Strange messages

davcefai · Post by **davcefai** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:09 pm

I have just received 2 strange messages on my comms link. Never seen these before:

Alus! Alus! Alus!

and

Ou! Ou! Ou!

Could anybody enlighten me as to what they are and mean?

Post by **Disembodied** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:28 pm

Well, Professor Google suggests that "alus" is Latvian for beer. No reason why there can't be Latvian speakers in Oolite! Don't know about "ou", though... maybe an interjection indicating general approval of the idea of beer?

I've never seen those comms messages before, though: did you get a chance to see who was/were sending them?

Captain Hesperus · Post by **Captain Hesperus** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:38 pm

davcefai wrote:
I have just received 2 strange messages on my comms link. Never seen these before:

Alus! Alus! Alus!
and

Ou! Ou! Ou!
Could anybody enlighten me as to what they are and mean?

Sounds Thargoid to me. Sometimes, I've received garbled messages like that from Thargoid ships shortly before they go 'flash-glingle-glingle-glingle' Target Lost...

Captain Hesperus

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:21 am

They really do run the glingle glingle glingle fairies ragged.

Anyway, yes, those are likely to be Thargoid messages. (There’s a one in four chance that they’ll give you a random word repeated three times; see “thargoid_curses” in descriptions.plist.)

davcefai · Post by **davcefai** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:18 am

Hmm!

There were no Thargoid ships in the vicinity and only one (clean) Python.

I zapped the Python "just in case" but it was a genuine trader so I toasted him in the bar later with a portion of the proceeds.

The messages had no sender tag, I searched my OXP folder for "Alus" and "Ou" - no hits.

If it happens again I'll post a screen-shot.

From my savefile:

<string>Anerma 2086372:05:25:38</string>
<string>Alus! Alus! Alus!</string>
<string>Ou! Ou! Ou!</string>
<string>Salvage Gang:</string>
<string> Check out our equipment store. We make you a good price!</string>
</array>

Wolfwood · Post by **Wolfwood** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:22 pm

Hmmm... "Alus" is Finnish for "ship" (space ship would be "avaruusalus")... Strangely fitting...

But I have no idea what "ou ou ou" is supposed to mean...

goran · Post by **goran** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:46 pm

Wolfwood wrote:
Hmmm... "Alus" is Finnish for "ship" (space ship would be "avaruusalus")... Strangely fitting...

But I have no idea what "ou ou ou" is supposed to mean...

Finally we know who Thargoids are! Crazy Finns!

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:46 pm

Hm. Are you implying that Finns are Insectoids? With their fear-glands removed?? (Okay, if I believe any Aki Kaurismäki-movie, they have certainly their consume-alcohol-sensibly-glands removed.

No offense meant.)

goran · Post by **goran** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:26 pm

It's the future, man. Who knows what excessive quantities of Salmiakki-Kossu can do in few generations.

Hoopy · Post by **Hoopy** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:33 pm

Have you never seen Finnish rally drivers driving in the snow? definite case of fear glands being removed!

FSOneblin · Post by **FSOneblin** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:45 am

hmm... well, according to the dashboard translator, Ou is french for or. Well, let's see, they may still have fear glands if there shouting for there ship to move. And how do you know if they have fear glands, have you ever disected one that has one and one does not?!?! They might be galcop assassins, or the federation trying to kill galcop! (Fronter is probley older than me, so there might be something wrong with that this sentens). This is madness!

Panic!: fsoneblin

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:30 pm

FSOneblin wrote:
And how do you know if they have fear glands, have you ever disected one that has one and one does not?!?!

Not me personally, but indeed, GalCop has.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:18 pm

FSOneblin wrote:
And how do you know if they have fear glands, have you ever disected one that has one and one does not?!?!

The Dark Wheel is a short Novella which was included in the original Elite box set, a must read for all new Ooliteers, it lays out a lot of the background and environment of the game itself.

From Chapter 6

Alex scanned the high walls for a hint of McGreavy's warehouse. As he did so he found himself standing behind two tall, violent-looking insect-forms, their bodies armoured in light grey, their facetted eyes swivelling to stare at him as they talked together, chelicerae clashing and clacking in their peculiar mode of communication.

Alex stepped away, heart beating, blood rushing to his head. Compound eyes, jointed limbs, head antennae, double cutting jaws . . .
Thargoids!
Here, on a space station!

Thargoids were deadly. Thargoid spacers had their fear-glands removed, and were considered to be the most effective and potent of humankind's enemies. The bounty for killing a Thargoid was huge, and for capturing and delivering the juvenile form, the Tharglet, to any Space Navy research centre, even greater.
What were they doing here?

Oolite Bulletins

Strange messages

Strange messages

Re: Strange messages