Dark wheel missions, why have they gone

Morning Cmdrs/fdev

I keep reading about mysterious missions of old from the dark wheel, and mission scenarios 1 through 6, why have these gone? If the mechanic wasn't important why were they there?

We need some guidelines as to what level of interaction we need to have with the dark wheel.

Are we talking a grind like fed/imp navy. Or do we need to do something completely different to be approached.

Would be extremely helpful to know we are on the correct path, that is all we are asking. As at the moment we have no idea what the end goal is, or path to get there.

o7
 
I hear ya, but doesn't sound like good game mechanics does it? Especially after TDW and (grab your tin foil hat) Raxxla have been added to the codex, we need some sort of stepping stone. Dotnt get me wrong the Raxxla thread is a great read an shows what an imagination can do but so many wild theories.
 
I hear ya, but doesn't sound like good game mechanics does it?

No, it doesn't. But those have always been rare around here. Even rarer than the in-game text references to a free novella that accompanied a 34-year-old game that fit onto a single floppy disk.
 
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True, I’d like to know what happened to these myself. But honestly I think the faction was sending people on a goose chase. With the new codex saying that people in search of Raxxla were being sent way off to places unknown on missions just to keep away, that sounds a lot like the outer rim mission they would send you on. Currently I think our best Canon clues are the Dark Wheel toast, and the two objects connected to it. 1. The Omphalos Rift. Which in Greek mythology is the center of the world, a stone placed by Zeus at Delphi to mark the worlds center. So I think there is either something to be found near Sag A or in Delphi in the Pleiades. The other is Astrophell and the Spiralling Stars. Astrophel is an unknown plant in the works of Spencer which is believed to be something like an Aster. So maybe the alien flora we find has some connection.
 
Or maybe even the thargoid bases. Those are organic and have a spiraling star map in the middle. Find the stone and bring it to the base to be entered into the machine?
 
Or alternatively - and I realise this sounds like space madness - maybe there is no end goal or any path and it's all just made up as they go along as different bodies move in and out of different job titles.

'It's all just made up as they go along'

How very dare you!:D
 
Right now we have a mystery that might or might not be something. It makes people come up with different theories and have all kinds of goals to their game.
Now you would like to have rules laid out, so you could grind that too?
 
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No i'm not asking for a set of rules, that's jumping completely the other way. I'm asking for clues that can be confirmed or elaborated on, 2 small codex entries and a line from the creator is all we have to go on. If you take a look at the other thread, its stating things from greek mythology, astronomy etc. An whilst some of them are very clever though out plans, ultimately a complete time suck as nothing ne is coming to the fore. We are playing a game here not curing cancer.
 
No i'm not asking for a set of rules, that's jumping completely the other way. I'm asking for clues that can be confirmed or elaborated on, 2 small codex entries and a line from the creator is all we have to go on. If you take a look at the other thread, its stating things from greek mythology, astronomy etc. An whilst some of them are very clever though out plans, ultimately a complete time suck as nothing ne is coming to the fore. We are playing a game here not curing cancer.

Sure, so you can ignore this thing.
What's intriguing about it is the mystery and the fact nobody knows anything for sure - that's what's keeping it alive and sparks imagination. Make it something you could easily solve and you could watch the whole thing on Youtube the next day. Not to mention that Raxxla would prove to be something really underwhelming compared to all the hype it generates. And the whole thing would loose all its purpose.

Raxxla comes from a novel that came with first Elite. If you read it, it's completely different universe than the one we have in our game currently, full of different alien races living together, like in Star Trek. Raxxla felt like something made up for the story to not feel too mundane and to leave the hero with a goal to pursue. Not to mention that even there it wasn't explained. Raxxla could be a state of mind for all we know.
So, even if it exists in some form in current game, then take it as it is - a mystery. Conspiracy theory. Have fun looking for clues, or leave it alone. I don't think it's something that's supposed to have a definitive answer, or tangible goal.
 
I got myself allied to the Dark Wheel in Shinrarta Dezhra thinking it may unlock some interesting missions, but nothing so far.

I gave up when I got to Friendly as it was just taking too long. I always meant to go back and finish it, but I probably won't bother unless it does provide something at some point. I don't usually hang around Shinrarta (just flyby if I need a module or ship).
 
I keep reading about mysterious missions of old from the dark wheel, and mission scenarios 1 through 6, why have these gone? If the mechanic wasn't important why were they there?

We need some guidelines as to what level of interaction we need to have with the dark wheel.

The missions initially went missing in the "Ships" update that was supposed to restrict them to Founder's World, but caused them to disappear.
They then weren't migrated to the new mission board templates that v2.1 introduced.

I've chased FD for an answer multiple times over the years since, in threads and on livestreams, but they won't answer if they're ever going to return. "nothing to discuss" is their answer these days. All pretty sucky too, considering some of us Kickstarters paid extra to be "Founding Members of the Elite" and were meant to have immediate access to these missions, and that more special/rare missions were meant to have been added too...

I've posted more detail before in "The Quest To Find Raxxla" thread. e.g. >here< and recently, >here<.
 
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Wow 2019; found this post by random… the fate of the Dark Wheel missions, and Trinkets was resolved in the Quest to Find Raxxla - if by the chance anyone finds this post too and is still wondering. FD confirmed that they removed that ‘story’. So they were gone, although they also confirmed the trinkets were related, and the ‘story’ may be turned back on in the future but at present - dead.

It’s postulated in the Quest that the DW codex since FD confirm the above; is actually just a flowery ’alibi’ where FD actually confirms the DW we’re just hokum, on that merit that codex entry may be narrative retconning, the only small bit of ‘real’ information it holding being there ‘might’ be a DW station out there, likely this is just a dead hulk like a gen ship… but that’s the tin-foil.
 
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