UA Mystery thread 4 - The Canonn

[LordZoltan]

Something else that has been bothering me. Why Merope?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merope_(star)

What is so special about it compared to any other star in the Pleiades?

It is not the brightest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#Brightest_stars

It is not the most obvious or central in terms of the layout of that cluster, unless you count furthest "south" as somehow distinguishing it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:M45map.jpg

As 23 Tauri, it is not the most obvious feature of Taurus (nor are the Pleiades themselves really): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:Pleiades-Taurus-Stellarium.png

The Merope Nebula is not even in ED: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1435 and http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-NGC-1435.htm and https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/

It is not even the most important or main "character" of the mythos: https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/pleiades_myth.html

Although dammit it certainly feels like all we are doing is rolling boulders uphill to watch them roll down again so we can do it all over, again and again.

So either there is something bloody obvious we are missing, or there is nothing at all to find until the next morsel of UA content is released. The only obvious Pleiades meme is that it is a constant figure in early cultural folklore because of the visibility of the cluster with the naked eye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_in_folklore_and_literature

The only other known in-lore connection is the FFE infamous crashed Thargoid vessel at Pleione, but as we know that specific location in the system is not the same any more in ED.

Edit: Oh, and despite our best and most silly efforts, we have been unable to connect any of the markings on the UA to the Pleiades, Taurus or Merope - at least in any satisfactory and accepted manner.

All great points as always.

Perhaps it's Merope purely because it's not particularly remarkable and is 'new'.

Or perhaps it's because it's an 'imperfect' in-game human hoax. Perhaps it should be pointing at Pleione, but whoever 'programmed' it in-game got it wrong.

--

Perhaps the Merope pointing behaviour is purely because that's where they originate, but what brought them there is no longer there for us to find.

So, could be an origin that's no longer relevant, or it could be a location of interest. Certainly, doing a proper survey of everything we can, planets and all, can't hurt

 

[Han_Zen]

The only other known in-lore connection is the FFE infamous crashed Thargoid vessel at Pleione, but as we know that specific location in the system is not the same any more in ED.

The Pleione system is very similar to what it was in FFE. The main difference is that Pleone 4 no longer has two moons. Instead it has two rings.
It is possible that our six legged friends destroyed the 'evidence' by simply pulverizing those two moons.

 

[clavain]

If I remember correctly Merope is the oldest star in the Pleiades, according to the ingame GalMap on the system info page. What that means, or how that effects the mystery, I cannot say.

It's a Beta Cephei variable too (the only one of the major Pleiades stars that is) but as far as I can tell that, like the age, is meaningless in-game. Scientifically the age of the Pleiades cluster seems to be a somewhat moving target, with only a range generally accepted from what I have read.

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The Pleione system is very similar to what it was in FFE. The main difference is that Pleone 4 no longer has two moons. Instead it has two rings.
It is possible that our six legged friends destroyed the 'evidence' by simply pulverizing those two moons.

That specific change is what I was referring to.

Or that change was deliberate by the designers to indicate that the old lore was no longer applicable there or perhaps never even happened. Once again we don't know.

 

[clavain]

The Pleione system is very similar to what it was in FFE. The main difference is that Pleone 4 no longer has two moons. Instead it has two rings.
It is possible that our six legged friends destroyed the 'evidence' by simply pulverizing those two moons.

Has anyone checked to see if Merope is the same as it was in FFE?

 

[Derthek]

It's a Beta Cephei variable too (the only one of the major Pleiades stars that is) but as far as I can tell that, like the age, is meaningless in-game. Scientifically the age of the Pleiades cluster seems to be a somewhat moving target, with only a range generally accepted from what I have read.

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That specific change is what I was referring to.

Or that change was deliberate by the designers to indicate that the old lore was no longer applicable there or perhaps never even happened. Once again we don't know.

Yeah I completely agree. I'm not about to defend or develope a theory around something I think is irrelevant, so my guess Merope simply "is".

Although as I type this out I'm wondering if Merope has the most landable surfaces compared to other systems in the area, and that's maybe why it was chosen?

MB, if you're lurking, a simple yes or no question:
Was Merope chosen at random?

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Has anyone checked to see if Merope is the same as it was in FFE?

It's very similar, but not quite the same

 

[clavain]

Perhaps the Merope pointing behaviour is purely because that's where they originate, but what brought them there is no longer there for us to find.

So, could be an origin that's no longer relevant, or it could be a location of interest. Certainly, doing a proper survey of everything we can, planets and all, can't hurt

Sure, and I am not saying it is not. It's pretty obvious that is what we are supposed to spend the next indefinite period of time doing until the next expansion and morsel of the story appears. I guess my main point is - "look at all the missed story/content opportunities" that could have been easily integrated into the UA plot, but because they apparently have not been, have done nothing but lead us on wild goose chases and left us in the dark. We don't, and can't, achieve anything until something "unlocks" or magically appears on the surface of a planet or moon somewhere for us to stumble across. Which is all very frustrating for some of us.

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It's very similar, but not quite the same

What are the main differences? Extra or fewer planetary bodies for instance? Been trying to find it online in FFE form but still looking.

 

[EAGLE 5]

Has anyone checked to see if Merope is the same as it was in FFE?

Here

How about those ELWs?

 

[criosx]

Something else that has been bothering me. Why Merope?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merope_(star)

What is so special about it compared to any other star in the Pleiades?

I do not think that it is special. We know that UAs were brought into the bubble from further away during the Wings trailer. At the moment I am really sold to the von Neumann probe theory and believe that the Merope system is rather a place where one probe found the right environment to replicate and isotropically sends out new probes.

 

[Derthek]

There was a screenie posted back in the same thread. It had the same moon layout, or something like that. I think it also had a star with rings and a planet where the asteroid belt I'd now. Eerily similar.

 

[DNA-Decay]

Concerning the med convoys.. what is the main thought about their contents? I swear they must be making a superhuman on unwilling survivors.

Here are the contents of my last encounter:

Progenitor Cells x5
Performance Enchancers x 7
Occupied Escape Pod x 1
Scientific Research x 1

A Master Python, escorted by 4 Master Vultures...

That is totally CMDR Elgyn of The Betty delivering gold card members of the bad luck club . . . er "Research Materials" to General Perez on board the Auriga.

 

[Derthek]

Ah! Cheers, Eagle!

 

[clavain]

Here


How about those ELWs?

Ta. And some extra chars.

Edit: Three ELWs, at least one with indigenous life, now all lifeless rocky bodies. What the heck are we supposed to read into that? Are the FFE system descriptions canon (with one n) or not? Masses are completely different also, at least for 5A. Ditto surface temp, orbital period and radius.

Edit2: Interesting that the age of Merope in ED is 774 million years, when the actual star cluster is estimated to only be 75 to 150 million years old. Sigh.

 

[simulacrae]

YA I like The Missing Article on Galnet ... I have been hoping to see more on lost settlements etc... they mentioned generation ships briefly in the founding of the federation article.

I kept thinking there was another article about them - but couldn't find it. There is of course the definition from the old Elite Space Traders Flight Training Manual

"Generation Ships


Before the development of the WS Thru-Space drive, in all its various
forms, interstellar travel occurred in large, self-sustaining environment
ships - Generation Ships - most of which have now been logged and their
progress monitored. There are more than seventy thousand of these immense
vessels ploughing their way through the galaxy, some of them into their
30th generation. The penalty for interference with such a vessel is
marooning."

And ya - the old morse combined with the funny looking scanner .... does make one wonder

 

[EAGLE 5]

Ah! Cheers, Eagle!

I got Elite (Amiga) Frontier and FFE on speedial on my computer it's all in the reflexes.

EDIT: Merope is listed as having 37 major bodies I didn't get that in the last shot. Here is one of the Pleiades as it appears in the galactic map:

 

[simulacrae]

I got Elite (Amiga) Frontier and FFE on speedial on my computer it's all in the reflexes.

EDIT: Merope is listed as having 37 major bodies I didn't get that in the last shot. Here is one of the Pleiades as it appears in the galactic map

very nice !

 

[thesnowdog]

Has anyone tried dropping one of these things down (or as near as you can get without getting sucked in yourself lol) a Black Hole..?

 

[EAGLE 5]

Has anyone tried dropping one of these things down (or as near as you can get without getting sucked in yourself lol) a Black Hole..?

Yep nothing there. Also bh don't really work right now.

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Has anyone tried dropping one of these things down (or as near as you can get without getting sucked in yourself lol) a Black Hole..?

Yep nothing there. Also bh don't really work right now.

 

[simulacrae]

Barnacles grow on whales ;-)

totally dude

Spoiler

 

[King Sancho]

Something else that has been bothering me. Why Merope?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merope_(star)

What is so special about it compared to any other star in the Pleiades?

It is not the brightest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#Brightest_stars

It is not the most obvious or central in terms of the layout of that cluster, unless you count furthest "south" as somehow distinguishing it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:M45map.jpg

As 23 Tauri, it is not the most obvious feature of Taurus (nor are the Pleiades themselves really): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades#/media/File:Pleiades-Taurus-Stellarium.png

The Merope Nebula is not even in ED: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_1435 and http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-NGC-1435.htm and https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/

It is not even the most important or main "character" of the mythos: https://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/pleiades_myth.html

Although dammit it certainly feels like all we are doing is rolling boulders uphill to watch them roll down again so we can do it all over, again and again.

So either there is something bloody obvious we are missing, or there is nothing at all to find until the next morsel of UA content is released. The only obvious Pleiades meme is that it is a constant figure in early cultural folklore because of the visibility of the cluster with the naked eye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_in_folklore_and_literature

The only other known in-lore connection is the FFE infamous crashed Thargoid vessel at Pleione, but as we know that specific location in the system is not the same any more in ED.

Edit: Oh, and despite our best and most silly efforts, we have been unable to connect any of the markings on the UA to the Pleiades, Taurus or Merope - at least in any satisfactory and accepted manner.

One major variable/factor to consider is how does game mechanics play into Merope being chosen. We always have to consider the tools and thought processes available to the devs. Better said, lets think as if we were GMs and not players.

Another way to ask why Merope is: What are the goals of the game developers?

Merope may be a random choice within the Pleadius Nebula, because they wanted a place to spawn UAs near the edge of the bubble. The GMs were needing an mundane, yet slightly unique system near the bubble so that we can find the UAs.

Additional questions to ask.. why the 150 ly UA shell? Why near the bubble.. why not on the otherside of the galaxy?

My theory is: The GMs needed the UAs far enough away to be rare, but close enough for players to capture and sell on the BM. Merope, could simply be a random choice, and only chosen because it was in the Pleadies nebula.

 

[tog]

Merope in greek mythology was the only one of the seven sisters to marry a human
Maybe that is the hint they wanted us to get could be human alien hybrid race about to make itself know.
This maybe who is in the escape pods in the medical convoys