CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

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CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by RobotechMaster »

CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG.

I am trying to put a general timeline for atleast the Expeditionary Force, since I also know this is somewhat a touchy subject, but I have long tried to incorporate and merged various timelines into one coherent timeline that atleast followed the Official Robotechdotcom continuity. And thank goodness Robotech II The Sentinels is back as canon. Moreover as Waltrip's version of Robotech II The Sentinels comics is also quasi-canon (thanks to Prelude to The Shadow Chronicles), so I slowly discarding the notion that Pioneer Mission stumbled onto Tyrol in 2030 period (as per uRRG's notion).

Now as I am taking Universalist approach instead of Purist, I put the earliest REF expansion to deep space as early as 2015 and as late as 2028 (as per Gloval Initiative 2014), focusing on space colonization. Pioneer Mission to find the Masters' homeworld, while still an integral part of REF is only one part of the larger Expedition.

So when did Pioneer Mission first arrived in Valivarre system? My opinion, 2025 thereof. Either using 5 year fold theory, OR Pioneer Mission fought tooth & claw against Zentraedi Remnants to reach Tyrol, OR proceed to search Tyrol carefully and cautiously as Pioneer Mission stumbled onto ruins after ruins of destroyed Masters' colonies and abandoned Zentraedi outposts strewn the fringes of Masters Empire. For me, I choose the latter 2, a combination of Pioneer Mission encountering remnants of Dolza's Zentraedi loyalists & along the way discovering former Masters colonies in ruins.

While the REF would be busy colonising or re-colonising the Masters former colony worlds and abandoned Zentraedi outposts, my guess as the nature of Pioneer Mission againts the backdrop and the scope of the larger Gloval Initiative 2014, UEG and the higher ups of REF purposefully limited information coming from Pioneer Mission up until 2025 as news of an unknown threat as Pioneer Mission keep stumbling on abandoned Masters outposts and destroyed ruins of Masters colonies.

These findings would drive UEG and UEDF to justify massive military rearmament and recruitment to defend Sol System by 2020s. And as Pioneer Mission small flotilla finally reached Invid occupied Tyrol in 2025, and stranded there due to SDF-3's fold engine is compromised, the news of the Pioneer Mission disappearance straight dab in the vast unexplored Masters expansive Empire would put REF High Command to put a news blackout to its forces still busy colonising deep space.

We also know that from Art of Robotech The Shadow Chronicles, REF are too thinly spread out, and the galactic wide commo are jeopardized because of the distances of REF forces. Ok, as of 2025 Pioneer reached Tyrol and liberated it, SDF-3 dependents and accompanying flotilla assisted with rebuilding the devastated Tyrol and also had to conduct planetwide liberation against the Invid Inorganics remnants, and had to fend off Regents' probing counter attack to retaken Tyrol, I figured that the formal alliance withe the Sentinels would at least within 2027-2028 period. Military action by Sentinels forces in limited engagements against Invid would be harassing / raiding Regent's protoculture supply route, guerilla type warfare, supplying military equipment to Robotech alien rebels on Invid-occupied worlds.

Actual Sentinels conflict against Regent would take form in planet hopping liberation mission from 2029-2038 and as REF re-established contact with Pioneer Mission in 2029-2030, all colonisation effort were stopped, and as Earth invaded by the Invid in 2031, REF pooled its resources with the Sentinels for galactic wide liberation and mop up campaigns against Regent. This would continued way past 2038 and into early 2040s.

Frankly speaking, only Robotech RPG-verse fluid and flexible adoption of various Robotech incarnations and GMs not too strict adherence towards official timeline made me realised, rather than discarding the other more established Robotech adaptations ie comics / novels / early 1st ed RPG, why not included the secondary continuity and reworked it in the new continuity? Besides, RPG was not meant to be purely canon, and each GMs can have their own head-canon.

Well, enough of my rantings of the day. Feel free to discuss or comment. Tq
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

Any attempt to place the contact of Tirol in pre-2029 needs to explain why the UEDF:ASC back on Earth did not have information on the Masters as a result of said contact with the Masters Home world. I would find it hard to believe that Tirol would not offer the UEEF some information on the Masters and that it could not have been passed onto the UEDF:ASC back on Earth.

The UEEF is known to get into some conflict that stopped colonization (this in AotSC w/re to colonization ships), though who is not clear (IMHO). Possible parties beside the obvious Invid include:
-space pirates (mentioned in 2nd Saga), likely not a single faction
-micronized zentreadi offshoots (mentioned also in 2nd Saga), likely not a single faction
-Disciples of Zor (mentioned at end of 1st Saga)
-the Earth-Clone in its history that was said to nearly have destroyed the Zentreadi (mentioned in 1st Saga by Exedore when SDF-1/Zentreadi alliance is being formed)
-non-micronized zentreadi offshoots (while not stated in 1st Saga, the Zentreadi are said to have evolved to their current form, which leaves open the possibility of evolutionary relative offshoots)

There is also the possibility of some new faction(s), I don't think it can be the Sentinels as they are busy with the Invid occupation of their worlds (Haydonites might be an exception).
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

ShadowLogan wrote:Any attempt to place the contact of Tirol in pre-2029 needs to explain why the UEDF:ASC back on Earth did not have information on the Masters as a result of said contact with the Masters Home world. I would find it hard to believe that Tirol would not offer the UEEF some information on the Masters and that it could not have been passed onto the UEDF:ASC back on Earth.

i've run this as the travel time between Tirol and Earth took multiple years using the old fold drives, and there wasn't a comm-net between the area around earth and tirol yet. so that the Tokugawa carrying Carpenter actually was the message informing earth about contact with Tirolian empire's outer regions, which is why the UEEF couldn't send the aid that Leonard wanted. (UEEF assets from colonies placed closer to earth would be the ones that we see responding at the end of the series. but they'd be drops and drabs compared to the main UEEF fleet that was in Tirol space with the SDF-3.)
this also helps explain why the first reclamation fleet sent to earth after the invid arrived didn't get there until 2038, and why the 2042 group was so ignorant of both the state of earth and the fate of the earlier groups.

in the RPG earth and zent ships have similar fold stats (makes sense since earth fold drives are copies of zent ones).. able to sustain folds for about 300-400 lightyears at a time before dropping out and having to recharge. most of the folds we saw in macross saga took at least a day to complete, if not longer. since it is heavily implied that Tirol is in a whole other part of the galaxy from earth, travel times between the two regions taking a couple of years is not a big stretch. (the upgraded engines seen introduced in Prelude can, in the RPG, handle trips of about 3x the distance, with dialog in prelude indicating the drives are faster in FTL speed.. suggesting the energy use is about the same, and they can just cross more distance before having to drop out to recharge and adjust course.)

the tokugawa itself may have taken even longer than later trips too, since the SDF-3 is fluffed (on robotech.com) as having to explore to find Tirol.. suggesting their course meandered around a bunch as they hunted down possible locations. if the Tokugawa was retracing parts of that already plotted route it would take longer than a more direct course. (and if tyhey did take a direct course, they'd have to explore and chart as they went, which would take time)


The UEEF is known to get into some conflict that stopped colonization (this in AotSC w/re to colonization ships), though who is not clear (IMHO). Possible parties beside the obvious Invid include:
-space pirates (mentioned in 2nd Saga), likely not a single faction
-micronized zentreadi offshoots (mentioned also in 2nd Saga), likely not a single faction

i've generally assumed these are the same entities, and that they represent remnants from the grand fleet.. the 'micronized zentreadi' bit comes from their 'analysis' of the captured bioroid pilots so i've taken that as partly them not being able to tell the difference between zentreadi and tirolian clones (which being products of the same technologies and initial genetic samples, probably would be very similar if you didn't know what to look for) and partly the ASC high command trying to spin the results to downplay the danger. plus a healthy dose of anti-zentreadi racism.

-Disciples of Zor (mentioned at end of 1st Saga)
-the Earth-Clone in its history that was said to nearly have destroyed the Zentreadi (mentioned in 1st Saga by Exedore when SDF-1/Zentreadi alliance is being formed)

these actually could be the same faction.. Exedor's statement was that the zentreadi "turned on their creators", which is what that flashback was supposed to be showing. since the robotech masters still exist, this suggests that "turned on their creators" might be literal, with them being used to fight the actual scientists and such that created them. given that the ships they are seen attacking are copies of the "zor's battlefortress", this already suggests a connection to Zor.. and the fact that the first memory Zor Prime recovers of his predecessor being a base being attacked by tirolians, and then being captured, healed, and hunted by RT masters forces, suggests that Zor was actually on the opposite side from the Masters. which also suggests that "the disciples of zor" were the people Zor was with. combined it suggests that Zor was leading a resistance to the masters, causing a bit of a civil war in tirolian society.. and the zentreadi were used to hunt down the DoZ.. most of whom were the very people who helped create the zents to begin with. this also would help explain why the masters were so concerned about the DoZ finding the SDF-1.. it was a DoZ ship and the combination of its firepower and the fuel from the PC factory matrix would have given the remnants of the DoZ faction a huge boost and made them a threat again.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by ESalter »

glitterboy2098 wrote:
ShadowLogan wrote:Any attempt to place the contact of Tirol in pre-2029 needs to explain why the UEDF:ASC back on Earth did not have information on the Masters as a result of said contact with the Masters Home world. I would find it hard to believe that Tirol would not offer the UEEF some information on the Masters and that it could not have been passed onto the UEDF:ASC back on Earth.

i've run this as the travel time between Tirol and Earth took multiple years using the old fold drives, and there wasn't a comm-net between the area around earth and tirol yet. so that the Tokugawa carrying Carpenter actually was the message informing earth about contact with Tirolian empire's outer regions, which is why the UEEF couldn't send the aid that Leonard wanted. (UEEF assets from colonies placed closer to earth would be the ones that we see responding at the end of the series. but they'd be drops and drabs compared to the main UEEF fleet that was in Tirol space with the SDF-3.)
this also helps explain why the first reclamation fleet sent to earth after the invid arrived didn't get there until 2038, and why the 2042 group was so ignorant of both the state of earth and the fate of the earlier groups.


It's been awhile, but IIRC Leonard was upset to hear that he wouldn't be getting help from the Pioneer Mission. Would he really expect help if it took an eight-year round-trip?

glitterboy2098 wrote:
ShadowLogan wrote:-Disciples of Zor (mentioned at end of 1st Saga)
-the Earth-Clone in its history that was said to nearly have destroyed the Zentreadi (mentioned in 1st Saga by Exedore when SDF-1/Zentreadi alliance is being formed)

these actually could be the same faction.. Exedor's statement was that the zentreadi "turned on their creators", which is what that flashback was supposed to be showing. since the robotech masters still exist, this suggests that "turned on their creators" might be literal, with them being used to fight the actual scientists and such that created them. given that the ships they are seen attacking are copies of the "zor's battlefortress", this already suggests a connection to Zor.. and the fact that the first memory Zor Prime recovers of his predecessor being a base being attacked by tirolians, and then being captured, healed, and hunted by RT masters forces, suggests that Zor was actually on the opposite side from the Masters. which also suggests that "the disciples of zor" were the people Zor was with. combined it suggests that Zor was leading a resistance to the masters, causing a bit of a civil war in tirolian society.. and the zentreadi were used to hunt down the DoZ.. most of whom were the very people who helped create the zents to begin with. this also would help explain why the masters were so concerned about the DoZ finding the SDF-1.. it was a DoZ ship and the combination of its firepower and the fuel from the PC factory matrix would have given the remnants of the DoZ faction a huge boost and made them a threat again.


  • IIRC, the meeting concluded that the proto-Zentradi were ungovernable and destroyed the Robotech Civilization with uncontrolled violence. That doesn't fit with the idea that the Zentradi were compliant and obediently followed orders to capture Zor as a police action.
  • If the Disciples of Zor "were the people Zor was with," they'd already have his battlefortress, by definition, right? They wouldn't need to look for it.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

@GB
Re: Factions
It is entirely possible that some of the factions I mentioned might overlap with each other, or even other existing groups, but there is no way to be sure which is why I treated them as individual entities.

Personally given Gloval's history statement includes the Zentreadi "evolving" to their current form, I can see the micronized Zentreadi reference in TRM saga to indicate that the Zentreadi could have several additional evolutionary branches. At the time Leonard made his statement, the Bioroid Pilot DNA was already said to be 100% human from several episodes prior to this.

The Space Pirates per the dialogue don't use Robotech space ships, at least that is what Emerson is implying with the "no human beings have the knowledge to create Robotech spaceships" in his rebuttal of the idea, so who ever the Pirates are they don't use Robotech Spaceships of their own design. An interesting angle is that Emerson's dialogue might also imply that the UEEF ships and UEDF ships aren't human designed, but previously unknown types they adapted for their use.

As for the DoZ being the Earth-Clone, its possible but there isn't anything to really connect the two. Conversely I have to wonder if the Sentinels are actually the DoZ (this being a Tirolian designation and not the one they gave themselves) prior to the rise of Invid Regent when the Masters/Zentreadi fled their region of space.

Re: UEEF Exloration
I am not a fan of the travel time notion. FTL communications are a thing in RT which makes the whole messenger ship out of place for regular operation (I can see it if communications are jammed), but Carpenter (and a later group) are said to be responding to the original may-day from Liberty (something that could only happen with FTL communication). Now FTL Comms might not be instantaneous, but odds are they are going to be faster than using ships.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by Peacebringer »

"Canon", is an optional-guide rather than a set-rule.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Question - how are Human-Zentradi relations in the later stages of the chronology?

In the Macross franchise, i'm aware things tend more toward assimilation-miscigenation though not wholy without some hiccups - remnant splinter fleets from the time of Dolza, groups of disenfranchised zentradi or mixed heritage people forming ghettos, delinquent & criminal gangs or anti-establishment guerillas, the occasional batch of "colonial tube troopers" (yeah, UN Spacy still makes use of some of the Zentradi old methods & resources according to the Macross canon in some spots) showing adaptation issues and sparking a riot or uprising - but how similar or different do things roll or not in the Robotech 'verse per se?

Must admit my knowledge on the subject is quite spotty indeed.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by Seto Kaiba »

SolCannibal wrote:Question - how are Human-Zentradi relations in the later stages of the chronology?

Arguably quite poor. In Robotech's official setting, there wasn't much of a Zentradi population left after Khyron's rebellion and what was left was dragooned back into military service and sent into space with the Expeditionary Forces under Breetai's command. They were wiped out fighting the Invid Regent at the end of the 3rd Robotech War. It can't have been a pleasant experience given that a distinct and vocal xenophobia was expressed by many of the rank and file UEEF troops.



SolCannibal wrote:In the Macross franchise, i'm aware things tend more toward assimilation-miscigenation though not wholy without some hiccups [...]

Just an FYI, the term "miscegenation" is generally frowned-upon as it carries a distinct connotation of racial-supremacist views.

That aside, most of what you wrote about the setting of the Macross franchise is completely incorrect. Corrections have been spoiler tagged to avoid excessive disruption to the topic.

Spoiler:
SolCannibal wrote:[...] - remnant splinter fleets from the time of Dolza, [...]

The surviving ~4 million ships of the Boddole Zer 118th Main Fleet retreated to an auxiliary command post tens of thousands of light years from Earth.

The New UN Government's emigrant and research fleets, as well as planets settled by emigrant fleets, have occasionally run across branch fleets and scouting forces from the other 2,000-3,000 Main Fleets the Zentradi have active in the modern galaxy. On many occasions, these forces have responded positively to exposure to Earth's culture as well.



SolCannibal wrote:[...] groups of disenfranchised zentradi or mixed heritage people forming ghettos, [...]

I have no idea where you got this idea, because nothing like this has ever been depicted in Macross.

There have been a few examples of discriminatory language against Zentradi, but only from certain elderly and bitter veterans of the First Space War... which was visibly considered distasteful language and behavior by others present. That's about the limit of it. There have been depictions of separate living spaces for Zentradi who remain at their natural (giant) size, mainly for the comfort and safety of the giants who don't have to bend all the way over to talk to miclones or fear accidentally treading on them. Far from being unpleasant places of involuntary segregation, the Zentradi living area that is visited in Macross Frontier is shown to be an extremely nice suburban area and a bit of a popular place to visit thanks in part to the Zentradi-run dairy farms there.

There have been depictions of "slum" areas in a few emigrant fleets, but none connected to heritage. The Akusho residential block docked to City-7 in Macross 7 was an unregistered habitat ship that'd fallen into disrepair before it attached itself to City-7. The few people who live there do so mainly because it's private and free. (It may, in fact, be maintained in that state specifically to be an inconspicuous test site for Project M.) The Macross Galaxy fleet in Macross F has slums, but in that case it's due to nothing other than massive unemployment thanks to the fleet's corporate government going all-in on automation and eliminating many labor-intensive luxuries like natural foods so it could repurpose those support vessels for other tasks.



SolCannibal wrote:[...] delinquent & criminal gangs or anti-establishment guerillas, [...]

While it is true that the tiny minority of Zentradi defectors who struggle with, or fail to, integrate into nonmilitary society do sometimes end up falling in with anti-government groups... they are a very small minority. Many simply end up joining the New UN Forces to provide a more structured living arrangement and an outlet for the fighting instincts they couldn't fully suppress. There are dedicated units in the military for precisely this kind of purpose like the Zentradi units in the New UN Spacy Marine Corps.

(It's also worth noting that several supposed anti-government groups were actually anti-fascist groups opposing an Earth-supremacist fascist movement that formed within the New UN Government and New UN Forces that was defeated during the Second Unification War in 2051.)

The criminal organizations depicted in Macross thus far have been almost exclusively human, same with the only gang we've seen. Juvenile delinquency similarly knows no bounds of species. The Neo-Zentran movement in the Macross-29 fleet similarly is not tied to any one species. Its name merely references its political goal of ending the fleet government's policy of total pacifism that left it an extreme doormat for its neighbors in trade negotiations and reinstating the fleet's New UN Forces defense force. The movement did grow out of protests that devolved into riots, but with some careful guidance became a legitimate and peaceful political movement.



SolCannibal wrote:[...] the occasional batch of "colonial tube troopers" (yeah, UN Spacy still makes use of some of the Zentradi old methods & resources according to the Macross canon in some spots) [...]

Ah, no... the New UN Government did make use of captured Zentradi cloning technology to bolster the human population on Earth after the war and duplicate individuals who had specific skills or knowledge vital to the reconstruction effort or early space emigration. However, cloning for military purposes has always been illegal under the New UN Government. This fact actually comes up in big ways in Macross Delta because one of the characters is revealed to be an illegal clone created in a clandestine experiment by a private corporation.

The New UN Forces do take in Zentradi who are having difficulty adapting to civilian lifestyles as a way of helping them acclimate to society... but they're not cloning them. They're recruits.



SolCannibal wrote:[...] showing adaptation issues and sparking a riot or uprising [...]

This much is, at least, correct.

Every now and then there is the occasional outbreak of fighting or rioting among Zentradi who are having trouble suppressing the fighting instincts engineered into them. It's mostly a thing with recent Zentradi defectors who are missing that combat adrenaline high. Most find healthy outlets for it. Some are able to suppress it with exercise. Some join the military. Some take up sports, and Zentradi are noted to have made quite an impact in professional sports and particularly those reminiscent of fighting like boxing and wrestling. Others, like Guld Goa Bowman, take medication to assist them in suppressing their fighting instincts. An unfortunate few like Zentradi spy trio try self-medicating with alcohol and develop substance abuse problems, though fortunately the medical institutions exist to treat those issues and help them develop healthier coping strategies.

Such riots are rare, and their frequency diminishes as humanity gets progressively better at helping Zentradi integrate into society.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by Rabid Southern Cross Fan »

:sigh:

Episode #38 False Start
THE NARRATOR: Space Station Liberty, Earth's only link to the Robotech Defenders who have gone out into the cosmos searching for answers to the puzzling riddle of Protoculture.

Episode #40 Volunteers

GENERAL: I'll begin by telling you that the prime objective is to regain our communications link with Liberty and its Moon base counterpart.
..................
DANA: Sure its important to have our hyper-communications equipment functional as soon as possible, but I had no idea General Emerson would be giving the briefing on the mission. I'm sure the squad is going to be as excited as I was. The only thing that bothered me was when he said "So good luck, Lieutenant Sterling because you and your squad are going to need it." Oh, I'm just being paranoid.

Episode #47 Outsiders
THE NARRATOR: At that very moment, a battlefortress from SDF-3 Pioneer Mission is approaching the Robotech Masters ship after defolding from hyperspace.
..................
SUPREME COMMANDER LEONARD: You mean you came here alone? There's no more reinforcements coming from the SDF-3? Sorry, Major, but we were hoping for more substantial assistance than that! You must be kidding!

MAJOR CARPENTER: I'm sorry, sir, but what it boils down to is that you cannot expect any further help from The Pioneer Expedition at this time.

SUPREME COMMANDER LEONARD: Huh?

MAJOR CARPENTER: I'm afraid its true. I'm simply relying the orders from General Reinhardt, commander of the mission, when I say they can offer you nothing more. You see, sir, my attack wing was merely a last ditch effort to join forces with your available fighters and knock the invaders from their orbit.

Episode #48 Deja Vu
THE NARRATOR: The mighty alien fleet hangs like an ominous black cloud over the Earth. The sudden apperance of an attack wing from Space Station Liberty provides a glimpse of hope, but Veritech fighters are no match for the awesome power of the Robotech Masters.
..................
Far above, amid the blasted remnants of Attack Wing Liberty, the Robotech Masters plot their next move in their campaign against the Earth.

Episode #54 Mind Games
THE NARRATOR: The Earth forces were enhanced by reinforcements from hyper-space, responding to a mayday from the original attack on Space Station Liberty. With the Southern Cross forces in tatters and the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance, an important rendezvous is called at the newly armored Moonbase ALuCE.

Episode #51 Clone Chamber
COLONEL ROCHELLE: That's the end of the message. We received this transmission from the moon 24 hours ago.

COLONEL SEWARD: That's the first transmission from the moon that's gotten through the enemy's sub-space interference--we, should be happy about that, I suppose. Hmm?

Episode #61 The Invid Invasion
MARLENE: All communications systems are normal and the signal from Admiral Hunter's flagship is "Attack with first combat squadron, immediately".

Episode #78 Ghost Town
LANCER: Is that transceiver in working condition?

FRANK: Like everything else around here its wore out. We still receive transmissions from Admiral Hunter but we can't answer 'em.

JESSE: Yea, Gabby keeps turning it on like maybe he's expecting a message from somebody.

SHORTY: Yea.

LANCER: You say you still get messages from Admiral Hunter? What do they say?

SHORTY: Who knows? We don't pay no attention to 'em.
................................
SCOTT: What's that? A working transceiver! Earth calling Admiral Hunter, come in Admiral Hunter. Do you mind telling me what's so all fired funny?

LANCER: The transmitter doesn't work, just the receiver.

SCOTT: It what? Oh great....

TRANSMISSION: Expeditionary Force calling Earth. Do you read us? Come in Earth.

SCOTT: We receive you Comm Base. Can you hear me? Come in Comm Base. Come in Comm Base. This is Earth calling Admiral Hunter, over!

TRANSMISSION: If anyone is reading this message, here are your orders. All Invid military outposts must be destroyed. Admiral Hunter is planning a major offensive and he calls upon all surviving forces to help destroy any military objectives.

Its rather evident from the multiple episodes that deal with communications, including "subspace communications" (ie - FTL/Hyper-Communications) the the UEF and REF have been in constant contact until The Masters interdicted it. That's why there was a mission to reestablish communications with Space Station Liberty, which is obviously not anywhere in the direct vicinity of Earth or the Moon. Otherwise you would have noticeable timelag between transmissions. And the Old Coots are in a ship that came back during the 2nd Robtotech War.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by RobotechMaster »

Well well well .... recently I perused through the draft of SMG's Robotech RPG supplement aka Robotech Amongst The Star which is basically a replacement to Palladium's 1st Ed Robotech II Sentinels RPG & 2nd Ed UEEF Marines. Kinda noticed that SMG choosing the date 2026 AD for the REF discovery of Tirol & it's liberation by SDF-3 flotilla, a year later compared to 2nd Ed UEEF Marines that pegged the year 2025 AD for REF & SDF-3 found & liberated Tirol from Invid Regent's forces.

From Palladium 2nd Ed UEEF Marines:
2025:
The Invid and Tirol. A short time before the Expeditionary Force appears at Tirol, the combat forces of the Invid Regent are sweeping the planet. The Regent, disappointed to learn the Robotech Masters have forsaken their home world, has gone off into space where he turns his attention to other matters of conquest. He leaves a force of Inorganics and Invid to finish pacifying the Tirolians. The outnumbered defenders of Tirol put up a good fight, but their defenses are crumbling fast. Sickened by his bloodlust, the Regess leaves Optera for Praxis to carry on with her Genesis Pit experiments.

The United Earth Expeditionary Force arrive in Fantoma space and are immediately attacked by the Invid, who mistake them for the despised Robotech Masters returning with a new starship. The assault is so sudden and unexpected that the heroes of the SDF-3 do not realize the spacefold generators are damaged or that the fold has taken three Earth years to arrive at Tirol. They all mistakenly believe the date to be 2022, not 2025. This being the UEEF's first and longest fold drive attempt and the technology still being so new to them, they don't realize they have been affected by time dilation. The SDF-3 and the fleet around them have experienced about two weeks of time passage, but the rest of the universe has seen the passage of three years. Under attack, they scramble to repel the Invid.

When the Expeditionary Force Marines are assigned to free the planet of the monstrous alien invaders, T.R. Edwards and his Ghost Squadron capture the living computer the Regent has left behind in the Royal Hall of Tiresia, the capital city of Tirol. Tiresians Cabell and Rem inform the UEEF' s Plenipotentiary Council that the Robotech Masters are on their way to Earth. The Expeditionary Force humans meet an array of alien life forms on Tirol. This is how our heroes learn about the other worlds populated by the Praxians, Garudans, Karbarrans, Haydonites, Spherians, and Perytonians, and develop the idea of liberating entire planets conquered and occupied by the Invid horde. Diplomats soon offer the UEEF their people's cooperation and support in exchange for helping them to break the shackles of
Invid occupation.

On Earth, Senator Wyatt Moran and the commanders of the Army of the Southern Cross consolidate their power and take control of the Supreme Council.


From SMG's draft of Robotech Amongst the Star:
2026:
August: The Farrago begins its mission. The captured ship, composed of parts from several different vessels from across the Local Group, has been designated by the Invid Regent to act as his personal zoo. It is helmed by the Invid Scientist Tesla who travels the Invid empire, collecting specimens from across the Local Group. Tesla collects a rare
specimen upon the world of Peryton. A rumored Haydonite named viedt. The captured Haydonite however begins to whisper into the ears of the other zoo occupants, planting the seeds of revolution.

September: The UEEF, after almost three years since the official start of their mission to find the Robotech Masters, has discerned the location of Tirol from captured navigational charts. With the suspected coordinates at last in hand, the UEEF sends out a signal to assemble a Task fleet at Space Station Liberty to begin preparations for a full scale
jump into the system. Contact between the ASC, UEG and the UEEF becomes sporadic afterwards.

November: THE LIBERATION OF TIROL - The UEEF forces finally arrive at Valivarre, the Robotech Masters Home system. The occupying Invid forces alert the Regent. Convinced that the Zentraedi and Masters have returned with a new force to retake their homeworld, the Invid waste no time in attacking the UEEF. The battles at the edge of the
system are costly for the UEEF fleet and the SDF-3 is crippled in the attack. Its hyperspace fold system is damaged, rendering it and the UEEF at large unable to retreat.


A slight but significant different would be Palladium's 2nd Ed UEEF Marines stated SDF-3 armada almost instantaneous fold operation to Tirol has taken 3 years from 2022 to 2025 AD (a legacy from McKinney's Robotech II The Sentinels novelization) meanwhile SMG's Amongst The Stars taken the approach where SDF-3 & her armada explored deep space & encountering space pirates, hostile micronised Zentraedi while searching Tirol from 2022-2026.
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by Rabid Southern Cross Fan »

That literally makes zero sense. We know the REF hadn't found Tirol because not only does Carpenter's NOT identify The Masters city-ships in orbit, the REF had NO IDEA who the Invid were until AFTER the Invid Invasion. No one on Earth did. Heck, Angelo Dante goes so far as to call them legends and fairy tales. And that "sporadic contact" is literally pulled out of their arse cause that is NOWHERE in the Tv series that DOESN'T involve the jamming by The Masters.

Peter Walker is right. Robotech is the only franchise where its owners and its licensees treat - and have always treated - the Tv series as if its somehow defective, that its 85 episodes of cinematic leprosy that needs to somehow be "fixed".
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Re: CRAFTING A ROBOTECH TIMELINE FOR FANFIC & ROBOTECH RPG

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

robotech.com's entry on the SDF-3 indicates that the SDF-3 did a normal fold to where they thought Tirol was.. and found nothing. then had to spend years searching before they found it. which is how the shadow chronicles RPG main book describes it. (no multi-year folds, and no mention of the location confusion, just the UEEF spending years searching and getting into minor battles along the way)

UEEF marines needs to be discounted because it's timeline section is in direct contradiction to the established HG canon. it has the regent being killed a decade before his canon death in the Prelude comics, and has characters in places in the 2044 that are in direct contradiction to established locations in Shadow chronicles and the end of the Prelude comic.

this is because the author used the old novel timeline material instead of the the official HG stuff.
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