"The Stones"

[Vetinari]

I got it I think, search worked for me for once, maybe coz I posted it.

So from todays LS, all in one place:

Spoiler: Livestream 'Hints'

37.20 - Bruce - "Theres one piece of information or detail that the whole story sort of points to that no-one has really commented on which is quite surprising in terms of what the whole story means for the history of Elite and the in game lore. Thats a bit more of a clue than Arthur gave at the time but I wont say anymore than that...."

42.00 - Stephen - "But like Bruce said there are some things that people haven't necessarily maybe, not that we've seen, maybe think about with especially with like, the certain ships that are being used, the certain areas that are being used, err, these kinds of things"

42.23 - In Twitch Chat CmdrThatchinho -Lore-wise, by my reckoning, we've got... FTL comms confirmed, a new earliest date for when LPs were around, minimum extent of the bubble in 3111, megaship jump per day ranges from that period, confirmation of a private company having knowledge of Thargoid existence in 3111, and a few other bits and bobs...

Bruce responds within 30s - "Cmdr Thatchinho is starting to think along the right lines I think Arthur was poking at the other day"
--------------------------------------------
At the Adamastor in Chukchan:

46.30 Stephen - I dont think this has just been because its been flying about for years that its damaged, because some of the other ships were in better condition. So this definitely looks as if its received some sort of attack
Bruce - It does seem that way for sure
Stephen - ah, interesting. But anyhoo now that...

Very shortly after:

47.00 Bruce - So there are 2 locations that you might be able to discern from the initial set of clues.... erm....I don't want to spoil too much, I wont say more than that because I dont want to spoil what you may deduce from the information

Bruce - Blimey, Accredited Astronaut has quite the nose on him, quite the snozz. - after a few rewinds became apparent this was not referring to a chat post that had sniffed out the truth but instead to one of their in game avatars having a big nose. Not everything is relevant

Then the LS broke, after return it reset the clock. On YT & Twitch I think its in 2 parts so this is the 2nd part if so

04.29 Stephen reading from chat - "Is it possible to decrypt the message from the LP?" - I dont know, is it?
Bruce (leans into camera) - Should be

At the final SRV Site:

09.55 Bruce - chat about the SRV and occupant - But it stands to reason that unless someone has discovered this before and pulled a body out, or that they survived, I mean it looks like a death crash to me Im not gonna lie, then it all stands to reason that there would still be somebody inside does it not?

So for sure we know that a 200 yo human (dead or alive in the escape pod, do these have a lifespan?) has been found at the SRV and that Stephens avatar has a big nose, beyond that is speculation or what you think the hints mean.

I got plenty of tinfoil from it, not least the revisit to the Megaship and the clear expectation from the CMs that there is info there...perhaps without the knowledge that its bugged and isnt working properly.

 

[blake7]

Thargon ?

 

[Vetinari]

iirc Thargons were the little Thargoid ships in Elite, what are called scouts nowadays or maybe the spawn, one of those I think but not called it now....unless they kept the name for something else, something we havent seen yet?

 

[Haresus]

It was dismissed or overlooked for 2 reason, 1, its not great grammar and 2/ other languages reported it translated as 'the best' which means it was a clue in English only.

I think all clues should be assumed to be English-only. The translations are always going to be shadows of the original in a mystery like this, the devs don't have the expertise to write a clue that works perfectly in a multitude of languages. The translators themselves are most likely not a part of designing the mystery, they are just given a text to translate. That's how the WEST/OESTE red herring happens, for example. I assume there are human translators on the payroll and it's not done by a computer, but I have no idea about that.

As for "top of the line" not being great grammar... Eh, disagree. It's an English colloquialism, it makes perfect sense in a double entendre way of saying "this is a difficult code" and "the literal top of the line is where the message is". Carver herself was only told that it was top of the line by Taylor, who is the actual comms person, so Carver probably thought they meant it in the less-literal way... but it's entirely possible that Taylor meant it literally. That's all very Watsonian, what the characters "actually meant" is pointless and can't be proven. From a more Doylist perspective, FDev wanted to give a clue on how to solve the code and "top of the line" was their clue.

 

[whothe]

at the risk of stating the obvious...

the halloween event proved Fdev has no issues with adding elements in game when they see fit to enable their storyline. The coalsack sites just weren't there when they dropped the twitter binary messages, they were added a couple days later. Which leads me to believe that further searching will be quite pointless, as you could well be in the right place looking for 'something' that isn't there, yet...
I find it quite frustrating that they've taken this tact. I mean all of the relevant sites, especially the coalsack sites should have been in-game before they released the binary code puzzle. The binary code puzzle was cool, but the decision to release it before 'the event' was a poor one. How many people wasted hours searching around the nebula for sites that weren't even in game at the time? ..because they dropped a hint that prematurely circumvented part of the mystery.

They were suprised they said that the community cracked the binary message so quick... Uh, really? I mean you don't have to be a genius to recognize binary and hit google for some information on how to read it. Dropping the coalsack hint early had people scouring the nebula for something that wasn't even there at the time. Really poor execution of an otherwise great event imo, that would have been better off without the early binary puzzle, or had it been worked into the other pieces of the puzzle differently, had another piece of the messages been coded binary, not giving a workaround of the other messages and the ensuing trail of clues...

Seems pretty clear to me this narrative will be unfolding in the future with more CGs and galnet articles leading up to Odyssey, and the divergent gameplay that the expansion will bring with it. Also feels like they are going back to known generation/ghost ships now and have rolled some of that history into this new narrative. Maybe if you have the appetitie you can visit numerous existing sites and find some reference that once was overlooked as being insignificant that now relates to the halloween event, I mean theyve been hinting pretty hard at touring the other ghost ships. Whether that is relevant or just trying to interest new players in the various story arcs within the game is unclear.
Don't get me wrong, I really like these little puzzle events and clearly I'm not alone. But I have real doubts that there is any'thing' to find other than some vague hints of alliance involvment in some kind of black ops thargoid research. Seems to me if there is some clandestine research facility that the Adamastor was heading to before Carver bailed in the sidey in HIP 69200, its probably not even been added into the game at this point. It seems likely that there should be a secret facility somewhere, along the trajectory before Carver bailed, which was coming close to but still outside of the bubble, a reasonable place to hide a secret facility. But if that assumption is correct, is it even there at this point? After the halloween event I have my doubts it would be, if my assumption of its existence is correct.
Most likely will be added in the future when FDev wants it to be discovered, in order to further the narrative and generate more buzz around the Odyssey expansion. I could see it being something that needs to be explored on foot in order to utilize the new tools and steer players into some foot soldiery in order to showcase the new space legs feature. Maybe some of the ground facilities that currently exist and have been abandoned after thargoid attacks will have interiors added to explore with new data logs at computer terminals inside? That could be pretty cool.
If there is a secret facility the Adamastor was headed to, imo it should exist already as part of this event, even if we have to wait for Odyssey to enter it to obtain further information about this story arc in the future. But I have my doubts after seeing how the Adamastor event has played out thus far.

 

[Vetinari]

I think all clues should be assumed to be English-only. The translations are always going to be shadows of the original in a mystery like this, the devs don't have the expertise to write a clue that works perfectly in a multitude of languages. The translators themselves are most likely not a part of designing the mystery, they are just given a text to translate. That's how the WEST/OESTE red herring happens, for example. I assume there are human translators on the payroll and it's not done by a computer, but I have no idea about that.

As for "top of the line" not being great grammar... Eh, disagree. It's an English colloquialism, it makes perfect sense in a double entendre way of saying "this is a difficult code" and "the literal top of the line is where the message is". Carver herself was only told that it was top of the line by Taylor, who is the actual comms person, so Carver probably thought they meant it in the less-literal way... but it's entirely possible that Taylor meant it literally. That's all very Watsonian, what the characters "actually meant" is pointless and can't be proven. From a more Doylist perspective, FDev wanted to give a clue on how to solve the code and "top of the line" was their clue.

You misunderstand me, I was answering the question 'Why was it overlooked?' Those 2 reasons were the reasons it was overlooked, not my opinion on whether saying 'Or encryption is first class' would translate as a better clue or not, which obviously it would have. Mostly agree with you but that doesn't change the history of what actually happened. And hopefully we remember better next time, although we were leaning towards the English translations anyway as the original language (another assumption, cant wait until one of them is in Russian or Portuguese to prove us wrong on that one as well)

 

[Jmanis]

You misunderstand me, I was answering the question 'Why was it overlooked?' Those 2 reasons were the reasons it was overlooked, not my opinion on whether saying 'Or encryption is first class' would translate as a better clue or not, which obviously it would have. Mostly agree with you but that doesn't change the history of what actually happened. And hopefully we remember better next time, although we were leaning towards the English translations anyway as the original language (another assumption, cant wait until one of them is in Russian or Portuguese to prove us wrong on that one as well)

For what it's worth, as an English native speaker, even I didn't (and frankly, still don't) get any connection to unscrambling the message and "top of the line"; I think it's a massive bow to draw and not actually intentional.

For a majority of common communications systems, they consist of [HEADER][ENCODED PAYLOAD]... the header is always[1] unencrypted. Whether that header is a single character like in this message (the digit 8) or an entire datagram, or sent at the end or even middle of the payload, it must exist, end it must be unencrypted or weakly encoded/encrypted, and is at-minimum a way for the receiving system to identify "The Data Payload Follows".[2]

So... I just don't think "Top of the line" was a clue. To assume that describes almost any communication system out there.

[1] There are communication systems out there which can transmit encrypted, without a header, or with a fully encrypted header, but these are rare and rely on very specific conditions and setups.
[2] For clarity, it's not every communication that needs a header, just at minimum the first one (i.e link establishment). Once you've initiated encrypted communication, you can simply say in every message "The next enciphered payload will start with XXX"

 

[Cohen the Worrior]

no Thargoid was available for comment.

Actually, the one Thargoid that was available dismissed it as fake news.

Anyhooo, how did the Adamastor jump drive fail? They got to the Coalsack nebula real fast, +600 ly in one day. But now they've secured the precious they're no longer in a hurry to get it to a secure location? Cough Faraday keep cough.
So how did their FSD fail? Did it fail to jump? Or did it fail to jump to the target system?

 

[Jmanis]

Actually, the one Thargoid that was available dismissed it as fake news.

Anyhooo, how did the Adamastor jump drive fail? They got to the Coalsack nebula real fast, +600 ly in one day. But now they've secured the precious they're no longer in a hurry to get it to a secure location? Cough Faraday keep cough.
So how did their FSD fail? Did it fail to jump? Or did it fail to jump to the target system?

Thargoid-sensor related interference, basically. It matches the MO of many other encounters by megaships/INRA etc with them.

 

[Stonn Mrogg]

I got it I think, search worked for me for once, maybe coz I posted it.

Thanks, Vetinari, for the link. It good to see you have the control The timestamps listed are off by 6mins or so but I found it.

What I find most interesting is that they focused on the repair foam (?) on the rear end of the ship for quite some time, As Bruce pulls closer to the megaship...

Stephen: "Wot's that!?"

Bruce: "Wot's what, exactly?"

Stephen: "On that..." :screen is focused on what Bruce calls 'popcorn': "...Is that foam or goo of some sort. Look at that... damage as well. Get a good angle on that."

Stephen seems very interested in the foam. This is just after talking about that thing people are missing.

Stephen: "I don't know if that stuff was used to attack, or... just look at that stuff... "

After more semi-speculation saying they don't think it was damaged from just floating in space for years...

Stephen: "This definitely looked like it received some form of attack." : pause : "Interesting.......... BUT ANYHOOOO......."


Why do I feel like they were trying to show us something?

 

[FrogsFriend]

Stephen: "This definitely looked like it received some form of attack." : pause : "Interesting.......... BUT ANYHOOOO......."

Why do I feel like they were trying to show us something?

Attacked by Thargoids... or attacked by other humans

 

[Stonn Mrogg]

Forgive my lack of in-game knowledge, but can you repair yourself with limpets? Isn't that the source of the foam is that they scrutinized on the LS? I thought you couldn't self-repair...

Which would support my first wad of tinfoil, that the Professor survived the crash and was rescued/captured by whoever it was affecting repairs on the Adamastor (sp?). If you can indeed self-repair, I don't care, I'm sticking to my guns on this one The alternative that someone pulled the dead body, or that it's in one of those escape pods, seems less likely (read, less delicious to me).

Isn't one of her companions still unaccounted for? Taylor? Maybe he made off in another Sidey and retrieved her.

 

[Speedcuffs]

Thanks, Vetinari, for the link. It good to see you have the control The timestamps listed are off by 6mins or so but I found it.

What I find most interesting is that they focused on the repair foam (?) on the rear end of the ship for quite some time, As Bruce pulls closer to the megaship...

Stephen: "Wot's that!?"

Bruce: "Wot's what, exactly?"

Stephen: "On that..." :screen is focused on what Bruce calls 'popcorn': "...Is that foam or goo of some sort. Look at that... damage as well. Get a good angle on that."

Stephen seems very interested in the foam. This is just after talking about that thing people are missing.

Stephen: "I don't know if that stuff was used to attack, or... just look at that stuff... "

After more semi-speculation saying they don't think it was damaged from just floating in space for years...

Stephen: "This definitely looked like it received some form of attack." : pause : "Interesting.......... BUT ANYHOOOO......."


Why do I feel like they were trying to show us something?

Also mentioned in Galnet that the salvage crew damaged it when putting it into orbit.
Maybe compare the damage with known Thargoid attacked megaships.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Ammonia is a "base" and latches on to many things to make others. It is also notoriously hard to track.
Certain forms of ammonia can be highly volitile(explosive)..
The "preliminary" investigation said there was explosive damage but was it the towing that caused it all?
Bits of the cargo bay fell apart, was this a result of corrosive damage caused when they liquidized the thargoid in the faraday cage?
All speculation but maybe something in it.

Another thing, ammonia is an inert gas which displaces oxygen in air, but it smells, except when as a salt...
Carver blamed the object but maybe it was the environment in some way.

Some others:
Salt Lake City has a smog problem(in winter) and ammonia seems a part of it, some good info in there(google)
Elevated blood ammonia can cause behavioural disorders, attacks the central nervous system, maybe something in that to..
Danger Of The Seas...just speculation. .

 

[Vetinari]

The timestamps listed are off by 6mins or so but I found it.

Great! That makes all that rewinding well worthwhile They probably edited the beginning to cut off the 'Starting Soon' screen for 6 minutes. Was that YT or Twitch, I was on Twitch as tracked down the chat to there, it may have the original timestamp?

Isn't one of her companions still unaccounted for? Taylor? Maybe he made off in another Sidey and retrieved her.

Sexist! Taylor is a 'she' (Carver said so, dont start on me anyone).

but yes, whether for narrative or not Im not sure but she possibly went missing just after the message telling them the Adamastor was incoming. Why not just pass on the message, same effect story wise, Carver finds out and logs it? Why did T go missing at all? Was she connected to Azimuth directly, a plant, a spy? Was she on another mission? Either way C finds the logs.

Next, T is missing in the final log, C mentions 2 other crew but not T? Was she already not part of the crew anymore for some reason? Dunno, but do wonder if its a pattern that may be repeated, if not probably nothing.

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Attacked by Thargoids... or attacked by other humans

Or damaged by the crew because they did not realise what they were messing with, and probably hampered by what was affecting their brain noodles, since they were acting weird..
They did something twice, which caused the same reaction or event...or so it seems.

Vetenari, i think, mentions Taylor being left behind and if i was an insideous human organization sending some expendable human peons into an unknown situation, i would think it prudent to have someone report back from a safe distance.

 

[Vetinari]

I missed out one before, 'its happening again' could mean.

6. A ship is attacking us, its happening again like at the base.

 

[G4RY]

I missed out one before, 'its happening again' could mean.

6. A ship is attacking us, its happening again like at the base.

Hmm, I tried listening to the background noises while that part is said but its kinda difficult to make out. I could of sworn I heard smalls arms fire the other day but now I'm not hearing it

 

[Vetinari]

Bit OT but has anybody checked out the Codex since the update?

I swear the Martian Relic was described as 'few inches across', but now it says 'no bigger than a childs hand'.

Does anyone remember either way what it said before? Could quite easily have imagined it, but if not, what else has been updated...

Not the First Thargoid Contact in the Thargoids tab, that still says 2189!

 

[Banana's_Are_Good_For_You]

Hmm, I tried listening to the background noises while that part is said but its kinda difficult to make out. I could of sworn I heard smalls arms fire the other day but now I'm not hearing it

Interesting, so combustion based weapons? Seems reasonable in a human atmosphere. Again, it's like what could possibly go wrong...
Oh, ammonium salt + nitric acid = ammonia nitrate...nasty stuff.
hmmm...