So you want to know about the Formidine Rift? (Part 3)

[Enrogue]

There must be something I am not understanding; why do people feel a patch is necessary to further the storyline? The secret, as it is known, is still there to be potentially found if I am not gravely mistaken.

 

[crushdepth]

There must be something I am not understanding; why do people feel a patch is necessary to further the storyline? The secret, as it is known, is still there to be potentially found if I am not gravely mistaken.

The bugged bases are the only live leads we have. We've gone round and round in circles on the other clues and come up with nothing after I don't know must be heading towards two years?


Aaand I think my graphics card just died. Ouch.

 

[Jaiotu]

There must be something I am not understanding; why do people feel a patch is necessary to further the storyline? The secret, as it is known, is still there to be potentially found if I am not gravely mistaken.

The bugged bases are the only live leads we have. We've gone round and round in circles on the other clues and come up with nothing after I don't know must be heading towards two years?


Aaand I think my graphics card just died. Ouch.

What crushdepth said.

I don't think we were ever meant to solve the Formidine Rift mystery in a vacuum. I seem to remember Drew being somewhat taken aback when he discovered that certain hand-placed articles in local Galnet feeds had been deleted/removed/cycled through. I think the original plan was that people would come across these now missing news articles which would lead us to the Formidine Rift and a solution. The area around EAFOTS and the Formidine Rift has become one of the most explored regions of the Galaxy and yet we know almost as much now as we did when Drew published Reclamation ... and that was before the game was released.

In designing a puzzle there are two risks, each as the opposite ends: either creating a puzzle that is too easy or creating one that is too hard. At this point I think the only way to solve this puzzle is if we get a few more clues and the bugged locations in the Rift, Conflux and Gap are the best leads we have to go on right now.

 

[Enrogue]

Well the secret, as it is, is still there afaik and has been since beta to be found, not needing horizons.

So... A dead-end? Maybe not?

As Drew said himself, it is something that we might not recognize by now though even if we found it. Raises thoughts.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

In designing a puzzle there are two risks, each as the opposite ends: either creating a puzzle that is too easy or creating one that is too hard. At this point I think the only way to solve this puzzle is if we get a few more clues and the bugged locations in the Rift, Conflux and Gap are the best leads we have to go on right now.

Remember the book 'Masquerade', that led to real-life buried treasure? That took years to solve, and many people would have said it was 'too hard', but eventually someone figured it out. The author didn't feel the need to add easier clues so that it was solved - he just trusted to the creativity of the human brain.

I hope that Drew is following that strategy and that whatever information is found in the abandoned bases doesn't actually tell us anything we didn't already know about the Rift.

[Edit]
I'm hoping for graffiti reading 'Octavia woz ere'

If we end up solving this by 'decrypting' messages handed to us by FDev then I'll consider the 12 months I've spent investigating to be a complete waste of time.

 

[lorrad]

Oh yeah. Elite Dangerous is a terrific game. We all need to remind ourselves that this is a work in progress. Bound to be some rough edges and were all bound to get scratched by those edges from time to time.

Time to brush it off and move forward.

Having carefully considered the measmic malaise of titchiness spreading across the forums I think what we need is good ol round robin sing song. It is the caroling season after all. You know add your own verse and pass it along, I think you recognize the tune. I'll start,,,,

I don't want a lot for Chistmass
Any new content will do
Weapons beta balance testing
Is not enough to see us through

(next)

 

[Darth Ender]

No.

We should just make our own solution to the mystery.

I'm in the eafots sector. I'm saying the mystery was completely fabricated by this old woman.

She was a high level empire intelligence agent. Forced into retirement due to old age, she, in her increasingly lucid fantasies brought on by dementia, she created this entire imaginary threat and wandered the systems in the bubble telling any pilots who would listen her fantastical tale ... Now completely believing it real... The dementia having progressed to the point of needing constant hospital care.

 

[CHOPP3R]

No.

We should just make our own solution to the mystery.

I'm in the eafots sector. I'm saying the mystery was completely fabricated by this old woman.

She was a high level empire intelligence agent. Forced into retirement due to old age, she, in her increasingly lucid fantasies brought on by dementia, she created this entire imaginary threat and wandered the systems in the bubble telling any pilots who would listen her fantastical tale ... Now completely believing it real... The dementia having progressed to the point of needing constant hospital care.

So you're saying that whatever mysterious forces there are out there can cause dementia! Now we have something to look for!

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

We'll probably need to find the one in the Gap for all three locations to make sense or, at least, tell the whole story. All of this makes me very eager for the next client update.

The bugged bases are the only live leads we have. We've gone round and round in circles on the other clues and come up with nothing after I don't know must be heading towards two years?


Aaand I think my graphics card just died. Ouch.

Commiserations!
But then it is Xmastime, so perhaps Santa could bring you a new, better, one?
Guaranteed if it's your xmas present to yourself!!

Edit: oops sorry, seem to have hit multiquote by accident (again)

 

[Crassus]

/positivityreturns

I'm really happy with that!

What do you think of this idea for the original Rift mystery: Earth-like Worlds with cratered and scarred surfaces where cities used to be?
(I would suggest also to check Ammonia Worlds but some of those have a very thick atmosphere that obscures surface details, though it might be a possibility for some).

I would go one step further: atmosphere less worlds at places, where a habitable one could be; asteroid belts, where inhabitable worlds could be; I guess, it would be perfectly possible with the means of the early E to generate asteroid belts with a mix of mineralic and ice asteroids, which in my opinion should be the results of a destroyed planet.

 

[Enrogue]

I have a question; Rho Cassiopeia. I think commonly seen as a false lead/interpretation, but have there been more than the one Cmdr. to visit said system? Only one?

There is also the line about it depends if the secret is to be found on who goes there to find it. Very enigmatic, but perhaps Rho Cassiopeia deserves another look? What do people think?

Edit: Also, can anyone provide the shortest distance to a neighboring star system, i.e; what kind of a jump range is needed to enter said system?

 

[Assimilator1]

Anyone else come across the lone Neutron star in Eafots, nearish to the Soul nebula & where the URBs were? (I don't mean the ones 1000s of LYs away)

 

[crushdepth]

Re. Octavia, I was thinking about starting a new thread on that and going looking for her base. But so far we have no indications she's in the game AFAIK.

 

[Jaiotu]

I have a question; Rho Cassiopeia. I think commonly seen as a false lead/interpretation, but have there been more than the one Cmdr. to visit said system? Only one?

There is also the line about it depends if the secret is to be found on who goes there to find it. Very enigmatic, but perhaps Rho Cassiopeia deserves another look? What do people think?

Edit: Also, can anyone provide the shortest distance to a neighboring star system, i.e; what kind of a jump range is needed to enter said system?

Turkwinif published a list of systems that he traveled when he conquered Rho Cassiopeia:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...able-Route-Ship-Build-and-Picture-Story-Album

 

[Jaiotu]

Remember the book 'Masquerade', that led to real-life buried treasure? That took years to solve, and many people would have said it was 'too hard', but eventually someone figured it out. The author didn't feel the need to add easier clues so that it was solved - he just trusted to the creativity of the human brain.

I hope that Drew is following that strategy and that whatever information is found in the abandoned bases doesn't actually tell us anything we didn't already know about the Rift.

[Edit]
I'm hoping for graffiti reading 'Octavia woz ere'

If we end up solving this by 'decrypting' messages handed to us by FDev then I'll consider the 12 months I've spent investigating to be a complete waste of time.

Personally, I only need one Raxxla in this game. I don't want to drown in new clues. Right now the only thing compelling people to search the Rift is the word of an old woman who admits to having memory problems. Word given to a young woman ... who was also having memory problems. We all must be a bit daft to spend this much time searching in light of such little evidence.

I'm hoping that the bugged content will reveal a better REASON to continue the search. Something more then just the word of two people with memory problems

 

[Enrogue]

Turkwinif published a list of systems that he traveled when he conquered Rho Cassiopeia:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...able-Route-Ship-Build-and-Picture-Story-Album

Excellent, thank you very much!

So, no one else has gone there? And it has been dismissed because one Cmdr. breached the veil... Well that is weird. Very weird. And unexpected. That won't do at all, I am afraid! We need confirmation, and preferably from as many sources/Cmdrs as possible. It is mind-boggling the consensus seems to have decided the system to be of no matter based on the adventures of one Cmdr. Especially given the enigmatic line about the secret being unrevealed depending on who looks for it (which can be seen as a somewhat deus-ex-machina line, i.e; "it wasn't found there because of", but can't mind that too much). Am a little disappointed actually, to see how easily folks have dismissed the system.

The ranges are quite doable for my old Asp Explorer even without stripping it down, or even removing weapons nor shields. Gotta love engineers? I will likely hop on over there in the near(?) future. Want to see it for myself.

As an afterword, people need to embrace these storylines even with little/next to no evidence. There aren't too many in the game. That is, if you want to have a storyline present in your game other than those tailored solely by players. The reason to continue with the search is to give yourself a reason

 

[turkwinif]

-snip-

From what I can tell in the systems leading up to Rho Cas with the "Discovered by" tag, there have been at least two other people that have visited the system; according to EDSM, 7 ships. I've been there twice now and have looked up, down, and all around, and haven't found anything in the system or anything viewed from the system. I doubt it has anything to do with the story, considering it was impossible to reach before jump synthesis (and even then, a stripped down Annie was required). And from what I understand, that "right on, Commander" quote possibly referring to "Rho Cas" is nothing more than a tinfoil theory.

 

[Jaiotu]

Excellent, thank you very much!

So, no one else has gone there? And it has been dismissed because one Cmdr. breached the veil... Well that is weird. Very weird. And unexpected. That won't do at all, I am afraid! We need confirmation, and preferably from as many sources/Cmdrs as possible. It is mind-boggling the consensus seems to have decided the system to be of no matter based on the adventures of one Cmdr. Especially given the enigmatic line about the secret being unrevealed depending on who looks for it (which can be seen as a somewhat deus-ex-machina line, i.e; "it wasn't found there because of", but can't mind that too much). Am a little disappointed actually, to see how easily folks have dismissed the system.

The ranges are quite doable for my old Asp Explorer even without stripping it down, or even removing weapons nor shields. Gotta love engineers? I will likely hop on over there in the near(?) future. Want to see it for myself.

As an afterword, people need to embrace these storylines even with little/next to no evidence. There aren't too many in the game. That is, if you want to have a storyline present in your game other than those tailored solely by players. The reason to continue with the search is to give yourself a reason

I had actually planned on making a trip to Rho Cassiopeia as a capstone to my current expedition ... but the CG, along with the unregistered comms beacons and the bugged surface sites redirected me. I'm still planning on visiting it ... just not today or anytime real soon. If you do plan on making the trip, more power to you! Good luck and send us a postcard!

- - - Updated - - -

From what I can tell in the systems leading up to Rho Cas with the "Discovered by" tag, there have been at least two other people that have visited the system; according to EDSM, 7 ships. I've been there twice now and have looked up, down, and all around, and haven't found anything in the system or anything viewed from the system. I doubt it has anything to do with the story, considering it was impossible to reach before jump synthesis. And from what I understand, that "right on, Commander" quote possibly referring to "Roh Cas" is nothing more than a tinfoil theory.

You should organize an expedition to mark the one year anniversary of Rho Cassiopeia being breached!

 

[Enrogue]

From what I can tell in the systems leading up to Rho Cas with the "Discovered by" tag, there have been at least two other people that have visited the system; according to EDSM, 7 ships. I've been there twice now and have looked up, down, and all around, and haven't found anything in the system or anything viewed from the system. I doubt it has anything to do with the story, considering it was impossible to reach before jump synthesis (and even then, a stripped down Annie was required). And from what I understand, that "right on, Commander" quote possibly referring to "Rho Cas" is nothing more than a tinfoil theory.

A good point about the system being unreachable before synthesis. So, presuming all we have heard is true (and can't really go on presuming otherwise) like the secret being there available to be found since beta, it can't be the location for the secret. Unless there is some other explanation.

It is all tinfoil though, all of it. That said, "right on, Commander=Rho Cassiopeiae"...Hmm yea, seems far fetched as well as a little easy at the same time and not really adding up, but hey, you never know. But definitely worth the look , and worth a few other looks. The system is interesting, whatever the case. Related to the secret or no.

Thanks for your reply btw, it is very nice to see the words from a first-hand source. And I also take this opportunity to commend you on persevering with said system.

What bugs me about this is the line about it depending on who goes looking for it, not related to progress or rank or anything like that. WTH?

Oh and I will certainly send a postcard when and if I personally get there! I will try to go rather sooner than later, even if the facts(?) of distances and the secret being available to be found since beta make it impossible for it to be the system "with the secret". Still a nice seeming place to go and while out there in the presumed Rift, well, why not?

Edit: It could also be we tend to be a bit too literal with Drew's tips, seeing as how heavily he is into codes and all that. Like, the core of the problem=heart of the matter=heart and soul nebulae. Seems a little too easy? I don't know. Then again, he presumably said that because he wanted to give the seekers a break.

 

[Jaiotu]

What bugs me about this is the line about it depending on who goes looking for it, not related to progress or rank or anything like that. WTH?

I have always believed that the statement about it "depending on who goes looking" is could be a direct reference to Salome. She and Hassan are the only two people in the galaxy who actually know what the coordinates are and I've always seen the Formidine Rift as being the sequel to Reclamation. Kahina's adventures in Sol (and beyond) that were recounted in Galnet were all supposed to be leading up to an adventure into the Formidine Rift. There were also supposed to be hints in local news feeds. Those hints rotated out because the local news feeds don't retain stories for very long ... and nobody thought to look for them while they were there.

A lot of the early clues that Drew gave us in the first Formidine Rift thread were back when Drew thought those news articles were persistent and still out there where we could read them. Another possible interpretation of the "depends on who goes looking" could have been a reference to someone who is willing to search out the background story by compiling data from local news feeds. Since those local news articles no longer exist the hint may now be meaningless.