Why does nobody talk about Raxxla

[Rochester]

Given Raxxla prominence in the games Codex, why is it so evidently or seemingly ignored?

The vast majority of engagement in this area of the game is seemingly limited to either 3rd party outlets such as Discord etc or simply this forums ‘lore & roleplaying’ section.

In fair warning this is a loaded question, aimed to highlight Raxxla and encourage debate and discussion certain answers are well known to some of us, but probably not others, I’m interested to learn what the majority perception is and hopefully receive some feedback from FD who officially prior to the Codex launch have not given any direct ‘confirmation’ of an ‘actionable’ and discoverable asset, leaving the door open for the perceived conjecture of it falling into the cavern of ‘narrative’ content control?

Please note that polls and petitions are not permitted on the forums.

This is a discussion around the question in the above title of this thread, why does no one talk about Raxxla?

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Given Raxxla prominence in the games Codex, why is it so evidently or seemingly ignored?

It is far from ignored; please note that The Quest To Find Raxxla is very active, and has been so for almost ten years now!

 

[Rochester]

Yes but that’s the point. I make reference to this in the above post - I’m a member of that thread, have been for years, I’ll stress the point, is such a regulation seemingly a method of sidelining it to ‘lore and role playing’.

If so what does that advocate and is that at odds with its promotion in game?

 

[vanFace]

Because it has no practical importance. Raxxla is irrelevant in the game, it is basically narrative fluff. An insider joke. Or a meme. Kind of like the Hutton Anaconda. I hope you are not seriously searching for it.
Maybe FDEV will at one point pick that loose end up and create something with it, but I bet they are a bit afraid of that, because it might destroy the perfect mystery. Better to let fantasy imagination roam than to kill it with profane reality.

 

[Rochester]

“no practical importance”
“irrelevant”
“narrative fluff”
“joke”

Any further insight? Good feedback, I do wonder how much of this perception is represented by the player base at large and if it’s actually accurate?

Conclusively if such a perspective were true then it advocates it’s either ‘environment’ or ‘narrative’ if that’s conclusive then part of the above assumption is correct, if so why promote it in game at all if it has not content, where as the Thargoids and Guardians do?

Note: polls and petitions are not permitted on the forums. This is a discussion.

 

[vanFace]

Redacted

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I've read snippets from the Raxxla forum but it's such a threadnougt now, it'd take an age to look at all the players' findings, clues and research

That said, I do think there should be something more in-game that could be related to the finding of Raxxla. How or what, I'm not sure.

• A CG with a clue to what it/they actually are and where? It would need to be something that'd be quite long-running given how long it's remained unfound and a mystery so far.
• A DW adventure to it? Of course, the (approximate) location would then need to be known/
• A (team?) of CMDR's colonise out and eventually run into Raxxlans?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I would guess that the straightforward answer is that, by now, all the obvious stuff has been tried, leaving the following possibilities:
- Raxxla is fairly obvious if you visit the right system, but that system is somewhere well off the regularly-travelled routes and so unless you have a strong theory about where it is, you're not going to find it except by a millions-to-one fluke (for which it doesn't really matter if you're looking or not)
- Raxxla is somewhere in or near the bubble, but is somehow concealed so that a basic honk-scan-map search will not find it, and so unless you have a strong theory about both which system it is in and how it is concealed, you're not going to find it
- Raxxla doesn't have a location in that sense but is revealed by carrying out a particular sequence of actions unlikely to be done by chance, so unless you have a strong theory about what that sequence is you're not going to find it
- some combination of all of the above and/or additional forms of obfuscation
- somewhere reasonably obvious but a bug introduced in ED 1.3 and never fixed means it doesn't appear when it's supposed to

On the other side, the clues about Raxxla are extremely vague, making it hard to put together a strong theory. There also doesn't appear to be any "close but not quite" hinting (or possibly no-one has ever even got close) that might say "you're on the right lines but you need to do something more", making it difficult to tell the difference between a strong theory and completely irrelevant tinfoil.

Turning the clues, such as they are, into "and therefore we need to look here and do this" is difficult in its own right, quite a distinct skillset from the rest of the game, and precedent suggests has to be approached in the expectation that you'll be completely wrong anyway. It's not a surprise that - like planetary circumnavigations or Gallium futures analysis - it's therefore not something which generates regular mainstream discussion.

 

[Reggit]

...it might destroy the perfect mystery. Better to let fantasy imagination roam than to kill it with profane reality.

Exactly this.

The mystery has kept us all occupied for years - it is tantalising!
If we found it...and it turns out to be some random planet with ruins on the surface...well, that's it - shows over everyone! The sense of loss would be profound.
It's like Christmas presents...You're convinced you have a new PC wrapped up under the tree - but when you open it, you find it's actually just a scarf in a big box. "Oh...great...thanks I guess."
I'm not saying we shouldn't ever find it...but it would have to be something truly special - the launch of a massive new DLC or something like that.

 

[Rochester]

So is this an example of a sentiment of: ‘low expectation of results matching high expectations of an imaginary outcome - due to an absence of data’; does this advocate a wider consensus of pessimism or incredulity?

 

[Tifu]

Turning the clues, such as they are, into "and therefore we need to look here and do this" is difficult in its own right, quite a distinct skillset from the rest of the game, and precedent suggests has to be approached in the expectation that you'll be completely wrong anyway. It's not a surprise that - like planetary circumnavigations or Gallium futures analysis - it's therefore not something which generates regular mainstream discussion.

Not to mention that, outside the main Raaxla thread, you risk ending up looking looking like a complete fool or a madman should you happen to be spectacularly wrong

 

[Factabulous]

In general puzzles are not solved in this game by staring at them very hard for a long time. They are solved by:

• New eyes just looking at it from a fresh perspective and intuiting the answer
• Old eyes looking at it and saying 'this is the same as that other puzzle' and applying the same methods
• Random luck
• Brute force

Always worth fresh eyes looking at puzzles - and somewhat worth brute forcing if you have a clue, otherwise best to just walk away and hope someone else has a eureka moment.

 

[angusmadmac1]

Raxxla anyone who has been playing has at one time or another dipped into it the search for Atlantis or El Dorado . Is it or is it not ? The journey or just something that people can dabble in ??
New eyes are always welcomed enjoy ...

 

[Rochester]

Not to mention that, outside the main Raaxla thread, you risk ending up looking looking like a complete fool or a madman should you happen to be spectacularly wrong

Anyone knowingly engaged in “role playing” as are say for instance grinders or PvP ought to likewise be aware of the boundaries and limitations set by the providers of that fiction, and likewise utilising tools provided to play the game.

Much like players who like grinding, its similarly pointless but fun and engaging - for ten, and the game is set up to enable this ethos. I enjoy the concept of such mysteries as they are a basis for exploration, however the objective is potentially irrelevant for my endeavour, but what about everyone else?

The assumption here then, is that such an asset such as Raxxla is more likely ‘environmental or narrative’ and by the above sentiment, there is potentially a failure in communication, from the perspective of the audience and of FDs intended promotion of the asset/s which are, unlike many other numerous assets with receive no promotion; is given significant prominence via it’s own section in the codex?

Is this a communication issue?

 

[aRJay]

I don’t talk seriously about it because I don’t think about it in game, to be honest I pay almost zero attention to the lore and the last Elite book I read was the one that was bundled with the original game in 1984.
I have read the stuff in the Codex but that was mostly to pass some time.

I consider Raxxla to be a MacGuffin much like the Maltese Falcon, an object to drive the plot but not necessarily to actually be achieved.

I strongly suspect that if Raxxla was found and revealed there would be a big sign there that said GAME OVER

 

[carol the cleaning lady]

It's not in the game that's why.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

It'll probably be something like scan the data beacon somewhere in Polaris, which will unlock the hidden location in the Galmap.

 

[Rochester]

So again sentiment of ‘narrative’ and ‘environmental’. Is that the intended message of FD, or simply a perception of the audience. All valid points by the way, I’m not judging.

 

[Bigmaec]

Raxxla is the friends we make on our way.

Right? Right?

 

[metatheurgist]

I think the problem is there's nothing in the game for it. I'm not just talking about whether it's actually in the game or not, I'm speaking to the game itself. In another game (one that actually obeys modern game conventions) - I'd expect it to be in the Codex (not sure about that one, haven't read everything there). Then I'd expect the Codex to lead me to the Illustrious Society of Raxxla Hunters (an actual in-game faction with a presence in a space station). There I'd be able to talk to various NPCs that would give me the history, clues, common theories about the mystery. There might then be a series of missions I could take to rank up in this faction, each one would lead to a series of clues and lore that might or might not be relevant to the search. At some point I'd graduate and become a formal 'member' of this faction and at this point I should be armed with enough info to conduct my own research and test my own ideas - if there's anything to be found out there at all, this should be the point it's happening. Either solo or in collab with other players.

But what is there? Nothing. Much like the rest of the game.