UA Mystery thread 4 - The Canonn

[GormDeGamle]

...Barnacles are really misshapen Thargoid wrecks!

Why would they call them 'Large' barnacles though? Are there small barnacles as well?

Wearing a masive tinfoil head now - but weren't the (large) Thargoid motherships accompanied by (small) Thargons back in the 80's ?

 

[beelzeblub]

I am starting to wonder if the barnacles are maybe to blame for the wrecks going down in the first place. I can imagine barnacles growing in or around FSD drives and causing malfunctions. That could also explain the mysterious disappearance of ships like Antares and the ship the emperor was on.

 

[Wobblin-Gobblin]

Not sure if I have missed something here, but why do people keep saying that the UA shell is expanding? What evidence is there of that?

All the UAs I have found in the shell are stationary, when I nudge them they move but then return to stationary. That suggests to me that that want to be stationary where they are, as otherwise they would just continue to drift after being nudged.

Tin hat theory time ... what if the UAs are already in their intended positions and creating some sort of energy field we cannot see centered on the star in Merope. From the damage they do to our ships and the station disruptions, they are certainly emitting some sort of radiation. The visual distortion and glitter would also back this up.

I think in one of the former updates (1.3 or 1.3) the UAs have been nearer to Merope than they're in 1.4/1.5/2.0....

 

[bitstorm]

On this patch note "Shouldn't have to drive away from the crashed ship sites and Barnacles to be able to recall your ship.".

I think it's worth pointing out:

I have seen two types of planetary POI.

1. Randomly generated, appears as blue circle on scanner from ship
2. Statically placed, does not appear as blue circle on scanner but is visible from above

Examples of type 2 are the MAYDAY mission spoken of a few pages back, and the Find the Ancient Core CG.

With type 1 POIs you can call your ship when nearby, with type 2 POIs you CANNOT call your ship when nearby since the game treats it as a "settlement" (it even says settlement in the message).

The patch message :"Shouldn't have to drive away from the crashed ship sites and Barnacles to be able to recall your ship."

seems to imply that the barnacle POI is type 2, and such (unless something has changed or unless barnacles behave differently) large barnacles may well NOT be visible on the scanner as a blue circle.

(arguably static POI not showing on ship radar may well be a bug though, also it is possible that barnacles come as both type 1 and type 2, meaning only *some* may not appear on ship radar)

If as MB says barnacles are specifically placed, then we should be able to detect them as signal sources from 1000Ls away, aren't we? It was consistent through latest treasure hunt - specifically placed POIs were visible from 1000Ls away and iirc that detection distance has always been the case.

On this my experience is that planet based static POIs do NOT appear on your nav list, even within 1000Ls.

 

[Dommarraa]

On this patch note "Shouldn't have to drive away from the crashed ship sites and Barnacles to be able to recall your ship.".

I think it's worth pointing out:

I have seen two types of planetary POI.

1. Randomly generated, appears as blue circle on scanner from ship
2. Statically placed, does not appear as blue circle on scanner but is visible from above

Examples of type 2 are the MAYDAY mission spoken of a few pages back, and the Find the Ancient Core CG.

With type 1 POIs you can call your ship when nearby, with type 2 POIs you CANNOT call your ship when nearby since the game treats it as a "settlement" (it even says settlement in the message).

The patch message notes :"Shouldn't have to drive away from the crashed ship sites and Barnacles to be able to recall your ship."

implies that the barnacle POI is type 2, and such, unless something has changed, I suspect large barnacles may well NOT be visible on the scanner as a blue circle.



On this my experience is that planet based static POIs do NOT appear on your nav list, even within 1000Ls.

Good. Sort of.
As I can see diddly out my window, at least I now known not to bother creeping around in my Conda looking for Blue POI. I can just jump in my buggy and cross my fingers it shows up on the Wave Scanner.

 

[Cynaqq]

Then, assuming barnacles are hand placed and don't appear as POIs from ships, we need some kind of clue to follow.

There has to be something we are missing if this is the case. There is simply no way we can find them without knowing some coordinates and system names if they are as rare as MB's comment suggests.

 

[squiggsy]

Then, assuming barnacles are hand placed and don't appear as POIs from ships, we need some kind of clue to follow.

There has to be something we are missing if this is the case. There is simply no way we can find them without knowing some coordinates and system names if they are as rare as MB's comment suggests.

This is why I'm going back to the bubble to search likely stations (starting with the ones that gave the missions) for news stories. It's not too likely to result in anything since it's not exactly local (at least I don't think) but it's worth a shot.
I just checked OO and it didn't have any interesting news there

 

[bitstorm]

Then, assuming barnacles are hand placed and don't appear as POIs from ships, we need some kind of clue to follow.

There has to be something we are missing if this is the case. There is simply no way we can find them without knowing some coordinates and system names if they are as rare as MB's comment suggests.

Aye this is the worrying thing.

But just to stress that it's possible barnacles come as both types. All we can probably infer for sure from the patch notes is that *at least some some* barnacles are static.

 

[squiggsy]

Aye this is the worrying thing.

But just to stress that it's possible barnacles come as both types. All we can infer for sure from the patch notes is that *at least some some* barnacles are static.

This comes back round to what MB was saying yesterday, that some POI's are not randomly placed. It doesn't make sense for him to be talking about POIs in general because we are already well aware of that fact and I admit now he probably wasn't talking about Nav Beacons which means he was most likely talking about Barnacles, meaning there are indeed both types.
But we have no way to know for sure... until we find them that is.

 

[bitstorm]

This comes back round to what MB was saying yesterday, that some POI's are not randomly placed. It doesn't make sense for him to be talking about POIs in general because we are already well aware of that fact and I admit now he probably wasn't talking about Nav Beacons which means he was most likely talking about Barnacles, meaning there are indeed both types.
But we have no way to know for sure... until we find them that is.

I think the trouble is it's probably not clear cut.

I mean the MAYDAY mission a few pages back seems to indicate that Frontier are able to generate static/persistent POIs via some script.

That MAYDAY mission, I'd done one of exactly the same format which seems to imply it can be randomly generated now and again.

Arguably you could run that script to generate say 100 static barnacles POIs on a moon or whatever, it's just the implication of lack of ship scanner visibility that's a bit worrying.

Static POIs do appear on the wave scanner tho. And I guess it's possible for whatever reason barnacles do indeed appear via ship scanner, settlements do I think, it's just the downed Anaconda/T9 missions I've done did not.

So yeah as you say, we have no way to know for sure till we find them.

 

[Special Circumstances]

About POI placement...

Seems to me that we are over complicating the mechanics here.

Can we not just consider that a POI is nothing more than an object having certain locational metrics which determine it's static position.
It likely exists in some sort of database.

To create an entry in said database could (I guess) happen in three ways:
1) Manual entry (e.g. FDEV manually place the POI)
2) Procedural entry (e.g. created as part of planet generation)
3) Event driven (e.g. WHEN player_in_area TRIGGER create_poi)

It's evident that the vast majority of POI are type (3), and they are generated within an instance. If you Exit to Main Menu and then re-enter, most POI have vanished/moved. Some may be more specific than the instance (although it could be an instancing issue) e.g. both players in a wing are at a POI, but only one can see the canisters of tea.

In any case, other than specific placements, or procedural generation, POI are therefore volatile objects and their existence must be subject to a set of probabilities modified by various conditions (so for example, more chance of finding metals on a metal planet, more chance of finding extraterrestrial materials in a crater).

So to reliably find the barnacles, we must discover the conditions that increase their probability of spawning. As we know next to nothing about these barnacles we're a bit stumped, so we are resorting to random searches, which is fine I guess, but once we have found some we may be able to deduce the more likely conditions (e.g. if we found 10 on hot worlds and none on cold worlds, that MIGHT be an indication that they like it hot).

Lastly, when was the last time you had a Garibaldi?

PS: Notice that barnacles have a capitial B in the patch notes... would anyone care to comment on it's significance

 

[Special Circumstances]

Different Topic

I have discovered a new species.

I call them "The Lurkers"

You can find them in two places. Asteroid fields and planets.

I suspect they are incredibly small, and possibly of a similar intent as Wombles.

When mining, you can see their signatures on the ship's scanner, buzzing around fragments you left behind. I assume they are a scavenger breed of some sort. I had always previously assumed they were other miners, but now that I've seen them on planets well outside "inhabited" space I know they can't be. On planets they can be seen on the scanners buzzing around any fragments you may have decided not to scoop...

Never managed to get a picture, soon as I head towards them they vanish, not sure how they do that...

When you're far from home, they're always there, lurking, behind you, just waiting, waiting for you to drop something...

It's a bit... spooky....


I wonder if they eat Barnacles?

 

[Ayal]

Then, assuming barnacles are hand placed and don't appear as POIs from ships, we need some kind of clue to follow.

There has to be something we are missing if this is the case. There is simply no way we can find them without knowing some coordinates and system names if they are as rare as MB's comment suggests.

thats what I've been trying to say since the patch came out before Christmas but everybody called me either impatient or negative

 

[beelzeblub]

And Palin's new base still isn't there yet.

 

[Allant Doran]

And Palin's new base still isn't there yet.

Literally just came here to ask if this was the case. I suppose not then haha.

 

[graeme.firth]

I'm narrowing my search parameters based on the video trailer, which clearly shows what a Barnacle looks like from 0m 59s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKWIJ-H-WxI

I therefore intend to search for POI on the dark side of moons very distant to the system sun. I'll keep you posted.

I recommend that instead of searching randomly, you pick a specific moon type or situation and search and repeat. This may aid as a method to eliminate certain search areas.

 

[Audax Cuthalion]

Thanks to the INARA Website, I checked for CGs, that are UA and exploration related.
Sofar these are:

• 05 Jun 3301: The Grand Sirius Interstellar Expedition, Lembava
• 03 Dec 3301: Mapping the cosmos: Planetary data, Lave

These missions don't call for a specific region to be searched. The only missions that give a list of systems are the two search expeditions for the Antares and Spaceflight One:

• 22 May 3301: The Hunt For Halsey, 200ly radius from Azaleach
• 22 Dec 3301: Search for the highliner Antares, Wise 0855-0714,Talta,Epsilon Indi,Alpha Centauri,Luhman 16,Rigga,Wise 1639-6847,Luyten 205-128

So if the Barnacles/Meta Alloys can't be found in the 150ly bubble around Merope, they might be found in the 200ly bubble round Azaleach. Perhaps these barnacles were important enough to justify a detour on a highly diplomatic mission?

 

[Ayal]

I'm narrowing my search parameters based on the video trailer, which clearly shows what a Barnacle looks like from 0m 59s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKWIJ-H-WxI

I therefore intend to search for POI on the dark side of moons very distant to the system sun. I'll keep you posted.

I recommend that instead of searching randomly, you pick a specific moon type or situation and search and repeat. This may aid as a method to eliminate certain search areas.

are you searching the shell ?

 

[Turban]

Ok, so I started the search just outside the shell.

No UA of course, so I landed, came in contact with a broken nav beacon very quickly.

I'm recording the sound now. I'm pretty sure there are several signals, but maybe it's my tinfoil hat messing with my brain...

Will post the recording soon. Waiting to get a decent lenght.

 

[unrealization]

PS: Notice that barnacles have a capitial B in the patch notes... would anyone care to comment on it's significance

I think that's because "Large Barnacles" is a name given to them by the "interstellar explorers", but that's not what they're actually called, assuming mankind does indeed have a name for them.

Following a little braindump on how to find Large Barnacles or Meta-Alloys.

So Meta-Alloys are somehow a combination of organic and non-organic material, presumably metallic. So I wonder if those things may cause a wave that will show in both the natural and artificial section of the Wave Scanner.
Also, as I had previously not looked at the details of the Wave Scanner, simply taking "Line at the bottom, natural stuff; line at the top, artificial stuff" I had a look at its Wiki page (http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Wave_Scanner) and learned that the middle line is for vessels.
This of course means that my recent find regarding UAs/Occupied Escape Pods does not mean that the scanner shows living things, but things can may contain a living thing. Do I think this will apply to Meta-Alloys? No. Do I think this will apply to Large Barnacles? Possibly. If the Large Barnacle = Downed Thargoid Ship holds, then quite certainly so.

Preferably I'd like a way to decide whether I should look for natural or artificial signal sources, or maybe even for vessels. I think we need to look for "unusual" signal sources, but I still find that a bit hard as I didn't put much focus on learning the different signals.
Also, can somebody tell me what those "columns" are that sometimes show up on the scanner? They go pretty much from top to bottom through all 3 sections, my assumption is that that's mountains or something.