Ancient dial-a-room thingo

Note from the last game. Smiley faces are for the top 5 buttons. White ☺ is off, black ☻ is on. The Diamond ♦ shapes are for the stones. ↨ is for neutral, ↑is for out, ↓ is for in. ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↓ HAZY ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↓ Fluctuating ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↓ Translucent - Room with iris valves. ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↓ HAZY ☻ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Translucent - Room with iris valves - one welded open. SYSTEMATIC (all stones out) ☺☺☺☺☻1 lights off dim - something floating. ☺☺☺☻☺2 space - damaged sphere. ☺☺☺☻☻3 damaged, dim, partially destroyed. ☺☺☻☺☺4 partial damaged. Iris valves. (same as ☺☺☺☺☺) ☺☺☻☺☻5 partial partially destroyed ☺☺☻☻☺6 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - STAR FISH ROOM stack of paneles. Device floating in centre of room. Metal starfish. Projecting constelations of light. spare parts for teleport doors? 29 lighs. One lit brighter than the rest. 4 have some kind of data tag. Iris valve near portal (couldn't see it through portal from cube room). ☺☺☻☻☻7 Machinery. Piping goes into wall. Connected to device that ... ☺☻☺☺☺8 Lit. 4 iris valves. One valve looks deeply scratched. ☺☻☺☺☻9 poorly lit. Lab? Machinery. ☺☻☺☻☺10 Broken device on the floor. Leg stands. Pieces of large crystal? ♦ ↓ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↓ Broken device on the floor. Leg stands. Pieces of large crystal? ☺☻☺☻☻11 Destroyed. ☺☻☻☺☺12 3 iris valves. ☺☻☻☺☻13 -----? ☺☻☻☻☺14 -----? ☺☻☻☻☻15 Robot droyne. ☻☺☺☺☺16 Translucent - Room with iris valves - one welded open. ☻☺☺☺☻17 cold sleep. ☻☺☺☻☺18 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bridge & Computers? ☻☺☺☻☺19 -----? ☻☺☻☺☺20 -----? ☻☺☻☺☻21 ------? ☻☺☻☻☺22 -----? ☻☺☻☻☻23 Generator room - many broken. At least one working. Warning signs in red. ☻☻☺☺☺24 -----? ☻☻☺☺☻25 ♦ ↓ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↓ Vibrating empty sphere Middle stone N ☻☻☺☻☺26 -----? ☻☻☺☻☻27 Ice - maybe food storage? ☻☻☻☺☺28 -----? ☻☻☻☺☻29 Machines and a control console. ☻☻☻☻☺30 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Suspected main computer ☻☻☻☻☻31 -----?

I thought the full-neutral test was the one that fluctuated. Bob, can we get a verified list of tests and results?

Yeah confirmation would be great. I'm pretty sure I got it right but I'm still a bit unsure about the states of the portal. At first I noted a different state for all combinations, but later put descriptions like "black and hazy" and "opaque" as one state - which may have been a mistake?

Looks like you have it right based on the last session

Charoux’s current operating theories, which, admittedly, may not live up to the data... The stones are an inverted 3D Compass Rose; the small buttons select a room, and the stones select what angle that room is presented from. The stones are a 3D Compass Rose; the small buttons select a room, and consecutive presses of the big button iterate from one room to the next in the direction set by the stones from the selected room.

Any theories about how the compass would work? Maybe 1st stone : Up=North, Neutral=middle of the room, Down=south? ... and so on?

Yeah, that’s the basic idea with regards to the 3D compass concept... In order to figure out which axis is which, we’d need the same point of comparison. For instance, if we saw the same welded-open hatch from both sides, and could recognize it as the same hatch, we’d know we were iterating. If we saw the same hatch from the same side but a different angle, we’d know it was the same room from a different angle. Unfortunately, we haven’t been given any indication at all that anything has been the same from one setting to the next. Bob, do the various views genuinely have nothing in common? One view in 90˚ to another probably aught to at least have a third of the view in common... I could swear that we tried all stones on neutral, resulting in a fluctuating portal; which, if true on any button setting, could be an indication that we’re dealing with an inverted compass rose looking in, since full-neutral, specifying no direction from the outside, would be an error. For the iterator version, being at a corner of the ship, with lots of invalid options, would generate a lot of “door not here” errors.

I will state that as is in Alby's diagram that yes a stone or stone was set in neutral creating this fluxing doorway portal versus the hazy or transparent that you saw. I will also clarify that you know from the visual inspection the two iris valve rooms you have observed look very different from one another.

Bob, please keep in mind that puzzle solving only works when the inputs and the results are consistently correct; otherwise, people have no chance to match cause with effect; so, if there are any mistakes in Alby’s description, please let us know.

Bob W. said: I will state that as is in Alby's diagram that yes a stone or stone was set in neutral creating this fluxing doorway portal versus the hazy or transparent that you saw. I will also clarify that you know from the visual inspection the two iris valve rooms you have observed look very different from one another. Did I get the 4th one right? ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ♦ ↓ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↓ HAZY This one has the middle button in the neutral position. Would that be a fluctuating one or a hazy one? I may have noted that down incorrectly.

(( At some point during the musing over the control panel, Kayleb makes a point... )) C'mon, you humans should be able to figure this out. The Ancients were all humans after all ....

((Right after Kaylebs message)) "The Ancients groomed Vargr's into sentience, shouldn't you be able to understand some of their thought processes?"

((smirks a bit at the workd "groomed")) Yeah I just figured you "groomers" would be beating a groomee like me when it comes to your own tech.  

Alby all of your diagrams that you did in opening this thread are correct.

((In reply, almost defiantly)) touché

Bob, thanks for double-checking.

Mid-session, the portal room goes a bit wonky, resetting, and bringing up random rooms; we’ll need to make sure half of the party stays in the portal room, to keep an exit secure. ☻ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Cold Sleep Chambers; not checked if occupied. ☻ ☺ ☺ ☻ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Bridge and/or Computers ☻ ☻ ☺ ☺ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↨*Note: Legitimate addresses here. ♦ ↑ Vibrating empty sphere ☺ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Room apparently filled with robot Droynes ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Suspected Main Computer. ☻ ☻ ☻ ☺ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Machines and a Control Console. ☻ ☻ ☺ ☻ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Large storage container capsule, ice, probably food storage. ☻ ☺ ☻ ☻ ☻ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ Generator Room; many generators busted, at least one working; warning signs in red. ☺ ☻ ☺ ☻ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↨ ♦ ↑ Same room as: ☺ ☻ ☺ ☻ ☺ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ ♦ ↑ All binary button values possibly consecutive to the welded-open iris valve have been tried; either consecutive rooms require manipulating the stones, or not all consecutive rooms can be reached by button values alone.  Actually, I think I botched trying to account for Endianness there; there are still potentially consecutive values. I’m getting seriously tempted to break out MiniZinc and treat it as a combinatorical math problem. ^_^; Bob, these iris valves, what angle are they with respect to one another?

I've edited the previous results post with the systematic searching of rooms that we carried out. We got up to 12 out of the 32 possible combos.

Edited first post to include Charoux's ... random button mashing? Also included the capsules we haven't tried yet. these iris valves, what angle are they with respect to one another? If I remember Bob's in game description correctly, the iris valves look a little like this(?) So if the head of the "pentagram" was a portal, the other points had an iris valve. Some have fewer than 4 valves ... I think? ( is that right Bob? )

That is what I was trying to get across yes for the rooms with 4 iris valves.