UAs, Barnacles & More Thread 6 - The Canonn

[CMDR Sheehy]

Out of rep...


Any body else on the way to Barnard's loop, was on my way there and was wondering if anybody else had or was bothering to look out that way? Sorry can't see anything on the Monster Sheet.

I'm out there, but with a bare few hours a week, it's a long crawl. I usually get to find a single candidate planet and do some SRVing around it. There are a ton of Candidate planets and moons in the Loop. By contrast I decided to visit the Horsehead Nebula and there's barely any planets, never mind candidates. I must have jumped through ten systems with nothing, and then all of a sudden, one system with like 6 within range... that will take me many weeks to slowly check out each one, sample canyons and mineral deposits and look for rare mats.

Space is very pink for me at the moment, so some company will be very much appreciated. Can you bring a few spare Biscuit Ration Packs please? Nothing with Chocolate on them. The Caffeine will kill me.

 

[two quiet suns]

i went over and over barnards loop, not saying every planet, every crater but i had a good look at as many systems as i could

 

[Wobblin-Gobblin]

I have been thinking something like that my self. I wondering if the Barnacles are colonies, rather than a living being. That they are built, rather than grow.

The spikes remind me a lot of termite mounds:
View attachment 105848

The patterns on the main barnacle also remind me of the exposed inside of a termite mound:
View attachment 105849

A termite mound is basically an ant hill, Perhaps the Ant Hill Mob knows more than they tell us. :x

Best thinking for a long time. [up]

 

[Anjin]

If Palin is to be believed from this Galnet article, the UAs cause damage by extracting materials from their surroundings to repair themselves:

https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/56a9eb029657ba9847be67bd

That this behaviour ceases when in the presence of meta alloys suggests a definite relationship to me. The one technology knows not to break down devices of the same technology to repair itself.

I don't think the UAs are malicious; they just can't identify our ships/stations as anything other than a lump of raw materials.

 

[LordZoltan]

Yeah @slarty if you have a k class i7 you should be fine

Spoiler

I just rebuilt my rig from a 2600k to 6700k for future proofing. Involved a RAM upgrade from 8gb to 32gb too.

In truth - there's very little improvement in raw CPU performance in *most* cases. The i7 class gives you the cores and hyperthreading, which represents most of the extra beef associated with the higher end processors, so I think your 3770k is absolutely fine. Indeed, if you do some digging, you'll find the 3770k and newer 6700k are roughly equivalent

DX12 should see processor cores and efficiencies having more of a benefit on performance without having to change any hardware, but whether we see ED running natively on DX12 I don't know.

 

[LordZoltan]

If Palin is to be believed from this Galnet article, the UAs cause damage by extracting materials from their surroundings to repair themselves:

https://community.elitedangerous.com/galnet/uid/56a9eb029657ba9847be67bd

That this behaviour ceases when in the presence of meta alloys suggests a definite relationship to me. The one technology knows not to break down devices of the same technology to repair itself.

I don't think the UAs are malicious; they just can't identify our ships/stations as anything other than a lump of raw materials.

Oh there's definitely a relationship - for exactly the reasons you say - but do the MAs exist because of the UA effect (I.e. as a deliberate control or defence) or is it accidental. And also - do both have the same source? Perhaps the metallic parts of the UA itself are Meta-Alloys, or perhaps they're something else entirely.

I guess what I'm getting at is, if both are 'alien', we could be looking at two different alien sources, not one and the same.

 

[Kyp Shard]

Oh there's definitely a relationship - for exactly the reasons you say - but do the MAs exist because of the UA effect (I.e. as a deliberate control or defence) or is it accidental. And also - do both have the same source? Perhaps the metallic parts of the UA itself are Meta-Alloys, or perhaps they're something else entirely.

I guess what I'm getting at is, if both are 'alien', we could be looking at two different alien sources, not one and the same.

Ah but remember the purrs... both have the same purr sound. And the fireflies. Both have those. And the gases. The textures are different, as is the colour of the glow, but I think we're looking at cousins at least.

I think the fireflies could be the "ants" from Han Zen's termite/anthill analogy. And I think they and the clouds of gases are nanites. Self-repair nanites in the UA, and builder nanites in the barnacles, building the meta alloys from molecular components.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Hi there, i have an OR on order the delivery date is for the end of May so a way to go yet.
On the Graphics card subject, i have 2 980 ti's and i run Elite at ultra with the exception of supersampling which i leave at 1x ( never been able to get a nice frame rate from using this even when i turn things down) and i get butter smooth frame rates from everywhere except whilst being on planets, though this is with the DK2 and i am fully expecting to have to turn down graphics settings to get Elite to run at this sort of level on the CV1, because of higher frame rates and screen resolutions.
So i would say whatever route you go down your prolly going to want a 980 if not a TI, if you want Elite to look nice.
I have played a few games through the rift and only Elite takes 4.5GB of ram on both cards and runs them at temps of 76, nothing else has come close to this yet.
Hope this helps


Edit: There is one thing i should note though, My system is a I7 3930k and this could well be a bit of a bottle neck on my system and could be why i dont have much luck with supersampling.

Edit edit: i love my DK2 and i am wetting my self in anticipation of the CV1 turning up.

Hi SB! Keep us in the loop wrt your CV1 experience when it arrives!

Edit: P.S. how readable is the small text with the DK2? my eyesight isn't great & I wear varifocals with astigmatism correction.

 

[Temple604]

Heres a great track to get the exploration juices flowing!

[video=youtube;P_oISfk88Yw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_oISfk88Yw&index=11&list=PL4OkRCECVOZCsm1saxjuw3_k5zFnm3DP2[/video]

 

[LordZoltan]

Ah but remember the purrs... both have the same purr sound. And the fireflies. Both have those. And the gases. The textures are different, as is the colour of the glow, but I think we're looking at cousins at least.

I think the fireflies could be the "ants" from Han Zen's termite/anthill analogy. And I think they and the clouds of gases are nanites. Self-repair nanites in the UA, and builder nanites in the barnacles, building the meta alloys from molecular components.

Absolutely - but it's exactly because of the similarities that I'm struggling to reconcile the differences (like everyone else!).

Unless the MAs are manufactured specifically for the UAs as they are the only thing that can 'satiate' them

 

[danubezoe]

Best thinking for a long time. [up]

Han_zen keeps doing that...
Now do we know an anthill mob nearby? No wonder all the CG-MAs disappeared.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

.....

I think the fireflies could be the "ants" from Han Zen's termite/anthill analogy. And I think they and the clouds of gases are nanites. Self-repair nanites in the UA, and builder nanites in the barnacles, building the meta alloys from molecular components.

Ants and wasps are related, ants just dropped flying most of the time. So, can the fireflies be luminecent spacewasps and the barnackle a hive? Then perhaps a UA is a spacewasp spaceship.... and it is probably time for my medication....
Cheers
Dz

 

[Patau82]

Time to capture and interogate obsidian ant?

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Time to capture and interogate obsidian ant?

Excellent idea… we would of course need to announce that he was taking an important trip so that nobody would expect it…

 

[slartybartfast]

Yeah @slarty if you have a k class i7 you should be fine

Spoiler

I just rebuilt my rig from a 2600k to 6700k for future proofing. Involved a RAM upgrade from 8gb to 32gb too.

In truth - there's very little improvement in raw CPU performance in *most* cases. The i7 class gives you the cores and hyperthreading, which represents most of the extra beef associated with the higher end processors, so I think your 3770k is absolutely fine. Indeed, if you do some digging, you'll find the 3770k and newer 6700k are roughly equivalent

DX12 should see processor cores and efficiencies having more of a benefit on performance without having to change any hardware, but whether we see ED running natively on DX12 I don't know.

@LordZoltan

Spoiler

well it's not just the cpu for me, silly asmedia usb 3 controller is not liked by the rift or anything as far as i can see ( out of the 4 i have on the MoBo only one works with Thrustmaster warthog joystick) so i may end up doing it any way as i have hard drives on a raid in the only available pci that i have.
As for DX12 well i dont like not being able to turn off automatic updates and all the keylogging rubbish that MS have done to windows 10 kinda makes me want to avoid Windows 10, also there is a frame rate drop of about 10% on the 980's when using DX12, as opposed to AMD cards that have had a huge boost of a min of 30%, so untill these things are sorted i am staying on Windows 7. damit why after reading this back later i feel like im trying to talk myself into upgrading lmao.

I'm out there, but with a bare few hours a week, it's a long crawl. I usually get to find a single candidate planet and do some SRVing around it. There are a ton of Candidate planets and moons in the Loop. By contrast I decided to visit the Horsehead Nebula and there's barely any planets, never mind candidates. I must have jumped through ten systems with nothing, and then all of a sudden, one system with like 6 within range... that will take me many weeks to slowly check out each one, sample canyons and mineral deposits and look for rare mats.

Space is very pink for me at the moment, so some company will be very much appreciated. Can you bring a few spare Biscuit Ration Packs please? Nothing with Chocolate on them. The Caffeine will kill me.

Hobb Nobb's ok? Have plenty of them to share.
I got as far as the California Nebula, and should be on at around 8pm server time to finish of the journey .
Good to know there are a few candidates out there unlike the Horsehead Nebula that sounds a bit harsh getting all that way out there to find that out.

Hi SB! Keep us in the loop wrt your CV1 experience when it arrives!

Edit: P.S. how readable is the small text with the DK2? my eyesight isn't great & I wear varifocals with astigmatism correction.

Reading small text is not great but also not a problem with the DK2 as you just lean towards what your looking at and get it as big as you like .
And as soon as i get the CV1 and am able to use it (be it this game or not) i will let peeps know, though sounds like LZ got in the que before i managed to convince myself i could afford it
I could not tell you about using one with sight difficulties as i have fairly good eyesight.

 

[CMDR Sheehy]

i went over and over barnards loop, not saying every planet, every crater but i had a good look at as many systems as i could

Different methodologies, as the scientists will tell you, can sometimes return different results. I'm doing snail's pace land and scan at each mineral deposit site in low latitudes on candidate worlds.

Hobb Nobb's ok? Have plenty of them to share.
I got as far as the California Nebula, and should be on at around 8pm server time to finish of the journey .
Good to know there are a few candidates out there unlike the Horsehead Nebula that sounds a bit harsh getting all that way out there to find that out.

Hobnobs will do. And as for Horsehead, well, its only a hop, skip and a... oh, I'm here already, from Barnards Loop's central blob. I thought, let me take a break from all this dull pink and head over there where the reddish-pink is slightly brighter. So it wasn't much of a sacrifice.

 

[RollinStoner]

Might I also suggest a visit to the system that's pretty much bang in the middle of the flame nebula, I'm away from my notes so I dint have its name, but I got lots of pretty screenies from where the three nebula meet

 

[TFW Primus]

And as soon as i get the CV1 and am able to use it (be it this game or not) i will let peeps know, though sounds like LZ got in the que before i managed to convince myself i could afford it

I should be in the initial shipments this month as well. I'll be sure to drop a line about results with the CV1.

Back to the science...

I still feel like we are missing something major with both the UA and the barnacles. Maybe there's nothing left to discover, but it really seems like there should be more to it at the current stage of the game. I guess something might progress with the Engineers, but we don't have a date for that yet. Certainly are some peaks and valleys with this story progression

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Spoilering as O/T

Spoiler

Officially - nobody outside of FD knows if the Rift will ever work with Elite Dangerous as officially supported hardware (without using SteamVR hacks etc). However, FD have categorically said that they are still working with Oculus on it. Best thing to look at are these two threads started by Zac: Oculus Pre-Order Information, and This one correcting some lazy reporting.

Personally - I can't imagine a more immersive experience in VR right now, and I can't imagine a better way to play the game.

There's no real reason why the Vive and Rift's recommended GPU should be any different, as they are fundamentally the same in terms of the number of pixels they're pushing. You might be on the edge of what's required for VR with your 970 to be honest - but if you are going to make the leap, then keep it as it is... when the next gen of nvidia GPUs come out later this year (or indeed AMD/ATI for that camp) the current crop of uber-cards will drop. I went 980ti because of the 6gb memory - an important factor for hi resolution.

Your idea of VR and Voice Attach + HOTAS is the way to do it. If the Rift is eventually supported - personally I think it'll be the best fun you can have sitting in front of your computer.

No jokes please

Oh @slarty:

Spoiler

- reckon if you're SLIing those cards the bottleneck could be that - and also that because of the non-native support in Elite, the pipeline's working too hard with supersampling and antialiasing. I run at 1.5x super sampling in ultra on one card and it's buttery most of the time. The times it isn't don't appear to be related to graphics, because it'll be smooth one minute, a judder a bit, and then smooth again - just sitting still.

As I say - with native rift support from the latest stack at 0.7+ (not via steamVR) - the rift interface is implemented at the driver level, and should mean higher performance.

We'll see when we play Eve Valkyrie what can be achieved. When I tried the Vive demo of ED back at EGX the machine they were using wasn't quite as good as our spec-wise, but it was smoother - and that was at a higher res than the DK2 already. So don't underestimate the affect the SDK/Driver stack is having here

Thanks LZ (& SB!), more useful advice! I don't suppose you (or anyone else) has thoughts/experience on the Razer OSVR? Its half the price of the OR & apparently is now supported for ED via a SteamVR plugin. Being open & modular there is also the option to upgrade the display to QHD in the future (apparently someone on the OSVR forum is pursuing that).

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Ah but remember the purrs... both have the same purr sound. And the fireflies. Both have those. And the gases. The textures are different, as is the colour of the glow, but I think we're looking at cousins at least.

I think the fireflies could be the "ants" from Han Zen's termite/anthill analogy. And I think they and the clouds of gases are nanites. Self-repair nanites in the UA, and builder nanites in the barnacles, building the meta alloys from molecular components.

+Rep!
Mmmm, has anyone tried leaving their ship and/or SRV without shields close by a barnacle & seeing if the Barnacle's "fireflies" attack the hull/modules?? Don't remember anyone reporting that experiment; it might be evidence to support the hypothesis that the UA & Barney are related forms.

As a separate thought I found my first UA the other night about 4 jumps out from Maia. The blue "fireflies" seemed much brighter than in the YouTube videos I've seen from pre-v2.0; unfortunately none of my pix or video were saved (don't ask! ) so I have no evidence for comparison. Am about 1kLY out but if nobody else checks this I will do so on my return. It was not at first pointing directly at Merope (about 15 degrees off? Would be interesting to have seen what else it might have been pointing at-perhaps a Barney site or one of the other Pleiades?), but after I'd bumped it (accidentally) a few times trying to get close up pix, it did point directly at Merope.

 

[Han_Zen]

+Rep!
Mmmm, has anyone tried leaving their ship and/or SRV without shields close by a barnacle & seeing if the Barnacle's "fireflies" attack the hull/modules?? Don't remember anyone reporting that experiment; it might be evidence to support the hypothesis that the UA & Barney are related forms.

As a separate thought I found my first UA the other night about 4 jumps out from Maia. The blue "fireflies" seemed much brighter than in the YouTube videos I've seen from pre-v2.0; unfortunately none of my pix or video were saved (don't ask! ) so I have no evidence for comparison. Am about 1kLY out but if nobody else checks this I will do so on my return. It was not at first pointing directly at Merope (about 15 degrees off? Would be interesting to have seen what else it might have been pointing at-perhaps a Barney site or one of the other Pleiades?), but after I'd bumped it (accidentally) a few times trying to get close up pix, it did point directly at Merope.

The fireflies do look much bigger 'live' than in YouTube vids.
The UA flies are also bigger than the MA flies.
I checked a couple of UAs on Monday. They looked normal. I didn't check alignment though.