UAs, Barnacles & More Thread 5 - The Canonn

[Ozric]

CG has 9.5k of metal alloys delivered after 1 day, tier 1 looks like it could be 100k? if so at this rate it will fail
tier 1 might be 50k? hard to tell

If they've set it to be a hard CG to achieve then that could mean that it's more likely to be the better option to pass the CG, as failing it would be like we failed to understand how to contain/repair the damage.

Or is it lulling us to think that way...

 

[CMDR Runcible Shaw]

Well I've been playing since 1 week after original release so I'm not a newcomer. And at least a theoretical physicist knows that the solution they are looking for IS out there for sure.

As a baby physicist, I have to say you're both wrong about theoretical physics.

 

[Jorge]

I'm getting the feeling that I need to find Cmdr. Starcloak and apologise for ever suggesting it.

I'm afraid the offence was too great. The time for apologies has long passed. Only one course of action left:

Spoiler

 

[Boomer Kay]

Yes, yes and yes!

I'd ask though - if these Barnacle sites are so important to another species as to go to war over some harvesting by us humans; why aren't they defended?

Even a farmer puts a fence around his/her fields...

If you don't want human beings using some rare thing you produce to try to stop plague that, possibly, you also produced -then don't leave them so close to the bubble and certainly don't leave them unprotected.

It might be that the emblem is a symbol of ownership - but anything importabt enough to 'brand' in this way shouldn't be left on its own; especially when there are tens of thousands of very noisy artefacts flying around *pointing* to where they can be found!

Maybe the artifacts are the defense.
An intelligent, sensible race would not run around picking up trash that destroys their ships and installations upon contact and/or consider it a good idea to look for more trouble wherever that toxic item is pointing at. Like .. taking a leak on an electric fence.

But we're humans. Shoot first, ask questions later is a proven concept in human space! It gave us dominance over dinosaurs and sabretooth tigers, it will give us dominance of whatever xenorace it trying to push our hard working miners out of their jobs!

 

[Deftin]

Not sure if it pertains to anything or is worth taking on board, but Brett C just put this 'interestingly' worded post up in this thread

I could put some barnacles in that spot... because that's the first thing that comes to mind with the word 'empty'.

Kinda like space... massive, empty, devoid of most life until you slow down and take it all in.

 

[v01i0]

Done limpets as well, they either try to collect Material and smash into the ground (Die) or just sit next to my ship if I select nothing

I see. Well it's a shame that we cannot extract alloys without destroying the spikes. I guess I will keep from shooting them cause it feels like an offense towards the unknowns.

-v

 

[Han_Zen]

A few science observations:

- The barnacle spices and UAs seem to be made rom the same material. Spices looks grown, UAs look engineered.

- Small barnacle seeds are materials. Big barnacle seeds are Meta-Alloys. The special cell structure does not appear until they are ripe.

- Both the big and the small seeds roll really well. Is this how they spread locally?

- Shooting a Meta-Alloy destroys it. It does not turn into materials :-/

Drawing parallels to nature from this, I would say that the Meta-Alloy reminds me of a coconut. A very solid seed, evolved for long distance travel in harsh conditions.

 

[Dirk Braben]

I'd ask though - if these Barnacle sites are so important to another species as to go to war over some harvesting by us humans; why aren't they defended?

Well, would you put up expensive defenses that have to be on standby 24/7 (or whatever rotation your planet has) with THAT propability of some sentient being tripping over the installation?
- space is huge, planetary surface even more so. The chances of becoming found are therefore quite small
- Barnacle installations itself have a relatively small footprint
- someone/something capable of FTL-travel has to exist to even reach the Barnacles
- even if you'd loose some, there are still dozen/hundreds/? others still available (redundancy)

And btw - what if the UAs serve the role of a door guard?

But I agree all of your points are valid.



I wonder what the "wonderful achievements" for that CG are. Tiered levels of Fun(tm) from tickling to "Rain of Fire"? :devilsmilie:

 

[Ozric]

Not sure if it pertains to anything or is worth taking on board, but Brett C just put this 'interestingly' worded post up in this thread

Hmmm OK Brett, now that's a bit weird

 

[Jorge]

Well, would you put up expensive defenses that have to be on standby 24/7 (or whatever rotation your planet has) with THAT propability of some sentient being tripping over the installation?
- space is huge, planetary surface even more so. The chances of becoming found are therefore quite small
- Barnacle installations itself have a relatively small footprint
- someone/something capable of FTL-travel has to exist to even reach the Barnacles
- even if you'd loose some, there are still dozen/hundreds/? others still available (redundancy)

And btw - what if the UAs serve the role of a door guard?

But I agree all of your points are valid.



I wonder what the "wonderful achievements" for that CG are. Tiered levels of Fun(tm) from tickling to "Rain of Fire"? :devilsmilie:

This is all pure speculation, of course, but the fact that they use morse would indicate a strong probability that they expected us to find them. And if they know how to "speak" in morse, and they don't want us to meddle with the barnacles, how come they are not using it to say "KEEP OFF MY LAWN!".

 

[Boomer Kay]

This is all pure speculation, of course, but the fact that they use morse would indicate a strong probability that they expected us to find them. And if they know how to "speak" in morse, and they don't want us to meddle with the barnacles, how come they are not using it to say "KEEP OFF MY LAWN!".

If I followed that correctly, the UAs damage your ship as soon as you have them on board?
If that's the case, it's a pretty clear message imo.

 

[TinyPwny]

If I followed that correctly, the UAs damage your ship as soon as you have them on board?
If that's the case, it's a pretty clear message imo.

Nitric acid probably has the same effect. Still, nitric acid doesn't send messages. UA damaging ships doesn't mean UA are deliberately destructive, it could simply be a side effect of what they are (and as of now, nobody knows what they are really).

 

[LordZoltan]

If I followed that correctly, the UAs damage your ship as soon as you have them on board?
If that's the case, it's a pretty clear message imo.

Well - they scream at us to be found - SSS are usually reserved for large numbers of ships - and communicate in a way that can be understood.

In any case, if you see the damage as a defence mechanism, it's only a mechanism against transporting UAs, not harvesting 'the fruit of the barnacle'.

 

[CMDR Runcible Shaw]

Guys, I'm going to be snowed in all weekend. I'm hoping to make it back to the bubble and go mess around with some UAs and barnacles. Any plans for a scour or something fun this weekend?

 

[Boomer Kay]

Nitric acid probably has the same effect. Still, nitric acid doesn't send messages. UA damaging ships doesn't mean UA are deliberately destructive, it could simply be a side effect of what they are (and as of now, nobody knows what they are really).

Oh, a cup of nitric acid on the coffee table sends a very clear message.
So does an electric fence around some property.
And.. it's humming.. probably some code .. let's lick it to find out. And it's the fence that "tickles", the cow behind it itself is harmless.

But yea, scientists. "It's poisonous! bring me more of that stuff to study it". Thanks science .. Now go and develop me some better "lasers" that we can initiate "diplomatic contact" with those aliens. We shall "morse code" them back .. with some gigawatt of pure destruction.

 

[K M Butler]

I am very much afraid that the only realistic course of action is going to be SHOOT 'EM ALL AND STEAL THEIR STUFF. This is partly due to the mindset of a depressingly large portion of the playerbase, and partly because where noncombat interaction is concerned, when players asked for tricorders, the dev's heard vuvuzela.

 

[Zefod]

A few science observations:

- The barnacle spices and UAs seem to be made rom the same material. Spices looks grown, UAs look engineered.

I disagree on the engineered look; if you look at a virus for instance... nature's handywork!
But it could be mimicked by engineers though ...

some more examples "engineered" by nature:

http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.nl/2009/05/amazing-electron-microscope-images.html

 

[_Dastardly_]

I'm not convinced the CG is the crossroads. Having people try to complete a CG is a foregone conclusion. A crossroads would be two seperate CG's... for example one with a high moral goal (Using the Meta-Alloys to fix a broken alien spaceship) and one with a high financial return (using the meta-alloys to make lots of credits).. that would be a crossroads... especially if only one could 'win'.

Having a CG with no real information about what we are doing and no real moral compass to guide us is not much of a crossroads.

 

[Jorge]

If I followed that correctly, the UAs damage your ship as soon as you have them on board?
If that's the case, it's a pretty clear message imo.

True, but once again, the UAs use morse. They could just say "don't pick me up". We can go in circles like this all day, but that to me is just evidence that the message they are sending is anything but clear.

 

[Boomer Kay]

I'm not convinced the CG is the crossroads. Having people try to complete a CG is a foregone conclusion. A crossroads would be two seperate CG's... for example one with a high moral goal (Using the Meta-Alloys to fix a broken alien spaceship) and one with a high financial return (using the meta-alloys to make lots of credits).. that would be a crossroads... especially if only one could 'win'.

Having a CG with no real information about what we are doing and no real moral compass to guide us is not much of a crossroads.

You mean like the Emperor's Dawn Shadow Cell CG going on at the same time?

True, but once again, the UAs use morse. They could just say "don't pick me up". We can go in circles like this all day, but that to me is just evidence that the message they are sending is anything but clear.

In which language would they say "don't pick me up"?
"no me tocas"?
"lass mich los"?
.. that's just 3 of the languages spoken on earth at the moment.
They might morse us (don't know if it's scarier to think they know we're here or they don't know were's here at all and none of their stuff is meant for us, so they're just running around the universe, claiming and harvesting sector after sector) in Bambara that they picked up from a radio transmission sent in the 1960ies.
And add some little "bzzzzzt" to get the message trough.