THE FORMIDINE RIFT MYSTERY (Part 4)

[Jorki Rasalas]

As per my previous post a few pages back:

Just to clarify, the below systems are actually the locations of the THREE sectors referred to in the recording of The Zurara - is this correct? If so, then this means I was wrong to state there were no beacons or locations added by Frontier (in earlier posts). But it does seems a little odd that The Zurara is located in Syreadiae JX-F c0 - hundreds of Light Years away - and these three sectors are no where near the ship. Little wonder, if these are the sites referred to in The Zurara log, that some players are searching around The Zurara for beacons near Earth-like planets. Is there any clue as to what power the different sectors belong to?

Hawkin's Gap

Conflux

Formidine Rift

-------

Cheers.

If you load ED Discovery and the Formidine map you'll see how ZURARA lies very close to the Reorte-Riedquat line just on the far edge of the Very Sparse Area of the Formidine Rift. The Rift area is BIG.
ZURARA is about 1000 ly or so (just on way back but PC is off so can't check exact distance) beyond the FRift bases. It is feasible that there are two more abandoned ships sited at similar distance beyond the bases in Conflux and Hawking's Gap, but that is just guesswork. I aim to go out & have a look at some stage. In fact that was the next thing on my ToDo list but I'm stuck at the FRift bases waiitng to hear from FD if they'll either give me my Alpha site data package, or reset the datapoint timer for me so I can go back and get it now, or whether I have to wait for it to reset & how long that takes. After 2 days it is still annoying me that I didn't get the intel package in my transactions tab after I'd gone over the edge of the cliff to scan the beacon, and I'm still puzzled why scanning that and the Beta datapoints gave me Modified Consumer Firmware.

 

[Han_Zen]

The thing is, you can't build new "bubbles" fast. Terraforming does need time, so does station-building. Sure the ships are a start, but one from scratch.

I just think that this plan was abandoned, because something changed. Significantly. Or maybe i just chase a theory because stuff is not in game yet.[blah]

I don't think they need to build and terraform fast. Stations can jump right out there, like Jaques and Mega ships are nice enough for a few decades.
Earth likes are mapped and ready.

The plan is still on. They will leave when we get hit.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

Just my two cents.
The old lady said to Salomé "and they thought the Thargoids were trouble".
Now we assume that the Dynasty expeditions took place to have a new place for humans in case of a new Thargoid threat.
So in my opinion there must be something bigger behind all that than Thargoids and some shadowy organizations pulling the strings in wars, etc.
What are your thoughts?

There are actually many interpretations of this here, but I've also been thinking about this sentence recently. But more about how about the written word doesn't always portray speech too well. I've been thinking about where the stresses are in the sentence...

1."They thought the Thargoids were trouble" would mean something different to 2."They thought the Thargoids were trouble". There are also more nuanced variances of this, but I think most of the speculation assumes 2.

Not entirely certain what to make from this. Not entirely certain where I'm going either...

 

[Codger]

I've just made my own trip out to EAFOTS to check out the abandoned listening posts, and made a little video chronicling my experience (I visit 3 of the 4 bases in the video). No new information, obviously, but something to watch if you're bored at work It's been a fun trip for me, and has helped to cement in my mind the events out there.

https://youtu.be/Ah6sdyPomdY

 

[Toffmeister]

Theory #1 We can't find the answer because the answer is not yet in place. The threat needs atmosphere. A breathable (to them) atmoshere, ie an ammonia one(?) and we can't do atmosphere landings yet. So ED is using delaying tactics while they get the programming done. We may be in a holding pattern.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The thing is, you can't build new "bubbles" fast. Terraforming does need time, so does station-building. Sure the ships are a start, but one from scratch.

I just think that this plan was abandoned, because something changed. Significantly. Or maybe i just chase a theory because stuff is not in game yet.[blah]

Oh, of course! Really good point.

The big change I think is the development of the FSD-based hyperdrives. It took the Dynasty fleets months to get out there with the old hyperdrives; it would have taken a similarly-equipped pursuing fleet years if not decades to find them, if they even knew to look (look how much trouble we had even with good information on their positions and modern hyperdrives) ... but with the slow rate of travel, you'd want to bunch your colony together tightly so you could keep it together, which means the majority of your worlds will need terraforming.

Now look at a "modern" but fairly traditional colony - Colonia. It's twice as far out, but can be reached in a few hours with a fast ship. It's in a dense region of space with more than enough ELWs to not have to terraform anything - its growth limit is basically just "how fast can you bootstrap some infrastructure" and "how much space do you need?". Still, if you didn't know where it was, it's only about 40 LY in radius and well over 90% of those systems are uninhabited. You could go right past it - right through it - and never know. (Its position next to a nebula may or may not help with that...)

Now consider an alternative Exodus attempt - exploration surveys have discovered tens of thousands of ELWs spread across the entire galaxy. Each individual one would be virtually impossible to find except by sheer luck or a dedicated long-term survey of its region. But, with modern hyperdrives, they can be connected in less than a day - a speed which would have been unthinkable even for a compact Exodus-style colony only a few decades ago - and with the ability to cherry-pick some of the best systems of an entire galaxy, each individual world can be almost entirely self-sufficient. The limited ships travelling between them therefore don't present much risk of discovery, and no more than a couple of these worlds are likely to be found and destroyed.

Exodus may have been abandoned because there's now a much safer and simpler alternative...

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

That would imply that the main powers are in league with each other and the thargoids... Or factions within the powers. Or perhaps the more secretive organisations we know of are in that position themselves, and protected certain thargoid (or other) locations by sabotaging Dynasty with their own pre-infiltrated operatives. Both the pilots federation (permit lockers?) and the dark wheel share the same system. And the latter seem very much harder to rank up with.

What were the ultimate Dynasty destinations - not where they were stopped?

ZURARA was deploying terraforming equipment. Location on first page.

 

[Earthman]

There are actually many interpretations of this here, but I've also been thinking about this sentence recently. But more about how about the written word doesn't always portray speech too well. I've been thinking about where the stresses are in the sentence...

1."They thought the Thargoids were trouble" would mean something different to 2."They thought the Thargoids were trouble". There are also more nuanced variances of this, but I think most of the speculation assumes 2.

Not entirely certain what to make from this. Not entirely certain where I'm going either...

If someone said to me " and you thought boys were trouble" and would assume that girls are worse.
To me the old lady's sentence suggests that something else is more trouble than Thargoids.

What... I've no idea. AND, I'm sure we've said this all before... but it is interesting how people read into a sentence

 

[Nivolet]

There are actually many interpretations of this here, but I've also been thinking about this sentence recently. But more about how about the written word doesn't always portray speech too well. I've been thinking about where the stresses are in the sentence...

1."They thought the Thargoids were trouble" would mean something different to 2."They thought the Thargoids were trouble". There are also more nuanced variances of this, but I think most of the speculation assumes 2.

Not entirely certain what to make from this. Not entirely certain where I'm going either...

Same here...
I just listened to the audio book (wich is really good btw) when I flew back to the bubble from Colonia that afternoon and that sentence kept me thinking.
I am thinking of flying beyond the Zurara and have a look at the systems there.
Has anyone been to the outer edge along the RR line recently?

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Although, thinking about it, the conspirators were trying to remove evidence of it... but the settlements were left in tact... hadn't considered this before, but they were trying to destroy the ships - why leave the surface bases...?

Possibly they were going to be rearguard after the new colonies had deployed. Using the signal detection gear and telescopes to provide warning of any pursuing aliens.

 

[Belthize]

Exodus may have been abandoned because there's now a much safer and simpler alternative...

Only if we quit broadcasting their existence and location on galnet. If there's an actual secret populated base then we don't know about it ... which is probably for the best. The secret ones we do know about are only secret if you put your fingers in your ears and yell lalalalala really loud.In

In terms of Rebecca's comment about Thargoid's being trouble. One possible explanation is she was not aware of the existence of Oresrian and Klaxians, in 3275 only Carl Linneaus really knew that, there may have been others but it wasn't public knowledge so it would be understandable if somebody viewed the world as Oresrian=Thargoids and Klaxian=not-Thargoids. When it was more like Oresrian=Pandas, Klaxian=PolarBear where bear=Thargoid.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I must have missed this Dynasty mission - what was that all about - if you can briefly explain? Cheers.

Have you read the summary of all Rift-related knowledge on the first page?

 

[Sikeksis]

StvAce writes: "BTW, I know there is a base in the California Nebula now. Is there any base, with landing pads, or a Space Station, anywhere near the Heart and Soul nebulas?"

IIRC there is an asteroid base in both the Heart and Soul Nebulas.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

The thing is, you can't build new "bubbles" fast. Terraforming does need time, so does station-building. Sure the ships are a start, but one from scratch.

I just think that this plan was abandoned, because something changed. Significantly. Or maybe i just chase a theory because stuff is not in game yet.[blah]

ZURARA deployed the terraforming kit in the Rift, and presumably two other ships did likewise in Gap and Conflux. After doing their job they were silenced by hexedited sleeper agents in the cargo handling crew. The terraforming process would have started and the new habitable worlds would have been ready after some period of time, I assume 30 to 100 years. The base logs were dated around 3270, so 33 years later we might have ELW ready for the Exodus. Winter is coming!

 

[BuddyE]

Oh, of course! Really good point.

The big change I think is the development of the FSD-based hyperdrives. It took the Dynasty fleets months to get out there with the old hyperdrives; it would have taken a similarly-equipped pursuing fleet years if not decades to find them, if they even knew to look (look how much trouble we had even with good information on their positions and modern hyperdrives) ... but with the slow rate of travel, you'd want to bunch your colony together tightly so you could keep it together, which means the majority of your worlds will need terraforming.

Now look at a "modern" but fairly traditional colony - Colonia. It's twice as far out, but can be reached in a few hours with a fast ship. It's in a dense region of space with more than enough ELWs to not have to terraform anything - its growth limit is basically just "how fast can you bootstrap some infrastructure" and "how much space do you need?". Still, if you didn't know where it was, it's only about 40 LY in radius and well over 90% of those systems are uninhabited. You could go right past it - right through it - and never know. (Its position next to a nebula may or may not help with that...)

Now consider an alternative Exodus attempt - exploration surveys have discovered tens of thousands of ELWs spread across the entire galaxy. Each individual one would be virtually impossible to find except by sheer luck or a dedicated long-term survey of its region. But, with modern hyperdrives, they can be connected in less than a day - a speed which would have been unthinkable even for a compact Exodus-style colony only a few decades ago - and with the ability to cherry-pick some of the best systems of an entire galaxy, each individual world can be almost entirely self-sufficient. The limited ships travelling between them therefore don't present much risk of discovery, and no more than a couple of these worlds are likely to be found and destroyed.

Exodus may have been abandoned because there's now a much safer and simpler alternative...

That really could be the case. The galaxy actually feels kinda small now (if you have a fast ship) compared to decades ago. Good point, had not thought of that yet. I think we just take those capabilities for granted now.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Just my two cents.
The old lady said to Salomé "and they thought the Thargoids were trouble".
Now we assume that the Dynasty expeditions took place to have a new place for humans in case of a new Thargoid threat.
So in my opinion there must be something bigger behind all that than Thargoids and some shadowy organizations pulling the strings in wars, etc.
What are your thoughts?

Say it out aloud "and they thought the Thargoids WERE trouble"
So from the Teorge logs from Rebecca we know the threat is still Thargoids but the next time around it's going to be much, much worse than before

Edit: you can completely change the meaning of that sentence by placing the emphasis on 1) they, 2) Thargoids, 3) were
But interpretation 3 now fits in with the Teorge logs whereas 1 & 2 don't.

 

[BuddyE]

OK, done a quick search, one is apparently located at:

Heart Sector IR-V b2-0

Is this correct?

Where's the other, pls? Cheers.

Soul Sector EL-Y d7

140k Ls out from jump-in

 

[Zieman]

Say it out aloud "and they thought the Thargoids WERE trouble"
So from the Teorge logs from Rebecca we know the theeat is still Thargoids but the next time around it's going to be much, much worse than before

Or: Say it out aloud "and they thought the THARGOIDS were trouble" - so, what's more trouble than the big Ts?
Escaped AIs of human origin? Guardian AIs? Klaxians? Some other species, organic or chimeric or machine-life substrates?

 

[Harley Quinn]

Ok, and I didn't mean to sound to confrontational about it either (lest bursting Harley Quinn's bubble about seeing me as one of the more friendly contributors to the thread ). Also, to be fair, those are just systems I've visited and uploaded to EDSM rather that fully scanned (some are likely still completely untagged). I'm currently on my way back to Barnard's Loop as well, this time in a heavily armed Python. And that last trip, I was trying to visit the asteroid bases then return prior to the event).



I completely missed the Two Ladies Boys bit first time round too, was that pre-occupied, that is humorous. Not that I would know - Vulcan's have their humour glands removed at birth to make them more dispassionate scientists

You haven't even reached my slightly irked stage so no bubble busting here mate.

 

[Saool]

It's something that must be confirmed.
I was in contact with TAoL during this time and never heard about that. But it's possible that this information was not sent too. We recieved order to jump from F Eridani to Tionisla while Raan Corsen jumped to Teorge.

Drew said there was supposed to be Rebecca's Cobra at the Tionisla Graveyard. However it is not in game so it was going to be at a beacon. If Salome survived she would meet thing others who survived there, give a speech and trigged the ship to broadcast new information. The information was that Rebecca had put the beacons blowign the whole thing wide open in Teorge, and off we would all race.

But it didn't work. But that is what Raan was waiting for.

I really hate having to argue on the forum, but it seems like you are being unnecessarily judgemental about how I am spending my time in game. I have been to many places in the galaxy many times, at different paces, and with different aims.

Seriously, check the exploration subforum (especially the drinking game). "You're not a real explorer if...X" comes up a lot.

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/mFpsWH6.png

I mean, I'm no Allitnil, but... ahem... who is? Besides Allitnil, that is... and even then, I wonder...

EDIT: yes the last part might be a little overkill (and only applies to those using EDSM), but I'm on the defensive and trying to prove a point... of sorts.

I'd plus one you but can't

I've found another potential player in the game "Interpol" I'd never heard of them before. Evidently they are the Alliance secret cops. Maybe they'll crop up at some point *shrugs*

There is a tourist beacon in Alioth that explains Interpol are a cross Alliance co-operative police force. There is nothing secret about them.



In other news...

Why is there no news? Why it the bubble not in meltdown? Where are the reporters in a media frenzy in the Teorge system, why have the bad guys not destroyed the beacons? Why is all of this and Saturdays events feel like they are in a bubble and the rest of the Elite universe is just rolling on regardless?

If this whole 'nothing' carries on much longer I will submit a news story myself.

EDIT: just seen the news.