UAs, Barnacles & More Thread 5 - The Canonn

[locastan]

Anyone remember the futurama episode with the popplers? ;-)

 

[Murp]

I'm only a genocidal disgrace if I attempt to wipe out their entire race.

If (no matter how remote the possibility) I'm the first person to come into contact with them, I'm sure there will be slightly more background than shoot or fly away. Something to base a decision around. Oh and the more you tell me to do something. The more likely I am to do the opposite just to annoy you. I'm annoying like that.

+ I think we need more intelligent enemies in the game. Would make it more fun. Current crud in res sites is just laughable.

Fair enough, as long as you actually give it thought before shooting them up. And honestly, it better be a damn good reason in my book.

And I agree we need more content in the game, but I'll be honest, I've mostly given up on this game already. I did a long time ago actually. I only still play it because the universe and lore interest me a lot.

 

[IronmanG]

I first found a crashed nav beacon on merope 5c in beta. Also found them near the anaconda site. A coincidence or more smashed technology near barnacles??

 

[Grumtastic]

Has anyone tried to extrapolate where the crashed Anaconda came from?

 

[Eoran]

So, about the barnacle tattoo, so there is no curved shape nebula that can fit into the picture together with barnards loop I suppose?

Yeah I wondered about that too after seeing comments here and on the Barnard's Loop thread, so stared heading there to have a look around.

On the way to Barnard's Loop I stopped over at the Witch Head Nebula to see if the old permit-only systems were accessible, but seems they have been open for some time now (no permit-only systems there, and the previously closed ones have all been tagged already).

Anyway, I had a thought about aligning the Witch Head Nebula with Barnard's Loop and came up with this:

Spoiler

Not quite the same shape really. Still, given it's proximity I thought was worth a shot

 

[_Dastardly_]

Yeah I wondered about that too after seeing comments here and on the Barnard's Loop thread, so stared heading there to have a look around.

On the way to Barnard's Loop I stopped over at the Witch Head Nebula to see if the old permit-only systems were accessible, but seems they have been open for some time now (no permit-only systems there, and the previously closed ones have all been tagged already).

Anyway, I had a thought about aligning the Witch Head Nebula with Barnard's Loop and came up with this:

Spoiler

View attachment 95676

Not quite the same shape really. Still, given it's proximity I thought was worth a shot

My thought is that if it's going to be their logo.. then it would be visible from where they are, not from inside it, so possibly the view from one of the nebulae either side. It's certainly noticable in the night sky from that area.

 

[Murp]

My thought is that if it's going to be their logo.. then it would be visible from where they are, not from inside it, so possibly the view from one of the nebulae either side. It's certainly noticable in the night sky from that area.

View attachment 95677

With the LMC, it would look about the same from both in front and behind it, and flat from the sides, so that actually makes a lot more sense if it's supposed to be where they came from. And if we were to make a "logo" for the Milky Way, it would probably be a top-down image, not from the side.

 

[Huros]

My counter points:

1.) You aren't the only player the game. Also, even if you want to do it, you're still just a genocidal disgrace.
2.) You're wrong. We still fired the first shots during our first contact (at least in FFE canon, which would be assumed correct as it is the most recent), and we're still at peace with them, unless you feel the need to mindlessly kill them with no reason other than for the sake of killing them.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Nuke the little bugs! They have it coming. Hear the lamentation of their women!!! Hang on they are all women. Kinky.

Come on Murpster, how interesting will a big love in with a bunch of creepy crawleys be? Or we could FIGHT! The original competition. Survival of the one with the biggest gun!

Nuke em till they glow and then shoot em in the dark! Come on buggys!!!!

 

[Gorrister]

I'm interested in this theory from Nydo Horth...

If they really are coming from the LMC, perhaps these things appearing in nebulae makes sense, as current theories about the LMC has posit that they're gas and dust rich, much as a nebula is. Wouldn't you want to establish a foothold (or clawhold, tentaclehold - whatever) in familiar surroundings?

I'm gonna strap on my tinfoil hat for a second - could these crash sites be the remains of ships that had their systems degraded by a UA to the point where they crashed? The UA then has a blueprint and remains of the ship to build from, plus a potentially handy supply of minerals from the planet itself. Could those barnacles be about to 'hatch' fully functioning ships? The central structure has at least a fleeting (ish) resemblance to the Thargoid ships of the original game...

Anyhoo - just a theory - the demented ramblings of an explorer stuck 65k ly away who can't join in the fun at ground zero...

But why should they have a picture of the LMC on them when they are from there?
How is that related to the Pleiades?

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Nuke the little bugs! They have it coming. Hear the lamentation of their women!!! Hang on they are all women. Kinky.

Come on Murpster, how interesting will a big love in with a bunch of creepy crawleys be? Or we could FIGHT! The original competition. Survival of the one with the biggest gun!

Nuke em till they glow and then shoot em in the dark! Come on buggys!!!!

The only lamentation I feel we'll hear is on these forums when all those l33t Anacondas get blown up - I can hear it now "FD please nerf the Thargoids they is overpowered...wah wah wah, balance, wah wah wah". I hope Michael and crew are the steely eyed missile men they'll need to be to stay the course.

Oh and we might need the Thargoids, once the nastier aliens turn up (there's always a bigger fish).

 

[squiggsy]

Yeah, how about you don't?

You realize that our first encounter is going to affect our relations forever, right? The Thargoids aren't even a blatantly hostile race. In fact, we were the main reason that the first war with them started and kept going for so long.

And now for my usual lecture that I give people about this:

Our original first contact with the Thargoids was peaceful. Humanity fired the first shots.

The Thargoids were later infected with the Mycoid Virus by the INRA, a joint Federation and Empire organization. The Mycoid virus crippled them by destroying parts of their organic hyperdrives, rendering them useless. This virus was also not limited to their hyperdrives, and also affected the Thargoids themselves. The Thargoids ended up contacting the Alliance for help through the player character in Frontier: First Encounters, the last Elite game before Elite: Damgerous. You steal the vaccine for the Mycoid virus from an INRA facility and deliver it to the Thargoids, establishing peace between the Thargoids and the Alliance, and even exchanging technology with them afterwards. After a while, the Inter-Species Convention was held on a Thargoid ship between all three major human factions and the Thargoids. For all we know, the Alliance may still be in contact with them, or at least know where they've been this whole time.

Also, if you want an even more fleshed-out summary of it, Drew does a much better job of it here.

From a role play point of view I want to make peaceful contact with aliens. From a game play point of view I think having an alien race as an enemy would add a whole lot of intrigue to the game, and probably make a whole lot of players happy that they have a threat humanity could unify against, especially with all the coming multiplayer enhancements, it could open the doors to entirely new combat scenarios and revitalize the game. Exploration would become more interesting and dangerous and all round I'd prefer playing that kind of game.

 

[spameroo]

Since there seems to be some question about barnacles spawning in Solo, I found the Merope 5C one at pretty much the exact coordinates from the initial screenshot. Had to be accurate to at least 1 or 2 decimal places, but I could see it and/or spires up to 8km or more altitude, once it had spawned anyway. Whole reason I had gone there was to know what I should be looking for elsewhere.

Pretty cool from the Oculus, but I think the UAs are still cooler looking

 

[squiggsy]

It's worth noting that I did try selling one to a station where the "sell price" was zero, it wouldn't let me complete the transaction. Had no problem selling other materials, or selling the meta-alloys at an industrial station where there was actual demand.

Spoiler

View attachment 95661

With that in mind, I'm incredibly doubtful selling them to "affected" stations will achieve anything of significance since it'd only be able to be sold to industrial (and refinery?) economies, and notwithstanding the fact that players selling UA's has never been reliably proven to negatively affect those stations either.

Unless it's a bug, but debating how something may or may not work if something is possibly bugged is pointless.

Have you checked those "affected" stations though? even though thye aren't industrial/refinery stations they might have a demand for them since , you know, Obsidian Orbital has claimed over galnet that they've fixed their station.

 

[rizal72]

I'd say it would be worth it to test if these things repair affected stations. Of course if the station isn't affected, then giving them away wouldn't be a good idea unless you just did 1 as a test to see if something happens to the station.

It's worth noting that I did try selling one to a station where the "sell price" was zero, it wouldn't let me complete the transaction. Had no problem selling other materials, or selling the meta-alloys at an industrial station where there was actual demand.

Spoiler

View attachment 95661

With that in mind, I'm incredibly doubtful selling them to "affected" stations will achieve anything of significance since it'd only be able to be sold to industrial (and refinery?) economies, and notwithstanding the fact that players selling UA's has never been reliably proven to negatively affect those stations either.

Unless it's a bug, but debating how something may or may not work if something is possibly bugged is pointless.

Are both of you aware that Meta-Alloys already officially cured Obsidian Orbital, aren't you?
Check the Front page or Galnet

 

[Murp]

From a role play point of view I want to make peaceful contact with aliens. From a game play point of view I think having an alien race as an enemy would add a whole lot of intrigue to the game, and probably make a whole lot of players happy that they have a threat humanity could unify against, especially with all the coming multiplayer enhancements, it could open the doors to entirely new combat scenarios and revitalize the game. Exploration would become more interesting and dangerous and all round I'd prefer playing that kind of game.

What I'd like to see ideally, is have peace "officially", but still in some way have combat interactions. Maybe like having multiple Thargoid factions. Who knows, maybe we'll see the Oresrians, which were supposedly a more peaceful branch/species of Thargoids.

 

[squiggsy]

What I'd like to see ideally, is have peace "officially", but still in some way have combat interactions. Maybe like having multiple Thargoid factions. Who knows, maybe we'll see the Oresrians, which were supposedly a more peaceful branch/species of Thargoids.

I really don't think these things are thargoids, I think they are an entirely separate race and may well end up being far more dangerous in the end. Perhaps we will end up begging the Thargoids for help in dealing with them, and end up with alien allies and alien enemies?

 

[ThoroughlyLostExplorer]

I'm not 100% sure that the image on the constructs is Barnards Loop. To me it appears to be the Seven Sisters As seen from earth......

I certainly hope the Thargoids won't base their logo on the appearance of something as seen from earth. Hence I like your speculation on where to view Barnard's Loop from much better. May vague guess is...

• The C is rather not the Pleiades as seen from earth.
• Naming from a "maritime theme" suggestion - no, unless the thargoids are actually humans.
• Barnard's Loop with nebulas in the middle looks like the logo regardless of current perspective because it is structured like this. Hence you might credibly choose this as logo even if you are an astronomer who lives inside it.
• Same argument for the milky way. The C may be Thargoid political entities influence zones. Note that galactic north would not be the same for Thargoids.
• I'm not sure what LMC looks like from elsewhere (really really elsewhere, not other parts of Milky Way), or from inside it. I'm rather confident that the "C" shape is not the actual structure. Besides, LMC is a bit hard to get to currently and I'd rather go Barnard's Loop...

 

[edgar]

Have you checked those "affected" stations though? even though thye aren't industrial/refinery stations they might have a demand for them since , you know, Obsidian Orbital has claimed over galnet that they've fixed their station.

I sold my 4 Meta-Alloys at the main station in Wolf 1301 - it is an agricultural economy but it had High Demand for Mata-Alloys (sold for +90k/t).

The station was reportedly hit by the tech plague, according to GalNet.

 

[Murp]

I really don't think these things are thargoids, I think they are an entirely separate race and may well end up being far more dangerous in the end. Perhaps we will end up begging the Thargoids for help in dealing with them, and end up with alien allies and alien enemies?

Oh yeah, I've thought of something like that in the past as well, I'd definitely enjoy seeing something involving a race other than Thargoids. It could also tie in with the Elite: Reclamation novel, which was one of the Frontier "approved canon" novels, and at some point it described something that an old explorer saw that one of the major factions (I can't remember if it was the Feds or Empire, maybe both) wiped from their memory, but that they remember was somehow "far worse than the Thargoids were".

There's also the possibility of an arc involving the rogue AIs that escaped destruction from humanity that could be building up strength as we speak.

 

[OBERHIEM]

Thought i may have found something here for a moment on merope 5c, but checking it out more it doesnt quite match with the logo. In spirograph nebula to see the sights on the way to barnards.