Cipher Cases

What a Cipher Case is#

There are four tiers: Battered, Sealed, Encrypted and Crown-Sealed. A higher tier means more legs, longer trips, higher skill gates and a bigger cache. You open a case from your docked hangar or from your hold, in the Cipher Cases window (Shift+J), and every hunt runs one leg at a time. Cases are bound to you: they come only from rare drops and can't be traded, but everything a cache holds can.

From the game's own data

Where cases drop#

Every kill or clear is one roll, with no daily count. Cases are very rare, so a pilot who fights a lot sees a few a week of the lowest tier and far fewer of the rest. Fighting the same spot over and over pays less, and a fresh place pays in full again.

Battered

Hollow Crown pirates

Sealed

Shatterdrift elites, Rift clears, Hunting quarry

Encrypted

Stronghold raids, Crown captains

Crown-Sealed

World bosses (top contributors)

Hunt#

Each leg of a hunt has three parts. The clue is a puzzle you can work anywhere; it only tells you where to look, and nobody tells you whether you got it right. The trip: travel to the system you worked out. The site: sweep the system (the Sweep button in the hunt log or the HUD tracker, or a Deep Scanner) to find the exact spot. A sweep in the wrong place finds nothing, so a wrong answer only costs you the trip. Once the spot is found, warp to it and do the job there.

From the game's own data

From the game's own data

The higher tiers send you further and, sometimes, into Contested or Lawless space. A console puzzle locks for 30 seconds after 3 wrong answers and you get a fresh one. You can give a case back at any time from the hunt's menu (Reseal); its progress is lost and the case is yours to open again.

Rewards#

The last leg opens the reward cache: credits and materials sized to the tier, and a very rare chance at a find that only comes from Cipher Cases.

From the game's own data

• Very rare finds include holograms for your mast, a small Holo Drone, drive trail tints, display pieces for your Trophy Hall, livery tokens and a few useful one-use tools: a Cipher Jump Beacon, a Field Refinery Kit and a Cache Locator.
• Holograms, the drone and trails are cosmetic. Keep one in your hold and set it from the Look tab; other pilots see it on your ship.
• Every reward is tradeable. A livery token is tradeable until you redeem it docked, which adds the livery to your account for good.

Solving the puzzles#

Every puzzle is made fresh for your hunt, so there is nothing to look up: you solve it. Each one is small and works with a tap on a phone as well as a mouse.

Signal tuning#

Two waves are drawn on the scope: the captured one and yours. Change the frequency until the number of humps matches, then turn the phase in 45 degree steps until they line up, and set the amplitude to match the height. On the higher tiers a harmonic adds a second, smaller wave on top.

Star chart#

Three known systems each give a bearing to the one to search, measured from the top of the map and turning clockwise. The dashed rays on the chart show them. The system to search is the candidate dot where the rays meet. The galaxy map in the game uses the same layout, so you can check positions there.

Cipher wheel#

The garbled text is the name of a planet, belt or station with every letter pushed along the alphabet. Turn the wheel and watch the decoded line. The place is always in the region shown as the hint. On the higher tiers two wheels take turns, one for every other letter.

Circuit routing#

This one is on a derelict's console, so you work it at the spot. Each tile has wire ends on some of its sides. Tap a tile to turn it a quarter clockwise. Power starts at the input on the left edge and must reach the output on the right edge. Tiles power up as the current reaches them, so you can see how far you have got. Submit unlocks once the output is lit.

Hologram plate and place riddle#

A hologram plate is a sliding puzzle on a derelict's console: tap a tile next to the gap to slide it, and use Undo to take back a move. A place riddle lists facts about one system, such as its star, region, security, faction and how many planets, stations and belts it has. The Database lists the same facts for every system, so it is the place to check a candidate.

Tips#

• Check the skill chip on each leg before you start a long journey. A red chip means you need a higher level; the hunt waits.
• Not sure of an answer? Work the clue again before you travel: only the place itself tells you if you were right.
• Bring what a leg asks for. A flare step needs the flares in your hold, and a delivery needs the goods in your hold before you dock at the contact's station.
• Only one trail of each tier runs at a time. Finish or reseal it to start another case of that tier.
• Cases in your docked hangar and your hold both count. You can open one from the hangar's item menu or from the Cipher Cases window.
• The Cache Locator and Cipher Jump Beacon are used in space from the hold. The beacon asks which of the system's gates to jump through.

Log and titles#

The Log tab counts the trails you have finished and shows a collection of every very rare find, lit once you have found it. Finishing enough trails earns a title:

Decoder

Finish 25 Battered trails.

Codebreaker

Finish 25 Sealed trails.

Cryptarch

Finish 10 Encrypted trails.

Crownbreaker

Finish 1 Crown-Sealed trail.

• Missions and eventsMore ways to earn rewards: quests, hunting and bosses.
• SkillsThe skills that open each leg.