I know I'm not the only one who was excited to see that Arthur had named a faction after ; Ian M Banks is (was ) my favourite author of all time, as some might have deduced from my gaming name, here. But I now realise that this is only an unofficial faction name (seen in guides), with the game itself using "Farmers" (which is probably the sensible choice, if a minor disappointment).

After sifting through these here forums, I also see that naming was, in fact, largely . So I wonder if there is an uncanny alignment in member's cultural identity, possibly stemming back through Lego spaceships, out through space opera (and out into a similar selection of Steam games, etc). It seems probable that Reassembly exemplify a certain taste, a lightening conductor (and yet is also an unencumbered blank slate ).

I also wondered what other references, or serendipitous similarities I wasn't getting from the game... "Terran" is a fairly generic stand-in for "humans", perhaps the most notable reference being StarCraft(?). My old train of thought was that Tinkrell might be a hat tip to the "Tinkers" in Vernor Vinge's "Peace wars" (another favourite author). But that was definitely a longer stretch. Beyond that, the Reds as "Fire Nation" I can only link to "Avatar, the Last Airbender"! Although I gather the faction is more generically that type of aggressive archetype (a little bit Klingon, or Kazon from Voyager).

Also, what are everyone's favourite authors (or directors), or scenes from books, movies, TV, comics, manga, etc, in general?

My taste in sci-fi has always been towards the 'hard' end of the spectrum, but with a predilection for those novels that are absolutely packed with new ideas and concepts. I guess I'd long had the unquenchable desire to know the future... So, other than Banks and Vinge, I also loved some of Alastair Reynolds (e.g. "Revelation Space"), liked Ian McDonald's "River of Gods" (in theory, though it was a slow read). Charles Stross actually took over as my number one for a while, with "Singularity Sky" and "Accelerando", and then Hannu Rajaniemi took the mantel from him with his "Quantum Thief" series (I'm still trying to read the last part of this). Lot's of Scottish/Celtic based authors in there, oddly...

Note: I was in two minds about posting this in the Reassembly discussion section, but I guess it gives more latitude in discussion here. What are you each into and/or recommend?!

You may be over-intellectualizing the naming;
Terrans - starting faction = earthlings
Farmers - plant seeds
Reds - err... they're red
Tinkrell - probably came from 'tinkers' and the modular guns
Crytallines - shape of blocks
Bees - drones
Sentinels - over-powered nukes = some higher race

But then you have Borgs. I'm sure everyone knows what that refers to.
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I used to read a lot of Sci-Fi, but don't any more. Too many old sci-fi predictions have come true.

My list of authors, top means more liked:
Ray Bradbury
Michael Moorcock
Douglas Adams
Robert A. Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Orson Scott Card
H.G. Wells
Anne McCaffrey
Andre Norton
C.J. Cherryh

Never cared for Isaac Asimov and Piers Anthony. Michael Crichton annoys me because his plots are always full of holes.

Special mention for H.P. Lovecraft. Not necessarily sci-fi, but kinda is.

You can also consider more fantasy-slanted writers as well. George Lucas borrowed heavily from the other genre when he created Star Wars. Sometimes the division between the two genres is minuscule.

Vernor Vinge, Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, and H.P. Lovecraft are some of my preferred sci-fi authors, just off the top of my head.

Anthologies are good. You get a taste of a variety of writers and can pick-out those you like. Even the 'Best of Year' sci-fi and fantasy anthologies can be good because you'll find new writers you never heard of. There's also a lot of good stuff that crosses boundaries into horror.

Part of the reason I don't read much sci-fi any more is because it takes so long to 'set the stage'. You need all that time to describe the environment, new rules, usually whole new concepts and history. If I do read it, I prefer shorter stories that are more focused on a single concept.

I kinda drifted to fantasy for the blood and guts. One guy with a knife trying to stab another guy with a knife, and maybe some witty dialogue inbetween.


For movies, I think 2001 a space odyssey is still one of the best sci-fi flicks.
Not necessarily the most entertaining to watch, but I haven't seen anything else that encapsulates the isolation and oddity of space to that extent. It's arresting in it's own weird way.

Going off on a total tangent: If we had a forum wide vote on Star Trek verses Star Wars, which do you think would 'win'?

I was far enough into Trek (Next Gen onwards) that I ended up with several volumes of their 'fact files' as a teenager (but no answers to the future there, much like the Mass Effect codex(es)... Didn't even watch the original Star Wars trilogy until I was about 20. Preferred episode II and III, actually. People have expectations for the new ones?