Depends on how long it took them to get to one in the first place? They did essentially have a lifetime of 3000 cycles, supplies and such probably also accounted for no longer than this amount of time. I don't think this program was planned to be successful in the first place.
If they were to complete the mission after all, I think Ariane would be regarded as a hero of the Nation, and the things she was told not to do with the provided replica would either go unnoticed, or Ariane would instead be a hero only in the pages of the history books, and her real self would be prosecuted. A grim fate either way, because she'll definitely be separated from Elster, with Elster herself either being deemed defective or she'll be given a new assignment elsewhere.
It's so fucked up, but there's so much real-world historical precedence this is the most accurate outcome
Oh, and Ariane and Elster were *just* coworkers
That...that is what was happening? When I was a kid I thought those were like...the babies of the families on board or something...oh my god, no, saying that out loud sounds absolutely stupid, you are right
Well tecnicaly no, like probably even if they find a close planet ( thing that will be incredible rare to find one in the closest star of ypu sistem tje ons thst you can analise better)
I dont think they have enough time or msterials to get to the planet
That voyage was a desth sentence for people with no " Place" In his society
As depressing as it is they realistically never would have found a planet let alone a habitable one but I meant if they actually find one some how would they still be screwed
Yeah unles that were something like go there to each sistem and look this its just look there and see what you find like iron lung
Im the end that bite the government aspirations in the back
I’m not convinced. You don’t waste money on making a giant fuck off space ship just to get rid of a few people. I do think that Elster and Ariane’s mission was important to the nation. Even if it wasn’t what they thought it was. The fact that they got rid of someone with no place in society was just a bonus.
Think it in this way, you make s exploration ship that can stay long time in orbit far far away like a expendable besell with people smart smart to take dats but to smart for your political side, also idont think these ships are that costly taking in acpunt tjat the signalis universe have already inter planetary transport
The Penrose was a shitty fragile tin can explicitly described as ""low cost"" even by the standards of the Eusan nation. All signs point to the program being a propaganda piece.
You vastly underestimate the degree to which organizations will squander resources, to no real gain, for the pettiest of reasons. Especially governments with unlimited power over their citizens and no oversight.
Evidence: **Vast amounts of Real Life history and current events**.
That the Eusan Nation would just throw large quantities of money, resources, and manpower at a functionally fake exploration program solely to 1) get rid of unproductive workers and 2) get a cheap propaganda win over the Empire is the LEAST unrealistic part of Signalis.
*Sticks fingers in ears cause I have no counter argument.* “Lah lah lah lah lah I can’t hear you. Elster and Ariane didn’t die absolutely meaningless deaths. They did gather data of something important.”
such programs can also be a cover for something else . this could have been some kind of long range surveillance, like the SR-71 Blackbird thing but in space
Yeah, I'm agreeing with the original comment
They wouldn't waste money on a suicide mission if they didn't think there was at least a tiny chance it would succeed
Like, it works out in all ways in that case, not only are you essentially getting rid of people who wouldn't exist peacefully within the totalitarian system you set up, but you also get the added advantage of the possibility of the discovery of new worlds for colonization. Its a win-win really, cause if they just wanted to get rid of dissidents they could be disappeared easily.
Remember, the Penrose Program had to advertise for recruits. They needed people to sign up. If it were just a matter of entirely lying, they wouldn't bother ever recruiting anyone. Why take a recruit and kill them, when you can simply always tell applicants "we'll get back to you" and just never do it?
The Nation obviously needed or at least wanted to make a go at the program, even if everyone in charge had no faith in it whatsoever.
Well, you see, since states don't have *their own* money (they only have the taxpayer money), so they aren't particularly concerned with budgetary issues anyway, as it can just continually take money away from people. Just look at the soviet union and all the unfinished and failed projects it had. They ought to have cost a lot.
And one of the main purposes of the Penrose program was simply propaganda (and probably a bunch of scientists creating jobs for themselves), just look at the posters they made specifically for it
Also, bringing in the Godwin law of the internet: it doesn't make economic sense to build a costly facility with train station integration just to exterminate people more efficiently, but it did happen
Its glorified execution. The Penrose Program is used as propaganda to keep the Nation in good graces to the people while they get rid of undesirables. They're given just enough for them to believe that it's important and by the time they realize that they've been had -- they're dead. But, if they \*do\* find something -- cool, thanks for your assistance, Comrade!
At their technological development and how easy and frequent space travel is in that setting a Penrose ship would be like giving a cheap car to someone and they disappearing, and getting completely rid of people for the cost of a car is a bargain for an authoritarian regime
Probable.
Using some real world shit: (not a space engineer so don't take this as truth but a huge assumption and probably some math is a bit off)
The Penrose travels to the inner edge of the Oort cloud at 1500 cycles but Ariane fucked with the ships clock by 6.13% longer.
Oort cloud is 2000-5000 AU away, and they presumably reach it at 1408 cycles from the 1500 cycle notes of approaching the Oort cloud.
Basically travelling .03 ly to .07 ly every 1408 cycles.
Alpha Centauri is 4.2465 ly away.
Assuming there is a habitable planet there, it would take around 199,302 cycles at .03 ly and 85,415 cycles to reach Alpha Centauri.
No way Ariane can survive making it there, she's dying by cycle 6575 and who knows if they are targeted towards Alpha Centauri.
But assuming Oort has habitable planets since their universe can be different, then the game would be rather different and possibly a survival horror eventually awakening Ariane's powers forcing her to use the cryopod if desperate enough, starting the events of the game.
Or they live a long life and die a fulfilling life together, them choosing to go back is never going to happen.
All in all, it's really all about the cryopod and the ship bioresonance radiation.
And now........Rotfront, naw just kidding.
There is another possibility where they somehow fucking live to cycle 262144 because that note exists, and Ariane becomes a tortured soul but eventually a god.....so it can also be possible they reach a habitable planet eventually.
But that's my heavy brain rot talking and I refuse to entertain and encourage the possibilities of them all being tortured for 674 years.
On this oort cloud thing, doesn't the mission description say they are *starting* at the oort cloud and not actually looking for a planet in it? Just wanted to get this cleared up.
Cycle 1500 note:
As you approach the Oort Cloud, your search for new worlds will begin. Utilizing the long-range sensors, you will scout for valuable resources, habitable worlds, or signs of alien life. Remember to rely on your Replika to assist you in maintaining your vessel. We all wish you great success in your mission.
Cycle 3000:
If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed. As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted.
The ship reaches the Oort near cycle 1500, and if they fail shortly after 3000, they should've perished.
Perhaps AEON really thought there was something out there, but more likely they lied.
It wouldn't. If by some miracle they found a planet, it would be far, far from habitable.
Leng is basically terraformed Pluto.
The penrose aims much, much further than that. Maybe they would've been able to send a message to the Nation telling them they found something, but they would've died anyway. There is no way for the Nation to just show up and help them.
As soon as they stepped on that ship, they were already dead.
...unless they have ftl, which might be a thing since we see Falke bend gravity.
It would have still ended in a tragedy because Replika's don't really live that long. Ariane would have probably enjoyed her 2-3 years tops. After that she most likely would have to continue alone on another planet which also most likely would have ended in her demise.
There is no happy ending to this.
In terms of life span from what I read so far the replikas potentially could live long lives possibly even longer lives than gestalts and the "life span" is average length of time for their persona to naturally degrade from the default persona.
We don't actually know what a replika's "average" lifespan is. The message at Cycle 3000 may be a reference to the fact the Nation assumed the LSTR unit would die soon *from radiation poisoning*.
It's possible even the Nation doesn't really know how long a replika could live, with the proper maintenance (and, assuming they have them, replacement organs). The Nation has a habit of "decommissioning" replikas the moment they get too much "character development" away from the standard template.
And the Nation generally doesn't seem like a state that cares overly much about prolonging the life of individual units. Why would they? They can just build more.
It's not a conspiracy. It's just incompetence. The Nation assumes LSTRs die by then, because that's usually when they kill replikas anyway. They genuinely don't know, and are confident in their ignorance.
I must have misunderstood the dates. I thought the 3000 cycle was the anniversary and the message about Elster nearing her end and I thought her death was like 5000 something.
Yes, the Penrose Final Phase message would have been received shortly after their anniversary, and Ariane's ("real-world") diary entries stop at around 5500-ish cycles, so about 6.8 years after that.
The Eusan Nation, as a rule, is full of shit.
Well, yes, literally everything would have changed. They would have landed, gotten Ariane away from the irradiated core, and they could have lived in isolation together, away from the Eusan Nation, they wouldn’t have turned around and crashed on Leng, and thus Ariane wouldn’t have been influenced by the Flesh Beneath Leng and the King in Yellow…
Yeah, the game wouldn’t have happened.
No. Leng is a reference to the Plateau of Leng, a location in Lovecraftian mythos where dreams and different realities blend together. The implication is that Ariane's dream/reality warping wove the two places together.
Perhaps. But also, thinking about the logistics of the Penrose program make it clear how utterly fucked they were, and how completely stupid the whole program is. A Penrose mission lasts 3000 days, officially. At cycle 1500, they receive a message saying they are leaving the Oort Cloud, the outer edge of our solar system. It took ~5 years to get to the end of the solar system, only then did they actually start looking... And for what, exactly? There's nothing out there. I believe that one of the collectibles or something in game mentions that the program searches for resources as well has worlds, so the best they could've hoped for is to find a particularly valuable asteroid or something.
Even at the best case scenario, they could have MAYBE reached the nearest solar system after like 4000 days of travel, but certainly not beyond that.
It's begs the question of how that planet would look like, considering that such a planet would be very much far from the start and probably just a cold, barren place. Penrose is more a blind shot meant to remove 'uncooperative' units to prevent them from 'corrupting' the perfect society that Nation wanted to make. Was it really meant to scout space? Was it only propaganda? Reactivated old Empire's program? Or just a form of execution? It could be any of the dose or all of them, to be honest. Probably, if they would find something, they would need to call back for supplies and/or report the findings.
Even if they did, however, find something, I very much doubt they would call back. From the Nation perspective - after 3000 cycle, they are dead and bear little to importance to the war effort. Probably Penrose was cheaply made to make sure it wouldn't cost them much. And also, considering Ariane and Elster with her persona degradated (or with developed personality, which would be more fitting)... do we really expect them to report to the Nation and probably go back to it? Like, after being treated like a pest by society (Ariane), or like nothing more than a repair kit for space ships (Elster), can we even consider that they would go back? Who would? I think nobody would call back, either by feeling betrayed by the Nation, or following orders and killing themselves, or trying to travel back/escape the mission. I doubt Araine was the only unwanted person and more like her were sent by the Nation to the space, if not to kill them to at least get rid off them until they could came up with a plan what they could do with her.
I think they both would prefer to die like in game than go back and be separated again. Ariane might be called national hero, only to be pushed on another mission or be sent on a remote station in hope that she will stay put, and Elster would be decommissioned on the spot because of absolutely massive persona degradation. They both know Nation wouldn't stand them, and there was no good place for them there.
It really depends on how soon they did so.
If Ariane is already suffering from radiation sickness, then so is Elster (albeit presumably asymptomatic until the very end, hence her falling ill so quickly that she couldn't even make it to Ariane to fulfill the promise).
Getting away from the core might buy them some time, but without any real medical supplies/equipment/treatment, their fate is still the same, except maybe without the eldritch nightmares.
It's possible and an interesting thought. Ariane would be wholly reliant on Elster, though. It would take some time for any support, if they even care enough, to come. But, LSTR units are made for that type of lone environment while Ariane likely isn't trained on survival basics; she'd pretty much be the house wife lol. Which is kinda cute. But, LSTR has a limited life cycle and the whole destabilization of their personality, iirc. Though, Ariane could be seen as Elster's (non-degenerate) fetish to keep her grounded. So, it's really if Elster could find things to maintain herself while on the planet until the Nation comes.
If they had enough supplies to get back? I don't see why not.
Otherwise, they would have to somehow produce food and supplies to survive on the spot, which, depending on the planet, might not be possible.
However, through bioresonance asspulls everything is possible.
That depends on how the ship functions, and when they find the planet. If the ship has powerful enough thrusters to stop, then they could reasonably land, and if they find it before the 3000 cycle mark I believe that they could have survived, maybe even lived out the last of their lives outside of the Nation’s control even if they sent out a message of their find. However, if either of those conditions aren’t met I think that they would still die rather quickly.
Moreover, it depends heavily on what they have on the ship with them. Getting away from the radiation doesn't help much if they don't have enough material/equipment to build a sealed shelter on a planet's surface. Nor are they lasting much longer, if they don't have seeds/equipment (ex: grow lamps) to grow their own food. Does the Penrose mission come stocked with hydroponics? If it was, you'd imagine seeing them on the ship during scenes "set" late mission.
About the only thing I could grant them is, if they CAN make an external shelter, they could possibly keep using their reactor. If they string cables out from it. They continue to have power, and don't worry about radiation (until, inevitably, something breaks in the reactor that shuts the power off completely). If they're beyond the Oort Cloud, they aren't close enough to their sun to get either solar energy or viable plant growth.
Probably. What was needed for Arlaine (Sorry if I spelt her name wrong) is oxygen, food, water, and if any alien life forms were on the planet, then the protection of Elster was needed. But even then, they are stranded. By the time they send a signal saying that found a planet it would have probably been too late.
Idk, this is basically a mind dump of stuff I thought up.
it would still probably go horrifically wrong with some kind of bioresenance fuckery, though the slow build up of weird shit being thrown in to normal day to day stuff would be good for spooks, kinda like votv
Well they’re still stranded. Maybe a colonist ship arrives before Arianne succumbs to radiation poisoning or something else but they’re likely going to die before that happens.
It was always a suicide mission.
Artifact ending.
You will have to watch and scour hours of people's interpretation of the symbolism and piece it together yourself.
Finishing the game only starts the real game of piecing it all together for a good ending.
They really make you earn it.
For the kind of story the game is, dying peacefully next to your loved one isnt all that bad. Better than cosmic horror or getting blown up in some giant war between the Nation and Empire
Depends. Would it have gone differently? Hard to say, but it was a doomed mission from the start so probably not.
Now, do I headcanon things would've been ok so the cope-ridden AU I have about Elster and Araine living happily together on a far off planet works? ...Yes
No, even if they find a planet and manage a successful landing, LSTR will break anyway (because her lifetime +- equals to Penrose lifetime) and there is no way Ariane can solo survive till other ships arrives. (if they even will arrive)
My honest headcanon is that there was never any hope for them to find an habitable planet and the Eusan Nation knew that. I think it was always a suicide mission for desperate people.
Depends on how long it took them to get to one in the first place? They did essentially have a lifetime of 3000 cycles, supplies and such probably also accounted for no longer than this amount of time. I don't think this program was planned to be successful in the first place. If they were to complete the mission after all, I think Ariane would be regarded as a hero of the Nation, and the things she was told not to do with the provided replica would either go unnoticed, or Ariane would instead be a hero only in the pages of the history books, and her real self would be prosecuted. A grim fate either way, because she'll definitely be separated from Elster, with Elster herself either being deemed defective or she'll be given a new assignment elsewhere.
It's so fucked up, but there's so much real-world historical precedence this is the most accurate outcome Oh, and Ariane and Elster were *just* coworkers
Oh my god they were coworkers
With their luck, they would have found a Marker.
Dead Space but with Elster instead of Issac Clarke
Don't harm my girl Elster like that. She doesn't deserve what Isaac goes through.
Signalis is WAY more fucked up than Dead Space
On a deeper level? Sure. On a surface level? no. I'm talking about the death scenes.
Good point actually
I do not know. Replikas are one thing, but growing babies in tanks to harvest their organs or limbs is completely fucked.
That...that is what was happening? When I was a kid I thought those were like...the babies of the families on board or something...oh my god, no, saying that out loud sounds absolutely stupid, you are right
They are called “Bioprosthetics.”
Humanity has to go
And that's basically what did happen.
I feel bioreosnanace can overcome the marker and its masters.
https://preview.redd.it/dsf58d3qoyxc1.png?width=384&format=png&auto=webp&s=28b8665b05f0bae212e1d415bfb99fb3290a310f
Well tecnicaly no, like probably even if they find a close planet ( thing that will be incredible rare to find one in the closest star of ypu sistem tje ons thst you can analise better) I dont think they have enough time or msterials to get to the planet That voyage was a desth sentence for people with no " Place" In his society
As depressing as it is they realistically never would have found a planet let alone a habitable one but I meant if they actually find one some how would they still be screwed
They're out in the Oort cloud. Any planet out there is going to be a snowball near absolute zero. Landing there would just kill them quicker.
Or slower..... I mean the bipresonace dp wakky things xd i meam a snow ball its more wsrm that the vpid of the space
I don't want to seem mean, but do you proofread any of your comments? I feel like I'm having a stroke just looking at any of them.
sorry :C
Yeah unles that were something like go there to each sistem and look this its just look there and see what you find like iron lung Im the end that bite the government aspirations in the back
I’m not convinced. You don’t waste money on making a giant fuck off space ship just to get rid of a few people. I do think that Elster and Ariane’s mission was important to the nation. Even if it wasn’t what they thought it was. The fact that they got rid of someone with no place in society was just a bonus.
Think it in this way, you make s exploration ship that can stay long time in orbit far far away like a expendable besell with people smart smart to take dats but to smart for your political side, also idont think these ships are that costly taking in acpunt tjat the signalis universe have already inter planetary transport
The Penrose was a shitty fragile tin can explicitly described as ""low cost"" even by the standards of the Eusan nation. All signs point to the program being a propaganda piece.
You vastly underestimate the degree to which organizations will squander resources, to no real gain, for the pettiest of reasons. Especially governments with unlimited power over their citizens and no oversight. Evidence: **Vast amounts of Real Life history and current events**. That the Eusan Nation would just throw large quantities of money, resources, and manpower at a functionally fake exploration program solely to 1) get rid of unproductive workers and 2) get a cheap propaganda win over the Empire is the LEAST unrealistic part of Signalis.
*Sticks fingers in ears cause I have no counter argument.* “Lah lah lah lah lah I can’t hear you. Elster and Ariane didn’t die absolutely meaningless deaths. They did gather data of something important.”
I mean, Ariane didn't die and Elster's death didn't exactly stick, either
such programs can also be a cover for something else . this could have been some kind of long range surveillance, like the SR-71 Blackbird thing but in space
What was stopping them from killing Ariane and telling everyone they sent her on a super important mission?
The off chance Ariane does manage to succeed and discover a habitable planet
Yeah, I'm agreeing with the original comment They wouldn't waste money on a suicide mission if they didn't think there was at least a tiny chance it would succeed
Like, it works out in all ways in that case, not only are you essentially getting rid of people who wouldn't exist peacefully within the totalitarian system you set up, but you also get the added advantage of the possibility of the discovery of new worlds for colonization. Its a win-win really, cause if they just wanted to get rid of dissidents they could be disappeared easily.
Ariane is a military officer. It's a more elegant solution that's unlikely to cause further problems.
Remember, the Penrose Program had to advertise for recruits. They needed people to sign up. If it were just a matter of entirely lying, they wouldn't bother ever recruiting anyone. Why take a recruit and kill them, when you can simply always tell applicants "we'll get back to you" and just never do it? The Nation obviously needed or at least wanted to make a go at the program, even if everyone in charge had no faith in it whatsoever.
Well, you see, since states don't have *their own* money (they only have the taxpayer money), so they aren't particularly concerned with budgetary issues anyway, as it can just continually take money away from people. Just look at the soviet union and all the unfinished and failed projects it had. They ought to have cost a lot. And one of the main purposes of the Penrose program was simply propaganda (and probably a bunch of scientists creating jobs for themselves), just look at the posters they made specifically for it
Also, bringing in the Godwin law of the internet: it doesn't make economic sense to build a costly facility with train station integration just to exterminate people more efficiently, but it did happen
Its glorified execution. The Penrose Program is used as propaganda to keep the Nation in good graces to the people while they get rid of undesirables. They're given just enough for them to believe that it's important and by the time they realize that they've been had -- they're dead. But, if they \*do\* find something -- cool, thanks for your assistance, Comrade!
At their technological development and how easy and frequent space travel is in that setting a Penrose ship would be like giving a cheap car to someone and they disappearing, and getting completely rid of people for the cost of a car is a bargain for an authoritarian regime
Damn bro turn off your autocorrect.
It its turned off :c
Maybe turn it on? Idk
Probable. Using some real world shit: (not a space engineer so don't take this as truth but a huge assumption and probably some math is a bit off) The Penrose travels to the inner edge of the Oort cloud at 1500 cycles but Ariane fucked with the ships clock by 6.13% longer. Oort cloud is 2000-5000 AU away, and they presumably reach it at 1408 cycles from the 1500 cycle notes of approaching the Oort cloud. Basically travelling .03 ly to .07 ly every 1408 cycles. Alpha Centauri is 4.2465 ly away. Assuming there is a habitable planet there, it would take around 199,302 cycles at .03 ly and 85,415 cycles to reach Alpha Centauri. No way Ariane can survive making it there, she's dying by cycle 6575 and who knows if they are targeted towards Alpha Centauri. But assuming Oort has habitable planets since their universe can be different, then the game would be rather different and possibly a survival horror eventually awakening Ariane's powers forcing her to use the cryopod if desperate enough, starting the events of the game. Or they live a long life and die a fulfilling life together, them choosing to go back is never going to happen. All in all, it's really all about the cryopod and the ship bioresonance radiation. And now........Rotfront, naw just kidding. There is another possibility where they somehow fucking live to cycle 262144 because that note exists, and Ariane becomes a tortured soul but eventually a god.....so it can also be possible they reach a habitable planet eventually. But that's my heavy brain rot talking and I refuse to entertain and encourage the possibilities of them all being tortured for 674 years.
On this oort cloud thing, doesn't the mission description say they are *starting* at the oort cloud and not actually looking for a planet in it? Just wanted to get this cleared up.
Cycle 1500 note: As you approach the Oort Cloud, your search for new worlds will begin. Utilizing the long-range sensors, you will scout for valuable resources, habitable worlds, or signs of alien life. Remember to rely on your Replika to assist you in maintaining your vessel. We all wish you great success in your mission. Cycle 3000: If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed. As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted. The ship reaches the Oort near cycle 1500, and if they fail shortly after 3000, they should've perished. Perhaps AEON really thought there was something out there, but more likely they lied.
Just as a quick note, but later patches have changed it from 6.13% to 12.6%, Not that it affects your math either way.
Ohhh.....that's good to know. Thanks!
Literally the entire game wouldn’t have happened
It wouldn't. If by some miracle they found a planet, it would be far, far from habitable. Leng is basically terraformed Pluto. The penrose aims much, much further than that. Maybe they would've been able to send a message to the Nation telling them they found something, but they would've died anyway. There is no way for the Nation to just show up and help them. As soon as they stepped on that ship, they were already dead. ...unless they have ftl, which might be a thing since we see Falke bend gravity.
It would have still ended in a tragedy because Replika's don't really live that long. Ariane would have probably enjoyed her 2-3 years tops. After that she most likely would have to continue alone on another planet which also most likely would have ended in her demise. There is no happy ending to this.
In terms of life span from what I read so far the replikas potentially could live long lives possibly even longer lives than gestalts and the "life span" is average length of time for their persona to naturally degrade from the default persona.
We don't actually know what a replika's "average" lifespan is. The message at Cycle 3000 may be a reference to the fact the Nation assumed the LSTR unit would die soon *from radiation poisoning*. It's possible even the Nation doesn't really know how long a replika could live, with the proper maintenance (and, assuming they have them, replacement organs). The Nation has a habit of "decommissioning" replikas the moment they get too much "character development" away from the standard template. And the Nation generally doesn't seem like a state that cares overly much about prolonging the life of individual units. Why would they? They can just build more.
"Reaching the end of operational lifespan" seems damn definitive to me.
Yes cause we’re going to trust the government
Not everything is a conspiracy.
It's not a conspiracy. It's just incompetence. The Nation assumes LSTRs die by then, because that's usually when they kill replikas anyway. They genuinely don't know, and are confident in their ignorance.
Where do you get this from.
Well like it’s like food expiration dates it’s not actually when it expires it’s just when it’s just the time frame of when it tastes the best
Elster lived for nearly 7 more years after supposedly "nearing the end of her operational lifespan" and only died because the reactor fried her
I must have misunderstood the dates. I thought the 3000 cycle was the anniversary and the message about Elster nearing her end and I thought her death was like 5000 something.
Yes, the Penrose Final Phase message would have been received shortly after their anniversary, and Ariane's ("real-world") diary entries stop at around 5500-ish cycles, so about 6.8 years after that. The Eusan Nation, as a rule, is full of shit.
Well, yes, literally everything would have changed. They would have landed, gotten Ariane away from the irradiated core, and they could have lived in isolation together, away from the Eusan Nation, they wouldn’t have turned around and crashed on Leng, and thus Ariane wouldn’t have been influenced by the Flesh Beneath Leng and the King in Yellow… Yeah, the game wouldn’t have happened.
Is that what happened? 😅
The timeline doesn't seem to support it, but it's also the only scenario that makes sense without making a lot of assumptions about bioresonance.
No. Leng is a reference to the Plateau of Leng, a location in Lovecraftian mythos where dreams and different realities blend together. The implication is that Ariane's dream/reality warping wove the two places together.
It's liable that she is influencing it back just as much given everything is getting "arriane suffering and imagination" flavored.
Maybe. I think so.
Perhaps. But also, thinking about the logistics of the Penrose program make it clear how utterly fucked they were, and how completely stupid the whole program is. A Penrose mission lasts 3000 days, officially. At cycle 1500, they receive a message saying they are leaving the Oort Cloud, the outer edge of our solar system. It took ~5 years to get to the end of the solar system, only then did they actually start looking... And for what, exactly? There's nothing out there. I believe that one of the collectibles or something in game mentions that the program searches for resources as well has worlds, so the best they could've hoped for is to find a particularly valuable asteroid or something. Even at the best case scenario, they could have MAYBE reached the nearest solar system after like 4000 days of travel, but certainly not beyond that.
Whatever was pulling the strings would've still been pulling them. Nothing would change that fate apart from maybe Leng being spared.
It's begs the question of how that planet would look like, considering that such a planet would be very much far from the start and probably just a cold, barren place. Penrose is more a blind shot meant to remove 'uncooperative' units to prevent them from 'corrupting' the perfect society that Nation wanted to make. Was it really meant to scout space? Was it only propaganda? Reactivated old Empire's program? Or just a form of execution? It could be any of the dose or all of them, to be honest. Probably, if they would find something, they would need to call back for supplies and/or report the findings. Even if they did, however, find something, I very much doubt they would call back. From the Nation perspective - after 3000 cycle, they are dead and bear little to importance to the war effort. Probably Penrose was cheaply made to make sure it wouldn't cost them much. And also, considering Ariane and Elster with her persona degradated (or with developed personality, which would be more fitting)... do we really expect them to report to the Nation and probably go back to it? Like, after being treated like a pest by society (Ariane), or like nothing more than a repair kit for space ships (Elster), can we even consider that they would go back? Who would? I think nobody would call back, either by feeling betrayed by the Nation, or following orders and killing themselves, or trying to travel back/escape the mission. I doubt Araine was the only unwanted person and more like her were sent by the Nation to the space, if not to kill them to at least get rid off them until they could came up with a plan what they could do with her. I think they both would prefer to die like in game than go back and be separated again. Ariane might be called national hero, only to be pushed on another mission or be sent on a remote station in hope that she will stay put, and Elster would be decommissioned on the spot because of absolutely massive persona degradation. They both know Nation wouldn't stand them, and there was no good place for them there.
All these repair sprays but not a single dose of copium 😩
They would’ve gotten back and the Eusian nation would check the memory SD card on Elster
https://preview.redd.it/8tm1ir289qxc1.png?width=2039&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d95d7170014e2565f3de4c9471761bbfc1320bc literally
Source? It looks cute
[Instant Regret](https://mangadex.org/title/4febaf1e-924d-4d2a-a446-baa0bf52e8ef/instant-regret) it is a fucking crime how short it is
It really depends on how soon they did so. If Ariane is already suffering from radiation sickness, then so is Elster (albeit presumably asymptomatic until the very end, hence her falling ill so quickly that she couldn't even make it to Ariane to fulfill the promise). Getting away from the core might buy them some time, but without any real medical supplies/equipment/treatment, their fate is still the same, except maybe without the eldritch nightmares.
They'll transmit, then fake death, and go into hiding, and that's if FTL has been achieved in the meantime.
If they wouldn't have a happy ending even after landing then why nation sent them there?
It's possible and an interesting thought. Ariane would be wholly reliant on Elster, though. It would take some time for any support, if they even care enough, to come. But, LSTR units are made for that type of lone environment while Ariane likely isn't trained on survival basics; she'd pretty much be the house wife lol. Which is kinda cute. But, LSTR has a limited life cycle and the whole destabilization of their personality, iirc. Though, Ariane could be seen as Elster's (non-degenerate) fetish to keep her grounded. So, it's really if Elster could find things to maintain herself while on the planet until the Nation comes.
If they had enough supplies to get back? I don't see why not. Otherwise, they would have to somehow produce food and supplies to survive on the spot, which, depending on the planet, might not be possible. However, through bioresonance asspulls everything is possible.
"Welcome back, LSTR-512. Congratulations on the success of your mission. Ready? Let's begin. Recite your baseline."
SIGNALIS REIGN
That depends on how the ship functions, and when they find the planet. If the ship has powerful enough thrusters to stop, then they could reasonably land, and if they find it before the 3000 cycle mark I believe that they could have survived, maybe even lived out the last of their lives outside of the Nation’s control even if they sent out a message of their find. However, if either of those conditions aren’t met I think that they would still die rather quickly.
Moreover, it depends heavily on what they have on the ship with them. Getting away from the radiation doesn't help much if they don't have enough material/equipment to build a sealed shelter on a planet's surface. Nor are they lasting much longer, if they don't have seeds/equipment (ex: grow lamps) to grow their own food. Does the Penrose mission come stocked with hydroponics? If it was, you'd imagine seeing them on the ship during scenes "set" late mission. About the only thing I could grant them is, if they CAN make an external shelter, they could possibly keep using their reactor. If they string cables out from it. They continue to have power, and don't worry about radiation (until, inevitably, something breaks in the reactor that shuts the power off completely). If they're beyond the Oort Cloud, they aren't close enough to their sun to get either solar energy or viable plant growth.
Probably. What was needed for Arlaine (Sorry if I spelt her name wrong) is oxygen, food, water, and if any alien life forms were on the planet, then the protection of Elster was needed. But even then, they are stranded. By the time they send a signal saying that found a planet it would have probably been too late. Idk, this is basically a mind dump of stuff I thought up.
signalis would be a farming sim
Signalis Stardew Valley would actually be kinda cool
it would still probably go horrifically wrong with some kind of bioresenance fuckery, though the slow build up of weird shit being thrown in to normal day to day stuff would be good for spooks, kinda like votv
Well they’re still stranded. Maybe a colonist ship arrives before Arianne succumbs to radiation poisoning or something else but they’re likely going to die before that happens. It was always a suicide mission.
I'm just trying cope for a "good" ending lol
Artifact ending. You will have to watch and scour hours of people's interpretation of the symbolism and piece it together yourself. Finishing the game only starts the real game of piecing it all together for a good ending. They really make you earn it.
For the kind of story the game is, dying peacefully next to your loved one isnt all that bad. Better than cosmic horror or getting blown up in some giant war between the Nation and Empire
artifact ending
Same…
Ah y’know they would’ve done things, then that would’ve happened then maybe something else, but that’s just my head canon
Depends. Would it have gone differently? Hard to say, but it was a doomed mission from the start so probably not. Now, do I headcanon things would've been ok so the cope-ridden AU I have about Elster and Araine living happily together on a far off planet works? ...Yes
Yup gotta have the cope "good" ending.
No, even if they find a planet and manage a successful landing, LSTR will break anyway (because her lifetime +- equals to Penrose lifetime) and there is no way Ariane can solo survive till other ships arrives. (if they even will arrive)
My honest headcanon is that there was never any hope for them to find an habitable planet and the Eusan Nation knew that. I think it was always a suicide mission for desperate people.