Bart Torgal theories anyone? (spoilers discussed here)

[Sputnik]

Thinking about attempting a prequel outline, where Bart survives and legs it a new location. Maybe with a focus on biotech, after his subscription to use Alterra's habitat builder expires.

Any good ideas out there for me to plunder?

[admiral1018]

Well, there's already a bit of this set up for you if you rewatch the game's trailer. After Paul and Marg die, Bart goes to a shallow area (presumably now the crash site) and builds a 4th base. You can see him in that base and what the biome looked like before the Aurora crashed, likely destroying it entirely. The game doesn't specify how long he survived on his own, but that premise is fertile for story telling. Plus, you don't even need to change the canon story.

[Sputnik]

Thanks A. I hadn't known of that trailer from Bart's POV. This one right?

https://youtu.be/Rz2SNm8VguE

"Margarite and Father are already part of this incredible planet. Until then there's always the view"

OK that's something to start from. From his monologue I get this much::

1. Bart survived for a time after the Deep Reef base attack,
   
2. But he's dying slowly from the Khaara
   
3. He assumes, incorrectly, that Marg died during the base attack (leaving Paul's fate uncertain then too)
   
4. He's rebuilt in:
   a) the Shallows, or
   b) somewhere much like it off the map.

You suggested 4a (with his shallows base later obliterated). But I like 4b, since playing Bart in a second crater lagoon allows fresh exploration of a new game-map.

But if he got out of the first crater, then he must have had something Ryley lacked. (e.g. a hidden Precursor phase gate? Or some other exotic tech allowing travel past the Void?) Frankly. I'd love to see him piloting a Reefback, via a neuralink device, with a small base perched on its back.

But then, his motive to leave? (push factors vs. pull factors)

[DarkDevXx]

OH wow I've never seen that trailer, my feels

ALSO the Aurora is like homing right in on Bart's last base so.... maybe this location is the Crash Site? Like Bart's base and his corpse are beneath the ship?

[Sputnik]

Originally posted by Darklust:

ALSO the Aurora is like homing right in on Bart's last base so.... maybe this location is the Crash Site? Like Bart's base and his corpse are beneath the ship?

Yeah good point, you are right about the location. But I couldn't see a corpse.

The base ends up lifeless. But let's say he'd already legged it, rather than died a slow death by cooties, as the trailer implies.

[admiral1018]

Bart returns the the observatory on the floating island before he dies, which is where we find his final PDA entry. There's no corpse in the game, although the floating islands is full of cave crawlers that we know eat human remains from the Aurora visit. Most likely any trace of Bart would have been devoured long ago.

[Sputnik]

OK thanks A. I'll chase down that PDA in the wiki.

That being the case, there seems only one move to allow a prequel that doesn't end in tears.
Bart faked a death that would not leave a body.

I think this might be credible, considering:
1. Alterra has a resource monopoly claim on the planet (Ryley's bill for the diamond).
2. The Togals were foreign trespassers on a planet harbouring a potential bio-weapon (BZ mentions Alterras' interest in this i believe)

Yeah I know Alteraa promised to rescue the Degassi crew. I feel they wouldn't just nicely turn them over to their Mongolians competitors with point . 2 at stake.

[admiral1018]

There is plenty that could have happened to Bart during his sole time on the crater. For example, we find an orange tablet in the third Degasi base, which means that the crew had at least some idea that there were other aliens on the planet. That base, in fact, is right near the entrance to the research lab that requires the orange tablet. However, since none of the PDA logs ever mention that tablet or other aliens, perhaps that's something Bart found and brought there on his own as he searched for some type of cure. If he learned about the Peepers, he might have even been able to contain the infection for many years, giving him ample research opportunity. Maybe Bart even tried to find a way to transfer his consciousness into one of the sanctuaries to prolong his life.

Lots of potential to explore on his adventures.

[Sputnik]

Thanks A. It's handy you know all these details.

I think for players it's more interesting if Bart explores some new location, rather than hang around on well-trodden ground (well-treaded water?) The orange tablet might have been the key to some transport solution.

If so, then the problem for a Bart prequel next becomes his motive for action.

Sure, a surviving Bart has a credible motive to flee to a new area (an Alterra police action). But what would he do when he gets there, other than hide under a rock? Seek a Kahraa cure or build an escape rocket maybe, but that's all been experienced already. Wage a guerrilla resistance war? That's Marge's bag.

You could say we got a push-factor, but still no pull-factor yet.

[kane]

Bart's story ended its was nice and fitting we don't need to cheapen it anymore than BZ did.

[Orca]

And i genuinely hope Robin's story is over aswell. I'd much rather play an actual cool female character than Robin (Marg). Somehow Robin feels more machine than Alan

[Sputnik]

This is just a hobbyist's writing project. Do not be alarmed.

[admiral1018]

I think it would be incredibly fitting if Robin's story ended the same way it did for the protagonist in Prometheus. She travels with AL-AN, and he makes good on his comment of using her as an experiment. All we see of her in the next game is a dissected body.

[Sputnik]

I like it a lot.

[Sputnik]

So I'm thinking Paul follows a trail of notes left by a maverick Precursor scientist.

This guy saw AL-AN's project was futile, and left the caldera to do private research. His notes reveal he had a mad theory the entire planet was a sentient (thinking) organism - the interactions of all its creatures was processing information akin to a network of computer logic gates.

Knowing the Precursors would eventually destroy 4546B from orbit as a plague planet, the researcher hoped to make contact with this unique intelligence before it was too late.

Bart, although on the run, is intrigued and has nothing to lose by unravelling this story.

[admiral1018]

We know from the sanctuary logs that some of the precursors besides AL-AN are stored there. And, presumably, maybe some of them know what AL-AN did and despise him for it, as he admittedly violated the decision of the collective. In addition to still searching for a cure, they could be motivated by finding AL-AN and getting their revenge (or justice?). After all, he (through his bad decisions) is indirectly the antagonist of this first game and the reason the Degasi and Aurora crews are killed/stranded. He also got many of the other precursors on the planet killed.

Going back to that trailer, we see Bart explore the planet quite extensively in a Seamoth when he's alone. He visits the Grand Reef again and even encounters a Reaper, which destroys his Seamoth. We also see his new base full of lab equipment, so maybe he is doing research into the cure with the guidance of one of the precursors?

Lots of interesting areas you could take this story, even though we know what ultimately happens to Bart.