Codex Rift Research

Research and Signals

Before you can open a rift you need an address, and before you can mine you need to know what is there. The Dimensional Observatory finds addresses; keeping the rift open teaches you what lies at them. Every result also earns research data and material samples for the research tree.

Addresses

An address has three axes and a phase, written like 12 / -4 / 300 · Φ3. Each axis goes from minus 1,048,576 to just below it; the phase goes from 0 to 16 minus one. Phase 0 is the near layer; higher phases are harder to reach but richer. Nothing of an address exists in your world: it is a virtual dimension, the same for everyone on the server with the same world seed.

Every address has a kind of world that decides which materials are likely: Metallic, Volcanic, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Crystalline worlds, and the Anomaly. Neighbouring addresses are alike.

What you know about an address

Knowledge	How you get it	What it shows
Unknown		Noise.
Signature locked	Lock its signal (or probe it).	The exact address, the kind of world and the climate. You can dial it.
Surveyed	Keep the rift open there for 600 ticks.	Where the deposits are and what they hold. You can start jobs.
Analysed	Keep it open for 1,800 ticks.	The reserves and the type of every deposit.

The research Deep Survey halves both times. The time adds up over several visits.

Blind scan

Blind scan in the console starts a task in the observatory (400 ticks, 2,000,000 FE). It finds a new signal: an estimated address with an uncertainty of ±48 on every axis.

Every blind scan reaches further: the search radius starts at 96 and grows by 48 with each scan (up to 4,096), the highest phase starts at 1 and grows by one every 3 scans. Low phases come more often. Scans are no random rolls you could retry: the n-th blind scan of an owner always finds the same signal in a world.

The research Interferometry, Quantum Phase Lock and Coordinate Synthesis (the precision tiers 1 to 3) make new signals sharper: two thirds, one third, one sixth of the uncertainty.

Triangulation

Look at a signal (click it under SIGNALS) and press Triangulate (300 ticks, 1,000,000 FE). Each triangulation divides the uncertainty by 2 (2.5, 3 or 4 with precision tier 1, 2 or 3). When it reaches 1 or less, the signal is locked: the exact address enters your atlas as "Signal 001" and so on, at the knowledge Signature locked. With the default uncertainty and no precision research that takes 5 triangulations.

Spectral search

With the research Spectral Analysis and at least one locked address, choose a material in the console and press Spectral search (600 ticks, 5,000,000 FE). The observatory examines 96 addresses (further away the more blind scans you have made) and returns a signal at the first one with a deposit of this material, already half as uncertain as a blind-scan signal. If none of them has it, the search finds nothing, but still earns data.

Sector sweep

With the research Sector Sweep, look at an address of your atlas and press the sector sweep button (1,200 ticks, 10,000,000 FE). The observatory searches around it, up to 48 on each axis and one phase up or down, and finds up to 3 new signals with a third of the blind-scan uncertainty. Because neighbouring addresses are alike, this finds "more of the same".

Focused probe

With Coordinate Synthesis (precision tier 3), type any address into the field ("x y z phase", separated by spaces, commas or slashes) and press Probe (600 ticks, 8,000,000 FE times the difficulty of the address). The address is locked directly and enters the atlas as "Probe x,y,z,phase". A known address is refused: "This address is already known."

Signals and atlas

• A complex owner keeps at most 32 signals; when there are more, the oldest open signal is dropped first.
• The atlas keeps every locked address. Rename entries, mark favourites, and decide (as owner) which entries your team sees; private entries stay hidden from team members, also in their consoles.
• Signals, atlas, knowledge, data and samples belong to the owner of the complex and are shared by all of the owner's complexes.

Research data

Result	Data points
Blind scan	2
Triangulation	1
Locking a signal	5 more
Spectral search	3
Sector sweep	4
Focused probe	2
Surveying an address	10
Analysing an address	20

Material samples

Some projects also need samples of a kind of world:

• Analysing an address gives one sample of its kind of world.
• Extracting gives one sample for every 5,000 units taken from dimensions of one kind (items count one each, fluids and gases one per bucket; amounts below a bucket are carried over).

Messages

Message	Meaning
The complex is not calibrated or is in a fault state.	Scans need a calibrated, complete complex without a fault.
The observatory is busy.	Wait until the running task is done.
Unknown signal. / This signal is already locked.	Choose another signal.
Spectral search needs the Spectral Analysis research and one locked address.	Research it and lock one signal first.
Unknown material family: …	The material does not exist.
Sector sweeps need the Sector Sweep research.	Research it first.
Select an address from your atlas as the centre.	Click an atlas entry first.
Focused probes need Coordinate Synthesis research.	Research it first.
Enter the address as: x y z phase (phase 0 to 15).	The text in the probe field is not a valid address.
That address is not locked yet. Triangulate its signal first.	You tried to dial an address you do not know.

Tip

Scan while you mine Observatory tasks run in every state of a calibrated complex, also while the rift is open. Keep the observatory busy: every scan is data for the research tree.