The Formidine Rift: Are we wrong?

CMDR BeanSeller

C
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:

  • 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."
So, that in mind, I think I'm going to retire from the Outer Arm, and head back towards the Heart nebula. FYI the guy who found barnacles went to merope 5c 'cause it had yellow valleys, and the barnacles in the trailer had sand in the background. So I guess in the Heart Nebula look for anything.

(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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Erimus Kamzel

Erimus Kamzel
+1 [up]

Great summary of your findings :)

I think the exact location of the Formidine Rift will always remain a secret and left open for us to debate and speculate over. Only one person truly knows; Drew Wagar. And all I can say is that when I first created the map below pinpointing where a few of us thought the rift to be, Drew on several occasions hinted (via PMs and repped posts that showed the maps) that it is an accurate representation of where he placed it, (unless he's playing mind-games!).

vyw3u1.jpg


I for one hope he never reveals the truth behind the rift, the mysteries of the galaxy are what make it an exciting place to explore.

As for there being no locked out areas out there, well.. there are :) A major one beyond the speculated rift region called Bovomit. And another even further out, right on the galactic rim.

There is also at least one non-procedural star system in the heart of the rift that is exceedingly difficult to reach and is something I attempted to find a route to in the days leading up to the Distant Worlds expedition, but sadly I ran out of time as DWs began and I'm now needed elsewhere. Agents from the Children of Raxxla were made aware of this star system a while ago although I'm not sure if they've launched an expedition to try and reach it. You can inquire about it here : Children of Raxxla.

If you're not affiliated with any other player group, check out CoR, they're dedicated to investigating some of the mysteries of the galaxy like the Rift, and have Salomé herself as a member (she's rumored to be investigating something beyond the far rim Abyss currently!).
 
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Sunn09

S
Hi guys. I'm pretty new to this game, a few weeks, and exploring is what i've decided to dedicate myself to for now. Pretty much everything about this post sounds awesome. I play on xbox one and in my very limited experience it seems like there are no truly unexplored areas left in space.

The thrill of having billions of stars that were tens of thousands of light years away and were practically unreachable is what drew me in. but as ive learned more i see that every system has already been discovered, many people have visited the galactic core, the outer rim or the far side of the galaxy, and everything in between.

This post makes me think maybe everything hasnt been seen already after all.

I'm currently like 1000 ly from civilized space but using lowly equipment and not really knowing what i'm doing. I could probably be of more use somehow searching for stuff like this, how could i go about that?
 

The Tick

The Tick
Sunn09 said:
Hi guys. I'm pretty new to this game, a few weeks, and exploring is what i've decided to dedicate myself to for now. Pretty much everything about this post sounds awesome. I play on xbox one and in my very limited experience it seems like there are no truly unexplored areas left in space.

The thrill of having billions of stars that were tens of thousands of light years away and were practically unreachable is what drew me in. but as ive learned more i see that every system has already been discovered, many people have visited the galactic core, the outer rim or the far side of the galaxy, and everything in between.

This post makes me think maybe everything hasnt been seen already after all.

I'm currently like 1000 ly from civilized space but using lowly equipment and not really knowing what i'm doing. I could probably be of more use somehow searching for stuff like this, how could i go about that?
Click to expand...

Hi Sunn09, welcome to Elite Dangerous!
If you are into exploring, roam these forums, expecially the guides in the respective subforum, and check out the galaxy! Don't worry, only a minuscule fraction of all the 400 billion stars in this galaxy have been explored to date. Beyond 1000 LYs from the bubble, tagged stars get very rare, except at popular destinations.
If you practised a bit, and worked yourself into a well oufitted Asp Explorer, come and join the Children of Raxxla (for a link, see my signature below) :) .
Unfortunately, I cannot help you in game at the moment, as I am 36kLys away from the bubble ...
 

goemon

goemon
Sunn09 said:
Hi guys. I'm pretty new to this game, a few weeks, and exploring is what i've decided to dedicate myself to for now. Pretty much everything about this post sounds awesome. I play on xbox one and in my very limited experience it seems like there are no truly unexplored areas left in space.

The thrill of having billions of stars that were tens of thousands of light years away and were practically unreachable is what drew me in. but as ive learned more i see that every system has already been discovered, many people have visited the galactic core, the outer rim or the far side of the galaxy, and everything in between.

This post makes me think maybe everything hasnt been seen already after all.

I'm currently like 1000 ly from civilized space but using lowly equipment and not really knowing what i'm doing. I could probably be of more use somehow searching for stuff like this, how could i go about that?
Click to expand...

there are many unexplored systems - the sheer number makes sure for that! i did a project in 1.4, going to every destination having "1000" in its coordinates (like +1000/-1000/+1000) .... so basically not going more far out then 1400 lightyears - and i hit many unexplorered systems and sectors.

if you want to help out searching mysteries, either join one of the active "exploring-friendly" groups like canonn, children of raxxla, knights of the black ... (see groups section in this forum, they have x-box commanders, too) - or lurk around the UA's, barnacles & more thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=227901. take part at the galacting mapping project https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=116450 ---- check out the various stickies in the explorer subforum ... and more!
 

Jackie Silver

Jackie Silver
Sunn09 said:
This post makes me think maybe everything hasnt been seen already after all.

I'm currently like 1000 ly from civilized space but using lowly equipment and not really knowing what i'm doing. I could probably be of more use somehow searching for stuff like this, how could i go about that?
Click to expand...

What equipment do you have? The minimum you need for serious exploration is an Advanced Discovery Scanner and a Detailed Surface Scanner - you can fit those on a Hauler with a good fuel scoop and jump drive for less than 4 million credits, or there are several other ships which make handy cheap explorers.

(edited to add) I say serious exploration only because you need both those scanners in order to guarantee that you can get the full amount of information out of a system. You can of course explore without, in the sense that exploring is much more than just checking the physical details of what is where!
 
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Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
I'm intrigued about CoR and would very much like to join. Currently 39KLY from SOL (DW exped) and am very interested in joining their ranks.
 

Eisen

Eisen
DoubtOutLoud said:
Explorer me is intrigued. (Editor me is mumbling 'authors' under his breath. :) ) Applied for the Children of Raxxla hoping that the mystery remains until Distant Worlds is over.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those revealings are definitely mean, considering most of the CoR-Members being on DWE right now :D.
However with Salomé rumoured to be on DW too, we may be fine.
 
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drew

drew
Eisen said:
Yeah, those revealings are definitely mean, considering most of the CoR-Members being on DWE right now :D.
However with Salomé rumoured to be on DW too, we may be fine.
Click to expand...

Salomé is on the DW expedition and the mystery of the rift is unlikely to be solved any time soon from what I've seen thus far.

Cheers,

Drew.
 

CMDR BeanSeller

C
Thanks for your feedback Drew! Greatly appreciated!
I'll be scratching my head on "who" all day.. (ship? outfitting? I'm thinking outfitting... I'll need a tough ship and a good pilot.)

And for anyone new discovering this thread - please be aware continued discussion is in the other thread, from about this post on.
 

Chrystoph

Chrystoph
Sunn09 said:
Hi guys. I'm pretty new to this game, a few weeks, and exploring is what i've decided to dedicate myself to for now. Pretty much everything about this post sounds awesome. I play on xbox one and in my very limited experience it seems like there are no truly unexplored areas left in space.

The thrill of having billions of stars that were tens of thousands of light years away and were practically unreachable is what drew me in. but as ive learned more i see that every system has already been discovered, many people have visited the galactic core, the outer rim or the far side of the galaxy, and everything in between.

This post makes me think maybe everything hasnt been seen already after all.

I'm currently like 1000 ly from civilized space but using lowly equipment and not really knowing what i'm doing. I could probably be of more use somehow searching for stuff like this, how could i go about that?
Click to expand...

Here's a decent SRV capable Cobra MK III with a 25.44 LY range:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_...34v6430g2i2f.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==?bn=25.44 LY Pl

It costs about 4.2 MCr.
 

Pharoh

Pharoh
Interesting post CMDR

I am approaching this area and having read this post i feel i am drawn into spending some time exploring the trail of clues you and others have left.

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts

Regards
 

ASC

A
OK, I'm going to have to ask a noob question. What exactly is the significance of the Formidine rift?

I gather it's a location mentioned in Drew's writing, but that's all I've been able to glean from skimming the various threads over the last year. So why does it matter?
 

Macros Black

Macros Black
ASC said:
OK, I'm going to have to ask a noob question. What exactly is the significance of the Formidine rift?

I gather it's a location mentioned in Drew's writing, but that's all I've been able to glean from skimming the various threads over the last year. So why does it matter?
Click to expand...

Good question. First time I heard about it was in this post, quoting Drew (I think), that in the Rift something was hiding "worse than the Thargoids". The post also appeared to be a recruitment drive for the player faction "Dark Wheel", name identical to the Dark Wheel lore name. Nothing concrete seems to have come out of it, publicly anyway. I'm not a lore master, just a CMDR interested in the in-game mysteries surrounding Raxxla.
 
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