XU Forum Quest - Round 10

Post by **X2-Illuminatus** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 17:34

Hello, Community!

Welcome to the X-Universe Forum Quest, let us introduce this little project.

We would like to offer you a competition while you wait for X Rebirth to be released and thus play X3: Terran Conflict probably for the 1000th time. We're quite sure that you know the universe you're playing in by now and so we have come up with some riddles for you to solve. Your knowledge of the sectors, ships, stations as well as the history of X will be put to the test in this competition.

This competition is not just to pass the time until X Rebirth is released. We have great prizes for the winners and for one "Lucky Loser". So be sure to take part. Even if you don't win, you might be the lucky one that gets the special prize. Ensure that you read the rules below. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. We look forward to seeing how much you know about the X universe.

Rules:

All registered users of the EGOSOFT forums are permitted to participate with the exception of EGOSOFT staff members, administrators and members of the XU Forum Quest group.
Answers are only considered valid if submitted via email to [no more mails please] including your forum nick. Note that you should inform us if you change your nick, otherwise you risk losing your score.
Please use XU Forum Quest Round x (where x is the number of the current round) as the subject for your email entry.
If multiple entries are submitted by the same user then only the first one received will be considered valid.
If multiple users share the same score, those who have participated in more rounds will be ranked higher. Should both scores be the same, then the users will share the same rank.
If any user posts a solution to a question (right or wrong) in the forum, they may be excluded from that round and the answer will be removed.
A 'Lucky Loser' is to be randomly selected from the users that have participated in at least 42% of the rounds and who is not ranked among the top three users.

Prizes:

The winner receives a signed copy of X Rebirth, a Steam X-Superbox and a poster
2nd place gets a steam copy of both X Rebirth and X-Superbox
3rd place gets a Steam copy of X Rebirth
The Lucky Loser will also receive a steam copy of X Rebirth

Standings:

Standings can be looked up on the special off-site XU Forum Quest Standings

XU Forum Quest Round 10

Time limit for round: 26.01.2012 - 24:00 CET
Note: Participation will earn you 1 point, each correct encrypted message part is worth 2 points and each correct answered question 3 points. As you can see below the message consists of 3 parts (1, 2, 3). To get the 2 points per message part you have to include the complete decrypted message (part) into your email.

Striving for maximal security, the XUFQ-Questions are exclusively transmitted by message drones. The questions are encrypted and can only be decrypted with the right code. Unfortunately, even with our high security standards, one of our drones was intercepted by Xenon and we received only coded messages. That's why we ask you to help us decoding the messages.

We apologise for the inconvenience.

1)
01000001011101000110001001100001011100110110100000100000
01101001011100110010000001110100011010000110010100100000
011001100110100101110010011100110111010000100000
011100000111010101111010011110100110110001100101100100100111001100100000
01101011011001010111100100101110

Mvrgsvi hfm mli ortsg zmw z Ylilm gizfnz. Dsrxs hvxgli wl dv ollp uli?

2)
%52%6F%74%61%74%65%20%33%20%74%69%6D%65%73%20%74%6F%20%74%68%65%20%6C%65%66%74%2E%00
%41%6C%74%68%6F%75%67%68%20%68%65%20%6E%65%76%65%72%20%76%69%73%69%74%65%64%20%74%68%65%20%58%2D%55%6E%69%76%65%72%73%65%2C%00
%68%65%20%6D%69%67%68%74%20%62%65%20%74%68%65%20%6F%6E%6C%79%20%6F%6E%65%2C%00
%77%68%6F%20%6B%6E%6F%77%73%20%74%68%65%20%61%6E%73%77%65%72%3A%20%43%61%65%73%61%72%2E%00

WKH VHULHV JLYHV VRPH LQGLFDWLRQ RI D PLVVLQJ VHFWRU. ZKDW LV WKH QDPH RI WKH SULPDUB VWDWLRQ RI WKH PLVVLQJ VHFWRU? (534 – 596 – 597 – 472 – 347 – 598 – 023 – 695 – 627)

3)
111156040164150145040146157162165155040
066040156165155145162151143163040160157151156164040171157165040
151156040164150145040144151162145143164151157156040
157146040164150145040154141163164040161165145163164151157156056040
106151142157156141143143151040153156157167163040164150145040167141171056040
101163153040150151155040146157162040164150145040146151162163164040067040156165155145162151143163054040
142165164040146157162147145164040164150145040146151162163164056040

We wish you all the best of luck and hope for wide participation.

- The X-Universe Forum Quest Group

Email Template

Email to: [no more mails please]
Subject: XU Forum Quest Round x

Nickname: {insert here your forum user name}
Decrypted message part 1: {insert the decrypted message here}
Answer to Question 1: {insert your answer here}
Decrypted message part 2: {insert the decrypted message here}
Answer to Question 2: {insert your answer here}
Decrypted message part 3: {insert the decrypted message here}
Answer to Question 3: {insert your answer here}

NeverSnake · Post by **NeverSnake** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 20:17

I'm struggling with the third clue, I have it in plain text and understand what it refers to mainly but I'm struggling to apply it. Most of the interpretations I can think of either produce variable results or nothing. Can you confirm that it is working?

BigBANGtheory · Post by **BigBANGtheory** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 21:03

Easiest round so far IMHO, answers sent

grieger · Post by **grieger** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 22:55

@NeverSnake The clue works. I got a couple of odd characters but those didn't affect anything important. Just be sure you're on the right path... [Edit: wait, are you referring to the deciphering part or the actual question?]

@Anyone: I have a different question about #3. Do we do anything with the answer to the main question or is the answer it? Just wondering if I'm overthinking the answer or if it's really just that simple.

Post by **Ketraar** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 23:02

Asking if your guess is right is not the way to go, you'll have to figure it out your self.
Its a clue solving quest for a reason.

MFG

Ketraar

grieger · Post by **grieger** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 23:14

I wasn't asking if my guess was right. I wasn't guessing at anything. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't misunderstanding the actual question.

festa_freak · Post by **festa_freak** » Fri, 13. Jan 12, 23:55

Ugh...

*Find's ASCII table*

Kal Ryper · Post by **Kal Ryper** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 00:32

grieger wrote:@Anyone: I have a different question about #3. Do we do anything with the answer to the main question or is the answer it? Just wondering if I'm overthinking the answer or if it's really just that simple.

If you have decrypted the text, the first sentence is the important one ... and yes, there is an answer.

salking · Post by **salking** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 01:33

haven't participated in any of the earlier rounds but tried some of the questions for fun.

But now I'm completely stumped as to what the third clue refers to.
well it was fun while it lasted.

Aro · Post by **Aro** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 03:24

Oh right, forgot about this.

Yay for puzzles that aren't suduko.

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 14:50

Hardly fair having no clues for number 3! I can get the first to easily, but just don't understand what the format of the third one is. Sure, make the encoded question hard, but don't make it so we can't actually read the question.

EDIT: Ok, I've got it now. No idea what it's telling me to do though. XD I understand the numbers it's telling me to get but I don't know what to do with them!

EDIT2: Such an idiot. I did with the numbers what I thought you were meant to do and didn't notice the... thing. I noticed only the... thing it was put it. Facepalm.

But now I understand what some of you are saying.

Solving 3 gets you some code which yuo can do something with to get a question, but are we then meant to answer that last question as it seems rather... unanswerable.

StarTroll · Post by **StarTroll** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 15:18

Crypted massages are clearly part of those things my brain can't fandle, so I went a bit random there

BTW, I completely didn't even see the round 9 come around and we're on to 10 now.

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 15:24

Eurgh, really confused now.

So, I want clarifying:

By, for example, decrypted message for part 1 and answer for part 1, do you want the QUESTION then the ANSWER, or the CLUE LEADING TO TH QUESTION AND THE QUESTION, then the ANSWER, etc.

Specifically for number 3, are we supposed to answer that question with something silly that's been put somewhere? Or is the answer the question you're asking!?

And, finally, do we have to put it perfectly? For example, if a question was "What's the Argon M6", would "Centaur", "Argon Centaur", "The Argon M6 is the Centaur", etc. all be acceptable? The question ISN'T that, by the way!

Post by **X2-Illuminatus** » Sat, 14. Jan 12, 17:39

By, for example, decrypted message for part 1 and answer for part 1, do you want the QUESTION then the ANSWER, or the CLUE LEADING TO TH QUESTION AND THE QUESTION, then the ANSWER, etc.

The latter (the decrypted clue + the decrypted question and then the answer).

Specifically for number 3, are we supposed to answer that question with something silly that's been put somewhere? Or is the answer the question you're asking!?

Only serious answers, please. This is a serious Forum Quest.

And, finally, do we have to put it perfectly? For example, if a question was "What's the Argon M6", would "Centaur", "Argon Centaur", "The Argon M6 is the Centaur", etc. all be acceptable? The question ISN'T that, by the way!

As usual, the answer should be as clear as possible, but you don't have to say things twice.

NeverSnake · Post by **NeverSnake** » Sun, 15. Jan 12, 13:32

EmperorJon wrote:Specifically for number 3, are we supposed to answer that question with something silly that's been put somewhere? Or is the answer the question you're asking!?

If you need to examine someone's brain then I got there too, but I suspect it's a red herring.

I also got another question that reads like a crossword clue, but without anything further to pin down the answer it's too general to be the question we're looking for.

I keep wanting to put a mathematical interpretation on the clue but I suspect the correct one is either text or cypher based.

Lwerewolf · Post by **Lwerewolf** » Mon, 16. Jan 12, 06:19

X2-Illuminatus wrote:

Specifically for number 3, are we supposed to answer that question with something silly that's been put somewhere? Or is the answer the question you're asking!?
Only serious answers, please. This is a serious Forum Quest.

Biggest troll post ever (yup, got the question as well)

EDIT: I think I'll remain silent... O_O

Kahitar · Post by **Kahitar** » Mon, 16. Jan 12, 13:52

Zzzz.... i have no idea how the answer the 3. question.... Tried it about 5-6 hours but no succes...

Eisenkalle · Post by **Eisenkalle** » Tue, 17. Jan 12, 22:05

Finally I am through with no. 3...

NOW I HATE YOU ALL FOR THE (UNNECESSARY) EFFORTS! xD

Stil thank you for a really really tough quest, very enjoyable.

NeverSnake · Post by **NeverSnake** » Wed, 18. Jan 12, 01:02

Another day, and another unanswerable question found. At least I'm making a little progress, this one comes with an actual question mark rather than just an implied one.

Post by **Ketraar** » Tue, 24. Jan 12, 01:59

Just a heads up as to last 2 days left for this special round.

Its over on the 26th, so don't say we didn't remind you.

MFG

Ketraar

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

XU Forum Quest - Round 10

XU Forum Quest - Round 10

Re: XU Forum Quest - Round 10