The 7ly limit seems to have been respected in 'handcrafting' the old worlds, and their relative distances. (keeping them more or less similar to the old games) It is hard to picture how the limit would be able to impact the hunt considering 'intergalactic' (read: between cluster of systems all within in the modern 'bubble') drive were available back when with ranges well beyond 7 ly.

Generally this knowledge (of old cobra limitations) does not seem useful on its own, but may be relevant when more is discovered. (like for determining system on a give route etc)

It might be able to 'spot' clusters of systems or the extent of their representation in elite (via edsm data) that might have been valid 'galaxies' in the old games, but that do not still bare the old names etc based on this range info.
 
I wonder if it's worth building a "research" vessel that's deliberately limited to a 7Ly range? :unsure:
I don't think so. The restricted jump maps of the original game was linked to the Calcop Pilots license. In lore(not in the game), an Elite Pilot could apply for a 'ful jump license'. This would allow you to travel unrestricted in the same way as federal, imperial or independent pilots probably could, at that time.

All Dark Wheel members were Elite. I would assume that those with a Galcop background, had the ful jump license.

All the info on the Galcop Pilot licensing are described in Imprint: http://www.dream-ware.co.uk/elite/books/imprint/

Imprint is like The Dark Wheel. Not quite canon. It seem to have been written partly to explain the transition from the Elite galaxies to the FE:2 galaxy.

There is nothing about Raxxla in Imprint, but it tells a story of Galcop being under great external pressure form pirates, thargoids and shady groups with support from other powers in the galaxy.
 
gl Alexzk, if genuine error it should be sorted out but you may not be able to play on Linux for a bit

7LY - Just to clarify. In the 1984 game we had 8 'Galaxies' that needed a special Jump but you could travel to any system within each galaxy via series of 7LY jumps. Total distance was unaffected by 7LY range, just a series of jumps. At least one planet had only one 'entry' system, only 1 other system within 7LY of it and often a few of these together so you could get in and out 1 way only on a route through 3 or 4 systems. 7LY did not restrict from jumping 1000s of LY across 8 Galaxies - time was much less important as we could speed up time. Every system was reachable from somewhere.

In todays game the systems are X LY apart and we had/have Y LY range but time is much more important. Generation ships couldn't jump as such so the actual total distance is much more relevant and restrictive in todays game than in the 7LY range of 1984 if you see what I mean.

It would take a lot longer in todays game to jump to the other side of the Galaxy than to reach the furthest point of the 8th Galaxy in 1984 even with the 7LY range as time and distance works differently. Time means much more and restricts distance today.

And I don't know which version of time Raxxla was built in, in game, in production. In 1984 game it could be anywhere, in todays version it 'should' have 'limitations' on where it can be.

I am not saying we need a 7LY ship or anything like that
 
  • 2270s - Second attempt to terra-form Mars started.
  • 2280s - Discovery of first non-human relic in space. Origin still unknown in 3200.
  • 2290s - First man "outside" on Mars (i

And in 2296 Raxxla was already being described effectively as a 'myth/rumour/fairy-tale' in the context of disbelieving a pirate map and 'might as well find Raxxla while we're at it'

So that implies the story originates much earlier to have become a myth by this point, when were 1st probes sent out and FTL/Jump achieved? Where was the human bubble at that point? Disused Star Station for DW implies we had been, built and abandoned for some reason, which takes time. What happened between 2100 and 2280s and taking above post in mind, is that relevant, has it been RPd into the building of Raxxla in game as that would limit its location?

But, the fact that the entire human race forgot about the Thargoids could mean that it was the 2280s discovery of non-human relic a mere 16 years earlier at most from Cora story and it being a myth already.
 
gl Alexzk, if genuine error it should be sorted out but you may not be able to play on Linux for a bit

7LY - Just to clarify. In the 1984 game we had 8 'Galaxies' that needed a special Jump but you could travel to any system within each galaxy via series of 7LY jumps. Total distance was unaffected by 7LY range, just a series of jumps. At least one planet had only one 'entry' system, only 1 other system within 7LY of it and often a few of these together so you could get in and out 1 way only on a route through 3 or 4 systems. 7LY did not restrict from jumping 1000s of LY across 8 Galaxies - time was much less important as we could speed up time. Every system was reachable from somewhere.

In todays game the systems are X LY apart and we had/have Y LY range but time is much more important. Generation ships couldn't jump as such so the actual total distance is much more relevant and restrictive in todays game than in the 7LY range of 1984 if you see what I mean.

It would take a lot longer in todays game to jump to the other side of the Galaxy than to reach the furthest point of the 8th Galaxy in 1984 even with the 7LY range as time and distance works differently. Time means much more and restricts distance today.

And I don't know which version of time Raxxla was built in, in game, in production. In 1984 game it could be anywhere, in todays version it 'should' have 'limitations' on where it can be.

I am not saying we need a 7LY ship or anything like that
There were probably no jumping 1000s of ly in Elite. The game had 2048 systems, evenly distributed on 8 galaxy maps. The maps are 256 X 256 ly. According to MB each 'galaxy' was a sector in the Milky Way.

There are a few systems from maps other than galaxy 1 in ED. They are all in the bubble. The galactic hyper drive probably jumped you 50-100 ly to get from a map to the next.

Even in The Dark Wheel Alex and Elyssia goes to the unlisted system Cirag. It's only 19 ly from Xezaor, so it's well inside the boundaries of galaxy map 1. It's just not listed, because it's an independent system.
 
And in 2296 Raxxla was already being described effectively as a 'myth/rumour/fairy-tale' in the context of disbelieving a pirate map and 'might as well find Raxxla while we're at it'

So that implies the story originates much earlier to have become a myth by this point, when were 1st probes sent out and FTL/Jump achieved? Where was the human bubble at that point? Disused Star Station for DW implies we had been, built and abandoned for some reason, which takes time. What happened between 2100 and 2280s and taking above post in mind, is that relevant, has it been RPd into the building of Raxxla in game as that would limit its location?

But, the fact that the entire human race forgot about the Thargoids could mean that it was the 2280s discovery of non-human relic a mere 16 years earlier at most from Cora story and it being a myth already.
I think it was more rumor than myth in 2296. The discovery of the relic would have been in the news in 2280s. For some reason all details were kept secret.
If that reason was that it told something about Raxxla and someone leaked this, the rumor mill would have started.

The old timeline (From FE:2) can be found here: http://www.dream-ware.co.uk/frontier/books/gazetteer/

It corresponds quite well to the dates from tourist beacons in ED.
 
SpaceDonut - good name for a ship

Actually Alexzk you got me thinking...what if there was a system on the map, nothing spectacular, but maybe the ship computer is programmed not to jump through it, like its permit locked, but it isn't? All ships would plot around it and nobody would really notice unless they paid close attention to galmap and available stars to jump to and relevant distances. It could be in the bubble even, any fairly dense star cluster would do, could be in the middle of hundreds of easily accessible stars and everybody just jumps around it. Can easily be jumped to if plotted but nobody does or has yet.

or

Its the last star system in a cul de sac of brown dwarfs or similar, one route in and one route out, wouldn't plot through as cant go through just in and back out. One scoopable at the entry point and one at Raxxla system but no nearby star apart from the one you came in on

or

How many people go straight up or straight down from Sol? How many pick a point away from the bubble and go there instead, wonder if it is the road less travelled?

or

a combination of all 3 or 2 of them

or

something else because....Raxxla
You can check where you have and havn't been in the map section. That would make it even more obvious. I have through basic travel covered almost everything around sol. If someone purposely visited everything by using the map unvisited to control the systems you jump too you could easily find it over time then. It's a matter of if anyone has done this.
There were probably no jumping 1000s of ly in Elite. The game had 2048 systems, evenly distributed on 8 galaxy maps. The maps are 256 X 256 ly. According to MB each 'galaxy' was a sector in the Milky Way.

There are a few systems from maps other than galaxy 1 in ED. They are all in the bubble. The galactic hyper drive probably jumped you 50-100 ly to get from a map to the next.

Even in The Dark Wheel Alex and Elyssia goes to the unlisted system Cirag. It's only 19 ly from Xezaor, so it's well inside the boundaries of galaxy map 1. It's just not listed, because it's an independent system.
So, in other words the entire game could be based on the premise that the real world lack of stars is just a list of planets the map company allows us to visit. And there is an entire different world we are restricted from right around us. Full of populated planets, also, like we are trapped in some cage and are guinea pigs?!

That means each game difference could be accounted for by being different map sets of the entire galaxy and really exist in the size they said. And either be different sols or different times where the maps were changed. Maybe raxxla is talking about this difference by people who noted it and realize the map system is being used to segregate people in the universe..
Fits all raxxla theories and screenshots, except FSS shows nothing there ....
Did you check the third next to it. If the two stars that are rotating around each other count as one that planet with the rings is the 8th body from that giant star thing. I'd check it and the one before it to be safe. Plus it's the TDW that is the 8th planet and not raxxla supposedly. So, the position may not matter. I would scan everything. isn't raxxla supposed to be frozen?! Or described as being cold in some way. It might be an icy body. That would exponentially decrease the odds of it being found as it's a low value target then. Or at least delay it. Or course that may have been different before the exploration changes.
 
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gl Alexzk, if genuine error it should be sorted out but you may not be able to play on Linux for a bit

7LY - Just to clarify. In the 1984 game we had 8 'Galaxies' that needed a special Jump but you could travel to any system within each galaxy via series of 7LY jumps. Total distance was unaffected by 7LY range, just a series of jumps. At least one planet had only one 'entry' system, only 1 other system within 7LY of it and often a few of these together so you could get in and out 1 way only on a route through 3 or 4 systems. 7LY did not restrict from jumping 1000s of LY across 8 Galaxies - time was much less important as we could speed up time. Every system was reachable from somewhere.

In todays game the systems are X LY apart and we had/have Y LY range but time is much more important. Generation ships couldn't jump as such so the actual total distance is much more relevant and restrictive in todays game than in the 7LY range of 1984 if you see what I mean.

It would take a lot longer in todays game to jump to the other side of the Galaxy than to reach the furthest point of the 8th Galaxy in 1984 even with the 7LY range as time and distance works differently. Time means much more and restricts distance today.

And I don't know which version of time Raxxla was built in, in game, in production. In 1984 game it could be anywhere, in todays version it 'should' have 'limitations' on where it can be.

I am not saying we need a 7LY ship or anything like that
It wasn’t possible to speed up time in Elite.

The in-system fast travel was done via a Space Skip drive. (ref: p21 of the manual)

Speeding up time came with FE2.


Personally, in terms of limitations on Raxxla’s location, other than being in the Milky Way I’ve not yet seen anything which would place any limitations which there’s no alternatives to.
 
The 7 ly limit, was a Galcop Cobra specific limit. It probably means nothing.

The Art and Cora story is from 2296. It's a time of explosive expansion.
  • 2270s - Second attempt to terra-form Mars started.
  • 2280s - Discovery of first non-human relic in space. Origin still unknown in 3200.
  • 2290s - First man "outside" on Mars (ie breathing unaided) on completion of terraforming.
  • 2300s - Remaining indigenous life on Tau Ceti 3 preserved in special enclosures.
  • 2310s - News of elimination of a reputedly sentient race on Achenar 6d by private colonists causes outrage in the Federation. Achenar refuses to join Federation, many terra-forming projects started.
I think the Mars relic may have contained info on Raxxla. That's why it has been kept hidden for a thousand years.
The Imps had managed to wipe out the Mudlarks by 2310, so people could probably get to Achenar in the 2290s.
If you can go to Achenar, you can go anywhere. It took time though. You lost a week per jump, with the pre-frameshift drives.

I would think they could manage a few kly on a well planed expedition.
2250s for arrival in Achenar (mid 23rd Century anyway)

2290s for Colonisation of Capitol and formation of the Republic.

(IIRC, anyway. I’ve got it all in a post somewhere in this thread, but it’s from the period that the search function doesn’t work for.)
 
https://www.apoloniagallery.com/items/968903/Near-Eastern-Steatite-Spindle-l-Figures/enlargement1
Maybe the spindle idea is correct. In which case is the wheel the galaxy?! TDW the galaxy itself? If it's a spindle which end is the side of the thread?! What does that make the galaxy. How many things were spindles used for?!
 
So, in other words the entire game could be based on the premise that the real world lack of stars is just a list of planets the map company allows us to visit. And there is an entire different world we are restricted from right around us. Full of populated planets, also, like we are trapped in some cage and are guinea pigs?!

ED was initially supposed to have dark systems. Systems that wasn't shown on the galmap until you explored them. Unfortunately this was scraped. I don't think FD managed to make a sensible mechanic for manually plotting jumps, before release.
Removing all the brown dwarfs from the map at a later point would probably just look silly.
I don't think there are any systems in ED that we cant see in the map.

Then again, who knows. There could be one. :unsure:
 
ED was initially supposed to have dark systems. Systems that wasn't shown on the galmap until you explored them. Unfortunately this was scraped. I don't think FD managed to make a sensible mechanic for manually plotting jumps, before release.
Removing all the brown dwarfs from the map at a later point would probably just look silly.
I don't think there are any systems in ED that we cant see in the map.

Then again, who knows. There could be one. :unsure:
Probes might have been a start. Technically the same mechanics for current systems but with the additional need to gain a corrdinate. Or the ability to simply set a coordinate and jump. it's not hard. Then it can check the server for potential things in that area based on coordinates and a known sight bubble. It would be extremely easy to do. Then you could jump anywhere. Probes could give info to make it easier to jump or something. Or check for dangers. If you jump into something you could blow up. It takes no imagineation whatsover to think of a mechanic. If it's checking data the just need to store base info and generate visually. The major data would be held on the HDD or downloaded when it's discovered. Have tools if needed to control data. Theyare using P2P already. Although, I wonder if that cause problems. Or a central server to seed. Or just slap it on the old HDD for everyone. It's not hard from a design standpoint superficially as a game element. Not sure about the network implementation or other issues.

No, idea why that would need to be abandoned. It should be easy regardless. We have a potential endless supply of two things(just like in the mud days.) Relative Hdd space and network traffic space to the user.(Although this is not unlimited in all cases now. But there are ways around that.) Use those and you can do alot. Not sure why they would back down from ideas. Seems kind of stupid to me. Don't get why companies don't go all out and make games. Is it that important nobody can try to get info from their HDD's or something?! Try making the game about playing it and not about wether you have info on what is in it. Solves the problem. It's called content. I think they tried to hang too much on the exploring part and not the playing a game part. 8\

This game also seems like a shortsighted add for VR instead of a full attempt to make a game then add VR... Might be this is just a high end VR grab or to help push things surrounding the potential of VR... And like other VR centric games it's about cheap visuals and not game content. I have a feeling VR is in the end about grabbing eye/face data and other things. Partially for detecting people with all those cameras and for future security data. Anyone notice every time they push things for security like thumbnail stuff magically a tech comes out that then gives a means to get that data from users. like smart screen and push screens that could hypothetically get that data and make that security useless. VR keeps being pushed with eye data security and other things that are happening. It's almost like people are coordinating it on some level. Like someone wants people reliant on a security method and then wants a personal means to bypass it somewhere.(Or the waters are being tested in regards to it.) Then when it seems it won't be used as much the tech dies magically too. Or slows down. Or something similar to that. This along with decades of attacks on traditional security for things that can have back doors with easy attack points if you have access to invisible user data. I guarnteed encryption will disapear when/as this stuff becomes normal. Then false stuff will be out about encryptions insecurities which will be the result of people messing it up purposely to get rid of it or similar. Is this what raxxla is about?!
 
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Has nobody suggested that the reason Raxxla would've been known at all since (or before) the discovery of the Martian Relic, was because of dreams? The "visions" of Halsey and Gan could've been happening for Eons, and that's why the Dark Wheel became so hellbent on Raxxla. The Dark Wheel were once well known for chasing all sorts of legends, and Raxxla possibly became such a big deal because they did the research, and realized many different people from around the different old worlds were all having similar dreams and connected the dots. They maybe investigated and discovered something about these dreams that proved (to them) that Raxxla was no simple dream, that it was a real place, and THATS how to wider galaxy learned OF Raxxla. Eventually the DW realized being so open about what they knew and were up to was a bad idea, and went fully "Dark" and underground so to speak. Eventually the DW themselves faded into mere stories. If this theory is true; then Raxxla could be Guardian related and far from the bubble, as these "dreams" could be broadcasted to the whole galaxy from anywhere. My best guess is its in a distant system, not yet reachable (but not permit locked).
 
Has nobody suggested that the reason Raxxla would've been known at all since (or before) the discovery of the Martian Relic, was because of dreams? The "visions" of Halsey and Gan could've been happening for Eons, and that's why the Dark Wheel became so hellbent on Raxxla. The Dark Wheel were once well known for chasing all sorts of legends, and Raxxla possibly became such a big deal because they did the research, and realized many different people from around the different old worlds were all having similar dreams and connected the dots. They maybe investigated and discovered something about these dreams that proved (to them) that Raxxla was no simple dream, that it was a real place, and THATS how to wider galaxy learned OF Raxxla. Eventually the DW realized being so open about what they knew and were up to was a bad idea, and went fully "Dark" and underground so to speak. Eventually the DW themselves faded into mere stories. If this theory is true; then Raxxla could be Guardian related and far from the bubble, as these "dreams" could be broadcasted to the whole galaxy from anywhere. My best guess is its in a distant system, not yet reachable (but not permit locked).
NGC 1245?!
 
Has nobody suggested that the reason Raxxla would've been known at all since (or before) the discovery of the Martian Relic, was because of dreams? The "visions" of Halsey and Gan could've been happening for Eons, and that's why the Dark Wheel became so hellbent on Raxxla. The Dark Wheel were once well known for chasing all sorts of legends, and Raxxla possibly became such a big deal because they did the research, and realized many different people from around the different old worlds were all having similar dreams and connected the dots. They maybe investigated and discovered something about these dreams that proved (to them) that Raxxla was no simple dream, that it was a real place, and THATS how to wider galaxy learned OF Raxxla. Eventually the DW realized being so open about what they knew and were up to was a bad idea, and went fully "Dark" and underground so to speak. Eventually the DW themselves faded into mere stories. If this theory is true; then Raxxla could be Guardian related and far from the bubble, as these "dreams" could be broadcasted to the whole galaxy from anywhere. My best guess is its in a distant system, not yet reachable (but not permit locked).
Yea I think that was on page 377. J/k but yea this theory is circulating
 
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