Transcendence eXtended 2 (TX2) is a Game Mod and Expansion Pack for the game Transcendence. The design behind it was to not only expand the linear world of Transcendence into a non-linear one, but to add numerous factions, much more plot, many more ships, stations, items, and so much more.
Transcendence eXtended 2 includes examples of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- Subverted when compared to Transcendence - the Luminous aren't so rogue as they once appeared - the AI is just being a bit of a
Magnificent Bastard. - Subverted with the Collective Project, whose fluff text is absolutely laden with suspiciously specific denials, shout-outs to an example of this trope played straight, and just shmuck bait in general, looking like a perfect Cliché Storm about to happen, the failsafes the designers put in do not fail - thus subverting and defying the trope in one blow.
- Subverted when compared to Transcendence - the Luminous aren't so rogue as they once appeared - the AI is just being a bit of a
- Bigger Is Better: The scale of so many things in this Game Mod are increased.
- Fleet battles are just epic. The gigantic fleet battles which take place at the end of some story arcs are just EPIC.
- So are big explosions.
- No, nothing was being compensated for in the making of this mod.
- BFG: There are a number of Cool, but Inefficient weapons that are ridiculously powerful but cannot be used by the player (without cheating, of course), all for various plot-related reasons.
- Cool Starship: A large number of the spacecraft added are substantially larger than the average ship from the original game - and with good reason: this was done to balance a number of the factions against each other by giving them Standard Scifi Fleet; otherwise Fridge Logic would ensue and people would wonder why the more powerful factions wouldn't just squash their weaker enemies.
- Crapsack World: This describes the backwaters of the commonwealth and the war-torn regions between the clashing superpowers accurately (especially the latter).
- Dyson Sphere: The Therrusian Worldship/MotherShip contains a [[minimalism miniaturized]] version of this (its still very large however).
- Earth That Was: Played straight with Mars, as straight as it will get in that situation anyhow, and to a lesser degree with Earth itself - Earth however isn't entirely dead.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Averted; this is nolonger true with the new encounter tables introduced in [[Transcendence Transcendence RC4]]
- Friendly Fire Proof: Subverted everywhere but in a few areas where shipwrecks needed to be immutable to prevent the game from becoming Unwinnable.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: TX2 avoids meddling with the extremely ambiguous (both morally and in terms of information) main plot of the original, and instead builds many Story Arcs to compensate.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Even more of this gets added in with the Therrusian traders, who import it from beyond the quarantine zone.
- Killed Off for Real: Played straight with everyone but the player - even Kate Morgental can die now. (Doing so does NOT result in an Unwinnable game anymore.)
- Living Ship: Played straight with the wyvera faction of genetically engineered ships.
- Lockdown: The entire point of the first part of the game (like in vanilla transcendence) is to break out of the quarantine zone.
- Made of Explodium: Everything explodes all so beautifully! (Like in the original, but with even more explosions!)
- More Dakka: Ships such as the Ranx Imperial Dragon and the Commonwealth Monitor follow the mantra of "bigger with more guns!" to the letter.
- Numbered Sequels: Averted in that this isn't a true sequel: the first one was abandoned and the ideas re-incorperated into this version
- Organic Technology: The wyvera exhibit this as well (well, they ARE the technology), not just the Teraton fabricators anymore. The Wyvera arn't squishy though.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: For the most part, TX2 lands on the gritty end.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: For the most part, TX2 lands on the cynical side, but some factions and people do offer hints of idealism.
- Shown Their Work: No squishy organic 'armor' here! Where the laws of physics were broken in the original game and again here, that was due to playability and the fun of the game taking precedent to reality. (Trope only noticed in some lampshading done for the humor of it in the Wyvera story arc.)
- Standard Scifi Fleet: Every major faction worth its beans is given one. Even some of the lesser factions.
- Used Future: The ships are designed to reflect a realistic and utilitarian world, except when it comes to rich business leaders who are more concerned with SpaceshipLuxury. This trope is very prominent in the backwaters of the commonwealth.
- Was Once a Man: Aside from the Teratons and the Ringers and the Ares of the original, the added Therrusian faction is composed of a people who were formerly human, however they found their fragile bodies too weak and augmented them to live on the new planet they settled. This actually becomes their saving grace by preventing the Iocrym and other alien races from recognizing them as humans because of how drastically they had modified themselves... to the point that, yes, one could validly say they weren't human anymore anyways.
