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By the same logic, there should be lights and sounds in hyperspace that drive pilots mad and cause them to suicide-by-airlock. There should also be a beacon in the same system as the Zurara. It's optimistic to believe that FDev actually put into the game all the things the Exodus logs talked about.
THE FORMIDINE RIFT MYSTERY (Part 4)
- Thread starter Cmdr Zach
- Start date
By the same logic, there should be lights and sounds in hyperspace that drive pilots mad and cause them to suicide-by-airlock. There should also be a beacon in the same system as the Zurara. It's optimistic to believe that FDev actually put into the game all the things the Exodus logs talked about.
So what about all those weird things Salome saw? Stuff about ships from horizon to horizon or something.
Where did she say that? I can't remember......
Their are lights & sounds in hyperspace
, they don't drive pilots mad anymore because The Club got the Pilots federation to upload an update to all ships prior to 3300 to block the harmful effects . Seriously though, that aspect is obviously not possible to implement (the madness).
You might be right that they simply haven't implemented those beacons, but it's also possible they haven't activated them & so they simply can't be found, their is precedence for this (bar sheer fluke by dropping out of SC right next one). I keep meaning to raise a bug report about the beacons (I can't remember if anyone already has), but I keep forgetting!
I never said I expected FD to have put in all those things, where did you see that?
Their are lights & sounds in hyperspace
, they don't drive pilots mad anymore because The Club got the Pilots federation to upload an update to all ships prior to 3300 to block the harmful effects . Seriously though, that aspect is obviously not possible to implement (the madness).You might be right that they simply haven't implemented those beacons, but it's also possible they haven't activated them & so they simply can't be found, their is precedence for this (bar sheer fluke by dropping out of SC right next one). I keep meaning to raise a bug report about the beacons (I can't remember if anyone already has), but I keep forgetting!
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We might very well still find the lights and sounds of hyperspace maddening if a single jump meant weeks in hyperspace like it did back then. 
Very slow network connections back in those daysWe might very well still find the lights and sounds of hyperspace maddening if a single jump meant weeks in hyperspace like it did back then.
Sometimes, when you create a riddle, it can be hard to know if you've made it too easy or too hard. Given the vastness of space and the limited tools we had back during the Rift era the puzzle of the Rift was a bit daunting. If we'd even only had the current galactic map to let us know we were even looking in right spot ... maybe we'd have found the Zurara a lot sooner.
As I've just been re-reading the Dynasty Expedition logs, here's the questions that come from them which I'm not aware of answers to. Hopefully the abbreviations will be obvious.
Are the ships all carrying the same cargo? And if not what is the unidentified cargo?
Details from logs below. (Also includes notes on anything else significant in the logs.)
So mainly Beacons where confirmed. Artefacts sounds like something different, but could just be taken as someone's description of the Beacons.
Specific questions from individual sets of logs.
General questions emerging...
More than one ship in the FR picks up an unusual (rumoured non-human) signal on the same day. Is it coincidence or is there some significance to it?
Of those two ships, why was one apparently destroyed, and the other allowed to continue and leave?
In general, why where some ships destroyed and others not?
Hyperdictions, power shutdowns, all sound like Thargoids. Was it? And are they the same ones we've encountered over the recent years?
Did news of the hyperdictions etc. make it back to the Club, and if so, what did they make of it? With it happening at two of the three Exodus locations, that would presumably be a considerable spanner in the works, and render them entirely unviable as potential destinations.
Did anyone survive on any of the ELWs following the incidents?
Are the ships all carrying the same cargo? And if not what is the unidentified cargo?
Details from logs below. (Also includes notes on anything else significant in the logs.)
HG Gamma - Beacons. (One beacon activates accidentally. Witness were told that they hadn't heard anything. People talking about the beacons die in a airlock 'accident'.)
HG Beta - Cargo guarded, crew don't see it.
HG Alpha - Strange tech, looks like satellites. (Cargo guarded, log is from a normal crew member.)
HG Delta - Artefacts of some kind. (Log is from a crew member. People handling the cargo aren't crew.)
C Alpha - Beacons - new tech, appearing to be long range comms, getting dropped at ELWs (No mention at all of guards or secrecy. Could be explained by the log belonging to one of the guards rather than a crew member?)
C Beta - Not known, ship hyperdicted.
C Gamma - Beacons. (Some guards and secrecy. Log is from a crew member.)
C Delta - Not known, ship lost after dropping out near a Neutron Star following a hyperdrive failure.
FR Alpha - Beacons. (Crew go crazy, and blow canopy)
FR Beta - Look like beacons. (Crew pick up a strange signal which rattles them. Compete hyperdrive failure strands ship in system with habitable world. Crew send distress signal. Crew decide to abandon ship, but message cuts off mid-sentence with automated telemetry reporting power failure.)
FR Gamma - Beacons. (Bizarre signal picked up, rumoured to be non-human. Strange lights in witchspace, malfunctions. Picked up a heat source in the penultimate destination, unlike any profile they'd seen before, something watching them.)
FR Delta - Beacons. (Log is from person responsible for placing and activating the Beacons via EVA from one of the main ship's Sidewinders. Confirms 'Exodus' in beacon BIOS. Reports complete power loss for several minutes following placement and activation of a beacon, effecting both them and the main ship. Power loss happens again on a later date, and finds only debris left of the main ship, with no survivors. In a system with an ELW, tries to reach it.)
HG Beta - Cargo guarded, crew don't see it.
HG Alpha - Strange tech, looks like satellites. (Cargo guarded, log is from a normal crew member.)
HG Delta - Artefacts of some kind. (Log is from a crew member. People handling the cargo aren't crew.)
C Alpha - Beacons - new tech, appearing to be long range comms, getting dropped at ELWs (No mention at all of guards or secrecy. Could be explained by the log belonging to one of the guards rather than a crew member?)
C Beta - Not known, ship hyperdicted.
C Gamma - Beacons. (Some guards and secrecy. Log is from a crew member.)
C Delta - Not known, ship lost after dropping out near a Neutron Star following a hyperdrive failure.
FR Alpha - Beacons. (Crew go crazy, and blow canopy)
FR Beta - Look like beacons. (Crew pick up a strange signal which rattles them. Compete hyperdrive failure strands ship in system with habitable world. Crew send distress signal. Crew decide to abandon ship, but message cuts off mid-sentence with automated telemetry reporting power failure.)
FR Gamma - Beacons. (Bizarre signal picked up, rumoured to be non-human. Strange lights in witchspace, malfunctions. Picked up a heat source in the penultimate destination, unlike any profile they'd seen before, something watching them.)
FR Delta - Beacons. (Log is from person responsible for placing and activating the Beacons via EVA from one of the main ship's Sidewinders. Confirms 'Exodus' in beacon BIOS. Reports complete power loss for several minutes following placement and activation of a beacon, effecting both them and the main ship. Power loss happens again on a later date, and finds only debris left of the main ship, with no survivors. In a system with an ELW, tries to reach it.)
So mainly Beacons where confirmed. Artefacts sounds like something different, but could just be taken as someone's description of the Beacons.
Specific questions from individual sets of logs.
What lead to the crew from the FR Alpha logs going crazy?
What happened to the ship from the FR Alpha logs?
What hyperdicted the ship from the C Beta logs, and did the ship & crew survive and continue or where they destroyed?
What was the unexpected signal picked up by the crew of the ship from the FR Beta logs, and why did it rattle them so much?
What happened to the ship from the FR Alpha logs?
What hyperdicted the ship from the C Beta logs, and did the ship & crew survive and continue or where they destroyed?
What was the unexpected signal picked up by the crew of the ship from the FR Beta logs, and why did it rattle them so much?
Edit - Answered. (Courtesy of @Assimilator1 ) It was the signal sent by the Zurara after the beacon handlers killed themselves and disabled the ship.
What system was the ship from the FR Beta logs stranded in?
THE ZURARA 3/4
Zurara Ship Log Entry
01/10/3270
RESUME
The folks managing the cargo, jees, they were all psychos. The moment we completed the mission they just ‘snapped’. Killed the ship and killed themselves. Some kind of mental conditioning, Doc said. We tried to get word out to the other vessels when we found out. We got a signal out, but I don’t know if anyone received it. It will probably freak them out, I don’t think they know we’re here.
<Rest of message removed for space>
Zurara Ship Log Entry
01/10/3270
RESUME
The folks managing the cargo, jees, they were all psychos. The moment we completed the mission they just ‘snapped’. Killed the ship and killed themselves. Some kind of mental conditioning, Doc said. We tried to get word out to the other vessels when we found out. We got a signal out, but I don’t know if anyone received it. It will probably freak them out, I don’t think they know we’re here.
<Rest of message removed for space>
What system was the ship from the FR Beta logs stranded in?
System has a habitable world. No other info.
What does the mid sentence termination of the final message from the ship in the FR Beta logs, followed by 'AUTOMATED TELEMETRY REPORT: POWER FAILURE' imply?
Was the power lost at that point in the message? Does it represent the same things that happened to the ship in the FR Delta logs?
The ships from the FR Beta and FR Gamma logs both report picking up a strange signal on 30/09/3270. Is it two sets of logs from the same ship, or did different ships detect the same signal on the same day?
Different ships. FR Beta logs report hyperdrive failure on 11/11/3270. FR Gamma logs report 'We're done and we're heading home' on 29/11/3270.
What was the heat source picked up by the ship in the FR Gamma logs?
What caused the power loss experienced by the ships in the FR Delta logs? What lead to the destruction of the main ship?
Sounds like the effects of the Thargoid shutdown field.
What does the mid sentence termination of the final message from the ship in the FR Beta logs, followed by 'AUTOMATED TELEMETRY REPORT: POWER FAILURE' imply?
Was the power lost at that point in the message? Does it represent the same things that happened to the ship in the FR Delta logs?
The ships from the FR Beta and FR Gamma logs both report picking up a strange signal on 30/09/3270. Is it two sets of logs from the same ship, or did different ships detect the same signal on the same day?
Different ships. FR Beta logs report hyperdrive failure on 11/11/3270. FR Gamma logs report 'We're done and we're heading home' on 29/11/3270.
What was the heat source picked up by the ship in the FR Gamma logs?
What caused the power loss experienced by the ships in the FR Delta logs? What lead to the destruction of the main ship?
Sounds like the effects of the Thargoid shutdown field.
General questions emerging...
More than one ship in the FR picks up an unusual (rumoured non-human) signal on the same day. Is it coincidence or is there some significance to it?
Of those two ships, why was one apparently destroyed, and the other allowed to continue and leave?
In general, why where some ships destroyed and others not?
Hyperdictions, power shutdowns, all sound like Thargoids. Was it? And are they the same ones we've encountered over the recent years?
Did news of the hyperdictions etc. make it back to the Club, and if so, what did they make of it? With it happening at two of the three Exodus locations, that would presumably be a considerable spanner in the works, and render them entirely unviable as potential destinations.
Did anyone survive on any of the ELWs following the incidents?
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The only things I can answer for at the moment are that yes, they were all supposed to be beacons, and I agree with you that the other terms used are simply the interpretation of something unknown to the writer of the logs.
Also as far as I am aware, when the Formidine Rift mystery was active, Frontier's original plan was to have the Thargoids emerge from there, and at some point during the mystery they changed their minds so that they came from beyond the Pleiades instead. This would explain the references that are consistent with descriptions of Thargoid ships appearing in the logs.
I wonder whether the story of the expedition was originally meant to be an early-warning system for the arrival of the Thargoids that were coming from the Rift (maybe the Bovomit Sector), but when it changed to the Pleiades, suddenly the story had to change to the expedition looking for places for humanity to escape to once the Thargoids arrived in the Pleiades.
Either way, the whole thing looks like it's been dropped, since the Thargoids have been inside the Bubble and humans haven't been migrating to the ELWs in the Rift, Conflux or Gap - and seem instead to be inexplicably moving closer to Thargoid space.
If you've spent long enough around explorers, you become well aware that it is most definitely 100% implemented.Their are lights & sounds in hyperspace
I'm not so sure about the direction the Thargoids were coming from stuff.
I've been coincidentally been looking back at what happened when, and in retrospect, the definite in game establishment of the Thargoid - Pleiades connection goes back to 1.3 / 1.4. So if that was a change from something else it happened very early and well before the Dynasty expedition bases were put into game.
Key stuff from 1.3/1.4 being:
- UAs being retrieved from convoys originally, and speculation that markings on them were a reference to the Pleiades
- Free floating UAs being discovered near the Pleiades
- Discovery that the UAs point to Merope
- Discovery of the 150-170ly UA 'shell' around Merope
The CTD bug with the Dynasty expedition sites also meant things didn't happen in the order they should have. What ended up happening was:
1. The first Hyperdictions by Unknown Ships happen
2. Dynasty expedition logs are found
However, what would have happened if it wasn't for the bug was:
1. Dynasty expedition logs are found (with all the mentions of strange signals, power shutdowns, and ships being pulled out of hyperspace...)
2. Cmdrs start getting pulled out of hyperspace by Unknown Ships, including having their power shutdown...
Looked at that way round, the Dynasty expedition logs would seem to form part of the build up to the start of the encounters with Thargoid ships.
That suggests that the content of the logs isn't an artefact of a change of plan, but rather they were a deliberate part of the plan at that time.
Exact dates they were added would help, but from when things happened, there's a good chance it was in the 2.2.02 patch on 15th Nov '16. If they weren't added then, that still roughly marks the time when FD put in the CG etc that lead to the discovery of the beacons that lead to the sites. It seems to me that it would be a bit of an odd thing to do to push all that forwards with all those things which would have acted as portents of what was to imminently come, if they were in no way intended to provide portents of what was to come.
Lol, well I am a part time mid range explorer myself
.Btw I see I typo'd, I meant 3300, not 3200.
Thatchinho
What hyperdicted the ship from the C Beta logs - Well seeing as the only species we've met that can hyperdict is the Thargoids, I'd say the Thargoids.
What was the unexpected signal picked up by the crew of the ship from the FR Beta logs, and why did it rattle them so much? - Ah, that there is a certain answer to, it was the message from the Zuara (spelling?) warning them of the secretive crew members agenda. See the Zuara logs. The dates match btw.
Of those two ships, why was one apparently destroyed, and the other allowed to continue and leave? - Maybe one open fired on the Thargoid (the hyperdicting ship).
Cheers! Have updated the post with the info on the Zurara signal.Lol, well I am a part time mid range explorer myself
Btw I see I typo'd, I meant 3300, not 3200.
Thatchinho
What hyperdicted the ship from the C Beta logs - Well seeing as the only species we've met that can hyperdict is the Thargoids, I'd say the Thargoids.
What was the unexpected signal picked up by the crew of the ship from the FR Beta logs, and why did it rattle them so much? - Ah, that there is a certain answer to, it was the message from the Zuara (spelling?) warning them of the secretive crew members agenda. See the Zuara logs. The dates match btw.
Of those two ships, why was one apparently destroyed, and the other allowed to continue and leave? - Maybe one open fired on the Thargoid (the hyperdicting ship).
And yeah, Thargoids is the obvious answer for what was responsible for the hyperdictions, etc. - I'd put a summary point around that stuff in the 'General questions emerging' section. (It was late so I'd only done the first pass through - going through the logs one by one and identifying and writing down any questions, and then summarise overall questions at the end. Was too late to do the second pass and go through and backfill the individual questions with further info from other logs, cross references, etc.
)Just coming back to the signal question, the logs of one describes it as non-human (though it's phrased as second hand, and a description of what the story circulating on the ship is rather than a first hand description of the signal).
"We picked up some kind of bizarre signal yesterday. Whatever it was wasn't human. At least, that's the scuttlebutt going around the decks. Everyone is looking out of the canopies now. We're seeing some strange lights during hyperspace transits. Terror? Yeah, we got some of that ..."
Seems quite conceivable that it's still the Zurara signal, and just the ships rumour mill running wild. What's your view?
Hmm, I'm not sure if I'm getting confused or you're getting confused .
I don't think the dynasty log you're quoting is the right one, the one I had in mind didn't mention anything about non human.
Just looking it up now, Zurara log dated 1/10/3270, yea this is the Dynasty log I was thinking of, I did remember correctly!
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 4/6
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270
“Picked up some kind of signal yesterday and it looks like the crew weren’t expecting it. Got them proper rattled. There’s definitely something very strange about this area of space. Won’t be sad to turn around and head horne.”
Date matches the Zurara's log. But you could be right about the 'scuttlebutt' going a bit wild saying it's a non human signal.
As for this one :-
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 6/6
Expedition Log: 29/11/3270
“We can’t fix it. Hyperdrive is dead. Lucky we’re in a system with a habitable world. We’ve sent a distress call but who knows if anyone will ever hear it. We’re going to abandon ship. If anyone finds this, we’re in…” AUTOMATED TELEMETRY REPORT: POWER FAILURE.
Seems like sabotage to me, super annoying we didn't get a system name.
.I don't think the dynasty log you're quoting is the right one, the one I had in mind didn't mention anything about non human.
Just looking it up now, Zurara log dated 1/10/3270, yea this is the Dynasty log I was thinking of, I did remember correctly!
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 4/6
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270
“Picked up some kind of signal yesterday and it looks like the crew weren’t expecting it. Got them proper rattled. There’s definitely something very strange about this area of space. Won’t be sad to turn around and head horne.”
Date matches the Zurara's log. But you could be right about the 'scuttlebutt' going a bit wild saying it's a non human signal.
As for this one :-
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 6/6
Expedition Log: 29/11/3270
“We can’t fix it. Hyperdrive is dead. Lucky we’re in a system with a habitable world. We’ve sent a distress call but who knows if anyone will ever hear it. We’re going to abandon ship. If anyone finds this, we’re in…” AUTOMATED TELEMETRY REPORT: POWER FAILURE.
Seems like sabotage to me, super annoying we didn't get a system name
.
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Sure they cannot implement player's madness but why not have some recognizable but subtle changes in the witchspace sequence that resemble the FR being haunted. Perhaps an additional and slightly low probability of small miss-jumps (nothing that will break your gameplay) and he FR would much more feel like I had expected it to be. - All this exclusively for the FR region.
PS: Nice to see this thread to be alife again
PPS: Oh, and what about strange sounds from within your ship?
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Agreed, that would be cool .
Also, even if they don't want to activate all the Dynasty beacons, they could activate the odd few, with the story premise being that it's partially malfunctioned & activated itself, like the 1 in 1 of the logs did.
.Also, even if they don't want to activate all the Dynasty beacons, they could activate the odd few, with the story premise being that it's partially malfunctioned & activated itself, like the 1 in 1 of the logs did.
Yeah, the FR Beta one sounds like a perfect match for the Zurara's transmission.Hmm, I'm not sure if I'm getting confused or you're getting confused
I don't think the dynasty log you're quoting is the right one, the one I had in mind didn't mention anything about non human.
Just looking it up now, Zurara log dated 1/10/3270, yea this is the Dynasty log I was thinking of, I did remember correctly!
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 4/6
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270
“Picked up some kind of signal yesterday and it looks like the crew weren’t expecting it. Got them proper rattled. There’s definitely something very strange about this area of space. Won’t be sad to turn around and head horne.”
Date matches the Zurara's log. But you could be right about the 'scuttlebutt' going a bit wild saying it's a non human signal.
As for this one :-
FORMIDINE RIFT BETA MISSION 6/6
Expedition Log: 29/11/3270
“We can’t fix it. Hyperdrive is dead. Lucky we’re in a system with a habitable world. We’ve sent a distress call but who knows if anyone will ever hear it. We’re going to abandon ship. If anyone finds this, we’re in…” AUTOMATED TELEMETRY REPORT: POWER FAILURE.
Seems like sabotage to me, super annoying we didn't get a system name
It's the FR Gamma one that I was wondering about:
FORMIDINE RIFT GAMMA MISSION 4/6
Yeah, could be sabotage for the end of the FR Beta logs. Odd that the crew didn't take action though as they should have been forewarned by the signal from the Zurara.
So I've always been interested in this and I was sad that I wasn't around when all this unraveled. I still wanted to go to the FR and explore and see if I got lucky and found anything else of interest but wanted to go to Hawking's Gap first for some biological sight seeing. Turns out Hawking's Gap is also a part of this! Do we believe there is anything left to find relating to this? If so, should I stay in HG or should I head out to FR?
Hmm, well I don't think so, their should be a load of beacons in ELW/terraformable world systems, but they are all deactivated (something I somehow missed from the logs until today!), so technically they are unfindable until/if they are made active. IIRC it has been shown before that beacons can only be found once active, I think Salome's last message was such a beacon.
Maybe their should in theory be some ship wrecks to find, can't remember which area though, check the dynasty logs.
Maybe their should in theory be some ship wrecks to find, can't remember which area though, check the dynasty logs.
