Unknown Artefact (or artifact) Community Thread - The Canonn

[Hoboner]

Nah dont think they would go down that route. music is a separate thing has no bearing on the gameplay.

Actually, in a way it does. The "score" changes based on what is happening currently. Once you arrive at your destination system, a specific score plays. When you get into combat, another plays. So on and so forth.

I think it's totally worth a shot just to see if any new scores play.

I'm about to head back out for another few hours of hunting. Will report back if I locate a UA for testing. Will be searching in and near Timocani/109 Virginis.

Good luck on the hunt, everyone.

 

[slartybartfast]

Attaboy, I've been awaiting this test for ages. Be glad to be in the firing line if you get one.

Well going to search in the systems around Timocani i think not to far from me, if i do find i will give a shout out on here.

 

[SushiCW]

lol reddit. I frequent reddit but this kind of thing does not work. 90% of the posts are "Have you tried shooting it??" and the answers are 90% "yes we actually have". Read the wiki!

So basically the same as this thread.

 

[Derthek]

So basically the same as this thread.

Annihilation theories are considered taboo here having spent the day on the reddit I can say this place is much safer than reddit.

 

[Arcanonn]

The Elite: Dangerous private group server invites have been sent out. The CMDR name for the private server is "The Milky Way Galaxy"

this way we have control over invites rather than waiting for Mobius to get around to adding people
of course, if the private server idea flops I completely understand. Mobius is the standard for PVE so i wont take it personally if a Canonn dedicated server fails.
It's ready to be utilized by UA hunters and researchers. No haxxors pls you will be perma banned

p.s. if there are any CMDRs out there who still want to join the Canonn please send me a PM with your CMDR name! Due to some obvious trolls wanting to join the group (i recognized their names) there will be a small screening process for new recruits. If you're innocent, theres nothing to worry about!

So is everyone in the private one now?

 

[Derthek]

So is everyone in the private one now?

Not sure, havnt been on to check. It just went live this morning. Every one has received an invite though I know that for sure.

 

[Arcanonn]

Not sure, havnt been on to check. It just went live this morning. Every one has received an invite though I know that for sure.

Thank you for this Derthek. I found my invite also.....in the end lol.

Had trouble logging in though had to quit game and come back in again very odd lol

 

[Derthek]

Thank you for this Derthek. I found my invite also.....in the end lol.

Had trouble logging in though had to quit game and come back in again very odd lol

Yeah I've been having that exact issue with all my private groups lately since 1.3

 

[HardstyleFlavor]

Lots of good theories/ideas here. However I'm gonna throw this out there...

I remember in one of the Gamescom 2015 live streams either Ed Lewis or Eddie Symmons (Simmons?) answered a community question that asked about the possibility of this whole UA thing being a "red herring". They essentially said that no, there is a goal to achieve and that it was a simple solution and that the community was over analyzing the situation. Now it may be that they say it's simple because they designed the quest and thus know everything about it, however I think we are in a similar situation to that whole GTX Titan Black graphics card thing they did a while ago. The answer for that Titan Black puzzle (the name of the system the cards were being sold at) was really simple, and FDEV even said it was really simple. Maybe we should focus on the sound analysis (as Mr. Braben said something about listening to the UA in the other thread). I don't think the extraneous details such as the beams of light, number of "pods", distortion fields, module decay, etc. are more than just smoke & mirrors.

Not trying to put anyone's analytical methods down, but I strongly believe we should really focus on the sound of the UA as opposed to anything else. The quality of the solution-theory should be a higher priority than the quantity of theories.

Edit: I will go and find the exact live stream and the time-stamp where they were talking about it in a bit if anyone is interested.

 

[Ihazevich]

I have this issue where I can't see private groups, it doesn't populate the list and only shows the cancel button. Sorry for the off topic.

 

[Derthek]

I have this issue where I can't see private groups, it doesn't populate the list and only shows the cancel button. Sorry for the off topic.

Log out and back in. No idea why, I get it too

 

[LordZoltan]

Attaboy, I've been awaiting this test for ages. Be glad to be in the firing line if you get one.

From what I've seen - this white flash in the video is a 2d sprite effect which is forced, by the graphics engine, always to point opposite to the camera z vector (I.e. towards the view).

I use a Rift and see this a lot - especially on solar flares - as I rotate my head I can see the flares rotate around the x and y axes, breaking the visual effect. The point being that it'd never be possible for anyone to be caught in the 'death ray' per se, because it doesn't really exist in 3d space, and its rotation is entirely view-dependant - therefore, in the worst case - an observer who is perpendicular to you, relative to the direction the UA is pointing, might see you in the death ray; but you would see them in the death ray, or opposite it.

The idea that it's a 2d sprite, also, accounts for why it looks so odd - because 2d sprites intersect 3d objects in a weird way when viewed on-screen. When the front part of the 3d object masks the part of the 2d sprite that intersects the 3d object, you often get somewhat imperfect results to say the least.

Yes I know all graphics engines are different - I studied them heavily myself and wrote a raytracer both in VB (yes, really) and C++ - but 2d objects never integrate well into the rendering pipeline, or 'equation'.

 

[Ihazevich]

Log out and back in. No idea why, I get it too

That did the trick, thanks

 

[Popov Le Magnifique]

Lots of good theories/ideas here. However I'm gonna throw this out there...

I remember in one of the Gamescom 2015 live streams either Ed Lewis or Eddie Symmons (Simmons?) answered a community question that asked about the possibility of this whole UA thing being a "red herring". They essentially said that no, there is a goal to achieve and that it was a simple solution and that the community was over analyzing the situation. Now it may be that they say it's simple because they designed the quest and thus know everything about it, however I think we are in a similar situation to that whole GTX Titan Black graphics card thing they did a while ago. The answer for that Titan Black puzzle (the name of the system the cards were being sold at) was really simple, and FDEV even said it was really simple. Maybe we should focus on the sound analysis (as Mr. Braben said something about listening to the UA in the other thread). I don't think the extraneous details such as the beams of light, number of "pods", distortion fields, module decay, etc. are more than just smoke & mirrors.

Not trying to put anyone's analytical methods down, but I strongly believe we should really focus on the sound of the UA as opposed to anything else. The quality of the solution-theory should be a higher priority than the quantity of theories.

Edit: I will go and find the exact live stream and the time-stamp where they were talking about it in a bit if anyone is interested.

Exactly. Listen to the UA in a Wing, everybody close to the UA (powerplant as close to the UA as possible) and record it.

 

[slartybartfast]

well no one can make sense of the clicks or the whale noise so untill someone come up with an idea we are at a dead end with the sound.

 

[Rauminen]

After a couple of PMs regarding testing, it became clear that there may be some wider confusion about how many UAs I am looking after.


Just the one. Called Kitty. I don't like it. Kitty will go bye-bye. I may drink while it does.

I think you might be starting to like her. Just a little bit.

Well beat me unconscious with the leafy end of a pineapple!

Looks like it could be flashing a code, there are definite configurations that sometimes repeat - an identifier for contents?

Interesting... It does seem a bit weird...

So there's a non-destructive test: Observe and record lights on various canisters (including Sap8, etc) both in instances with and without UA present.

I have 3 vids with SAP8s with and without Bob, I'll take a look....

Didn't Bob die screaming?

Evil, evil monkey! Sadly, you're right.

Thanks again! So I suppose the next question is, is it just fish that react in this way to the UA, (han Zen, put your trouser back on..) or all canisters do the same thing, or do they do different things... Curiouser and curiouser.

Edit: by the way thanks for humouring me while I can't get in game myself. Promise to make up for it next week.

One possible kaibosh on the cannister lights thing, it could be an effect of the UA haze effect, watching the video again, so we'd have to make sure we aren't viewing through the UA I suppose...

I had a peek at Rauminens vids on YT.

Seems like the blinking patterns are caused by the UA distortion.

Someone with better eyesight and a analytical mind should look through those.

Doh, the community yet again is faster than me!

Unfortunately my best guess is the distortion as well - however these videos are not made to specifically test this.... might worth a try.

So, here is the effect in one of the vids, starting at around 3:30: link
And in the other vid at 3:44 link

Here is the one without Bob: link

I have this issue where I can't see private groups, it doesn't populate the list and only shows the cancel button. Sorry for the off topic.

Yeah, happened to me too. Re-login fixed it.

 

[Amazing Mr. X]

I saw this on the Reddit and no it has not been tried and I won't be trying it because apart from losing a UA, we know that the UA isn't really compatibable with human tech as it's seeming to be completely organic and so it could be meant to be held in storage differently due to what it requires to exist and such......., also that if it was meant to destroy a ship then why when it's out in space does it not swim over and attach it'self to the ship and do it that way?

Because that would be a lot of programming work to do for a one-off puzzle that Frontier apparently thinks we should have solved by now. Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but the UA appears to be pretty straightforward to me. It's an object that eats away at ships, presumably for some greater purpose, but it doesn't appear to do anything else. I've seen the debug camera phase through it in several videos, so we know there's nothing hidden inside of it. Its sound design isn't even fundamentally unique as its Morse code transmission appears to be borrowed from the already established nav beacon with possibly few fundamental changes.

I'm not saying this is a particularly valid answer, but it's certainly one that makes more sense than Mayan symbols and strange interactions with canisters. We can make assumptions about the thing all day long, but we really don't actually know what it is or where it comes from. All we really know about it is that it's particularly harmful once you pick it up, and that it doesn't do much else until you do.

If that's essentially all we have to go off of then logically we would assume that its purpose probably has something to do with those mechanics. This can't exactly be a complicated answer because something in the game needs to trigger with this thing. If our answers are taking us away from the limits of what can be achieved with in-game interactions then we're probably pushing this in the wrong direction. FD isn't exactly going to jump into this thread and randomly congratulate us on a win for any of our existential theories, they haven't even commented in this discussion thus far. The answer to the UA has to involve the circumstances provided within the game itself, and it has to relate specifically to the UA in some clear and obvious way.

No offense intended guys, I just think some of you should consider being open to the idea of going back to basics.

This makes me think that the UA's corrosion damage is sort of a leak maybe like with the Toxic waste containers since they leak out the waste that corrodes the ship and it can also be a way for frontier to stop us from taking it out of civilissed space easily. Also the only Galnet articles that outright say about the UA in name are player submitted not frontier done, for all we know they could be for another plot line like with the emporers death.....

Then forget the Galnet articles, forget everything. Just focus on the UA. It sounds like the single most corrosive piece of cargo in the game, that can't just be an accident. If the developers really wanted it to just corrode your ship for cool-factor I doubt we'd land up with something that causes serious malfunctions this quickly. It can't just be a random element to enhance the lore, at this point they're practically screaming to draw our attention to it. You know, unless tales of its potency have been greatly exaggerated.

 

[Dommarraa]

So is everyone in the private one now?

Not me, not going anywhere near it. Beginning to think this entire exercise fruitless. May just continue on my own

 

[Derthek]

Not me, not going anywhere near it. Beginning to think this entire exercise fruitless. May just continue on my own

Same here. I honestly think it's a sign of things to come, less than a tangible mystery right now. But I'm also keen to support those who still wish to hunt and explore.

Like I said, I won't be sad if no one uses the server, but it is there incase some one wants to use it *cough*BiscuitBarrel*cough*
OhGodIHaveCerberusPlague

After countless 100s of hours the UA gods have deemed me not worthy to find or carry (nor am I qualified to add theories) so I'll do my best as a community janitor of sorts. If I can help the real heroes of our mythos perhaps the history books will remember me

 

[Atinus]

Because that would be a lot of programming work to do for a one-off puzzle that Frontier apparently thinks we should have solved by now. Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but the UA appears to be pretty straightforward to me. It's an object that eats away at ships, presumably for some greater purpose, but it doesn't appear to do anything else. I've seen the debug camera phase through it in several videos, so we know there's nothing hidden inside of it. Its sound design isn't even fundamentally unique as its Morse code transmission appears to be borrowed from the already established nav beacon with possibly few fundamental changes.

I'm not saying this is a particularly valid answer, but it's certainly one that makes more sense than Mayan symbols and strange interactions with canisters. We can make assumptions about the thing all day long, but we really don't actually know what it is or where it comes from. All we really know about it is that it's particularly harmful once you pick it up, and that it doesn't do much else until you do.

If that's essentially all we have to go off of then logically we would assume that its purpose probably has something to do with those mechanics. This can't exactly be a complicated answer because something in the game needs to trigger with this thing. If our answers are taking us away from the limits of what can be achieved with in-game interactions then we're probably pushing this in the wrong direction. FD isn't exactly going to jump into this thread and randomly congratulate us on a win for any of our existential theories, they haven't even commented in this discussion thus far. The answer to the UA has to involve the circumstances provided within the game itself, and it has to relate specifically to the UA in some clear and obvious way.

No offense intended guys, I just think some of you should consider being open to the idea of going back to basics.



Then forget the Galnet articles, forget everything. Just focus on the UA. It sounds like the single most corrosive piece of cargo in the game, that can't just be an accident. If the developers really wanted it to just corrode your ship for cool-factor I doubt we'd land up with something that causes serious malfunctions this quickly. It can't just be a random element to enhance the lore, at this point they're practically screaming to draw our attention to it. You know, unless tales of its potency have been greatly exaggerated.

Honestly, I assume the simple thing to do with the artefact is deliver it to a specific station. The rate of corrosion is to make it more difficult to deliver to the proper location. Nothing more. Makes it more of a challenge, since if only a single station is the place to take it, an artefact bearer is essentially left looking for a needle in a haystack, all the while their ship's systems keep degrading.