UA Mystery thread 4 - The Canonn

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It's been a while since we talked about the Voyagers.
At least a day... :p

[...]
Anothe interesting fact about the Voyagers is that they have a guide star. A star that they always point to, if not othewise controlled from Earth.

Voyager 1 uses Alpha Centaury.

Voyager 2 uses Canopus.

Knew about the morse, but the guide star bit seems very interesting and quite relevant. That would perhaps indicate Merope is not a source, but a guide star. Not in game at the moment, but how many LY are those two systems from Sol? Assuming the same tech equivalent (big assumption) perhaps we should be scouring other systems within that LY radius of Merope, and not Merope itself. Just out of curiosity, does Pleione fall within that radius?
 
Alpha Centauri is only 4ly from Sol, while Canopus is way, way further out at about about 300ly - roughly the same distance from Sol to Merope. Canopus is also out in the general direction of the Pleiades.
 
Alright, hopefully I'm not going to propose something that has already been done. If so please accept my apologies, commanders. :D

If we are to theorise that whoever sent the UAs knew of our existence in this part of the galaxy (somewhat likely as they use morse) and that they are here because of us (to invade us/communicate with us/investigate us...) it's not unlikely that more than one spawning point would have been chosen. So if, for instance, these things are going to create some kind of portal for invading forces it would be a lot more effective if there were several spawning points like Merope surrounding the Bubble (human occupied space). That way they could attack from multiple fronts and make defending the human systems much more difficult. I think if those other spawning points exist, a fairly likely location for one would be in the "mirror" position from Merope, where Sol is the actual "mirroring point".

So here's the experiment I'm proposing:
  1. Draw a line from Merope to Sol and continue it out the other end until I've covered the equivalent Merope-Sol distance, then see what system is there (let's call it system "X").
  2. Go out and explore as many systems as possible that fall within a 135-150LY distance from system X, searching for other UAs forming another Merope-like shell.
See my schematic below in case terrible drawings somehow help to clarify what I'm saying:
View attachment 72958

What would be even better would be to get a wing of commanders that could split up and explore the shell around X simultaneously. That way more systems could be covered in less time, and if one of them find anything or get in trouble the other wing members wouldn't be too far away.

And what would be even better is if several wings could go out and do the same, or choose other "shells" to explore that are the equivalent distance from Sol.

Of course if something like this has already been tried then I'll shut up. But if not, I'm currently making some money killing pirates in Kaushpoos, and once that CG is over I hope to have enough credits to buy an Asp. Then I intend to go find system X and search around it. I also intend to do some actual exploring in the meantime (scanning planets and such), so if I don't find any UAs at least the journey won't be wasted.

So if anyone else thinks it's a worthwhile pursuit and would like to join forces in a wing sometime toward the end of the week, or during the weekend, let me know. I've wanted to try out wings and do some proper exploring for sometime now, and it seems like this UA mystery is a perfect excuse to get started. For science!

Nice idea. But... (don't you hate it when there is always a but?)

I just came back from a 6K LY exploration trip in that very direction, checking out various nebulae and open star clusters. Original plan was to try to get to NGC 6357 if I recall the number correctly (not in game at the moment) but did not get that far before I got bored and decided to come back. Saw nary a signal source of any type other than a few Salvageable Wreckage until I was back within a few hundred LY of the bubble, and no UAs in any of the SSS I did see. That said, if you do the math and narrow it down more precisely, then it might be worth a visit to check out to confirm, as it is not that far away.

Personally though I would be surprised if there was more than one shell or spawn source.

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Alpha Centauri is only 4ly from Sol, while Canopus is way, way further out at about about 300ly - roughly the same distance from Sol to Merope. Canopus is also out in the general direction of the Pleiades.

Crap. I knew AC was quite close, but thought Canopus might have been somewhat less distant. A 300 LY radius around Merope does not do much for us in terms of trying to find anything. Thanks though.

Edit: Any systems within 4LY of Merope worth checking out?
 
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Simulacrae's “found parchment” - start of thread 2, but flicking through I haven't found it in the first thread- seems to have been forgotten on this thread but a couple of things stand out to me - is Simulacrae an FD "mole"? :))
Nope, that's Zoltan. ;-)

All the stuff on that image is summaries of things we have talked about in the various threads, humorously summarized and brilliantly drawn as a treasure map.

3) I note the humour that FD keep showing, & the use of “Ishmael” & whale-like sounds reminds me of Moby . Unfortunately I haven't got a copy but reinforcing this thought ...this same document has a quotation at top right which I thought was Khan's last words from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, but Googling it also appears to be Ahab's last words(http://classiclit.about.com/od/mobydickhermanmelville/a/aa_mobydickqu.htm) from Moby ... “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"

Now you're talking serious science! But again this is just Han Zen's theories summarized from earlier in the threads. Whales rule though.
 
Nice idea. But... (don't you hate it when there is always a but?)

I just came back from a 6K LY exploration trip in that very direction, checking out various nebulae and open star clusters. Original plan was to try to get to NGC 6357 if I recall the number correctly (not in game at the moment) but did not get that far before I got bored and decided to come back. Saw nary a signal source of any type other than a few Salvageable Wreckage until I was back within a few hundred LY of the bubble, and no UAs in any of the SSS I did see. That said, if you do the math and narrow it down more precisely, then it might be worth a visit to check out to confirm, as it is not that far away.

Personally though I would be surprised if there was more than one shell or spawn source.

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Crap. I knew AC was quite close, but thought Canopus might have been somewhat less distant. A 300 LY radius around Merope does not do much for us in terms of trying to find anything. Thanks though.

Edit: Any systems within 4LY of Merope worth checking out?

Maia, Pleione, Sterope, Asterope and Atlas come to mind.

Say - since we're talking about guide stars here, have you checked Atlas for anything? Clue might be in the name.
 
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Went out to get a new floater and on the way (leaving again from peregrina) I bumped into SSS. Above 170 LY they talk about the mission being a go, Around 150 LY they say that "cargo is secure " "let's keep frosty". I also stumble on wreckage sites with 5 occupied pods. They look like destroyed Vultures and a Python. Other must have had imperial eagles, and clipper wrecks.
I also bumped into weak signal source with two NPC that where saying. " We wanted to do the right thing" "We don't want to fight for them" "It doesn't have to end like this" (when I scanned for their bounties).

So what i'd say is that NPC convoys are getting destroyed by something or someone, that NPC are defecting (but from who?) and we also know that we now get interdicted by NPC once we have one on board, and they talk about the big one. => Side note, they looked like navy painting on the eagles. I should have gone closer to get a better look at.

If not I got one in ADR UE-P B6- 1A (already in the data sheet)

I also tried to play some morse code to the UA, by writing it in chat and by using my lights. I don't know if that changes anything. Do you want me to post the video (In my hold I had 10 occupied pods, and 2 superconductors) ?
 
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Nice idea. But... (don't you hate it when there is always a but?)

I just came back from a 6K LY exploration trip in that very direction, checking out various nebulae and open star clusters. Original plan was to try to get to NGC 6357 if I recall the number correctly (not in game at the moment) but did not get that far before I got bored and decided to come back. Saw nary a signal source of any type other than a few Salvageable Wreckage until I was back within a few hundred LY of the bubble, and no UAs in any of the SSS I did see. That said, if you do the math and narrow it down more precisely, then it might be worth a visit to check out to confirm, as it is not that far away.

Personally though I would be surprised if there was more than one shell or spawn source.

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I would be surprised too, to be honest, but I still think it's worth a shot. There's also the possibility that there are other shells, except none of them will be in the "mirror area" of Merope's shell, but perhaps will have a more random distribution. So even if they exist I may miss them completely.

As a side note, does anyone have any useful advice on how to calculate positions, or plot courses, based on galaxy map coordinates? Specifically for doing things like calculating the mirror position of a system relative to Sol, and other similar calculations. I was going to try to dust off my vector math to figure it out, but I wonder if there's perhaps a tool somewhere online that will make that kind of work easier. If someone knows and can post about it here that would be great. I think any tool that can help us plot courses or show patterns in a 3D volume, using galaxy map coordinates as a base, could prove to be really useful for this and other future Canonn endeavours.
 
I would be surprised too, to be honest, but I still think it's worth a shot. There's also the possibility that there are other shells, except none of them will be in the "mirror area" of Merope's shell, but perhaps will have a more random distribution. So even if they exist I may miss them completely.

As a side note, does anyone have any useful advice on how to calculate positions, or plot courses, based on galaxy map coordinates? Specifically for doing things like calculating the mirror position of a system relative to Sol, and other similar calculations. I was going to try to dust off my vector math to figure it out, but I wonder if there's perhaps a tool somewhere online that will make that kind of work easier. If someone knows and can post about it here that would be great. I think any tool that can help us plot courses or show patterns in a 3D volume, using galaxy map coordinates as a base, could prove to be really useful for this and other future Canonn endeavours.

RedWizzard is your man. If he doesn't appear in 1...2...3... after the mention of calculating star positions, just drop him a PM. Or Jmanis.
 
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So, I don't know if this is something or nothing, or if it gets us anywhere, but something has been nagging me about the Pleiades for some time now, and I could not put my finger on it until just now, after doing some more reading about different ancient and classical Earth cultures mythologies around them. There seems to be one common theme in all the mythologies around the Pleiades, including, for those noting the recent religious bent of some of the FD names in Galnet and stations and the like, Christianity. This common thread is that one of the stars is missing. Grok that for a while, while I do some more reading.

Edit: Possible "missing" Pleiad Greek mythologies in various accounts are Electra mourning for Troy, or Merope in shame for marrying the mortal king Sisyphus, settling for less than her six sisters who all married gods. "Tales of a missing star are found in other places in Europe, in China, India, Japan, the Americas, Africa, and Australia. The Pirt-Kopan-noot tribe of Australia tell a tale of a missing Pleiad. According to their tradition, the Pleiades were a chieftess named Gneeanggar and her six attendants. Waa, the crow (the star Canopus),fell in love with her. One day while the women were hunting grubs, Waa changed himself into a white grub and bored himself into a tree trunk to await his love who was sure to find him. When she stuck her bone hook into the hole he let her draw him out, turned into a giant, and carried her away. Since then only the six attendants remain. The Africans say that there are seven stars but that one, plain and not as beautiful as her sisters, hides herself for shame. (This suggests Pleione, the star that can be lost in Atlas’s glare.) "

Interesting Canopus connection too. Also, many of these mythologies portray the seven Pleiades as doves, or a hen with chicks, or other forms of birds. And what does one interpretation of the drawings on the UA look like?
 
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New Video showing all the rare items in the T7; video of the T7 being scanned, uploading now but will take about 20 minutes

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58732420/UA VIds/Rare Items in Hold.mp4
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58732420/UA VIds/Elite Dangerous 11.03.2015 - 19.25.01.03.mp4

IMPORTANT NEWS - MORSE DECODED!

It seems that the rares in CMDR Delmonte's hold, make the UA change its behavior!

THOMPSON DOCK MORSE CONFIRMED!

In detail: Even if CMDR Delmonte took his video from a very short distance, different from the previous video, the UA still spelled the name of the Station, instead of drawing his ship.
Another test now could be to make the same experiment in front of some other station as well.
And would be nice to know which rare item did trigger this thing...

Let the speculation BEGIN!
 
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IMPORTANT NEWS - MORSE DECODED!

It seems that the rares in CMDR Delmonte's hold, make the UA change its behavior!

THOMPSON DOCK MORSE CONFIRMED!

In detail: Even if CMDR Delmonte took his video from a very short distance, different from the previous video, the UA still spelled the name of the Station, instead of drawing his ship.
Another test now could be to make the same experiment in front of some other station as well.
And would be nice to know which rare item did trigger this thing...

Let the speculation BEGIN!

Nice work, team! What rares in particular were in his hold?
 
All of them.

Well, colour me impressed.

Suppose we should try and go ahead with the long and arduous task of singling out what rare is causing this change in behaviour - if there is one.

In fact, wait a moment. Having all the rares in his hold causes the Morse behaviour to change into scanning the nearest object - which was standard in 1.3 but changed in 1.4 when the Morse drew your ship. Also in 1.4, the UA began pointing towards Merope. Since its behaviour has changed and it still points at Merope, why don't you take it there for testing?
 
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Well, colour me impressed.

Suppose we should try and go ahead with the long and arduous task of singling out what rare is causing this change in behaviour - if there is one.

In fact, wait a moment. Having all the rares in his hold causes the Morse behaviour to change into scanning the nearest object - which was standard in 1.3 but changed in 1.4 when the Morse drew your ship. Also in 1.4, the UA began pointing towards Merope. Since its behaviour has changed and it still points at Merope, why don't you take it there for testing?

Silly question, but are we certain all UAs morse the ships? Is it possible that a UA picked up in 1.3 might still just Morse the closest location? Or a 1.4 UA might in fact have been doing both, and we did not notice it until now? It seems an odd way to change the behaviour of an alien probe - "Oh look, Earl Grey Tea, I'll just Morse the station name and hope the silly humans give me more of that."

Or, is it possible UAs have life stages? Early ones morse closest location, before they "evolve" or grow and then Morse the ship?

Edit: Oh, and yes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNNLgLbd0U
 
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