I've been digging lately, and think we might be wrong about the Formidine Rift.
I think it's the much closer rift, between us and the Perseus Arm. And I think the clues to be found are in the Heart nebula.
Here's my reasoning:
I'm beginning to think the Formidine Rift is not between the Perseus arm and the outer arm, but rather between Orion spur. i.e. it's that much closer one not far from Sol.
Reasoning:
1) I've been on the Outer arm for ages, there's nothing here. No nebulae, no locked out areas, no named systems, no black holes or non-sequence stars, no clearly defined "edge" (I could FSD boost to get a little further.. but not much)
2) It's much closer to civilization, merope was a bit outside your usual player's comfort zone, but not much. This is just a little more.
3) They didn't have the FSD tech back when old lady explored to get there (from what I can tell)
4) There's been several "nebula" and "heart" clues dropped.
5) The wording "Edge of the galactic arm. Take a line from Reorte to Riedquat to the edge of the arm and … keep going". the galactic arm. Why would she be talking about some other galactic arm than the one we're currently on?
6) If you zoom out on the galmap and look at sol / the edge, there's a clear "path" of stars going from sol to the Perseus arm. (upon closer inspection, those stars you can see from way up can be selected. one is "SLEGUAE YE-A G2", and it looks pretty awesome.)
7) In the Oolite series they often talk about nearby "old" systems (lave, etc.) and Thargoids coming in from the Formidine Rift. Seems weird for them to be talking about somewhere so far away (when they're talking getting blocades together, etc.)
8) honestly. there's nothing out here. no clue. nothing indicating where to look.
9) "There are no stars for dozens of light years" Shortest gap I can find (At a quick distant glance) is between OUTORST AB-F B25-0 andOUTORST ZF-F B25-0which appear to be about 25ish ly apart.
10) As far as I can see, nobody has confirmed that our current understanding of where the formidine rift is is correct.
Counterarguments:
(reposted from my comment on drews post on /r/elitedangerous.)
(also a little stalking of my reddit posts over the last few weeks will reveal all the clues I've found too)
I'd love for the guys who mapped it out in the first place, who's footsteps I'm belatedly stumbling in, to chime in and tell me why I'm wrong
I think it's the much closer rift, between us and the Perseus Arm. And I think the clues to be found are in the Heart nebula.
Here's my reasoning:
I'm beginning to think the Formidine Rift is not between the Perseus arm and the outer arm, but rather between Orion spur. i.e. it's that much closer one not far from Sol.
Reasoning:
1) I've been on the Outer arm for ages, there's nothing here. No nebulae, no locked out areas, no named systems, no black holes or non-sequence stars, no clearly defined "edge" (I could FSD boost to get a little further.. but not much)
2) It's much closer to civilization, merope was a bit outside your usual player's comfort zone, but not much. This is just a little more.
3) They didn't have the FSD tech back when old lady explored to get there (from what I can tell)
4) There's been several "nebula" and "heart" clues dropped.
5) The wording "Edge of the galactic arm. Take a line from Reorte to Riedquat to the edge of the arm and … keep going". the galactic arm. Why would she be talking about some other galactic arm than the one we're currently on?
6) If you zoom out on the galmap and look at sol / the edge, there's a clear "path" of stars going from sol to the Perseus arm. (upon closer inspection, those stars you can see from way up can be selected. one is "SLEGUAE YE-A G2", and it looks pretty awesome.)
7) In the Oolite series they often talk about nearby "old" systems (lave, etc.) and Thargoids coming in from the Formidine Rift. Seems weird for them to be talking about somewhere so far away (when they're talking getting blocades together, etc.)
8) honestly. there's nothing out here. no clue. nothing indicating where to look.
9) "There are no stars for dozens of light years" Shortest gap I can find (At a quick distant glance) is between OUTORST AB-F B25-0 andOUTORST ZF-F B25-0which appear to be about 25ish ly apart.
10) As far as I can see, nobody has confirmed that our current understanding of where the formidine rift is is correct.
Counterarguments:
- ages ago a bunch of guys put probably more time and effort into concluding that the gap between perseus and outer arm is the formidine rift
- Why'd salome' need to upgrade her clipper's FSD to something that may be better than an A rating? (they say courier in the book, but drew said that's just 'cause they hadn't settled on the names yet. he meant clipper). Also, he hinted in a forum that there may be better than A rated things.
- in the epilogue they tell sushil they're "Heading out to the edge."
(reposted from my comment on drews post on /r/elitedangerous.)
(also a little stalking of my reddit posts over the last few weeks will reveal all the clues I've found too)
I'd love for the guys who mapped it out in the first place, who's footsteps I'm belatedly stumbling in, to chime in and tell me why I'm wrong
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