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[tabster]

Well first guess has been posted so new one would be simple adding

4475

second guess woud be multiplying and if larger than 10 then adding the digits

3434

third guess would be 0000 (maybe the lock was not re-programmed) or 9999 (same reasoning)

[Nighthawk]

I'm changing my answer: I will report the captain as a "section eight", take over command and push the former captain out the nearest airlock. Then I use high explosives to turn the moonbase in to a smoldering crater and blame it on the captain going "plum loco."


Actually, what I would do depends on what I'm supposed to do with the answer as part of the game. Do I enter it on a web page? Send it as an SMS? Email it to someone?

If it's on a web page, this problem seems simple enough that, if all the above come up incorrect, I could write a "brute force" routine to scan through the 10,000 possible combinations. Since there are so few possibilities, I'd do it gracefully and not pound the server in to batter with the equivalent of a "denial of service attack".

[Omega]

SOLUTION

[Nighthawk]

I would have put up my answer sooner, but I was busy creating a new Truetype font for... er... no reason.

Honest.

[Big_Larry]

Re: SOLUTION

[rowan]

Re: SOLUTION

[notgordian]

Re: SOLUTION

[Omega]

Re: SOLUTION

[Rogi Ocnorb]

I'm totally with rowan on this one.
That wasn't a very "elegant" puzzle, as presented.
It would have been fine as part of a puzzle trail, not connected to a campaign.
But, without explaining the spaced digits within the confines of the story being told, it's just not something you'd want to see in a running game.
Not that it absolutely couldn't be, though.
If that puzzle were presented, just as it is, as some kind of trial in a game, serving as say, a filter to keep out the riff-raff, then its presence might make some sense as part of the game's universe.
Lots of games have included a puzzle trail (that looks like nothing more than a collection of puzzles) which, ostensibly, was being used by the character that created it as a means of ensuring that only the "right" people could progress.
Players generally don't mind when this happens as there's a viable reason for being slapped in the face with puzzly goodness.
Puzzles in a game should be as organic as possible. Not easily recognized as a puzzle and as far from the "SOS" as is feasible where methodology is concerned. And "Different" doesn't necessarily mean "hard".
A game doesn't even need puzzles. But, it's not one I'll be playing.

[catherwood]

When the puzzle was first posted, I saw nothing useful in the photo, and assumed it was there for "flavor" or setting the atmosphere, not part of the puzzle.

When people said they saw numbers in the image, I loaded it and yet still saw nothing (probably because my monitor runs dark or low contrast), so i dismissed it as possibly an additional clue but not necessary. I still thought the puzzle was me standing in front of the panel, not also looking at a photograph.

Now that it's over, and I am on a different monitor, I *still* cannot really see numbers. If i took the image into Photoshop, I could probably enhance the color contrast, but that really makes this a stand-alone puzzle and not integrated into any alternate reality. I still don't understand how the crew sees the numbers, assuming I am one of the crew.

These comments have probably already been addressed; this is my first chance to reply with my own reactions.

edit to add: ahhh, if the image had been titled "scanner" or the scenario made it clear that this is what the crew was looking at on a screen -- or if the image itself had a frame to make it look like a screen display -- i might have given it more weight in the beginning.

[ncfriend]

[Agent Lex]

I knew the image had to be relevant, just because it was there. Chekov's image, if you will. But I had trouble seeing anything at first glance, and even after it was posted that there were numbers in there it was difficult to see them. You really need a perfectly set monitor to see them, they are rather low contrast and very difficult to see without using Photoshop or similar.

I also agree that it feels more puzzle trail than ARG since the image isn't introduced at all, and the numbers are so out of place.

[Big_Larry]

Re: SOLUTION

[Rekidk]

Can I just pop-in and say that I think that testing your puzzle creation skills in a controlled environment is a great idea? Because it is. Better to learn what works and what doesn't now than have your players stumbling through horrid puzzle after horrid puzzle in a launched ARG.

[Omega]

Many delicious thanks to Rogi, catherwood, ncfriend, Lex, and Big_Larry for your feedback! I've learned so much with this first experiment alone. The level of response has been very reassuring of the community's support. Thank you!