Star Citizen: Big MoMA's House

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Justin Tyme: Feb 22, 2011

My body is ready for the final clue

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:51

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 23:17

Regarde Aduck: Oct 19, 2012; c l o u d k i t t e n; Grimey Drawer

This is so cruel. I don't know what is going on and I'm crying.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:52

RuckusRouser: Sep 28, 2015; Theres a lot of close ups of landing gear

Someone touched on this earlier but no other information came to light: what happened to DickWulf? Has he fallen off the face of the earth?

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:52

Ash1138: Sep 29, 2001; Get up, chief. We're just gettin' started.

DoctorStrangelove posted:

I've heard the name "Scott Manley" before but I don't know exactly who he is.

a kerbal space program god

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:52

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

DoctorStrangelove posted:

I've heard the name "Scott Manley" before but I don't know exactly who he is.

The most dreamy man in YouTube.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:53

Ash1138: Sep 29, 2001; Get up, chief. We're just gettin' started.

ShredsYouSay posted:

Finally decrypted it, and I don't know what I expected, but not that.

It's insane that they thought they would get away with this. I hope your source is safe, Derek.

lol what is this an enron situation except all the tier 1 people know about the shell company shenanigans and not just they guy who set them up?

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:53

peter gabriel: Nov 8, 2011; Hello Commandos

RuckusRouser posted:

Someone touched on this earlier but no other information came to light: what happened to DickWulf? Has he fallen off the face of the earth?

I too would like a DickWulf update

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:54

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

peter gabriel posted:

I too would like a DickWulf update

Same.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:54

Alan Smithee: Jan 4, 2005; A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:57

Tippis: Mar 21, 2008; It's yet another day in the wasteland.

peter gabriel posted:

I too would like a DickWulf update

Maybe he finally managed to satisfy his wife and thus found a much better outlet for spending money and getting validation.

It would be nice if there was at least one happy end to all of this.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:57

DoctorStrangelove: Jun 7, 2012; IT WOULD NOT BE DIFFICULT MEIN FUHRER!

peter gabriel posted:

I too would like a DickWulf update

He is still the exec-producer of Law and Order.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:57

Melanion: Jun 7, 2011; heard the walls are paper thin from where you are to where I am

Huh. I actually figured out how the secret was encoded, not sure now that I want to devote the time to the last step. Puzzle's pretty much done for me, far as I can tell.

I disagree with everyone 'in the know' about people thinking too hard on this. This is a case where not knowing where to start makes it absolutely impossible to solve, no matter what level your mind is working from.

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:58

Haskell9: Sep 23, 2008; post it live; The Great Twist

peter gabriel posted:

I too would like a DickWulf update

SFW version

# ? Apr 3, 2016 23:59

BadOptics: Sep 11, 2012

Holy poo poo you think goons are bullshitting about the reveal and then you loving see it for yourself. Stay safe Dr. Smart/Beer! :ohdear:

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:00

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

D1E posted:

Trust me on this: you think you want to know, but you really don't want to know.

It will fill you with a righteous anger.

I have wanted to punch something all day.

lol if you care about anything that much.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:01

Damn Dirty Ape: Jan 23, 2015; I love you Dr. Zaius

DoctorStrangelove posted:

He is still the exec-producer of Law and Order.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:01

eviljack: Feb 26, 2016; You're getting hungry

Melanion posted:

Huh. I actually figured out how the secret was encoded, not sure now that I want to devote the time to the last step. Puzzle's pretty much done for me, far as I can tell.

I disagree with everyone 'in the know' about people thinking too hard on this. This is a case where not knowing where to start makes it absolutely impossible to solve, no matter what level your mind is working from.

agreed

Also, Scott Manley posts here? And some guy on the Infinity: Battlescape team? Plus Derek Smart national treasure top secret egg hunt.. SA are like internet freemasons :psyboom:

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:03

Palisader: Mar 14, 2012; DESPAIR MORTALS, FOR I WISH TO PLAY PATTY-CAKE

I decided not to think about Star Citizen all day, though I come back bearing gifts

I was hoping someone would finally spill the secret, whatever it happens to be, but y'all are being impressively poker faced about it.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:03

Rainbow Knight: Apr 19, 2006; We die.
We pray.
To live.
We serve

Melanion posted:

Huh. I actually figured out how the secret was encoded, not sure now that I want to devote the time to the last step. Puzzle's pretty much done for me, far as I can tell.

I disagree with everyone 'in the know' about people thinking too hard on this. This is a case where not knowing where to start makes it absolutely impossible to solve, no matter what level your mind is working from.

HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEeeee

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:04

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

I'm so close to the code but I've no idea how to even begin figuring out the last clue. :smith:

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:04

eviljack: Feb 26, 2016; You're getting hungry

eviljack posted:

agreed

Also, Scott Manley posts here? And some guy on the Infinity: Battlescape team? Plus Derek Smart national treasure top secret egg hunt.. SA are like internet freemasons

EDIT: Quoting myself because I have no idea how internet forums work

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:04

TTerrible: Jul 15, 2005

eviljack posted:

SA are like internet freemasons

That is one of the best things about this place. You've found the tip of the iceberg.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:04

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Fargin Icehole posted:

Well, yeah, sure, you're Alpha one, but you don't go to a bar and talk to ALPHA TWO, maybe that's why they don't like the game. a matter of FIDELITY

It's not just the SOC loops, although that was my strongest point. You still are the reason why the tips scale to the Colossus's favor in that big battle. The other part for me is that nothing is as it seems in some of these missions, I mean, poo poo, I thought Mission 2 was run of the mill take down supplies, and it went farther than that after the end.

Any good soldier - which Alpha One is - will have some degree of positive effect on the war. But, ultimately, what's the result of passing that infuriating Bearbaiting mission? The Colossus just gets destroyed a few days later by another juggernaut and very little changes as a result. I think it was Battuta who did a great write up on FS2 as a story of apocalyptic hubris in the face of a hostile universe, which isn't nearly the heroic 'World War 2 In Space' feeling you get from Wing Commander.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:05

Bolow: Feb 27, 2007

eviljack posted:

agreed

Also, Scott Manley posts here? And some guy on the Infinity: Battlescape team? SA are like internet freemasons

Enemy Starfighter dev posts here, the guy who wrote Blue Planet: War in Heaven, and a large part of the Destiny grimoire as well

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:06

AP: Jul 12, 2004; One Ring to fool them all
One Ring to find them
One Ring to milk them all
and pockets fully line them; Grimey Drawer

RuckusRouser posted:

Someone touched on this earlier but no other information came to light: what happened to DickWulf? Has he fallen off the face of the earth?

He's been keeping a fairly low profile apart from being a bit weird a few days ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DerekSmart/comments/4cs03i/derek_cant_keep_it_in_his_pants_ele_is_more_of/d1l15vl?context=3

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:06

MeLKoR: Dec 23, 2004; by FactsAreUseless

SirPhoebos posted:

Okay, gently caress doing actual decoding, I'm just going to guess what the big news is.

You know that Saudi prince that owns the Star Citizen horse? He's like super invested in SC-like hundreds of thousands.

And he's been using the Grey Market the launder money for ISIS.

And CIG knows enough for today's draconian anti-terrorist laws to ream them.

So in conclusion, Chris and Sandi are going to be going to a Caribbean island when this all blows up-just not the one they had in mind

No need to waterboard Ben, just take away his CPAP mask.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:07

TTerrible: Jul 15, 2005

loving lol @ Dolvak and DickWulf trying to play that game.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:07

BadOptics: Sep 11, 2012

Bolow posted:

Enemy Starfighter dev posts here, the guy who wrote Blue Planet: War in Heaven, and a large part of the Destiny grimoire as well

Don't forget The Traitor Baru Cormorant!

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:09

Dusty Lens: Jul 1, 2015; All Glory unto the Stimpire. Give up your arms and legs and embrace the beautiful agony of electricity that doubles in pain every second.

TTerrible posted:

loving lol @ Dolvak and DickWulf trying to play that game.

To be fair if you removed the names and threw up random posts it'd be pretty loving hard to tell who is who.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:09

Palisader: Mar 14, 2012; DESPAIR MORTALS, FOR I WISH TO PLAY PATTY-CAKE

Bolow posted:

Enemy Starfighter dev posts here, the guy who wrote Blue Planet: War in Heaven, and a large part of the Destiny grimoire as well

As does Josh Sawyer, though he mostly hangs out in the Obsidian game threads

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:09

Cuntpunch: Oct 3, 2003; A monkey in a long line of kings

Dusty Lens posted:

To be fair if you removed the names and threw up random posts it'd be pretty loving hard to tell who is who.

That's him with his dick out

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:10

Bolow: Feb 27, 2007

Milky Moor posted:

Any good soldier - which Alpha One is - will have some degree of positive effect on the war. But, ultimately, what's the result of passing that infuriating Bearbaiting mission? The Colossus just gets destroyed a few days later by another juggernaut and very little changes as a result. I think it was Battuta who did a great write up on FS2 as a story of apocalyptic hubris in the face of a hostile universe, which isn't nearly the heroic 'World War 2 In Space' feeling you get from Wing Commander.

General Battuta posted:

Okay, here goes the version.

FreeSpace 1 is an action-adventure space opera story in which two warring parties must learn to set aside their differences in order to survive. The Terrans and Vasudans enter the story in a state of sin (as the Ancients put it): they have turned against each other for meaningless, petty reasons. To survive, they must realize the insignificance of their differences. FreeSpace 1 is a story about overcoming differences in order to meet great challenges.

The Shivans represent many things: karma, justice, the threat of an empty, hostile cosmos that will swallow up the 'sinful'. By coming together, the Terrans and Vasudans are able to stand up to the Shivans, and by learning from the lessons of the past (the Ancients), they are able to discover the Shivans' weakness and defeat them. This is all very familiar material: friendship beats hostility, teamwork provides the key to meeting an overwhelming challenge, an ancient warning is vital to stopping a looming threat.

When the Lucifer is destroyed, the FS1 Shivans stop being a threat. This miraculous contrivance reveals the fundamentally didactic nature of the FS1 Shivans: they are a test, and destroying the Lucifer qualifies you to pass. (I speak here in the narrative sense, rather than the literal truth of the setting.) But the destruction of the Shivans also comes at a price: both species lose their homeworlds.

This is important in the context of FreeSpace 1, because it nails home the game's themes: Vasuda Prime and Earth represent the baggage of each species' past, and without them, the Terrans and Vasudans must rely on each other to build a new starfaring civilization.

But the loss of the homeworlds also provides the tragic flaw for FreeSpace 2 - the mistake that drives the story going forward. FreeSpace 2 is all about how the Terrans (and, to an extent, the Vasudans) learned the wrong lessons.

Remember this, it's important: after FreeSpace 1, the Shivans have taken our divinity from us. As long as the Shivans exist, we cannot be masters of the world.

Here's my thesis: FreeSpace 2 is a story in which the Terrans attempt to claim divinity from the Shivans by emulating and knowing them. But they fail and are cast down. When the story opens, we listen to the introductory narration and learn that the Terrans today call themselves 'the Lost Generation' and pine for Earth, a place which represents, to them, 'dreams of humanity everlasting.' They believe that by going home to Earth they can reclaim their mojo, their fire, their prowess. The Shivans have humbled and terrified them, made them realize that they are an insignificant spark in a cold vast cosmos, and only by reclaiming Earth can the Lost Generation overcome that fear.

This is the NTF: the strategic and political reification of the need to return to Earth and the need to know and master the Shivans. They stand opposed to the GTVA, which believes it can match the Shivans and reclaim lost godhood by defeating them.

Compare to the Vasudans, who did not suffer economic collapse during Reconstruction. Unlike the Terrans, the Vasudans do not want to reclaim their homeworld; they know they can never go back. Where the Terrans have turned backwards, the Vasudans look forward, and they are better for it. This is (thematically) why the NTF hates the Vasudans: alien and prosperous as they are, they threaten the NTF ideology by suggesting that success lies in abandoning the homeworld, accepting cosmic insignificance and working with it.

Then the Shivans arrive.

And we kick their asses! We've been preparing for this moment for 32 years, and we are ready. We have beam weapons to match theirs, superior fighters, superior tactics. The initial Shivan push is beaten back and we go on the offensive, ready, as one pilot says, 'to show them what firepower is all about.'

The NTF has made its statement: 'we must go home to be gods.' Now the GTVA makes its statement: 'we have learned to be gods. We are a match for the Shivans.'

Observe that the story here mimics FreeSpace 1. We meet the Shivans, hunt one of their smaller warships, and then find ourselves ambushed by a larger ship (the Ravana). It's like poetry, it rhymes. We take down the Ravana, and let me quote the reaction -

Without a doubt, the firepower to neutralize any Shivan threat.

The GTVA asserts that it is now a match for the Shivans. It can take the Shivans on their home turf, and win. The FreeSpace 1 story is happening again, but this time we're ready.

The NTF starts trouble back home, and we switch back to that storyline.

And now we reveal the Colossus. Why did the Alliance build an invincible supership? Because it wants the Lucifer. It wants to master the fear of the Lucifer by building something even bigger and better, something that shows the Shivans 'we are what you are, but more.' The Colossus symbolizes the strength of the Alliance just as the Lucifer symbolized Shivan power.

We roll over the NTF, mocking their argument that we have to go home to reclaim our godhood. Bosch slips through our fingers, though, into Shivan space. We chase him. The Bosch monologues are a hint of unease, so far...Bosch reflecting on the cycle of the galaxy, the hundreds of species the Shivans might have claimed before us, as if he knows something we don't. The NTF wants to reclaim godhood by going home (hiding, perhaps?), the GTVA wants to reclaim godhood by overmatching the competition, but Bosch believes the Shivans can deliver godhood.

Seeing our Colossus, the Shivans seem to ante with the Sathanas - and we know, from playing FreeSpace 1, that this is how it ends. The Shivans roll out their biggest, badass solitary warship, a titan to challenge the Colossus. Is our Lucifer better than their Lucifer? This is our entire strategy, our claim to godhead: we've made ourselves in the image of the Shivans. We use their beam weapons. We build our own Lucifer to be better than theirs. It has to be.

Of course it is. We win. We're better than the Shivans now. This is where FreeSpace 2 'meets' the end of FreeSpace 1, and stops echoing its predecessor.

Only we were wrong. We thought we understood the rules of the game, had the measure of Shivan strength, but we miscalculated terribly.

In the remainder of the story, everything goes off the traditional space opera rails. We were utterly wrong: supremacy isn't decided by a duel of invincible superships. The Sathanas is just one of many, more than we can comprehend. They have more Sathanases than we have corvettes. The GTVA argument for godhood-by-force is rebuked.

And the Shivans take Bosch. That doesn't make any sense! The Shivans never gave a poo poo about the Hammer of Light - why are they listening to Bosch? It's because he is the single, solitary voice in the story who recognizes that the Shivans cannot be defeated in competition, that we will never match and defeat them. He thinks we must make an alliance with them - like a cultist coming to accomodation with an Elder God, MrL_Jakiri would probably suggest.

But even Bosch seems unable to fully understand the Shivans. He looks forward to his crew boarding the Shivan transports and sailing to a bright future - but when we board the Iceni, we find a charnel house, most of the crew dead, Bosch and his lieutenants gone. Was there a misunderstanding? Or did Bosch fundamentally mistake the nature of the Shivans? Here the Bosch storyline concludes, with a firm declaration: the Shivans are intelligent, and they are not simply, purely hostile. They heard Bosch. But getting their attention is not the same as speaking to them. We learn that the Shivans are beyond our comprehension or communication, just as much as they are beyond our strength.

Bosch, too, is rebuked.

With the Bosch storyline concluded, and the GTVA effort to reclaim godhood in jeopardy, the remainder of the story concerns itself with the GTVA's new understanding. We go into the lion's den and glimpse more Knossos portals, more juggernaughts.

Wow, we think: we never had a chance. Our hubris led us to believe we were ready for anything, but we were terribly wrong. We must abandon our war for divinity and focus on survival.

In the end, we come up with a desperate plan to abandon Capella, hiding from the Shivans by burning jump nodes behind us. It's no accident that we plan to do to ourselves what the Lucifer's detonation did to Earth. Having spent 32 years planning to meet and defeat the Shivans, we must now discard all that effort, and realize that what we thought was a tragedy - isolation - may be the best possible outcome.

There's one last thematic twist, and it comes from the Shivans. With 80+ juggernaughts, they could wipe us out. But they don't. Instead, they destroy the Capella star. Why? What do they gain by this? We have no idea. We can only begin to guess.

By annihilating Capella when they might have annihilated all of humanity (and the Vasudans as well), the Shivans demonstrate their absolute, alien power. Not only can we not defeat them, we cannot understand them. Perhaps we survive for one reason only (thematically, at least): we have abandoned our claim to godhood.

Perhaps the Shivans defeat us not by wiping out our worlds but by humbling us. They don't need to send a Sathanas into every system, because their goal is not our annihilation; we passed that test 32 years ago. By destroying Capella, they destroy our hubris; remind us of our place in the cosmic order. They could have annihilated us, and could still.

Or maybe they're shepherding us. Maybe they're just a mindless, destructive force, operating on rules we can't understand. Maybe, as Petrarch speculates, they are exiles like us, and Capella was somehow an effort to go home...and here, I think, lies the final conclusion, the answer to the question of homecoming. In the destruction of Capella, in the face of this alien, capricious act, Petrarch can think only of going home. Given an alien act, he interprets it through a human lens.

That might be some kind of success. Or it might represent absolute failure: glimpsing the full emptiness of the night sky, and turning around to crawl back into our burrows.

The GTVA tried to seize godhood by force, and the Shivans rebuked them, demonstrating both their impossible strength and their unknowable intentions. Bosch tried to seize godhood by communication and alliance, but in spite of his prophetic confidence, the Shivans rebuked him too.

In FreeSpace 1, we move from petty conflict, into recognition of the true threat, into triumph through unity and derring-do. In FreeSpace 2, we begin in a state of triumph, ready to meet the Shivans, and gradually descend into the realization that we are not ready, that we know far less than we believed. The FreeSpace 1 Shivans aren't frightening, because in the end we beat them. The FreeSpace 2 Shivans are truly terrifying, not because they beat us, but because they suggest that they cannot be beaten.

Everything ties up at the end of FreeSpace 2. The plot might seem like it ends on a cliffhanger, but the story is completely resolved. We are not divinities yet, and we were arrogant to think so. Maybe it's time to go home. Maybe that's impossible.

You're absolutely mistaken if you think the ending was rushed or tacked on. It sums up the themes of the game perfectly. Things don't 'chug along nicely' and then suddenly 'supernova': everything in the game leads to that supernova, and it's foreshadowed as early as mission 4. Everything that happens leads to the ending we got, and nowhere else.

I can also tell you that you're certainly wrong about the game running out of time or money: V shipped it ahead of schedule and on budget, and to this day consider it the finest game they've ever made.

BadOptics posted:

Don't forget The Traitor Baru Cormorant!

He has a knack for writing stories that make you feel like someone just hit you in the dick with a sledgehammer.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:10

Rainbow Knight: Apr 19, 2006; We die.
We pray.
To live.
We serve

also if DS were in trouble there'd only be one direction it'd be coming from, where CIG is limited only by the imagination

at lease to those not in the know

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:11

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

BadOptics posted:

Don't forget The Traitor Baru Cormorant!

Which is a really enjoyable book, too! It's weird to look at it and be like 'I remember when he was just writing a cool Freespace mod...'

He's also written two short stories based on Blue Planet. Morrigan in the Sunglare and Morrigan in Shadow.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:11

blueberrysmith: May 4, 2006; Dirty Sanchez

Milky Moor posted:

I'm so close to the code but I've no idea how to even begin figuring out the last clue.

What is this magical technique for decrypting? Feels like it's not AES based. My curiosity is piqued!!

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:12

IrvingWashington: Dec 9, 2007; Shabbat Shalom; Clapping Larry

I understand why people are saying you think you want to know but you really don't. It's no longer a game now. It's kinda a lovely club to be in and I wish I'd just waited. Don't be like me.

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:13

peter gabriel: Nov 8, 2011; Hello Commandos

TTerrible posted:

loving lol @ Dolvak and DickWulf trying to play that game.

Yeah, I think you and I both know what the real reason is for that post, you know, *nudge nudge* the real reason, you with me? *wink*
Yeeeeeeaaahhhh

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:13

Vincent Van Goatse: Nov 8, 2006; Enjoy every sandwich.; Smellrose

Derek Smart?

Derek Smart.

DEREK SMART!

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:15

Thoatse: Feb 29, 2016; Lol said the scorpion, lmao

Palisader posted:

I decided not to think about Star Citizen all day, though I come back bearing gifts

I was hoping someone would finally spill the secret, whatever it happens to be, but y'all are being impressively poker faced about it.

Please stop whipping that poor kitty, Sandi, it's making me feel grief

You've made your point, you win, OK? I'll do anything, even buy more jpegs just please stop hurting that cute little catte

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:16

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 23:17

AP: Jul 12, 2004; One Ring to fool them all
One Ring to find them
One Ring to milk them all
and pockets fully line them; Grimey Drawer

Meanwhile at CIG.

https://twitter.com/banditloaf/status/716662250249932800

# ? Apr 4, 2016 00:16

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