THE FORMIDINE RIFT MYSTERY (Part 4)

[CMDR DancingLemur]

-- Deleted --

Ah, right, valid points there. So move along, nothing to see here.

 

[Harley Quinn]

It's generous gift, donated by CoR

Now that would hurt every time I docked there

 

[Stryka Choon]

Allocated by who in an ingame sense. Cannon have a faction, base system, economy and so on, so it can be justified that this is what funded a megaship.

Player groups get a base in their chosen home system which can be considered as a new group gaining an existing site through growing numbers within the BGS.

Colonia has involved hard work getting on the list and shipping things out there so it's been funded by hard graft.

Can't see how us suddenly and magically getting a new station or megaship could be justified. I certainly don't see Sirius or Wreaken deciding to gift us one and with no established group and economy to pay for one it makes no sense and is just an expectation that as players we deserve the toys.

Salvaging Zurara made sense ingame but I wouldn't want to be tied to a static faction with BGS needs or start competing against those factions already in H&S who set up the bases there (even if NPCs) to steal their stations and can't see any benefit for doing so.

Ok, I'm not RP-ing, simply making a suggestion that may satisfy one or two of the objections raised earlier. Others more talented at storytelling can dream up the backstory! Personally, I like the idea of the Rifters inheriting the Zurara once FD have enabled facilities on Megaships. I agree that static asteroid bases are less attractive or appropriate, even if they're so far from the bubble that the BGS is a non-issue.

 

[ScarletM!4]

Where do i sign?

THIS....I want in too.....Please

 

[Jaiotu]

I didn't mean, that you have to be the first, that discovered that system or this body. Only, that you have been there and have done your part. What I have in mind is, that visiting the Zurara doesn't not make commander necessarily a Rifter. There must be some distinction between tourists and Rifters, who put some time and effort in uncovering the mystery there. Heck, some of them even destroyed their ship while searching the FR.

The problem is that simply having been in the area doesn't mean that you were participating in unraveling the mystery. Someone could have racked up hundreds of first discoveries and never heard of the "Formidine Rift" while there are many people who have poured over the lore, shared theories, contributed to the discussion and kept the dream alive after Salomé disappeared from GalNet and the trail went cold who may have never personally flown into the Rift.

Being a Rifter is not just about making the voyage along the R/R line. It's more about participating in the discussion here on this thread and/or in the Discord hashing out theories and sifting through GalNet & Reclamation looking for subtle hints.

How many of us spent months visiting systems inside the Bubble looking for hints in the local news repositories? Are these not Rifters too?

 

[Han_Zen]

Don't know why people want the Zurara resurrected?

There will be plenty of bases in the Rift, once the Dynasty moves inn.

 

[Jaiotu]

Don't know why people want the Zurara resurrected?

There will be plenty of bases in the Rift, once the Dynasty moves inn.

I can't even say "Dynasty" expedition without flashbacks to 80's television programs.

[video=youtube_share;AVu01ShJ5qA]https://youtu.be/AVu01ShJ5qA[/video]

 

[Harley Quinn]

Ok, I'm not RP-ing, simply making a suggestion that may satisfy one or two of the objections raised earlier. Others more talented at storytelling can dream up the backstory! Personally, I like the idea of the Rifters inheriting the Zurara once FD have enabled facilities on Megaships. I agree that static asteroid bases are less attractive or appropriate, even if they're so far from the bubble that the BGS is a non-issue.

A lot of it is costs and story that come to my mind. If a fully fitted A rated conda is costing you over 500,000,000 then how much is a mega-ship or station. If we take the price differential between a sidewinder and a conda we would be looking at more than 1000 times the price, so 500 billion. 10 times is still 5 billion which is a massive amount, but doable if we had 50 members all willing to contribute 100,000,000 to the cause, but at that rate we would also see every pirate faction in existence being able to have their own mobile raiding cap ship. 100 to 1000 times seems more reasonable and I can't see how we can afford that.

Fixed doesn't work for me, but if people want it I won't argue against them doing it, but that's not for me.

Retasking and refitting generation ships isn't an option. The only thing the superpowers could agree on was non-intervention there and they as early pioneers who died in pursuit of exploration have more right for a memorial than a bunch of pilots who signed on to a black ops mission for a big payout anyway.

Stealing someone's ship or station from them, even if in BGS doesn't for me track with rifter ethos.

So that leaves a magical donation from groups as yet unknown but would likely exclude every rich corporate entity in the galaxy as we are kind of investigating them and there is nothing in this for the shareholders, and I can't see us accepting a gift that comes with strings from a PP faction.

Or the only other option, an unclaimed megaship floating in space that needs to be repaired and refitted to be of any use. That's a big enough job in itself and would still cost more than a conda in material needs to sort.

And that would still need FDev agreement and without financial backing CGs with no reward payout or even purchase of goods shipped to achieve. And likely people trying to blow us up doing this.

At least we would have a simple trigger for who gets the decal initially from that, as it would be the only reward on offer.

 

[eadghe]

As I see there are a lot of different opinions on how to continue with the Zurara from here, I like to suggest the following.
As a first step we could keep it simple and try to get a CG which outfits an expedition to retrieve the bodies of the crew. This is something decent to do and it would create awareness in the community as well as poke those behind the dynasty expedition. FD would see that we care and are willing to continue the storyline and the outcome of the CG could be used to add new clues (maybe more infos found among the bodies, or family members who start to remember things from back then) wrt to Dark Forces(tm). Afterwards we could see how we continue from there, whether or not the Zurara gets re purposed.
One thing FD could to to insure that the Zurara gets not forgotten (in case she stays where she is) is to create a special Passenger mission with a decent pay out which requires you to visit H&S, the Eafots bases (or one at least) and then follow a couple of points on the RR-Line with the Zurara as final destination. This way new player will have an incentive to learn about the Rift Mystery and the different steps.

 

[Stryka Choon]

A lot of it is costs and story that come to my mind. If a fully fitted A rated conda is costing you over 500,000,000 then how much is a mega-ship or station. If we take the price differential between a sidewinder and a conda we would be looking at more than 1000 times the price, so 500 billion. 10 times is still 5 billion which is a massive amount, but doable if we had 50 members all willing to contribute 100,000,000 to the cause, but at that rate we would also see every pirate faction in existence being able to have their own mobile raiding cap ship. 100 to 1000 times seems more reasonable and I can't see how we can afford that.

Fixed doesn't work for me, but if people want it I won't argue against them doing it, but that's not for me.

Retasking and refitting generation ships isn't an option. The only thing the superpowers could agree on was non-intervention there and they as early pioneers who died in pursuit of exploration have more right for a memorial than a bunch of pilots who signed on to a black ops mission for a big payout anyway.

Stealing someone's ship or station from them, even if in BGS doesn't for me track with rifter ethos.

So that leaves a magical donation from groups as yet unknown but would likely exclude every rich corporate entity in the galaxy as we are kind of investigating them and there is nothing in this for the shareholders, and I can't see us accepting a gift that comes with strings from a PP faction.

Or the only other option, an unclaimed megaship floating in space that needs to be repaired and refitted to be of any use. That's a big enough job in itself and would still cost more than a conda in material needs to sort.

And that would still need FDev agreement and without financial backing CGs with no reward payout or even purchase of goods shipped to achieve. And likely people trying to blow us up doing this.

At least we would have a simple trigger for who gets the decal initially from that, as it would be the only reward on offer.

Why would you have to buy it? It's salvage, surely? The alternative is that it sits there, empty and dead(ish). Almost certainly, no-one will admit to owning it or sending it there, so who's going to object? Squatters' rights, man!

 

[Han_Zen]

I can't even say "Dynasty" expedition without flashbacks to 80's television programs.

https://youtu.be/AVu01ShJ5qA

There is a reason we skipped TV and played Elite instead.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I think, that maybe some minimal number of explored systems in the Formidine Rift area should be a criteria for earning the decal, let's say 50 or so.

Yes. This is the indication of a true Rifter. But you might have to define the area of the Rift quite tightly, perhaps west if Heart & Soul?
(P.S. I surveyed Phaa Ain NO-X and OO-X sectors in an attempt to solve TOW conversation with Salomé, but that was back in the days when the Rift area was not defined)

- - - Updated - - -

Given that Megaships are already a thing in the FD arsenal, there's no reason why the Zurara needs to be the Rifters' ship - though I do appreciate the symbolic nature of the choice. But if it's decided that the Zurara should be retained as a POI museum to the Rift adventure, then so be it. We're told that Megaships will eventually gain docking facilities and more (bars, natch!), so perhaps the Rifters can be allocated one when that process is complete. Park it in the centre of the Rift/HG/Conflux triangle, or wherever the story has moved on to, and call it the FRS Bacofoil...

No F!
I'm independent!!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[Harley Quinn]

Why would you have to buy it? It's salvage, surely? The alternative is that it sits there, empty and dead(ish). Almost certainly, no-one will admit to owning it or sending it there, so who's going to object? Squatters' rights, man!

Wouldn't have to buy Zurara. That's just claiming. But it would need reactor repairs as a minimum to get it online plus crew and supplies to run. It's star drive is outdated and would take months to travel what we do in a day, so that needs ripping out and replacing plus whatever other upgrades, repairs and maintenance is needed to get it online, so there is still a cost to get it running and hard work shipping to do so.

The figures though were in relation to having a new megaship or station plopped somewhere for us. Those are the kinds of costs hurdle we would have to be able to justify being met without it being special treatment for this group just because we are this group of players. I can't see FDev agreeing to that as everyone would want the same treatment.

Something we could do ingame if mechanics allowed salvage, and with repair CGs already happened with Jacques and the fact we would be grafting for a goal others could try and stop us doing. Can't see that being special treatment, it would just be us jumping on the idea first.

 

[Stryka Choon]

Wouldn't have to buy Zurara. That's just claiming. But it would need reactor repairs as a minimum to get it online plus crew and supplies to run. It's star drive is outdated and would take months to travel what we do in a day, so that needs ripping out and replacing plus whatever other upgrades, repairs and maintenance is needed to get it online, so there is still a cost to get it running and hard work shipping to do so.

The figures though were in relation to having a new megaship or station plopped somewhere for us. Those are the kinds of costs hurdle we would have to be able to justify being met without it being special treatment for this group just because we are this group of players. I can't see FDev agreeing to that as everyone would want the same treatment.

Something we could do ingame if mechanics allowed salvage, and with repair CGs already happened with Jacques and the fact we would be grafting for a goal others could try and stop us doing. Can't see that being special treatment, it would just be us jumping on the idea first.

I've got this mate, see. Does a nice line in Megaship repairs - much cheaper than the official dealer stuff... Ok, pattern parts and a bit of DIY bodging, maybe, but it'll be just like new. Honest. No, really.

Just pop round his gaff in the California Nebula, knock three times and say I sent you. Nuff said?

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

The problem is that simply having been in the area doesn't mean that you were participating in unraveling the mystery. Someone could have racked up hundreds of first discoveries and never heard of the "Formidine Rift" while there are many people who have poured over the lore, shared theories, contributed to the discussion and kept the dream alive after Salomé disappeared from GalNet and the trail went cold who may have never personally flown into the Rift.

Being a Rifter is not just about making the voyage along the R/R line. It's more about participating in the discussion here on this thread and/or in the Discord hashing out theories and sifting through GalNet & Reclamation looking for subtle hints.

How many of us spent months visiting systems inside the Bubble looking for hints in the local news repositories? Are these not Rifters too?

Yes. I have already suggested Rifters are people who have contributed usefully in this and the previous subthreads. However anyone who hasn't left the bubble but just perused Galnet is just a librarian. We would need to exclude the salt siths who trolled endlessly after the Premonition Event.

However I would suggest Erimus is a Rifter (if he wants to be thus denoted) although I'm not sure that we could find any specific search criteria on this thread for him; but he did come up with the first map didn't he & that was a really useful contribution.

 

[Gypsy12]

Hmmm... just thinking.

200 tonnes of meta alloys. That were stolen from Maia. By a Cobra.

An Emergency broadcast from Col 70. By a Cobra.

Meta alloys = cure for UAd Stations.

Now then. What if there is a broken - or formerly broken station in the col 70 sector that required meta alloys for repairs? And what if it was Salome and co who stole them in order to repair said station?
Perhaps in order to extract information from the systems? - or in order to access the rest of the sector?

Perhaps col 70 is a human sector, controlled by Wrecken & co. Wouldn't they have done the same dumb stuff as us if they had have found UAs - and rendered their stations inoperable? ...well... maybe.

notice this?

"Galactic News: Distress Call Received from Col 70 Sector

Recent reports indicate that a garbled distress call from somewhere in the Col 70 sector has been received. The news has been met with surprise from some quarters, given that permit restrictions have made the sector relatively inaccessible.

"We're not sure what to make of it," said Perry Hussein, a member of the Federal intelligence community, "but it was definitely a distress call and the ship that sent it appears to have been destroyed. The telemetry indicates it was an older vessel, perhaps Cobra class."

"relatively inaccessible"?

Not "Inaccessible"?

There might be a way in after all...

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

A lot of it is costs and story that come to my mind. If a fully fitted A rated conda is costing you over 500,000,000 then how much is a mega-ship or station. If we take the price differential between a sidewinder and a conda we would be looking at more than 1000 times the price, so 500 billion. 10 times is still 5 billion which is a massive amount, but doable if we had 50 members all willing to contribute 100,000,000 to the cause, but at that rate we would also see every pirate faction in existence being able to have their own mobile raiding cap ship. 100 to 1000 times seems more reasonable and I can't see how we can afford that.

Fixed doesn't work for me, but if people want it I won't argue against them doing it, but that's not for me.

Retasking and refitting generation ships isn't an option. The only thing the superpowers could agree on was non-intervention there and they as early pioneers who died in pursuit of exploration have more right for a memorial than a bunch of pilots who signed on to a black ops mission for a big payout anyway.

Stealing someone's ship or station from them, even if in BGS doesn't for me track with rifter ethos.

So that leaves a magical donation from groups as yet unknown but would likely exclude every rich corporate entity in the galaxy as we are kind of investigating them and there is nothing in this for the shareholders, and I can't see us accepting a gift that comes with strings from a PP faction.

Or the only other option, an unclaimed megaship floating in space that needs to be repaired and refitted to be of any use. That's a big enough job in itself and would still cost more than a conda in material needs to sort.

And that would still need FDev agreement and without financial backing CGs with no reward payout or even purchase of goods shipped to achieve. And likely people trying to blow us up doing this.

At least we would have a simple trigger for who gets the decal initially from that, as it would be the only reward on offer.

But this & some of the discussions above would bar anyone who is not into RP, Discord, BGS etc from receiving the Rifters decal even if they have contributed significantly to this thread where the Rifting has been coordinated (in a loose, non-controlling way). So what is the point? If we are to gain a Rifters ship decal then it should be for contributing to the hunt for the truth, not for building a megaship or desecrating a tomb.

I think Zurara should be left alone, as a floating tomb and everlasting memorial to the crew who manned her and their hexedited murderers. If you want to focus your efforts on anything then focus them onto discovering the individuals behind the conspiracy, and bring them to account. I am beginning to suspect you have been infiltrated by the conspirators who are trying to divert your attention from Dynasty.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmmm... just thinking.

200 tonnes of meta alloys. That were stolen from Maia. By a Cobra.

An Emergency broadcast from Col 70. By a Cobra.

Meta alloys = cure for UAd Stations.

Now then. What if there is a broken - or formerly broken station in the col 70 sector that required meta alloys for repairs? And what if it was Salome and co who stole them in order to repair said station?
Perhaps in order to extract information from the systems? - or in order to access the rest of the sector?

Perhaps col 70 is a human sector, controlled by Wrecken & co. Wouldn't they have done the same dumb stuff as us if they had have found UAs - and rendered their stations inoperable? ...well... maybe.

notice this?

"Galactic News: Distress Call Received from Col 70 Sector

Recent reports indicate that a garbled distress call from somewhere in the Col 70 sector has been received. The news has been met with surprise from some quarters, given that permit restrictions have made the sector relatively inaccessible.

"We're not sure what to make of it," said Perry Hussein, a member of the Federal intelligence community, "but it was definitely a distress call and the ship that sent it appears to have been destroyed. The telemetry indicates it was an older vessel, perhaps Cobra class."

"relatively inaccessible"?

Not "Inaccessible"?

There might be a way in after all...

Agreed. Use of MAs to repair a station is possible, but with all the hints about MegaDrive & RaanC's involvement more likely that it is feasible to enter Col70 sctor if you have a long distance FSD. So perhaps feasible with a double neutron star boosted Annie or DBX?

One thing that could be done is to continue the search for the Megadrive documents. RaanC still hasn't published those. Perhaps some engineer is going to announce a new line in FSD recipes ("Soon")?

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Yes. I have already suggested Rifters are people who have contributed usefully in this and the previous subthreads. However anyone who hasn't left the bubble but just perused Galnet is just a librarian. We would need to exclude the salt siths who trolled endlessly after the Premonition Event.
…

It's a bit sad to see how this all turns into a tribe building and use vs. them thing.

I always considered the Formidine Rift thread very friendly and inclusive because there wasn't a faction, organization and hierarchy involved.

The simple idea of a faction and decal and mega-ship, born simply out of jealousy, already is poisoning the waters of this nice thread. Who is worthy, who is not.

I thought this thread was about solutions and ideas and exchange and not about base building and separating the good from the unworthy.

I almost started considering me myself as a rifter, but now …

 

[Gypsy12]

But this & some of the discussions above would bar anyone who is not into RP, Discord, BGS etc from receiving the Rifters decal even if they have contributed significantly to this thread where the Rifting has been coordinated (in a loose, non-controlling way). So what is the point? If we are to gain a Rifters ship decal then it should be for contributing to the hunt for the truth, not for building a megaship or desecrating a tomb.

I think Zurara should be left alone, as a floating tomb and everlasting memorial to the crew who manned her and their hexedited murderers. If you want to focus your efforts on anything then focus them onto discovering the individuals behind the conspiracy, and bring them to account. I am beginning to suspect you have been infiltrated by the conspirators who are trying to divert your attention from Dynasty.

- - - Updated - - -



Agreed. Use of MAs to repair a station is possible, but with all the hints about MegaDrive & RaanC more likely that it is feasible to enter Col70 sctor if you have a long distance FSD. So perhaps feasible with a double neutron star boosted Annie or DBX?

Theres one right next door to the witch head science system. Only problem. Finding an unlocked star in the col 70 sector!

 

[Taranis Dekker]

But this & some of the discussions above would bar anyone who is not into RP, Discord, BGS etc from receiving the Rifters decal even if they have contributed significantly to this thread where the Rifting has been coordinated (in a loose, non-controlling way). So what is the point? If we are to gain a Rifters ship decal then it should be for contributing to the hunt for the truth, not for building a megaship or desecrating a tomb.

I think Zurara should be left alone, as a floating tomb and everlasting memorial to the crew who manned her and their hexedited murderers. If you want to focus your efforts on anything then focus them onto discovering the individuals behind the conspiracy, and bring them to account. I am beginning to suspect you have been infiltrated by the conspirators who are trying to divert your attention from Dynasty.

- - - Updated - - -



Agreed. Use of MAs to repair a station is possible, but with all the hints about MegaDrive & RaanC more likely that it is feasible to enter Col70 sctor if you have a long distance FSD. So perhaps feasible with a double neutron star boosted Annie or DBX?

Perhaps, if it is a missing ship or even a megaship of some description, it would have been built before the locks on FSD drives were invented or introduced. Old ship, old drive, not possible to permit-lock, because the ability to restrict wasn't possible.

If it's a station, then it could be a station of old vintage, and not subject to such restrictions either... hence the meta-alloys to get it working again, akin to how Jacques needed repair. Jacques may not have had the first jump-capable station.