I know there are more than enough posts on this already, but I figured I would post my findings and some of the investigating my friends and I have gathered…credit goes to SHOOTERxMcGAVIN of INDgamers.com and 2 of his friends.
Beginning with Battlelog
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When in the Battlelog “command prompt”, the message “Please wait a moment and try again.” comes up apparently randomly. Not true! In typing the clues that have been discovered thus far, like “500”, “Maotsetung”, or “Scorpio” results in the same text coming up over and over. I’ve come to the conclusion that the keyphrase comes up when a clue associated to the password has been discovered. You can literally piece together what clues matter and which don’t if you get the keyphrase to come up, allowing you to come up with a list through order of deduction.
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(Referencing the post I found initially and the “273” mystery post I found with all posts giving clues -thank you)
- When at the “273” door on Nansha, putting the flashlight on the camera makes the red light appear to be flashing green. Using a .45 Magnum with a scope and tactical light/flashlight, if you shine the light on the camera and use the scope to zoom in, you’ll notice the light no longer looks green. The camera light blinks red (on) and a light-red (off). I noticed that it’s a light display issue, because when not shining a light on the camera, it blinks quickly on 1 second intervals. The blink is switching from 1 color of red to another, which in the tunnel looks like the same shade of red. When shining the light on it and zooming into it, one of the shades is a lighter red, not green as previously thought.
- At KevinSimpson1942’s Battlelog profile, his Presentation states:
On that damaged ship, I was the wreck
Tuning guitars without strings
Unglamorous work, cleaning the deck
How did they dare clip my wings?
From what I’ve gathered, the riddle is completely metaphoric. “On that damaged ship, I was the wreck” means he was the cause of the damage, as he says “I was the wreck” is the same way of saying you’re guilty of something as “I am the knife” means you’re a killer. “Tuning guitars without strings” is a logical deduction. A guitar with strings is a musical instrument, thus a guitar without strings is nonetheless an instrument, just no longer musical. Tuning instruments would be the clue. We’ve deduced that what it means is on a ship, you either tune up instruments (such as navigational equipment on a ship) or when it comes to pinpointing a weapon trajectory, you fine tune the instruments necessary to hit your target. “Unglamorous Work, Cleaning the deck” refers to something being done, but not necessarily being pretty or clean about it…while “cleaning the deck” is a way of saying “wiping out/off everything on an object”. For instance, when someone says “that fire cleaned the deck” would mean a fire destroyed everything. Another way of saying it would be “wiping the deck clean”. “How did they dare clip my wings?” refers to being “grounded” when someone or something has been either decommissioned or stopped in mid-air flight. While pilots often refer to their demotion or suspension as “having their wings clipped”, a plane or a weapon is often referred to having their “wings clipped” when being decommissioned or being shot out of the air.
Since the riddle, in metaphor, seems to be targeting a particular object, or set of objects, I don’t think this is in relation to a person, so the 4th line in the riddle is actually referring to a vehicle or weapon. Taking the entire riddle into account and its definitions, I can safely say the riddle is about a weapon. Allow me to rephrase the riddle with what I believe to be the definition:
I’m a missile that damaged a ship,
You fine tune my instruments for accuracy,
I may do dirty work, but I wipe out what I hit,
Yet I fell from the sky.
What objects do you know of fall from the sky and clear out everything in an area (on the landscape)? 1 of 2 things. Either an in-game cruise missile or a nuke. While a cruise missile requires pinpoint accuracy in the game, I don’t exactly think this is what the riddle is referring to, yet I could be wrong. When referencing the other clues, I can say with a degree of certainty, that the riddle is referring to a nuclear bomb or ICBM.
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From the other clues on the post by LachlanCotter, I agree with “273” being in reference to Mao’s book, not the USS Robalo (SS-273). Perhaps I read incorrectly on the history of the Robalo, but I believe the ship was sunk by the Japanese, which has no bearing on BF4. Plus, the fact that when I enter “maotsetung” on the phantom program command prompt, it gives me the message “Please wait a moment and try again” as I’ve stated above, hinting that the clues point toward Mao’s book.
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The clues at KevinSimpson1942.com, from what I can tell, are as follows:
-Yellow post-it on above rafters has astrological symbol for “Scorpio”
-Ladder has large brown parcel wrapping paper, rolled into cone shape, going through 3rd step.
-Point at which paper and ladder meet, ladder has Nordic symbol for “Aerial” or “Antenna” written in sharpie.
-2 wire gates have locks on them; one with padlock, another with a bike chain lock.
-bottle at base of ladder has either “500” or “OOS” written on it in sharpie.
-black cable (coaxial?) wrapped, tied to rafters next to post-it note
-unknown photo on the floor, left of the ladder
-metal door on steel frame on the right with no handle/knob (large black object is not a handle, rather a large
scratch on door)
-(Audio) Sound of idle wind
Judging from what my friends and I can tell, with the gates being locked, I might be tempted to agree with the video posted by JackFrags
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q1R9fAFPcqA
, in which he states that the locks or lockers could refer to Operation Locker. Why? The audio on the site is of idle wind, which is the noise you hear when in the outer portions of the map. The Nordic symbol for Aerial/Antenna may refer to the antenna that is roughly 500m off in the distance away from the map outside. Also, to the left of that is a large set of flames, in a sort of “T” pattern. Fallen plane? “How did they dare clip my wings” could mean a plane that was shot out of the sky, possibly. Also, entering the word “Locker” in the Phantom Program command prompt gives me the keyphrase. Ironically enough, the one and only map KevinSimpson1942 played (as shown on his battlelog profile) was Operation Locker.
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The “500” on the bottle, as we’ve found out, could actually be “OOS”, which is an acronym for “Out of Service”, which could be a reference to a ship or submarine that has been decommissioned.
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The Morse code light at the “273” door is connected to a relay box, which is wired through the wall, leading to a switch on the other side. Someone inside the door must be flicking the light on/off, debunking those that say it isn’t Morse code. Also, the code translating into “E1” could mean a variety of things. By searching on Wikipedia, all relevant search results for “E1” are as follows:
E1 Tracer - Early warning craft
USS E-1 (SS-24) - E-class submarine of the US Navy
E1 North-South Expressway Northern Route - Malaysia (South China Sea)
E-1 - Rank for US Airmen, Private, and Seaman Recruits
E1 Grade - Difficulty in rock climbing (Op: Locker?)
E-1 rocket engine - fueled by liquid
Take from that as you wish, all are possible hints with some kind of connection to either previous clues or something in BF4.
- On KevinSimpson1942’s profile, his emblem shows 4 planets (not 3 as believed in some posts). Clicking his emblem once on his profile and once again on his detailed summary, shows his emblem details. 2 hints to this: The previous emblems and current emblem are as follows: Shield, & (and), 4 planets. The 4 planets shown are Earth, Mars (red planet, slightly smaller than Earth), Pluto (smallest planet), and Uranus (not Saturn, as the ring is vertical, not diagonal). I believe the posts, in which the theory is that Pluto and Uranus symbolize “Plutonium” and “Uranium”, which are 2 necessary components for a nuclear bomb. One material is injected into the other to cause a chain reaction, thus a nuclear explosion. What Mars has in relation to any of this? Your guess is as good as mine. Earth, I assume, is where this takes place. Otherwise, the other interpretation to this is a planetary alignment, of some sort. Maybe something in Chinese folklore? Or a discovery made by China? I haven’t cross referenced this yet. The order of the emblems, though, has me thinking is a clue in itself. Shield & “?”…perhaps Lead? Considering Lead is a radioactive shield, often used by anyone/everyone dealing with radioactive materials.
Tell me what you think of our findings.
