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

[crushdepth]

I was thinking along similar lines when I parked right in front of that comms station. What struck me was that the words regarding the galaxy hanging there aren't just roughly the same but they are exactly the same, verbatim.

Conclusion: TOW was part of the expedition. There is no doubt in my mind.

I imagine the story to go like this: TOW is part of the expedition. She logs the message, and back home she gets her memory erased. However, she somehow reclaims parts of her memory, she remembers the scenery and it evokes that expression from her, resulting in the same choice of words back home as it did out here.

Further: she could have recorded the message for Salome and Hassan while out here and the message found its way into the Imperial database. If so, it could also have been edited by the Imps, explaining in fact why THERE WERE NO COORDINATES AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE. Salome and Hassan were adventurous enough to go without the exact coordinates and just followed the RR line.

My other question would be: why would TOW as an Elite pilot choose to be part of that mission? Was she conscripted? Did whoever orchestrated the missions expect some form of threat which warranted taking military protection?

Also, the above explains why the message mentions both Reorte and Riedquat. It's not that the writer has them confused (he/she would have simply changed the words unless it was an audiolog). This is not just any writer, this is TOW writing. And she is not confused. She is laying breadcrumbs. Maybe she already suspects a later mindwipe. Maybe she has even agreed to it before the mission as part of a kind of NDA...

Maybe worth keeping in mind the possibility that the Old Lady is not on our side or a do-gooder. We have no idea what her motivations actually were, but if she had her mind wiped, she might have been involved in something positively criminal and/or dangerous.

 

[JesusRocks1988]

Just to report, the system EAFOTS GL-Y E1 has a Terraformable Water World - Moon 7 A. 3900ls away from a B class starts.

With an 86.7% oxygen atmosphere, it's certainly habitable, although it's 13.2% water, so maybe not breathable.

Plenty noteworthy in the system, but nothing mysterious.

 

[two quiet suns]

New day, fresh head. Going to continue my seemingly endless search.
After a brief bout of space madness I am feeling sympathetic to the people who left the messages at the mysterious sites!

 

[Matzov]

Maybe the Old Woman didn't have her mind interfered with at all, maybe she just went 'dolally' on the trip?
(not that I believe this, but it does well to consider all angles).

 

[Barking_Mad]

My theory is (for the Rift at least) to search all craters (biggest first) on the planet that have a minus longitude and latitude value. It's another planet with few valleys and gorges, so Im guessing, to be slightly helpful, that the base will have been put on/near a crater (as the last discovery was - still cheesed off I missed it as I flew over it!). All other Rift bases also have minus long/lat numbers which might just be co-incidence but might not.....

I was fdoing this last night but it's dark when i play so it's a real pain.

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

My other question would be: why would TOW as an Elite pilot choose to be part of that mission? Was she conscripted? Did whoever orchestrated the missions expect some form of threat which warranted taking military protection?

Also, the above explains why the message mentions both Reorte and Riedquat. It's not that the writer has them confused (he/she would have simply changed the words unless it was an audiolog). This is not just any writer, this is TOW writing. And she is not confused. She is laying breadcrumbs. Maybe she already suspects a later mindwipe. Maybe she has even agreed to it before the mission as part of a kind of NDA...

There have been several hints that the pay was very good. Sometimes that's all that was needed. BTW, did the old lady in Reclamation say she was 'Combat' Elite or just Elite? She could have gained that rank just by exploring.

So just a little bit of speculation, how big do you think this fleet of Anacondas was? I suspect that there are twelve outposts and maybe one final destination, 4 Anaconda's per outpost? 48 ships?

 

[Assimilator1]

I was thinking about this in passing whilst on a cig break at work today, not sure why it even popped into my head to be honest. Nobody is going to want to hear this so sorry in advance but...

Disclaimer - it's late and all of these figures are rough with rounding all over the place but it will do to demonstrate the point.

The planet has a radius of about 2,800km, therefore a circumference at the equator of roughly 17,000km.

That means each line of longitude is roughly 48km apart at the equator.

If we assume a flight height of 5km and an effective distance at which the base can be spotted of 10km, that means you would be able to see the base if it was up to 8.2km either side of the longitude line as you fly along it.

That means at the equator, if someone flies up a longitude line and then up the next full degree across, there will be a gap of approximately 31.5km between the furthest you could see to the left on your first pass and the furthest you could see to your right on the next one. Even if you flew a third pass up the middle, you'd still have a trench of about 7km either side which would have been outside a 10km visual range.

Obviously that's less of a problem away from the equator but although I haven't worked out at what lattitude you would hit the point where you first had dead ground in the search pattern, it would be a hell of a lot further north or south than you'd want.

Flying at a lower altitude would mitigate it since you'd widen the area either side of your flightpath which would fall within a 10km range, but you'd also be risking ground detail obscuring your view.

If you're quite certain of your maths then you raise a good point, and we have a problem, and the problem's worse on the eafots gl-y planet as it's radius is over 7000 Kms!!
What longitude seperation would we need for the 2 planets to be able to search properly at 5kms?

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

There have been several hints that the pay was very good. Sometimes that's all that was needed. BTW, did the old lady in Reclamation say she was 'Combat' Elite or just Elite? She could have gained that rank just by exploring.

So just a little bit of speculation, how big do you think this fleet of Anacondas was? I suspect that there are twelve outposts and maybe one final destination, 4 Anaconda's per outpost? 48 ships?

I think that in 3270 there was only combat Elite. The Trade and Exploration recognition came later, though I forget the exact years (3290s, maybe; there would have been Elite Explorers and Traders by the time of Reclamation).

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Do you think the 'artifacts' would have been deployed in space on on the surface somewhere?

I realised that looking at any more pink valleys might drive me crazy, so I gave up looking for the last Hawking's Gap base. I'm going to do a slow survey of the Delta mission system looking for artifacts instead, "UP style" hanging in low orbit looking for USS.

I have been intrigued since this message was found. What did they mean by "artefacts" here? Is this evidence that the UAs are actually produced by the Feds? Or is it some other usage of the word? Did he mean the satellites (in which case why not say that)? Are the UAs monitoring devices, or were they using these "artefacts" (whatever they were)as bait to lure "it" into range of the satellite sensors? In which case afe the satellites just surveillance or are they weapons/traps intended to kill/capture "it"???

- - - Updated - - -

One of the logs seems to point to the Old Lady's direct involvement on a FRift mission, as the 'whole galaxy hanging there' is one of her lines from the book, when she met Kahina:

"Finally fixed the drive, more monotony. Can't believe it's nearly six months since we set out from Riedquat. Did I say Riedquat? I meant Reorte. It's getting to me, this endless emptiness. The guys are showing the strain. Three more months before we can turn and head back. The stars are thinning out, you can the whole galaxy just hanging there..."

But if you look at the density of stars on the galaxy map, the FRift bases are right on the edge of where the stars start to thin out, they aren't in the 'dark zone'. So the logs may have been transmitted from ships much further out.

I suspect the use of that phrase is just Drew putting in a reference to Reclamation; certainly don't think it's evidemce that the old lady was on the original mission. She may have been of course, but I doubt it. We know from Reclamation that she lost someone & in her grief went out exploring in the black to be by herself, and found something; either the "lurking evil" or the remains of this expedition, read the logs & realised this was a special ops mission....(but I still can't see why she thought the Empire was involved as all the message logs seem to indicate Feds alone)
Of course she could have been one of the survivors who returned, had her memory wiped, then when she lost someone felt the call to go back out there & found it all again....

There are hints in Drew' other books that she became a member of the Dark Wheel; it was probably them that wiped her mind as she had done so much she wouldn't have beenconsidered for murder; on the other hand it could still be INRA!

 

[racer1]

I was thinking about this in passing whilst on a cig break at work today, not sure why it even popped into my head to be honest. Nobody is going to want to hear this so sorry in advance but...

Disclaimer - it's late and all of these figures are rough with rounding all over the place but it will do to demonstrate the point.

The planet has a radius of about 2,800km, therefore a circumference at the equator of roughly 17,000km.

That means each line of longitude is roughly 48km apart at the equator.

If we assume a flight height of 5km and an effective distance at which the base can be spotted of 10km, that means you would be able to see the base if it was up to 8.2km either side of the longitude line as you fly along it.

That means at the equator, if someone flies up a longitude line and then up the next full degree across, there will be a gap of approximately 31.5km between the furthest you could see to the left on your first pass and the furthest you could see to your right on the next one. Even if you flew a third pass up the middle, you'd still have a trench of about 7km either side which would have been outside a 10km visual range.

Obviously that's less of a problem away from the equator but although I haven't worked out at what lattitude you would hit the point where you first had dead ground in the search pattern, it would be a hell of a lot further north or south than you'd want.

Flying at a lower altitude would mitigate it since you'd widen the area either side of your flightpath which would fall within a 10km range, but you'd also be risking ground detail obscuring your view.

I said the same a few pages back. For an earth sized planet, 6400km radius, 1 degree of longitude at the equator would be over 110km wide.

(2pi r/360)

 

[Baton]

Anyone wants to organise in Conflux ? (sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I believe in team work )

I did put this spreadsheet up https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fXnXtyz_EBHYnLgEgaz33pC9rZocmJqNXCvX9ewHRN4/edit?usp=sharing

Anyone searching, you can send me the coordinates of what you've checked already and I will add them up, ideally fly along the same line for few hours, like north pole to south pole
Will be there in the evening to help.

 

[racer1]

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The Alien ruins mystery just got 4 planets to brute force...

https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/24-JAN-3303

Edit: I said planets but it is actually systems lol

 

[IliteratSqirel]

I
I suspect the use of that phrase is just Drew putting in a reference to Reclamation; certainly don't think it's evidemce that the old lady was on the original mission.

I would say you could be right, If we did not assume there are no coincidences here.

 

[razioer]

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The Alien ruins mystery just got 4 planets to brute force...

https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/24-JAN-3303

Edit: I said planets but it is actually systems lol

They need to find 2 more ruins, and they have 4 entire systems to comb through... thats rough, depending on how many landable bodies there are.

Then again, its like 300Ly from the bubble with a big monetary reward, so they might have more manpower than we do.

Also, theres a sound que when near the ruins, so you could just listen while cruising over planets while playing something else I guess.

 

[Matzov]

I suspect the use of that phrase is just Drew putting in a reference to Reclamation; certainly don't think it's evidemce that the old lady was on the original mission. She may have been of course, but I doubt it. We know from Reclamation that she lost someone & in her grief went out exploring in the black to be by herself, and found something; either the "lurking evil" or the remains of this expedition, read the logs & realised this was a special ops mission....(but I still can't see why she thought the Empire was involved as all the message logs seem to indicate Feds alone)

Hey Jorki - I don't recall that from the book myself - which could easily be my own mind playing tricks! Can you reference the passage at all?

I think your point about Artefacts is very well made. There is the choice of the 'author' to mirror the wording of UAs which can easily lead us to imagine these Artefacts that are reference in the logs are somehow alien in nature, or highly unusual. However, the word itself can basically mean anything.

 

[Zenith]

Using the existing ruins system as a starting reference should be able to reduce the list somewhat.... but that's for the Canonn threadnaught rather than this one.

 

[Jaiotu]

There have been several hints that the pay was very good. Sometimes that's all that was needed. BTW, did the old lady in Reclamation say she was 'Combat' Elite or just Elite? She could have gained that rank just by exploring.

So just a little bit of speculation, how big do you think this fleet of Anacondas was? I suspect that there are twelve outposts and maybe one final destination, 4 Anaconda's per outpost? 48 ships?

In Altera, when she looks up her status, it displays Elite. In Combat, Trade and Exploration. And she has a nice "get off my lawn" moment complaining to herself about how they messed with the rankings and how, no matter how you measure it, she is Elite.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone wants to organise in Conflux ? (sorry if I sound as broken record, but I believe in team work ).

I should be there in a couple of hours. I'm in a Sidewinder so I'll have to watch my fuel levels pretty close while I'm searching.

 

[Jaiotu]

REMINDER:

Cmdr Zach's summary of the Dynasty Expedition Beacons can be read here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ift-(Part-3)?p=5011199&viewfull=1#post5011199

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The Alien ruins mystery just got 4 planets to brute force...

https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/24-JAN-3303

Edit: I said planets but it is actually systems lol

Anyone else notice how nothing that we've found out here regarding these abandoned settlements has received so much as a mention on Galnet?

I submitted a Freelance report a few days ago but, considering that everything I've submitted since November has been ignored that's little wonder.

 

[lotusexcelle]

I like punishment. I am searching using my DK2 Rift. at 35fps.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Hey Jorki - I don't recall that from the book myself - which could easily be my own mind playing tricks! Can you reference the passage at all?

I think your point about Artefacts is very well made. There is the choice of the 'author' to mirror the wording of UAs which can easily lead us to imagine these Artefacts that are reference in the logs are somehow alien in nature, or highly unusual. However, the word itself can basically mean anything.

Chapter 8 in the hospital; page 488 of 1206 in my ibooks ecopy.
"“Don’t tell no one, but I got as far as the Formidine Rift, not many folks can say that! No one has gone past it and lived to tell the tale.’
‘The Formid …?’
‘Edge of the galactic arm. Take a line from Reorte to Riedquat to the edge of the arm and … keep going.’ The woman grimaced. ‘Stars thin out, you can see the whole galaxy just hanging there. I took a fancy to going exploring after I lost …’ she paused, a sadness creeping across her face, ‘… had some time to spare. Quiet for the most part, until …’
‘Until what?’
‘Let’s just say there was some serious out there, stuff you wouldn’t believe. No really – no one believed me, said it was all a fabrication. I had no proof you see and they edited my memory afterwards. Ah, it’ll all come back to bite them one day, it’s all there in the Imperial databanks somewhere - and they thought the Thargoids were trouble …”

Excerpt From: Wagar, Drew. “Elite: Reclamation.” Fantastic Books Publishing, 2014-05-29T23:00:00+00:00. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright."

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone else notice how nothing that we've found out here regarding these abandoned settlements has received so much as a mention on Galnet?

I submitted a Freelance report a few days ago but, considering that everything I've submitted since November has been ignored that's little wonder.

Which, I think, means they are monitoring (hardly surprising; I'm sure at least Drew is peeping over your shoulders!) your progress ready to bring out the next part of their storyline (& maybe switch on instancing for the "lurking evil"- hope you've all got paid up life insurance). It seems they don't publish anything that conflicts with/overlaps their storyline.