Unknown Artefact (or artifact) Community Thread - The Canonn

[clavain]

Okay, so at the risk of drawing us in a full circle. @knowles2 is right - it's supposed to be pretty obvious, and I'm pretty sure we're all intelligent folks (not sure about Kerrash tho, right ) - so what is the simplest explanation?

The facts are on the wiki, of course but in terms of behaviour - it:

- Makes an alien/insectoid sound
- Taps out (or rather gurgles out), in Morse, the name of the local body or system, depending on proximity to the nearest body.
- Expires in line with all other dropped cargo, except it does have a unique animation for this (and sound)
- Does corrosive damage to the carrier's ship
- Can only be found being transported in human convoys
- The pilots in the convoy don't know what it is
- ...and don't appear to have been well-prepared for carrying it
-...and the places where these convoys are found doesn't seem to centre on any one particular area (does everyone agree with this?)
- Looks like it contains 'something' or a lot of 'something's
- Is surrounded by fairy-like sparks that move a bit like flies when viewed from a certain distance
- Causes visual distortion when viewed from a certain distance, specifically, it blurs the objects that are behind the UA from the observer's POV

So, again - ignoring all the tests that have been tried, all the theories that have been put forward. Based on this information alone, what *is* it? Most logical answers please - and let's see if we can't come up with next steps from that. If you'd humour a tired 'scientist'

I don't have much to add here, but just want to question the "insectoid" aspect of the sound. Han Zen has shown pretty well that it is whales, sea turtles and dolphins I believe? Nary an insect to be heard. I think we jumped to that conclusion with the chittering way back at the start and the possible Thargoid connection, without any real basis for it. We don't even know what sort of sounds Thargoids make.

I am out of ideas as mentioned, but will give this some more thought and hopefully more will come in direct proportion with the amount of alcohol consumed this evening.

I did a couple of minor wiki updates adding some of the additional theories and the suggested Morse test (playing it back to the UA in local comms).

 

[mrtree]

if the sound it makes depends on the nearest celestial object to it then that probably is the key right? Maybe it "unlocks" once it scans the right object near to it. Perhaps an Alien race really found the Voyager and sent this thing for us.

My point is: Have you tried bringing it to Sol and most importantly to Earth? Observe it's reaction?

After all, FD said that we are over complicating things and that the answer is fairly simple right?

Yep, this has been tried - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGiIt7Icrjo. No obvious changes AFAICT.

- - - Updated - - -

Just arrived at the nearest outpost available to me to check this interesting lead out. Of course, I wound up at a Commercial Outpost, in an undockable Anaconda, so naturally things were going to go wrong for me and am now impaled on the pylon!

Whew! Turns out it's just a graphical 'impalation' and I'm fine.[/SPOILER]

Classic Canonn experimentation! Try to do a SCIENCE! & end up causing property damage.

 

[LordZoltan]

Yes, this is a game isn't it?........ Reality is starting to fade......

Ah - no, you're holding your joystick/joypad/kbd+mouse wrong

 

[mrtree]

I'm currently running at stupid resolution, game slows sometimes but it means I can get 10860 x 6108 resolution screenshots. =p

"game slows sometimes" - Literal tears of jealousy.

 

[bitstorm]

"game slows sometimes" - Literal tears of jealousy.

HEhe, it's running at 2715x1572 which while pretty high isn't *that* ridiculous, it's just the high res screenshots quadruple that to the stupid 10860 x 6108 figure.

It's just a 980m nothing massively out of the ordinary. It is quite cool that it's in a laptop though.

 

[LordZoltan]

I don't have much to add here, but just want to question the "insectoid" aspect of the sound. Han Zen has shown pretty well that it is whales, sea turtles and dolphins I believe? Nary an insect to be heard. I think we jumped to that conclusion with the chittering way back at the start and the possible Thargoid connection, without any real basis for it. We don't even know what sort of sounds Thargoids make.

I am out of ideas as mentioned, but will give this some more thought and hopefully more will come in direct proportion with the amount of alcohol consumed this evening.

I did a couple of minor wiki updates adding some of the additional theories and the suggested Morse test (playing it back to the UA in local comms).

Agreed - the whale/turtle noises have been shown to be very similar - specifically to the 'howl', but also, in some respects to the 'purr'. I'll edit that post (not that it's going to be relevant tomorrow even!).

I hear the insect-like sounds in some of the buzzing noises that run throughout the UA sound, plus also between 'purrs' you get these high-pitched 'trills' (sorry, haven't been able to isolate what our group nomenclature is for these!). These aren't regular but are usually two-tone, like the purrs have been shown to be.

Drink plenty Clavain - we need those grey cells (I've always wondered if they're still grey when they're pickled!)

Myself, I will be offline, both AFK and from this thread, from 10pm UK tonight till at least 2pm UK tomorrow. For the following week I will be serviced by, what by all accounts is 'patchy', Wi-Fi provided by a Turkish hotel near Antalya.

I'll try and keep up as much as I can, though - and will no doubt be consuming plenty alcohol so might end up joining you, Clavain, somewhere in the UA ideas 'ether'

 

[clavain]

Agreed - the whale/turtle noises have been shown to be very similar - specifically to the 'howl', but also, in some respects to the 'purr'. I'll edit that post (not that it's going to be relevant tomorrow even!).

I hear the insect-like sounds in some of the buzzing noises that run throughout the UA sound, plus also between 'purrs' you get these high-pitched 'trills' (sorry, haven't been able to isolate what our group nomenclature is for these!). These aren't regular but are usually two-tone, like the purrs have been shown to be.

Drink plenty Clavain - we need those grey cells (I've always wondered if they're still grey when they're pickled!)

Myself, I will be offline, both AFK and from this thread, from 10pm UK tonight till at least 2pm UK tomorrow. For the following week I will be serviced by, what by all accounts is 'patchy', Wi-Fi provided by a Turkish hotel near Antalya.

I'll try and keep up as much as I can, though - and will no doubt be consuming plenty alcohol so might end up joining you, Clavain, somewhere in the UA ideas 'ether'

Lucky dog, enjoy the beach. <jealous/>

I think the "trilling" may be the dolphin bit.

 

[LordZoltan]

Lucky dog, enjoy the beach. <jealous/>

I think the "trilling" may be the dolphin bit.

I will, thanks! - but I think I might worry the other sunbathers by littering it with hundreds of UAs made out of wet sand

Ah I see now - yeah Dolphin makes sense, doh!

 

[Grumbleweed]

I am out of ideas as mentioned, but will give this some more thought and hopefully more will come in direct proportion with the amount of alcohol consumed this evening.

I did a couple of minor wiki updates adding some of the additional theories and the suggested Morse test (playing it back to the UA in local comms).

Just to add some well-earned cynicism; FD have proved in the past with their messaging, that what they think they are saying is not always what gets heard. I have a feeling that they think they are giving 'obvious' clues but we keep 'misinterpreting' them, disregarding them, 'doing it wrong' or plain old not noticing them at all, because its only truly obvious when you know. Like a lot of things.

What we don't know is if it actually DOES anything or not, i.e. if it has a purpose or function, or if it just represents something, i.e. its part of some bigger storyline but doesn't actually do anything. After a lot of sciencing we have discovered a lot of things it doesn't do, and a lot of things it doesn't react with and a lot places where it doesn't do anything different from anywhere else. My hope is that it does do something, but I fear not.

But what could it be? If we were close at one point I think we have drifted away from it again

 

[Han_Zen]

Someone wanted a screenshot of the texture of the "Mayan symbols" a while back.

Had a look I don't think there is a texture as such.

I think this is the best were going to get.. It's cropped and still 20MB btw if you download, so not inlining.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_Ozdb8mTFWzZ2V0a2QwYjFCMzQ

I'm currently running at stupid resolution, game slows sometimes but it means I can get 10860 x 6108 resolution screenshots. =p

That was me. Thanks a lot this image is brilliant.

There is nothing inside the Maya marks, but this image shows exactly how they are separated.

The sea shell marks are realy standing out in this image.

Also the dotted material used is interesting.

 

[clavain]

OK, here is my first one-beer thought of the evening as it starts to finally cool off enough to sit outside without sweltering in high heat and humidity. What if what we have been calling "lights" on the main body or head of the UA (not the pods, but the two sides of the top part) are not lights at all, but some form of viewports? What we think we are seeing as lights could be the liquid filled interior, with different objects moving around within it - hence the appearance of changing colours). I know the pods seem to have fixed patterns of light at different times in the audio sequence, but the ones on the body of the UA seem to be more random to me? Maybe those objects moving around behind the portholes causing the appearance of lights on the body are even the inhabitants, dare I say some form of water-world creature? The pods could be its life-support system, with the good fluid or water moving in to the body and waste fluid out for recycling, perhaps in sequence with the audio?

Right, time for another beer and see what else surfaces.

 

[clavain]

Just to add some well-earned cynicism; FD have proved in the past with their messaging, that what they think they are saying is not always what gets heard. I have a feeling that they think they are giving 'obvious' clues but we keep 'misinterpreting' them, disregarding them, 'doing it wrong' or plain old not noticing them at all, because its only truly obvious when you know. Like a lot of things.

What we don't know is if it actually DOES anything or not, i.e. if it has a purpose or function, or if it just represents something, i.e. its part of some bigger storyline but doesn't actually do anything. After a lot of sciencing we have discovered a lot of things it doesn't do, and a lot of things it doesn't react with and a lot places where it doesn't do anything different from anywhere else. My hope is that it does do something, but I fear not.

But what could it be? If we were close at one point I think we have drifted away from it again

I am leaning more and more towards it representing something in the larger narrative of the game, as opposed to actually doing something else in-game that we can "find". This also fits with Kerrash's original "hint" that there is still something to be discovered. That something may not be an in-game function, as opposed to simply the reason for the existence of the UA and what it does as part of the story.

 

[Han_Zen]

I will, thanks! - but I think I might worry the other sunbathers by littering it with hundreds of UAs made out of wet sand

Ah I see now - yeah Dolphin makes sense, doh!

I think it's:

- howls = Blue whale
- chitter (Morse) = Sperm whale
- Purrs = Humpback whale

And I agree, the insecty noice is probably "laughing Dolphin"

Here is a link to some sperm whale Morse: http://youtu.be/0USXHVqJu64

 

[Ratking15]

Thanks for checking and sorry for not being clear; What I am getting at is that we suspect that Halsey's ship was sabotaged and/or attacked on purpose, so what could that have to do with the UA? OK we know it damages systems, so could be as simple as that, but we've jumped around with it in the hold and not seen anything untoward as yet.. so my theory is that it acts as a nav beacon (it morses like a beacon) which could be used to lure unsuspecting folks to an ambush, rather than the usual nav beacon. I realise its a long shot
The first stage of the test is to see if it appears in normal supercruise to CMDR 1 while its deployed in normal space by CMDR 2, while not in a wing
The second stage is to see if it appears as (or alters) the destination to a star system to CMDR 1 while it's deployed in normal space by CMDR 2, while not in a wing
Then stages three and four are identical, except that the two commanders are now in a wing. (edit: make sure you're not nav locked and you dont have the wing beacon activated, as that would skew the result a bit )
I hope that's clearer now. I'm not saying its a winner, but its easy to discount without losing a UA. And I happen to think it would be rather elegant (and a boon for pirates)

That's been done in a way since I have deployed the UA before and nilreb jumped to a system over while being near the UA and nothing really happened as he went out fine and came back okay too.

Hi y'all. Been lurking here for a little while, and loving the efforts so far!
I'm wondering, as I see no mention of it on the wiki, if anyone has tried following an high energy wake while carrying a UA? If it is some kind of navigation or homing device it might override the wake signal. Even then I suppose it might only work if the desired destination is within range... oh, my, so many straws to clutch at!

Done many times as I've winged up to get escorted around long distances and so followed many wakes of both kinds.

This is good to know, thanks - I'm hoping to come back and buy a Python with my exploration data profits, might not now, if the UA hunt is still on when I return.
Although I do want a great ship for pew pew in general; and I can't see much beside the Python. The Vulture doesn't look a good enough upgrade from the Cobra for me - mine is pretty much tanked and very handy in a fight!

Cobra for the win! No problems really as it's kept me alive.

Has any UA been found near a star? Or, has any UA been jettisoned near a star? IMO the sounds they emit indicate a need for some sort of energy to make them continue functioning, it may be that it might be possible to unlock a hidden function built into the UA, by doing something to it.

I've done a test near a start and the UA has been found in SSS near stars though I think it's classed as being in deep space however I've seen signal sources close to the sun.

If you are going to collect a UA, you are taking a VERY high risk hoping it just falls out, and a high risk hoping all the Condas are dropped from the wing before you attack the T9.
Each jump is 10 mins in normal space + SC time to the random station in the next system. The T9 doesnt fly at full speed, so can easily spend 5 mins getting to the station. Gives you a 1/3 chance that the UA will be dropped in SC and therefore lost. There is also about 10% chance that you will loose the convoy after every jump, and a chance that you will be interdicted on route and lose the convoy. After a few jumps all this ends up with only a 50% chance or less that you will be around to see the UA fall out of the hatch.
If you DO find a UA, I think you want a better chance than that ! I would advise people either have a wing available, or have a ship capable of taking out 1 Conda escort and pirating the T9, probably after the 1st jump (Interdict it if possible). In my book, thats a Python and only a Python.
A Clipper may do, but you are forced to smuggle your UA into each and every dock
A Vulture may do, but does it might not have the jump range to follow the T9
A Courier may do, but by time it is loaded up with all the scanners etc that you need to hunt, I would not think it still packs enough punch

The Cobra you can do all of the above that the Clipper, Vulture and Courier!

I'll add, have a Auto field maintenance unit that you can have powered on all the time, and set the Cargo hatch to be on repair.

Same here with my cobra though I can have 2 on at one time!

Aye.
Not commenting on what is best and how is best to get the UA.
But generally I would *build for what you are trying to do currently*, which is successfully extracting a UA. As long as you check out the Python's hatch idiosyncrasies before-hand I think it's probably a reasonable choice for that.
People can help you swap to another ship once you have it if you think another ship is more suitable. The folk currently holding UAs can help or someone else you trust. You might not be able to swap ship right there and then but I'd worry about that later.

Do remember having two UA doubles the damage it does so it would be best for the person who takes it to go offline or just eject out the given UA and redoploy it when it gets low so the damage done is minimized.

Yes!
I mean, the UA bearers should concentrate in that region of space, doing things FSD related, while travelling from system to system.
Remeber that test regarding an FSD took down to 49% health? Supposing that the UA could "override" your FSD in some way.
Or simply travelling in that region, with UA in their hold, hoping for something weird to happen...
Then we have always that "explorer" test, going north of galaxy plane, with an UA in hold...
Remember that some FSD misjump related posts got rep from Kerrash and others...

getting Rep from Kerrash or quoting doesn't mean specifically that it's the right path as you can (and I have) rep for just a nice idea or it being interesting.

PS you do not know how long I spent on catching up and I need to do more that I've posted this too now D:

 

[:: QU4RANT1NE ::]

...an object that knows where it is in space, which seems automatically to scan the nearest large mass (since it does stations too) and echo its name - *even when your ship doesn't yet 'know' that name*?

I was not aware it knew where it was before your ship did... Puts to sleep my theory of it as a signal repeater. (Fresh to the forums, so got buried a few pages back).

Spoiler

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=162998&page=377&p=2614649&viewfull=1#post2614649

It's hard to keep up with this thread!


A quick thought on "where it came from" - What if it's an alien version of our toxic waste canisters, or a by-product / spent "cell" from something. It doesn't explain why it would transmit anything though...

*tin foil hat on* - Perhaps the spores are "it" communicating? Chemicals? Hive-mind?

Sod it, I'll make a cuppa.

 

[clavain]

I think it's:

- howls = Blue whale
- chitter (Morse) = Sperm whale
- Purrs = Humpback whale

And I agree, the insecty noice is probably "laughing Dolphin"

Here is a link to some sperm whale Morse: http://youtu.be/0USXHVqJu64

Dolphins also make similar clicking sounds with their sonar as well.

 

[Han_Zen]

OK, here is my first one-beer thought of the evening as it starts to finally cool off enough to sit outside without sweltering in high heat and humidity. What if what we have been calling "lights" on the main body or head of the UA (not the pods, but the two sides of the top part) are not lights at all, but some form of viewports? What we think we are seeing as lights could be the liquid filled interior, with different objects moving around within it - hence the appearance of changing colours). I know the pods seem to have fixed patterns of light at different times in the audio sequence, but the ones on the body of the UA seem to be more random to me? Maybe those objects moving around behind the portholes causing the appearance of lights on the body are even the inhabitants, dare I say some form of water-world creature? The pods could be its life-support system, with the good fluid or water moving in to the body and waste fluid out for recycling, perhaps in sequence with the audio?

Right, time for another beer and see what else surfaces.

Very much in line with my toughts.
The description of the "Proto-Squid" hints strongly of aquatic animals that spread thru space.

I'm a bit lost on what it actually is. All sounds points to whale, but the visual features points more towards a turtle like reptile or some kind of lobster/shrimp/squid thing.

Maybe it's several creatures in one or a hybrid?

 

[LordZoltan]

I am leaning more and more towards it representing something in the larger narrative of the game, as opposed to actually doing something else in-game that we can "find". This also fits with Kerrash's original "hint" that there is still something to be discovered. That something may not be an in-game function, as opposed to simply the reason for the existence of the UA and what it does as part of the story.

Seconded

And re the aquatic creature thing... The one thing I've noticed on all my travels is just how many Kevin Costners (water worlds) seem to surface vs earth-like. Yes you get terraformables, too, including terraformable Costners (is a non-terraformable Costner, by default, inhabitable, or not?) - but, let's face it, a habitable one doesn't just have to support human life.

We already have non-descript alien artefacts, and in the lore Thargoids are well known (at least by some) so it's eminently possible that FD have made the first unknown discovery an entirely new alien that's water-based. And, to some of the darker elements of the ED universe, any alien=bad alien, so the darker conspiracy theories that have recently been put forward would, ahem, still 'hold water'.

Right, really must go to bed!

 

[clavain]

Very much in line with my toughts.
The description of the "Proto-Squid" hints strongly of aquatic animals that spread thru space.

I'm a bit lost on what it actually is. All sounds points to whale, but the visual features points more towards a turtle like reptile or some kind of lobster/shrimp/squid thing.

Maybe it's several creatures in one or a hybrid?

Perhaps the equivalent of a Genesis-device for seeding a waterworld with life. It is designed to function in liquid, not in outer space, but that provides it with the capacity to survive for a short-period of time in a vacuum before it deteriorates and ejects its contents. The Morse would then just be it confirming with its mother ship that it is at the right planet or not, or maybe even an error message saying "Oh non, pas encore" as it finds itself in vacuum instead of in an ocean.

 

[Han_Zen]

Dolphins also make similar clicking sounds with their sonar as well.

Jupp. Dolphins seem to have quite a large register of sounds. Both for communicating and the sonar function.