Neon Atlas: Word Trails, a Starship Logbook Puzzle

About Neon Atlas: Word Trails

The Long Voyage Academy rides a generation ship: three great rings turning round a glowing core, forty years out from the dock. In the forty-first year a fault scrambled the ship’s logbook. Every room kept its fragments, but not their years, and the cadets on night watch are sent to put the dates back.

You walk inward one ring at a time. In each room you date one fragment, such as the first wheat harvest or the great engine refit, from the room’s log lines. Every true line names a year and a gap: three years after the hangar doors were sealed, in Year 3. Turn the dial to the year they agree on. In a solar storm one line is corrupted: it names a true year but the wrong gap, so side with the two that agree. Right or wrong, the room opens the next ring, and you choose which of its three rooms to walk to.

At the core you date the captain’s last entry from two fragments of your own trail; the years you recovered are in your log, and a lost one can be worked out again from its first line. Date it, and the rings swing into line as the core wakes. A watch is three rooms and the core, about five minutes, under one rule of the night. The voyage is invented. Your progress stays on this device.

How to play

Read tonight’s watch on the card, then choose a room on the outer ring (tap, or press 1 to 3).
Date the room’s fragment: work out the year from its log lines and turn the dial to it (tap, or press 1 to 4).
Each true line names a year and a gap. In a solar storm one line is corrupted: side with the two that agree.
Every room opens the next ring: choose which of its three rooms to walk to.
At the core, date the captain’s last entry from the fragments on your trail.
Ask ORRERY (H) to strike two wrong years off the dial, but a clean trail needs no help.

Controls

Tap a room, or press 1 to 3
Tap a year on the dial, or press 1 to 4
H — ask ORRERY; arrow keys or D-pad — move; Enter or Ⓐ — press
Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

How do I find the year?

Each true log line names a year and a gap, such as three years after an event in Year 3: add or take away the gap. All the true lines in a room give the same year.

What is a corrupted line?

In a solar storm, one line in each room names a true year but the wrong gap. It points to a wrong year; the two true lines agree with each other, so side with them.

What happens if I get a room wrong?

The fragment is logged as lost, and you still walk on. At the core, your log shows the first line of every lost fragment, so you can work its year out again.

Does my trail matter?

Yes. The captain’s last entry is dated from the outer and inner rooms on your own trail, and each of the nine rooms has its own fragment to date.