Episode XII: Riddles in the Stars

[MontyPython]

Does the piece have to be used on the 1st picture? It could severely damage the story...

[goatman461]

If we don't get to 10 builders, will we be allowed to double up on secret parts, or is it one official build per part?

[MKJoshA]

Since BEAVeR is still on vacation, I will do my best to answer these questions. But BEAVeR may come back and tweak the answers a little if I'm misunderstanding his intent.

So just to make sure that I really got that: I have to use my clue element not once, but actually twice in the built, is that correct? And judges will award creativity points for only one of those two uses, the one featured in the first image I post. Correct?

Every person using a clue pieces must use it twice. I don't think there are any rules about the piece having to show up in the first picture. As for creativity, the judges will base the points off of the more creative of the uses. So if the piece were a pair of minifigure legs and the builder used them for the top of a bookcase to add curvature and used them on a minifigure, the points would be based on the bookcase use.

Does the piece have to be used on the 1st picture? It could severely damage the story...

Pretty sure the piece just has to be visible at least twice in the build, not necessarily in the first picture.

If we don't get to 10 builders, will we be allowed to double up on secret parts, or is it one official build per part?

Only 1 part per builder. If a team doesn't reach 10 builders then the extra pieces will be publicly revealed.

[Cody Startale]

Every person using a clue pieces must use it twice. I don't think there are any rules about the piece having to show up in the first picture. As for creativity, the judges will base the points off of the more creative of the uses. So if the piece were a pair of minifigure legs and the builder used them for the top of a bookcase to add curvature and used them on a minifigure, the points would be based on the bookcase use.

Okay, thanks. Are you sure about the first picture, though? Because it says so right in the same sentence as the "use twice"-rule:

You have to use at least two instances of the part in your build, at least one of which has to be clearly visible in the first picture of your entry!

Though it doesn't state that the one used in the first picture needs to be the "more creative" one. I think this rule exists so that when the enemy team tries to guess your clue piece, they can just look at the first picture and be guaranteed to have it visible there, which makes a lot of sense. As for the potential to damage the story, one can include the more "boring", not so story-related instance of the piece in that first picture, I guess?

[MKJoshA]

Okay, thanks. Are you sure about the first picture, though? Because it says so right in the same sentence as the "use twice"-rule:

You have to use at least two instances of the part in your build, at least one of which has to be clearly visible in the first picture of your entry!

Though it doesn't state that the one used in the first picture needs to be the "more creative" one. I think this rule exists so that when the enemy team tries to guess your clue piece, they can just look at the first picture and be guaranteed to have it visible there, which makes a lot of sense. As for the potential to damage the story, one can include the more "boring", not so story-related instance of the piece in that first picture, I guess?

Good catch. I was wondering if I had read the rules too fast. It's up to you how you want to frame your pictures along with your story. Based on that rule, it's perfectly allowed to use the boring use of the piece in the first picture and then the creative use later. Remember, the judges will know which pieces are which so they'll know which piece to look for in each build.

[BEAVeR]

The rule of the clue part having to appear in the first picture is to make sure you don't post tens of pictures with the clue part visible in only one: we want to give everyone a fair chance at guessing what the clue part is. MKJoshA corectly explained that the most creative use of the part will be the one the points for creativity are based on.

[LegoPercyJ]

I haven't been able to build much, but I'll try my best to do this episode. I'm getting a ton of bricks today, so I'm good. I'm in.

However, I don't think I have access to the 'secure com connection'

Edited August 6, 2016 by LegoPercyJ

[LegoRacer1]

I'm in, but I need aces to the comm channel.

[MKJoshA]

I'm in, but I need aces to the comm channel.

Which team are you on?

[BEAVeR]

I already added LEGORACER1 to the Imperial comm channel, so I hope you can now fully participate in the contest!

[BEAVeR]

IMPORTANT MESSAGE!

It has become clear a small error appeared in the parts list. The part in question is R09, which should be Light Bluish Grey/Medium Stone Grey instead of white. The amount of instances in the clue model stays the same.

I'm sorry for this error that slipped by me, and hope it doesn't cause too much trouble. Now you all need to make sure to adjust that entry in any custom document of the parts list that you might have. I've already updated the public and Rebel parts list.

[BEAVeR]

Just three more days until September 4th! Be sure to finish your entries on time and remember that any secret faction-specific part (the E and R ID's) that hasn't been incorporated in a build (only one ID per build, and it has to be in the topic title) will be made public!

[MKJoshA]

The contest is over everyone! I'll try to get the list of parts not used by either team up soon for you all.

[MKJoshA]

The deadline for entries to this episode has officially passed, so please don't post any entries anymore, since they will be disqualified. You can always post your entry as a freebuild so that you still get XP for it just like a regular freebuild.

This also means that you have a week now to come up with a model that represents what you think the secret model looks like, as described in the rules of this episode. Try to use as many of the parts of the list you can, and guess at the parts you don't know. Accuracy of the build will be based on subject, form and the difference between the amount of correct and incorrect parts. You can guess what the secret parts that were assigned to the opposing faction were by paying close attention at their builds (only the ones with the ID of the part - like R06 or E02 - in the topic title contain a secret part). Parts that were assigned to the opposing faction, but weren't incorporated into a legal build, are now publicly available on the adjusted public parts list, which you can find here.

You have one week to come up with your best guess at the model. Send a digital .lxf file (this is the file made by Lego Digital Designer) to BEAVeR before September 11th has passed on every place of the world. If you have any questions, you can post them here, or send them to MKJoshA and/or Nom Carver.

[BEAVeR]

I'm seeing that not every team has someone who is good enough with LDD. Know that you can also enter pictures of a brick built model. You can always indicate parts that should be in another color than in your pictures or where certain parts should go that you don't own. The better the documentation of your model, the better we can judge it. Of course a full digital model is the best documentation, but if you can't create that, you'll have to find a creative solution!

[LucasLaughing]

@Beaver - for those of us building it with real brick, is the model freestanding or might it require a stand or extra support?

Edited September 7, 2016 by LucasLaughing

[BEAVeR]

All I'll say is that there is no need for a stand and that none of the parts, both public and private, are used to build one.

[Columbus019]

I'll do it if someone explains it to me in basic...I'm new..

Columbus

[MontyPython]

There's an interesting post on this page, I believe it's in basic. If you'll have time to read it: it's #39.

[Columbus019]

Sorry, i'm stupid!

Columbus

[goatman461]

So with the deadline passed, do we get to see what the Rebels came up with for the mystery build? I'm sure it pales in comparison to Lucas's

[Kodan Black]

Would be cool to see the original build and then both Rebel/Empire builds. Even without official results, would be fun to see how close/far we were.

[BEAVeR]

The results for this episode are in, so strap yourself in for some revelations!

First of all, the individual results!

Faction	Name	Entry	Score
Rebels	jannik	Back to the hydrospanner	18
Empire	goatman461	Raid on the Providence	17
Empire	LucasLaughing	Shock and Awe	17
Rebels	MKJoshA	Fleshing Out the Problem	17
Rebels	Cody Startale	Den Of The Dragon	16
Rebels	Zaael	Looking for clues on Felucia	16
Empire	Dannylonglegs	I am Providence	16
Rebels	WickNole	Tech Support	16
Empire	Thebeeze111	Wading through the Jungle	15
Empire	Commander Beltar	The Rat	13
Rebels	Forresto	Siege of Javin	7
Empire	pombe	Commendation	7
Empire	Puvel	Abandoned base	7
Empire	Kodan Black	On the Hunt	7
Empire	Mads Heering	Stopping by	5
Rebels	MontyPython	Apart and On	5
Rebels	brickmasterben11	Return to Hoth	4
Empire	Tariq j	Back to Tatoinne	4
Rebels	Aland1916	Alliance Intelligence	4
Rebels	Pertyn Sawk	First Mission	3
Rebels	Thelonious Sparke	In the Hangar	3
Rebels	Green Rhubarb	On the Balcony	2

 

 

Congratulations jannik with your excellent entry!

And what does this mean for the factions?

 Rebel Alliance: Average score of 9,09 + 12 builders = 21,09 points

 Galactic Empire: Average score of 10,62 + 10 builders = 20,62 points

 

For now, the Rebels are taking the lead. However, we still have to award the 5 points for the faction that approximated the secret model best. Whoever wins those 5 points, wins the episode…

Both Rebels and Imperials made their guess at what the secret model was. Let’s start by looking at what the guesses were at the secret parts of the opposing faction.

Part ID	Seen in…	Guess	Actual clue part
E01	On the Hunt	15070	4175
E02	I am Providence	3680	11947
E03	Back to Tatoinne	30414	93094c01
E04	The Rat	4728	4079
E05	Shock and Awe	62386	93575
E06	Stopping by	2819	42446
E07	Abandoned base	64644	3680
E08	Raid on the Providence	3680	11946
E09	Wading through the Jungle	90397	90397
E10	Commendation	6020	92690
R01	/	/	64683
R02	Siege of Javin	3040	6246a
R03	Return to Hoth	2489	2489
R04	/	/	18948
R05	Back to the hydrospanner	98834	98834
R06	/	/	64391
R07	Tech support	30153	30153
	Apart and On
R08	Den Of The Dragon	3938	3938
R09	Looking for clues on Felucia	3957b	3679
R10	Fleshing Out the Problem	4697b	32138

 

 

While the Rebels guessed 2 out of the 10 parts correctly, the Imperials succeeded in correctly identifying 4 out of the 7 parts, and got 3 parts for free from the Rebels since no one used them in an entry. Now that all of the parts are known, you can find the full parts list here if you’re interested.

The Empire wins this part of the challenge, but who approximated the secret model better? Let’s find out.

Thanks to the admirable effort of LucasLaughing, the Empire submitted the following model, complete with breakdown shots and a list of parts that were substituted both in color as in part number by lack of the real parts in his collection:

Spoiler

which is a rendition of a StarViper-class attack platform. It’s a beautiful model and only leaves 11 parts of the parts list unused. We’re sure LucasLaughing will make a more detailed presentation of his creation for you so you can appreciate it fully.

Sadly for the Rebellion, none of its troopers was able to create something. Still, Cody Startale suggested the secret model could represent the following:

Spoiler

which is a rendition of an Imperial loader droid. If somebody feels inspired to try to build it with the available parts, we’re eager to see the result!

Now it’s time for the great revelation! It turns out one faction succeeded brilliantly in figuring out who is behind the attempt on Luke Skywalker, since the secret model is…

Spoiler

[MOC] Prince Xizor's Virago by Bert Van Raemdonck, on Flickr

which indeed is the Virago, Prince Xizor’s personal and modified StarViper-class attack platform!

Lord Vader, our troops have crossed the galaxy following the convoluted trail the one trying to kill Skywalker. They pieced together all the information they could find and have reached an unquestionable conclusion. All clues point towards Prince Xizor.

It is as I feared… Xizor is trying to discredit me, by killing the one that escaped me. He’s out on my place at the Emperor’s side. Time to put that thought out of his head, commander.

Commander, we’ve intercepted an Imperial communication saying they’ve discovered that Prince Xizor is behind the attempt on Mr. Skywalker. Intel remarks that itt wasn’t as hard to decrypt as usual though. Should we trust it?

Xizor?! Really, did he deceive all of us, putting us on a completely different track? O no… Princess Leia has gone to his palace on Coruscant to ask him for help to find…

Excuse me for rushing in like this. We’ve just received a distress call from Chewbacca, who went with the Princess. Turns out Xizor isn’t our big friend after all…

Congratulations to the Empire, that outclassed the Rebellion by correctly guessing more parts and by submitting a strong model that is very close to the secret model. See if you can spot the differences!

This means the Empire gets another 5 points and wins the episode. All Imperials who participated can have this episode’s tag displayed on their profile if they request it here. For the other Imperial participants, the tag will be added to your character in the Player Index.

Finally, if after all of the mystery and puzzling you like to know more about the elusive secret model, you can download the LDD file here. You can also read all about the creation in the topic.

Thanks to everyone for participating in this episode. We hope you had a good time with this not very conventional episode. If you didn’t enjoy it as much as usual, we’re happy to receive your feedback either here or in the feedback topic as we’re constantly trying to improve!

[Forresto]

This was a fun episode the new rules shook things up a bit! From the looks of things the Imps didn't figure out what my piece was mwahaha. The model killed us though, the points were so close too!   

[LucasLaughing]

First off, congrats to Jannick and Goatman for having the highest scored rebel and Imperial builds!  Both teams had a lot of great entries, and it was (mostly) fun inspecting the rebel builds, trying to figure out which was the secret part.

Thanks to the mods, especially Beaver, for putting this contest together.  Thanks also to Goatman for putting together the parts spreadsheets that made guessing and keeping track of parts much easier.

Here's some more info about the guessing / building process:

 

I've been a fan of the EU for a while, so after reading the episode story I had a feeling that Xizor was the villain we'd be chasing.  After seeing the wing panel pieces on the parts list, I was convinced that the Virago was the secret model.  Of course, knowing the model and building it are two different things, especially because (as Beaver pointed out) parts of the ship look fairly different depending on what source material you're using.  I mainly used this picture for reference as I was building.  

After working with Goatman to try and figure out the secret parts, I looked at which pieces came in multiples of 4 and used those to try building the wings.  The next hurdle was trying to attach the wings to the body.  I figured out the windscreen pretty early on, and I could see where the chairs and robot hands needed to go based on the source images. 

Lest any rebels think that this victory came easy, I spent a total of at least 6-8 hours (probably more) working on the secret model .  I gave up twice and threw it on the floor once 

 

 

And here are some pictures of the completed model:

Full sized pics on flickr here.

Side view:

Back view:

Wings swept back:

Wings and laser swept back:

Edited September 26, 2016 by LucasLaughing
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