Aridia

Aridia is a planet in the Solana Galaxy featured in Ratchet & Clank, the 2016 re-imagined game, and Up Your Arsenal. It is a sparsely inhabited desert world covered in sand and mud. Many of the structures found in the planets' outposts are built on rugged terrain. Ratchet and Clank visited Outpost X11 in Ratchet & Clank and Outpost X12 in Up Your Arsenal.

Ratchet and Clank first came to Aridia's Outpost X11 in search of Skidd McMarx, who had crash landed on the planet after his ship was shot down. From there, they were able to obtain a Z3000 Hoverboard from Skidd. In Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet and Clank went to Outpost X12 to join the Galactic Rangers in a battle against the Tyhrranoid invasion. Defeating the invaders allowed them to obtain the Warp Pad.

Ratchet & Clank
On Novalis, Ratchet and Clank purchased an infobot from the Plumber,for 500 bolts, which showed footage of an emergency crash landing from Skidd McMarx and Skidd's agent. Despite doubting that Skidd knew Captain Qwark, the two agreed to travel to help Skid.

Ratchet and Clank found Skidd alone, unable to return to his crashed ship due to a sandshark infestation, and Skidd gave them the mission "Help Skid get to his ship", instructing them to defeat the sandsharks and clear a path. Once Ratchet defeated all the sandsharks, Skidd presented them with a Z3000 Hoverboard, a hoverboard that could not be purchased on the market. Ratchet and Clank also explored the structure of Outpost X11. Traversing a Swingshot path led the two to obtain a Trespasser found inside, while traversing a path of conveyor belts led them to find Skidd's agent. Skidd's agent agreed to grant them the Sonic Summoner if they competed in the Blackwater City hoverboard championships and bring the prize to him.

Re-imagined
In Qwark's retelling of events, the story is largely the same. Skidd McMarx had opened the McMarx Sports Shack in Outpost X11, though during the opening had accidentally received blarg plans for the Hydroharvester. This led the blarg to attack the Sports Shack, separating Skidd from his agent. Ratchet and Clank arrived and saved Skidd from the sandsharks blocking his way to his ship, leading Skidd to grant them a McMarx 4000 Hoverboard. They also saved Skidd's agent from an attack, reuniting the two, and the two left the planet. Additionally, they retrieved a Hydrodisplacer from within the shack.

Qwark also mentioned that Neftin Prog had attempted twice to render the population of Aridia colorblind, which Qwark had stopped both times.

Up Your Arsenal
After searching planet Zeldrin's crash site, Ratchet and Clank received a transmission from the Galactic Rangers asking them to aid them against a Tyhrranoid invasion of the planet. The two arrived to defend Outpost X12, and drove the Tyhrranoids away. To thank Ratchet for his help, they rewarded him with the Warp Pad gadget.

Outpost X11 area
Outpost X11 is a compound, still under construction, situated within a larger area that is encapsulated by rocky cliff terrain, with a tall wall spanning the west side of the location. The center of the terrain is covered with a lake of mud, with the only way of traversal being a strip of sand that leads along the southern and western cliff walls, occasionally interspersed by thin rivers of mud. The landing site is located near the south-eastern end of the outpost, from where you can either head south to a secluded section inhabited by sand sharks, or further west to reach the main facility itself. This path features sparse vegetation vegetation along the cliffs, a series of mounted vertically girders, as well as some construction equipment and materials.

There are several out of place sunken girders located at random spots in the mud lake, in the center of the lake of mud is a small peninsula made out of sand, that only touches the facility's wall. It is otherwise featureless except for a lone truck with a gold bolt in the back, two bulldozers and a towering construction crane. Further past this, on the north side of the cliff wall is a bigger strip of sand, notably more covered in grass and vegetation, that is connected by magne-strips to a plateau on which a massive cannon is located. Lastly, there is a device capable of physically transporting people from one side of the mud lake to the other, located nearby the landing pad on the south side, and Skid's agent on the north side.

Sand shark area
The aforementioned section inhabited by sand sharks is also entirely surrounded by tall cliffs, but almost devoid of mud, save for a few small streams of mud that cut through parts of the terrain, though there is always a metal platform to function as a bridge. Near the entrance is Skid's escape pod, from where the path leads into a large circle shape, surrounding a raised plateau in the center, on top of which is a small pool of sand indented within the rock. There is a grating in the west wall, through which a hidden tunnel and gold bolt is visible, which is accessed through a cracked rock wall located in the south-western end of the circle, across a bigger stream of mud. On the south-eastern end is an area across another stream of mud, with a number of steps leading to the crashed Solarship Radical, through which one can access a ledge overseeing the mud lake and a construction vehicle with a platform that will take you down to the landing pad.

Outpost X11 left path
The compound is accessed by using a small elevator, from where the path splits again, leading left and right. To the left is a linear route, with many neon-gray lights on the walls, that leads to an increasingly taller series of platforms, accessible only through use of the Swingshot and Versa-targets to avoid the mud depths below. Eventually this leads to a very tall cylindrical-shaped chamber, with walls covered in red lights embedded in hexagonal shapes, containing only the Trespasser and an Invinco-Lock leading to an elevator that returns to the start.

Outpost X11 right path
The right path starts with a set of metal platforms and wide conveyor belts, located above the mud lake below, as the building appears to be partially in construction above it. At the end is an elevator that leads to a separate construction site, deeper within the structure and well below ground level, tall walls keeping the lake of mud from flooding it entirely. The terrain here is largely just dirt, with a stream of mud in the center, on the other side of which is more dirt and a few explosive crates. A multitude of pipes and tubes lead out from the walls and platforms and into the floor, two stone blocks sit in the center, with a stack of three tubes on top of a platform located between the two. The blocks can be climbed, ultimately leading to several platforms, traversable ledges and a bridge, culminating to an exit that leads to the strip of sand north of the mud lake. It is here where the escape pod of Skid's agent is located, as well as the aforementioned transportation device and supercannon.

Outpost X12 area
Outpost X12 on the other hand, located on the opposite side of the planet, has a flat landscape with mud and small bridges between two opposing facilities.

Multiplayer
Outpost X12 from Operation: DEATH VALLEY features as a multiplayer map in Up Your Arsenal, and supports all game modes. The map is identical to Outpost X12 from the game.

The map is symmetrical and consists of a flat landscape connected by bridges, some of which can be destroyed for tactical advantage. The center of the map features a small, round platform with a turret, and adjacent to this platform is a big ramp used by the Turbo Slider.

Each base is located behind the large facility, with tunnels that lead to the center of the map. The nodes that spawn two Turbo Sliders are located close to the base, in a tunnel. Behind each base is a large piece of ground where the Holoshield Glove can be found. Neither tunnel nor base can be accessed with a Hovership. As with every multiplayer map, the flags spawn at the base locations while playing Capture the Flag.

On one side of the map, there is a large gap that can be traversed with the Hypershot. In the middle of this gap, two opposite grav-ramps lead to a higher platform, which can be useful for snipers.

Behind the scenes
The name "Aridia" is possibly derived from the word "arid", meaning "dry".

As with many planets reappearing in Up Your Arsenal, the planet's appearance from space changed drastically compared to its original Ratchet & Clank appearance. In Up Your Arsenal, the planet's appearance from space strongly resembles a recolored Tabora, without the purple oceans.

Opeartion: DEATH VALLEY is named by the national park and canyon of the same name located in California, where Insomniac Games' main studio is located.