Aridia

"I got this thing, shows two weirdos ditching their ship. Its got coordinates to a desert planet too."

- The Plumber, offering an Infobot to Ratchet & Clank in return for some bolts

Aridia was a desert world on which nearly all structures built there seemed to be sunk into mud. The few inhabitants lived on Outposts scattered around the planet. Tar seemed to cover much of the planet. Factories were some of the only workable places on the planet due to the extreme conditions. Due to the desert climate, only Sandsharks and Flamethrower Bots, who attacked Ratchet, were able to inhabit the planet.

Two Weirdos
In Ratchet & Clank the Infobot for planet Aridia was purchased from The Plumber for 500 bolts on planet Novalis in the Waterworks, and showed Skid McMarx and his agent getting attacked and crashing onto the planet. The attackers most likely being Blarg security forces. Ratchet helped save Skidd from Sandsharks, earning him a Z3000 Hoverboard and struck a deal with Skidd's Agent that later earned Ratchet the Sonic Summoner.

Tyhrranoid Invasion
In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet and Clank had to help the Galactic Rangers to defend the planet from Nefarious' forces, this time at Outpost X12. The fight was named Operation: DEATH VALLEY. The battle ended in a Galactic victory.

Outpost X11
Outpost X11 was an outpost on Aridia.

Construction was actively taking place at the facility and several Flamethrower bots were guarding the base. The swamp was surrounded with small tracts of desert land with moderate levels of vegetation. One active superlaser was on site at the outpost, but it was only accessible via Magneboots. The planet also hosted Sandmice.

Outpost X11 also contained a large armaments factory, which could be accessed with the Swingshot. Through exploring the facility, Ratchet obtained the Tresspasser gadget.

Outpost X12
Outpost X12 on Aridia had a desert atmosphere as opposed to Outpost X11's swamp. It was located on the opposite side of the planet to Outpost X11. A massive Tyhrranoid base was located on this Outpost and had forced all the civilians to flee elsewhere. Ratchet and Clank were called here by the Galactic Rangers when they needed help to retake the facility.

Items on Aridia

 * Z3000 Hoverboard
 * Trespasser
 * Sonic Summoner
 * Warp Pad

Ratchet & Clank

 * Skidd McMarx
 * Skidd's Agent

Up Your Arsenal

 * Galactic Rangers

Native Wildlife

 * Sandsharks: Sandsharks are two-legged predators with a huge maw with a shark fin on top. They travel in packs, "swimming" under the sand until prey comes by. They'll bite their foes.
 * Sandshark generators

Non-native

 * Flamethrower Bots
 * Three-Eyed Robonoids
 * One-Eyed Robonoids
 * Robonoid Commanders
 * Ultra Mecha-Tyhrranoids
 * Attack Ships
 * Vulcan Turrets

Gold Bolts
In Ratchet & Clank Outpost X11 contained several Gold Bolts.
 * In the Skid McMarx section in an inclosed area one of the walls can be blown up with the bomb glove, to show a tunnel with a gold bolt inside.
 * Once you get the tresspasser glide down the pit and land on the platform underneath.
 * Once you find Skid's agent, go back to the pit, with the factory inside and climb around to the left and you will find the gold bolt in some mining equipment.
 * Once you have the Magneboots go to Skid's agent and find the magne boot wakways towards the cannon, the bolt is in the turret.

Multiplayer
Outpost X12 is a multiplayer map in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. Its design is exactly the same as the single-player level, Outpost X12, and it supports all game modes. The map is symmetrical and consists of a flat landscape, connected by bridges. Some bridges can be destroyed for a tactical advantage. In the center of the map, there is a small round platform with a turret on it. Next to the turret pad is a big ramp, mostly used by the Turboslider. Behind the bases is a big open piece of ground where the Holoshield glove is found. The gatling turrets will acknowledge your presence while standing behind the base, so use this to your advantage by throwing a holoshield in front of you, and shooting the turrets.

The nodes  that spawn a turboslider are very close to the base, in a tunnel. The tunnel (and the base) cannot be accessed with a hovership. Capturing the Turboslider-node close to your enemy base usually give you a great advantage. Every Turboslider-node spawns 2 Turbosliders.

After exiting the tunnel that leads to the base and Turboslider-nodes, the player enters the centre of the map. On each half, there is one node that spawns a hovership, and one node with a rocket turret and a drone pad.

On one side of the map, there is a big gap that can be crossed with the hypershot. In the middle of the gap you can find two grav-ramps opposite of each other that lead to a higher platform. These platforms are a great spot for snipers.

Like every multiplayer map, the flags spawn at the base locations while playing CTF.

Trivia

 * Aridia, along with Kerwan and Rilgar had a different appearance when Ratchet and Clank returned there. It seemed that over the course of two years, Aridia had two purple oceans, although it may be that the image of the Planet in the first game, and the image in the third game, are two different sides of the planet..
 * There is a huge shortcut on Aridia. After defeating all the sandsharks, when you leave the place using the crane of the vehicle (after the crashed ship), instead of going down, you could get to the gold bolt area using your helipack. From there, you just go to Skidd's Agent without going through most of the planet.
 * In addition to a changing landscape, the three planets had also moved vast distances across the galaxy when comparing the galactic map from Ratchet & Clank to the one in Up Your Arsenal.
 * The Sandsharks are only native to the Outpost X11 area of the planet.
 * The planet Aridia in Ratchet and Clank Up Your Arsenal looks like Tabora without the purple oceans.
 * Just like Kerwan and Rilgar, they are actually mirrored images of the planets in the previous game.
 * Operation: DEATH VALLEY is named for the national park and canyon of the same name located in California.
 * Aridia in the first game resembles Hoven with some minor changes and different color.

Etymology
"Arid" is another word for "dry."

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank
 * Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
 * Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
 * Ratchet & Clank (movie)

Notes and references
Aridia Aridia