The truth about Raxxla

Cmdr cooper

C
Well, this is probably redundant, but it’s now 2024 and it feels like we are no closer to finding “Raxxla” or even knowing if it’s real, i’ve spent so much time reading other cmndrs theories and there’s definitely some intriguing theories.


It’s all so amazing to watch the community come together and try to work towards figuring out what is this mystery. I think the biggest issue however, is the devs inability to confirm nor deny if it’s in game and accessible. If we could simply get an answer to that, no hints or anything, I think it would bring a lot of hope to so many of our theories. I get that, it’s a mystical legendary thing, possible just a tale, I just wish the devs would at least confirm or deny this information, for the community as a whole. I’ve seen so many commanders spend so so so many hours trying to figure this out. It makes me sad in some ways- I think we all want to figure this out and we don’t want it handed to us, it’s cool that we haven’t got any hints or anything, I find it really fun just trying to find it as many others have, but a bone wouldn’t hurt after all this time.

A simple yes it’s in the game and you can find it, would really spark a lot of our attention I think. Until then it is all just speculation, which is part of the fun I get that, but I think it’s time we get an answer at least to it’s legitimacy, don’t you?
I understand a lot of people say at one point it was confirmed by the devs, that’s cool, but without a legitimate source I and many others will never be fully convinced. Many of us are explorers and we explore for all kinds of reasons, Raxxla, is one of the biggest mysteries as is the dark wheel, and many of us are just suckers for that kinda stuff! I think if we found out it isn’t real that would probably be a big blow to so many people who’ve tried so hard to figure this out, but I’m kind of at the point where I’d rather just know the truth- we have a codex entry maybe it’s just for the lore sake I don’t know, but it would truly be that light at the end of the tunnel to get some simple answers.


I think at this point either the devs continue to deny answering because it’s not in the game, and they know how big of a let down that would be for the players and how many they would lose, or b which is highly unlikely it either is in the game and they want to literally give us no info on it and keep the mystery going either for the sake of the mystery or for the sake of holding on to players hopes and dreams, I don’t know.


Elite has been an absolute joy for me, the friends and experiences I’ve had/made along the way has been amazing and I’m all in for whatever comes next, it’s been a rocky road forsure, this is just another Raxxla rant but it would be so cool just to know if it’s real or not, just my thoughts, as a big space nerd and elite dangerous fan. Cheers
 

imski

imski
Presumably once the Thargoid war is over the player will need a new narrative to drive things.

Raxxla seems like a prime candidate....
 

Sublime

S
Cmdr cooper said:
I think at this point either the devs continue to deny answering because it’s not in the game, and they know how big of a let down that would be for the players and how many they would lose
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I think you answered your own question. It’s not in the game. Given that, it’s much better for the devs to just stay quiet and let things continue the way they are than to ever say anything about it.

If it was in the game they would say something as that would only be good for the game. More people would excitedly play (they certainly wouldn’t lose any players over that information), buy arx, spend money, etc.

Given those scenarios, it’s much more likely there’s nothing out there.
 

Doctor Dread

Doctor Dread
Not wishing to rain on any parades, I simply can't help but to think it's not in the game, doesn't exist, and DF won't confirm it cause the "Searching for Raxxla" bubble will burst.

I'm ready for a long-range bet: the game will be finished one day, closed, and not a word of what Raxxla was/is or if it exist will ever be mentioned.
 

Rainbro

Rainbro
In addition to what you point out, the "clues" in the Codex towards Raxxla (and also the Dark Wheel) indicated they aren't ingame to me. I mean, this information was added years after the game came out and after Raxxla was supposedly somewhere out there. So how could that actually work?

1) Raxxla exists as it always has, in accordance with the Codex clues, but Frontier didn't bother to put those clues ingame for years despite having designed it that way. The Dark Wheel missions that used to exist would therefore be complete red herrings.

2) Raxxla didnt exist until the Codex update, meaning Frontier were being deliberately misleading in their statements. Also the Dark Wheel missions were red herrings.

3) Raxxla was moved with the Codex update, so Frontier decided to invalidate any progress that may have been made to finding it before then. Any prior information could be a red herring or retconned.

Given the difficulty of finding any explanation that doesn't involve some information being incorrect, plus the complete lack of verifiable progress, plus classic Frontier lawyer-speak, I'm inclined to go all the way and assume its 4) Raxxla doesn't exist, everything is theorist bait. If they have decided on a location, its permit locked.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Cmdr cooper said:
I understand a lot of people say at one point it was confirmed by the devs, that’s cool, but without a legitimate source I and many others will never be fully convinced.
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What do you count as a "legitimate source" in this context? And if you're sceptical that it is in the game now, why would another assertion from a Frontier employee that "it really is, honest" make any difference?

Sublime said:
If it was in the game they would say something as that would only be good for the game. More people would excitedly play (they certainly wouldn’t lose any players over that information), buy arx, spend money, etc.
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A mere (re)confirmation that Raxxla was in the game wouldn't help with that, though. Lots of people have played for years and not found it; some of them actively searching with a very wide range of theories as to what or where it might be. They added some (possible) hints and mentions of it with the Michael Brookes memorial tour fairly recently - the existing Raxxla hunters got quite excited over some of the text, but it hardly gathered a massive crowd of new searchers.

I had an idea a while back about where it was (and more importantly, why no-one else had found it yet). I did enough experimentation to conclude that my theory was false. Some Frontier restatement that "it's definitely out there" doesn't encourage me to go looking again in the slightest, because I have no idea where to start and it took me most of a decade to come up with the first idea.

Rainbro said:
I mean, this information was added years after the game came out and after Raxxla was supposedly somewhere out there. So how could that actually work?
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Fairly easily, if the new information adds to what was previously there (or reiterates something else no longer in-game like the old Dark Wheel missions). And it's not as if any of the newer information is any more obviously actionable either, so how does it contradict the older bits?


I think there's a simpler explanation: the search is way more interesting than actually finding it would be (well, okay, except for whichever person gets to be justifiably smug that their theory was right) so Frontier only benefits from spinning out that stage
  • if it's been in the game from the start, it's probably not visually or technically all that impressive
  • unlike other mysteries Frontier have put forward (the ones with usable clues...), nothing can hinge on it being solved in a timely fashion, so finding it won't "do" anything
Searching for Raxxla keeps people busy. Finding Raxxla would be a great achievement for someone. Raxxla being found would be a big letdown for everyone else. So it's in Frontier's interest to continue not to give out anything obviously actionable as a clue. If someone does solve it, great, that's big news briefly. But the search is what generates the interest.

Two other mysteries are worth contrasting: the Zurara
- the Formidine Rift search occupied hundreds of explorers over the years
- there was a lot of scepticism that there was actually anything to find as the months counted up without it being found
- it's a nice enough POI, sure, but there are lots of "creepy audio logs" sites in the game nowadays, so it's just another one to visit
- additional clues were given out once it was necessary for it to be found to progress the plot but not before
- once it was found, well, that was that.

And also, Gan Romero:
- the amount of information to begin a search with was pretty thin to non-existent but it didn't stop people trying
- there was, by word of Frontier, nothing in-game to actually find and it wasn't intended as a mystery in that sense
- Frontier appeared horrified that people were looking anyway
- Frontier clarified that there was nothing to find pretty quickly and made a bunch of (over-compensating) changes to ensure it wouldn't happen again
(and that wasn't long after the new Codex information on Raxxla, with the same writing team)
 

CMDR Harada

CMDR Harada
I believe it's actually in-game. Saying it's a 'state of mind or enlightenment' is super cheesy. I don't have any proof. But there was the rumor that Drew said it was, and he wrote the books, so..... But I have nothing beyond that. I think it's too big of a whispered legend in Elite lore NOT to put it in.. but FD has pulled some real boners in the past and I wouldn't put it past them to think they could shoe-horn it in at a later date.

I have a few other thoughts on Raxxla, again, as valid as any tin-foil-hat wearing CMDR's.

1: It's not going to jump out at you as soon as you enter the system. I think it would take a complete scan of everything in the system, and it might show up as a POI or settlement. Would we recognize it if we even saw it ? I doubt it will have a huge neon sign pointing it out.

2: It could be in a well traveled system, 25 bazillion light seconds from the central star and no-one has bothered to travel out that far. Like Hutton but worse, and no free Anaconda.

3: It might take a certain rep level with a particular faction(s). There were stories/rumors about the Dark Wheel splintering IIRC. What was the new faction called ? Maybe you need that factions blessing.

4: It might be in a permit locked area. This might explain why it still hasn't been found.

5: It might only appear at certain times or in certain circumstances. Or maybe your CMDR has to have done something.. Or NOT done something like slave trading. Or only if you're in a Cobra. Or been to Sag A.

I've suggested a few ways to find it, or at least find out where it isn't. A few hundred CMDRs patterning out a particular section of space ( every system within 300 LYs of system XXXX ), cataloging everything in each system, would at least tell us it AIN'T there pretty quick. Move on. Rinse. Repeat. Start with the Bubble, or the general area, and spiral out.

I seem to remember a few people clawing their way thru the new game/image files and finding a few things from permit locked systems..

Maybe it HAS been found, but getting there takes so much work, that telling people where it is would be useless. Like Triple Elite and max rep with Empire/Fed and all engineers and factions. I can't imagine someone not bragging to a fellow CMDR about it...

I have faith it's there. Realistically discoverable ? MMMMmmm.. maybe not.
 

MojoXFTN1

M
Cmdr cooper said:
A simple yes it’s in the game and you can find it, would really spark a lot of our attention I think. Until then it is all just speculation, which is part of the fun I get that, but I think it’s time we get an answer at least to it’s legitimacy, don’t you?
I understand a lot of people say at one point it was confirmed by the devs, that’s cool, but without a legitimate source I and many others will never be fully convinced.
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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f7Zx7WUwF0&t=959s&ab_channel=EliteDangerous


Well, there's this (start at 13:35 in the video). Take it for what its worth, but you asked for a simple yes or no, and that's exactly what this is :)
 

vanFace

V
MojoXFTN1 said:
Well, there's this (start at 13:35 in the video). Take it for what its worth, but you asked for a simple yes or no, and that's exactly what this is :)
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If I understood that right, the question DBOBE answered was "Does Raxxla exist?", and his answer was "What a silly question, of course!". This is not the same as "Does Raxxla exist IN THE GAME?", followed by a "Yes". A subtle, but very important difference.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
vanFace said:
If I understood that right, the question DBOBE answered was "Does Raxxla exist?", and his answer was "What a silly question, of course!". This is not the same as "Does Raxxla exist IN THE GAME?", followed by a "Yes". A subtle, but very important difference.
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Combined with Michael Brookes (video record) comment that "it's in the Milky Way", which again doesn't absolutely state that it's the Milky Way simulated inside Elite Dangerous.

So ... "it's not in game because Frontier have found/created Raxxla and are keeping it in their offices in Cambridge"?

That would certainly be a surprise twist.
 

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
Ian Doncaster said:
So ... "it's not in game because Frontier have found/created Raxxla and are keeping it in their offices in Cambridge"?

That would certainly be a surprise twist.
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Phoenix_Dfire

Phoenix_Dfire
It was a constant tease about Raxxla. DB-OBE said it was in game. Michael Brookes explained at a Lavecon that both he and DB-OBE were the only people who knew where it was. Ed Lewis claimed there was a notebook under lock and key in DB's office that had the location but he hadn't seen it. You got the impression from Michael that they just chose a random location and put something in there, so there's no unlocking quest or certain circumstances which will make it unavailable!)

The thing to remember is; if they have put Raxxla in, it was before planetary landings, mega ships or tourist beacons were implemented in the game, so I wouldn't expect to see anything there apart from a ship broadcasting a message saying that You'd found Raxxla. Similar to the Anaconda they originally put in for Drew's first novel, which they upgraded to a Mega ship as soon as mega-ships were in there. Just to give you an idea how difficult this would be; Drew's ship was undiscovered for almost 5 years (although someone did get within 7 ly of it), despite the fact he gave clues away in his book. It was only found due to clues, frontier put in the game.

So I'm glad that Raxxla is there, but if someone finds it, it WILL be very disappointing.
 
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