It would be great if we could get a few hints not spoilers about the buttons in the pods and how to use them and when maybe even what window to watch from related to the buttons or do the animals arrive at certain times like the portals? It gets to be not much fun after a half hour or so of pushing a button and watching out a window and nothing appears. Why are all of those pictures of animals on that page on the table in the museum if we are not able to see them? I have heard reports of only the Urwin and monkeys being seen. I have seen the Urwin once and no other animals. What about the animals in other pods? Can we get some help here? I for one would like the excitement of telling someone of the animal I saw but cant because they are so darned elusive. I have spent a LOT of time in the pods for nothing hoping to see something but nothing appears.

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May happiness come on secret winds and surround you forever in the ways of beauty An American Indian Blessing

You're not gonna like this answer..

...but the buttons have nothing to do with whether an animal appears or not.

Only four animals appear in the pod ages: the fish in Dereno, the Urwin and Monkey in Negilahn and the Sand Urwin in Payiferen. The fish is almost always there. As for the others, it's random and rare.

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The Bahro have been hunting the animals on that age to near extinction, which is why we don't see very many. There is a possibility this may change at some point, however.

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For cowards die a thousand deaths, while heros die but one.

Well, unless they're playing video games, in which case heros die a lot too.

Then why put the buttons there with sounds if they have nothing to do with animal sightings. I appreciate your help.

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May happiness come on secret winds and surround you forever in the ways of beauty An American Indian Blessing

Yeah, I think it WOULD, too, if it weren't for the fact that, like I said, the Bahro have hunted most of the animals to near extinction.

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For cowards die a thousand deaths, while heros die but one.

Well, unless they're playing video games, in which case heros die a lot too.

dogpenny wrote:

Then why put the buttons there with sounds if they have nothing to do with animal sightings. I appreciate your help.

They are a "red herring." Remember, we didn't always know how/when the portals appeared. The buttons are simply there to throw us off the scent (or... lack thereof, I guess).

Thanks NB they love doing that dont they. I want to thank you for the direct Minkata routes. I NEVER would have gotten to cave 4 with all the twists and turns. It has been very helpful to others as well thank you again your efforts are greatly appreciated

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May happiness come on secret winds and surround you forever in the ways of beauty An American Indian Blessing

dogpenny wrote:

thank you again your efforts are greatly appreciated

I'm more than happy to help.

IIRC, even as people were figuring out that the portal appeared regularly at a certain point in the "day," Cyan claimed that people had not yet figured out the pods.

I don't know if they were just lagging behind, or if the light/sound buttons actually do have a purpose which we haven't uncovered yet.

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MOULa KI: 00084841 - MOUL KI: 00179642

They were saying that before people started postulating that the pods were indeed in the same age. At that point they released the map which confirmed some of the speculation. At this point I think we've "solved" the ages as best we can given the amount of time, energy and button pressing thats happened with not even remotely a breakthrough, nor much of a clue in any direction.

There are 3 things you need to know in order solve the pods.

Visit Payiferen during the day.

There is a map somewhere close to where you picked up the book.

Visit a hood that has a clock, and look around inside the classroom

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The Noble Robot wrote:

They are a "red herring." Remember, we didn't always know how/when the portals appeared. The buttons are simply there to throw us off the scent (or... lack thereof, I guess).

Not really. Remember, the Pods are D'ni artifacts, and have been around for several hundred years. Back when they were built the buttons did indeed work to call the wildlife to the viewing Pods. Now, quite a lot of time later, the ecology has changed, and they don't have quite the same effect. They aren't red herrings, they are "immersion into the world of D'ni" that someday, when the systems get fixed, will hopefully work the way they used to.

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Sure, it adds to the IC immersion, but you're just explaining it away. I'm talking about the puzzle. Seriously, those things were put there primarily to screw with us. That's fine, clever even, but to say that it was part of the puzzle because it sorta related to the fact that the D'ni culture is long dead is being an apologist.

I mean, imagine they had taken the same approach with Kadish Tolesa!!

My theory on the pods is that the animals were originally meant to show up a lot earlier, but the story arc backstage has since changed so that this particular payoff has been delayed longer than originally intended.

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The Noble Robot wrote:

Sure, it adds to the IC immersion, but you're just explaining it away. I'm talking about the puzzle. Seriously, those things were put there primarily to screw with us. That's fine, clever even, but to say that it was part of the puzzle because it sorta related to the fact that the D'ni culture is long dead is being an apologist.

I never said they were part of the puzzle, because they aren't part of the puzzle. They are just atmosphere. Like the journals in the King's Palace, or the light switches in the Teledahn control room, or the chairs around the tables in the Gahreesen conference rooms, or the loose maintainers helmets and marks in the Gahreesen locker room, or the... The list continues. Not every little thing has to be part of a puzzle. The buttons are there because When D'ni was alive and well, they had a use. That doesn't mean they have a use now, nor do they need to. They are just there. Of course they add to the IC immersion, that's their purpose (for now); I'm not explaining it away, that's all the explaination is!

And who knows, maybe someday they'll add the puzzle in that requires figuring out how to use the buttons to call the animals. It's perfectly set up to do that, and it would be totally awesome!

Quote:

I mean, imagine they had taken the same approach with Kadish Tolesa!!

They did... Remember the false door in the moon room? How many of us spent hours trying to get through it before we figured out it wasn't going to open?

But seriously, the Pods and KT are two different things. The pods are simply D'ni artifacts, nothing more. The "puzzle" aspect of them has nothing to do with the structure or function of the Pods themselves; they are just locations for Bahro gateways. Kadish Tolesa was designed, IC and OOC, to be a series of mind-bending puzzles, and nothing more. You can't compare them.

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