Redesigning our Main Page for better navigation is on my To-Do list.
(Most wikis' main pages lead off with a brief introductory blurb and then lots of neatly organized navigation links, while ours leads off with a sea of introductory text that links to external sites and then beneath that has only six basic nav links. I once redesigned the main page of another fanwiki that had a similar problem.)
Reading through this reminded me how awesome this event was. I was literally sticked to my computer, rulebook in hands, trying (and failing...!) to decipher the clues and being amazed at the amount of story unfolding. Thanks for the summary, very well done!
I pretty much gave up trying to help after pointing out that the screens in the intervention screenshot were different colours, mainly because I couldn't keep up and had to work during the event.
INTERVENE CLUE: One card's flavor text was never examined.
Awesome! For the missing E, at the end (or beginning in the real thing) says after some still high-pitched gibberish: "Hey! Where's my…" and trails off. Any flavor texts with that?
Well:
-Expatriette, Freedom Five #763
"We have got to work on Aminia's communication skills…"
-Tachyon, Administrative Assassin #4
Beginning of the end: "We're too late. It's already in Megalopolis. And I don't think we can stop it." -The Wraith, Freedom Five #767
-Chrono-Ranger, Draw!
Between the Lines: "Good! Now, five centimetres to the left...perfect. Hit it." Parse, Freedom Five #607
Don't Dismiss Anything: "What I want to find is the truth. What are you looking for?"Reveal the Flaws: "There! Run to the center! It's now or never!" Parse, Freedom Five Annual #29
We also have the references that "The Child is the Center."
(Note: I'm beginning to really hate someof the lack-of-control to text formatting here.)
Is it to do with the fact that the centre image on the top row is progeny?
OK. Hmm…what about the flavor text on Mega-Computer itself?
"All the human knowledge and computation power joined in one machine..." --Tachyon, Freedom Five Annual #51We know the intervene clue's answer will "point towards the eventual solution," which is to say, HARBINGER. But it won't actually be HARBINGER.
I'll noodle on this…
Also of note: The letters of INTERVENE are on different heights. Looks like there are three or four different ones--and there are four lines of text on the Mega-Computer's flavor text. Hmm:
"All the human knowledge
and computation power joined
in one machine..."
-Tachyon, Freedom Five Annual #51
Just a note Mega Computer flavor text issue is Freedom Five # 5 not 51
...not on my phone app, it isn't.
Oh, there's the apophenia! Clue or just weirdness?
Just weirdness. It's something I've reported to Handelabra and apparently is now the longest standing bug
Ah, thank you. Still, I can't help but think that the key is in the Mega-Computer's flavor text.
Hahaha well...that'd explain it!
For most of the ARG, I was working from this doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F-4drbJyXUWxFg_EzzBsrprzPciAtRdZZLyUStl3abI/edit
I had my full copy of Sentinels (and used it from time to time for art-based things) but for most of the stuff that relied on specific words and flavor text, I was using that doc.
As I was, I accidentally got Micro Targeting Computer and Mega Computer's flavor texts mixed up. No one solved it because it was an unsolvable clue! Sorry, all.
(If you look at Micro Targeting Computer's flavor text instead, you'll see the key I was talking about.)
Flavor text from Micro Targetting Computer
>
"Every instrument is designed to combat crime and snare its perpetrators."
-The Wraith, Mystery Comics #214
And now it's clear: I is brown (6), N is gray (7), T is green (9), E is yellow (1), R is orange (4), V is blue (2): they are the positions of those letters per the Rulebook Code in that flavor text.
I'll update the chronicle here and on the WIki.
Well, I updated it here, but I don't have a Sentinels Wiki account--maybe later.
Can you add a post with the update since edits don't always show up?
Sure. This appears at the end of Cover 2: Harbinger...
UPDATE: April 19, 2017, 2000 EDT: As you see below, this post spurred a new interest in solving the unsolved puzzles. In the process it was discovered that the "Intervene" puzzle was in fact unsolvable! The intent of the puzzle had been to demonstrate the relationship between Rulebook Code color and position of a character in a given flavor text, but due to a juxtaposition in notes, the flavor text Hayward believed was on Mega-Computer was in fact on Micro-Targeting Computer.
Reading that flavor text, the solution is obvious: I is brown meaning 6, N is gray (7), T is green (9), E is yellow (1), R is orange (4), V is blue (2)...and those numbers are the positions of those letters in that flavor text.
Yr. Hmbl. believes that had the flavor text been matched properly, this puzzle might have been solved at this time and shown as further proof that mackcrockett was on the right track. At the same time, it's possible that because the connection between flavor text and Rulebook Code position was clear, it might have been skipped over. If so, it almost certainly would have been discovered during "Break Time."
This write-up is fantastic, and reminded me how awesome the game was! Thanks for reliving some good times.
I'll say it again, grysqrl deserves "MVP!"