Alien Structure found...now what?

[Cmdr Aeries Hunter]

First of all huge congratulations to the CMDR that found it. A great job tracking it down. The question I have been asking for a while now is how do we know whether this is the only structure like this or are there more? Is there a way besides blind luck, to find any for ourselves? This one was found using clues provided by a video Frontier put out. Would we have found it without those clues? Will we find more if there are more? Are these isolated to this region of space (which is still pretty damn large), or are things scattered throughout the galaxy?

The issue I have is that there is no way of knowing in game. No clues to follow that don't require outside help or the IQ of a genius to figure out. Or just luck. Can I go into deep space and expect to find something or am I wasting my time and should just stick to the area that seems to be designated as the stage for aliens or whatever it will be? There is no way of knowing and no tools for CMDR's to use to find anything on planet surfaces.

Although everyone is feeling a real buzz that something new and strange has been found. However how do we find more? I too would love to feel that elation of finding an object of my own. I don't care if i am the first to discover aliens or whatever, but i would like to find my own "anything" for myself. It feels kind of hollow going to a a site that someone else has found.

The galaxy is vast. So vast the even after 2 years of play across tens of thousands of people, still less that 1% of the stars have been scanned. So how are people supposed to find anything from volcanic hot spots, alien structures, life, crashed ships, whatever in a galaxy so big, without some tools or even some idea that we are not wasting our time looking in the wrong region of the galaxy. Some help please Frontier. preferably in game where it should be, and not so cryptic that only one CMDR can figure it out. I would hate to see an alien "tea canister" on every planet, but certainly more likely than it is now. Because the galaxy is so vast, there should be much much more out there. It should be far more common than it has been so far.

I am not begrudging any one who finds something. It is well deserved. I just hope that every CMDR has the opportunity to find something for themselves too.

 

[dynamicbob]

Galnet, develoepr posts, perhaps peeps will take the anicent items found and begin mass selling them in stations to see if they have UA like properties. Deeper space search for such alien sites or smalelr scale drops.

This is just phase one of the easter egg hunt, and it would be nice if Fdev would obsecure the starmap in their videos ( so that such sites arent found so quickly) as they seem to be how things are triangulated, i think Fdev wanted this to be weeks until it was found but 2-3 days and bam content gone, all the more reasons for more procedural randomly occouring content rather than hand curated content

 

[ShoeHash]

First of all huge congratulations to the CMDR that found it. A great job tracking it down. The question I have been asking for a while now is how do we know whether this is the only structure like this or are there more? Is there a way besides blind luck, to find any for ourselves? This one was found using clues provided by a video Frontier put out. Would we have found it without those clues? Will we find more if there are more? Are these isolated to this region of space (which is still pretty damn large), or are things scattered throughout the galaxy?

The issue I have is that there is no way of knowing in game. No clues to follow that don't require outside help or the IQ of a genius to figure out. Or just luck. Can I go into deep space and expect to find something or am I wasting my time and should just stick to the area that seems to be designated as the stage for aliens or whatever it will be? There is no way of knowing and no tools for CMDR's to use to find anything on planet surfaces.

Although everyone is feeling a real buzz that something new and strange has been found. However how do we find more? I too would love to feel that elation of finding an object of my own. I don't care if i am the first to discover aliens or whatever, but i would like to find my own "anything" for myself. It feels kind of hollow going to a a site that someone else has found.

The galaxy is vast. So vast the even after 2 years of play across tens of thousands of people, still less that 1% of the stars have been scanned. So how are people supposed to find anything from volcanic hot spots, alien structures, life, crashed ships, whatever in a galaxy so big, without some tools or even some idea that we are not wasting our time looking in the wrong region of the galaxy. Some help please Frontier. preferably in game where it should be, and not so cryptic that only one CMDR can figure it out. I would hate to see an alien "tea canister" on every planet, but certainly more likely than it is now. Because the galaxy is so vast, there should be much much more out there. It should be far more common than it has been so far.

I am not begrudging any one who finds something. It is well deserved. I just hope that every CMDR has the opportunity to find something for themselves too.

What's really going to cook your noodle later is - 'how many commanders have found something, and said nothing about it?'

 

[dynamicbob]

Yeah this represents those who seek out co operation but there would be those who dont communicate to the net what they have found. Still the search goes on, im about to swing by a bunch of deep space nebulas to poke around see whats on the other side of the far rim

 

[Falcon_D]

Galnet, develoepr posts, perhaps peeps will take the anicent items found and begin mass selling them in stations to see if they have UA like properties. Deeper space search for such alien sites or smalelr scale drops.

This is just phase one of the easter egg hunt, and it would be nice if Fdev would obsecure the starmap in their videos ( so that such sites arent found so quickly) as they seem to be how things are triangulated, i think Fdev wanted this to be weeks until it was found but 2-3 days and bam content gone, all the more reasons for more procedural randomly occouring content rather than hand curated content

Question is, if it weren't for the video would anyone have ever even found it?
As mentioned in the OP, the galaxy is vast. Pretty much only 1% has been scanned so far and I dare say most of that 1% of the galaxy scanned would probably have been the main star and sometimes other interesting bodies in a system (and not the entire system.)
These POIs don't pop up on a planet's surface when you do an ADS. They don't even pop up when you go to a planet and perform a DSS. You have to fly above the planet using you MKI EB scanner to find them. I don't even know if they can be seen while you are way above the planet's surface circling in SC or you need to circle the planet in normal speed at the fastest speed your ship can go. So trying to blindly treasure hunt for these structures that FDev have painstakingly just introduced to the game is going to be a real PITA for most people. And probably in the end only a handful who are either lucky or really have plenty of time on their hands to brute force the search are going to find them.
An example, The Rift mystery. It's been around since v1.0 (think probably the initial beta.) And yet no one seems to have found it. FDev have admitted that we have already missed some clues to the Rift mystery.

Congratulations to CMDR xdeath (I believe) who found the alien structure.

Have fun, fly safe. o7

P.S.: Galnet posts fine. Again FDev have admitted that we have missed clues to the Rift mystery that we in the Galnet system article posts. But developer posts and using tools outside of the game to figure out game content is not cool (although initially I thought it was.)

 

[WillFrog]

It's the fundamental problem with exploring really. There are no tools for, you know, actually exploring. If something doesn't show up on a system map it's basically impossible to find without external clues.

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

Thank you for posting something about the discovery outside if the bag of cats science thread as I doubt the news will make it out of there for sometime.

 

[ShoeHash]

Yeah this represents those who seek out co operation but there would be those who dont communicate to the net what they have found. Still the search goes on, im about to swing by a bunch of deep space nebulas to poke around see whats on the other side of the far rim

I've found a "Something" on a planet in the Kashis system. It appears to be metallic, and looks like a solid plate, so I assumed it was a procedurally generated droid base or somesuch, but do those even exist? I've already died once trying to land near it. I have to admit I haven't played Engineers at all, despite owning it. So I'm totally not prepared for that in my ASP-E. I don't even have a detailed surface scanner. Nor can I name the stellar body there, but it's close to Boulle Mines, and it does show up as "Undiscovered" from orbital cruise.

Edit: Was close to the mines. I forgot about gravity. Please tell me this is common, because it was literally the first planet I stopped near.

 

[babelfisch]

It's the fundamental problem with exploring really. There are no tools for, you know, actually exploring. If something doesn't show up on a system map it's basically impossible to find without external clues.

As much as I'd like to see improvements to scanners and exploration in general, it wouldn't solve OPs problem. If everyone wants his own discovery they'll need to be as common as a crashed nav beacon or tea.

 

[dynamicbob]

All the more reason for more widespread procedural content rather than hand placed mysteries , which are fine but shouldnt be the only storyline mechanism

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As much as I'd like to see improvements to scanners and exploration in general, it wouldn't solve OPs problem. If everyone wants his own discovery they'll need to be as common as a crashed nav beacon or tea.

Procedural content is the answer, but in the narrow definition of this being the big 2.2 easter egg / video of the patch and its already found it wont lead to much of a sales spike

 

[Leonick]

Is there a way besides blind luck, to find any for ourselves? This one was found using clues provided by a video Frontier put out. Would we have found it without those clues? Will we find more if there are more? Are these isolated to this region of space (which is still pretty damn large), or are things scattered throughout the galaxy?

I suppose that's the next thing to figure out. There could be things at this site that will lead to others like it or to something else for that matter, in fact I would be very surprised if this thing was just found and that was that.

The issue I have is that there is no way of knowing in game. No clues to follow that don't require outside help or the IQ of a genius to figure out. Or just luck. Can I go into deep space and expect to find something or am I wasting my time and should just stick to the area that seems to be designated as the stage for aliens or whatever it will be? There is no way of knowing and no tools for CMDR's to use to find anything on planet surfaces.

These things, the larger ongoing mysteries/storylines, are obviously designed as something for the community to work together to figure out. Don't need the IQ of a genius, need a group effort. Sure do need some luck though. Don't think anyone would deny that it's a bit ridiculous that we don't have some form of scanners in our ships to help find thing on planets, the limited blue circle POI finder we have doesn't even show these special sites. The SRV has a more advanced scanner...

And no, I don't think going out in to deep space and expecting to find anything big like this site or the alien ship is a very wise strategy. Space is big, the chance of randomly running it to something is minuscule. If there are aliens out there that probably means there are alien controlled systems too, you'd probably notice if you ran it to them, unfortunately they're probably among the permit locked systems...

Question is, if it weren't for the video would anyone have ever even found it?

Yes, there would have been some other clue eventually. Not sure on the specifics but they did any new installations and things to scan as well as "mysterious" things, I think they do plan to have more clues in game besides the galnet posts.

 

[babelfisch]

All the more reason for more widespread procedural content rather than hand placed mysteries , which are fine but shouldnt be the only storyline mechanism

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Procedural content is the answer, but in the narrow definition of this being the big 2.2 easter egg / video of the patch and its already found it wont lead to much of a sales spike

I'd like to have both, procedural content and hand placed stuff.

I don't think that people decide to buy the game because of Easter Eggs.

 

[Tusken]

I feel you OP, there should be ways to find things purely in game. The tip off thing seemed like a start but there's nothing to do with the crashed ship you find. Another clue would have been nice.
It's great there are loose clues to find that the community can put together, but a more personal mystery to solve on your own in game would be nice.

Unlike most Elite doesn't have a single player campaign.
Engineer progression and these mysteries would have been a good way to introduce some kind of storylines.

 

[Drelthar]

Some progress has been made on adding ways to find this stuff into the actual game.

There were beacon signal sources which spat out messages hinting where to look during beta.

This is a nice mechanic that Could be expanded to give an initial clue (perhaps along with "garbled" inbox messages) and then have more such things as you get closer to whatever it is.

A simple confirmation of "unrecognised structure..." when scanning a planet would be nice too. Especially if it then used the mechanic already in place for surface salvage missions.

It'd be better than using a still shot and lining up stars...

 

[K-Rose]

Completely agree & rep to you CMDR. I was gearing up to take my ship on my first trip over 5000ly and look for ruins/alien things, but if they've already been found I'd like to at least know if there's more out the so it's worth hunting for them.

It all feels a bit anti-climactic at the moment :-(

 

[Leo Sagan]

So business as usual then : one alien stuff located on some planet, almost impossible to find, has been found very quickly thanks to a video. And of course there is nothing, or next to nothing to do there.

I went to the barnacles site once. I didn't bother going to the alien crashed ship : seen it all on youtube vids anyway. I won't even watch the vids for these ruins : I just don't care anymore.

FD improved a lot as a game developper since launch (the way they handled this beta was light years ahead of what they did in season 1), but they really need to step up their game when it comes to story telling. The whole alien arc is painfully slow, not interactive and tiring. If it was a scifi show, season 3 would have been cancelled by now. And it is not a tv show, it is a video game ! Jesus FD, your player base is supposed to *do* something ! And *no*, your playerbase is not just CANONN, it is much larger than that. You can't simply put outside of the game clues in a vid (or even worse *forget to edit your vidz*) and get away with it.

I hear those who say : "everyone wants to discover something, it's not possible". Actually, David Braben said it himself on various occasions. This is very true, and therefore, this is not the issue here. The big secrets should be unique, kudos to those who find them, we need to keep that, CANONN and other treasure hunters rock.

But so far, those unique easter eggs are the end of the story for the current release, whereas they should be the *beginning* of something. I realize that it takes time and we cannot expect FD to give us new interactive opponents / new gameplay mechanics with every easter egg. But they could use their existing stuff. Like a giant SRV hunt to find rare / semi rare / very rare alien artifacts on this planet organized like a super multi-stages CG lasting months with pirates trying to chime in, and to spice up things a little, the usual dumbos from the Empire and the Federation (Patreus, Hudson) with their capital ships etc. etc.

So the whole community can now *DO* something. And find rare stuff if they put a lot of time in it. And shoot stuff. And use the new stuff (bring tourists to the site : "the world has to know man, the feds won't silence us, we'll pass the emps blocade"), use the slf to scout canyons to find more smaller ruins etc.

So much story telling potential, FD, so many opportunities to mix the story with the gameplay and the whole community. Yeah, I know you want to get there, but honestly this is taking too long now. Far too long. You have the tools. They are what they are, not perfect but they exist. Be proud of our game, trust our community, and let's tell the tales of Elite Dangerous together. Let's work with Drew Wagar in writing the first page turner of the video game industry. Please.

 

[Tharrn]

God knows how much stuff is out there. I can't even find geysers or fumaroles on planets with volcanism. Even if there would be one special place on each planet the chances to find them would be very, very slim. We really do need some kind of planetary scanner.

 

[KG_Jedi]

Actually these alien thingies are added to be discovered by community. I think, that they were added in 2.2, and there would have been some galnet posts, some clues in-game, which would eventually lead explorers to alien city. However, FD did not probably expect us to find out location by simply looking at video, and thus we found it sooner than we were supposed to. Anyway, such mysteries are not totally hidden. FD gives us clues, either from game (Galnet/station articles/etc) or forums. Anyone by using these clues can figure out and solve mystery, but it's probably gonna happen by the combined efforts of many people.

Look at it from FDev point of view. They cannot make such mysteries easy to solve, otherwise they would be cracked open almost immediately by efforts of many people. So they do these hard to solve, thus making it incredibly hard to solve for lone person (unless he is Sherlock Holmes with immense knowledge of history/cryptography and etc), but more-less possible for community.

 

[CMDR M Kozak]

Completely agree & rep to you CMDR. I was gearing up to take my ship on my first trip over 5000ly and look for ruins/alien things, but if they've already been found I'd like to at least know if there's more out the so it's worth hunting for them.

It all feels a bit anti-climactic at the moment :-(

But isn't that the essence of exploration? You dont know if you are gonna find something - but you do it none the less?

 

[Squiggle]

They need more signposting.

I don't know how many others do the same as I, but I'm not going to visit something I learned about from reading forums, as I feel that that is effectively cheating.

I mean, if you had a couple of days off from Elite and didn't read forums, you'd of missed the single GalNet article that mentions where the crashed Alien ship is.