History Main / BluePlanet

* CrazyPrepared: Admiral Steele ''has contingencies for the contingencies''.

* AcePilot: Plenty of them.
* ActionGirl: Noemi Laporte and Lorna Simms.

* HumansAreBastards

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Half the 14th Battlegroup's personnel, and three of their ships, defect to the UEF at the end of ''Age of Aquarius''.]]

* LastStand: The [=UEFg=] ''Yangtze'', after its subspace drive is shot out leaving it unable to retreat, turns back towards the GTVA fleet in a desperate, suicidal attack.

* DeathSeeker: Captain Gennady of the Katana, in the extra mission included you see why he choose to stand back and hold the line to allow the Indus and Yangtze to escape.

* BonusMaterial: Several single missions that come with the campaign, one of which is basically "What would happen if we stuck every single named capital ship in the story together and [[StuffBlowingUp had them shoot at each other?]]" There is also a RacingMiniGame with UEF interceptors.

* {{Cutscene}}: Both [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seORm2SR5oc Age of Aquarius]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54zqDx6pSg War in Heaven]] use in-game cutscenes for campaign intro. Age of Aquarius' ends in a playable cutscene from first person view, while War in Heaven ends with something that could be called a cutscene montage. There is also a flashback cutscene in the form of recording [[spoiler: which reveals [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGB_P59KWE what happened to Earth]].]] There's also a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgAgWe9ZWig rendered version of the Age of Aquarius intro cutscene]], made by a community member.

* BackToBackBadasses: The ''Katana'' and ''Altan Orde'' in the optional single-mission campaign named ''The Blade Itself''. Two humble UEFg Karunas and half a dozen fighters wipe the floor with a pair of Deimos-class Corvettes and numerous other Tev ships long enough to evacuate some of the civilians, deny the station to the Tevs, and finally escape from a Meson Bomb attack. All of this despite a surprise attack and the ''Katana's'' dock being sabotaged, forcing her to depart without her full crew complement!

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The transmission from the Vasudan logistics ship contains specs for a miniature quantum pulse transceiver, which is the means of communication for the Shivans. This is likely to be used in the next part of War in Heaven]]

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The Balls of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Steele]], or [=BoS=], AI-class ships escorting the [[spoiler:GTD ''Imperieuse'' in ''Delenda Est'']].[=BoS=] was needed to keep some of the most experienced players in the community from [[spoiler:[[OneManArmy single-handedly destroying the]] ''[[OneManArmy Imperieuse]]''[[OneManArmy 's escort and disarming its main beams]] and breaking the mission.]]
** Secondly, they are also an important gameplay feature. Such as giving the player competent wingmen without the need of having large number of them and giving the feel that you are really in a squadron of ace pilots instead of red shirts.

* ContinuityNod: [[spoiler:Xinny and Zero, the SOC wingmen from ''Into the Lion's Den'' in the original game, fight you in ''War in Heaven''.]]
** [[spoiler:The original Lucifer in ''Age of Aquarius'' which was destroyed in the original timeline.]]
** Also the [[spoiler: the GTD Carthage]] from [=FreeSpace=] 2, now with upgraded armour.
** Also the [[spoiler: [[SilentThreatReborn GTCv Marcus Glaive]].]]
--->"I've seen your war record, Admiral. Are you prepared to be the next [[{{Freespace}} Koth]]?"

* CrazyPrepared: Admiral Steele ''has contingencies for the contingencies''
* Cutscene: Both [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seORm2SR5oc Age of Aquarius]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54zqDx6pSg War in Heaven]] use in-game cutscenes for campaign intro. Age of Aquarius' ends in a playable cutscene from first person view, while War in Heaven ends with something that could be called a cutscene montage. There is also a flashback cutscene in the form of recording [[spoiler: which reveals [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGB_P59KWE what happened to Earth]].]] There's also a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgAgWe9ZWig rendered version of the Age of Aquarius intro cutscene]], made by a community member.

* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:First Samuel Bei, then Noemi Laporte.]]
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: If you [[spoiler:destroy the GTD Carthage in Delenda Est - which is only feasible by cheating - Mr. Cuddles, a Sathanas Juggernaut, will show up to attack you. If you can destroy Mr. Cuddles too, you even get a debriefing specifically made for such an occasion!]]
** [[spoiler:It is also impossible to stop the corvettes warning the GTD Carthage during the initial trap for it, period. ''Even if'' you disable ''every single subsystem'', they ''still'' manage to jury-rig a transmitter to warn the Carthage to retreat. You cannot stop this without losing the mission, as the corvette(s) must survive.]]
* TheMothership: [[spoiler:The Vishnan Keeper functions as such, as well as something like a HiveQueen. Killing a Keeper is not easy, but should one manage it, it will shut down an entire Vishnan fleet instantly.]]

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Early and often. It's a fairly regular occurrence to encounter an enemy task force you could have easily defeated, had the developers not decided to render them immortal.

* TheWarSequence: ''Universal Truth'' from ''Age of Aquarius'', and ''Aristeia'' and ''Delenda Est'' from ''War in Heaven''.

* BeyondTheImpossible: [[spoiler:"One of [those ships] is definitely Shivan, sir. The other looks to be Vishnan. Both ships exceed juggernaut specifications by at least fivefold!"]]

* XanatosGambit
** XanatosSpeedChess: Admirals Calder and Byrne on the UEF side play this against Admiral Steele of the GTVA.

* CloserToEarth: The United Earth Federation's guiding "Ubuntu" philosophy.

* IGotBetter: [[spoiler:Samuel Bei.]]

* GratuitousSpanish: Catalan actually, "Desperta Ferro!" (literally: "Awake Iron!"), which was the battle cry of the Almogavars,a famed group of mercenaries from the medieval kingdom of Aragon, today a part of Spain.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The Balls of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Steele]], or [=BoS=], AI-class ships escorting the [[spoiler:GTD ''Imperieuse'' in ''Delenda Est'']]. Subverted in that [=BoS=] was needed to keep some of the most experienced players in the community from [[spoiler:[[OneManArmy single-handedly destroying the]] ''[[OneManArmy Imperieuse]]''[[OneManArmy 's escort and disarming its main beams]] and breaking the mission.]]

** Subverted in that most of the reason they're losing so badly is they are fighting a completely ''defensive'' war, rarely if ever performing offensive missions or counterattacks. WordOfGod is that if the UEF was making the most of their resources, they'd stand a good chance of defeating the GTVA... or at least of driving them out of Sol.

* GratuitousSpanish: Catalan actually, "Desperta Ferro!" (literally: "Awake Iron!"), which was the battle cry of the Almogavars,a famed group of mercenaries from the medieval kingdom of Aragon today a part of Spain.

* GratuitousSpanish: "Desperta Ferro!" (literally: "Awake Iron!"), which was [[TruthInTelevision actually used as a battlecry]] in medieval Spain.

* TheReveal: The ''War in Heaven'' player character Noemi Laporte is [[spoiler:a lesbian]].
** TheUnreveal: Just before Elder Taudigani could tell Laporte the secret of the transmission she received from the Vasudans, [[spoiler:GTVA stealth fighters appear out of nowhere and [[KilledMidSentence destroy her shuttle]]]].

''Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius'' (2007) follows the 14th Battlegroup of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance as they cross the newly-constructed Sol Gate into the solar system for the first time. Things ... [[{{understatement}} don't go as planned]]. The player takes the role of Samuel Bei, an experienced veteran of the Second Great War from the original game. The fleet ends up lost in an AlternateUniverse where the Shivans won the Great War and humanity is reduced to a handful of scavengers on the run from the Shivan armada. Samuel Bei ends up playing a pivotal role in discovering the nature of this strange dimension and how they got there, finding his own [[TheChosenOne destiny]], and finding a way for the 14th Battlegroup to return to their own universe. ''Age of Aquarius'' won much acclaim for its richly realized story and excellent characters, especially Samuel Bei and his father, who [[WellDoneSonGuy have]] [[NeverLiveItDown some]] [[IHaveNoSon issues]], and its excellent and innovative mission design that featured a scale far larger than most previous campaigns.

* WhatIf: Think of it as "what if Beam Weapons were never invented"... resulting in an ''interesting'' balance. The UEF are fond of [[MacrossMissileMassacre nuclear missile spam]] and [[{{BFG}} railguns]] giving them a range advantage over the GTA, who are of course using [[WaveMotionGun heavy]] [[BeamSpam beam]] [[BeamCannon weaponry]].

* RammingAlwaysWorks: Averted really hard

* Cutscene: Both [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seORm2SR5oc Age of Aquarius]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54zqDx6pSg War in Heaven]] use in-game cutscenes for campaign intro. Age of Aquarius' ends in a playable cutscene from first person view, while War in Heaven ends with something that could be called a cutscene montage. There is also a flashback cutscene in the form of recording [[spoiler: which reveals [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh4h2f-L3C0 what happened to Earth]].]] There's also a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgAgWe9ZWig rendered version of the Age of Aquarius intro cutscene]], made by a community member.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Each side has a cause they believe in and does some very shady things. Except for the Shivans, who, as usual, are total bastards. Oh and, as if that wasnt enoguh, enter a [[spoiler:{{Star Killing}} {{Horde Of Alien Locusts}}]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Each side has a cause they believe in and does some very shady things. Except for the Shivans, who, as usual, are total bastards.

''Blue Planet: War in Heaven'' (2010) is set a year and a half after ''Age of Aquarius''. The 14th Battlegroup returned to their home dimension to find the United Earth Federation as the current government of the Sol system. Their standing orders: crush the Federation and forcibly assimilate it into the GTVA. Samuel Bei, his father, and several other members of the 14th Battlegroup defected to the UEF, leaving the blitzkrieg assault the GTVA was hoping for in tatters. However, the GTVA were quick to regroup, and are now slowly grinding the UEF's miltary into dust. The player character this time is Noemi Laporte, a newly commissioned pilot in the UEF navy. Noemi has...issues, most notably a history of mental instability, aggression, and hearing voices [[spoiler: which are actually SufficientlyAdvancedAliens speaking to her through her PsychicPowers]]. She must face both her own personal demons as well as the forces of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance, who outnumber, outgun, and generally outclass the UEF's. Currently only the first half of ''War in Heaven'' has been released, and the remaining half is currently in closed beta status. ''War in Heaven'' was hyped extensively prior to release, and so far the general impression has been overwhelmingly positive of the released first part. More than one player has declared it the best [=FreeSpace=] campaign ever released.