UA Mystery thread 4 - The Canonn

[Kicks]

Part of me still subscribes to the theory that the large barnacles are, in fact, the UAs - "these are commonly found in a certain area of space" referring to the shell around Merope.

Also, another tinfoil hat idea that's probably been done to death - we say they're point towards Merope, but they might be pointing away from Merope because their solar-panels would therefore be pointing at the star... Only way to prove this would be to see if the shell gets bigger over time, giving the impression it's a launch...

 

[RedWizzard]

I (sort of) disagree.

It depends if we're looking for something hand-coded and placed in a single location or something dynamic, like a POI.

In the former case, you are correct. It's a completely unreasonable task to search the whole of the Merope system manually for a single location, let alone the UA shell. But I don't think that's the sort of puzzle that FD would create because... it's a completely unreasonable task to set us.

On the other hand, POIs appear to be generated dynamically by the game - I believe that two CMDRs visiting the same planet independently will see different POIs on the surface. So, (say) if our secret Thargoid base was in a POI that only spawns in Merope, then IMO we would expect to have found something by now. We've had a large number of CMDRs spend time in Merope trundling around on planetary surfaces, and AFAIK, nobody has found anything. Taking a stab in the dark, I would say that we've spawned >1000 POIs in Merope. I think that based on that we can tentatively rule out the existence of a magic POI on the surface of the most obvious Merope bodies, unless the spawn rate is extremely low.

In 1.2 UAs appeared in dynamically generated SSS convoys. It took us weeks to find any. Some commanders spent over 100 hours looking for one without success. That'd be many hundreds of SSS. This attitude of "we haven't found it after a few days of searching so it can't be there" is simply wrong.

 

[knowles2]

I (sort of) disagree.

It depends if we're looking for something hand-coded and placed in a single location or something dynamic, like a POI.

In the former case, you are correct. It's a completely unreasonable task to search the whole of the Merope system manually for a single location, let alone the UA shell. But I don't think that's the sort of puzzle that FD would create because... it's a completely unreasonable task to set us.

On the other hand, POIs appear to be generated dynamically by the game - I believe that two CMDRs visiting the same planet independently will see different POIs on the surface. So, (say) if our secret Thargoid base was in a POI that only spawns in Merope, then IMO we would expect to have found something by now. We've had a large number of CMDRs spend time in Merope trundling around on planetary surfaces, and AFAIK, nobody has found anything. Taking a stab in the dark, I would say that we've spawned >1000 POIs in Merope. I think that based on that we can tentatively rule out the existence of a magic POI on the surface of the most obvious Merope bodies, unless the spawn rate is extremely low.

The original UA on a cargo ship had a very low spawn rate and seem to have been related to your rank as well. It possible that this in game object has the same spawn rate and rank system. Which means it could require weeks of searching.

 

[RedWizzard]

Part of me still subscribes to the theory that the large barnacles are, in fact, the UAs - "these are commonly found in a certain area of space" referring to the shell around Merope.

But then why would whoever named them have named them "barnacles"? "UA" and "AEO" are well known terms on Galnet and the UAs don't bear more than a passing resemblance to barnacles.

 

[knowles2]

I still think they are separate. I think the structure in the trailer is where the UA were launched from. The Mata-alloy which could probably be track down using market prices will end up having nothing to do with the UA.

I think we been distracted by these events from looking for the cure to the failing stations.

 

[Kicks]

But then why would whoever named them have named them "barnacles"? "UA" and "AEO" are well known terms on Galnet and the UAs don't bear more than a passing resemblance to barnacles.

A fair point. My only counterpoint might be around the fact that the term comes from the pilots of the very ships you guys intercepted in 1.2 that were carrying them... but that's about all I got on that front

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I still think they are separate. I think the structure in the trailer is where the UA were launched from. The Mata-alloy which could probably be track down using market prices will end up having nothing to do with the UA.

I think we been distracted by these events from looking for the cure to the failing stations.

And, to a point, didn't they say the focus for this season is the Barnacles from a story perspective (I haven't got a link, unfortunately - just vaguely remember it), meaning that potentially - for the foreseeable future - the UA story is not going to move on at all, no matter how much we scour Merope/Merope's shell.

 

[RedWizzard]

I found a Rich Metal Planet with GREEN CANYONS, phosphorescent green. It was not the usual greenish planet whose color was caused by the close green/blue star, because the nearest moon has red canyons as well.
HIP 17692 A1, in Pleiades, is worth a visit and a careful check...

Very cool colouration...

 

[Han_Zen]

I still think they are separate. I think the structure in the trailer is where the UA were launched from. The Mata-alloy which could probably be track down using market prices will end up having nothing to do with the UA.

I think we been distracted by these events from looking for the cure to the failing stations.

The hope is that finding MAs will tell us which region to search fo LBs, that we hope are related to UAs

 

[RedWizzard]

And, to a point, didn't they say the focus for this season is the Barnacles from a story perspective (I haven't got a link, unfortunately - just vaguely remember it), meaning that potentially - for the foreseeable future - the UA story is not going to move on at all, no matter how much we scour Merope/Merope's shell.

That'd be irritating but it does make some sense. Horizons is the hot new thing, it makes sense to focus on that and so do something planet-side. But the UA mystery has been around for most of season one and a fair number of engaged players won't have Horizons. Advancing the UA mystery via something planet-side would be a bit of a kick in the teeth for them. So it makes sense to do something new planet-side for Horizons players and either put the UA thing on the back burner for now or at least do something in space for the UAs. Seems it might be the former...

 

[Bigskill]

Im pretty sure you already tried, but have you ever thought that maybe the UA founded so far represent a code?
I mean Trying to take the first letter of the system where you guys found all the UA and try to see if they compose a name of a system or something?
I know that this look a pretty simple question and is probably obvious, but i think it deserve a try.
Do we have a list of all the UA collected and a system list?
Im pretty new on this project, I have been helping Riz@l on the search, I hvnt read all the 385 pages lol not yet at least

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

A couple of thoughts regarding the Distress Signals that appear like *SS in supercruise.
Has anyone seen/checked Distress Signals in Merope?
We've been told that our first interaction with Thargoids will determine how we get along with them: this provides a mechanism for that to happen. I've heard of people finding ships without fuel in these but personally I have only encountered a ship under attack. In either case, maybe we should be prepared to help them out. The ship under attack scenarios seem tough (4-5 ships attacking one defender) but maybe a well-armed, skilled pilot could take them on alone, or else it might need a wing (I've only seen it in my Asp, which is not equipped for this). I'm considering running with fuel limpets now for Distant Worlds just in case I need to help out an alien ship, as well as other explorers.
I understand it's also now possible to receive missions in space. Perhaps successfully rescuing a ship involved with UA research could trigger a mission to a base or other key permanent location? Has anyone ever received a mission from scanning a datalink? I've encountered multi-stage missions (taken from BB as normal) that sent a message to my in-game inbox upon meeting a contact, so perhaps this might be a mechanism for a mission to reveal the location of a hidden base?
I'm too short on time for the next day or two to take part (and every time I've gone to Merope over the last couple of days there have been hollow triangles around!) but it might be worth being aware that there are other mechanisms for providing us with missions, or guides to something interesting.(I also remember something from an old Dev Update that maybe USS chatter could be used to provide clues for things like treasure hunts - has anyone seen any unusual chatter in a *SS?).

 

[Jmanis]

Im pretty sure you already tried, but have you ever thought that maybe the UA founded so far represent a code?
I mean Trying to take the first letter of the system where you guys found all the UA and try to see if they compose a name of a system or something?
I know that this look a pretty simple question and is probably obvious, but i think it deserve a try.
Do we have a list of all the UA collected and a system list?
Im pretty new on this project, I have been helping Riz@l on the search, I hvnt read all the 385 pages lol not yet at least

There is literally thousands of systems that a UA can be found right now. Pick any system within a 135-150LY radius from Merope and you'll guarantee finding a UA

 

[AlexVII]

Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-37 (planet - 3)
Found a very dark crater. It is full of mountains.
Visibility - Am I blind?

Spoiler

Many different signals (POI).
And I did not know that Elite can be a horror game.

Spoiler

Wave scanner sounds is very scary.
View attachment 88367

Edit: Anyone know what to do with lying cargo rack?

Spoiler

View attachment 88368

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

No I don't mean closer to the star I mean many at the star,like I hear that the UAs are found at a certain distance from merope in a shell
type shape so I was wondering if they are slowly travelling there.
So maybe the distance they are found from merope would slowly decrease cause that's where they are all gonna end up eventually and when there's lots of them surrounding the star then maybe something happens .

So instead of taking UAs to stations the Canonn should be transporting them to Merope- sounds like could be an interesting experiment!

 

[RedWizzard]

Im pretty sure you already tried, but have you ever thought that maybe the UA founded so far represent a code?
I mean Trying to take the first letter of the system where you guys found all the UA and try to see if they compose a name of a system or something?
I know that this look a pretty simple question and is probably obvious, but i think it deserve a try.
Do we have a list of all the UA collected and a system list?
Im pretty new on this project, I have been helping Riz@l on the search, I hvnt read all the 385 pages lol not yet at least

In 1.4 the UAs appear in systems between 135 and 150 Ly of Merope. There are thousands of systems in that volume and the majority, if not all of them, spawn UAs. The systems we've recorded can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nbAAtymsXCJib_plQtbjGPkVqlr3VuJxEE95N2n6Phs
Given the number of systems and the fact they're mostly procedurally generated and therefore and similar and somewhat predictable names I really doubt there is any code to be found.

Prior to 1.4 UAs were much rarer (appearing in the bubble in 1.2 and in systems near Merope in 1.3) and so it's quite doubtful that we've found all, or even most, of the systems they appeared in. My record of pre-1.4 sightings can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vxanAyuS8BtrD_piNjZ57Sw21vCpJmmE3DSgsp7StrQ
Again I doubt there is code in the system names, but it is more plausible in this data. As I said the main problem is that we almost certainly didn't discover all the UA systems.

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Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-37 (planet - 3)
Found a very dark crater. It is full of mountains.

When the name says "Dark Region" you've kinda got to expect this sort of thing

 

[Bigskill]

In 1.4 the UAs appear in systems between 135 and 150 Ly of Merope. There are thousands of systems in that volume and the majority, if not all of them, spawn UAs. The systems we've recorded can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nbAAtymsXCJib_plQtbjGPkVqlr3VuJxEE95N2n6Phs
Given the number of systems and the fact they're mostly procedurally generated and therefore and similar and somewhat predictable names I really doubt there is any code to be found.

Prior to 1.4 UAs were much rarer (appearing in the bubble in 1.2 and in systems near Merope in 1.3) and so it's quite doubtful that we've found all, or even most, of the systems they appeared in. My record of pre-1.4 sightings can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vxanAyuS8BtrD_piNjZ57Sw21vCpJmmE3DSgsp7StrQ
Again I doubt there is code in the system names, but it is more plausible in this data. As I said the main problem is that we almost certainly didn't discover all the UA systems.

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When the name says "Dark Region" you've kinda got to expect this sort of thing

Definitively is pretty difficult to decode all of these....
There must be a meaning for those relics, other than scanning ship and a morse code.... I believe we need 1 more help to find the reason of these UA, would be nice to be able to know the location where they send all the ships info....
How can we so sure that the rounded ball point on Merope ? Did someone ever try to drop one in higher in the air below the orbit to see if the indicate a point on a planet maybe?
In the space is difficult to determine the exact orientation of these ers i believe.... how can be so sure they point on Merope system?
Im sure we are missing a key for these UA.

 

[AlexVII]

When the name says "Dark Region" you've kinda got to expect this sort of thing

I was expecting lightly dark planets instead of pitch black nothingness.

 

[Graham65]

Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-37 (planet - 3)


Edit: Anyone know what to do with lying cargo rack?

Spoiler

View attachment 88368

Shoot it you should get a data package

 

[rizal72]

Very cool colouration...

View attachment 88352

EhEh! I told you it was REALLY green... Barnacles inside?

On a second note, tho whom is still debating if the shell is expanding or not, remember that in 1.3, free floaters were found almost inside Pleiades Nebula (HR 1172, 1183 ...) then in 1.4 UAs popped up in the current shell (135,150Ly from Merope).
If this doesn't mean 'expanding' then...

Edit: @Bigskill
The UA deployed in Merope system points to the exact center of the star, from wherever in the system. Try it yourself
Welcome to the madness.

 

[Jmanis]

Edit: Anyone know what to do with lying cargo rack?

Spoiler

View attachment 88368

Like all good things; shoot it. Cargo pops out. The angle can be tricky so keep trying from different ones.

How can we so sure that the rounded ball point on Merope ? Did someone ever try to drop one in higher in the air below the orbit to see if the indicate a point on a planet maybe?

If you drop one in the system, it always points to the main star in Merope.