So I decided to roll my own roulette and see if I could make anything worthwhile out of it. Originally I wanted to roll three mercantile races that'd form a core for my idea of a trade circle but it turned out a bit different as the first one got totally malevolent.

Any names are basically just placeholders. I smashed my keyboard around and scrapped 75% of ultra crappy names and saved the least sucky. They're still sucky, though. If people at Stardock find anything worthwhile in this stuff, I bet they have their own good workers and writers that'll come up with decent things that'll fit the universe they're creating. The number in brackets means the roulette roll I did. Appearance and ship design is just something I came up on the fly. Nuff said, here's my first real take on a new SC race.

Enter the Roigon.

Core lore (4444321):

The Roigon are a race of mechanic beings who put their trust and focus in the logical, scientific way of life. They believe that mathematical calculations and analysis of observable phenomena are the key to success and advancement. Ultimately they strive to achieve a way to interconnect to each other and the whole of existence much in the same way the psychically advanced races do. Although as machines, they can send and receive information to each other, they cannot sense things in the way psychics do, nor feel any kind of deeper connection outside their brethren. They can only process given information. As tragic as it is, in the end their quest is futile, as their very nature denies the capability of psychic phenomena. This doesn’t stop the Roigon from trying, though, and it’s here where things get nasty.

In the ancient past, the Roigon assimilated their own masters, the Vespud. They did this for several logical reasons. First of all, the Vespudians were overly wasteful in their resource usage, they were clearly lesser beings due to their fragile biosystem and erratic behavior (from machine's point of view) and last but not the least – the Roigon seemed to grasp the necessity of organic components as a platform for psychic development. Solution was simple. Destroy 97.234769% of Vespudians and enslave the remaining 2.765231%. After establishing a.. stable co-existence, the bio-material was to be integrated into the Roigon core.

The plan was great on paper, yet didn’t work as intended. The bio-material didn’t work in harmony with the mechanic element and remained unconscious, unaware. However, the material did allow for electrical currents to develop, so the power requirements of the Roigon was substantially reduced, therefore the material was to be kept and preserved as a sort of biological battery (yeah yeah I've seen Matrix). No Roigon will ever mention this dark past of theirs. To outsiders, they’ll give the impression (in the rare case that the organic element is revealed or learned about) that they’re a hybrid creature, a willful creation of benevolent beings. It’s all horsesh*t, but works wonders when dealing with gullible starfarers. The Roigon are cold, analytical beings who care little for others. They’re mainly concerned with their own interests and see others as mere tools or obstacles in their way of advancement.

Appearance:

The Roigon are bulky mechanical beings with four lower limbs acting as legs. On top of this leg-pack, is their core system which is protected by a round outer plating that’s connected to the core by series of smallish poles. On top of the core unit is a Y-shaped limb that’ll act as hands and sensors. In several places around their main limbs, the Roigon has smallish ‘mini-hands’, little pipes with a few pincer-like fingers. Roigon use these mini-hands for maintenance purposes and usually keep them tucked inside the primary limbs. The organic part from their unfortunate creators is not visible in most cases.

Ship: Roigon Receder

Imagine a ball and a block overlapping each other. A ball with “corners” or a block with spherical sides. On the block corners the Receder harbors moderately powerful railguns as well as EMP launchers. The spherical elements are filled with smallish energy emitters that’ll work both as enhanced shield regenerators and point-defense system. In combat the Receder attempts to close in using it’s defensive capabilities and will attempt to nullify enemy ships with it’s EMP cannons. When facing organic ships or such like it'll attemp a burst shock with the energy emitters. After this it’ll wither away the hopefully helpless hostile with it’s railguns and emitters focusing the weapon and engine systems. The Receder is bulky and durable and focuses on keeping together while slowly disabling the threat it faces.

Star Control DLC Race and Ship Packs for GalCiv3!!!

I can dream...

Man, I'm really feeling creative (and overhyped, it'll wear off I know). I decided to scrap the random number chart info as I'm getting more and more liberal in my interpretation of their actual meaning. It's still a handy tool, even though I say so myself and really gives some fun ideas to play around with. Though the original set is a bit too focused on hostile/grim/evil sort of elements. Everybody's spying or backstabbing or xenophobic or whatnot.

I wanted to create some mercantile races that'd work as traders (duh) in the game like Melnorme and Druuge back in the classic. I have this idea of three races all focusing on dealing with different types of resources. Divisions would be lore-information, bio-data & minerals. Beats me if this'll even work out in the reboot but it's fun to brainstorm around. I mean, the old games have tens of races. I'm really hoping the new one will have equally healthy amount of weird creatures to hang out with. Here's the first of three.

Elebriod

Core lore:

The Elebriod are not natives to our world. They’re dimensional travelers from another plane of being. They harness a curious mixture of physical elements, energy form and various vapors. This concoction of compounds is what we perceive as the Elebriod.

The Elebriod are friendly, though indifferent beings. They’re not particularly interested in the affairs of this world. There seems to be something wrong with them, as is quickly revealed when engaged in conversation. Elebriodians zone off occasionally, as if losing contact with this realm. It is as if they’d be talking through a cloud or dreaming, not clearly understanding what is happening around them, not fully rooted in this dimension. They seem lost somehow.

The Elebriod are mysterious seekers of knowledge, more accurately they’re passionate to trade information. They’re rich in their own field, and tremendously helpful in learning about different matters, should one harness information they’d deem valuable. Interestingly, they pay extremely well about any pieces of information concerning their own being.

Appearance:

It is hard to distinguish what the Elebriod are actually made of. At the core of their being is a slim, humanoid shaped upper torso which is surrounded by vibrating air and whirling, thick pale green, yellow and blue gases. The edge of the humanoid-like being is blurry and melds into the gaseous, wavering air around it. The image of their being fluctuates and shifts nearly out of sight at times, and is reinforced again. The torso has two long tentacle-like limbs as arms with three “fingers” in their tips. Their head has no visible eyes nor ears. The head's shape is similiar to H.R. Giger’s Alien but with reduced length and without the freaky tongue.

Ship: Elebriod Educator

The Educator is a beautiful crystalline star-shaped ship. Any would-be combatants shouldn’t be fooled by the harmonious, eye-pleasing design as the Educator is a sinister machine of war. Unlike most space vessels, it harbors no conventional beam guns, missiles or such like. Instead, the Educator is wielding massive transmission elements, cloaking device and a small scale dimensional teleporter.

The Educator sends out mind-penetrating information waves that overwhelm the attackers. Machinery short-circuits and organic beings are driven mad by the massive flow of raw data about existence. This confusing act then allows the Educator to fluctuate and teleport right next to the confused foe which blasts it with dimensional ripples that’ll shred the victim to pieces. If things look dire, the Educator cloaks out of sight and repeats the process until the juvenile aggressors learn their lesson.

As most race examples I’ve made rely on the more serious tone, I figured that something a bit more lightweight and comical could be refreshing. These guys were inspired by Stan from Monkey Island series (1, 2 & especially 3 – never played the rest) and I imagine them acting in quite similar manner, just add some speed to the speech. To seal the deal, here’s the last of my trader trio.

Xa’Nuth

Core lore:

Most races excel on some field of life and when it comes to trade, the Xa’Nuth are unparalleled. They are the archetypal salesmen. They got quality goods, the best of deals and the broadest smile you’ve ever seen. They got what you need. If they don’t got it, they’ll get it. If they can’t get it, you don’t really need it. If you really need it, they’ll give you something better.

The Xa’Nuth are extraordinary on this field of expertise due to both their cultural affinity to commerce and their rather unique physiology which allows them to sense their surroundings, the mood and feelings in the air. They believe firmly that cooperation and mutual effort between the diverse life forms of the galaxy is the key to survival. There’s strength in numbers and it’s better to negotiate and compromise rather than wage war guns blazing. Their society is based on this belief and basically every Xa’Nuthian follows the same code of conduct.

In addition, they’ve peculiar sensory organs that covers their whole body. The Xa’Nuth master traders look furry from afar, but the “fur” is in fact a multitude of miniature sensory tentacles that cause the Xa’Nuth to be absolutely hypersensitive to their surroundings. They sense the slightest shift in mood or atmosphere. This allows them to react fast to any problems they’d come across and, of course, helps them to sweeten up deals at the right times.

Highly charismatic and slightly on the psychic side, the Xa’Nuth are good at what they do. One can amuse himself by trying to intentionally argue with a Xa’Nuthian trader. A difficult task indeed, as the master traders are incredibly slick and somehow always find a way to flip the discussion to the positive and find some way to make profit out of it. Customer is always right.

Make no mistake though, the master traders are not exactly benevolent beings at heart. They do what they do because it’s profitable and you’ll pay a price for their goods just like everybody else. Sure, they give the impression that you’re their very best friend but that’s just to make you trust that their price is fair (though it often is) and buy more and more. It’s business as usual.

The Xa’Nuth deal in a number of articles but through time, they’ve come to focus mostly on the more concrete goods. We’re talking about minerals, big guns, rare technological advancements, strange tools and unique artifacts.

Appearance:

The Xa’Nuth master traders look like a blue furry ball with four hands and no legs. They’ve one eye and a wide mouth below it. The fur isn’t actually fur, but rather a field of miniature sensory tentacles which the Xa’Nuth use to sense the atmosphere. These “furry” little fellows use their four thin arms for walking though usually the Xa’Nuth prefer to move more like monkeys, grabbing objects above ground and swing to the next destination. If asked, they tell that they’re comfortable on ground as well but after a while it’ll become clear that the Xa’Nuth prefer to stay above ground level. They like to lay on high ledges and such like when not hanging on to something.

Ship: Xa’Nuth Xenogunner

The Xenogunner is a respectable collection of diverse weaponry. It’s not uncommon to encounter differently built Xenogunners, as the Xa’Nuth typically arm them keeping the current market values in mind, weighting price and efficiency in these devious creations.

Their trademark would be the Discount Disrupter, a powerful beam cannon that’ll make short work out of most foes. In addition, Xenogunners often wield premium space mines, rebate rockets, sample sale sonic cannons, cut-rate corona grenades and more, depending on season.

The master traders prefer to stay afar from the enemy and use the whole of their arsenal in an all-out fashion. More often than not they attempt to catch the hopefully short but spectacular show of destruction on tape which they’ll use in new sales of their quality guns.

It resembles a tesla coil from old Red Alert, with the bridge being at the top and various weaponry on the rings below it.

Second, a "vegan" nomadic race. They should look as predatory as possible in appearance but refuse to eat "animals" but in space there are strange life forms that show that one"s perceptions are irrelevant in the larger frame of things. This why they are on the run from either the mycon or suppox or even a whole new race that look like tofu cubes. The vegan race would trade while in your space for food but while they only buy veggies and fruits they do drool around you and make you uncomfortable with their hungry stares and constant insults for you dietary life choices while ignoring their tendency to slaughter non animal sapient races. Game role of trade partner and possible short time ally since they had this tackle with the androsynth because, you know, cloned meat...technically its in vitro so there was this mistake at the first contact and well...they are kinda at war now... 

eventually the aliens figure they should take some chenjasu as spirit crystals and the alliance decide they are too much and order them to go away. 

First, I'm excited to even have the possibility of a new SC game, with some added reservations about reboots and remakes aside a moment. 

Secondly, to respond to the original thread's question:

I'd like to see a few new races however, in my mind its very difficult to set aside what is familiar and more importantly fun, in order to craft an idea that doesn't break with what already exists. In the interest of not including spoilers even via tag, I will simply state that, it would be interesting to learn that not "everything" was 100% that some alternative history is not disregarded. As the open ended resolutions were not necessarily required to complete the game. I'd personally like to see that explored, and technically if enough time has passed, it is not impossible to have repercussions from the conflict in cultures.

As to more specific new races: One idea I had many years ago was another "elevated" race, one that perhaps does not necessarily agree with others versions of things,  perhaps seeking to bridge the knowledge gap (I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to know more). Said race would not as tangible as the Orz, perhaps fading in and out, and being difficult to determine actual appearances. While they do appear extremely knowledgeable the same cannot be said for their actual ships, which would be akin to space wrecks held together (mental *ducktape* its magical), no clear reasoning is given, except that (perhaps) they do not quite possess the same manufacturing capabilities in this.. space. Offers to give them said manufacturing technology are met with mocking, as clearly they do not need such primitive tools, they will continue with what they have, they need nothing more. In combat, it would be effectively a slow drain on the other ship, draining crew, all the while attempting to direct itself away in a similar method to the Arilou, with seemingly less control, more rough. Perhaps because they are new to this space, they could be found somewhere that was already explored. Perhaps following one of the "others".

I wonder if some of the Sentient Milieu could appear. Drall, Taalo, Mael Num (or Melnorme?) etc.

I know there may be some issues in continuity and creative rights, but I woold really like to see the original races return. They were such fun and enjoyable races and interactions, they made up at least 30% of the games' appeal for me. Whilst most other games featured stale, cardboard cut out, character templates SC2 had living, breathing, characters. It almost felt like you really were having a conversation with another being (even when/especially when it degenerated into name calling)

What really ruined the 'sequel-we-do-speak-of, was not only the woeful representation of original races, but the cast of new equally woeful races. 

Where the original SC2 had distinctive character, mannerisms, and style; the races featured in the 'game-that-dissapointed-me-beyond-what-I-can-articulate-into-words' were just flat, over-sterotypified, and just plain irritating. When going to the aid of the Zoq-Fot-Pik in SC2, these were likeable, funny, characters that you wanted to help. I felt no such desire to help the overwhelmingly annoying characters in the alleged sequel, and almost aided them against my will, simply for game progression. 

Please take these points into consideration when designing new character races

I also like what has been said earlier about featuring the Taalo and other races of the Sentient Milieu. Breifly mentioned races such as the Gg (the desolates planet where one if the Hyperwave Broadcasters is found) would still connect to the original, but essential be a whole new character race.

I also like the idea of tech level with ships, like a tech IIl Mycon Seed Carrier. This would also give the sense if the galaxy being in at the height of civilization, before being ravaged by the Ur-quan.

I love where this is going. The idea of this franchise entering the era of DLC expansions is amazing. It's going to be so hard to dial back my patience. As much as I love the old lore and would love to see it incorporated, I trust those responsible to be competent enough to readapt it in a whole new direction.

And yet I feel like I'm in the minority to be excited by the idea that this will be a new experience with unknown things to discover. It's more interesting (at least to me) to be going into it with a fresh perspective and no idea what to expect. I'm confident that Stardock is going to find creative ways to incorporate subtle nods to the old lore in a new narrative without copying it verbatim.

I tried reaching out to Paul months ago to get his take on the situation. We had previously chit-chatted informally about Star Control a handful of times in the last twenty (!) years via e-mail and once over the phone. I actually sent him a letter once with hand-drawn Star Control artwork on the envelope and he said he liked it so much he keeps it in a display collection somewhere in his office, which genuinely surprised and delighted me in the nerdiest way possible.

I have been unable to hail him recently, though. I figured it was because he's so caught up in the success of Skylanders, or maybe a bit depressed about losing touch with the Star Control property and didn't want to talk with me about it. Perhaps it's a bit of both combined with the fact that he just never got around to getting back to me.

Nevertheless, the idea of keeping the franchise open enough that it will allow expandability with the involvement of other third parties in the future is really promising and intriguing. Any word on when we can expect those previously mentioned Skype developer live chats? I want to know how soon I can become a Elite Edition Founder and get my own star name!

I'd like to see and interact with non-star-faring races. For example: a planet covered by a single sentient organism. A hive-minded asteroid dwellers etc.

I always liked the idea of the Pakleds in Star Trek, and something like them would fit well into SC with the comedy aspect of a race of retarded people operating space ships... but I'm guessing something like the Pakleds are too politically incorrect for 2015:-(

"We look for things.  Things that make us go."

Would have been just fine 10 years ago.

Quoting Vaelzad,

reply 97

Star Control and political correctness don't exactly get along.  

Oh god. Please don't get sued or lynched by the Tumblr mobs.

It's be nice to have a literally DISGUSTING looking alien race. Druuge were pretty repulsive with the warts all over their body and face, malformed toes, leaking boogers outta their noses, hanging without pants (probably just to crap and piss under themselves).... 

Also, need some space babes replacement to romance real hard: