to know. That didn't start happening until D3, AFTER Dravis's made the attempt on your life with the whole warp core bit. And by trying to kill you would seem like it'd bring unnecessary attention to Dravis, the very LAST thing he'd want...

Maybe he thought you knew more about what was going on than you actually did at the time, and decided he couldn't take the chance.

Ooh, or maybe it has to do with the planetoid you blow up in the last level of D2. A serious enough a threat that Dravis felt it couldn't be ignored, but at the same time, he didn't want it's existence getting around, and since you'd had seen it, he thought it'd be easier to just kill you rather than just paying you off and hoping you kept your mouth shut, as that, despite popular belief, couldn't guarantee anything.

This would also fit in with Dravis's reasons for wanting the other planetoid destroyed in D3 Merc, and why he went to such measures to make sure the CED didn't find out about it either.

But then that still leaves the question as to WHY he'd want to keep the planetoids secret. Hmm. Maybe he realized that, assuming his plan to use the virus to seize control of the universe etc. worked, the only thing that could stop him then was the virus itself, specifically the original alien version that he could NOT control. So destroy the planetoid carriers of the virus to keep the version of the virus he COULDN'T control away from him, and maybe keep their existence quiet, so to keep people from getting the idea to use the virus against him too...yeah, that could work. It all adds up in my mind, so unless I overlooked something (which is possible)...

The only flaw to this logic that I can find is that, since it was proved the planetoids are NOT the origins of the virus, he'd want to keep them around to look for clues that could lead him to find the true origin and take that out, and nip that problem in the bud then and there.

But nobody said Dravis was smart. His plan was pretty flawed in the first place, anyway. I mean, he was stupid enough to think that crazy plan was actually going to WORK. 

[-<WillyP>-]

My impression is that Dravis wanted to destroy the mines because of the virus being out of control there, out of his control. And then, because you had learned he learned too much of what was going on, MD needed to be disposed of.

Dravis was experimenting with the virus in the mines. Being experiments, things didn't always go as planned. And he did have to keep up the appearance of legitimacy, so he hired someone to go in and destroy the virus and rescue hostages.

Or something like that... TBH, I never gave it much thought.

[Kaiaatzl]

We never really find out what happens in D2 apart from destroying mines -- even though there are a lot of hints that there is more going on.  Maybe MD found some pretty dangerous information while he was on his mission but you as the player never see that.

To extend WillyP's theory; what if Dravis secretly ordered the robots to take hostages, and then had you rescue them to make him look like a good guy?  Despite the fact that he made rescuing them optional.
Or, what if he already had control of the virus in D1, and was trying to eliminate the last bits of the "natural" virus before they could affect his plans?

[Scyphi]

All good theories, but unfortunately, there's no real way to know for sure. 

I suppose it's also possible that since you had clearly become so good at fighting the virus, and the virus was Dravis's means of power, and he couldn't guarantee what side you were on, he figured he'd better get rid of you before you opted to become a problem.

A plan which, thankfully, failed.

[-<WillyP>-]

Actually, Kai, to extend my theory...

Dravis never really had control of the bots, in fact, he was just a pawn in a plot, he was being used by aliens who had developed the virus, and bought Dravis with promises of future glory, or something. In my sequel to D3, 'Z-Axis' we will learn that the alien plans are only slightly delayed by Dravis' demise...

[Kaiaatzl]

That sounds suspiciously like one of the songs I wrote for Solarian... that I know you heard...

[-<WillyP>-]

What song is that? I have had this plot line in mind for many years, since I first started making levels.