The codex screenshot for the The Dark Wheel - Which system is it?

[Ian Doncaster]

I'm starting to lean towards the idea that the station won't appear in the nav panel at all, and will probably require dropping (blindly) out of supercruise close enough to find it. If that's the case then a crucial aspect to finding the station will involve comparing the Codex image to screenshots taken at the target locations and then searching the systems that match with a fine tooth comb.

If that's the case it may as well not exist. Even if you happened to get the right moon (with nothing obvious to distinguish it) the chances of dropping out at the right place would be basically zero.

Another important aspect that probably will need to be worked out is calculating the distance an Orbis station would orbit a particular moon based off the mass of the moon (and other relevant factors). That could both narrow the search even further, as that would allow us to discard some of the systems where the ratio of the moon against the star's backdrop won't match the Codex screenshot and will greatly reduce the search area for the eventual blind supercruise drop search.

I think the only relevant parameter there is the apparent size of the moon in the screenshot - assuming a circular orbit, of course... I don't recall ever seeing a station in a non-circular orbit, but on the other hand I don't see any intrinsic reason they couldn't be, which would make it more complex. Stations can be in pretty varied orbits even around the same body.

 

[m_white1981]

The Codex says you searching for them is pointless and that they come to you in a disguise to offer you a test of skill.. We wont be able to find them by searching... Some of us think it is the Polaris system which is locked behind a unknown permit.. I suggest accepting and completing all missions offered by people contacting you and checking out all tipoffs, of course after grinding the known Dark Wheel faction repto full... There have been players at this for years lol and nothing yet... A group of us have even read through the novels and everything

 

[Midian Cabal]

The Codex says you searching for them is pointless and that they come to you in a disguise to offer you a test of skill.. We wont be able to find them by searching... Some of us think it is the Polaris system which is locked behind a unknown permit.. I suggest accepting and completing all missions offered by people contacting you and checking out all tipoffs, of course after grinding the known Dark Wheel faction repto full... There have been players at this for years lol and nothing yet... A group of us have even read through the novels and everything

During the weekend I've been trying to improve the influence of TDW in LFT 926, in which they have 14% influence. I've been doing strategic courier missions, which had follow up missions and each time they were more difficult. I've been also doing passenger missions, giving rides to scientists, generals, heads of state and rebel leaders. Tip off missions were triggered as well, and while doing my 3rd tip off mission (+++ scan), the game started crashing over and over again.

After giving up on that tip off mission and returning to LFT 926, I've discovered that the only passenger missions offered to me were rich tourist missions. No generals, no leaders, no heads of state. I've managed to find one mission with a famous explorer that didn't want to go too far (approx. 1.5kLy) so I'll see what'll happen when I come back.

 

[yelboc]

Resurrecting this thread as I think I found a new candidate star type:

This shot of the unappealing rump of my anaconda was taken in Pi1-Gruis which has an S-type star as primary. This was taken at 700ls distance from the star, so plenty of space to get a GG with 8 moons in..

S-type stars are M-types at the end of their life on their way to being a carbon star. I suspect there aren't too many of them to search for....

 

[User Deleted]

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[Midian Cabal]

After the fiasco with the trailer for The guardians, do you believe they'll repeat the same mistake and put in the actual game footage?

 

[yelboc]

Our search did include class S stars, here's the most up to date information about the search:

Oh dear - please excuse my lack of reading

What a pity - was getting exciting again...
Such a short list in the end. Had expected more matches - though this is just what is in EDSM, presumably. Maybe we can pick up some RL astronomy stuff and add that to the list to find unexplored systems. I'll get the shovel out..

 

[Trotsky2112]

Could it be in orbit around a T-Tauri?
Just cos they're variable.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Could it be in orbit around a T-Tauri?
Just cos they're variable.

Not impossible in terms of star colour, but I think unlikely

1) T-Tauri stars are generally pretty small, so it'd be implausible the gas giant was close enough for the apparent sizes

2) T-Tauri star systems are young, so large moon systems around the gas giants are extremely rare

Obviously if the system it's in is hand-crafted, anything could happen.

 

[adrinker]

I haven't seen anyone mention TDW logo. Their emblem is a dragon with 3 notable circles of descending size. I'm currently looking in Draco constellation, blindly - but maybe that's a way to focus the search?

I haven't found any other explanation as to why it is a dragon.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I haven't seen anyone mention TDW logo. Their emblem is a dragon with 3 notable circles of descending size. I'm currently looking in Draco constellation, blindly - but maybe that's a way to focus the search?

I haven't found any other explanation as to why it is a dragon.

Either that's just the independent faction logo, or my adopted local faction is also Dark Wheel.

 

[Trotsky2112]

Y'know in the codex description it says that anyone who tries to usurp the dark wheel name gets put down.
My suggestion:
1. Create a player squadron (minor faction if possible) called the dark wheel with only elite players.
2. See who tries to kill you.

 

[User Deleted]

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[yelboc]

Rep for your efforts and your sacrifice!

 

[User Deleted]

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[User Deleted]

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[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Is there any reason to believe it's an in-game screenshot rather than just an artist's rendition?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Is there any reason to believe it's an in-game screenshot rather than just an artist's rendition?

Only that if the station exists in game, but the picture in the Codex doesn't resemble it when it's eventually found, that would be a bit strange later.

The Colonia, Thargoid and Guardian pictures are clearly in-game renders (I could duplicate the Colonia one very closely with a little patience to get the lighting right) ... while the three superpower and Individuals ones are clearly not in-game (Raxxla and Corporations look to be heavily post-processed in-game renders). The Codex one looks like an in-game screenshot with no more post-processing than the Guardians one, so it would be odd if the station was eventually found orbiting an A-class star instead.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Only that if the station exists in game, but the picture in the Codex doesn't resemble it when it's eventually found, that would be a bit strange later.

The Colonia, Thargoid and Guardian pictures are clearly in-game renders (I could duplicate the Colonia one very closely with a little patience to get the lighting right) ... while the three superpower and Individuals ones are clearly not in-game (Raxxla and Corporations look to be heavily post-processed in-game renders). The Codex one looks like an in-game screenshot with no more post-processing than the Guardians one, so it would be odd if the station was eventually found orbiting an A-class star instead.

FDev don't always apply that level of fidelity to placing of assets - the Zurara should have been in a system with an ELW (based on the novel admittedly, not a screenshot).

In addition, even if the station is in a red star system, the image looks a little too contrived. It wouldn't have looked anywhere near as pretty if the star was a little dot 1,000 Ls away. We'd have to assume FDev planned (in 2014) for it to look pretty in a screenshot, or just happened to get really lucky. Neither of which seems likely.

Finally, to my knowledge nobody ever found the body used in the Horizons menu screen - or even anything remotely like it.

It looks like an optimistic assumption to me (but I'm very cynical ).

Thanks for the info on the other Codex images though.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

FDev don't always apply that level of fidelity to placing of assets - the Zurara should have been in a system with an ELW (based on the novel admittedly, not a screenshot).

True, though did Frontier know that when they put the Zurara in? The information in the novel wasn't published until after the Zurara was found.

In addition, even if the station is in a red star system, the image looks a little too contrived. It wouldn't have looked anywhere near as pretty if the star was a little dot 1,000 Ls away. We'd have to assume FDev planned (in 2014) for it to look pretty in a screenshot, or just happened to get really lucky. Neither of which seems likely.

Assuming that the Dark Wheel station was in-game back in 2014 - it's possible that they only added it when the Codex was written. Unlike Raxxla and the Zurara which we were told were in-game from the start, I'm not sure we even knew the station existed at all before 3.3

It certainly wouldn't surprise me if even back in 2014 Frontier had picked an attractive location for it, though - and really, all they'd have had to do is to have put it in a red giant/supergiant system to start with: so long as the system is undiscovered they could have tweaked the system properties in 3.3 to make it look nicer without anyone knowing.

Finally, to my knowledge nobody ever found the body used in the Horizons menu screen - or even anything remotely like it.

No - the distance to the orbital station was highly implausible, for a start.