Unknown Artefact (or artifact) Community Thread - The Canonn

[clavain]

Now this is interesting. "Ayethi" is not a valid system name in FFE. The name was apparently incorrect in the journals, it should have been Ayethti [-3, -1]. So that implies that FD bought systems into ED from FFE based on the journals. Note that the Ayethi system in ED bears no resemblance to Ayethti in FFE except both have a Earth-like world named Topaz. So was Liaququ somehow missed, or...? Given that I've found several errors in the systems imported from real world catalogues, I wouldn't bet it was deliberately excluded.

Do you happen to have a list of all FFE system names in the lore or at least the journals? I'm not sure I feel like wading through all the journal entries. If not I'll check this list: http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Gazetteer/intro.html

Unfortunately no - your link above (which I believe is canon - most of that site, or at least the mission info, is I think) and a similarly incomplete FFE gazetteer (perhaps this one: http://www.jades.org/guideg.htm, likely not canon) are the only two lists I have seen. In addition to systems mentioned in the Journals, those mentioned in the mission text for FFE may also be of interest (see links to missions, broken missions, and 3255 and all that here: http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm ).

I thought about compiling a list from the Journals and Missions some time ago, but time, life, etc. There is a bit more info on some systems here, but it may not all be canon as some of this is fan written: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page

Edit: And the dreamware link Han Zen posted is canon also, of course.

Edit 2: We have noted similar minor discrepancies in some of the systems brought into ED. Some are now terraformed with different planetary conditions, for example (IIRC Merlin is one of these?). So obviously updated deliberately. I have a few other examples noted at home, will try to dig them out later tonight. Work beckons, sadly.

 

[FaolGlas]

7. Asteroid belts / rings - mostly vacuum like space but may present more floating particles than open space thanks to particulates etc from collisions... who knows maybe water/ice asteroids? Will it pop here?
8. Nebulae - mostly vacuum like space unfortunately they look pretty at a distance but close up it might as well be open space. I'm thinking pop here too.

These two stand out for me - I was thinking asteroid belt in particular, perhaps it gives the "spores" a place to land? I also agree that it eats its way out of a ship as it doesn't want to be there either. And in the end I am ascribing sentience to it, whether it be alive or just AI not sure, but I do think it acts like it has intent.

Also planetary rings of course, as well as just asteroid belts out on there own. I know, I know, we don't have enough to test already!

 

[simulacrae]

Unfortunately, I don't think the Mayans did negative numbers .

Assuming the 'weird symbol' meant 'negative' rather than zero: 1627, 471, -42
Another interpretation might be 'minus 3' which would give: 1627, 471, -474

In theory you can convert numbers to greek and check against system names - but there's so many potential numbers that it seems crazy to me .

Ya the mayan long count was a fun experiment ... see below ( I think we decided that the katun was actually 4)

So I was playing around with the Mayan theory ... What if it is a Long Count Date ?

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=50174&stc=1

I assumed that it was a numerical short hand following the pattern of a long count date ( minus the glyphs) ... I got a date in 1770 BC which could be a first contact date ? Interestingly - 1770 BC was when Hammurabi developed his "Laws". Was really hoping for a future date ... sort of a countdown (like independence day). Oh well.

- - - Updated - - -

No, it's from FFE journals: http://www.dream-ware.co.uk/first-encounters/journals/all/

Ctrl+F hexagon.

THANKS - I really need to spend more time there

 

[Sigon]

Wolf 298, Mobius. I have convoy right now, but no means to liberate anything.
Cmdr Sigon.

 

[Atinus]

Another accident with Starship One investigator killed?

https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/55c9c9619657ba0e04597831

11 AUG 3301

Two Dead in Tragic Accident

Two people died in a crash when a personal transport collided with a Lakon Type-9 Heavy transport vessel. The small ship, a type used to run between orbital facilities, was destroyed in the impact. The small vessel was ferrying two transport safety officials to the Laphria Shipyard in the Artemis system. They were on a knowledge sharing mission.

The Transport Safety Authority issued the following statement from their headquarters on Mars:

“This type of accident is always a terrible tragedy for those involved and the Laphrian authorities have promised full disclosure and co-operation with our investigation.”

They also reported that the pilot of the Type-9 was being treated for shock. She saw the transport break open only metres from her large window as she approached the station.

Elaine Boyd from the Federal Times asked for the identities of the dead and was told that they wouldn’t be disclosed until the next of kin had been identified. She pressed further asking if one of the dead men was Arnold Lowe, a senior investigator in the Starship One disappearance. She was told ‘no comment’ and no further questions were taken.​

 

[EAGLE 5]

At this point our tinfoil hats are starting to look more like fedoras...

 

[clavain]

Deleted as I can't read apparently. Need more caffeine.

So all the investigators are being bumped off. Not sure how that helps us with the UA other than the possible Sirius connection.

 

[bitstorm]

Another accident with Starship One investigator killed?

https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/55c9c9619657ba0e04597831

11 AUG 3301

Two Dead in Tragic Accident
​

The last one was a boost incident on docking.

Certainly sounds like the fault was in the personal transport.

To impact with a T9 takes a bit more precision then triggering a boost just prior to docking.

Whatever was used it sounds like it could be quite sophisticated.​

 

[Kyp Shard]

Good question.. we have very limited environments at the moment that we can ferry it to.. to summarize.

1. Space - vast empty void, an almost perfect vacuum meaning really bad for anything that requires to "breathe". UA blows up in space after doing its distress like signal script.
2. Star's Coronae - see space add heat and tons of radiation also generally really bad for anything that lives. I'm assuming the UA also explodes here.
3. Black Holes - nature divides by zero there which is exactly where you wouldn't want to be.. the game doesn't simulate them well but I'm willing to bet that currently a UA would pop here and in the future it would be crushed to an atom... along with our dreams.
4. Ship's Cargo Hold - stable environment (providing you aren't destroyed) potentially climate controlled (for human climate) stops the UA from exploding but wants out and starts corroding through it.... two things with this. 1. it may not like human air.. 2. it may not like metal enclosures or metal in general which is what the ship is made of.
5. Space Station Docking Ring - more open than a ship's cargo hold but for the most part presenting the same restrictions plus (here's the part I don't like) wasn't this tried in a test and the UA still exploded? That tells me a game mechanic is overriding the script or an oxygen atmosphere is not the answer.
6. Planets - Well.... watch this space.
7. Asteroid belts / rings - mostly vacuum like space but may present more floating particles than open space thanks to particulates etc from collisions... who knows maybe water/ice asteroids? Will it pop here?
8. Nebulae - mostly vacuum like space unfortunately they look pretty at a distance but close up it might as well be open space. I'm thinking pop here too.

There that is all the environments I can think of. If anyone has any more to add to this it would be interesting to see, however so far the only thing we know from our "environments" available is that it won't explode if it is in a cargo hold... I'd say in a hold it also shuts up because I haven't heard anything about UA bearers complaining that their ship sounds like a tuning fork or a SeaWorld exhibit.

Happy hunting!

Re: the cargo hold, I'd be careful not to assume that it doesn't want to be there and purposely eats its way out. It could be naturally corrosive because of what it's made of or gases/radiation/etc it emits.

it IS interesting though that it shuts the hell up while in the hold. It could well be because it is out of the danger of hard vacuum, which would support the idea that the sound is a distress signal.

im sure this has come up before but we might not have explored it or tested it fully, maybe it's like a Remlok.

 

[Sigon]

Well, confirmed in Wolf 289, but sadly no wake scanner. This will teach me to come prepared.

Thanks to Nicholas for hurrying over and I'm off to equip a FWS.

 

[Kyp Shard]

Another accident with Starship One investigator killed?

https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/55c9c9619657ba0e04597831

11 AUG 3301

Two Dead in Tragic Accident

Two people died in a crash when a personal transport collided with a Lakon Type-9 Heavy transport vessel. The small ship, a type used to run between orbital facilities, was destroyed in the impact. The small vessel was ferrying two transport safety officials to the Laphria Shipyard in the Artemis system. They were on a knowledge sharing mission.

The Transport Safety Authority issued the following statement from their headquarters on Mars:

“This type of accident is always a terrible tragedy for those involved and the Laphrian authorities have promised full disclosure and co-operation with our investigation.”

They also reported that the pilot of the Type-9 was being treated for shock. She saw the transport break open only metres from her large window as she approached the station.

Elaine Boyd from the Federal Times asked for the identities of the dead and was told that they wouldn’t be disclosed until the next of kin had been identified. She pressed further asking if one of the dead men was Arnold Lowe, a senior investigator in the Starship One disappearance. She was told ‘no comment’ and no further questions were taken.​

Says the small vessel was "a type used to run between orbital facilities", maybe a hint that it wasn't going far. And they were They were "on a knowledge sharing mission". Maybe we should get over to that system's stations and poke around. If there's a connection between the SS1 plot and the UA plot - happy days. If it ends up solving the SS1 plot only, it's still all good- we can cross off those connections from UA enquiries.

 

[EAGLE 5]

Re: the cargo hold, I'd be careful not to assume that it doesn't want to be there and purposely eats its way out. It could be naturally corrosive because of what it's made of or gases/radiation/etc it emits.

it IS interesting though that it shuts the hell up while in the hold. It could well be because it is out of the danger of hard vacuum, which would support the idea that the sound is a distress signal.

im sure this has come up before but we might not have explored it or tested it fully, maybe it's like a Remlok.

Have we tried to transport one and cut life support? What about different ship systems? It does seem like it doesn't like subsystems... Maybe if we shut them down one by one it may get comfortable with the ship? Reminds me of the TNG episode with the space baby creature (Gekkli) that thought the Enterprise was its mom and started feeding off the energy. Maybe inside the hold it needs energy and it's sensing the subsystems are taking it away hence it tries to shut them down. Should be a super easy test if you got one. Shut systems down one by one until the damage stops but definitely test life support separately.

 

[b_laiskiainen]

Went off on a bit of a tangent.

Found a SSS in 27 gamma cassiopeiae...

Pirates...

 

[Axons]

I'm omw to Artemis. is that Convoy still being followed?

 

[Vall]

[Confirmed] CENTER OF MASS: {17.3368, -16.9271, 4.04167}
[Unconfirmed] CENTER OF MASS WITH UNCONFIRMED: {11.9375, -8.03606, -9.75481}

So having looked at the galaxy map, there are a couple of systems in the region. Maybe something rings a bell.
RR Caeli, 82 Eridani, Wise 0359, Minmar, Kapteyn's Star, Toolfa, Alvik, Omnicorn 2 Eridani, Zhi, and a couple of others..

Nothing rings a bell for me.

 

[simulacrae]

The last one was a boost incident on docking.

Certainly sounds like the fault was in the personal transport.

To impact with a T9 takes a bit more precision then triggering a boost just prior to docking.

Whatever was used it sounds like it could be quite sophisticated.

Makes me think of the misjump fun again - Do you think maybe they were trying to recreate the SS1 incident ... i seem to remember the Starship one report saying Multiple System failures .... combining these we get Mass Locked, Boosting, and unknown systems failing ?

 

[Tallsword]

Connections between stuff - not sure if mentioned, but 'least a bit of a refresher then:
The UA randomly degrades ship modules every about 30 sec. But the UA in outer space cannot degrade any module. Instead of degrading a module it lights up (the marks on the head and body) and "howls" one.
I believe the howl / lights are connected to ship module degradation, but not sure where to go with them.

Some random thoughts that may or may not help:
The UA lights up prior to the howl. That said, it most likely lights up inside the cargo bay as well. In the cargo bay instead of howling it degrades modules.


Random easy test:
CMDR 1 drops UA in a station.
CMDR 2 tries to listen to the UA outside the station.
CMDR 3 or CMDR 1 scoops / limpets up the UA.
Goal: see if metal stops the howl's sound or the UA simply "would like to" degrade something instead of howling. (something like "feed the UA or it'll cry")

Source:
Suspected some connection between it's own mechanics since the beginning, confirmed by Bob. Rip Bob!

Sidenote:
Doubt we have to use debug mode. Debug mode probably wasn't designed to use it on the UA, more tests within the cockpit could help imo.

Request:
Slow down Bob's death. I want to see it frame. By. Frame. #animalcruelty

 

[Axons]

Makes me think of the misjump fun again - Do you think maybe they were trying to recreate the SS1 incident ... i seem to remember the Starship one report saying Multiple System failures .... combining these we get Mass Locked, Boosting, and unknown systems failing ?

Has anyone tried to make a jump with the FSD disabled and the UA in their hold. I know, sounds stupid.

 

[simulacrae]

Has anyone tried to make a jump with the FSD disabled and the UA in their hold. I know, sounds stupid.

Ya - we even tried doing a reboot/repair just prior to jump... no luck so far

 

[Tallsword]

Makes me think of the misjump fun again - Do you think maybe they were trying to recreate the SS1 incident ... i seem to remember the Starship one report saying Multiple System failures .... combining these we get Mass Locked, Boosting, and unknown systems failing ?

This actually makes me think: what if the UA was designed to help with the search of SS1? I mean it sends signals of the nearest celestial body, so if they DO try to recreate a misjump, the UA would be the perfect tool! Degrades modules! Transport doesn't know what it is all about, because the Escort wants Transport to misjump (it is mentioned that they suspect the SS1 fell into pieces, maybe that's why they don't tell Transport). When Transport misjumps, Escort will drop out, they'll look for the UA's signal. It all makes sense.