I suspect Polaris is locked because it was so important to previous versions of Elite. To reinforce that ED is different and previous lore may not apply.
I understand the general interest in mythologies in this thread; MB ceetainly put a lot into the game design. However I'm suspicious over the assumption that the puzzle is fundamentally based on it. There's a danger that we get lost in the myth. I suspect the Road to Raxxla may be more like an old Bob Hope film...that it's a joke, an Easter egg, and that we're drastically overcomplicating it. WHY did an FD spokesperson say they were surprised we hadnt found it yet? (source required!!). That statement implies the solution should fairly obvious, and/or we have sufficient clues to find it. The mythology may be just for obfuscation, for a source of system naming ideas to bring the game to life, to embody concepts that MB personally liked.
I too suspect it’s been overblown. The solution is likely much simpler than expected.
I suspect FD statements around them being wrong / not understanding Cmdrs play style, advocates aspects of the initial design were much simpler. This may be linked, I speculate, to previous and non developed aspects of the original game design.
Case in point, there is an early video where the Devs behind the galaxy map stated, along the lines, we could make it more complex, add tools etc, but we’ve intentionally omitted them to force players to think around these problems.
I think FDs original approach, was far more linked to in-station news, local factions and hidden missions. Remember that initial ranked missions were initially hidden, until FD nerfed them because players moaned there wasn’t anything to do.
I suspect there was a particular game play perspective, but rather than communicate, they followed a path of least resistance and with a cynical need to retain players, just amended the game to suit.
In this respect I do think the original mechanics have likely been overlooked and Raxxla was supposed to be easier to find.
