VUX
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| VUX | |
|---|---|
| Ship | Intruder |
| Homeworld | Beta Luyten |
| Contacts | Humans, Yehat, Ur-Quan |
| Quote(s) | "Augh! You are even uglier than I had thought possible! Can't you see you are making me sick? Please, foul creature, turn your head, or better yet, put a sack over it." |
The VUX are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series.
The VUX are green, tentacular creatures with a long snout and one visible eye. They are noted for their fiendishly extreme dislike of humans (with the exception of Admiral ZEX, a sexual deviant who is attracted to humans), and will be more than happy to engage in combat whenever the revolting visage of a human appears on their communication screens.
The VUX are referred to in all capital letters by nearly every other alien race in the game, including themselves, and all their captains also capitalize their names (all invariably only three letters long) as well. This has caused the humans, in particular, to joke that VUX stands for Very Ugly Xenoform, something that the VUX surely do not appreciate.
The first encounter between humans and VUX was between Captain Rand and an unknown VUX captain. Upon seeing the new alien species for the first time, Rand burst out with the first thing that came to mind, which happened to be an insult. Rand was unaware that the VUX translating technology was so far advanced and that his words were relayed to the VUX captain perfectly. This botched first encounter between the two races soured relations long enough for the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za to subjugate the VUX.
If, however, in Star Control II the protagonist repeatedly begs the VUX to accept his apology on behalf of the human race it is revealed that, in fact, the VUX's reason for not joining the Alliance wasn't because of the unfortunate first encounter with humanity, but rather was due to their own extreme disgust with the appearance of humans. Captain Rand's overheard comment had been merely a scapegoat, for they find humans far more disgusting than humans find them, a disgust on the level of phobia. Many examples of such behavior can be heard from the various VUX starship captains in the game: "Look at those yellowish-white hard things in your mouth! How do you keep from biting off that pulpy organ... Gross!"
Arguably the most famous VUX figure ever is the eccentric Admiral ZEX, who—unlike other examples of his species—actually likes humans. Despite being responsible for significant victories in the Alliance-Hierarchy war and having notable recognition for his sublime strategic genius, ZEX has officially been exiled from VUX society due to his unusual interests, and forced to live on an isolated world where he constructs and expands his private zoo of all animals he finds unique and special. However, unlike most collectors, he collected the ugliest animals (according to VUX standard) on purpose. He tricked the protagonist into believing that he wished to include a beautiful creature (The VUX Beast, a massive, nigh invulnerable monstrosity with the temperament of a drunken chainsaw) in his menagerie and promised to hand over the Shofixti maidens as rewards, but when the beast is handed over, he reveals that he truly wanted the most disgusting specimen, a human, to complete his collection. Fortunately for the protagonist, the VUX beast escapes from ZEX's cage and feeds on ZEX and his subordinates. This buys the protagonist some time to retrieve the Shofixti maidens and other animals from ZEX's menagerie.
The VUX are said to have the best universal translators of any race in Star Control, with the possible exception of the Precursors and the Dnyarri.
[edit] VUX Intruder
The VUX Intruder is, at best, a difficult vessel to use properly. Its main weapon is an extremely powerful gigawatt laser with a somewhat short range. However, the Intruder is such a slow and unmaneuverable ship that it seldom has good chances to put that great weapon to use. In fact, usually the only hope for the VUX vessel is to pray for a benign starting point in the battle—that is, right next to the enemy, which is often delivered by their special Thruster Nacelles. Instead of making their ship fast, the VUX decided to make other ships as slow by launching green limpet cocoons from the ship's rear. These limpets, the second weapon, cling onto other ships and degenerate their maneuverability.
Standard tactics for the VUX intruder dictate trying to cook the nearby enemy upon warp in, followed by making a beeline for the nearby planet and executing a gravity whip. The Intruder should at that point be flying at such a speed that it can limpet an enemy with a fair degree of impunity, until the enemy ship is physically almost unable to move.
The Spathi Eluder poses enormous danger to the Intruder, as it can run circles around the Intruder, showering it with B.U.T.T.s while staying safely out of the range of the laser, as well as easily dodging the slow-moving limpet cocoons. The Thraddash Torch is equally dangerous, since it can lay a trail of blazing afterburner exhaust, barbecuing the lumbering Intruder. Like the Eluder, the Torch can easily dodge (or roast) any limpets while safely staying beyond the reach of the VUX laser. And the Human Cruiser is possibly the perfect Intruder-slayer: it possesses slightly greater speed and much better maneuverability, and its point-defense laser system renders it effectively immune to the VUX limpets. If the VUX cannot burn the Cruiser down immediately upon entering the battle, the Cruiser can easily escape to long range and employ its guided cruise missiles, against which the sluggish Intruder is essentially helpless (although the Intruder can detonate incoming missiles by sweeping with its laser, providing some defense).
