The search for Jaques...

Erimus Kamzel · Jun 8, 2016

So what happened?

Did he reach Beagle Point, only for a NavCom failure to cause him to impact on the surface of one of the worlds there, where it remains undiscovered to this day?
Did Jacques never make it beyond the galactic core, did the supermassive black hole cause a catastrophic navigational failure - flinging the stricken starport out to the far reaches of the galaxy... where it'll remain forever lost?
Have FD changed their mind and simply left the story open ended... leaving it to become an Elite Dangerous legend... a bit of folklore new players will ask old players about in years to come?

We can't do much about the latter two, but if FD were true to their word and sent him to BP in recognition of the DWE achievement, he could be there right now - begging to be found

There are still a few remnants of the DWE fleet out there, waiting around for news of his fate. If anyone is up for it, why don't we try a coordinated search of the BP worlds, starting with Beagle Point 2 on Sunday?

It'll require as many pilots as possible to turn up and spread out many kilometers, working together flying between 2kms and 20kms above the surface as that should (in theory) give us both sensor contact as well as visual contact of anything below (afaik the Orbis is actually visible from over 100 kms away, so big is it).

We could search the outer planets later in the week if players haven't began heading off home.

The search for Jaques (for anyone interested) :

Assemble at Darwin's Legacy, Beagle Point 2.
Coords 48.56 / -35.57
18:00 gametime.
Sunday 12th June.
Open Play
Comms : FleetComm (#dwe-explorers channel)

Below is a real screenshot, not a Photoshop. It was a bug in Horizons that saw a spacestation embedded on a planets surface - those who saw it said it was an awesome sight and really brought home the sheer scale of these things. I don't think that kind of opportunity is lost on Frontier - maybe it gave them an idea for Jaques?

20,000,000 tonnes of free Lavian Brandy* for the first that spots him!

(*bottles may be broken due to planetary impact).

UPDATE FROM POST #141 :

Thanks to everyone who helped with the search. o7.

Here are a few stats...

We conducted 3 outings from the basecamp..

Around 15 pilots, representing the last remnants of the Distant Worlds Fleet at Beagle Point, took part.

Search #1 was conducted along a 120 km front, starting at Darwin's Legacy and headed out along bearing 45 for 15 minutes, covering approximately 6,500 square kilometers. No sign of wreckage was discovered.

Search #2 was conducted along a 120 km front, starting at Darwin's Legacy and headed out along bearing 280 toward and beyond Sanctuary Hill, again covering approximately 6,500 square kilometers. No sign of wreckage was discovered.

Search #3 was conducted along a 120 km front, starting at Darwin's Legacy and headed out along bearing 130 toward the Beagle Point sunset and once more covered approximately 6,500 square kilometers. No sign of wreckage was discovered.

All in all the dozen or so pilots that searched in vain for Jaques covered almost 20,000 kms of surface area in a radius of 120 kms of Darwin's Legacy basecamp. The screenshot below puts into perspective the tiny area that was covered. So although no sign of the lost starport was found, it doesn't mean he's not out there.

This event was more of a symbolic gesture. We hope FD haven't abandoned the Jaques story. We hope we hear news of his fate soon, and how pilots like those who took part in this effort are willing to help be part of this story.

Recorded Livestream of the event - courtesy of Myshka

[video=youtube;-O8affytEbo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O8affytEbo[/video]

Thanks to...

CMDR Chrystoph
CMDR Corbin Moran
CMDR Cold Tallinn
CMDR Admiral Spoon
CMDR Redfox
CMDR Maximilian Reach
CMDR Kamzel
CMDR DragoCubX
CMDR Myshka
CMDR Mad Billy
CMDR Dognosh
CMDR Angua von Uberwald
CMDR Virosh Lich

Greytest · Jun 8, 2016

I'm too far out from Beagle already but i wish you the best of luck and i'm really looking forward to how this story turns out!

Cheers,
CMDR Greytest

Scoopy Doopy · Jun 8, 2016

One other possibility to consider.

Jaques has rage quit after having his bar shot out in under five seconds by a hauler with a rapid repeating rail gun.

newman1702 · Jun 8, 2016

One thing I'm not entirely clear on is whether he tried to do it all in one massive jump, or did he try to do a series of long distance jumps to get there? It might have some bearing on formulating theories on what exactly happened to the station.

Traveller_GG · Jun 8, 2016

Probably had a faulty SatNav (think about it) and ended up down a ditch in the Formadine Rift.

newman1702 · Jun 8, 2016

Would be kind of cool if he's not found, with time people forget about him, and then a few years from now there's an update that lets us to to, say, the Magellanic clouds or Andromeda and suddenly he's found there.. looost in spaaaaceeee...

Edelgard von Rhein · Jun 8, 2016

With FD having declared that Jaques was heading there in support of DWE, I can think of three reasons why he might not have arrived on schedule:
1) technical problems (unlikely, he's moved around before)
2) a bluff (he's out in the Formidine Rift or figured out where the UAs are coming from and moved to investigate, or was just plain sabotaged; i.e. the event was always intended to fit in with other storylines and the DWE was Jaques public reason for moving)
3) to provide DWE with an interesting follow-on storyline (this might include the examples Erimus lists above)
In case 3), I personally would not expect Jaques to be crashed on Darwin's Legacy or anywhere else - it's just a long slog to find anything on a planetary surface given the huge area that needs to be searched and it would not be guaranteed to be either fun or successful. If I were trying to set up a story, I would put the station itself, or at least a clue regarding its location, at one of the other DWE waypoints. Rendezvous Point springs to mind - it was the one other waypoint that FD singled out to be renamed. Sgr A*, or the nearby waypoint system, might also be visited enough for there to be a chance of someone finding anything. Put Jaques out on the rim and you've as much chance of finding Raxxla by accident as finding him. Is anyone revisiting the waypoints on their way home?

Jackie Silver · Jun 8, 2016

Ah, drat and bother, I already left... good luck with the search.

Micha · Jun 8, 2016

Basically I'm a bit annoyed at FDev right now. YES for storyline engagement. But NO for screwing with DWE. If they are wanting to set up an intro to an alien invasion/contact they should have done so by having Jaques jump -anywhere- but Beagle Point. SagA*, Formidine Rift, Pleiades, ...?, whatever.

Right now there are some of us who have stuck around in the increasingly forlorn hope that Jaques does turn up, losing out daily on First Discovered tags which other pilots are handing in on the slim chance of being part of something unique - being amongst the first Commanders to greet Jaques at the far end of the galaxy. But if this is just a bluff by FDev (for whatever reason), it's IMHO in very VERY poor taste.

Having said that, I'm up for a coordinated search on Sunday (and/or the rest of the weekend).

Mengy · Jun 8, 2016

This sounds like fun, makes me wish I was still out there. Unfortunately I don't think I can be back at Beagle by June 12th.....

Although, if FDev did actually make Jacques Station crash onto the surface, and it then became an operational ground base built up around the huge wrecked remains of the starport out at Beagle Point, then Holy Frack would that be incredibly awesome. I'd fly all the way back out there just to see it in person!!!!

Flash_Baggins · Jun 8, 2016

Ill be there! YEAH!

Macedonica · Jun 8, 2016

I suppose in effect I have been conducting an unofficial ground survey from -90 South up to the mid -70s along a tight longitudinal corridor. Absolutely nothing of interest. If needed, I could divert the Trans-Polar Beagle Point 2 Expedition to help co-ordinate a more thorough ground search. Or if a nearby flyby locates a possible POI, I could conduct a ground search while allowing the SAR ship to carry on its attempt to locate Jacques Station.

FYI, I did get odd lat and long readings at the -90 South location but put that down to the navicomp not being able to co-ordinate the converging meridians - and also was glitched out of the game several times at the pole roughly 10 seconds after logging in, whether in the SRV or landed Lakon. This stopped completely as soon as I passed up beyond the -88/7th Latitude.

I raised a ticket about this but received little in return. Space-time intrusion or game bug?

Chrystoph · Jun 8, 2016

Still in the neighborhood, although I am heading over to MYEIA THAA JI-B, then can head back.

I thought the canyons on BP2 were a nice flight, although they were just as empty as expected.

CMDR Lølwut · Jun 8, 2016

Hmm, im kinda annoyed too about the way FD handled the Jaques thing.... But if he really made it to BP and is just lost somewhere.. It would be amazing to find him.
According to my poll, i have to wait for another 1000 years anways. Might aswell look for him then.

man i really hope that FD has/had a plan with Jaques and not just forgot about him or purposely made him vanish forever. :/

Erimus Kamzel · Jun 8, 2016

Micha said:
Right now there are some of us who have stuck around in the increasingly forlorn hope that Jaques does turn up, losing out daily on First Discovered tags which other pilots are handing in on the slim chance of being part of something unique - being amongst the first Commanders to greet Jaques at the far end of the galaxy. But if this is just a bluff by FDev (for whatever reason), it's IMHO in very VERY poor taste.

Having said that, I'm up for a coordinated search on Sunday (and/or the rest of the weekend).

Agreed. I think the "no news of Jaques" is a bit disappointing as it has left players in limbo. Players have been hanging around BP since the time FD announced Jaques was heading there, the least they deserve is to know one way or another if they're wasting their time.

Engineers is out and players naturally want to head home and try the new content.

If Jaques was going to make a 'public' appearance I thought it would have been for the closing ceremony of DW last week, so my take on it is he's already there, just not in orbit. Or FD haven't been able to progress the story for the time being (for whatever reason, 2.1, technicalities etc). If its the latter they would have surely told us out of courtesy that the story is on hold. D.Braben said Jaques was delayed a week (that was 2 or 3 weeks ago wasn't it?), so I'm edging my bets the story is still underway and they're leaving it down to the players to progress it via in-game actions.

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Macedonica said:
I suppose in effect I have been conducting an unofficial ground survey from -90 South up to the mid -70s along a tight longitudinal corridor. Absolutely nothing of interest. If needed, I could divert the Trans-Polar Beagle Point 2 Expedition to help co-ordinate a more thorough ground search. Or if a nearby flyby locates a possible POI, I could conduct a ground search while allowing the SAR ship to carry on its attempt to locate Jacques Station.

FYI, I did get odd lat and long readings at the -90 South location but put that down to the navicomp not being able to co-ordinate the converging meridians - and also was glitched out of the game several times at the pole roughly 10 seconds after logging in, whether in the SRV or landed Lakon. This stopped completely as soon as I passed up beyond the -88/7th Latitude.

I raised a ticket about this but received little in return. Space-time intrusion or game bug?

Any help with a coordinated search will be much appreciated!

Depending on how many pilots show up on Sunday, we'll have to figure out the optimal distances apart we should fly to try and cover as much surface area.

Something for a mathematician to work on?... so that rules me out of the nitty-gritty organization, but I'll be there as eyes in the sky

CMDR Lølwut · Jun 8, 2016

Will he even be visible from the ship? Arent POIs only visible from the SRV? To be honest i havent landed on a Planet for ages, except BP2, and also havent seen any POIs since...but if i remember correctly we have to use the SRV to find him right?

Micha · Jun 8, 2016

Erimus said:
Agreed. I think the "no news of Jaques" is a bit disappointing as it has left players in limbo. Players have been hanging around BP since the time FD announced Jaques was heading there, the least they deserve is to know one way or another if they're wasting their time.

In my case I aborted my attempts to find a far-western Crossing and rushed back to BP; nearly 3kLY. Now been treading space for 2 weeks and when I visited Podar again, saw that most of my First-Discovered systems have been stolen by others (I disagree with the details of this particular mechanic, but that's another story

)

Erimus said:
Any help with a coordinated search will be much appreciated! Depending on how many pilots show up on Sunday, we'll have to figure out the optimal distances apart we should fly to try and cover as much surface area.

What time/group? Like I said, I'm up for it all weekend, and would usually play in Kamzel. But if necessary I'm ok to try Open as well. If anybody else wants to start looking earlier I'm up for it; I should be back at BP sometime tonight.

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CMDR Lølwut said:
Will he even be visible from the ship? Arent POIs only visible from the SRV? To be honest i havent landed on a Planet for ages, except BP2, and also havent seen any POIs since...but if i remember correctly we have to use the SRV to find him right?

When cruising above 2km you see POI circles, and yes, it is possible to circle around and actually find the POI from the ship (although you won't have the benefit of the Scanner).

Erimus Kamzel · Jun 8, 2016

CMDR Lølwut said:
Will he even be visible from the ship? Arent POIs only visible from the SRV? To be honest i havent landed on a Planet for ages, except BP2, and also havent seen any POIs since...but if i remember correctly we have to use the SRV to find him right?

*If* Jaques is on the surface I'd suspect it'll be like any other surface port - visible from low orbit if you look carefully enough. Orbis starports are visible from tens of Kms away in space, due to their size, so we should be able to see it long before our sensors detect it. I don't think it would be classed as a regular surface POI that only spawns when an SRV is present. Due to its size this would be a persistent POI, which could have been added during the last two patch updates for all we know.

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Micha said:
What time/group? Like I said, I'm up for it all weekend, and would usually play in Kamzel. But if necessary I'm ok to try Open as well. If anybody else wants to start looking earlier I'm up for it; I should be back at BP sometime tonight.

18:00 gametime, Sunday.

Open Play.

Micha · Jun 8, 2016

Erimus said:
18:00 gametime, Sunday.

Open Play.

Eh, I missed that.. (or did you sneakily edit that in just now??

) - might be an idea to put the info at the top of the first post rather than hidden below the pic, and also add the "Open" bit.

MarcusVatta · Jun 8, 2016

Talk about a needle in a haystack...

Do we have any clues that might narrow down the search? To my knowledge, hyperdrive misjumps are not part of ED, but in First Encounters, a misjump placed you randomly within a sphere with a radius of your maximum jump range. In ED, of course, interstellar space isn't implemented, so we know that he must be relatively close to a star.

Given that his jump range at the time was greater than the radius of the galaxy, if misjumps work the same way, he could literally be in any system. We can assume he's not in the bubble, since there's no news, but other than that, we're looking at 1 in 100 billion systems.

Still, if we assume that we're supposed to find him, then it stands to reason that there are or will be clues to his location. Knowing FD, they will be subtle, obscure, arcane, and possibly require doctorate level knowledge of mathematics, dead languages, 1980s pop culture trivia, and astrophysics, but there will be there.

Does anyone know if there's anything at his departure point? Maybe some sort of wake residue or sensor data?