Unknown Artefact (or artifact) Community Thread - The Canonn

[bitstorm]

I believe the phrase is 'mad props'...

Will you be doing the second most popular thing on Ratty's poll, or something else altogether!? The suspense is killing me!

http://strawpoll.me/5007282/r

Sorry no, spent far too long camping this to send it to oblivion immediately, it's non-destructive only for now. Maybe later though.

But to be honest it feels like the spawn chance has been increased, there is no way of telling what with it being RNG. But we had two UA discoveries in one day shortly after requesting via various channels that Frontier up the spawn rate a touch. Also judging by the presence in Mobius yesterday I think we also have more CMDRs searching. Which is a long-winded way of saying there will be more I'm sure and soon if people are going in properly prepared.

I have one test I want to perform right away, got the day of work but it's to sort out a new car, but may get it done this morning. After that I
have a long series of test that need a bit of research first.

Apart from that I'm open to suggestions!

There are a few things at this point in time I do not want to do, one is destructive testing, the other is pass the UA to another CMDR. It's just there's been a pattern of losing UAs that way so for now I don't want to take any risks.

Happy to do the crazy Orca thing if someone can provide an Orca and that person can create a recording - just to check it off the list really!

I kind of think we need a way to collate test ideas that RAtking and I can pick off whenever, maybe just a Google Docs spreadsheet, I don't know.

 

[LordZoltan]

http://strawpoll.me/5007282/r

Sorry no, spent far too long camping this to send it to oblivion immediately, it's non-destructive only for now. Maybe later though.

But to be honest it feels like the spawn chance has been increased, there is no way of telling what with it being RNG. But we had two UA discoveries in one day shortly after requesting via various channels that Frontier up the spawn rate a touch. Also judging by the poresence inb Mobius yesterday I think we also have more CMDRs searching. It's all long-winded way of saying there will be more I'm sure.

I have one test I want to perform right away, got the day of work but it's to sort out a new car, but may get it done this morning.

FWIW I don't like second place anyway. It's yours to do with as you please, good sir - and we await your results, as always, with interest

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, Zoltan, with your voice of reason and carefully considered sense of balance.

I've run out rep, so +1 instead

It's the morning double-strength coffee that does it. When my caffeine levels get low, that's when things start to go to pot!

 

[rizal72]

http://strawpoll.me/5007282/r

Sorry no, spent far too long camping this to send it to oblivion immediately, it's non-destructive only for now. Maybe later though.

But to be honest it feels like the spawn chance has been increased, there is no way of telling what with it being RNG. But we had two UA discoveries in one day shortly after requesting via various channels that Frontier up the spawn rate a touch. Also judging by the poresence inb Mobius yesterday I think we also have more CMDRs searching. It's all long-winded way of saying there will be more I'm sure.

I have one test I want to perform right away, got the day of work but it's to sort out a new car, but may get it done this morning.

I'm not sure about that. After you found the UA, all convoys disappeared from Timocani.
As I said yesterday, I've noticed that chances to find an UA raise after a cycle/week restart. It always happened like that. And we still have two, exactly like before.
But I hope to be wrong, as I'll keep on hunting the same, this next evening.

 

[Han_Zen]

Firstly:


Whether or not you like my methods, my conclusion is still reasonable.

That is - Yes we are on the right track - because we have tried the UA with lots of different things. But we are not quite there yet because there is something we have missed - possibly something quite unlikely - like a Babel fish. I further suspect that this object acts like a translator.

If you find this "bonkers" then I'm sorry but you have not been paying attention.

Secondly:

Right through history there have been people who have original ideas and there have been those who say they are "Bonkers"

Thirdly:

I have assumed that this forum would encourage people to come up with new and different ideas. If you only want the old ideas rehashed you are going nowhere fast.
If people do not want original thoughts I'll be quite please to leave the room.

I like your idea.

You are right about the Ankh thing, the cross is a bit low on the staf.
Maybe it's just female.

In Emperial journalism it's not called thirdly, it's called "On the third hand"

 

[Cmdr Clade]

I support you! I always support "brainstorming"!

@Bartmoss & @Dommarraa:
It seems to me there is too much arrogance in some of your replies, guys. There are people here trying to "play the game".
What about you?

The best discovers, in the whole humanity history, where often born from some equal parts of Science and pragmatism (yours), Lateral thinking and disruption (ours), and LUCK (bitstorm's )!
Sometimes, they were born from BLATANT ERRORS and unpredicted results while trying to find some other thing.

"the true sign of intelligent is not knowledge, but imagination" - A.Einstein

It's the payoff of my personal site.

Keep on with "Bonkers"!

thank you.

I know some of my theories are strange. But if we are to go from "what is known" towards "what is unknown" we must, by definition, put forward and discuss "strange" things.

Knowledge does not increase by discussing that which is already known - knowledge increases by discussing that which is not known.

 

[Grumbleweed]

thank you.

I know some of my theories are strange. But if we are to go from "what is known" towards "what is unknown" we must, by definition, put forward and discuss "strange" things.

I don't think anyone objects to reasoned arguments, researched ideas or even off the wall ideas, its the way that some of those have been put forward as 'I must be right listen to me!' that gets folks ruffled.

I support you! I always support "brainstorming"!

@Bartmoss & @Dommarraa:
It seems to me there is too much arrogance in some of your replies, guys. There are people here trying to "play the game".
What about you?

Let's not resort to sniping, this thread has been largely devoid of that kind of nonsense so far, I think we'd all like to keep it that way.

best discovers, in the whole humanity history, where often born from some equal parts of Science and pragmatism (yours), Lateral thinking and disruption (ours), and LUCK (bitstorm's )!
Sometimes, they were born from BLATANT ERRORS and unpredicted results while trying to find some other thing.

"the true sign of intelligent is not knowledge, but imagination" - A.Einstein

It's the payoff of my personal site.

Keep on with "Bonkers"!

You are right of course, but equally, in science, a lot of the lesser known (ie forgotten) theories, as well as the ones which survived the process, were challenged and disputed, and thats OK too. The key to it all is remaining civil.

 

[rizal72]

I don't think anyone objects to reasoned arguments, researched ideas or even off the wall ideas, its the way that some of those have been put forward as 'I must be right listen to me!' that gets folks ruffled.

Let's not resort to sniping, this thread has been largely devoid of that kind of nonsense so far, I think we'd all like to keep it that way.

You are right of course, but equally, in science, a lot of the lesser known (ie forgotten) theories, as well as the ones which survived the process, were challenged and disputed, and thats OK too. The key to it all is remaining civil.

I must say you are a very wise and reasonable man, Grumbleweed.
I agree with you. I'm sorry I did "sniping": but it was done with irony in my mind, and with a "play the game" mood.

 

[Jacob Marshall]

...
But to be honest it feels like the spawn chance has been increased, there is no way of telling what with it being RNG. But we had two UA discoveries in one day shortly after requesting via various channels that Frontier up the spawn rate a touch. ...

There are a few things at this point in time I do not want to do, one is destructive testing...

First off, gratz man! Good to have two again.

I'll be out today on the hunt, have a patchy day so can use some of my free time to hunt.

With regards to what I've quoted. Should anyone else find a UA, could we hold off on destructive tests until the end of the weekend? One of my arguments for beginning to consider those tests was the rarity of the UA; we only ever had two in our hands. If we could get a few more in over the next few days then I'd be happy to conclude that they were rare due to a borked spawn rate, and not because they were devastatingly malevolent and powerful!!1!

And yes, that include me if I find one, I'll not run my test until after the weekend.

Once again, gratz Bitstorm, now have another cup of camomile tea and calm down

 

[LordZoltan]

First off, gratz man! Good to have two again.

I'll be out today on the hunt, have a patchy day so can use some of my free time to hunt.

With regards to what I've quoted. Should anyone else find a UA, could we hold off on destructive tests until the end of the weekend? One of my arguments for beginning to consider those tests was the rarity of the UA; we only ever had two in our hands. If we could get a few more in over the next few days then I'd be happy to conclude that they were rare due to a borked spawn rate, and not because they were devastatingly malevolent and powerful!!1!

And yes, that include me if I find one, I'll not run my test until after the weekend.

Once again, gratz Bitstorm, now have another cup of camomile tea and calm down

Minor point - there have been more than 2 (although possibly a hang over from a dupe way back when) - what's not clear is whether this respawn rate really is affected by how many are being held in CMDRs holds.

As someone who originally suggested that there might be a 'scaled scarcity' of UA spawns based on how many are in the wild, I have to say that I'm no longer convinced of this - the mechanics of doing that, at a programming level, would be unique to the UA, as no other spawnable object does this, and I just can't see FD putting it in for this alone. This argument isn't mine, btw, but came from another member of the group who I'm sure I repped at the time, if I could

I just think they're so randomly rare that they're just very hard to get *all the time*.

I agree with your main point, though, I'm not keen on destructive tests, purely because I can't see them doing anything - but we've not got much else, and they need to be taken off the table if we are to move on to something else, if they're not the answer.

 

[bitstorm]

Just to say, I knew these things weren't that big but cripes, they're tiny! (awww bless! =p)

So man-sized? (pilot for scale)

(apologies I know this has likely already been talked about before but y'know)

In theory those side pods would just be big enough to hold a foot long SAP8 crystal.

Also here's an image for those talking about the Ankh-ish (or not) pattern on the pods.

These are both high res so grab the direct image url if you want to zoom further. Right-click, open image in new tab then single click to zoom, or whatever.

Apologies to those on low bandwidth, perhaps I shouldn't post this images at this resolution? (~5MB each)

Maybe I should just try to ensure I don't put too many on a single page.

 

[Han_Zen]

Ya Im going with the UA is Queequeg's coffin/life-raft as a metaphor for the Phage. or is it the other way round ...

Im just really hoping that Thargoids arn't our White Whale

I belive the Phage is a metafor for the UA.
A Bacteriophag is a living being that is used by other smaller beings to move. around.
Once desired conditions are found the little guys pop out.

- - - Updated - - -

Just to say, I knew these things weren't that big but cripes, they're tiny! (awww bless! =p)

So man-sized? (pilot for scale)

(apologies I know this has likely already been talked about before but y'know)

https://7f8df5516b4f45d7221c9050cfd...FRRjJSaDZDd3BxeUFpZklhYW8/201507241008013.png

In theory those side pods would just be big enough to hold a foot long SAP8 crystal.

Also here's an image for those talking about the Ankh-ish (or not) pattern on the pods.

https://7f8df5516b4f45d7221c9050cfd...FRRjJSaDZDd3BxeUFpZklhYW8/201507241008025.png

These are both high res so grab the direct image url if you want to zoom further. Right-click, open image in new tab then single click to zoom, or whatever.

Apologies to those on low bandwidth, perhaps I shouldn't post this images at this resolution? (~5MB each)

Maybe I should just try to ensure I don't put too many on a single page.

Beautyful image of the 'sea shell cross'

Thank you.

 

[rizal72]

Currently Popular UA theories - RECAP

1) Sell it to Leonard Nimoy Station
The Wings Trailer, LN death slightly before 1.2 came out, The Whales and LN: the UA sound could be decoded in LN station, a Tribute to Leonard Nimoy, with a mistery for us to solve. I must say that some private conversations with Kerrash made me doubt about it. But he cannot help us, so....

2) Let it die in front of a Plagued Station or a Clean one, depending on the UA purpose.
The fact that Cerberus virus resemble a Phage, and the UA is Phage-like, could us lead to think that the UA is the Virus Spreader. But previous tests done, did not let the plague start.
Does it cure or infect?

3) Sell it to Newton Dock.
I think this could be the best option, if we could sell it or give it directly to the scientists looking for a cure. But as we can just sell it to the Black Market, we don't really know why and how the scientists should eventually come in its possession (same concerns for Leonard Nimoy theory!).

4) The Babel Fish.
A clear reference to the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy novel, Douglas Adam is a British icon. Listen to the UA using some particular "filter":
a Ship? the Orca for example. A device? A sensor? Canopy broken or Life support off?
Lots of test has already been done, with no results. BTW the idea to translate the UA language in some way, is a good idea indeed. The question is: HOW?
Remember, we had a not requested hint saying: "It's easier than you think, but not everyone will get it!"

5) The Leviathan - The sperm ark - Tau Ceti
Han_Zen made an awesome work digging in ED lore to find references and hints. He has all my consideration. Its theory implies to bring the UA somewhere, perhaps letting it expire there, to trigger some reaction. Tau Ceti? California Nebula?

Other theories worth mentioning:

6) The Green/Purple pulses.
7) The Mayan Numbers

Last thing:
There where hints from Kerrash, about Exploration and the Unknown. But the nature of the UA itself make all of this very difficult to achieve.

 

[Jacob Marshall]

Minor point - there have been more than 2 (although possibly a hang over from a dupe way back when) - what's not clear is whether this respawn rate really is affected by how many are being held in CMDRs holds....

This is what I was trying to say; shouldn't post before coffee

...

Also here's an image for those talking about the Ankh-ish (or not) pattern on the pods.....

...Psychiatrist would have a field day with me and that pic.

 

[bitstorm]

Minor point - there have been more than 2 (although possibly a hang over from a dupe way back when) - what's not clear is whether this respawn rate really is affected by how many are being held in CMDRs holds.

As someone who originally suggested that there might be a 'scaled scarcity' of UA spawns based on how many are in the wild, I have to say that I'm no longer convinced of this - the mechanics of doing that, at a programming level, would be unique to the UA, as no other spawnable object does this, and I just can't see FD putting it in for this alone. This argument isn't mine, btw, but came from another member of the group who I'm sure I repped at the time, if I could

I don't think I agree with that.

The UA was a special case in that at the start way too many were appearing and so there had to be a subsequent balancing act.

I mean you can imagine a scenario where one of Elite's non-programmer game designers says, "look really I only want say 1-5 in existence at any one time, do that".

It could be very diffcult for a programmer to implement that by tweaking a spawn percentage chance variable given:

• A fluctuating sized CMDR pool over time
• In certain systems SSSs may be more common than others due to pseudo-random algorithms
• CGs in a system can result in much more SSS generations and many more SSS visits than the norm
• With the spawn rate of SSSs being pseudo-random based on an algorithm. The lack of triple consecutive purrs implies that ED's random isn't true-random with a true-random distribution

At that point the programmer is like "Christ, where do I start, I only picked this job up because it's Friday and I thought it was going to be an easy one. *sadface*".

End result may be the programmer just updates the code to bias to the specific goal, 1-5 making the spawn rate dependent on UAs in existence with diminishing returns on higher values. If that's been done I'd imagine quite large drops in the spawn percentage at each "UAs in existence tier", dropping quickly to 0% at the upper limit. That way you hit specific design criteria rather than nebulous percentages which can be affected by a whole bunch of unpredictable variables.

It's not that unlikely, given you already have a feedback mechanism in-game where signal source spawns react to what's going on in the local system/galaxy/player i.e. taking the Elite SAP mission turns the Military Convoy Hafnium cargo into SAP8.

But yes in truth I don't know, I just think it's not massively unlikely that spawn rate is dependent on UAs in existence.

 

[Han_Zen]

This is what I was trying to say; shouldn't post before coffee



...Psychiatrist would have a field day with me and that pic.

Look at the "triple fish head" end plug. Fantastic details.

We should have pictures of this quality from all angles.

 

[Kyp Shard]

Just to say, I knew these things weren't that big but cripes, they're tiny! (awww bless! =p)

So man-sized? (pilot for scale)

(apologies I know this has likely already been talked about before but y'know)

https://7f8df5516b4f45d7221c9050cfd...FRRjJSaDZDd3BxeUFpZklhYW8/201507241008013.png

In theory those side pods would just be big enough to hold a foot long SAP8 crystal.

Also here's an image for those talking about the Ankh-ish (or not) pattern on the pods.

https://7f8df5516b4f45d7221c9050cfd...FRRjJSaDZDd3BxeUFpZklhYW8/201507241008025.png

These are both high res so grab the direct image url if you want to zoom further. Right-click, open image in new tab then single click to zoom, or whatever.

Apologies to those on low bandwidth, perhaps I shouldn't post this images at this resolution? (~5MB each)

Maybe I should just try to ensure I don't put too many on a single page.

First, well done on getting a shiny new UA! I didn't realise they were so tiny!

Now, just a few random Friday morning thoughts:

I think the "arms" are indeed likely candidates to contain something, very probably SAP 8 crystals (how big are the crystals themselves?). But there doesn't seem to be a game mechanic to accomplish it.

It was a Kerrash utterance that got us linking up the UA and SAP 8 in the first place wasn't it? I think he said something along the lines that there was an "interesting secret" about the UA, "and SAP 8 too". Secret is an interesting choice of words isn't it. He didn't say there was an interesting thing to be done, he said "secret". And then there's the "overthinking it" remark. Maybe we can't really do anything with it, but we can uncover the story somehow, maybe by doing one of the very few things the game mechanic allows us to do (Sell, shoot, allow decay, take to location). Hmm *scratches head*

I have been keen to find some sort of Babelfish in the sound itself. Some posts ago I was talking about the morse being our rosetta stone for another code in the sound. I've been looking into the honks and purrs etc. Now, thinking about the "overthinking" remark, I'm not so sure. I think it's been suggested that we don't need out of game audio analysis, so I'm quitting that line of enquiry now.

I did find another in game sound that was pretty similar to the honk by accident last night though. I was setting up hotas bindings, using the training missions to test out the bindings, and noticed the sound when shields come online in the sidey. It's close enough to make my ears up. So the UA could be malfunctioning, coming "online" and then losing it again in a cycle?

I'm also still interested in the california nebula. There were hints at the DBX, for exploring AND being tooled up for a scrap.

@Ratking - I watched your last twitch vid - good sciencing guys! Any more about the big area you found that was closed off out by the formadine rift?

Right, enough from me for now. Otherwise I'll just be talking because I like the sound of my own voice. It is deep and sonorous, and carries with it the terrifying and awesome songs of the majesty of nature. Young children and animals are drawn near by their curiosity, while adults upon hearing it go mad with terror and scramble for safety, which makes any kind of social life awkward :/

 

[bitstorm]

First, well done on getting a shiny new UA! I didn't realise they were so tiny!

It's a mad old thing, just picture it in the same room as you now just slightly bigger than man-sized!

Spoiler

 

[Kyp Shard]

It's a mad old thing, just picture it in the same room as you now just slightly bigger than man-sized!

I'd make it a cup of tea and have a chat over some biscuits.

 

[LordZoltan]

Currently Popular UA theories - RECAP

1) Sell it to Leonard Nimoy Station
The Wings Trailer, LN death slightly before 1.2 came out, The Whales and LN: the UA sound could be decoded in LN station, a Tribute to Leonard Nimoy, with a mistery for us to solve. I must say that some private conversations with Kerrash made me doubt about it. But he cannot help us, so....

2) Let it die in front of a Plagued Station or a Clean one, depending on the UA purpose.
The fact that Cerberus virus resemble a Phage, and the UA is Phage-like, could us lead to think that the UA is the Virus Spreader. But previous tests done, did not let the plague start.
Does it cure or infect?

3) Sell it to Newton Dock.
I think this could be the best option, if we could sell it or give it directly to the scientists looking for a cure. But as we can just sell it to the Black Market, we don't really know why and how the scientists should eventually come in its possession (same concerns for Leonard Nimoy theory!).

4) The Babel Fish.
A clear reference to the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy novel, Douglas Adam is a British icon. Listen to the UA using some particular "filter":
a Ship? the Orca for example. A device? A sensor? Canopy broken or Life support off?
Lots of test has already been done, with no results. BTW the idea to translate the UA language in some way, is a good idea indeed. The question is: HOW?
Remember, we had a not requested hint saying: "It's easier than you think, but not everyone will get it!"

5) The Leviathan - The sperm ark - Tau Ceti
Han_Zen made an awesome work digging in ED lore to find references and hints. He has all my consideration. Its theory implies to bring the UA somewhere, perhaps letting it expire there, to trigger some reaction. Tau Ceti? California Nebula?

Other theories worth mentioning:

6) The Green/Purple pulses.
7) The Mayan Numbers

Last thing:
There where hints from Kerrash, about Exploration and the Unknown. But the nature of the UA itself make all of this very difficult to achieve.

Quoting this with my sig, which contains a link to Ratty's vote - please vote now to express your opinion on which of the main recent theories you think are most likely!

Whether right or wrong, these theories need to be proven/disproven ASAP to move this thing along.

The other votes are just for fun...

 

[bitstorm]

First, well done on getting a shiny new UA! I didn't realise they were so tiny!

Now, just a few random Friday morning thoughts:

I think the "arms" are indeed likely candidates to contain something, very probably SAP 8 crystals (how big are the crystals themselves?).

1 foot long

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Sap_8_Core_Container


Hmm just wondering, and I'm sure the answer is yes.

Has any UA holder actually accepted and completed one of the SAP8 missions?