The Quest To Find Raxxla

[Staarlord]

Hey, so since this is still largely considered a "Community" effort to me and not exclusive to a few glory seeking individuals with safe guarded search details (I don't support that crap, as this is far more efficient with the community involved, rather than a handful of buddy-buddies who operate on a 'need to know.' There are many more of us)? I did a little map exploration last night and suddenly it hit me...

First, was that I pretty much have nothing left to check in the Capricorni sector vicinity. I checked most everything "near" a Capricorni "Sector" system, including most of the Capricorni Sector systems directly and a huge belt of the COL 285 systems which were within 3 stars away from another Capricorni Sector system. There are also no more HIPs, or other uniquely named systems for me to search, such as; HD, HR, Ross, xx G. Capricorni, Aqcuari...within the Capricorni Sector... But? the claims never said that anything was ever "in" a Capricorni system, or next to the Capricorni Sector. It specifically was only said to be near a Capricorni 'system.' Singular.

That said? Can some of you help me check near these systems? In addition to finding more of these? I'm still trying to find some of the other xx G. Capricorni systems. I know I've seen and been in others. I think one of the early ones was maybe was like 67 or 97 G. Capricorni (?). I found a few more than what I listed, but they can take you so down below the plane that you end up about 1000ly from Sol. Even just some of the closer ones are about 300+ light years from Sol.

Here's the link to the Google Document I have created and following

The others I have found beyond this list (so far) seem to get either too close or much too far from Sol. Some of the further ones being 20, 21, 29, 30, and 35 Capricorni
and the closer one I found being 37 Capricorni. Naturally there are others that are within the Capricorni sector as well, such as 25 Chi Capricorni and B Capricorni but it's fair to say that we cleaned house there.

This excites me because I love exploring Synuefe/ Synuefai for reasons of "Guardian things," and much of this will take place there. Who knows? Maybe FDev are even inching towards a Guardian/ Raxxla narrative. They may have retconned Raxxlans and opted to merge them into the Guardian story, since they are both said to be warrior races... But that's more of a wish than a theory.

One other piece of advice I would say, is to check for systems containing near "orange(ish)" stars. Which might be Tauri, red dwarf, red giants and orange super giants. I feel liket his is maybe the only of the useful official clues...unless they faked the picture lol

 

[Macros Black]

3 Capricorni
4 Capricorni
19 Capricorni

Visited 3,4, and 19. Nothing to note, other than some spectacular systems on-route.

 

[athulin]

But? the claims never said that anything was ever "in" a Capricorni system, or next to the Capricorni Sector. It specifically was only said to be near a Capricorni 'system.' Singular.

The other day it struck me that 'near a Capricorni system' just might refer to A Capricorni. However, it seems to be far out of the likely volume of space, and appears to be more than someone would go 'off-track exploring', and so unlikely, but the ambiguity tickled my mind. (If there is a spelling corrector anywhere near the Forum, it's the kind of correction that could be confusing. But then I toyed with the idea that this might be a deliberate leak, not a random user stumbling over something, and tried to find anything in support of that wild hypothesis, as well as try to predict future events. But that's just what I do to avoid going space mad ...)

 

[Staarlord]

The other day it struck me that 'near a Capricorni system' just might refer to A Capricorni. However, it seems to be far out of the likely volume of space, and appears to be more than someone would go 'off-track exploring', and so unlikely, but the ambiguity tickled my mind. (If there is a spelling corrector anywhere near the Forum, it's the kind of correction that could be confusing. But then I toyed with the idea that this might be a deliberate leak, not a random user stumbling over something, and tried to find anything in support of that wild hypothesis, as well as try to predict future events. But that's just what I do to avoid going space mad ...)

Yeah there's a ton of these things. I'm still finding them and am marking which ones not to bother with (too far/ close). Most of them are not even in EDSM which is reason enough to go chart the region out.

 

[Staarlord]

Updated the original post with a bunch of Capricorni systems not in EDSM

 

[Zimous]

Updated the original post with a bunch of Capricorni systems not in EDSM

Those the ones you haven't visited yet?

 

[Staarlord]

Those the ones you haven't visited yet?

No, it's all of them. At least the ones that I could find.

However, I have visited the ones in the Capricorni sector and just about searched that region high and dry.

I'm heading to 32 Capricorni. It's fair to say that all the ones in Capricorni sector we've all exhausted (the lower 100-200ly range) but I by no means checked 100% of those systems. Most of them. In fact? I was about to just finish them, before I realized that none of this may have ever been about that sector of systems. Maybe I'll circle back to it but it makes more sense for all of this to have ever been about the systems surrounding the more uniquely named Capricorni systems in the various other sectors. This also gives me free reign to check closer to the Delta 69 Comms Array vicinity.

My new aim is to search about 5 system radius around these systems.

 

[varonica]

Reverse engineering or data mining discussions are not permitted on the forums. Why even think of it, what's the point of trying to solve a puzzle by hacking it? Its not solved, it would just be broken.

Oh I am not discussing it, it was brought up in previous post from what was said in one of the tech videos, how this makes it a discussion of data mining or hacking I don't know.

 

[Sunyavadin]

Oh I am not discussing it, it was brought up in previous post from what was said in one of the tech videos, how this makes it a discussion of data mining or hacking I don't know.

Indeed, it was simply speculation along the lines of "If you could somehow get the proprietary source code for the game", a hypothetical scenario that of course nobody can realistically do, not a serious actual proposal - then the procedural systems could, in principle, provide the kind of data Frontier have access to at the push of a button on the galaxy,

And then from there, it's hardly a discussion of "hacking" or "datamining" to acknowledge that without such nigh impossible to get data, while it would in theory be possible to reverse engineer the system from enough datapoints, that would probably take more resources than anyone has the means available to pull off.

The whole discussion was mostly, as I read it, an acknowledgment that there are certain things Frontier can know about the game that we as players cannot.

 

[RyloTerrik]

I think it's fair to say we've beaten Cassiopeia to death. There were other tidbits in that codex that I remember exploring, way back when they included it. The bit about the Vagabond Heart, the Siren. I think back then we were looking in anything Odin related. I myself was even looking for nebulas that stood out in Odin's hold, as well as systems closer to home, like Urd. Urd seemed like the best idea at the time. If memory serves me correctly, it was the well Odin sacrificed an eye to. I can't remember what systems we were checking for the Siren bit. Cassiopeia had been the only one I hadn't gone to myself, as it was the most blatantly obvious in the codex: "Jewel on the brow of the mother of galaxies..." I felt it was a bit baiting at the time. Part of that reference had me wondering if maybe it was Alpheratz too, which is why I just went out that way. Maybe it's not "Andromeda's mother." Maybe it's Andromeda, as seen from the perspective of being the mother of the Andromeda Galaxy. Alpheratz is Andromeda's head in the constellation.

The Drakkster thing is frustrating. Fishy, even. Were it not so close to the region where Comms Array Delta 69 was? I wouldn't think much of it. But it just fit into that whole region nicely. Apart from that he provides details not many would remember over the more basic ones, like what the system looked like, inhabited or no, rings on the gas giant, multiple moons or no...yet remember it being 5-7kls from the parent star (mind you, this does not mean entry star) and remembers the distances of his hops (4-7ly jumps). I feel like if something ominous happened to me I'd be on the forums right away saying, "This normal?" And would have been left with a lasting imprint of the setting, including planet color. People have asked some of these simpler questions but he avoided them and provided anecdotal information nobody asked for but naturally still appreciate. The whole thing is just weird and I'm not sure what to think of it anymore. There may be a Raxxla station as he describes and there may also be a planet capable of generating a field/ portal. It's in Elite's myths this way as well. But since we won't know until we find it, it's hard to say what FDev are keeping from Elite lore and what they are changing. Maybe it's even a star, or black hole.

I might explore another old curiosity. Way back in 2018, I think I was getting my ship engineered in Leesti and found Felicity had a weird transmission tower that made strange sounds on her base. I parked my ship in parallel with it, flat, to see if it was speaking in direct line of site to any specific stars in view, so I would look at my nav panel and select stars to see which lined up with it and if I remember correctly, nothing in the nav panel did, so I had to use the gal map, which was cumbersome, then I jumped to the star that it aligned with the most and explored but found nothing, if I recall.

I haven't really got into the lore here in awhile (pre-toast). Started looking back into it a couple of weeks ago and just did a general internet search for the term "mother of galaxies." My history tells me this was 18 days ago, but the DuckDuckGo generative AI thingy said that Andromeda is often referred to as the Mother of Galaxies (not Cassiopeia). It had no source information and I couldn't find where that was referenced anywhere else, so I don't even know how it came to that conclusion. When I search it today it says Virgo, but lists these forums as it's sole source. Being self-referential is almost useless in this context, though. That being said, the toast almost assuredly references the mythology surrounding Cassiopeia (the asterism commonly thought of as resembling a crown) and Andromeda. How that comes into play is unknown, obviously. I did see a post where someone tries to breakdown the elements of the toast, but couldn't find correlations for the siren of the deepest void and vagabond heart. Nereid is a moon of Neptune and I think that might be the only celestial body named for the sirens in this mythology.

I have no idea where would be best to look, nor would I have the time to conduct such a search if I did, but it seems now the best bet might be to just revisit only those "official" clues up to the point that they said they wouldn't give anymore because we'd figure it out immediately. I'm not sure if there exists a list that just has those clues. I think the theories have ventured so far into conjecture, though, that it's just as likely that we're chasing a thread that only ventures further and further from the truth. All it takes is one false assumption to be accept as generally true to force everyone to diverge from the real path perpetually.

To add to the confusion out of my own curiosity. Are there any bodies within Cassiopeia and/or Andromeda that have a permanent night side? Similarly, are their any systems that have no luminous stars that could even reflect light off of any bodies that might exist in that system? I'm not even sure if that's possible. I mean, if we're supposed to interpret the toast literally in regards to the void. Though, I think it's more likely it's meant figuratively as the space between stars and/or galaxies that is commonly referred to as the void and the vagabond heart just the wanderlust present and prerequisite in all those searching for Raxxla.

Anyway, it's a cool mystery.

EDIT: Amphitrite and Thetis are both asteroids in our solar system and Amphitrite is thought to have its own satellite. I have no idea if those actually exist in game, though.

 

[Rochester]

Automative AI gets information wrong, all search engines are gallop charts, not indexes, they sort data based upon popularity and paid promotion / don’t trust it. Always find the original source. The internet is not the source of all knowledge, as AI is utilised more and more and users become more complacent, such a gray info creep will get worse; this is how you control people… information is power… go to a library

 

[Rochester]

I haven't really got into the lore here in awhile (pre-toast). Started looking back into it a couple of weeks ago and just did a general internet search for the term "mother of galaxies." My history tells me this was 18 days ago, but the DuckDuckGo generative AI thingy said that Andromeda is often referred to as the Mother of Galaxies (not Cassiopeia). It had no source information and I couldn't find where that was referenced anywhere else, so I don't even know how it came to that conclusion. When I search it today it says Virgo, but lists these forums as it's sole source. Being self-referential is almost useless in this context, though. That being said, the toast almost assuredly references the mythology surrounding Cassiopeia (the asterism commonly thought of as resembling a crown) and Andromeda. How that comes into play is unknown, obviously. I did see a post where someone tries to breakdown the elements of the toast, but couldn't find correlations for the siren of the deepest void and vagabond heart. Nereid is a moon of Neptune and I think that might be the only celestial body named for the sirens in this mythology.

I have no idea where would be best to look, nor would I have the time to conduct such a search if I did, but it seems now the best bet might be to just revisit only those "official" clues up to the point that they said they wouldn't give anymore because we'd figure it out immediately. I'm not sure if there exists a list that just has those clues. I think the theories have ventured so far into conjecture, though, that it's just as likely that we're chasing a thread that only ventures further and further from the truth. All it takes is one false assumption to be accept as generally true to force everyone to diverge from the real path perpetually.

To add to the confusion out of my own curiosity. Are there any bodies within Cassiopeia and/or Andromeda that have a permanent night side? Similarly, are their any systems that have no luminous stars that could even reflect light off of any bodies that might exist in that system? I'm not even sure if that's possible. I mean, if we're supposed to interpret the toast literally in regards to the void. Though, I think it's more likely it's meant figuratively as the space between stars and/or galaxies that is commonly referred to as the void and the vagabond heart just the wanderlust present and prerequisite in all those searching for Raxxla.

Anyway, it's a cool mystery.

EDIT: Amphitrite and Thetis are both asteroids in our solar system and Amphitrite is thought to have its own satellite. I have no idea if those actually exist in game, though.

The phrasing has been confusing for a lot of us, primarily I believe due to a significant absence of direct clues, and very likely due to the intentional use of obscure references.

Pre codex there was a lot of discussion around the removed Dark Wheel missions, and some of the phrasing utilised, song of the spheres etc.

These it has been believed by some were referring to the works of John Milton.

Post codex we got the toast…

It only really began to make sense to some, once FD inserted the Brooke’s Tours, which quotes a specific passage from Paradise Lost, one of Brookes favourites.

The element from the toast is by my interpretation nothing to do with Andromeda etc, but it is referring to this Miltonian concept, of a pendant world/universe inside a shell, hanging from the brow of heaven, upon the outer rim of chaos, as Milton’s called it, the womb of creation.

I strongly believe Brookes wrote the codex and he was referring to this locational clue. Know where this is replicated in game, and you have an idea where Raxxla ought to be…

 

[Tifu]

A somewhat lengthy update to my Dark Wheel/Raaxla search within a 30+ LY sphere around HIP 92427 ( where @Macros Black 's FC is currently stationed).

I call this search sphere Bead #70 since HIP 92427 is the 70th entry in the R2R route that @drakkster2025 took years ago when he stumbled upon Dark Wheel/Raaxla. Please see attached spreadsheet created by @mearmortal : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-quest-to-find-raxxla.168253/page-1808#post-10527784

My personal belief is he discovered the former (Dark Wheel) not the latter and have tailored my search pattern around this.

Search Pattern criteria:

1. Main system star must be a red dwarf or brown dwarf star type with the temperature range of 300K-4,000K (ie. a cold star compared to our Sun)
2. All planets and moons in the system must be eyeballed (I use the supercruise assist and a partial orbit)
3. If planet is a gas giant then supercruise assist and a full orbit
4. Any planet with 7+ moons will have said moons (7th moon up) surface mapped.

Note that we're generally looking for systems that are easy to overlook being non-glamorous and low worth as far as exploration credits are concerned (as discussed with @Staarlord & @mearmortal).

I generally use 2 ships, a 9.65 ly Sidewinder to plot the jumps to the most likely systems Drakkster's Hauler could have jumped to & an SCO capable Imperial Eagle to fast eyeball/surface map any planet beyond 150,000ls from it's sun. To test the ships & search criteria I ran the Sidey on two possible colonization routes to HIP 92427:

From Kratman Port in the PRIM system to HIP 92427
From Haarsma Terminal surface port (has large pads) in COL 285 SECTOR AG-O D6-83 to HIP 92427

Note that whichever starting point you take, the 10ly colonization limit will have the two routes have the same 3 systems before hitting HIP 92427.

COL 285 SECTOR FO-2 B26-5
COL 285 SECCTOR ET-E B26-8
COL 285 SECTOR ET-E B26-10

All the bookmarked systems above have been fully mapped except COL 285 SECTOR ET-E B26-10 which is 70-80% done. It's a monster of a system btw:

I paid particular attention to the ringed gas giant with 9 moons, making sure to not only eyeball but surface map the 7th. 8th and 9th moon.

The system COL 285 SECTOR DL-L A5 1-3 was prioritized because 30% of the planets/moons were not surface mapped at all! It easily qualifies as a system that most explorers who're after bigger game will pass over and I'm expecting to find more of these in Bead #70. Unglamorous as it was, it still held a surprise as a moon with an impact site had that site turn into a distress beacon for me - leading to several escape pods on the surface which I retrieved.

That's it for now, though I should mention that Macros's FC is no longer the only one in the system - the second one is a squadron FC and not open to the public

 

[Zimous]

The problem with Cassiopeia is that it has already been fully theorized and explored and nothing was ever found. Also Cassiopeia is (supposedly) the mother of ONE galaxy, Andromeda, not of all galaxies or multiple galaxies. So it's hard to tell if they meant Cas or not. But at this point seems like Cas was the more obvious answer, so might not be it.

As for the Lost Paradise and other books the issue is that this would force players to have read those books to figure out the solution, which doesn't make much sense to me. You don't create a puzzle in an astronomy game based on an English poem most people never read. I mean, you could, but you would be limiting how many people would be able to participate.

Then you have Alphekka (aka Gemma, which is latin for Jewel), which is close to Sol and is located on the constellation Coronae Borealis, which is a crown, with Alphekka sitting on the center (or brow) of it. The mother of galaxies in this case is not so obvious, I think it would refer to the Corona Borealis Supercluster, which is located in this constellation.

Another possibility is Sag A as the mother of galaxies, since gravity and black holes are the main actors in the formation of galaxies. But the distance makes it hard for early travelers to have reached it. But it's still a possibility, the landscape signal is still being explored and hasn't been located. For all we know, even if explorers couldn't reach Sag A at the time, they could have figured out something was there from the LS, perhaps decoding it gives out information on Raxxla.

Finally I also consider another option, NGC 1980 (also known as The Lost Jewel of Orion), which is a bright open cluster on the outskirts (brow) of the Orion Nebula (a well known star nursery).

 

[athulin]

Search Pattern criteria:

1. Main system star must be a red dwarf or brown dwarf star type with the temperature range of 300K-4,000K (ie. a cold star compared to our Sun)
2. All planets and moons in the system must be eyeballed (I use the supercruise assist and a partial orbit)
3. If planet is a gas giant then supercruise assist and a full orbit
4. Any planet with 7+ moons will have said moons (7th moon up) surface mapped.

The critiera are valuable to know -- thanks for including them. Here's some possible points of discussion -- not serious criticism, just points that appear fuzzy. (This is also written in response to Zimous recent post: if nothing was found in the mentioned searches, any difference in established critieria for them become interesting. If they, for example, included 'search of opposition positions' (i.e. in the right opposite orbit position of the planet they are orbiting) of planets or moons of potential interest that might be worth noticing.).

1. Why only primary star? This, I imagine reflects the TDW details of 8th moon to a gas giant, but while a cool star may be regarded as a small star as well as a big gas giant, there is no mention of being a primary star in Codex. I have seen them as secondary stars, and it does not seem inconceivable that they may have 8 moons in that position, so is there any reason they're omitted? Similar cool stars may appear as as 'planetary', but as I've never seen those with any serious number of 'sub-planets' I can understand them being omitted on grounds of probability, but ... if I found one such with 8 planets I would be extremely curious.

2. This seems to assume that anything must be large enough to see/detect from orbit (Supercruise Assistant Orbit?). I assume this is 'just in case',

3. Doesn't say anything about criteria. Just orbit it? Keeping a lookout of what? I don't see when this criterium fires. Checking contacts and perhaps also new signals may be intended.

4. Specification is perhaps unclear. Can a seventh moon be a secondary moon? Imagine a set of ... 1 a, 1 a a, 2 a, 2 a a, 3 a, 3 a a, 4 a, 4 a a. Is there a 7th moon in there? Is it 4 a or 4 a a? Rationale is also a bit unclear, but presumably based another TDW reference. But that said in orbit around an 8th moon. Will surface mapping reveal anything like that? (Just 'in case'?)

It seems that in addition any signals or contacts near such would also be of interest, and if signals seem to be weak and/or temporary. And as there are cool stars with 8 planets and the 8th planet has a ring (Orna 8, for example)... any signal sources/contacts in or near such rings might possibly be worth checking out.

 

[Zimous]

The critiera are valuable to know -- thanks for including them. Here's some possible points of discussion -- not serious criticism, just points that appear fuzzy. (This is also written in response to Zimous recent post: if nothing was found in the mentioned searches, any difference in established critieria for them become interesting. If they, for example, included 'search of opposition positions' (i.e. in the right opposite orbit position of the planet they are orbiting) of planets or moons of potential interest that might be worth noticing.).

1. Why only primary star? This, I imagine reflects the TDW details of 8th moon to a gas giant, but while a cool star may be regarded as a small star as well as a big gas giant, there is no mention of being a primary star in Codex. I have seen them as secondary stars, and it does not seem inconceivable that they may have 8 moons in that position, so is there any reason they're omitted? Similar cool stars may appear as as 'planetary', but as I've never seen those with any serious number of 'sub-planets' I can understand them being omitted on grounds of probability, but ... if I found one such with 8 planets I would be extremely curious.

2. This seems to assume that anything must be large enough to see/detect from orbit (Supercruise Assistant Orbit?). I assume this is 'just in case',

3. Doesn't say anything about criteria. Just orbit it? Keeping a lookout of what? I don't see when this criterium fires. Checking contacts and perhaps also new signals may be intended.

4. Specification is perhaps unclear. Can a seventh moon be a secondary moon? Imagine a set of ... 1 a, 1 a a, 2 a, 2 a a, 3 a, 3 a a, 4 a, 4 a a. Is there a 7th moon in there? Is it 4 a or 4 a a? Rationale is also a bit unclear, but presumably based another TDW reference. But that said in orbit around an 8th moon. Will surface mapping reveal anything like that? (Just 'in case'?)

It seems that in addition any signals or contacts near such would also be of interest, and if signals seem to be weak and/or temporary. And as there are cool stars with 8 planets and the 8th planet has a ring (Orna 8, for example)... any signal sources/contacts in or near such rings might possibly be worth checking out.

You should definitely check secondary stars, there is nothing saying that Raxxla and/or TDW station are orbiting the primary star. For TDW it needs to be orbiting a red star, but doesn't have to be the primary. In fact it's most likely not at the primary star, nor close to it, or it would probably been found by now.

From Drakkster report I'm assuming that you only need to get close enough to the body it's orbiting to see the installation. If you're orbiting it then you will be at close distance.

For TDW you should look for any "H" moon orbiting a gas giant. Assuming the Codex is saying the truth, the station is orbiting the 8th moon of a gas giant, so it has to have at least 8 bodies orbiting it, not counting adicional moons orbiting those moons. Otherwise it should say something like "it's orbiting the moon of a moon, orbiting a gas giant".

I wouldn't bother with signal sources since those spawn temporary stuff, for a persistent station orbiting a planet it would either show as a station or a POI. Make sure to check FSS for concentrated signals sources (which show the persistent ones). You can ignore the transient signals as those show the temporary ones.

 

[Macros Black]

Visiting:

33 Capricorni (First discovered by famed OnePercent, ED's first triple)
128 G. Capricorni
103 G. Capricorni
41 Capricorni
41 Capricorni B
32 G. Capricorni (I had my hopes up for this one)

 

[Tifu]

1. Why only primary star? This, I imagine reflects the TDW details of 8th moon to a gas giant, but while a cool star may be regarded as a small star as well as a big gas giant, there is no mention of being a primary star in Codex. I have seen them as secondary stars, and it does not seem inconceivable that they may have 8 moons in that position, so is there any reason they're omitted?

Good question. My original assumption was that explorers were more likely to bypass cold star systems and miss possible candidates hosting the Dark Wheel. But COL 285 SECTOR ET-E B26-10 ,which wasn't on the list, is a good example of a big complex system explorers may just rely on the FSS instead of the more time consuming eyeball technique.

Will have to set my EDSM red dwarf/brown dwarf search to "any" instead of "main star".

2. This seems to assume that anything must be large enough to see/detect from orbit (Supercruise Assistant Orbit?). I assume this is 'just in case',

I make myself wait for the supercruise assistant to put me into orbit to allow for any lag in the navigation display update
to pass. Otherwise I may get impatient, interrupt supercruise and zoom off before the update completes. Yes, it's insurance

3. Doesn't say anything about criteria. Just orbit it? Keeping a lookout of what? I don't see when this criterium fires. Checking contacts and perhaps also new signals may be intended.

I should have added "keep a lookout for anything unusual" that may be triggered by hanging around a gas giant long enough. Like the lethal message Drakkster received - I don't think it was instantaneous.

4. Specification is perhaps unclear. Can a seventh moon be a secondary moon? Imagine a set of ... 1 a, 1 a a, 2 a, 2 a a, 3 a, 3 a a, 4 a, 4 a a. Is there a 7th moon in there? Is it 4 a or 4 a a? Rationale is also a bit unclear, but presumably based another TDW reference. But that said in orbit around an 8th moon. Will surface mapping reveal anything like that? (Just 'in case'?)

The surface mapping is just to ensure I don't miss anything else that may have been added or maybe just something unusual.

It's also part of a mind-trick, Drakkster found something because he wasn't looking for (what he thought was) Raaxla. When he came back intentionally looking for Raaxla, he never found it because his original mindset which was open to subtle cues was no longer there. It's not just the 9ly Hauler that has to be replicated to increase the chances of finding the Dark Wheel station again.

The surface mapping (I also map planets I find interesting)
makes my search more "normal" and less obsessive.

It seems that in addition any signals or contacts near such would also be of interest, and if signals seem to be weak and/or temporary. And as there are cool stars with 8 planets and the 8th planet has a ring (Orna 8, for example)... any signal sources/contacts in or near such rings might possibly be worth checking out.

I'm in a real dilemma about this because that adds a lot of search points to an already long list of things to look for. Is there some signal criteria that may help cut it down some?

On an unrelated note, I had an unusual experience a week ago where I dropped by an orbital outpost and got the message "INFRASTRUCTURE DETECTED". The outpost had a separate platform dedicated to agriculture but you couldn't see any sign of it on the nav panel. And my drop-off was pretty close to the outpost, otherwise (I think) that message wouldn't have popped up.

That got me wondering if the Dark Wheel could be hidden in a similar manner? Something large and ordinary, not worth a close look

 

[Rochester]

Toast pondering

‘To the jewel that burns on the brow of the mother of galaxies! To the whisperer in witch-space, the siren of the deepest void! The parent's grief, the lover's woe, and the yearning of our vagabond hearts. To Raxxla!"

The ‘jewel upon the brow’ Im pretty certain, based upon the historical references in the DW missions (on the outer rim / song of spheres) and the direct quote in the Brookes Tours etc is a visual reference to Paradise Lost.

In that Raxxla sits below the brow/wall of heaven (the Empyrean) and upon the outer rim of the zone of chaos (the womb of creation). I believe this is a zone denoted as I’ve previously shown, by a zone of ‘storm’ gods which enclose Sol in a bubble, upon this circumstance is Tiamat, I believe she is the embodiment of this concept.

‘The Whisperer in Witchspace / the Siren’, I’m uncertain of, but could this be a reference to either: the Thetis signal, or the system Siren?; or could it just be a mechanic, an actual audio clue hidden in one area of space?!

I wonder if these various parts of the toast is a simply alignment clue?

Likewise as above lovers grief and parents woe, could these advocate two systems in two relative locations, but probably some distance apart?

One of my theories is that, Parents Grief may mean ‘Demeter’. And this might be FDs way of defining the Northern wall of heaven, given its proximity in my model to the system Fall, and Demeters prominence in other areas such as Elite Legacy.

The lovers grief, I’m unsure of, but speculating could it be a system somewhere towards the ‘east’ along an unknown area close to, or relative to Thetis…or Siren?

Source: https://youtu.be/WJmKStqugMc

 

[athulin]

I wouldn't bother with signal sources since those spawn temporary stuff, for a persistent station orbiting a planet it would either show as a station or a POI. Make sure to check FSS for concentrated signals sources (which show the persistent ones). You can ignore the transient signals as those show the temporary ones.

I'm considering mechanisms present in the game that may be used for other purposes, and so allow things to be difficult to detect. For example, many things are persistent and show up in logs: bodies, station , rings, POIs. Other things are non-logged (such as individual asteroid clusters, which, for all I know may also be non-persistent), or seem to be non-persistent, and also non-logged, such as thargoid probes (?), installations (?). There's also clearly some kind of time-related mechanism (time-out signals). There are other.

And I'm thinking: non-logged would make sense as a hiding spot, as it would remove something likely to be anomalous from appearing in sources subject to data mining (such as logs). And non-persistent (i.e. if you/some else returns/goes there, it might not be there in exactly the same form it first appeared, or at all. A long time ago, I tried to return to an orbital installation, found the location as far as I could determine, but it had a new name, although the type was the same (agricultural, if I remember). So not clearly the same installation, but there was still a possible degree of persistence. (Partly sysid generated, partly RNG? I thought that was a bug: surely a system must keep a reasonable permanent set of installations? Not sure anymore. Didn't go further.) ( 'a journey everyone must make for themselves' ... kind of. )

(And as there is/may be a restriction on using scraping tools in game -- like the old scraping of commodity values by OCR before they were logged -- users may be discouranged from that kind of activity by the mechanism of hiding by EULA. There's one rule that mentions use of unauthorized software. I'm almost tempted to ask for a list of authorized software.)

So: ... how by what mechanisms might a powered-down station be hidden? (A powered-down megaship has already been found by someone tracing body orbits, but I have not found any mention of the detection mechanism. Was it like an installation, visible within some detection radius? Did it depend on the ship scanner? Or was it something else? I need to go see, but I suspect it might have changed on discovery -- which if so might indicate some other kind of mechanism at work.) (Other ships have been found in rings, but again detection mechanism / hiding mechanism is not clear. I really need to check these.) Would a powered-down station use the same mechanism, or a just-slightly-different ones? One of the ideas is that it might appear as a seeming transient unidentified signal, perhaps with a unique/rare tag ('anomalous signal', 'unresolvable signal', ... ?) Noone really looks at transient signals, as you say, and they would be cumbersome to record without scraping. I find lists of known System Signal Sources and Unidentified Signal Sources (Fandom wiki), but I have no way to know they are complete. And once it's in a wiki, noone really questions it. (That's another possible hiding mechanism: hiding by incomplete publication.)

Sorry for rambling, but it's largely a state-of-mind dump.