How do you work out where Riftspace is?

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:00 pm

I've been doing a whistle-stop tour of the lower-left region of Evochron, jotting down the coordinates of the various planets, and I'm trying to figure out where the Riftspace portal/wormhole actually is.

I'm not entirely sure which planet to use for Orion (Prime or Delta) or Sirius (A or B), but I've gone with Prime and A as a guess. I plotted the coordinates on a graph in Excel and calculated an average for each X and Y, but the x-value seemed a little off-centre, so I corrected the average based on the fact that Rigel and Emerald had identical x-coords.

****SPOILER

****
(I'm only guessing here at the moment, but don't want to ruin things if you've not found the portal yet)

So, am I right in guessing that Riftspace is located somewhere around sector -2190, 0, -1675?
****ENDSPOILER****

If I'm wrong, are there any hints you can give me about how the circle center is found? I've read in the strategy guide that there's more to it than just averaging coordinates - do I have to build a circle that passes through all six planets, and then find the center of that circle? And if that's the case, what method did you use to work it out?

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:09 pm

Originally posted by Robert the Robot
I've been doing a whistle-stop tour of the lower-left region of Evochron, jotting down the coordinates of the various planets, and I'm trying to figure out where the Riftspace portal/wormhole actually is.

I'm not entirely sure which planet to use for Orion (Prime or Delta) or Sirius (A or B), but I've gone with Prime and A as a guess. I plotted the coordinates on a graph in Excel and calculated an average for each X and Y, but the x-value seemed a little off-centre, so I corrected the average based on the fact that Rigel and Emerald had identical x-coords.

****SPOILER ****
(I'm only guessing here at the moment, but don't want to ruin things if you've not found the portal yet)

So, am I right in guessing that Riftspace is located somewhere around sector -2190, 0, -1675?
****ENDSPOILER****

If I'm wrong, are there any hints you can give me about how the circle center is found? I've read in the strategy guide that there's more to it than just averaging coordinates - do I have to build a circle that passes through all six planets, and then find the center of that circle? And if that's the case, what method did you use to work it out?

you are about +600 of for SecX and about -370 for SecY this is for the Gate or Wormhole to Rift space!

I tried drafting in autocad circles around the triangles formed by the six systems and finding the Center formed by the triangle of the centers of these circle. I came pretty close 15 sectors of for the SX and 93 for the SY. Flew around for hours within this area and could not find it! Finnaly gave up and cheated, looked up the Coords in the data.txt file!LOL:P

[Edited on 4-5-2009 by Maarschalk]

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:04 pm

I seem to be way off target with the calculations, I'll have to have another look at the graph in Excel. Maybe I'll try using DBC to plot the planet points on screen and then try and fit a 2D circle to them. As long as I get within about 10 sectors of the portal, it should show up on scanner? Also, do you know how long it's likely to take to journey into Riftspace with a C5 Fulcrum drive (or don't I want to know?

)

It's rather amusing, actually, as all this reminds me of Asimov's "Foundation and Earth", where the main characters used the coordinates of the 50 Spacer worlds (which they guessed were spread in a rough circle around Earth) to track down the location of Earth. They got pretty close, landing in Alpha Centauri!

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:33 pm

Yes, I would find a mantis drive first. With this thing you can jump 10 sectors at a time, will take you 7 to 10 min about 6 to 7 jumps/min that is 60 jumps from the closest evochron system with a Mantis, 120 with a C5 Jump drive! 600 jumps with a C1 jump drive if you want to take the scenic route!lol:P:P:P

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:03 am

I found it!

(And after some new calculations it was only twelve sectors from where I figured the fulcrum gate would be!)

I don't have any CAD programs, so I just fiddled about with a graph in Excel. I just averaged the coordinates for the star systems that form a circle (discounting Thuban) and then used some kind of proportional offset to calculate the effect of Thuban. Not quite sure how I managed it all, but it did work!

I wish I had found a Mantis drive when I started the journey to Riftspace, it took me about 40 minutes to get there and cost a fortune in fuel, but it was worth it - one of the wormholes led right into Earth. I shelled out 7million credits for a mantis drive, and paid for it by running Fulcrum torpedoes from Jupiter back to Earth.

I'll now be heading back to Riftspace soon (after picking up a fleet in Alpha Centauri) so I can make my way into Vonarion and pick up the rest of the beacon quest. I can't wait!

[Edited on 4-7-2009 by Robert the Robot]

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:06 am

Originally posted by Robert the Robot

I'll now be heading back to Riftspace soon (after picking up a fleet in Alpha Centauri) so I can make my way into Vonarion and pick up the rest of the beacon quest. I can't wait!

Tons of fun is awaiting you, best part of the beacon quest, good flying...

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:52 am

Good luck, have a good journey!, Wonders await you!;),

Venus · Post by **Venus** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:34 pm

I was shown riftspace first time I went in MP. Now I'm beginning to wish I I'm curious...didn't know it, as it looks alot of fun working it out.

I'm doing the beacon quest myself, n am at the part where I have to find my way to riftspace... well that's easy... but I don't want easy. It says follow the renegade beacon quest, but gives no clue to where to start it. Just goes on about how to find beacon 9 in vonari. Could someone drop a hint on where 1st beacon of renegade quest is?

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:59 pm

Hi Venus, do a search in the Renegades forum for first beacon, from the beginning.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:14 pm

Originally posted by Venus
I was shown riftspace first time I went in MP. Now I'm beginning to wish I I'm curious...didn't know it, as it looks alot of fun working it out.

I'm doing the beacon quest myself, n am at the part where I have to find my way to riftspace... well that's easy... but I don't want easy. It says follow the renegade beacon quest, but gives no clue to where to start it. Just goes on about how to find beacon 9 in vonari. Could someone drop a hint on where 1st beacon of renegade quest is?

Search in the Saphire System!;) first one is on a Planet!;)

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:32 pm

Warning: Loads of possible spoilers below!!!

OK, I did go back to Riftspace (hired a fleet and then had every single ship vanish when I engaged my mantis jump drive:D) and I've now completed the beacon quest, but I can't help feeling I'm missing something major. Aside from all the wormhole links, I did stumble across an uncharted station in Riftspace itself, with dozens of Vonari ships swarming round - a nice refuel/repair stop, and very lucrative if you're carrying certain cargoes.

Vonarion itself was eerily quiet - except when I was near the Alliance outpost, when there were dozens of Vonari on my tail (it put a severe dent in my shields, I can tell you!). Then at the end of the quest, I flew through the black hole and found Andromeda - but again it's strangely empty. There is a black hole leading to a system near Pearl, and a funny little space station that sends me to Rigel when I activate my tractor beam.

I just wanted to ask, is that really all there is? There were hints about Andromeda containing more than was charted, but I can't find anything (admittedly I couldn't cruise for too long as my ship's fuel was running dangerously low and I couln't load the fuel converter from the carrier.) I must admit, being in another galaxy I did have a few hopes of finding a few alien vessels - if the Vonari had marked this region of space on its Fulcrum Drive, they must have had some reason to highlight it as valuable!

[Edited on 4-8-2009 by Robert the Robot]

Post by **Vice** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:05 pm

Couple of things. You've only used a certain something for 1/4 of its capacity. How close did you examine the other objects near it? How far out from the Vonari homeworld did you explore?

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:41 pm

I totally had the wrong idea working out where the gate was. I drew a map.

I drew it on graph paper, then I drew lines connecting between the different systems. At the end of this, I got something like a triangle, so I figured the system would be somewhere in there.

I hadn't thought of averaging the values because the + suggested some kind of intersection of some kind, so I imagined the intersection of the systems.

However, working out the averages of the coordinates might have worked, though Vice says that you must also take the sides into account, which means, if you want to take the average of every point on every side between every system, you're doing calculus, and I never did very well in calculus.

Jimac · Post by **Jimac** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:20 am

Spoiler Alert.....

Nigel you don't need calculus or a map. Imagine a rectangle that all the systems in the clue would fit in. Its in the centre of that...just a bit of arithmetic needed.

Daedalao · Post by **Daedalao** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:17 am

This is from when I was playing renegades, and it was close, but not close enough. (Spoiler text from a u2u w/ verbosity)

Definitely spoiler material beyond this point...

"My thought is that it's a list of the first letter of a group of systems

Emerald, Lambda, Thuban, Orion, Sirius, Rigel.
I've taken the SX and SZ coordinates, and averaged them out, assuming the [+] has something to do with finding the center. And maybe my math is screwy. I'm coming up with the following

SX = -1825
SZ = -1675

"

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:26 pm

@Vice
Thanks for the advice! I see what I've been missing in Vonarion, it's been quite exciting to explore the surrounding sectors. (I won't say too much in case I spoil it for others, but the Alliance military have an awful lot going on!)

"You've only used a certain something for 1/4 of its capacity. How close did you examine the other objects near it?"
Just out of interest, were you talking about Vonarion or Andromeda here? Andromeda still un-nerves me with it being so empty, but I feel sure there'll be a station somewhere - the news console keeps teeling me about changes in the local market conditions! I'll have to explore some more...

@Jimac
The Riftspace portal is simply at the centre of a rectangle? I just can't believe it was that easy - but then, if there's a hard way of doing something, I'm the one to find it...

Post by **Vice** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:43 pm

Andromeda.

Robert the Robot · Post by **Robert the Robot** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:51 am

Ah, I see!!! That was clever - very sneaky, but very impressive. It's a handy set of shortcuts around Evochron, but now I'm wondering - if there are five ways ouf of Andromeda, is there a shortcut to get you into Andromeda?

I really will have to explore some more - this game just never ceases to astonish and amaze, it's absolutely fantastic!

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:54 am

Originally posted by Robert the Robot
Ah, I see!!! That was clever - very sneaky, but very impressive. It's a handy set of shortcuts around Evochron, but now I'm wondering - if there are five ways ouf of Andromeda, is there a shortcut to get you into Andromeda?

I really will have to explore some more - this game just never ceases to astonish and amaze, it's absolutely fantastic!

If there is a shortcut I want to know about it! But I think nobody has found one yet other then jumping trough the Wormhole in Vonari Space!:P