The Formidine-Rift has been the destination of numerous single-expeditions since the book Elite : Reclamation was published two years ago. Rumours of something hidden there have driven commanders as far as the mysterious Bovomit-Sector nearly 20 kly from Sol. Unfortunately nothing was found by these pioneers of the southern galactic rim. Even concerted efforts during spring and early summer 3302 by several groups failed to uncover any of the secrets that are confirmed to be hidden there.
Activities seemed to die down during July 3302 when suddenly a GALNET-article incited new interest by pointing to the EAFOTS sector. EAFOTS is connected with all the clues we already had: The Heart and Soul nebulae, the Reorte-Riedquat-Line, and the very eastern edges of the Formidine Rift itself. It also sits right on the edge of CoRs Rift border patrol waypoints - pinpointed by Salomé herself who tasked the Children of Raxxla to set up two listening posts and patrol the region back in May 3302 (Phase I of the Rift Initiative).
Commanders are already searching this special sector but a detailed look at EAFOTS with the help of CMDR Jackie Silver has made it clear that this is an endeavour that needs a more organized and concerted approach. The sector is huge, we are looking at a cube of approximately 1280 x 1280 x 1280 lightyears and easily more than 400.000 systems.
The Children of Raxxla, who since their founding have dedicated themselves to exploration and investigating the galaxies mysteries, have thus decided to mount an expedition that will try to explore as much of the EAFOTS-Sector as possible, using the insight CMDR Jackie Silver has given us in the sub-organization of sectors. We are further narrowing the search-areas of this mysterious region by clues we have already gotten.
Doing it this way we are sure that we will be more successful than before.
We’re therefore inviting other groups and commanders to take part our search efforts. Together we might finally find what’s hidden out there!
THE SEARCH AREA
THE BASECAMPS
We have scouted four new basecamp-systems on the corners of the EAFOTS cube at the height of the Reorte-Riedquat-line (+48 ly on the Z-axis). The basecamps are to be used as meeting-points or rally-points. Each landing site is easy to find and has a flat surface that allows even bigger ships good landing spots.
THE BASECAMPS
| NORTH-EAST (-5210:49:-4910) EAFOTS XO-T B58-1, Planet 1 "Haipeng Landing" -45.3438 / 114,2943 0.51 g FURTHER IMAGES http://imgur.com/a/5fsSK |
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NORTH-WEST (-6460:49:-4910) EAFOTS KR-T B58-3, planet 2 "The Smiling Crater" 0.3031 / 140,7180 0.22 g FURTHER IMAGES http://imgur.com/a/kpohd |
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SOUTH-WEST (-6460:49:-6180) EAFOTS YE-A C0, planet B2 “Komarov’s Canyon” -30.3184 / -140.9768 0.06 g FURTHER IMAGES http://imgur.com/a/18VJ3 |
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| SOUTH-EAST (-5210:49:-6180) EAFOTS PA-A D0, planet A1 “Crippen’s Basin” 8.2307 / -13.6597 1.18 g (high-g!) FURTHER IMAGES http://imgur.com/a/phOkB |
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Expedition Directive
We are determined to do our best to finally uncover the Formidine Rift Mystery. As the search-areas distance from Sol varies between 7.5 - 8.5 kly it is easily reachable in a decent timeframe even for exploration-ships with unmodified jumpranges.
Ship build is up to the participants, there are no recommendations from us in that respect.
The search is to commence on Saturday August 20th and will last for 1 week per assignment.
The whole expedition is scheduled for a preliminary ten weeks until October 29th, 3302.
Please sign up using the following sheet.
Exploration - Procedure
There are two ways to explore EAFOTS:
1. We’ve created a spreadsheet with the help of Jackie Silver. Its use enables us to keep track of what has already been explored and possible findings. The spreadsheet can be found here.
An explanation how to use it is included in the sheet. If anything remains unclear you can message CMDR TheTick who has volunteered to take care of the sheet.
2. Individual exploration. We however recommend the use of a commanders-log like EDDiscovery to keep track of your path.
We should at first search in regions which are connected to the existing hints so far, e.g. the Heart & Soul nebulae, or the galactic plane (between -25 and +75 lightyears Z-axis, because of the fixed z-axis of the RR line) where the star density is the highest and jump distances are not too big. The search priorities / prioritized sub-sectors are already made clear in the sheet.
When entering a new system please use the following exploration routine:
1. Advance Discovery Scanner (“Honk”),
2. Scan main star, meanwhile look at the system-map to get an overview of the planets,
3. Look at the navigation-tab to detect persistent USS,
4. Detailed surface-scan of interesting planets / moons, watch out for USS while supercruising. Please check the planet descriptions after scanning and watch out for anything out of the ordinary,
5. After being finished jump to the next system.
Any findings should be reported in this thread or in the Formidine-Rifters-Thread.
EDIT:
Scan every ammonia-world and gas-giants with ammonia-based life and fly into near-orbit. There are confirmed free-floating Unknown Probes that show up as "Anomaly - Threat Level 2"-USS in near orbit. Report such findings here and in the sheet!
EDIT 8/28/2015:
Based on Drew Wagars interview with DJTruthsayer we have altered the directive a bit. All participants please take note:
- Please give more attention to star constellations and skybox-patterns; they might give a clue
- if you are checking systems please only focus on the E and D mass-code prefixes for now.
- focus less on scanning individual planets.
Commanders, great work until now. Your progress is clearly visible in ED Starmap! (pic courtesy of CMDR KRONFROMGALVATRON)
AMENDMENT August 30th, 3302
Due to the very recent discovery of a crashed alien ship in the Pleiades we now strongly encourage every pilot leaving human-inhabited space not to go unarmed or even unarmed and unshielded! This is for defensive reasons only. Nobody knows where the ship came from but this first confirmation of an advanced space-faring alien lifeform is inspiring and worrying at the same time. If anyone out in EAFOTS makes first-contact please don't shoot first. Just be prepared to defend yourselves if things go wrong.
We are expecting to receive further hints / clues in the course of the next weeks. Adaptation of the search routine might be necessary.
The CoR Consul
CMDRs TheTick, Erimus Kamzel, KronfromGalvatron and Eisen
Thanks to CMDR Jackie Silver for her help with Sector-Analysis and CMDR Vent Aileron for scouting for suitable basecamps.
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