Some here recall that Mbrooks stated this was to be solvable without the use of special tools not available to everyone.
That clearly did not happen.
Last edited by a moderator:
UA Mystery Thread 3: The Canonn
- Thread starter Yaffle
- Start date
- Status
Some here recall that Mbrooks stated this was to be solvable without the use of special tools not available to everyone.
That clearly did not happen.
Well done! That's awesome work! 
This is a great first leap. I think there's one of two main possible motives behind this behavior;
1) It's an attempt at communication with us, telling us what we know so that we learn it's language. If this is the case, then things are going to ramp up quickly, I'd think.
or
2) It's a scout probe, and it's gathering information. Which is a LOT more ominous to me.
I'm sure there's other possibilities as well, I suppose time will tell. I do feel like CMDR Delmonte has a point though, in a way. I don't think this was the same secret we've been prodding at since 1.2. It's an epic advance, not meaning to downplay that, but think we've only peeked behind the curtain. There's more science to do, and I'd wager more mysteries to solve.
And not to advocate violence, especially at this early point, but I think if you're out there unarmed and shieldless, it might be wise to prepare for the worst.
This is a great first leap. I think there's one of two main possible motives behind this behavior;1) It's an attempt at communication with us, telling us what we know so that we learn it's language. If this is the case, then things are going to ramp up quickly, I'd think.
or
2) It's a scout probe, and it's gathering information. Which is a LOT more ominous to me.
I'm sure there's other possibilities as well, I suppose time will tell. I do feel like CMDR Delmonte has a point though, in a way. I don't think this was the same secret we've been prodding at since 1.2. It's an epic advance, not meaning to downplay that, but think we've only peeked behind the curtain. There's more science to do, and I'd wager more mysteries to solve.
And not to advocate violence, especially at this early point, but I think if you're out there unarmed and shieldless, it might be wise to prepare for the worst.
Last edited:
Well done! That's awesome work!
1) It's an attempt at communication with us, telling us what we know so that we learn it's language. If this is the case, then things are going to ramp up quickly, I'd think.
or
2) It's a scout probe, and it's gathering information. Which is a LOT more ominous to me.
I'm sure there's other possibilities as well, I suppose time will tell. I do feel like CMDR Delmonte has a point though, in a way. I don't think this was the same secret we've been prodding at since 1.2. It's an epic advance, not meaning to downplay that, but think we've only peeked behind the curtain. There's more science to do, and I'd wager more mysteries to solve.
And not to advocate violence, especially at this early point, but I think if you're out there unarmed and shieldless, it might be a wise to prepare for the worst.
Of course they might be alien artists sending out probes so they can design cool paint jobs for us. Which they will etch on to our hulls with alien lasers...
Last edited:
If there is ever an opportunity for first contact, I really hope all efforts are made to make it peaceful. We've been told that how such a thing is eventually handled will dictate how our future relations unfold with them.
I'm worried someone will feel we need to be hostile to ensure they get to pewpewpew them in the future.
Let's face it, we WILL end up fighting Thargoids. That's inevitable. Even if you got Captain Picard to head up the team it's going to happen. The question is, do we fight ALL the Thargoids, or will the race be split in terms of their relations with us?
The latter is FAR more interesting and has far more opportunities for gameplay, and won't cut down on the pewpewpew at all, I'm sure.
I'd hate for the future of the game to be determined by the player equivalent of premature ejaculation
Yeah, first contact happening with a griefer - worst case scenario. It could drive aliens to play in solo.
And congrats to Mike Juliett Kilo, well done and o7!
And Anjin - that's sooo cool
In fact, everyone - fantastic work, you're all really cool
Now then:
1. why Merope?
2. is scanning our stars and ships and sending the information an act of exploration or an act of tactical intelligence?
3. where is the information being sent?
4. why morse (a human signal format)?
5. why send vectors of our ships when they have this level of tech - why not a hologram?
6. where have all the viscounts gone? There's only a few broken bourbon creams and digestives in the tin.
Also, are the pointing to Merope, or away from it?
I haven't really followed the UA mystery, but I just have a thought. Why would thargoids use morse code? I think it might be a lost civilization, perhaps.
Amazing, great work!
Fist of all. Big salute to MJK. You are a clever lad.
Second, big thanks to everyone providing data. Special mention to Fyo and Riz, you guys did one hell of a job.
What now?
I think the UA is looking for a spesific ship type in a specific location.
It could be a Thargoid ship, the Antares, SS1, a spesific cap. ship or a ship we haven't seen yet.
If FD has managed to hide ship modells in the game files, they have hid them well.
Any way. The point is: if you are gadering intel about an enemy, a 2D drawing of their ships is not very usefull unless you have data for all these ships.
If you are looking for a particular ship that you have seen before, it's quite ok.
Second, big thanks to everyone providing data. Special mention to Fyo and Riz, you guys did one hell of a job.
What now?
I think the UA is looking for a spesific ship type in a specific location.
It could be a Thargoid ship, the Antares, SS1, a spesific cap. ship or a ship we haven't seen yet.
If FD has managed to hide ship modells in the game files, they have hid them well.
Any way. The point is: if you are gadering intel about an enemy, a 2D drawing of their ships is not very usefull unless you have data for all these ships.
If you are looking for a particular ship that you have seen before, it's quite ok.
@Mike Juliet Kilo: great work! It certainly raises a few questions but hopefully this will move the story on (be careful what you wish for, I know...).
I found a UA this afternoon whilst flying my new Federal Assault Ship but have now sold it (see Operation Scour report below) so I would have encountered a different signal completely had I recorded it (not sure what video recording would work with my laptop and not slow it down too much, so I just take screenshots). As to why the UAs are transmitting a signal in Morse that decodes into an image of our ship, I don't think it's possible for us to say whether they are trying to communicate with us or send information on us elsewhere (or both). I also have to wonder why there are suddenly so many of them - are they being deployed by a stealth ship that has, so far, avoided detection by everyone? Eyes on Merope are still needed!
********
Operation: Scour report
Commander Reporting: Edelgard von Rhein
Ship type: Federal Assault Ship
Ship name: Lead Carpet
Unknown Artefact aboard: YES (acquired en route to Merope in HYADES SECTOR BV-Y C13)
Wingmates: None
Mode: Open play
Inner Route Surveyed: Merope 2 to Merope 5/6, Merope 5/6 to asteroid clusters 1,2,4,8
Honk results: none (repeated at ~1000ls intervals starting 500ls from Merope 2)
Summary of craft encountered along route:
1) group of three ships in USS (>1000ls from Merope 2): Hauler; Eagle; Cobra. Hauler had no cargo. Other two ships attacked after scanning me, both destroyed, no cargo dropped.
2) Medical Transport wing of 4 in SSS (<150ls from Merope 5/6): Python with three Vultures escorting. Unusual dialogue recorded (see below). No provocotive action taken (including use of cargo scanner) in the hope of observing further dialogue; followed the group for approximately 2-3mins., after which time all four vessels hyperspaced away (destination not recorded).
Additional signal sources investigated:
WSS near Merope 5/6: one Rare Artwork amid wreckage of ship, possibly a Vulture. Scooped for further analysis.
Salavagable Wreckage: appeared immediately after setting a course for Merope 2 after refuelling. 5 Occupied Escape Pods located amid wreckage of at least one ship (only identifiable parts were of Vulture origin). Scooped all 5 in order to hand over to the authorities for medical assistance/debriefing.
Other observations:
After scooping the UA I returned to supercruise to refuel and was interdicted before refuelling could be completed by a lone Vulture, which claimed to have come a long way for the contents of my hold. I submitted and in normal space it scanned me and opened fire. It did not drop any cargo of its own upon destruction. One other interdiction attempt was made against me after this, which I evaded by jumping to hyperspace. No interdictions occurred on my way back from Merope.
Damage to ship systems occurred at seemingly regular intervals whilst the UA was on board. Utility modules appeared to be especially vulnerable to this damage, in particular my heat sink launcher, which endured twice the degradation of any other module. In contrast, my fuel scoop, power plant, life support and large weapons endured many bursts of damage and were not degraded below 90%. My detailed surface scanner was the only undamaged component. Suspect component mass may play a role in vulnerability to UA corrosion.
The UA and all other items recovered were turned over to my contact at Barnes Horizons, BD+55 1142. As a Federal, High-Tech, Scientific Outpost, they are amongst the best-equipped in all human space to make further investigations and there is also a plentiful supply of medicines there to assist the occupants of the recovered escape pods.
I found a UA this afternoon whilst flying my new Federal Assault Ship but have now sold it (see Operation Scour report below) so I would have encountered a different signal completely had I recorded it (not sure what video recording would work with my laptop and not slow it down too much, so I just take screenshots). As to why the UAs are transmitting a signal in Morse that decodes into an image of our ship, I don't think it's possible for us to say whether they are trying to communicate with us or send information on us elsewhere (or both). I also have to wonder why there are suddenly so many of them - are they being deployed by a stealth ship that has, so far, avoided detection by everyone? Eyes on Merope are still needed!
********
Operation: Scour report
Commander Reporting: Edelgard von Rhein
Ship type: Federal Assault Ship
Ship name: Lead Carpet
Unknown Artefact aboard: YES (acquired en route to Merope in HYADES SECTOR BV-Y C13)
Wingmates: None
Mode: Open play
Inner Route Surveyed: Merope 2 to Merope 5/6, Merope 5/6 to asteroid clusters 1,2,4,8
Honk results: none (repeated at ~1000ls intervals starting 500ls from Merope 2)
Summary of craft encountered along route:
1) group of three ships in USS (>1000ls from Merope 2): Hauler; Eagle; Cobra. Hauler had no cargo. Other two ships attacked after scanning me, both destroyed, no cargo dropped.
2) Medical Transport wing of 4 in SSS (<150ls from Merope 5/6): Python with three Vultures escorting. Unusual dialogue recorded (see below). No provocotive action taken (including use of cargo scanner) in the hope of observing further dialogue; followed the group for approximately 2-3mins., after which time all four vessels hyperspaced away (destination not recorded).
WSS near Merope 5/6: one Rare Artwork amid wreckage of ship, possibly a Vulture. Scooped for further analysis.
Salavagable Wreckage: appeared immediately after setting a course for Merope 2 after refuelling. 5 Occupied Escape Pods located amid wreckage of at least one ship (only identifiable parts were of Vulture origin). Scooped all 5 in order to hand over to the authorities for medical assistance/debriefing.
Other observations:
After scooping the UA I returned to supercruise to refuel and was interdicted before refuelling could be completed by a lone Vulture, which claimed to have come a long way for the contents of my hold. I submitted and in normal space it scanned me and opened fire. It did not drop any cargo of its own upon destruction. One other interdiction attempt was made against me after this, which I evaded by jumping to hyperspace. No interdictions occurred on my way back from Merope.
Damage to ship systems occurred at seemingly regular intervals whilst the UA was on board. Utility modules appeared to be especially vulnerable to this damage, in particular my heat sink launcher, which endured twice the degradation of any other module. In contrast, my fuel scoop, power plant, life support and large weapons endured many bursts of damage and were not degraded below 90%. My detailed surface scanner was the only undamaged component. Suspect component mass may play a role in vulnerability to UA corrosion.
The UA and all other items recovered were turned over to my contact at Barnes Horizons, BD+55 1142. As a Federal, High-Tech, Scientific Outpost, they are amongst the best-equipped in all human space to make further investigations and there is also a plentiful supply of medicines there to assist the occupants of the recovered escape pods.
I said it a few post ago, after our discover, and I'll repeat it again for clarity:
now that we know the "solution" to the signals riddle, you can agree with me that there is/was no need of special tools to crack it. Yes, we used Sonic Visualizer to draw a spectrogram of the UA sound to "read" the morse instead of listening to it, just because we are not that good with morse.
But in this thread there are/were people who are very able with morse decoding by ear (Jmanis, Qorbeq, and others) that were not involved this time.
With hindsight now, I can say 100% that just a good ear, pen and paper were needed to crack the code, nothing else: ear to recognize the morse, pen and paper to write the sequences down, and the same pen and paper to draw two axis with the alphabet on both, then tracing the points one by one, as MJK himself did, before realizing that a computer could have made the job easier.
I said it a few post ago, after our discover, and I'll repeat it again for clarity:
now that we know the "solution" to the signals riddle, you can agree with me that there is/was no need of special tools to crack it. Yes, we used Sonic Visualizer to draw a spectrogram of the UA sound to "read" the morse instead of listening to it, just because we are not that good with morse.
But in this thread there are/were people who are very able with morse decoding by ear (Jmanis, Qorbeq, and others) that were not involved this time.
With hindsight now, I can say 100% that just a good ear, pen and paper were needed to crack the code, nothing else: ear to recognize the morse, pen and paper to write the sequences down, and the same pen and paper to draw two axis with the alphabet on both, then tracing the points one by one, as MJK himself did, before realizing that a computer could have made the job easier.
^THIS!^
UB
If there is ever an opportunity for first contact, I really hope all efforts are made to make it peaceful. We've been told that how such a thing is eventually handled will dictate how our future relations unfold with them.
I'm worried someone will feel we need to be hostile to ensure they get to pewpewpew them in the future.
Let's face it, we WILL end up fighting Thargoids. That's inevitable. Even if you got Captain Picard to head up the team it's going to happen. The question is, do we fight ALL the Thargoids, or will the race be split in terms of their relations with us?
The latter is FAR more interesting and has far more opportunities for gameplay, and won't cut down on the pewpewpew at all, I'm sure.
I'd hate for the future of the game to be determined by the player equivalent of premature ejaculation
It won't be first contact though, will it? We've made contact, we've had the Thargoid wars. We are two species opposed and I doubt very highly that the Thargoids or Humans would be interested in trying to make a peaceful interaction considering that they've receded into the darkness to rebuild and amass a fleet!
Firstly, congrats to Mike Juliett Kilo and everyone else who contributed to solving this mystery. Incredible work.
Secondly, I cannot begin to say how much it made me smile inside to see that they're imaging us as if we were in the original game from 1984. Just such a beautiful little nod to the original Elite. That is so goddam cool.
Secondly, I cannot begin to say how much it made me smile inside to see that they're imaging us as if we were in the original game from 1984. Just such a beautiful little nod to the original Elite. That is so goddam cool.
I said it a few post ago, after our discover, and I'll repeat it again for clarity:
now that we know the "solution" to the signals riddle, you can agree with me that there is/was no need of special tools to crack it. Yes, we used Sonic Visualizer to draw a spectrogram of the UA sound to "read" the morse instead of listening to it, just because we are not that good with morse.
But in this thread there are/were people who are very able with morse decoding by ear (Jmanis, Qorbeq, and others) that were not involved this time.
With hindsight now, I can say 100% that just a good ear, pen and paper were needed to crack the code, nothing else: ear to recognize the morse, pen and paper to write the sequences down, and the same pen and paper to draw two axis with the alphabet on both, then tracing the points one by one, as MJK himself did, before realizing that a computer could have made the job easier.
Yep, I agree. Also, we haven't solved it yet. We've only cracked the meaning of the current signal. The mystery as a whole is still very much unanswered.
It is cool isn't it
- - - Updated - - -
IF it's Thargoids.
If 'pad and pen' and 'a keen ear' are tools, then yes.
The truth is, this community is made up of lots of techies, who know how to program, how to do sound analysis, etc - and who have found ways to speed up the process of cracking out info from the audio, and then testing the theories.
I'm being a pedant, I know, but it quite clearly *could* have been done without all those things.
The fact that it wasn't doesn't change that, I think.
And, to be fair, I think those statements applied to the first round of Morse - no such guarantee was given about this one - and the first Morse set was actually decoded by ear, not by reading spectrographs.
....
Now then - operation Scour is still going on, looking under every lizard under every rock in Merope - as there's still that particular mystery...
Last edited:
What do you guys think about this report?
https://plus.google.com/u/0/117488370171752935216/posts/jNHw22vGVHP
https://plus.google.com/u/0/117488370171752935216/posts/jNHw22vGVHP
- Status