UAs, Barnacles & More Thread 6 - The Canonn

[Han_Zen]

So to summarize my thoughts, it seems there are a couple of Nebulae that have to do with the origins of the barnacles. The first nebula was discovered because the UA’s around that area pointed to center of that nebula which was the system MEROPE.
The symbol on those barnacles appears to look like one nebula but MB confirms that there is more than one nebula connected to this whole puzzle. I suspect that symbol is a combination of 3 nebulae. The symbol is formed of 3 different shapes and I think these are three separate nebulae.
I strongly think now that the UA’s are pointing to the center of their bubble or shell where they are found. To confirm this, I suggest those in the California nebula who have found barnacles that they explore the outsides of that nebula in search for UA that are probably forming a shell around that nebula. Then see if they point to the center of the califonia nebula. If my theory is correct we have found 2 of the 3 nebula depicted in the Barnacle symbol. Using the three nebulae as a point in a triangle I suspect that it can be used to triangulate the center of these 3 nebula to find something in the exact center.

This is also good thinking, but I don't think that there is another UA shell. Here are my reasons:

All UAs point to Merope. This started wit the release of 1.4 (beta to be precise). I was there when Ratking15 took the first ever UA to Merope for testing.
All the early testing were done on UAs that were not found in the Shell. Ratking's was liberated from a convoy, others were found in SSS in the Pleiades and some were even duplicates from the instancing bug.

As a game object, all UAs are the same. They are cargo canisters. There is nothing suggesting that the object knows where it was spawned. In fact, it probably re-spawns when jettisoned. I doubt that the object exists while we have it in the cargo hold. They have never shown any indication to be persistent.

This means that to have a second shell, the game would need a second UA object. UAs in the new shell will have to be of a different type, that point to a different place. This is of course as very small task for the devs to make a copy object with a few changed properties, so it's not impossible.

If we are to believe the Wings trailer, the first UAs were found in the California Nebula or beyond. They still started to point to Merope, when 1.4 dropped.

 

[CookieJarviz]

Been thinking a lot about all this trying to make sense of it so bear with me on some thoughts.

Michael Brookes gave us some really big hints imo. We just need to make more sense of them.
“They are pointing where they are supposed to.”
I think this star (MEROPE) is special only because it is in the center of that “special” nebula.
Q:Now that one has been found, can you be a little more candid with your responses?
What other nebulae are they found in? And is Lagoon nebula one of those nebulae?
“I'm afraid not - the nebula(e) that they can be found in relates to their origin and I can't talk about that.”

Michael

“I meant nebulae.”

Michael

Q: But the fact that these barnacles can be found in other nebulae, that more than one location has been hand placed, etc. proves that the UAs are not pointing at Merope because of the barnacles. The barnacles are another clue in the big puzzle, not the end of the puzzle. There is still no logical reason to focus the barnacle search in Merope. Every landable planet in the Pleiades has just as much chance of containing the hand placed fixed POI as the planets in Merope, and Merope has already been searched the most.

“This is good thinking.”

Michael

So to summarize my thoughts, it seems there are a couple of Nebulae that have to do with the origins of the barnacles. The first nebula was discovered because the UA’s around that area pointed to center of that nebula which was the system MEROPE.
The symbol on those barnacles appears to look like one nebula but MB confirms that there is more than one nebula connected to this whole puzzle. I suspect that symbol is a combination of 3 nebulae. The symbol is formed of 3 different shapes and I think these are three separate nebulae.
I strongly think now that the UA’s are pointing to the center of their bubble or shell where they are found. To confirm this, I suggest those in the California nebula who have found barnacles that they explore the outsides of that nebula in search for UA that are probably forming a shell around that nebula. Then see if they point to the center of the califonia nebula. If my theory is correct we have found 2 of the 3 nebula depicted in the Barnacle symbol. Using the three nebulae as a point in a triangle I suspect that it can be used to triangulate the center of these 3 nebula to find something in the exact center.

Yeah but if we find 2. Then we can just find the 3rd one with simple looking.

 

[ilo]

. To confirm this, I suggest those in the California nebula who have found barnacles that they explore the outsides of that nebula in search for UA that are probably forming a shell around that nebula. Then see if they point to the center of the califonia nebula. If my theory is correct we have found 2 of the 3 nebula depicted in the Barnacle symbol. Using the three nebulae as a point in a triangle I suspect that it can be used to triangulate the center of these 3 nebula to find something in the exact center.[/COLOR]

except that at least two commanders have been actively looking for this shell in California but doesn't seem to exist.

 

[Heisenberg6626]

Humanity met several species when we ventured beyond the Sol system and wiped out all of them, except the Thargoids. The Federation wiped out other species before the Empire even existed.



You may find the links in Rizal's UA post on the first page useful.

Thank you. That is useful, but I did know that -- it does not answer my question about why there are two versions of that letter, for instance. Is there an explanation for this?

Cheers, CMDR Heisenberg6626

 

[CookieJarviz]

except that at least two commanders have been actively looking for this shell in California but doesn't seem to exist.

I have yet to find the shell around merope

 

[Siranui]

Yeah. The streamer went on to say some other interesting things that I can only take as opinion, as he didn't really expand on them at all.

He said the Thargoids will drive us out of the inhabited bubble and we will be forced into a guerrilla type war.

He also said he believes he knows where Raxxla is and you will require triple Elite rank to access it. Then he said he only has combat Elite to finish, and when that's done anyone else that is triple Elite will be welcome to join him when he goes looking.

Rather spoils his credibility a bit!

Can you imagine ED throwing away their nicely tuned Bubble and BGS? Forcing everyone to lose or sell all their stored 'spare' ships? Can you *IMAGINE* the cries of 'foul play' from traders? I can't see that happening.

 

[LordZoltan]

I have yet to find the shell around merope

Any system you pick up a UA in, basically.

Well. Okay, to clarify (because it's possible they do appear in other systems, we don't know for sure they don't) - it's the 135-150 LY range centred around Merope in which all free-floating UAs have been recovered since being first discovered.

Difference now is you won't necessarily see the signal source straight away after jumping in becauss the spawn rate is tweaked from pre 2.1.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

... I doubt that the object exists while we have it in the cargo hold. They have never shown any indication to be persistent.
....

If we are to believe the Wings trailer, the first UAs were found in the California Nebula or beyond. They still started to point to Merope, when 1.4 dropped.

Han_Zen, that is just TOO existentialist for this time of day - I need at least two Lavian brandies before contemplating that
[noob]

Didn't Jmanis take a Pleiades UA to CN recently & it still pointed to Merope?

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I agree. The fact that UAs transmit ship sighting data to Merope implies there is some kind of receiver or relay in the system.

That is not a fact.
You've linked two separate facts to speculate something.

Fact: UAs scan ships and emit morse-encoded images.
Fact: UAs orient towards Merope.

Speculation: UAs transmit data to Merope.

 

[frostypaw]

Would I be right to assume we've checked UA's taken to Merope still just point to the star in 2.1?

Since you've all had my brain twitching with the UAs/Barnies possibly being coincidental it's worth re-noting that the cloud of dust forming the Merope nebula is from LGM-1 - but that's been checked?

Rather spoils his credibility a bit!

Can you imagine ED throwing away their nicely tuned Bubble and BGS? Forcing everyone to lose or sell all their stored 'spare' ships? Can you *IMAGINE* the cries of 'foul play' from traders? I can't see that happening.

This. It's too game-changing for everyone - will alienate too many players and will wreck careful designed systems - there's no need for it to be that bad for it to provide plenty of entertainment

 

[ilo]

Would I be right to assume we've checked UA's taken to Merope still just point to the star in 2.1?

I confirm that, no need to assume.

 

[LordZoltan]

That is not a fact.
You've linked two separate facts to speculate something.

Fact: UAs scan ships and emit morse-encoded images.
Fact: UAs orient towards Merope.

Speculation: UAs transmit data to Merope.

Nice.

The best we have about their transmitting behaviour is that they 'broadcast navigation data over large distances'.

 

[Tigirius]

I got one question, or an Idea. If a UA is brought to Merope, are they pointing exactly to the Main Star?
3 Commander should bring 3 UA to merope an interpolate the pointing. Maybe we find so the target for the transmitting close to Merope Main Star,

 

[LordZoltan]

I got one question, or an Idea. If a UA is brought to Merope, are they pointing exactly to the Main Star?
3 Commander should bring 3 UA to merope an interpolate the pointing. Maybe we find so the target for the transmitting close to Merope Main Star,

Doesn't matter which 'side' of the star you take a UA too - it always points directly at it. therefore, it's pointing at the star, not a place near to it.

 

[Han_Zen]

Doesn't matter which 'side' of the star you take a UA too - it always points directly at it. therefore, it's pointing at the star, not a place near to it.

It's because Merope isn't a star, it's a very big Firefly.

 

[Sevenperry]

Still thinking that the barnacle C logo is Barnard's loop viewed from the opposite side than inhabited space. The top and bottom gaps in the C is the line of inhabited bubble stars.
The position of the barnacle spikes are the planets in Barnard's viewed from that side and the locations we should be interested in are represented by the spikes with meta alloy buds on. We were always supposed to harvest the spikes in order to understand the map.
The C barnacle is the void in the C shape of the letter c.

No no real substance to offer, just listening to the voices in my head.

 

[slartybartfast]

Nice.

The best we have about their transmitting behaviour is that they 'broadcast navigation data over large distances'.

Do we even know this? As far as i am aware the "transmissions" from the UA are not going though our comms but from the same thing that allows us to hear other ships in space, i.e. a simulation by the on-board computer. so are they transmitting at all? or is it just sounds they make? and if it is a simulation how does the computer know it sounds like that?

Also if it is a transmission do we know it's not just transmitting to the nearest thing a ship, we have no way of knowing if its going anywhere else at all.

Im beginning to think this game should be called Elite Ambiguous.

 

[Arconedas]

Just some speculation:

It could be just that the UA's are not designed to operate in Merope system itself (they are mostly found in the shell around Merope). If they are designed to transmit data LY's away from Merope to Merope its quite possible that the beam or whatever sort of communication form they use gets more wide, so the possible receiver in merope system could be anywhere in the system. So UA's might use Merope star (as its quite bright) just as a target which to lock on.

Let's say that the receiver station is on one of the moons in Merope system. It would be quite difficult for the UA to lock on to this moon from light years away. So in order to find the precise location of the receiver station from light years away this station would need to actively broadcast some sort of beacon for the UA's. If there is an active beacon, someone else could also lock in to it.. someone who is not supposed to know about this. Its thus far simpler to use the star itself as a passive target, where to point, and then use a communication beam that gets wide enough, so that it can be picked up from anywhere in the system.

 

[two quiet suns]

so whats with the unknown fragment left behind once ua's explode? or did we already do this?

 

[CMDR Moortz]

Just wanted to check in and cross reference some findings with you all.

Those of us out exploring in the 'Formidine Rift', although not necessarily a relevant mystery, have also located USS's in Systems near to and inside the Heart Nebula. Interestingly, as far as I can report, there are no occurences of such USS's spawning in the Soul Nebula.

Could it be possible that UA's and Barnacles might also exist in the Heart Nebula?

this has led me to believe that these USS's which contain a wrecked ship and Data Caches are somehow connected to the Formidine Rift mystery... however reading the previous post in this thread mentioning the same USS's spawning in and around Barnards Loop Nebula and inside the California Nebula, and Drew Wagar's cryptic comment about "Nebulae are good places to hide things" and I think there may be some connection between these two mysteries, or at the very least an interesting find regarding the likelihood of USS's spawning outside the bubble but specifically inside Nebulae.



For those of you UA/Barnacle researchers not familiar with the Formidine Rift (as I assume the two mysteries have diverged somewhat) you can find the thread here.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=252932