The Energon Pub

[Qwan]

Antillia...there's something else about that colony isn't there...something far more recent (or am I getting mixed up again with my idw lore)

Nothing specific about Antillia! Just more, colonies in general. If you need another clue...

The key number, it's a bit special. Here's a hint: it's a prime number

[ZeroWolf]

I've solved it

Activate operation counterstrike

So is it the name for 2020 or do they just love playing old shooting games from the early 00s?

[SpikeyTigertron]

Definitely requires a desk and coffee maybe a certain list of 26 characters

[Va'al]

Definitely requires a desk and coffee maybe a certain list of 26 characters

Or a code solver online: https://www.dcode.fr/caesar-cipher

[SpikeyTigertron]

I've solved it

Activate operation counterstrike

So is it the name for 2020 or do they just love playing old shooting games from the early 00s?

missed opportunity for Operation Omega

[ZeroWolf]

Antillia...there's something else about that colony isn't there...something far more recent (or am I getting mixed up again with my idw lore)

Nothing specific about Antillia! Just more, colonies in general. If you need another clue...

The key number, it's a bit special. Here's a hint: it's a prime number

Oh I figured out what the key was from yours and va'al earlier hints (thank you by the way ) I just wondered if it was a hint to what the message said.

[Qwan]

Definitely requires a desk and coffee maybe a certain list of 26 characters

Or a code solver online: https://www.dcode.fr/caesar-cipher

Hey now, don't you think you're being a bit blunt with that? What if someone didn't want to know how it was encrypted? Imagine how unlucky it'd be for them to just see it right there on the boards...

(Just about everyone who cares has pretty much solved it at this point! But being bluntly cryptic is just too much fun... )

[SpikeyTigertron]

Definitely requires a desk and coffee maybe a certain list of 26 characters

Or a code solver online: https://www.dcode.fr/caesar-cipher

Hey now, don't you think you're being a bit blunt with that? What if someone didn't want to know how it was encrypted? Imagine how unlucky it'd be for them to just see it right there on the boards...

Well as long as they weren’t surprised from behind they’ll be fine. Wonder what’s getting Hasbro to step up their PR?

[MemphisR56]

A clue, if I may, for those helping to figure it out.
Instead of using the key on the top of this thread for the cybertronian, the one on the TFwiki is MUCH more helpful, after giving it some thought. But why it's helpful only became apparent after I'd solved it.

[ZeroWolf]

Though I can imagine they would be annoyed at how fast it was cracked after it was found

[Qwan]

Definitely requires a desk and coffee maybe a certain list of 26 characters

Or a code solver online: https://www.dcode.fr/caesar-cipher

Hey now, don't you think you're being a bit blunt with that? What if someone didn't want to know how it was encrypted? Imagine how unlucky it'd be for them to just see it right there on the boards...

Well as long as they weren’t surprised from behind they’ll be fine. Wonder what’s getting Hasbro to step up their PR?

Hasbro's PR has needed stepping up for quite some time, to be honest. I wouldn't be surprised if they were held at knifepoint to do this!

[MemphisR56]

Though I can imagine they would be annoyed at how fast it was cracked after it was found

I'm hoping they'd be more impressed and maybe throw some tougher ones in our direction in future

[Va'al]

A clue, if I may, for those helping to figure it out.
Instead of using the key on the top of this thread for the cybertronian, the one on the TFwiki is MUCH more helpful, after giving it some thought. But why it's helpful only became apparent after I'd solved it.

Are the two different?

TFWiki


The one I posted

[SpikeyTigertron]

Just as long as we don’t start getting studio series BAF like Marvel...... and not the Combiner kind lol. Still wish i’d Collected transmutate on the BW anniversary years ago

[MemphisR56]

A clue, if I may, for those helping to figure it out.
Instead of using the key on the top of this thread for the cybertronian, the one on the TFwiki is MUCH more helpful, after giving it some thought. But why it's helpful only became apparent after I'd solved it.

Are the two different?

TFWiki


The one I posted

They're different literally only in their layout!
That prime number happens to be exactly half the alphabet. The key was much easier than it seemed all along.

[Qwan]

Though I can imagine they would be annoyed at how fast it was cracked after it was found

Real talk? No dumb hints (for now, at least)? It was solved even faster than this. The news crew had the non-hidden text ("Light the Darkest Hour") fully decoded about 8 hours ago, and then less than 4 hours ago Va'al basically said "This is article-worthy, you guys are dumb and failed your perception checks" - though perhaps more politely. A literal hour later the article was up, and Va'al already had the solution all figured out!

I knew he was fast at newsing, but apparently he's an emperor of ciphers as well... They say Rome wasn't built in a day but Va'al sure cracked this case way faster than that.

(Okay, maybe some dumb obvious hints. I couldn't resist )

A clue, if I may, for those helping to figure it out.
Instead of using the key on the top of this thread for the cybertronian, the one on the TFwiki is MUCH more helpful, after giving it some thought. But why it's helpful only became apparent after I'd solved it.

Are the two different?

[snip]

They're different literally only in their layout!
That prime number happens to be exactly half the alphabet. The key was much easier than it seemed all along.

I still can't tell if they chose that number because it's significant within Transformers lore, or because whoever encrypted it was mega lazy.

[Dannshinigami]

Where is the solution as stated in the original post? I dont have the poster to do it with......plus im impatient lol

[ZeroWolf]

Though I can imagine they would be annoyed at how fast it was cracked after it was found

Real talk? No dumb hints (for now, at least)? It was solved even faster than this. The news crew had the non-hidden text ("Light the Darkest Hour") fully decoded about 8 hours ago, and then less than 4 hours ago Va'al basically said "This is article-worthy, you guys are dumb and failed your perception checks" - though perhaps more politely. A literal hour later the article was up, and Va'al already had the solution all figured out!

I knew he was fast at newsing, but apparently he's an emperor of ciphers as well... They say Rome wasn't built in a day but Va'al sure cracked this case way faster than that.

(Okay, maybe some dumb obvious hints. I couldn't resist )

A clue, if I may, for those helping to figure it out.
Instead of using the key on the top of this thread for the cybertronian, the one on the TFwiki is MUCH more helpful, after giving it some thought. But why it's helpful only became apparent after I'd solved it.

Are the two different?

[snip]

They're different literally only in their layout!
That prime number happens to be exactly half the alphabet. The key was much easier than it seemed all along.

I still can't tell if they chose that number because it's significant within Transformers lore, or because whoever encrypted it was mega lazy.

You really couldn't help yourself could you

As I said, the pr team will be like:

Hasbro PR: They cracked it that quickly? But that took us four weeks to encrypt!

2nd Hasbro PR: and also four weeks spent in an isolated and secluded five star resort in the Caribbean...Working non stop at making that puzzle of course!

1st hasbro pr again: Well that settles it, we'll have have to go on a more secluded, longer holid-I mean, work...time...a world cruise will give us the brain power to make an unbreakable puzzle!

2nd pr: pig Latin?

1st pr: oh yeah that will stump them...more time for our tans!

[Emerje]

I didn't have time to do it myself, but now that the answer is out there what do we think it means?

Seems awfully early to be teasing "Transformers War for Cybertron: Counterstrike" or whatever since Siege hasn't even launched yet. I'm thinking it's a teaser for Omega Supreme, something that would help the Autobots fight back.

On the other hand, whenever I hear "operation" in a G1 setting my mind instantly turns to Soundwave who would always name his battles "operation: *****". So maybe it's all just a reference to the Decepticon side.

Emerje

[Qwan]

As I said, the pr team will be like:

Hasbro PR: They cracked it that quickly? But that took us four weeks to encrypt!

2nd Hasbro PR: and also four weeks spent in an isolated and secluded five star resort in the Caribbean...Working non stop at making that puzzle of course!

1st hasbro pr again: Well that settles it, we'll have have to go on a more secluded, longer holid-I mean, work...time...a world cruise will give us the brain power to make an unbreakable puzzle!

2nd pr: pig Latin?

1st pr: oh yeah that will stump them...more time for our tans!

[MemphisR56]

Call me obsessive if you want, but I just programmed a spreadsheet to decode that cypher instantly if we ever come across it again in the near future.

Punch in the letter, it looks up the number, adds 13, checks if it's >or< than 26, if it's greater, subtracts 26 in the next cell. Logic checks which value is below 26, then looks up the corresponding alphabet number, translates it back to the letter.

Fun little microsoft excel training exercise for myself.

[Qwan]

Call me obsessive if you want, but I just programmed a spreadsheet to decode that cypher instantly if we ever come across it again in the near future.

Punch in the letter, it looks up the number, adds 13, checks if it's >or< than 26, if it's greater, subtracts 26 in the next cell. Logic checks which value is below 26, then looks up the corresponding alphabet number, translates it back to the letter.

Fun little microsoft excel training exercise for myself.

Fun! I'd personally just use one of the multitudinous online decoders, but any opportunity for a little coding exercise is always great

[chuckdawg1999]

So is it decoded? What is it?

[ScottyP]

I didn't know modular arithmetic was such an unknown, but then again I just woke up and I'm grumpy I had to do math for the equivalent of "stay tuned"

Also grumpy because I used mod113 at first which is a great way to get a pointless and indecipherable answer.

[Qwan]

I didn't know modular arithmetic was such an unknown, but then again I just woke up and I'm grumpy I had to do math for the equivalent of "stay tuned"

Also grumpy because I used mod113 at first which is a great way to get a pointless and indecipherable answer.

Maybe it's not an actual unknown among people, so much as we just didn't want to make ourselves grumpy by doing the modular arithmetic ourselves