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Found an interesting radio easter egg...


ethanwdp

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Somebody on /r/projectzomboid was wondering how much content was in the radios and TV's, so I decided to do something that TIS doesn't particularly smile upon in order to figure out how many lines of dialogue there are. For science!

 

 

In doing so, something caught my interest - a broadcast labeled "Classified M1A1". It was just the same series of numbers over and over again... 3789280985974709.

 

I did my research into any kind of number based cipher used by the military in at least some time period. After noticing that it didn't appear to be any type of known cipher, I realized that the pauses in the transmission weren't there for no reason.

37 892809 85 974709. The fuck is this, a set of coordinates?

 

Yeah, they were coordinates. I plopped it into Google Maps and it points directly to Fort Knox.

 

Very interesting easter egg, I actually had some fun figuring this one out. Well done, TIS!

 

I'm not leaking anything sensitive like zombie attack mechanics or other things I'd rather not type here, so hopefully I'm in the clear this time and can share this.

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That's really cool. Can't wait until it's in the game! I hope TIS add loads more easter eggs, something we all can get in on finding or solving. In a game like this, the mystery can be huge especially with radio and TVs.

Maybe put your post in spoiler tags.

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That's really cool. Can't wait until it's in the game! I hope TIS add loads more easter eggs, something we all can get in on finding or solving. In a game like this, the mystery can be huge especially with radio and TVs.

Maybe put your post in spoiler tags.

I edited my post to be in a spoiler tag.

 

The easter egg is already in the game. As for when this easter egg can be seen I won't reveal, as that removes most of the fun.

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Nice, but not particularly big news because we already know Fort Knox is going to be in the game.

Still interesting. The broadcast was also named "Classified M1A1," so we might see a new weapon as well.

 

I missed that, sounds very promising. Quick look on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine#Variants

 

M1A1 would be much too old to be classified in the year that the game takes place, which is 1993.

 

Perhaps it's referring to the M4A1, which would be a modernized M1A1.The M4 carbine started production in 1993, and there was more than likely going to be research into an A1 variant.

 

Gun development probably takes a LONG time to make sure that it's reliable and is the cheapest it can be, so redesigning a 3-burst weapon to be fully automatic and making sure that it doesn't melt would take a lot of trial and error.

 

I'm assuming that the A1 was already in the works while the M4 was being arranged for production, as the base M4 has already been thoroughly tested and would be a stable base to build upon. Having an edge in technology is no doubt in the U.S military's best interests, and they wouldn't lull about while research into a new rifle could be commenced.

 

 

Arranging for mass production, with contracts, specialized factories, and the like, would take 1-2 years. The A1 was most likely being researched at that time, and by 1993 there would be at least a prototype.

 

Where would you hide extremely valuable weapon prototypes? A fort, obviously. What fort is famously known for being impenetrable? Fort Knox.

 

A lot of this is guessing, but the only thing I had to go off of was Google and Wikipedia. World Super Powers don't exactly give out research dates and the like to random people on the internet.

 

 

 

Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_carbine

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I imagine they wouldn't be transmitting something like that. I could understand that sort of thing for a weapon the scale of a bomb, but not a rifle. I would think M1A1 is actually supposed to be a code name designation for a team/division or maybe even a directive with the location being transmitted to those that undestand what the M1A1 directive is.

 

Doubt it, but just a thought.

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I'd love to see the zombies beat that.  8-)

 

Fuel and ammo for the tank runs out sooner or later.

 

Zombies will never run out, sooner or later the pilot of the tank is going to die.

 

Therefor, zombies will beat that.

 

But Rick . . .

 

 

Doesn't count. Had time to escape because majority of zombies were busy beating a dead horse.

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I think M1A1 is the model number of a couple of different weapons.

I would guess the 'M' stands for Model? No idea what the 'A' stands for?

Artillery.

M does stand for Model in the US military. Although it can get rather confusing and other letters can be used to mean different things.

But there is no way of telling what the thing is? You can get-

M1 light tank

M1 Medium tank

M1 heavy tank

M1 flamethrower

M1 assault rifle

M1 Helmet

etc...

If there is a change made to the production of the model it is designated as A1,A2 etc.

So it could be an M1A1 Laser cannon or a M1A1 toothbrush...

Or something completely different :P

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The biggest problem here, for all those assuming that it is some kind of new weapon intended for players is this; why is it latitude and longitude coordinates? We don't get information like that in game, so it's not a hidden message to the player about a secret prize.

Why would the military be broadcasting the coordinates of a well known military base?

My guess is that it's targeting information.

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The biggest problem here, for all those assuming that it is some kind of new weapon intended for players is this; why is it latitude and longitude coordinates? We don't get information like that in game, so it's not a hidden message to the player about a secret prize.

Why would the military be broadcasting the coordinates of a well known military base?

My guess is that it's targeting information.

There's a secret weapon and it is at Fort Knox. Emphasis on secret. Having the coordinates to Fort Knox on a military frequency that requires rare equipment isn't exactly giving it out to people on a silver platter. The only people who would have that kind of gear would be soldiers and any survivors tough enough to live to find one. It's also transmitted near the end of the game which means that the developers are most likely hiding something cool in there. Like dragons.

 

It's probably dragons. Case solved everyone!

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You miss my point tho. Remember that the tagline of this game is "This is how you died". It seems out of character for the game to allow you to get some mega weapon....

Unless, of course, it's a nuke. You aren't going to outrun the blast radius.

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You miss my point tho. Remember that the tagline of this game is "This is how you died". It seems out of character for the game to allow you to get some mega weapon....

Unless, of course, it's a nuke. You aren't going to outrun the blast radius.

Not a mega weapon, of course, but something pretty good.

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I wonder if the "curfew" will have an effect on the military. How serious will the curfew be when there's military/NPCs? I've been glued to the broadcasts since I started my new play-through. They're really interesting. It makes it feel less lonely. 

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