Formidine Rift... what is it?

[Poseidal]

I was just poking around to see if rift was a term or name used in astronomy, and there is an example of such (Wikipedia, of course!):

In astronomy, the Great Rift (sometimes called the Dark Side, Dark Rift, or, less commonly, Dark River) is a series of overlapping, non-luminous, molecular dust clouds that are located between the Solar System and the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy at a distance of about 100 parsecs or about 300 light years (2×1015 miles or 3×1015 kilometers) from Earth. The clouds are estimated to contain about 1 million solar masses of plasma and dust.[1]

So it could be referring to similar dark patches. If you rotate the galaxy map, you do see dust clouds and dark bits that don't let as much starlight through.

There's also dark strips of low luminosity, unscoopable stars that divide the majority of main sequence stars.

 

[piy]

Well I'm guessing. Don't post any spoilers! Nono

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It's the "who go's looking" that bothers me. If the "old woman" is the only one to have been/seen what we are looking for. And the "who" really means what ship to take as has been said. Eliminating the ship not to take as far as I can tell leaves me with the asp and cobra. Guess I just need to hammer through the book before I set off.

 

[Poseidal]

The "old woman" IIRC was in a Cobra, but it was from pre-tantalum drive (modern FSD) days so exploring would take a lot longer and in effect jump ranges were shorter.

 

[Dommarraa]

When we (FGE) mapped out the Regor bubble, what worked well was simply registering the systems in EDdiscovery. You could see all the registered systems, and if everyone was doing it as they went, it showed an almost real time map of what had been explored.

There was almost zero overlap of effort.

I can see how getting Triangulations done for each scanned system would help duplication of scanning effort, you could at least see in EDD when you arrived at a system that it have been done, IF people are prepared to do it. However:
It does not help when in game choosing systems to check
You cant be rigurous on checking every system, there is no list to check against.
If the Rift is anything the bare region I am currently in heading to BP/Ocampa then Triangulation is a total pain. 20 or so distances required due to the lack of vertical delta. I am quite sure I could not go that far for every system checked, and I am MAD keen on raw data.

Guess we will see in a month or 3 what can be achieved, I am sure something will be tried bigger than solo efforts (probably with me signed up)

 

[Ian Phillips]

I guess that the only thing that will prove it will be an empirical trial.

I do know that for the Regor expedition, it was simple to just look at the map when starting up for the evening, see where you wanted to go and check every 2 or 3 systems to see that I was still on track. Admittedly there were not a large number of players doing it, so that may also have an effect.

 

[clavain]

The "old woman" IIRC was in a Cobra, but it was from pre-tantalum drive (modern FSD) days so exploring would take a lot longer and in effect jump ranges were shorter.

She was also an Elite pilot. Oops. spoiler. But I think that factoid is from the earlier Oolite unofficial novellas, not from the official Elite Reclamation, which only hints that I believe. Perhaps whatever it is is permit locked or only visible to Elite pilots, in exploration presumably?

Edit 1: If so it would be sort of sucky for those on a mass expedition who were not Elite, and for those recording and analysing systems checked, as the results might not then be reliable.

Edit 2: I would be up for such an expedition were it to get off the ground, although not sure how much time I could commit. I suspect Cmdr Lestenio might also be interested, as both of us have been out there from time to time over the past year looking for whatever it is we are looking for.

 

[piy]

I think Drew has said rank doesn't matter. I certainly hope so

 

[Lowievisser]

Come on guys! You all still looking for this? Been there, it's very impressive and I was very surprised at what I found. I would go so far as to say the blood ran cold before I ran away!

you little....

 

[clavain]

I think Drew has said rank doesn't matter. I certainly hope so

Do you have a link for that? All I have seen is:

The mystery of the Formidine Rift as described by the clues in my story, Elite: Reclamation :

1. It is there to be found in game in ED.
2. You do not need 'Horizons' to find it as it was finalised long before 'Horizons'.
3. Whether it is found or not depends entirely on who goes looking.

Cheers,

Drew.

And his comment on the etymology of the name Kahina.

Edit: Just speculating, point 3 could also mean you need to be Allied with a certain major or minor faction before it becomes visible or unlocked, i.e. the Dark Wheel or Pilots Federation or the like. Which might also make mass crowd-sourced search results unreliable. Particularly if you need to be Allied with an unknown faction and Elite.

 

[SystematicChaos]

Do you have a link for that?

It's right here in this very thread (p13 #192).
"It's not locked to a rank. All you need is wanderlust, patience and an ability to read between the lines. "

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

Very nice research.

If Kahina and/or Salome are searching for the seven gates as of now, the tiara may be the fist peace of clothing.

I don't know if that means that she dropped her crown in the 'system of the Crown' or perhaps it means that she went to the Diadem system?

If Salome can be spotted in-game, perhaps Kahina can be spotted as well? If she can be found, it may progress the story, leading to the 'next gate'.

My point here is that the gates/veils observation is very good as he has already dropped a piece of clothing, but the gates aren't necessarily out in the Rift region.

Good luck with the search.

Kahina and Salomé are the same person aren't they? This is interesting though as I wondered why Salomé was traveling with the Distant Worlds Expedition. She could be possibly looking for an object beyond the far rim Abyss, and using the fleet as cover or for protection? Her last spotted location was crossing the Aphelion Bleak Lands and heading out to the Abyss, which is a long way from the Formidine Rift! Could she be on some galaxy-wide scavenger hunt?

 

[Macros Black]

Kahina and Salomé are the same person aren't they? This is interesting though as I wondered why Salomé was traveling with the Distant Worlds Expedition. She could be possibly looking for an object beyond the far rim Abyss, and using the fleet as cover or for protection? Her last spotted location was crossing the Aphelion Bleak Lands and heading out to the Abyss, which is a long way from the Formidine Rift! Could she be on some galaxy-wide scavenger hunt?

Or simply mixed up the coordinates...

 

[Certacito]

you little....

This guy gets it, sorry guys, I was of course joking. Drew is far too clever for me, you guys will get it long before someone of my low IQ does! Good luck and sorry to the few of you who PM'd me for details.

 

[Gypsy12]

This guy gets it, sorry guys, I was of course joking. Drew is far too clever for me, you guys will get it long before someone of my low IQ does! Good luck and sorry to the few of you who PM'd me for details.

Jovial lazors for you bud.

 

[SystemSound]

I bet that where ever Salomé is going, its most likely related to the rift. Would make sense. She goes to the rift, then goes to the other side of the galaxy. So she found something that leads her there.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Total speculation on top of speculation here (on a business trip and can't test it), but is it possible to shorten the distance needed for a jump by flying partially there in supercruise, then jumping when you can?

If so, this would totally fit the "paitence" aspect hinted at, and would enable even a Cobra III to travel around the thinly-starred gaps between galactic arms.

It also would mean that a theoretical FSD enhancement in 2.1 would make the trek a lot easier.

 

[TFW Primus]

Total speculation on top of speculation here (on a business trip and can't test it), but is it possible to shorten the distance needed for a jump by flying partially there in supercruise, then jumping when you can?

If so, this would totally fit the "paitence" aspect hinted at, and would enable even a Cobra III to travel around the thinly-starred gaps between galactic arms.

It also would mean that a theoretical FSD enhancement in 2.1 would make the trek a lot easier.

Not specifically, except to the extent that traveling in super cruise reduces your mass because it burns fuel.

 

[piy]

OK so I have a cobra clipper and asp all ready an set to go. This will be my first trip so far out. Any advice would be welcome. Drew's comment about "who" could be taken as "anybody". With my real life getting in the way with game time...pluss the fact that salome has ditched her clipper for an asp is makein me lean towards that ship. As for researching the names....that really go beyond my I.Q. I'll head to the rift for a few months...but witch ship? I'll take a buggy so I can pick up fsd boosts....do I really need a repair module?

 

[clavain]

It's right here in this very thread (p13 #192).
"It's not locked to a rank. All you need is wanderlust, patience and an ability to read between the lines. "

Cool, missed that. Coming late to this thread (sort of, heh heh).

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Sorry, I'm pretty sure having missed huge parts of the whole story (not in the mood of reading too much right now) but who exactly is this Salomé? At first I thought it's a real player named after one of the protagonists of Drew's books but now I'm not so sure anymore. Sounds rather like a named NPC to me now... :S

Definitely a player - I've seen the hollow square on some of the DW videos/screenshots at one point or another. Shows up in my friends list too. ;-)

 

[piy]

Sorry I didn't reply clavain....only just read it since I posted that remark