nanoMission 2
Feb. 18th, 2009 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteSuddenly, a nanoMission! Well, the MH Directorate sure likes to keep us on our toes. In between missions, we have yet another nanoMission, this one featuring a short briefing and a new device from The Source, marked only "Urgent." A timed puzzle, perhaps?
From the start, this puzzle is fairly easy to recognize. You have a board with some symbols (they're runes, in case you're wondering). Some of the symbols are fixed in particular areas, while others are marked on stones that you can move to certain areas. The board also has "regions" featuring stones of a particular color. The goal is simple: put the stones on the board with the others of their group in such a way that there is only ONE of each rune in any given row and column.
If this is confusing, I recommend looking up Sudoku and trying your hand at it first. Then return to the puzzle and imagine the runes in place of numbers. The only difference between this puzzle and Sudoku is that Sudoku often has square sub-regions that must contain the numbers 1-9 alone, or a certain region must add up to a particular number ("magic square" style). This won't be done here; the only rule is that a rune ONLY appear once in a row, in a column, and in a colored region.
Once you have solved the puzzle, a particular row will light up, and you will see a Mainframe bar at the top, indicating the device is attempting to send a message through time. If you look up what the runes roughly sound like in English (their equivalent letters), you'll get a phrase that you can enter as the Authorization Code (in English, of course).
There are many different runic systems out there, but most charts should at least account for the first through third and sixth through last symbols. What you'll have at that point is ELR??IMAC. Well there's something Apple-related-- iMac! Perhaps we can find out what the missing two runes are by doing a simple search on ELR IMAC.
It might take you some digging, but after a while, I found this page on Apple codenames, one of which began with the exact three letters I have, and also referring to... an iMac! It's the Bondi Blue iMac, also known as the ELROY. So type in ELROYIMAC (no spaces) as your authorization code and you'll be rewarded with a short Debriefing video and two new pieces of loot-- Fresh and Blitz!
Congratulations, agents!
From the start, this puzzle is fairly easy to recognize. You have a board with some symbols (they're runes, in case you're wondering). Some of the symbols are fixed in particular areas, while others are marked on stones that you can move to certain areas. The board also has "regions" featuring stones of a particular color. The goal is simple: put the stones on the board with the others of their group in such a way that there is only ONE of each rune in any given row and column.
If this is confusing, I recommend looking up Sudoku and trying your hand at it first. Then return to the puzzle and imagine the runes in place of numbers. The only difference between this puzzle and Sudoku is that Sudoku often has square sub-regions that must contain the numbers 1-9 alone, or a certain region must add up to a particular number ("magic square" style). This won't be done here; the only rule is that a rune ONLY appear once in a row, in a column, and in a colored region.
Once you have solved the puzzle, a particular row will light up, and you will see a Mainframe bar at the top, indicating the device is attempting to send a message through time. If you look up what the runes roughly sound like in English (their equivalent letters), you'll get a phrase that you can enter as the Authorization Code (in English, of course).
There are many different runic systems out there, but most charts should at least account for the first through third and sixth through last symbols. What you'll have at that point is ELR??IMAC. Well there's something Apple-related-- iMac! Perhaps we can find out what the missing two runes are by doing a simple search on ELR IMAC.
It might take you some digging, but after a while, I found this page on Apple codenames, one of which began with the exact three letters I have, and also referring to... an iMac! It's the Bondi Blue iMac, also known as the ELROY. So type in ELROYIMAC (no spaces) as your authorization code and you'll be rewarded with a short Debriefing video and two new pieces of loot-- Fresh and Blitz!
Congratulations, agents!
