THE FORMIDINE RIFT MYSTERY (Part 4)

[BuddyE]

Unfortunately the book is already finalized and with the publishers if not in print. However there is always galnet to issue the retcon through, if the book didn't feature yuri nakamura's receipt of the occupied escape pod in Anumclaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS9TcXXrNZw

I never put much into that. It looks weird, yes. But it could be just an option for the future. If FD would insist on continuing the story with her. Many fiction, games and otherwise, build in these backdoors, just in case. Does not mean they are meant to be used.

Drew is working on his other books now anyways, and he said he would like for others to take his place in storytelling. (can't remember the exact interview)

 

[Deleted member 148280]

There was a cheat in the system where you could get a G5 roll using G1 mats, and many PvP griefers used it to do 1000's of rolls until they got the "God" rolls (max-min for best outcome), and Frontier yesterday identified everyone who had used it, and removed all their mods, not just the god-rolls, but all of them. The pew-pew-wizard apparently had used it, at least once, and lost his upgrades.

Funny thing is, the thread about how to find Cracked Industrial Firmware has come to life again. It seems cheaters need some advice from more experienced (honest) CMDRs to get their g5 DD back

Coming next: Pharmaceutical Isolators and Imperial Shielding, beginners guide... [haha]

 

[BuddyE]

Funny thing is, the thread about how to find Cracked Industrial Firmware has come to life again. It seems cheaters need some advice from more experienced (honest) CMDRs to get their g5 DD back

Coming next: Pharmaceutical Isolators and Imperial Shielding, beginners guide... [haha]

If they really got to the extreme with that, they will need so much stuff that is hard to come by. I spend hours for a few rolls and barely got lucky.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Hm, I don't think that sudden overwhelming feelings of suicide by airlock is something out of the ordinary for long distance explorers. I know I get that wherever I am after a few thousand light years away from home.

That's why Canonn members always keep confectionary to hand-Death by Chocolate is far more preferable!

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I'd still like to push for an in game faction that gives special sightseeing missions for things like the Rift content and generations ships.

I've sure I've sseen a mission to go see Zurara. It was when I was ranking with Imps. Did a load of skimmer massacres & got allied with several of the factions in that area....can't remember the system names offhand but it was just after Zurara was found.

 

[ExoForce]

Changed my mind. Ignore.

 

[crushdepth]

Nonsense. The posts you linked to don't help your case, they help mine.

Drew lied to the entire ED community. As a result, there were literally *thousands* of players flying around out in the Rift for an entire year looking for clues that weren't there. There was nothing in the game to find until the game was updated and derelict ships were added. All of it was apparently just to drum up sales for his books.

If you can't understand what a disgusting thing that is to do, I don't know what's wrong with you.

You probably haven't been following the Rift mystery for very long. But for those of us who were invested since the beginning, we can remember everything Drew said when he talked about how "clues are there to be found in the game" and how he hoped "a single commander could put all the pieces together".

It was all lies. There was no Formidine Rift mystery in the game at launch.​

Different players are interested in different things. Personally, I was interested in the mystery. The idea that there were small clues hidden in a vast game was very exciting. Following the Canonn group as they have cracked other puzzles in the game has been fantastic. I could care less about the Rift story. People have different tastes, but to me the story is just crappy 80s space opera for middle-schoolers, so it doesn't interest me at all. There's nothing special about it, nothing to distinguish it from a thousand other pulp sci-fi stories. All I care about was: what was the solution to the puzzle? And it turns out here was no puzzle. It was a lie.

Nobody who has been "following" the rift mystery "since the beginning" is going to swallow this and your allegation is ridiculous. We (the people that actually did follow since the beginning) are extremely well acquainted with the facts since we have been discussing them round and round for a few years now. You aren't going to change anyone's mind waving unsubstantiated statements around.

 

[Jaiotu]

Drew lied to the entire ED community.

That is an accusation with zero proof. Simply because what we found was not what was originally out there does not mean that there was nothing to find. Drew has explained that the original POI was a simple derelict Anaconda. It floors me that people still can't conceptualize that as the game improved and content was added that improvements and additional content could not also be added to the Formidine Rift. It is absolutely illogical to assume that just because the Zurara, in the form that it was discovered, could not have existed until 2.3 was released that this means that there wasn't something else out there in it's place.

Calling a man a liar without having evidence is bad form.

 

[Jaiotu]

Nobody who has been "following" the rift mystery "since the beginning" is going to swallow this and your allegation is ridiculous. We (the people that actually did follow since the beginning) are extremely well acquainted with the facts since we have been discussing them round and round for a few years now. You aren't going to change anyone's mind waving unsubstantiated statements around.

I'd reciprocate with some Rep but it looks like I've rep'd you too much already so have a virtual +1

 

[drew]

I just looked up the genesis of the idea behind the Formidine Rift - couldn't remember myself after all this time. It was a post in the private writers forum, dated 01/09/2013 at 9:18 am. Michael Brookes had asked for candidates for background legends and myths in the Elite Dangerous universe, much like Raxxla was in the original game. All the writers had access to it and then the option to include it in their books if they desired. There were others too, such as the Lave stuff and Soontill bits and pieces. Below is a copy of that post.

It's what I pitched at the time. It was modified a lot afterwards of course - at that point we didn't even have a starmap. Interesting to note the original location was towards the core. We changed it later because hyperspace transit turned out to be much faster than expected when the game eventually came out (someone got to Sag A* in the gamma). At the time we were led to believe a 1000 lightyears would be a massive trek, but that was quickly dismissed. I didn''t know the orientation of Reorte and Riedquat either at this point, that had to wait for the starmap. The 'Dark systems' never came to be either - but those who read ER will recall they were in the book because we were told they'd be in the game.

Screenshoted from that forum. Probably not supposed to do this, but it's ancient history now so I don't suppose it matters!

Complete text below.

Cheers,

Drew.

-----------------

Here's mine.

The 'Formidine Rift' is an area of space that marks the transition from the Orion arm of the Milky Way (in which the Sun resides) across to the Sagittarius arm. It's vast as you'll see.

It's far enough away that it wouldn't register for most of humanity, but close enough to reachable by those with an exploration bent, given enough time and resource (and an appropriate ship).

Flying out from the Sol system in the general direction of the constellation of Aquila/Sagittarius you will reach the 'Rift' as you leave the Orion arm, after approximately 1000 light years. (This is, for now, also on a line from Reorte to Riedquat.. i.e if you were at Reorte, the Riedquat system could be in the constellation of Sagittarius - this is pure supposition until we see a star map of course - it just sounded good!)

At this point there is a jolly nice view of the core of the galaxy...
The area is marked as a general 'navigation hazard'
Star systems thin out dramatically (creating a challenging hyperspace navigation problem due to lack of dark systems)
A natural 'edge' of territory
Stories say that many ships have gone out there, but none have crossed the 'Rift' and returned...
Vague rumours circulate that 'something' is out there and it's not friendly.

-------------------

 

[Jaiotu]

We changed it later because hyperspace transit turned out to be much faster than expected when the game eventually came out (someone got to Sag A* in the gamma). At the time we were led to believe a 1000 lightyears would be a massive trek

I watched a video interview with David Braben that was recorded early on in the development of Elite: Dangerous. I seem to remember him saying that he expected that even though Sagittarius A* would be included in the game it would be many years before the first explorer ever reached it. Now we have the newsletter telling the story of a Commander who made it to Colonia in just over three hours.

 

[drew]

I watched a video interview with David Braben that was recorded early on in the development of Elite: Dangerous. I seem to remember him saying that he expected that even though Sagittarius A* would be included in the game it would be many years before the first explorer ever reached it. Now we have the newsletter telling the story of a Commander who made it to Colonia in just over three hours.

I did complain about it at the time as I thought it was 'too easy', but they didn't change it. There would have also been an uproar if achievements in gamma were reset for the official launch, thus it stayed.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[Rock-Hermit]

I did complain about it at the time as I thought it was 'too easy', but they didn't change it. There would have also been an uproar if achievements in gamma were reset for the official launch, thus it stayed.

Cheers,

Drew.

If I recall correctly the original idea for deep space travel beyond human borders required exploreres to carry hyperspace probes that had to be used to open up a new link between previously unlinked systems. Once that link was made, the player could then jump to the next system and repeat the process for the next system. Links, or charted routes, could then be sold to UC and other players would automatically gain access to them.

So instead of links everywhere like we have now, we would instead have had charted routes created by players. And if ships could only carry a limited amount of probes before having to return to civilization to restock and sell their charted routes, that would have slowed deep space exploration down considerably. I think the First Great Expedtion were founded on that intended mechanic as it would have took large coordinated fleets to chart a route to Sag A.

Then gamma was released with the current travel mechanics, and despite no automatic 1000 light year route plotter and having to do it one star at a time, Zulu Romeo got as far as Sag A within a few days, and Erimus crossed the entire Galaxy discovering Beagle Point not long after. FD probably never thought players would be tenacious enough to push the boundaries so early on.

The original intended hyperspace probe mechanism and manually charted routes would have added much more depth to space travel and made the galaxy feel even more mysterious since it would be a real challenge to explore its deepest recesses (not like now). We'd probably only be reaching Beagle Point for the first time this year if it had been implemented, and the Formidine Rift mystery may have had a completely different vibe to it since its doubtful it would have been charted as extensively as it eventually became. FD dropped the ball on this, they should have stuck with their original idea.

 

[drew]

If I recall correctly the original idea for deep space travel beyond human borders required exploreres to carry hyperspace probes that had to be used to open up a new link between previously unlinked systems. Once that link was made, the player could then jump to the next system and repeat the process for the next system. Links, or charted routes, could then be sold to UC and other players would automatically gain access to them.

So instead of links everywhere like we have now, we would instead have had charted routes created by players. And if ships could only carry a limited amount of probes before having to return to civilization to restock and sell their charted routes, that would have slowed deep space exploration down considerably. I think the First Great Expedtion were founded on that intended mechanic as it would have took large coordinated fleets to chart a route to Sag A.

Then gamma was released with the current travel mechanics, and despite no automatic 1000 light year route plotter and having to do it one star at a time, Zulu Romeo got as far as Sag A within a few days, and Erimus crossed the entire Galaxy discovering Beagle Point not long after. FD probably never thought players would be tenacious enough to push the boundaries so early on.

The original intended hyperspace probe mechanism and manually charted routes would have added much more depth to space travel and made the galaxy feel even more mysterious since it would be a real challenge to explore its deepest recesses (not like now). We'd probably only be reaching Beagle Point for the first time this year if it had been implemented, and the Formidine Rift mystery may have had a completely different vibe to it since its doubtful it would have been charted as extensively as it eventually became. FD dropped the ball on this, they should have stuck with their original idea.

<Nods>

That would have been so cool.

Cheers,

Drew.

 

[clavain]

Nobody who has been "following" the rift mystery "since the beginning" is going to swallow this and your allegation is ridiculous. We (the people that actually did follow since the beginning) are extremely well acquainted with the facts since we have been discussing them round and round for a few years now. You aren't going to change anyone's mind waving unsubstantiated statements around.

Out of rep but agreed 100%. Anything along the lines of the original accusation is complete nonsense and just plain rude given the effort DW put into this over years, as even a quick glance at the earlier threads(or reading the first page for that matter) would show, if the OP could be bothered to educate himself instead of slinging unsubstantiated insults.

 

[Saool]

Probably my biggest regret with relation to Elite, is that I spent money backing that other space non-game and not Elite. Despite having played many versions right back to the BBC. As such I was not in the gamma or beta and missed out on the golden age of exploration.

Everywhere I go now, feels like I'm going somewhere that is known. Even when 10KLy out, away from any nebula and have millions of unexplored systems, it just feels like its all within already reached space.

My hope with exploration is that there really is more stuff out there. Hidden. Already in game, and just waiting to be found. That 1 in 4 billion chance that might never happen, but could, on your very next jump.

Sadly I don't think there is anything out there that we do not already know about (eg Guardian ruins, New Thargoid structures, generation ships).

 

[Belthize]

Nice one Drew.

Random site note, I find the process of how conspiracy theories are formed fascinating while at the same time find conspiracy themselves fairly boring, it's like watching salt water taffy being made vs eating it.

 

[Saool]

As a complete aside I wanted to say one last thing about the Premonition event. I was going to say it in another thread, but it was locked. If I was Drew, and I still had the chance, I would have the publishers do a CTRL+F in the copy and find every referance to SDC and change it to some made up name, and every occurrence of one Commander and change that to something else as well.

Give them nothing. Write them out of history.

 

[Masheikh Scytale]

something really scary like the mentioned skies filled with of octagonal ships.

Mmm...on this particular point it is not evident it was related directly to the FR. The sentence is kind of ..unclear. (Enumerating what he saw..)

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

As a complete aside I wanted to say one last thing about the Premonition event. I was going to say it in another thread, but it was locked. If I was Drew, and I still had the chance, I would have the publishers do a CTRL+F in the copy and find every referance to SDC and change it to some made up name, and every occurrence of one Commander and change that to something else as well.

Give them nothing. Write them out of history.

I second this. Although on the other hand they may have given inspriation to Drew, proper villains with no rules and regrets.

Probably my biggest regret with relation to Elite, is that I spent money backing that other space non-game and not Elite. Despite having played many versions right back to the BBC. As such I was not in the gamma or beta and missed out on the golden age of exploration.

Everywhere I go now, feels like I'm going somewhere that is known. Even when 10KLy out, away from any nebula and have millions of unexplored systems, it just feels like its all within already reached space.

My hope with exploration is that there really is more stuff out there. Hidden. Already in game, and just waiting to be found. That 1 in 4 billion chance that might never happen, but could, on your very next jump.

Sadly I don't think there is anything out there that we do not already know about (eg Guardian ruins, New Thargoid structures, generation ships).

Well, there are plenty of locked sectors in the galaxy, and FDev has still a very long way to go to flesh out the Stellar Forge's content (atmospheric planets). Exploration might look dead right now, but once we get a major update, there will be an exploration renaissance!