UAs, Barnacles & other mysteries Thread 7 - The Canonn

[knowles2]

Just an idea, but I think we need another UP and test to see whether it will point at other planets with Barnacles when it close enough. May be UP is just a way to quickly identify planets with Barnacles on.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Just an idea, but I think we need another UP and test to see whether it will point at other planets with Barnacles when it close enough. May be UP is just a way to quickly identify planets with Barnacles on.

No offense intended, but I honestly can't tell if these are sarcastic now or not.

 

[CHOPP3R]

Well that proves (to me at least) that the barnacle states are NOT on a set cycle.

But the question remains, what exactly determines the state changes? I'm still inclined to believe it is a player interaction and will continue to figure it out as best I can.

A cycle of sorts so far seem to be two weeks (or two updates) destroyed before then changing state to intact (either defended or undefended). We'll know more as the data analysis goes on but it's a long task that doesn't leave much time for actualk gameplay unfortunately! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...w02tyCGd7IFcfHpjYGeZL9GHQ/edit#gid=1374631083
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The double vs single thing is a total mystery at this point. Up until last week, since the patch all double barnacles were chugging along happily. Last Thursday they all went single apart from this one.

 

[LordZoltan]

A cycle of sorts so far seem to be two weeks (or two updates) destroyed before then changing state to intact (either defended or undefended). We'll know more as the data analysis goes on but it's a long task that doesn't leave much time for actualk gameplay unfortunately! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...w02tyCGd7IFcfHpjYGeZL9GHQ/edit#gid=1374631083
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The double vs single thing is a total mystery at this point. Up until last week, since the patch all double barnacles were chugging along happily. Last Thursday they all went single apart from this one.

it's an incredible effort you guys are putting in to keep this stuff up to date - herculean effort in fact. Thank you.

 

[M. Volgrand]

Mine uses a completely different search methodology. Flying in straight lines instead of criss-crossing a single grid.
The idea of mine is to provide a coarse level of full planetary coverage to start with and then start filling in the gaps.

Should provide redundancy and also a level of confirmation.

I see. Anyway, maybe we should cross any findings we do. If your data shows any interesting location that requires further detail search, please let me know.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I see. Anyway, maybe we should cross any findings we do. If your data shows any interesting location that requires further detail search, please let me know.

That's what the Locations tab is for
Nice canyon system around -64,0 - definitely worth a look.

 

[CHOPP3R]

Annoyingly I probably won't have time to do the last planet in the Pleiades this week https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bWITzZmYMYqwXqX5NHw02tyCGd7IFcfHpjYGeZL9GHQ/edit#gid=3273157
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I'm probably going to focus efforts on all but that planet in the Pleiades from now on (they're the closest and contain the materials everyone seems to want to farm). Should still give u sgood data on status changes too. Any comments on the sheet from people who visit barnies that can relay the status of them to us is more than welcome! I will keep my eye on that unchanged double from the bug report though.
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Good to be dropping off so much barnacle scan data to the Canonn research centre too though. Good for science and covers the fuel bill

 

[Popov Le Magnifique]

A cycle of sorts so far seem to be two weeks (or two updates) destroyed before then changing state to intact (either defended or undefended). We'll know more as the data analysis goes on but it's a long task that doesn't leave much time for actualk gameplay unfortunately! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...w02tyCGd7IFcfHpjYGeZL9GHQ/edit#gid=1374631083
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The double vs single thing is a total mystery at this point. Up until last week, since the patch all double barnacles were chugging along happily. Last Thursday they all went single apart from this one.

Amazing job.
Merope 5 C -26.3515 -156.4056 : Still destroyed.

 

[xdeath]

Again paging Canonn - I don't know what to do with this UA, and I see no benefit in selling it on the black market - I can get plenty credits elsewhere through legitimate means.

I'd rather my encounter lead to some kind of good use, maybe some answers too....

Blow it up, it's got some rare material drops.

 

[V'larr]

Blow it up, it's got some material drops.

But I mean...is there really nothing else I can do with it?

And does blowing it up on a planet or in space make any difference, or if I do that (so I can move on, since they seem to be...common, now) is just having my ship & cargo scoop ready sufficient?

 

[Colonel Kenney]

Yeah its still destroyed


Went through several large canyon runs at 400m nothing unusual at all.

Although at times I thought I saw something moving down there...

 

[xdeath]

But I mean...is there really nothing else I can do with it?

And does blowing it up on a planet or in space make any difference, or if I do that (so I can move on, since they seem to be...common, now) is just having my ship & cargo scoop ready sufficient?

I haven't tried on a planet, but you get two Unknown Fragments which are very rare.
Their common in that, everyone has a chance at finding them, not just a lucky few. I think FDev have learned their lesson about how rare something needs to be.

I think that, yeah, simply being ready is enough, but if you have horizons(and I think you do based on your post) you can help us search Merope 5 C.
With the UAs pointing to Merope and the UP(Unknown Probes) pointing to planet 5 C in Merope, it is a clear hint the FDev want us to find something on the planet.

 

[vinnieboJ]

Ok I've been thinking this through and have possible explanations for the flaws in my previous post. So here we go:

A possible explanation for Unknown Artefacts, Unknown Probes and Barnacles and how they function.

Stage 1 - Star location

The probe creators are aware of one or more exceptionally rare elements in the Galaxy. They know these elements only occur on some Supernovae. Therefore the elements will only occur in Nebulae and other stellar clouds. However the only way to detect these elements is when they they get caught up in the next round of star formation. Thus the only way to find then is in at least 2nd generation stars (following the Supernova that created them). They know the there are as few as one in one Billion stars that contain the elements they seek.

In order to locate such stars they use Class 1 probes (what we call Unknown Artefacts). They distribute hundreds of these probes across a given area of nebulosity. The probes are made up of two key parts: a sensor head and a propulsion unit of 12 cells. The probes are very difficult to manufacture, requiring some rather exotic technology (which may include artificial biology). As such they have a very narrow range of tolerances. They are specifically designed to work in the vacuum of space and at low temperatures. Due to their cost all efforts are made to keep them functioning. If for any reason they find themselves outside of their operational tolerances, they are fitted with highly sophisticated self repair mechanisms which will attempt to use any surrounding matter to stabilise the probe.

Each probe has an effective sensor range of 500 or 1000 light years. Once deployed, each probe begins to meticulously scan all the stars within it's range. In our case the local probes were in this state when we first found them. They did not point anywhere as they were still scanning local space.

In the unlikely event that a probe detects a candidate star, it then uses it's drive unit to move to a pre-determined distance from that star and aligns with it. It then begins to transmit data about the star's location. Hundreds of probes are used in order to avoid possible false positives. When many probes make a detection they will start to form a sphere. It will not a be a perfect sphere as the initial distribution of probes is highly unlikely to evenly surround a candidate star but, it will still be a recognisable shell with all probes pointing at the same star.

When the probe creator then get hundreds of data signals from the same batch of probes, they know they have a confirmed positive.


Stage 2 - Planetary body location

It is not possible to locate the elements from a stellar cloud alone. Thus they need to wait till matter condenses into a star, which emits information, in order to find the elements. Of course, they cannot mine stars. However planets and other rocky bodies form from the same materials so it is possible that a solid body in the star system, if it has such bodies, might also contain the elements. In order to locate such a body a much more powerful probe is required. These Class 2 probes (what we call Unknown Probes) are therefore deployed directly into the candidate system. A long range ship (as that will likely be needed) is despatched with the probes. These probes have two sensor heads which are much more powerful. That cannot even have drive units as that would interfere with their operation. A handful are manually distributed in the target system. These then begin highly detailed scans of all solid bodies in the system. If a candidate body is located, they all point at it and begin transmitting data.


Possible stage 3 - Mining and refining

The host ship, which will still be in system then moves to the target body and begins a manual scan of the surface. If possible concentrations of the elements are detected in a given region on the upper crust a mining unit is deployed. These mining units are non-sentient, genetically engineered, semi-organic factories (what we call Barnacles). These objects partly burrow into the crust and become very secure. Their upper shell is designed to withstand high velocity impacts from meteorites. They then grow down into the crust in search of the elements. If such elements are found they grow long shoots back up to, and through the surface, around the central column. The materials are slowly refined as they are moved to the exposed tips of these shoots. They are then designed to be harvested and will regrow over a few days.

Because even at this stage, the chances of acquiring the elements are still low, if the mining unit finds anything other rare minerals and resources it will extract, refine and push these to the surface as well.


Other thoughts

It has been hinted that the UAs/UPs may not be directly related to the Barnacles. So these could be different organisations that own them, but they might be after the same thing.

This is all of course just speculation on my part to try and explain everything we have observed. Unfortunately it is not very scientific as it does not really suggest an experiment we can do to prove or disprove it.

Semi-lurker here,
First of all, another monstrous thread, it's hard keeping up with it at times.

Secondly, I follow all the theories the best I can, and I think most of them fit in their own way. But i have to admit that this theorie makes the most sense to me, as it is well and clearly written and shows that a good amount of thought went into it, even though the chain of discovery (UA > Barny > UP) is a little different. I really hope we'll get some solid clues soon as to what it is we are looking for, wherever that may be.

Thirdly, I could use some advice, currently I am at Ross 47, as I was looking for the UP in convoy there. Now with everything going on at 5C I feel like that might be ground zero for future (alien?) things to come. so I want to go out there and do my part (If you are on Xbox and want to wing up, add me, GT: vinnieboJ)
Currently I am flying a C4 with this as my set-up: C4, I am going to swap out the Hull reinforcement for a scoop when i set out to merope, or I kit out my T6 from this to this and use it to get to 5C. any thoughts?

Also i read about several spots on 5C that need a closer look? is there some way of getting the coordinates for these places? (other than either of the spreadsheets currently used, like this one, as it is too cumbersome in my eyes to check the individual cells) it was something about some canyons, a spot where weird music could be heard and a couple of others that were mentioned somewhere in this thread.

anyways, fly safe CMDR's! o7

 

[ilo]

Looking on merope 5C that is a 1 TO 1 scale. Its to tedious even for FD standards

surveying the surface iof Merope 5 c is the bruteforce method while we get more information about what/where to look for. probably with a few more UPs and after some time of studying then we get more clues/information we could use to narrow down the search. For now these are our tools, weapons of choice.

your help to remove this tediousness could be well focused on finding more UPs, getting more UPs, study more UPs, or search the planet to see if you have more luck.

or, you can speculate about why Merope 5 c is tidally locked, its orbit is in another plane as the rest o merope's moons, why Merope 5 is rotated and the rings are always illuminated by the star, why every star in Merope is separated around 1kly from the others and so on..

is there a point in Merope 5 that has an uninterrupted stream of star light and never gets dark? or one that never gets lit?

we don't need the mistery solved tomorrow.

 

[Popov Le Magnifique]

Had a look at some canyons (mineral deposits) on Merope 5C, no new Barnies or UAs found. It's a pity the most interesting stuff does not appear as blue circles. Anyway, enough for today, or I'll rant. Popov out.

 

[rizal72]

Okay.. this is interesting.. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-double-barnacles-fixed?p=4159675#post4159675

It is indeed.
So does it mean THAT double Barnacle in THAT nebula is somehow special?

Double tinfoil hat under construction, NAO!

 

[crushdepth]

So I've started my Linear search at the -90 pole.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qJi6r5jiFt8GHyRnr6OnnagJyX0BSJfhFTb4gprw2os

The first thing I've noticed is that the bearings are messed up, even away from the pole itself.

Flying towards heading 0 which I thought would be North decreases latitude all the way to -90 which I think of as the South pole.
Flying towards heading 90 which I thought would be East decreases longitude from 0 to -180 which I think of as West.

Am I going nuts?

You are right.

 

[V'larr]

I haven't tried on a planet, but you get two Unknown Fragments which are very rare.
Their common in that, everyone has a chance at finding them, not just a lucky few. I think FDev have learned their lesson about how rare something needs to be.

I think that, yeah, simply being ready is enough, but if you have horizons(and I think you do based on your post) you can help us search Merope 5 C.
With the UAs pointing to Merope and the UP(Unknown Probes) pointing to planet 5 C in Merope, it is a clear hint the FDev want us to find something on the planet.

Good to know....

I'll be brutally honest and admit, I can't be bothered playing speculative scientist. I have things to trade, ships to unlock, places to explore, things to blow up....

If anybody wants my UA, I'll freely and gladly pass it to them, otherwise - with the game not indicating anything else to do with it - I may just collect those fragments and be on my way.

 

[destructionist]

I agree. Our scanners should pick something up from a few hundred meters to 2km. I hate that the POI circles don't show in low altitude as well. That is pretty silly design that doesn't make sense if you ask me.

 

[Patau82]

number 3

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