explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2765: Escape Speed

2025-08-27T05:45:12Z

82.132.244.228:

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</noinclude>"A special feature it that it does not have its own gravity, so the ship continues to be attracted to the crystal sphere regardless of which side of the planet you're on." This seems wrong. You are attracted to the Click and Drag planet and can land on it on any side. It is just that the gravity of the crystal sphere is so relatively huge that it quickly overpowers the gravity of the planet when too high above the surface on the near side makes the ground appear sloped on the "sides", similar to the moon of Origin. It would be really cool if someone could make a map that showed the gravity field everywhere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.39|162.158.203.39]] 11:09, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

When Beret Guy says "Wow!" on the starting planet, isn't it actually a reference to the alt text of [[1117: My Sky]], and not [[502: Dark Flow]]? --[[User:BrightBlackHole|BrightBlackHole]] ([[User talk:BrightBlackHole|talk]]) 18:13, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

With an old browser (all I have, this moment) I just have the starscape, the hovertext and a button in the bottom right corner to seemingly reset (same starscape, and briefly the message "Welcome back pilot", or words to that effect). I look forward to trying it on something more interactive, on this very-late-for-Wednesday special comic... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]] 17:02, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:For me, Firefox 112 and Chrome 112 work just fine. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.133|172.68.50.133]] 15:10, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
The only cheat is "window.python("import antigravity"). (To my knowledge) "ze.goggles()" dosen't work/do anything. Arrow keys, WASD, and HJKL work for movement. (Working on an object table) --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 17:04, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

<s>I tried to correct a BOT error, but the BOT [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2765:_Escape_Speed&diff=310745&oldid=310744 reverted the correction back to an error]. (Or my 'poor browser', see above, is also going wrong with the hovertext). So we need the BOT's human pappy to override it. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]]</s>
:NVM, done now. Somehow... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.159|172.70.162.159]] 17:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
::Looks like the original title text contained the error, but has since been fixed. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 18:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Spoiler but there is hollow space between the rollercoaster and the St Louis arch 17:17, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Okay I'm still working on it but here's the link to my object table: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit#gid=0] --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 17:27, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm having trouble using the arrow keys, because it keeps moving the browser window up and down. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.11|108.162.245.11]] 18:02, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:Try clicking on the comic itself, which should move focus there. --[[User:Moble|Moble]] ([[User talk:Moble|talk]]) 18:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I managed to escape the larger planet's gravity well by jumping off the start planet and perfectly manipulating to barely miss it. it wasn't until afterwards thatI found the tunnel --[[User:Toriski3037|Toriski3037]] ([[User talk:Toriski3037|talk]]) 18:12, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

The tunnel is how you escape the planet. Fall through and when you get to the center use your thrusters to leave. --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

There is a way to escape the crystal dome. Fly to the edge and continue around until you find the crack. You need to get enough power ups on your ship in order to make it out. --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:19, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
:You can also find the crack pretty easily by finding the 6th Lagrange Point and finding the sign that says "Exit" and heading straight there. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 19:11, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Absolutely no idea what you’re even talking about. I see a mostly black picture with some white spots. Your ‘explanation’ explains nothing, just makes the confusion worse.
: You probably need a relatively modern browser and Javascript turned on [[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.107|172.70.251.107]] 19:44, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

There is an area that is a huge maze with cities marked on it -the subway system. In Washington DC there is a black hole, which even with lots of power ups I think is inescapable once you land on it (you can reset and retain your powerups). The map of the subway system is from xkcd 1196.
:I'm pretty sure the area is Boston. Also, the black hole just has very high, not infinite, gravity. --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 18:27, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Re:"there is a way out" - I went farther down and launched upwards as quickly as I could while not hitting the sides to get past the intense gravity. You can get to the top on the left side, but the gravity is so strong that you're basically stuck to the ground. If you scoot along farther to the left you see a spot that says "the end". Just past there, there is a small dip that, due to how strong the gravity is, I couldn't get out of. I wouldn't be surprised if you got enough upgrades you could get past it.
: If you go right instead, you can go all the way around the "crystal dome" and there is a point of interest a long the way (half way around maybe?) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.214|172.71.154.214]] 19:34, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Should we start saying what planets things are on? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.41|162.158.146.41]]

Once you get off the planet by falling through the tunnel and shooting out the other side you can fly around space, visiting other planets. There are power ups in the form of balls with stars in the center. Each power up gives your ship more thrust, faster recharge, etc. If you keep flying straight eventually you get to a white barrier that goes all around space. This is the crystal dome that is mentioned on the "origin" planet. If you fly along the dome long enough you will eventually come across a crack in it. As you fly up through the crack the gravity gets stronger and stronger. Eventually you will not be able to any further. You have to get enough power ups to fly out. Once out there is a dome of text that just says "The end." --[[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] 18:52, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

::Which is not remotely actually the end. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.100|172.71.254.100]] 22:30, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I have raw images for the points of interest here: https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/ [[User:Aeromancer|Aeromancer]] ([[User talk:Aeromancer|talk]]) 21:00, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

::Cool! There are apparently quite a bunch of places I missed... (which is unsurprising given that I mostly navigated by flying in random directions while hoping to get to where I wanted (still haven’t figured how to reliably find Subway) [[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 12:06, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

apparently if you exit the page it saves your "you've found:" stuff and your position, and a spoilery upgrade that shows a gray line, but not any of the upgrades you got to your ship. (the upgrades do NOT reappear anywhere, so you can't collect them again.) thanks firefox for randomly closing to install an update --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.214|172.70.110.214]] 21:52, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

^this is a major buzzkill. The page crashed on me twice, and both times I lost my upgrades. It's essentially non-functional now.

you can probably hack back the upgrades quickly somehow. for me, i found a handy variable to use for 'accessibility' (if you want to cheat/skip parts) is to set the starting position to that of some other location, for example to skip to 'mtba' (the +1000s are just so you're not warped to the center of the object, you'll need to tweak for other locations):
window.Comic.voyager.opts.startPos = [window.Comic.map.locations[61].pos[0]+1000, window.Comic.map.locations[61].pos[1] + 1000]
to reset to the original starting location:
window.Comic.voyager.opts.startPos = window.Comic.map.player.pos
in firefox anyway, you can use this to browse the game objects to poke around more:
console.dir(window.Comic)
in particular, .voyager and .map.locations are interesting, as is .gamestate.
i didn't look into forcing upgrades, i grinded those out myself, just didn't want to hunt down all the subway tokens manually ... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.55|172.69.134.55]] 22:04, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

:Try these
* _.updatePlayerConfig({ thrustDuration: _.playerConfig.thrustDuration + 2.5 })
* _.updatePlayerConfig({ thrustDuration: _.playerConfig.thrustDuration + 0.4 })
These are the commands run when the most powerful upgrades are run. --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 23:30, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

You can refer to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2712:_Gravity#Hacks for Console commands ...

In Microsoft Edge on Windows, you can change your speed and refuel-rate as shown. At speed=2, you can escape the black hole in Washington, DC.
Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.speed=0.9
Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.thrustRecoveryTime=0.000001

Looks like I'll have to wait awhile for someone to make a map I can simply scroll around instead of playing interactive mode. As much fun as it was in the beginning, it's miserable once you've lost your upgrades.

Was floating around in space and found a point where the ship just sits there and the screen orientation spins dramatically when moving around that point. Makes me think there's either a microsingularity there, or maybe something cloaked that only leaks gravitation (mentioned by some characters). Is there a way to check what my coordinates are so I can report the anomaly [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.73|172.70.230.73]] 23:16, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Found this as well. It was a marked location, and there was a heavy subway token at this point. After you pick up the token, the location appears to be empty.

Ah, okay. So the residual gravitation field was left behind. Thanks! Still looking for a way to read out my current coordinates though - you know, for science [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.141|162.158.154.141]] 23:26, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

I think I figured it out. Just added "Comic.voyager.pos.x" and "Comic.voyager.pos.y" to the "Watch Expressions" portion of the Web Developer Tools -> Debugger. Simple for those who know. But something new to me. The coordinates for the microgravity well is [-20473, 3682] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.143|162.158.154.143]] 23:33, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Has anyone found the orange line token? I thought it would be with the group singing a Boston song on Origin, but it doesn't seem to be? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.68|162.158.63.68]] 23:48, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

Skimming through the code, it looks like the MIT cloaking system also cloaks the subway lines or something? And MIT harbors a hyperdrive?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.79|162.158.63.79]] 23:59, 20 April 2023 (UTC)

If you've lost your upgrades, you can reset the game to its original state by deleting your xkcd.com cookies. [[User:Whoop whoop pull up|Whoop whoop pull up]] ([[User talk:Whoop whoop pull up|talk]]) 00:07, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Looks like resetting shouldn't be necessary anymore, just hard-refreshing: https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12t8e9i/xkcd_2765_escape_speed/jh2tvpl/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.208|162.158.146.208]] 00:09, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

There's Quite a bit outside the crystal shell and "the end" rainbow. on the opposite side of the shell there's a small dot with "the platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram", directly above the "rainbow" there's a stream of missiles leading to 2 areas (follow them either way), and even more engine upgrades for some reason. I stopped exploring after that - [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.155|172.69.33.155]] 00:29, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

guess this is the late april fools comic. [[user:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/]][[user talk:lettherebedarklight|miLcaqq2Zpk]] 01:34, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

::Probably, the captain of the Corellian corvette adds a message signed April 3rd 2023 to his log. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.116|162.158.86.116]] 10:09, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

If you get stuck with your engine in a weird mode like warp or infinite improbability drive you can fix it by using the command ship.engines = “lander” and the ship gets set back to normal. I don’t think it keeps any upgrades though.

You can also escape the planet with the sign that you can never leave, simply by starting there and keeping your finger down. The rocket will return a few times but gets further away each time and eventually lands on your home (start) location. No need to visit the rollercoaster.
[[User:XKCDnl|XKCDnl]] ([[User talk:XKCDnl|talk]]) 04:51, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Found out that when landed on a surface, with the shield not automatically active, in some condition (maybe some thrust score) using the down-arrow retro thruster allows you to slowly "back up" through surfaces. Can be used to back-through some of the MBTA path blockers thereby reducing the need to deactivate all the blocked paths [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.174|162.158.154.174]] 05:02, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

::Yeah, when slamming into a surface with high enough speed (possible even without hyperdrive, but very easy with), the ship seems to clip through the ground. It's possible then to navigate (very slowly) through the solid mass, which makes it even possible to leave the crystal sphere without hyperdrive (you are, however, stuck very close to the ground outside). Annoyingly, this also allows the ship to get stuck occasionaly: e.g. when slamming into Boston in the lettering or blocked lines, or on the Earth-map in lakes. [[User:Nleanba|Nleanba]] ([[User talk:Nleanba|talk]]) 12:19, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I've found about 80 total subway tokens, but for the life of me cannot remember where the subway planet was.

:: If you travel straight through the hole right next to the starter planet, you'll land at a guiding planet [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 13:37, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Am I hallucinating, or is this a sequel with the same basic "space UI" as a previous comic? (I can't find it in the index, but I remember an extremely similar xkcd comic, with a spaceship being navigated between distant planets.) If such a comic exists, it should be mentioned in this one's description. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 14:02, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I found the the "gold crown Archimedes stole" (which significantly boosts thrusters) and "a necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out your name (note: hopefully you are not named 'Katherine' or 'Brandon')" whilst traveling around the crystal sphere. How should I add those to the list?[[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 14:14, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

The end is not the end - you will need a lot of speed BUT the "there is a way out" leads to the outside of a round planet that everything you have discovered is inside. Continue flying up and you will see a second planet in the wayfinder. There is a line of torpedos and a tunnel up there playerPos: (1361.094208512935,-62444.80167042731) Megan(??) is talking to cuebal and firing torpedos "we have not photon torpedos so I'm firing regular ones"

"You found a Juicero Juicer"

Megan to cueball "Prediction: Seconds before you die you will remember these words" while walkint to an icecream cooler

"you found and out of control trolley"

skateboarder in a bubble going AAAAAAAAaaa (2206.485760681366,-64359.17874192683)

There are multiple ways through this layer in these tunnels

"you found a lymphocyte" (-5565.828800080446,-64207.654606168755)

Outside this layer seems infinite currently have made it past y = -5,000,000

Wayfinder is no longer changing headed back to circle the outer layer and confirm that the layer past the end is the end

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.57|162.158.146.57]][[User:Frogg|Frogg]] 15:43 April 21

The orange token is near the spiral planet. It's on a floating stadium-like thing with "BOSTON" labeled on it.

The outer layer is not a layer it seems like some sort of ship, perhaps a star destroyer, roughly triangular shaped.

Found and emperor in a cloak "My Emperor... We all share in yuour newfound enthusiams for birdwatching but normally one watches them in the wild, rather than drugging them and imprisoning them in a house of stairs."

Cueball "Aha! Darth Vaders secret Gold Bullion Reserves! We'll be rich!"
Megan "I'm not sure this is cannon"

Definitely a star destroyer, found the command tower. cool stuff! (22067.78723320221,-71701.23138735193)

For complete Locations list see Comic.map.locations it is a 75 item array accessible in developer tools it gives coordinates and names that will be useful to the wiki I think.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.57|162.158.146.57]][[User:Frogg|Frogg]] 16:21 April 21 2023 UTC

I got stuck in VANCOUVER. Literally. I was flying so fast I clipped into the N and will have to reset to get out. I had many engine upgrades and was going in random directions since my "regular search pattern" had stopped finding things, so I don't know how to get back. I only know it exists.... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.94|172.71.170.94]] 16:26, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
* Still not found my way back to VANCOUVER, but I love the hint that the space shuttle was a dinosaur. Straight off the nose of the shuttle is the compromise projected Earth. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.101|162.158.174.101]] 16:46, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
* OK, I think I found VANCOUVER. I gave up on looking for it and went for other things and after finding MONTERREY on the Subway Planet I suspect that VANCOUVER is somewhere here too.
* Also, if someone does a long edit of this Discussion page they will overwrite your edits made in the mean time. You can find them in the History if you want to restore them. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.248|172.71.166.248]] 17:47, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm sure that "17 angels on the head of pin" is a Calvin and Hobbes Reference, but I can't seem to find the comic online.[[User:Argis13|Argis13]] ([[User talk:Argis13|talk]]) 18:13, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
::Okay, so, after sleeping on it, and reading trough the entire online archive of Calvin and Hobbes, I'm pretty sure that I was misremembering a Dilbert Strip as a C&H strip, and I don't think that would put an intentional reference to Dilbert anymore. Also I'm not paying money to Scott Adams to search the Dilbert archives. [[User:Argis13|Argis13]] ([[User talk:Argis13|talk]]) 03:32, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
::: The angels on the head of a pin thing is a long-standing theological debate point (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin%3F) - however, the use of precisely 17 is likely a reference to "The Science of Discworld II", in which Ridcully is certain that the number of angels that can fit on the head of a pin is precisely 16. 17 would be a deliberate disproof of Ridcully's claim. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.64.157|172.69.64.157]] 04:40, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

CHEAT: window.noclip = true; is pretty handy if you're struggling with navigating through some mazes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.29|172.70.34.29]] 18:24, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

The absolute best I can get out of this page (across multiple browsers and platforms) is on my Android versions of Chrome and Firefox. It forces itself into full-screen mode and then by using touch regions at either side of the scene I can get one/both "turning thruster" plus the main-thruster to show a 'flame'. I can get it to turn, both ways, very very slowly but I seem to have no forward-thrust ability at all. I can be parallel to the ground and the side thrust from pressing both sides doesn't move me sideways any noticable amount (nor will a turning craft "roll" away from the palm-tree), free of gravitational resistance in that direction. If I stay facing upwards (or return to it) I just settle down under the weak (but stronger than any thrust!) gravity, spawn landing-gear and I no longer can even induce a rotation now being perched on legs. This is consistent in both browsers, so I rule out javascript-running inconsistencies in any obvious way.
 I presume (from reading the above) that I can get better thrusting, but whether by collecting things that I can't reach or by 'cheating' (more awkward, on mobile browsers, to edit page-variables/etc), I can't help thinking that it's already going wrong for me in ways it isn't for everyone else. And none of my desktop browsers even play ball for me at all (all I have is star background and the reset-button).
 On mobile browsers I've got a short thin line on the right-hand edge of the (fullscreen) background that I thought might be some sort of draggable power-bar (at 50% position, perhaps), but it doesn't respond to touch/dragging, or change at all. Might be just a relic of being on a wider-than-expected aspect ratio screen. Or it's something jutting (barely) on-screen from another nearby on-screen object/destination. As the viewpoint never moves, it's hard to say either way.
 This ''is'' more functionality than I ever got with Gravity, so maybe I'm just unluckily using incompatible browsers/platforms. A pity, though, that this is where I'm left with this. It looks like everyone else (or many, at least) are getting a lot out of this (and that), just not me. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.137|172.69.79.137]] 21:41, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

: I couldn't play this at all on mobile (neither chrome nor firefox worked: I got the same behavior as you). It works fine on desktop, though. (I'm using Firefox 112 on Ubuntu 23.04). Granted, controls kinda suck at the beginning, but that's intended. You should get at least a little forward trust if pressing UP on a physical keyboard (at least enough to get you off the ground). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.3.212|172.69.3.212]] 04:09, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

I think the giant spider might be a Tintin reference (see The Shooting Star). [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.140|172.64.238.140]] 00:31, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Two things: First, you don't need the warpdrive to be able to exit the crystal sphere or to even explore the area outside of it like the cruiser ship. It's enough to have most of the other upgrades from inside the sphere and do some careful flying/orbital mechanicsing. Second with the warpdrive and most other upgrades you can escape from the black hole in the air and space museum. You likely can escape without the warp drive as well with some very careful flying but it's quite tricky to time the thrusters correctly to get a nice elliptical orbit going. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.64|172.69.59.64]] 18:47, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Given the occasional occurrences of D&D as a topic in xkcd and the recent re-publication of the Spelljammer setting for fifth edition D&D, the Crystal Sphere might be a reference to Spelljammer (which likely drew on the already-mentioned story ''The Crystal Spheres'' by David Brin for the idea since Spelljammer was published 5 years after the short story). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.204|141.101.68.204]] 22:57, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

I'm having a similar reset problem as everyone else. My game crashed, my speed upgrades stayed, but my energy regen upgrades are gone. Which is quite annoying. Does anyone know of a solution to this?

Most of the upgrades I've collected with a given star token have not been the same as what's listed here. I think that which upgrade you get is either semi-random, or that there is a sequential list and you get the upgrades in a predetermined order - with the exception of the "significant" boost upgrades, and perhaps some that specifically relate to the message when found (like the Tank recharge upgrade on Andal, or the Thruster Efficiency upgrade at the Shuttle Skeleton). [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 22:23, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

;Time slowed
I got the "A single molecule of caffeine" upgrade, and it didn't seem to make my tanks recharge faster. Instead, it made my rocket's movement speed extremely slow. Is anyone else experiencing this? I tried reloading and even deleting all cache data stored on XKCD. It still didn't fix it. Any ideas?

Did not personally experience this issue, but if you're looking to reset your progress, try pasting this into your browser console and refresh the comic page: localStorage.save = ""; [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.29|172.70.34.29]] 21:22, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Experiencing a similar issue. It was also right after getting a power up, but a different one. "A significant engine boost for a curious pilot". My forward speed and turning speed have been cut down significantly, and gravity seems lower as well. I checked in an incognito page, and turning speed is still much slower than when I initially played, so it seems to affect any instance of the game. I'd love a solution that doesn't require wiping my progress. Maybe I'll try warping to an upgrade I haven't gotten (since getting there myself is basically impossible) and see if collecting it fixes it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.85|172.70.130.85]] 03:26, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Inspecting element and putting Comic.voyager.opts.speed into the console showed that my current speed was 0.285, which seems low. I manually changed it with Comic.voyager.opts.speed = 1.0 which mostly fixed things. I still feel that my turning speed is lower than before, but otherwise I'm moving around like I used to. Option to avoid resetting progress. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.85|172.70.130.85]] 18:47, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

I had the same problem. I played around with console, but it seems like the issue is related to browser tick speed, since things like falling to the ground when returning to the start position are also very slow. The problem went away after I closed some other tabs and plugged in my laptop (not certain which of those fixed it). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.177|162.158.155.177]] 04:12, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

That happened to me too, but I plugged my computer in and now it's working fine.

Guessing it's just a power saver feature reducing the tick speed then. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.140|172.70.110.140]] 03:46, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

Turning off chrome's "energy saver" worked for me. [[User:Rotartsi|Rotartsi]] ([[User talk:Rotartsi|talk]]) 17:07, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

;Full map of the whole thing, what do?
Someone called u/Boojum on the XKCD subreddit ([https://old.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12tmw01/escape_speed_2765_maps/ old reddit link], [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12tmw01/escape_speed_2765_maps/ new reddit link]) managed to reverse engineer how the game encodes the map data and posted the whole thing for us to enjoy, should we just put it at the very top or be more measured?

Full zoomable version here: https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/map.html [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.75|172.69.135.75]] 23:19, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

"A sparking Gem" in the Gulf of Boni in Indonesia [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.178|162.158.155.178]] 23:38, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

There's also [https://xkcd2765-map.kuilin.net/ this map] ([https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/12txn1o/i_made_an_interactive_map_for_escape_speed/ from Reddit]), which shows the location of all the collectables and seems to load a bit faster than the other one --[[User:CruseCtrl|CruseCtrl]] ([[User talk:CruseCtrl|talk]]) 13:49, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

;Article structure and explaining
I have the impression, that the article structure is a bit messy, and I like to make some suggestions to improve it. Currently, the article is structured with a section for each planets. I suggest to keep that structure roughly but create several list below each of those sections

1. First I suggest to rename the "List of planets" to "List of planets and space objects".

2. Second, I'd like to point out, there are several things to collect, which you can categorize clearly as following:
* '''"You've found"-items''': They appear as a collectible dot. When collected, there is a message of the style "You found WHATEVER". And that WHATEVER item gets added to the list "You've found:" below the comic.
* '''Upgrades''': They appear as large circle with a star.
* '''Messages''': They only display a message when you reach a certain spot. I think it is not visible that there is a message, before you reach that spot.
* '''Subway puzzle tokens.''' They appear as dot with a "T" letter in it and unlock passages at the second subway planet.
Basically you can get a good overview about those at https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd_2765/map.html if you turn on those 4 things in the layer menu in the upper right corner. Beside from that you might also discover:
* '''Fixed text messages.''' From xkcd characters or on signs. You could also add the subway station names.
* '''Interesting looking objects'''. This is a bit vague, as it is not clear, what to add there.
However, those are completely passive things which do not interact with the space ship of the player.

I think we should describe those four types of collectibles in the explanation section.

3. Currently, the lists at the planets do not separate the categories which I mentioned at 2. or only separate '''Messages''' from other collectibles. Sometimes it seems to me some of the passive objects or messages went into the list, too.
So I suggest to always separate the these six categories and add at least the first four of those to each planet and space object, unless the list is empty. For '''Fixed text messages''' I am not sure, if it is worth to always list them, but it is a clearly defined group. For the '''Interesting looking objects''' I would not make a list because it is not clear what to add or not. Instead I suggest to always describe them in the description text for the planet/space object.

4. Note, that players get that "You've found:" list below the comic. Many would like to find out, if their list is complete and whether they have found everything. Currently with the list in that article this is not possible at all. Therefore, I think it is important, that the lists for the "You've found" matches exactly the list which appears below the game.

5. Explain xkcd is about explaining. Many of the '''You've found''', '''Upgrades''', and '''Messages''' are (more or less funny) jokes or references to real things and/or other xkcd comics. We should explain them very shortly for each. So, behind each '''You've found''', '''Upgrades''', and '''Messages''' I suggest to put a very short explanation. You can separate this with a hyphen, a line break, start with italique font or do some other optical separation.

6. Another option would be to create a huge sortable table with four columns:
* Planet / Space Object
* Type ('''You've found''', ''Message''', '''Upgrade''', '''Subway token''', '''fixed text message''')
* Text (1 to 1 as in the game)
* Explanation for the joke or reference.
However, I am currently a bit more in favor for the planet/space object sections and just going with list.

What do you think about those 6 suggestions? Are you with me? Should we start with this restructuring? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.39|172.70.246.39]] 12:53, 22 April 2023 (UTC)
:I think it is good suggestions. Although text on the image should also be added to the full transcript. But yes in principle all references and jokes should be explained. But it is a huge project. I have also been taking some screenshots that I would like to add for reference but again it is such a huge and tedious job to upload them all. I think there should be a table of all the collectible items that would be nice to have with sortable so you can check alphabetically but also with planet/place so you can sort on that. Maybe no explanation there, but go to planet sections for that? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:20, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
::Hi, I have just finished the (hopefully) full transcript of the objects inside and on the outer edge of the Crystal Sphere. I have transcribed all the dialogues, monologues, signs and inscriptions. As for the messages of "You found" kind, I have copied them from the spreadsheet, just to be sure. Screenshotting is uncomfortable and my memory is short, so I have made a lot of mistakes until I noticed the spreadsheet. However, I have not put in the (shortened) object names as they appear on the "you've found" list. I think it may be a good start to take all the texts from there and put them in a table, so people can start writing explanations for everything. I will try to transcribe the rest (the big ships and the Click and Drag planet), but I am a bit tired of it already, maybe someone would take over. It's almost midnight here, have a good sleep everybody! --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]], late April 26th.

Fun little game. You can even do a little antigravity park without the antigravity cheat on! https://imgur.com/a/sJ72VvW [[Special:Contributions/108.162.227.49|108.162.227.49]] 14:01, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Outside the shell I found a powerup called "it is very lonely out here". I forget what kind of powerup it was...I had left the star destroyer and orbited counter-clockwise around the shell for several seconds before I saw it by chance, and after a bit of searching I was able to backtrack and pick it up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.133|172.70.127.133]] 00:04, 23 April 2023 (UTC)Nathan

If anyone needs a hint, black hole moon [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 23:33, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

;Glitches?
Anybody else got duplicate items? After picking up "very lonely out here", I fell into the crystal sphere hard enough to glitch and get stuck, so warped back home… and then noticed that the orb wren seemed to have respawned. Looking down the list (with the help of ctrl+F), I see that it does indeed appear twice in the list of objects I've found. No idea what happened there. I then went back to the outside and eventually managed to find the last item (the one talking about the "source"), but as soon as I touched it the ship became stationary. The messages appeared, but the item didn't vanish, and the controls were unresponsive. Refreshing the page left me in deep space, so I resorted to using the wayfinder script to find the dot again; and it confirmed that I'd collected everything.

Is there something I've missed, or are these both weird little glitches? -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:57, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
i cant teleport it puts me in the middle of the starry void my thrusteres work but i dont move [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.132|172.71.222.132]] 13:09, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

I can't say this happens on every planet, but on a few I've tried (What-If planet, small starting planet) if you are landed (no shields on) you can reverse thrust into the ground and dig into the planet. In most cases there is nothing to find, but the "What-If Planet" has a Megan and Cueball floating around the open core. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.141|172.70.126.141]] 21:23, 28 April 2023 (UTC)mlganser3

;Click and Drag Planet Trivia
Didn't know where to put this, so I made a new category: The Water tower on the click and drag planet is placed on the location with the highest gravity potential (which makes sense, of course!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.88|172.70.114.88]] 21:13, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

;What-If Planet Core
Once the hyperdrive has been obtained it is possible to travel to the centre of the What-If planet by parking on top of the volcano, accelerating forwards for a couple of seconds, stopping, then powering in reverse. Keeping reverse held down down for a very long time once in reverse, it will gradually travel to the centre of the planet where you meet Megan and Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.101|172.70.90.101]] 17:00, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

If you keep going in reverse past Megan and Cueball, eventually you pop out on the opposite side of the planet, just on the other side of a short pillar from where another Megan is sitting. (Megan sits on a block looking at a short pillar. On the other side of this pillar is where you emerge if entering from the volcano.) You can also enter here by landing then powering in reverse. Also, I was able to enter here in forward thrust, going quite fast (lucky shot, maybe?) but I got all the way into the center of the planet in very short order.

I've found that I can reverse thrust from any standing location and dig into any planet, not just the What-If Planet. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.134|172.70.127.134]] 21:13, 28 April 2023 (UTC) mlganser3

::Yeah, there seems to be a corridor of sorts through the What-If planet centre, between the volcano and the pillar that Megan is contemplating. Since it takes soooo long to go down the volcano, I definitely recommend starting at the pillar and reversing in. If you land on the pillar itself and reverse, it should get you to the centre space relatively quickly.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.123.148|172.71.123.148]] 10:47, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

;Inital Statrting Bug
I have a bug in my game where when I start, I am pushed off of the starting planet, and I continue to get pushed around. My shield is up and everything, and sometimes it tries to land. I have tried many of the cheats, but they aren't working. I need some help! AlabroX201 - 13:22, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
Update: NoClip stops the bug, but only when it is true. 13:28 26 April 20203 (UTC)

;Making a table to organize EVERYTHING

Good heavens, y'all - format table so text is at the top of the cell.

I'm currently making a table to organize planet (file)names, coordinates, and explanations, and the four item types and their explanation, inspired by the comments from [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Kynde Kynde], [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User:Malgond Malgond], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/172.70.246.39 172.70.246.39]. Here's my progress so far, do you have any suggestions or feedback? A few things to note:
* I will try to add all explanations for each item found
* The "???" are there because the spreadsheet with all the items doesn't include the message shown to the user. I temporarily put the words that the wiki used instead
* All the "Z" between items will be replaced by a new line. The editor I'm using doesn't support adding new lines directly
* Can someone let me know how to find the coordinates of each planet? Many thanks

----

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Filename
! Description
! Tiles (X, Y)
! Explanation
! "You found" items
! Upgrades
! Messages
! Subway tokens
|-
| <code>tiny-world</code>
| Starting planet
|
| To return here from anywhere, click the "Home" button in lower right corner. The planet is tiny, grassy, a has few trees. Beret-Guy says 'Wow!'.
| a rock with neat stripes!Za cool bug!Za pretty leaf!
|
| Wheeee!
|
|-
| <code>origin</code>
| Origin
|
| To get here, simply fall from the starting planet by thrusting off from Beret Guy's place. The planet has a sign saying 'Welcome to Origin! You can never leave™'. A large shaft leads from below the rollercoaster to the St. Louis Arch on the opposing side. Lots of landmarks (many on small pedestals) each mark the direction to a different planet.
| a secret gladeZa holographic Charizard business cardZa tiny meteorite!Za 5G seagullZa DVD of The Core (2003)Za normal-looking leafZa marsh wrenZan orb wrenZa single grain of saltZ11 squares packed into a larger squareZa tumbleweed
| Nice flying! (Your tanks recharge faster now.)
| Welcome to liminal spaceZThe St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space.ZBe careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!
|
|-
| <code>hollow-shell</code>
| Hollow Planet
|
| To get here, swing through Origin's central shaft and out the St. Louis Arch. The planet is just a shell with some gaps. On the outside, there are signs pointing at the directions to a few other planets.
| a handful of the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of space!
| You found a sixth lagrange point! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found a glass of heavy water (engine a little more powerful???)
|
|
|-
| <code>orb</code>
| Round Planet
|
| To get here, launch from the sign on the Hollow Planet or the tower with an orb on it on Origin. The planet is moderately small with no vegetation and some architecture such as Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China.
| a swatch pop-out wristwatch
| You found a sensible cheese platter (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now)Z??? (engine a little more powerful???)
|
|
|-
| <code>uzumaki</code>
| Uzumaki
|
| To get here, launch from the sign on the Hollow Planet, Origin's spiral monument, or below the plane-towed banner on the Round Planet. The planet is a large spiral of grass inspired by the manga ''{{w|Uzumaki}}'' by Junji Ito. A Roomba is loose, a reference to [[1558: Vet]].
| a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHzZa scroll lock keyZa primordial black holeZa cool pair of shoes with flames on the sideZan ink cartridgeZa podcast episodeZa festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji ItoZa friendly beeZa spiral-cut diamondZa burrito
| You found a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation (Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now.)ZYou found a single caffeine molecule! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
| Exit OnlyZYou're going the wrong way!Z
|
|-
| <code>guitar-ship</code>
| Guitar Ship
|
| To get here, launch from near Uzumaki. The planet is an enormous guitar labeled 'Boston' with the city skyline under a dome on the back (a reference to the cover art of the album {{w|Boston (album)|''Boston''}}). A guitar shaped UFO with "BOSTON" written on it and the skyline of Boston under a dome at the bottom.
| a guitar pick
|
|
| Orange line deactivated!
|-
| <code>soccerfield</code>
| Spacetime Soccer Field
|
| To get here, launch from the pyramid with a soccer ball on top on Origin. The planet is reference to [[2705: Spacetime Soccer]] and consists of a central pure-white body, goals on the poles and intangible lines farther away.
|
| GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZGOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Thrust Speed???)ZYou found the 3 million point line (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found a sunspot! (Your launch speed has increased.)
|
|
|-
| <code>saturn</code>
| Saturn
|
| To get here, launch from the pyramid with a ringed on top on Origin. If you instead see the Spacetime Soccer Field, you're too far left. The planet has a soccer ball inside it, a reference to [[2513: Saturn Hexagon]]
| a really cool data point
| You found a pair of platonic solids, not quite touching! (Thrust power???)ZYou found a block of scandium! (Thrust power???)
|
|
|-
| <code>platform-planet</code>
| Andal
|
| To get here, launch from below Saturn's equator, when the soccer ball is oriented to the bottom left compared to the rocket, or from the miniature of Andal to the left of the pyramids on Origin. The planet is small and has a T-shaped tower, mountains, and grass. On a grass patch Blondie says to Cueball "The MIT cloaking device only affects the electroweak and nuclear forces. Gravity is the odd one out, as usual.", hinting that 'A random point out in space' is the Subway Planet.
|
| You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZWhat a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)ZYou found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)ZYou found baby shoes (and baby)! (Engine power???)
|
|
|-
| <code>earth-map</code>
| Compromise Projection of Earth
|
| The planet is a huge distorted map of all land masses on Earth. The rocket can fly where water would be, but it can't go over land
|
|
|
|
|-
| <code></code>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| <code></code>
|
|
|
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|
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|-
| <code></code>
|
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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|-
| <code></code>
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| <code></code>
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| <code></code>
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| <code></code>
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| <code></code>
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|}

Do you have any suggestions or feedback? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:57, 28 April 2023 (UTC)
:There's a bit of a mix in the game itself between messages, "You found" items and powerups. At first it looked like a small grey dot is an item, a bigger grey star is a powerup. Sometimes they're collocated, i.e. a dot inside the hollow center of a star. But further in the game, I have found hollow stars (i.e. without the dot inside) which leave a "you found" list item anyway. Also, sometimes the "you found" message contains a description that differs from the name on the list below the game viewport. The ultimate source of all is the spreadsheet linked at the start of [[2765:_Escape_Speed#List of planets|List of planets]] section. Any Message (including "you found..." messages) can be accompanied by an Item and an Action (an upgrade or some other things like decloaking or subway token), both of them or none of them. I think it shall be somehow reflected in the table. For example: one column for Message (a value always present), another for Item name (may be empty) and another for Effect (may be empty). Unfortunately, the spreadsheet does not contain the kind of visual representation (a dot, a star, a star with a dot inside, or none at all). --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]]
:Another comment: the Explanation column is currently a short description (of a planet) and some of its features, the way to get there, only sometimes containing an explanation of what the planet name refers to. These should be separate. Explanation shall be a short paragraph about a pun or reference connected to the name of a planet or the text found in the game. For example, explanation for the Message/Item of "11 squares packed into a larger square" shall have a reference to [[2740:_Square_Packing]] and a short description of the mathematical problem involved. I also think we may need separate tables for planets (with very general descriptions and directions), features on the planets, possibly one table per planet (containing architecture, vegetation, animals, people etc. - if worth noting or there's some pun or reference), items and messages to be collected by the player (maybe one per planet), and for words spoken by the people and messages written somewhere (again, only if they contain a pun or a reference). Otherwise, the table would be too big. --[[User:Malgond|Malgond]]

::Hey, thanks for replying.

::>''[...] ... I think it shall be somehow reflected in the table. For example: one column for Message (a value always present), another for Item name (may be empty) and another for Effect (may be empty). Unfortunately, the spreadsheet does not contain the kind of visual representation (a dot, a star, a star with a dot inside, or none at all).''

::Yeah I noticed that too, but tbh I don't think it's SO important that needs to be included in the table or even in the entire page. Also, it would be very time-consuming.

::> ''the Explanation column is currently a short description (of a planet) and some of its features, the way to get there, only sometimes containing an explanation of what the planet name refers to. These should be separate.''

::I don't think they should be separate, because it would mean that the table would get even bigger and navigating it would be harder. You're welcome to add any information in the explanation section, as I'm not editing its contents.

::> ''explanation for the Message/Item of "11 squares packed into a larger square" shall have a reference to [[2740:_Square_Packing]] and a short description of the mathematical problem involved.''

::I totally agree, and as I said in the initial message (above the table), I plan on adding item-specific explanations next to the item "names".

::> ''I also think we may need separate tables for planets (with very general descriptions and directions), features on the planets, possibly one table per planet (containing architecture, vegetation, animals, people etc. - if worth noting or there's some pun or reference), items and messages to be collected by the player (maybe one per planet), and for words spoken by the people and messages written somewhere (again, only if they contain a pun or a reference).''

::I'm sorry but the amount of effort I'm putting in this ''"simple"'' table is already IMMENSE. This would probably require dozens of hours between exploration and formatting. I'm afraid I won't be doing that myself :) [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:57, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

:If you want to get rid of the "Z", you can make line breaks inside the wiki's editing window using the expression '''''' (remove the spaces--I couldn't type the phrase without getting a break). It's the html code for a line break. Technically, I think '''''' works, too. Really, though, just put ''openCarrot br closeCarrot'' wherever you want a break and you'll be fine. --Sorry, I don't have a name here, so I can't really sign this. 11:21, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

::Thanks, but i figured it out. I used Notepad++ to replace all uppercase "Z" with two line breaks and an asterisk. This thing took soooooooo many hours to make, I'm so proud I've finally published it. I'll never touch it again. Now I despertly need to sleep, g'night everyone! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 23:24, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

:::General style that I use:
:::*The first linefeed/break in any cell content is fully respected
:::**(Because it takes a line that starts with a cell-markup and then one that doesn't, and actually understands it as a different qualification, so the LF between isn't collapsed to mere whitespace?)
:::**Other div-like markup starters (e.g. bullet points) enforce this.
:::*But, ''if'' you want to add linebreaks where it won't (third-and-later paragraphs?), I sugest using <code><nowiki> </nowiki></code>, the self-closing single-tag version that can't be misinterpretted by any (XML-aware, in general) markup-parser.
:::**You can even use it in the midst of some text flow, whhich might be useful for certain layouts (and their sources).
:::...Or double-LF can often do the job, too. But just Preview things to see what does/does not need additional tweaking... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.22|162.158.34.22]] 23:55, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
:I like the idea of the table thank for making it. I have added two more pages, one with overview images of the world and the planets and one with a place to post the screen shots needed for making a full explanation. Put some of the relevant images up already but will not have time to much more the rest of this week. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:26, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

;Speedrun
Has anyone started making speedruns of this yet? I'd absolutely love to see an any% run to vader, or to some other end game location. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.3.200|172.69.3.200]] 04:57, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
: Hi! I've done a couple speedruns to get the hyperdrive. Currently, my best time is 25:32. Pretty bad though. There's almost certainly a way to get straight to the center of Uzumaki, which takes like 5 minutes to do. I don't really have a route, just some planets I like going to. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 18:04, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

;Gravity of shell

: Halfway thru the crack, gravity gets increasingly stronger as the spaceship feels the gravitational force of all the celestial bodies it is leaving behind.

It's the gravity of the ''shell itself'', no? A uniform shell has no net force on objects inside it.
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 23:09, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

I have removed the topic lines, as they mess with the main explanations table of contest. They are not needed here in the discussion and we try not to use them so do not ass new. Just make a heading with text like here above! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:29, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

:Good job, they were getting annoying. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:01, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm not a fan of the new table. It's harder to use 'cause long text is limited to narrow column. How to get to where you're going needs to be its own column if we're doing this. And I used the old list to organized to order I wanted to do things in.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.19|162.158.154.19]] 20:08, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

: Hey, I'm not sure when you made the comment, but yesterday [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] noticed that an item message was one extremely long word (something like "GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!") and added a space that made the table look much better. I think it's readable enough, and it's way more organized that the old list (and i added more info that wasn't there).

: >How to get to where you're going needs to be its own column if we're doing this

: If you add another column it's gonna get even more narrow, I think it's best to keep it as is. One could argue the instructions to get there are part of the explanation for the planet. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:15, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

::I think it's important to keep the flow of conversation, so I'm putting this after what I'm replying to. I hope that's not too confusing.

::>It's way more organized that the old list (and i added more info that wasn't there).

::Yes, but in this particular instance, I think there are better ways of doing it. You can set a template up where every planet is dealt with typographically in exactly the same way. Each piece of information is in the same place relative to other pieces and handled typographically the same way in every single planet, the objects in interplanetay space and the objects in extraspherical space. You'd loose the ability of a table to sort by arbitrary columns which doesn't seem to be a help with this information, but you'd also loose the annoying short lines, the fact that for most entries, the column head way up there above the readable portion of the screen and because you can use typography to show what different data is, it's a little more intuitive to us monkey-brained folk.

:: For example '''Planet-name: Large, Bold.''' Colon, name in code, comma, coordinates as x=number and y=numers, all in regular wight roman. ''New line, Explanation of how to get there starting with "To get there" and in italics''. New line, any other notes in roman. New line, a bullet-pointed list of items and messages to find. Each entry is structured Name of object or message when found in roman, powerup text in prethases, And then any notes in italics.

::'''Andal''': Filename: Andal, x= 123456 y= -654321
::''To get here, launch from below Saturn's equator, when the soccer ball is oriented to the bottom left compared to the rocket, or from the miniature of Andal to the left of the pyramids on Origin.''
::The planet is small and has a T-shaped tower, mountains, and grass. On a grass patch Blondie says to Cueball "The MIT cloaking device only affects the electroweak and nuclear forces. Gravity is the odd one out, as usual.", hinting that 'A random point out in space' is the Subway Planet.
::* You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
::* What a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
::* You found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
::* You found baby shoes (and baby)! (Engine power???)

::This can be tweeked and I don't program in html ever so this can be improved. And I recognize that this is harder than a table, but it is much better.

::: I don't really agree this is better, the main reason we wanted to create the table in the first place was so that people could sort it at their liking: ''"there should be a table of all the collectible items that would be nice to have with sortable so you can check alphabetically but also with planet/place so you can sort on that"''. Imagine someone wanted to obtain as many upgrades as possible: they would just sort the table to put the upgrades first and discard planets without them, or sort by subway tokens, to get the hyperdrive and know exactly where to look. A table is the only way to have that, and it's also more compact than a list. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:28, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.47|162.158.62.47]] 22:52, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Hi [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]], thank you for the table version!
You can get the list of coordinates from the console with this js command:
console.log(Comic.map.locations.map(e=>[e.name,e.pos[0],e.pos[1]].join("\t")).join("\n"))
you will get a list with planet, x coordinate, y coordinate that is easy to manage. [[User:Hydra454|Hydra454]] ([[User talk:Hydra454|talk]])
:Thank you! I added all the coordinates and moved the planet filenames to the Planet Name column to make more space for the other columns

My game restarted after I hadn't played it in a while, but now there seems to be items missing? Like for instance, I can't find the small meteorite item on origin or the quantum foam on the hollow planet? I've searched both planets inside and out and can't find them anywhere. I have all the other items from those planets, it's just those two that are missing. I haven't searched any other planets yet, any idea why this is happening? [[User:IJustWantToEditStuff|IJustWantToEditStuff]] ([[User talk:IJustWantToEditStuff|talk]]) 02:35, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

'''Another attempt to explain EVERYTHING'''
:Hi everyone, I have made a [[User:Malgond/Drafts/Escape_Speed|DRAFT]] of ''explanation of everything'' as two tables, one for planets, another for objects, and put in what I think is interesting or worth noting and explaning for initial four planets. I am basing this work on the [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript|full transcript]], which I also made. Do you think it is any better than the current form? -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 21:39, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
::I really like you table. Maybe we should make seperate pages for the tables used for the explanations? But anyway I like how your look Malgond. Good work. I think it would be a good idea to use those in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:17, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
:::For instance here [[2765: Escape Speed/Tables]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:21, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
::::Hey, I've said this in my user page and I'll add it here too. I think the structure of the current table in the article is better at a few things than the one you've been working on: for example, it's easier to sort for upgrades and items (which was the main reason [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] wanted to make a sortable table in the first place), is more compact, and is easier to browse. Why don't we just add a "transcript" column like the table on [[2712: Gravity]] to put what things and people say, and add the rest of the information on the respective columns on the current table? Personally, I think the new one is a little bit too complicated to browse. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
:::::Also, we're already trying to move on from the old list and transfer everything to the "new" table. If we add a "newer" table, won't it become even harder to keep track of what needs to be moved and added to what? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:39, 14 May 2023 (UTC)
::::::Here's what I think we should do: we keep the compact, easy-to-use and easily sortable table in the article, but we put a notice above it that links to the /Tables page for people who want an even more in-depth look description and explanation of everything. The /Tables page is longer than the entire article page AND discussion page combined, so I think it would be too big to be added directly into the article. Do you guys like the plan?
::::::I'll start by adding a prominent link above the current table in the article that points to /Tables --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:53, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

'''Script to stop momentum of spaceship'''
Cool script to stop momentum of spaceship, useful when flying around and you see something but couldn't stop the spaceship.
<code>
window.onkeydown = function(e){if(e.key == 'p'){Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 0; setTimeout(() => {Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 100;},10)}}
</code>
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.75|172.69.58.75]] 01:04, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

:Thanks! I'll add that into the page

Is it just me or is Click-and-Drag at a different scale to everything else?
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.227|162.158.158.227]] 15:15, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

;"anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is a reference to the comic 470

https://xkcd.com/470/
"anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is a reference to the comic where someone shows up at a protest content; "anyone up for a game of scrabble later" is one of the signs he's holding. i'd like to add this because i'd love to contribute and this page helped me a lot during my playthrough. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.204|108.162.245.204]] 19:21, 6 June 2023 (UTC)
:Cool, feel free to add that to the article. I'm not sure why you wrote it here instead of editing the actual page, do you need help with anything? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:09, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Apparently the objects (like the weird spaceship thing, transmitter, etc.) on origin points to planets so fly directly up and you'll get there. also does anyone know how to slow your velocity down bc everytime i fly past the planets {{unsigned ip|172.70.207.165|15:48, 24 July 2023}}
:Please remember to sign your post using the button in the toolbar on talk pages. [[2765:_Escape_Speed#Celestial_Bodies_and_Collectable_Items|The table in the article]] already describes how to reach any planet by using those landmarks. To slow down, use the arrow down button on your keyboard. It's the one below the arrow up button you use to accelerate. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:21, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
::Or, if playing on a touchscreen mobile device (though it works badly on my devices, that may just be because they aren't <12 months old, as with many things, and become fiddly to use for unsupportable reasons - it looks as if mobile interface has been thought about but perhaps insufficiently tested on a representative variety of devices that aren't "the latest iPad"/whatever), rotate to face backwards and retrothrust 'forward' to bleed off roughly the same amount of velocity you gained in the initial outward-phase of the journey. Standard space-sim (Asteroids, xPilot, countless other gravity-well games) methodology. Doesn't seem to be (nose-based) retrothruster-braking implemented for my touchscreen input, anyway. (hnless that's another thing that is the fault of my being on Android, even with updated browsers that ''should'' be transparently and platform-agnostically handling all that coded-guff.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.244|172.70.162.244]] 19:52, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

For some reason after I got one of the upgrades on the Mercator projection (forgot which one) my game just got really slow. Not lagging or anything, just time had slowed to like a tenth of the normal speed. Closing the tab doesn't fix it, neither does restarting chrome. If it's any help, I'm on google chrome version 116.0.5845.210. [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 18:53, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
:Hooray! Doing nothing fixed it!!!!!!????? [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 13:04, 3 October 2023 (UTC)
::The speed of the game has to do with your computer's internal framerate. Usually when your computer goes into low-battery mode, it automatically lowers the framerate, which is probably what you experienced {{unsigned|TheTrainsKid|08:07, 5 January 2025}}

How do you get to the center of the ''What If'' planet? I've been trying for ten minutes lol [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 20:42, 8 May 2024 (UTC)
:Ten whole minutes? Wow. Much effort! ::( [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.70|172.71.242.70]] 04:20, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

;I got to editing it in now
hi im on a different device now but still xkcd...ing? anyway i edited it in but, as my brain is as small as an acorn, i have no idea how to insert links! (this is my first time editing ANY wiki) i'm putting this up because if i do that, you might notice it quicker
now im at the end so hyphen(?) time! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.239|172.71.150.239]] 18:38, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

When I'd gathered all of the things, I took off from the sphere into the void. The stars started moving from 12 to 6 o'clock. But, as the months have rolled by, they have moved from there and are now going from 2 to 8 o'clock. I'm finding that interesting. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.116|172.70.111.116]] 16:21, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
:And now my ship has stopped dead. That's interesting. There is a further sphere that you can get stuck in. That takes a long time to get to. Cool.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.75|162.158.155.75]] 16:51, 9 November 2023 (UTC) Honestly, I'd expected my ship to fall back and hit the sphere eventually. I haven't tried to get unstuck.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.76|162.158.155.76]] 16:59, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
::Are you sure that you didn't just fall into the original one again? {{unsigned|Cloudstar|01:31, 18 March 2025}}

the "sixth larange point might be a reference to [[2717: L6 Lagrange Point]]--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 15:00, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

When people started to create maps for interactive comics: it all just became click and drag. [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 02:33, 4 April 2025 (UTC)

;Sprites/Assets?
Hello! Does anyone have the assets/sprites used for Escape Speed (Eg. Upgrade Items, Ship, Background, Etc). I need it for something {{unsigned ip|172.71.120.10|18:26, 27 April 2025}}

;Escape Speed speed glitch crash
:- Originally a Comic page overwrite, copied over to Discussion, verbatim, in case it's important [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.228|82.132.244.228]] 05:45, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Why the game likely crashed
Physics engine exhaustion: The Crystal Sphere's gravity and collision mechanics are intended to trap I. When I repeatedly bypass this with extreme speed, the physics engine must perform a series of highly unusual and complex calculations. After four successful exploits, it's likely the fifth attempt created a state the engine wasn't designed to handle, leading to a crash.
Collision detection failure cascade: I am likely hitting the sphere at a "seam," a weak point where its polygon mesh connects. With each successful tunnelling, I am stressing the physics engine's collision detection. By the fifth time, it may have failed, leading to a fatal error.
Browser-specific issues: As a browser-based game, Escape Speed's performance can be affected by browser version, hardware, and open tabs. This is mentioned in some Reddit threads concerning the game. My high-speed exploit likely pushed my browser to its limit, resulting in the crash.
Physics time step error: The game uses a "constant physics tick rate" to smooth out gameplay. My high-speed "tunnelling" might be creating an event that conflicts with this fixed timestep, causing a calculation overflow or a data corruption that leads to a crash.
Ir recording is key
Since I am recording this, I have valuable evidence of a reproducible bug. Contact for more
Email: s223191@scusd.net
Subject: xkcd: Escape Speed - Reproducible crash on 5th physics exploit.
[[User:Me a meep sheep|Me a meep sheep]] ([[User talk:Me a meep sheep|talk]]) 04:12, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

2765: Escape Speed

2025-08-27T05:26:33Z

82.132.244.228: Undo revision 385202 by Me a meep sheep (talk) Was that supposed to be a Talk Page addition, or an additional new section?

{{comic
| number = 2765
| date = April 19, 2023
| title = Escape Speed
| image = escape_speed_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x700px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Gotta go fast.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 14
| date = April 19, 2023
| days_late = 18
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 2601: Instructions
| prev_date = April 1, 2022
| next_title = 2916: Machine
| next_date = April 5, 2024
| extra_text = [[#Trivia|Learn why this comic was released late]].
}}
{{TOC}}To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2765|original comic}}!

== Explanation ==
{{notice|See [[#Spaceships]] to help complete this page.}}
This interactive comic is similar to [[2712: Gravity]], which celebrated the release of ''[[What If? 2]]'', as you can visit different planets. Your fuel runs out and recharges slowly over time or instantly whenever you land. Likewise, there is no "universal" point of view: the bottom of the window, "down", is oriented towards the object exerting the most gravity upon the player.

You begin on the Starting Planet, near Origin. To escape Origin's gravitational force, gain enough momentum by swinging a few times inside the large hidden tunnel that goes from the rollercoaster to the opposing side of the planet. However, note that it is possible to escape Origin’s gravitational pull by maneuvering the spacecraft counterclockwise around the Starting Planet, accelerating tangential to the surface above the figure yelling "WOW!". To help you find other planets there are also many small circles surrounding the spaceship indicating the locations of nearby or distant planets depending on how transparent these points are. Collecting circles with a star outline will improve the performance of the spaceship, such as by making the engine more efficient or increasing the rate at which the fuel recharges, and sometimes make you find a new item. Collecting small grey circles will instead just make you find an item, such as a rock with neat stripes, a cool bug, and a pretty leaf.

Most planets and celestial objects are inside of a large Crystal Sphere in which there is a visible navigable crack. Halfway through the crack, gravity gets increasingly stronger as the spaceship feels the gravitational force of the parts of the Crystal Sphere it is leaving behind. Above the crack in the Crystal Sphere, there is the Star Destroyer from [[1608: Hoverboard]], and on the opposite side of the crack, there is a huge part of the world in [[1110: Click and Drag]] in the form of a round planet.

The title of the comic is likely a reference to the 1996 computer game {{w|Escape Velocity (video game)|Escape Velocity}}, which also featured a 2D map dotted with planets. The title text says, "Gotta go fast.", a reference to {{w|Sonic the Hedgehog (character)|Sonic the Hedgehog}}'s catchphrase, and the point of the game: getting able to go faster to escape larger and larger planets and leave the Crystal Sphere.

===The Hyperdrive===
The Hyperdrive is a powerful upgrade to the spaceship that massively boosts your thrusters. It is found at the center of the Boston Planet and is needed to explore the planets outside the Crystal Sphere and to escape from the black hole inside the Subway Planet. It can only be unlocked after deactivating the MIT Cloaking Device on the Subway Planet and collecting three of the four subway tokens found at different "Bostons". Subway tokens are circles with a T outline, and they have a distinct color: "blue", "red", "green", and "orange", the four colors of {{w|MBTA subway|Boston's subway system}}. The blue token on the Boston Planet is not strictly necessary to get the Hyperdrive, although it is the easiest to obtain. Note that getting it will require several other upgrades first, so it shouldn't be your first objective. See [[#Celestial Bodies and Collectable Items|the table below]] for other ways to progress in the game.

Here's how to obtain the Hyperdrive:
# Get to the Subway Planet by launching from the bush where someone says "Shhh." on Origin. The Subway Planet features all the subways of North America except Boston, which has been ripped out and hidden by the MIT kids, leaving a big empty hole in the crust of the planet.
# Once on the Subway Planet, go to Morgantown, WV via Mexico City and Atlanta, and deactivate the MIT Cloaking Device to make the Boston Planet appear.
# Follow the two intangible grey lines that will first guide you to Origin and then the Roche Lobe Earth (one of the four Bostons) and collect the green subway token on it.
# Go back to Origin and collect the orange token on the Guitar Ship (see [[#Celestial Bodies and Collectable Items|the table below]] for instructions on how to find these planets).
# Get to the East Coast of the US on the Projection of Earth and collect the red token.
# Now that the center of the Boston Planet is accessible, go there and collect the Hyperdrive. The planet also contains the final blue token, but it's not necessary to get to the Hyperdrive.

===Extra Escape Speed pages===
Since this comic is so big and complicated, extra pages have been created to include much more information than is wished for on this main page. These pages are listed here for convenience, but they are also listed in the relevant sections below:

* '''[[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript]]''' - The full transcript of the entire comic, as if you played the game. It is linked from the [[#Transcript|Transcript section]].

* '''[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots]]''' - Full images of all planets and celestial bodies, as well as player screenshots of interesting situations.

* '''[[2765: Escape Speed/Tables]]''' - More detailed tables explaining all the jokes and references in the comic.

===Celestial Bodies and Collectable Items===
This is a table of all celestial bodies and items, in descending order of planet size (the Starting Planet, Origin, and the Hollow Planet are at the top for their relevance). Collectable items and messages are found in the "You found...", "Upgrades", "Messages" and "Subway tokens" columns. For more detailed and in-depth tables and lists, see [[2765: Escape Speed/Tables|here]]. Here are some other useful resources:

* [https://aeromancer.dev/xkcd/escape_speed/ Map of the entire universe created by the community];

* [[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots|Screenshots of the entire world, planets, and celestial bodies]] made using the map;

* [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hygJKdwjkufAU3ZYC4NELdCX7XgRdOIW68vPUidR9qA Spreadsheet of all items and messages] from the game's source code;

* [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc Spreadsheet of coordinates for all celestial bodies] from the game's source code.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! rowspan="2"|Name

<code>codename</code>
! rowspan="2"|Tiles (X, Y)
! rowspan="2"|Explanation
! colspan="4"|Collectable items and messages
|-
! You found...
! Upgrades
! Messages
! Subway tokens
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Starting Planet|Starting Planet]]

<code>tiny-world</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (6024, -8976)]
| To get here, click the "Home" button in the lower right corner of the comic.

The planet is tiny, grassy, and has few trees. [[Media:2765 Greetings.png|Beret Guy is saying "WOW!"]], but since he's on the other side of the planet, it looks like he is shouting "iMOM". This is a reference to the title text of [[1117: My Sky]], and it could also be a reference to [[502: Dark Flow]]. Pressing the "Home" button to go back to the starting planet shows the message, "Welcome back, pilot", which may be a reference to the greeting that plays when re-entering a Titan in the ''Titanfall'' video games.
|
* a rock with neat stripes
* a cool bug
* a pretty leaf
|
|
* Wheeee!
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Origin|Origin]]

<code>origin</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (3096, -5904)]
| To get here, launch from [[Media:2765 Greetings.png|Beret Guy saying "Wow!" on the Starting Planet]].

The planet has a [[Media:Origin Planet11.png|sign saying "Welcome to Origin! You can never leave™"]]. A [[Media:Origin and starting planet.png|large hidden tunnel inside it]] leads from below the rollercoaster to the [[Media:Origin Planet5.png|St. Louis Arch on the opposing side of the planet]], which you can use to gain enough momentum to escape the gravitational force if you don't have many upgrades. There are lots of landmarks and signs that mark the directions to different planets.
|
* a secret glade
* a holographic Charizard business card
* a 5G seagull
* a DVD of The Core (2003)
* a normal-looking leaf
* a marsh wren
* an orb wren
* a single grain of salt
* 11 squares packed into a larger square
* a tumbleweed
|
* Nice flying! (Your tanks recharge faster now.)
|
* You found a tiny meteorite!
* Welcome to liminal space
* The St. Louis arch is also known as the gateway to space.
* Be careful; this roller coaster can be disorienting!
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Hollow Planet|Hollow Planet]]

<code>hollow-shell</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-13952, 1848)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet5.png|St. Louis Arch on Origin]].

The planet is just a shell with some gaps. On the outside, there are lots of landmarks and signs that mark the directions to different planets.
|
|
* You found a handful of the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of space! (Your tanks recharge much faster now.)
* You found a sixth lagrange point! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found a glass of heavy water (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Star Destroyer|Star Destroyer]]

''from'' <code>star-destroyer-a</code> ''to'' <code>star-destroyer-i</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (18192, -130000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:2765 Crack in the Crystal Sphere.png|crack in the Crystal Sphere]].

The planet has been copied from [[1608: Hoverboard]], with the only difference being that Darth Vader's dialogue was changed from referencing {{w|Steven Universe}} to {{w|The Murderbot Diaries}}.
|
* an unread email
* a glass slipper with a glass foot in it
* a lymphocyte
* a forged resume
* a serif
* a Bursa of Fabricius
* a cluster of data points
* a premium subscription to food
* two goats and a new car
* an out-of-control trolley
* a helium-238 nucleus
* the Death Star plans
|
* You found a perpetual motion fidget spinner! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
* You found a vintage Juicero juicer! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
|
* Hmmm.
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Click and Drag Planet|Click and Drag Planet]]

<code>clickdrag-nw</code>'','' <code>clickdrag-ne</code>'','' <code>clickdrag-sw</code>'', and'' <code>clickdrag-se</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-31808, 111808)]
| To get here, launch from the bow or stern of the Star Destroyer tangentially to the Crystal Sphere to orbit it and keep the stars in the background moving horizontally on the screen until you see a dot around the spaceship guiding you.

The planet has mostly been copied from [[1110: Click and Drag]] and modelled to form a round planet, so the drawings are very tiny. The large rocket has been changed from the original look, possibly as a reference to {{w|SpaceX}}. Originally, it had no gravity, and the spaceship was only attracted by the gravity of the Crystal Sphere. This made navigating around the planet difficult, so a later update added gravity to it to make it easier for players to explore it.
|
* an ant the size of Rhode Island
* a pin with 17 angels dancing on it
|
* The vehicle below gives you a boost (Your launch speed has increased.)
* We should turn back (Your engine gets a bit more powerful.)
* You found an expert at underwater ropes. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found a trisected angle! (Your launch speed has greatly increased.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Subway Planet|Subway Planet]]

<code>subway-planet</code> ''and'' <code>black-hole-3</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (22000, 34000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet10.png|bush where someone says "Shhh." on Origin]].

The planet is a reference to [[1196: Subways]] and is riddled with tunnels. Boston has been ripped out and hidden by the MIT kids, leaving a big empty hole in the crust of the planet, and there is a black hole at the center that can only be escaped with the [[#Hyperdrive|Hyperdrive]]. You need to find the switch that turns off the MIT Cloaking Device to help you get the Hyperdrive. Once found, two intangible grey lines will appear (on the Subway Planet and on Origin), guiding you to one of the four Bostons. Learn how to obtain and use the Hyperdrive [[#Hyperdrive|here]].
|
* a relativistic bowling ball
* a Cybiko® wireless handheld computer for teens (2000)
* a handful of quantum foam
* a normal-sized apple
|
* You get the feeling you're not in Kansas anymore (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
* There is no parking in the white zone (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* The next stop is Interplanetary Terminal G (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You feel accomplished (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a brightly-lit billboard (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found a hot dog (Your launch speed has increased.)
* You found a bottle of Coke Absolute Zero! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found a beige electron! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found $30 in Yahoo! cash! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a friendly cat! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
* Transfer here for Mornington Crescent
|
* MIT Cloaking Device deactivated! Boston detected. (Blue, red, green, and orange lines activated.)
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Boston Planet|Boston Planet]]

<code>mbta</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-42000, 8000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Shuttle Skeleton.png|back of the Shuttle Skeleton]].

The planet is the Boston subway system that was ripped out from the Subway Planet by the MIT kids. The Hyperdrive, needed to explore the planets outside the Crystal Sphere, is at the center of the planet, which is only accessible after getting the green, red and orange subway tokens. The blue token is not strictly necessary to get the Hyperdrive, although it is the easiest to obtain. If the player goes to the location of the Boston Planet before turning off the MIT Cloaking Device, they will only find an invisible region out in space that has gravity, at the center of which a "strangely heavy subway token" can be found. The gravitational force around it remains even after the token is collected. As hinted by Blondie on Andal, the MIT Cloaking Device doesn't affect gravity, therefore the cloaked Boston planet is intangible and invisible, but its mass still affects the gravitational field around it.
|
* a strangely heavy subway token
|
|
|
* Blue line deactivated!
* Welcome to MIT! You acquired a hyperdrive!
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Projection of Earth|Projection of Earth]]

<code>earth-map</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-15808, 22192)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet13.png|Earth map landmark on Origin]] or the [[Media:Hollow Planet3.png|sign on the Hollow Planet]].

The planet is a huge, distorted map of all land masses on Earth. The spaceship can fly where water would be, but it can't go over land. This planet is a reference to the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections series]] of comics.
|
* the Heart of the Ocean
* a whale shark
* some microbial life
* some tin from the pantai remis mine
* a sparkling gem
* a piece of pumice
|
* You found the Principality of Sealand! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a Rhode Island the size of an ant! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found an icosahedral d10 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
* Red line deactivated!
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#What If? Planet|What If? Planet]]

<code>gravity-earth</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-46000, -24000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet7.png|two people explaining where Boston is on Origin]], the [[Media:Round Planet5.png|left of Stonehenge on the Round Planet]], or the [[Media:Guitar Ship1.png|left rim of the Guitar Ship]].

The planet contains several scenes from Randall's ''[[What If? 2]]'' book and the comic [[2712: Gravity]]. Megan and Cueball are floating inside a small space in the center of the planet, which can be reached after getting the Hyperdrive. This is arguably the most remote object within the Crystal Sphere, since all the planets around it are very distant from it. On this planet, a person named Ryan is stuck in a small hole with a dog, a reference to [https://www.polygon.com/2015/8/18/9173621/ryan-north-stuck-hole-twitter a real event] that happened to [https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics] author {{w|Ryan North}}. Nearby is featured the T-rex from his iconic comic strip, in the pose of the last panel.
|
* an eye in the sky
* a stick
* an asterisk
* a sterile neutrino
* a secret leaf
* a pair of squirrel goggles
* a large hadron
* a smooth green snake
|
* You found a sunken treasure (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* The Yellowstone Super What? (Your launch speed has increased.)
* Nutritional Facts - Serving Size: 1 Cloud, Total Calories: 0 (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You captured the flag! You decide to leave it there, but it's yours. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a steam calliope! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a dna base pair! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Uzumaki|Uzumaki]]

<code>uzumaki</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-3904, -26904)]
| To get here, launch from [[Media:Origin Planet9.png|the spiral landmark on Origin]], the [[Media:Hollow Planet.png|sign on the Hollow Planet]], or below the [[Media:Round Planet2.png|plane-towed banner on the Round Planet]].

The planet is a large spiral of grass inspired by the manga ''{{w|Uzumaki}}'' by {{w|Junji Ito}}. A Roomba is loose, a reference to [[1558: Vet]].
|
* a golden radio tuned to 1.618 MHz
* a scroll lock key
* a primordial black hole
* a cool pair of shoes with flames on the side
* an ink cartridge
* a podcast episode
* a festive but somehow unnerving holiday card from Junji Ito
* a friendly bee
* a spiral-cut diamond
* a burrito
|
* You found a tree-filled grove and a nice spot for quiet contemplation (Your thrusters are significantly more efficient now.)
* You found a single caffeine molecule! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
|
* Exit Only
* You're going the wrong way!
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Round Planet|Round Planet]]

<code>orb</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-19154, -7288)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet6.png|tower with an orb on it on Origin]] or the [[Media:Hollow Planet1.png|sign on the Hollow Planet]].

The planet is moderately small with no vegetation and some architecture, such as [[Media:Round Planet5.png|Stonehenge]] and the [[Media:Round Planet8.png|Great Wall of China]].
|
* a swatch pop-out wristwatch
|
* You found a sensible cheese platter (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
* ''[no message]'' (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Jurassic Park Planet|Jurassic Park Planet]]

<code>gravity-qwantz</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (20000, 11000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet3.png|small dinosaur on Origin]] or the [[Media:Andal4.png|Andalites on Andal]].

The planet is covered in dinosaurs from [https://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics] and has very weak gravity. It is an exact copy of the Dinosaur Planet from [[2712: Gravity]].
|
* a tiny pteranodon
* a baby hedgehog
* a tattered knapsack containing about $194,00 in $20 bills
|
* Today is a good day I think for space exploration (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* But what if gravity doesn't actually exist? (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Andal|Andal]]

<code>platform-planet</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (12048, 14048)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet3.png|Andal landmark to the left of the pyramids on Origin]] or [[Media:Origin Planet4.png|below Saturn's equator on Origin]], when the soccer ball is oriented to the bottom left compared to the spaceship.

The planet is small and has a T-shaped tower, mountains, and grass.
|
|
* You found two Andalites, one canonical! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* What a nice place for a ship to sit! (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
* You found a friend (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found baby shoes (and baby)! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Comet 67P|Comet 67P]]

<code>67p</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (18048, -11152)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet3.png|duck next to the "Caution: long vertical drop" sign on Origin]].

The planet is a reference to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}} and contains the crashed Rosetta spacecraft, along with the Philae lander that landed on it in 2014. The message "Anyone for Scrabble later?" on the planet is a reference to [[470: The End is Not for a While]].
|
|
* Some people believe that when the Earth appears in the sky, it's a harbinger of doom. (Your tanks recharge a bit faster now.)
* You found a broken smoke machine (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* Anyone for Scrabble later? (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found The Long Now Foundation's nickel paperweight containing an archive of every published Animorphs book! (Your launch speed has increased.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Guitar Ship|Guitar Ship]]

<code>guitar-ship</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-12000, -30000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet8.png|musicians singing "It's more than a feeling" on Origin]].

The planet is a huge guitar labeled "Boston", with the city skyline under a dome on the back. It is a reference to the cover art of the album {{w|Boston (album)|''Boston''}}.
|
* a guitar pick
|
|
|
* Orange line deactivated!
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Saturn|Saturn]]

<code>saturn</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (2600, 14000)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet4.png|pyramid with Saturn on it on Origin]]. If you see the Spacetime Soccer Field, you're too far left.

The planet has a soccer ball inside it, a reference to [[2513: Saturn Hexagon]].
|
* a really cool data point
|
* You found a pair of platonic solids, not quite touching! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found a block of scandium! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Roche Lobe Earth|Roche Lobe Earth]]

<code>earth-roche</code> ''and'' <code>normal-moon</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-9952, -3952)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet6.png|landmark that looks like a very round cannon firing a cannon ball towards the towers on Origin]].

The planet is a distorted Earth being attracted by the gravity of the moon, which makes the Earth look like a giant drop of water. See ''{{w|Roche Lobe}}'' for more information.
|
* a curious humboldt squid
* a bathyscaphe
* a wayward Roomba full of moondust
|
|
|
* Green line deactivated!
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Giant Spider|Giant Spider]]

<code>spider</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (26982, -8714)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet1.png|spider landmark on Origin]].

The object is a giant spider floating in space with eight people standing on top of his legs.
|
* a spider-silk scarf
|
* You found a friendly jumping spider (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Dark Matter Planet|Dark Matter Planet]]

<code>dark-matter</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-2892, 2640)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Spacetime Soccer Field1.png|goal on the half of the field with just one person on it on Spacetime Soccer Field]].

The planet is small and grey, and it has the words "Dark matter" inside. On its surface, there are two squirrels and Ponytail exclaiming "I found it!", a reference to [[2186: Dark Matter]]).
|
|
* You found a delicate music box. (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Shuttle Skeleton|Shuttle Skeleton]]

<code>space-shuttle</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-30200, 14576)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet5.png|Shuttle Skeleton landmark on Origin]] or Northwest from Alaska on the Projection of Earth.

The object is a reference to the Space Shuttle Skeleton from [[2630: Shuttle Skeleton]].
|
* a piece of space shuttle food
|
* A little upgrade works wonders on fuel efficiency (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Diffraction Spikes Star|Diffraction Spikes Star]]

<code>diffraction</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (-19944, 11240)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet5.png|back of the left "hand" of the Shuttle Skeleton]] or the north of Alaska on the Projection of Earth.

The object is a tangible spiky star, a reference to [[2762: Diffraction Spikes]].
|
* a hydrogen ion

* a piece of coronium (iron)
|
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#SafetySat|SafetySat]]

<code>safetysat</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (17024, 1024)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet2.png|cell tower on Origin]].

The object is a reference to [[1992: SafetySat]].
|
* a first of its kind
|
* ''[no message]'' (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* The more refined oil had a dinner engagement (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Spacetime Soccer Field|Spacetime Soccer Field]]

<code>soccerfield</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (6048, 4048)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet4.png|pyramid with a soccer ball on it on Origin]].

The planet is reference to [[2705: Spacetime Soccer]] and consists of a central white body, goals on the poles, and intangible lines farther away.
|
|
* GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!! (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* You found the 3 million point line (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
* You found a sunspot! (Your launch speed has increased.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Voyager 1|Voyager 1]]

<code>voyager-1</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (1606, -14282)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet9.png|communication device saying "Receiving transmission" near the spiral landmark on Origin]].

The object is a satellite flying in space around Origin. It's a recreation of the {{w|Voyager 1}} space probe.
|
|
* You found Voyager 1! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Voyager 2|Voyager 2]]

<code>voyager-2</code>
| [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (10682, -5172)]
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet1.png|communication device saying "Receiving transmission" near the spider landmark on Origin]].

The object is a satellite flying in space around Origin. It's a recreation of the {{w|Voyager 2}} space probe.
|
|
* You found Voyager 2! Some of its great speed rubs off on you. (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Crystal Sphere|Crystal Sphere]]

''from'' <code>ring-1</code> ''to'' <code>ring-36</code>
|
| To get here, launch from anywhere and keep avoiding planets until you hit it.

Most planets and celestial objects are inside of a large Crystal Sphere, in which there is a visible navigable crack. Halfway through the crack, gravity gets increasingly stronger as the spaceship feels the gravitational force of the entire Crystal Sphere. Despite a person on Origin saying that "there's no way you'd be able to escape [the Crystal Sphere's] gravitation pull. You'd need some kind of a Hyperdrive for that", it's actually possible to get out of the Crystal Sphere without the Hyperdrive (but the spaceship won't be able to stay in the air for more than a second without being pulled back). You can also escape by going fast enough and ramming through. Above the crack, there is an arch made up of the repeating words "The End", which is reminiscent of the "Don't leave the play area" message in [[1608: Hoverboard]] that appeared when the player tried to get out of it. A crystal sphere was previously mentioned in [[1189: Voyager 1]] and [[2121: Light Pollution]].

|
* a necklace of element samples whose symbols spell out your name
* the platinum cylinder formerly used to define the kilogram
|
* A significant boost to the engines for a curious pilot (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
* You found the gold crown Archimedes stole! (Your engine thrust has increased significantly.)
|
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Crack in the Crystal Sphere|Crack in the Crystal Sphere]]
|
| To get here, launch from the [[Media:Origin Planet9.png|two characters talking about "shooting for the Moon" on Origin]] or the [[Media:Hollow Planet.png|"Exit" sign on the Hollow Planet]].

This section of the Crystal Sphere was violently removed, similarly to how Boston was ripped out from the Subway Planet, leaving jagged edges and construction materials visible. Judging by the shape of the edges of the crack, it doesn't look like the Crystal Sphere is made of crystal. As noticed by Ponytail in the Hollow Planet, when the player is inside the Crystal Sphere, they don't feel a gravitational pull from the huge structure, but when they're outside, the spaceship feels the gravitational force of all the celestial bodies it is leaving behind, resulting in an very strong pull towards the interior of the Crystal Sphere. Above the crack, there is an arch made up of the repeating words "The End", which is reminiscent of the "Don't leave the play area" message in [[1608: Hoverboard]] that appeared when the player tried to get out of it. The Crystal Sphere may be a reference to {{w|The Crystal Spheres}}, a short story by science fiction author David Brin which suggests that each star with habitable planets in the universe is surrounded by a crystal sphere that can be broken only from the inside and is otherwise completely impenetrable.
|
|
* There is a way out (Your launch speed has increased.)
|
* Right lane must turn right
* Left lane must turn left
|
|-
! 
[[2765: Escape Speed/Screen-shots#Open Space Outside the Crystal Sphere|Open Space Outside the Crystal Sphere]]
|
|To get here, go through the Crack in the Crystal Sphere or try to no-clip the sphere by .
|
|
* It is very lonely out here (Your tanks recharge much faster now.)
* You found a needle in a haystack (Your engine gets a little more powerful.)
* From here you can view the source of it all. (Your thrusters are more efficient now.)
|
|}

===Spaceships===
{{incomplete|Need to:
*Upload the files of the spaceships, in the best resolution available (Click on the '''<code>filename</code>''', download it, and then click the red link.)

*Describe them better and explain how to obtain them.

*Reorder them in a way that makes sense, and add an introduction to the table explaining how spaceships work in the comic (How do you get them? Can you pick and choose them?, etc.) }}
These are the available (???) spaceships. To change them manually, right click outside the comic image and then select "Inspect". Then, go to the "Console" tab at the top and copy and paste this into the console: (Put the ship name in between the quote marks.)
Comic.ship = ""

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Name !! Image !! '''<code>codename</code>''' !! Explanation
|-
! Paper Plane
| [[File:Paper Plane.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/paperplane/landed.png paperplane]</code>
| changes the spaceship into a paper plane.
|-
! Default Ship
| [[File:Default Ship.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/bubble/landed.png bubble]</code>
| The default spaceship.
|-
! Default Ship 2
| [[File:Default Ship 2.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/ship1/landed.png ship1]</code>
| The default spaceship from "Gravity", available only if you inspect the website as described above.
|-
! Small Bubble
| [[File:Small Bubble.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/small-bubble/landed.png small-bubble]</code>
| A smaller version of the default spaceship.
|-
! USS Enterprise
| [[File:USS Enterprise.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/carriagereturn/landed.png carriagereturn]</code>
| The USS Enterprise from [[:Category:Star Trek]], presumably a pun on "Enter".
|-
! Flyable Lamp
| [[File:Flyable Lamp.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/lamp/landed.png lamp]</code>
| A lamp that shoots light down/up/left/right.
|-
! Flyable Lamp 2
| [[File:Flyable Lamp 2.png]]
| <code>[https://xkcd.com/2765/assets/0/ships/lamp/landed.png lampacity]</code>
| Also a lamp?
|}

==Hacks==
Some of the modes and hacks from [[2712: Gravity]] also work in this comic and can be activated by opening the browser console (F12, Ctr+Shift+I or Cmd+Option+I to open your browser's developer tools, then choose the "Console" tab) and typing a command.
{{cot|Hacks}}
* <code>python("import antigravity")</code> flips the gravitational pull. It's a reference to comic [[353: Python]].
* <code>noclip = true</code> disables collision detection.
* <code>Comic.gravityConstant = 0</code> turns gravity off (default is 100).
* <code>Comic.voyager.opts.speed = 0.1</code> increases engine power (default is 0.04).
* <code>Comic.voyager.opts.thrustDuration = 1000</code> provides extra fuel (default is 3.5).
* <code>Comic.voyager.opts.turnSpeed = 0.008</code> increases your turning speed (default is 0.002).
* <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = [1177, 6755]</code> teleports the spaceship to Saturn ([https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xhw3oVb4fMktZB_KEIF9fGkYCkfbpRMHKBLI63laTgc Coordinates list].)
* <code>Comic.map.items</code> is an array of the findable items, and <code>Comic.map.locations</code> is an array of places.
* <code>ship.engines = "infinite improbability drive"</code> moves the spaceship to random locations, in a reference to the Heart of Gold from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
* <code>ze.goggles()</code> once again prints "they do nothing!"
* <code>ship.shields = false</code> turns the entire screen black when you collide with something.

[[User:CruseCtrl|CruseCtrl]]'s wayfinder adds a blue dot to show where the nearest collectable is.
Paste this into the JavaScript console:

const waypointDiv = document.createElement("div");
waypointDiv.style = "position: absolute; left: 50%; top: 50%; width: 6px; height: 6px; background: blue; border-radius: 99px;";
document.getElementById("comic").appendChild(waypointDiv);
const findClosestObject = (voyager, xPos, yPos) => {
let bestDist = Infinity;
let bestObject = null;
for (const object of voyager.objects.filter((o) => !voyager.gotObjects.has(o.id) && o.visible?.())) {
const dist = Math.sqrt((xPos - (object.x1 + object.x2) / 2) ** 2 + (yPos - (object.y1 + object.y2) / 2) ** 2);
if (dist < bestDist) {
bestDist = dist;
bestObject = object;
}
}
return { object: bestObject, dist: bestDist };
};
const everyFrame = function (state) {
const { object, dist } = findClosestObject(Comic.voyager, state.x, state.y);
if (!object) {
waypointDiv.style.display = "none";
return;
}
const objectX = (object.x1 + object.x2) / 2;
const objectY = (object.y1 + object.y2) / 2;
const angleToObject = Math.atan2(objectY - state.y, objectX - state.x);
const waypointAngle = angleToObject + Comic.voyager.cameraAngle;
const waypointDistance = 10 + 2 * dist ** (1 / 3);
const waypointX = Math.cos(waypointAngle) * waypointDistance;
const waypointY = Math.sin(waypointAngle) * waypointDistance;
waypointDiv.style.transform = `translate(${waypointX}px, ${waypointY}px)`;
};
const oldOnFrame = Comic.onFrame.bind(Comic);
Comic.onFrame = function (...args) { everyFrame(...args); oldOnFrame(...args); };

The following script stops the momentum of the spaceship, which can be useful after seeing a planet without being able to slow down in time:
window.onkeydown = function(e){if(e.key == 'p'){Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 0; setTimeout(() => {Comic.gameHandle.playerConfig.maxSpeed = 100;},10)}}
{{cob}}

== Transcript ==
:'''[This transcript only covers the starting page as shown on {{xkcd|2765|xkcd.com}}. A full transcript of the entire comic can be found [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript|here]].]'''

:[What is shown on xkcd it what is known as the Starting planet. It is a small planet. On top of it is a small spaceship standing on two legs. It has a circular shape on top of the legs with a round window. Next to it is a small tree which is higher than the spaceship. This is the spaceship to be controlled by the user. The planet has grass all around, and the entire planet is visible. But the ship is in the center, so most of the planet is in the lover part of the panel. The background around the planet is a star-studded black backdrop. Going around the planet to clockwise from the small tree, there are two more trees with some small bushes between the first small tree and the two next trees. A larger tree is on the opposite part of the planet. Between the two trees and this there is a small bush and the Beret Guy who looks and point up from his point of view (down as seen in the image as he is on the opposite side). He is exclaiming a word. After the largest tree next to him, come a small tree. Before that Cueball and Megan stand together. On the last part back to the spaceship there is another small bush. There are also four gray dots. One above the spaceship. One between the first three and the two. One above the largest of the two trees together. And the final near the bush to the left of the spaceship. Those four dots are part of the game and can be removed if the ship touches them. In the bottom right corner of the panel there is a small white square with a black house drawn upon it. There are two small black dots beneath it. A curved arrow goes below the house from the right to the left dot. This is the home button that will always take the player back to this starting window. To the very right of the panel on height with the spaceship there is a white bar about three times the height of the spaceship. This bar indicates how much energy the spaceship has. It always refuels immediately after landing anywhere.]
:Beret Guy: Wow!
:[As Beret Guy is upside down, so is his words. They can thus easily be read as MOM as they are written, as always, in all caps.]

:[As part of the game there are messages appearing the first time you enter the comic, and every time you return to home of to the comic from another comic. Although they are not part of the image, they do appear on the home image. These messages appear as black text in a rectangular white panel with a black border. The messages are only on screen for a short time. On a mobile phone browser "Use the arrow keys" is "Tap the sides of your screen". The three situations follow here:]

:[First time opening the game in a new browser there are two messages one appearing after the other:]
:Greetings!
:Use the arrow keys, pilot.

:[When pressing the home button only one message appears:]
:Welcome back, pilot.

:[When reloading or going to the page after having been in another page or having shut down the program and opening again, there will be two messages:]
:Welcome back! We saved your progress.
:Use the arrow keys, pilot.

:[When moving past the grey dots text is revealed in a similar manner to the greetings text. If it is items, then they are collected and listed beneath the panel under the heading "You've found:" A bulleted list will then start to grow beneath this as you play the game and collect items.]

:'''[For more transcripts from the rest of the game go to the [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript|full transcript page]].]'''

== Trivia ==
This was the most delayed [[April Fools' Day comics|April Fools' Day comic]] so far, as it was 18 days overdue. When it was released, unlike [[1663: Garden]], there was no mention of April fools' Day. The comic [[2757: Towed Message]] was released closest to April 1st on Friday March 31st, and the following comic, [[2758: My Favorite Things]], was released on schedule on Monday April 3rd. This comic was so delayed that it was not released until Wednesday April 19th, which led to some debate in whether this was meant to be an April Fools' Day comic. On May 15th, 2023, [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], aka Chromakode, published an article titled "[https://chromakode.com/post/xkcd-gravity-escape-speed/ Development notes from xkcd's "Gravity" and "Escape Speed"]". Max was one of the developers for this comic and the earlier [[2712: Gravity]], and was credited in the [[Header text#Escape Speed|header text of this comic]]. At the top of the article, he writes "On April 20th, xkcd published Escape Speed, the 14th annual April Fools comic we've made together". This settled the debate, as it was now clear that this was meant to be the April Fools' Day comic of the year. This [[explain xkcd]] explanation is the most-categorised page on the wiki.{{acn}}

{{comic discussion}}

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1331: Frequency

2025-08-27T05:20:52Z

82.132.244.228: Undo revision 385198 by 149.40.62.48 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1331
| date = February 17, 2014
| title = Frequency
| custom = <center><table title="This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops."><tr>
<td>[[File:heartbeat.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:birth.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:death.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:wikipedia.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:vibrator.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:car china.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car japan.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car germany.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car us.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car elsewhere.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:kiss.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:fire dept.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:holeinone.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:turnsignal1.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:turnsignal2.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:earthquake1.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake2.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake3.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake4.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:flight.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:book mockingbird.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:phoenix.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:keys.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:amelia.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:dogbite.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:bike.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:eagle.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:bottles.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:recycled.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:meteor.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:shark.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:us cancer.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:us cancer death.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:dog.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:cat.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:wedding.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:domain.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:house.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:tattoo.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:pulsar.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:facebook.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:iphone.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:littleleague.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:ndsex.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:bieber.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:denverpizza.gif]]</td>
</tr></table></center>
| titletext = This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows a number of common events, arranged in a grid. Each of the events flashes with its average frequency. For example, statistically a child is born somewhere on the world approximately every 0.24 seconds, or four times per second. Therefore, the tile "One birth" blinks about 4 times per second. A thorough analysis of the frequencies present in this comic and how they relate to the underlying technology (the GIF format) was published as [http://notebooks.jsvine.com/reverse-engineering-xkcd-frequency/ Reverse Engineering xkcd's 'Frequency'].

The table below lists all the events and their periods/frequencies (computed from the GIF loop times). Some events make reference to other comics.

The title text refers to the {{w|Pitch drop experiment}} which measures the flow of a piece of pitch over many years. At room temperature, tar pitch flows at a very slow rate, taking several years to form a single drop. The title text jokes that Randall tried to include a tile that flashes about once every {{w|decade|ten years}}, but the tiles are all {{w|Animated GIF|animated GIFs}} and while the file format supports animations of any length, the resulting file would be too big (at least 10 megabytes).

===Events===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!class="unsortable"|Picture
!class="unsortable"|Text
!Period (seconds)
!Frequency (per minute)
!Frequency (per year)
!class="unsortable"|Explanation and/or references to other comics.
|-
|[[File:heartbeat.gif]]
|Heartbeat||style="text-align:right;"|0.86||style="text-align:right;"|70||style="text-align:right;"|33,000,000||The typical resting {{w|heart rate}} in adults is 60–80 beats per minute (bpm).
|-
|[[File:birth.gif]]
|One birth||style="text-align:right;"|0.24||style="text-align:right;"|250||style="text-align:right;"|131,490,000||The {{w|Birth rate|birth rate}} that occurs on Earth.
|-
|[[File:death.gif]]
|One death||style="text-align:right;"|0.56||style="text-align:right;"|107||style="text-align:right;"|56,360,000||The {{w|Mortality rate|Mortality rate}} is much lower than the birth rate shown above; thus, the world's population continues to increase. (Mass deaths not included.)
|-
|[[File:wikipedia.gif]]
|Someone edits Wikipedia||style="text-align:right;"|0.67||style="text-align:right;"|90||style="text-align:right;"|47,100,000||{{w|Wikipedia}} is an online, freely editable encyclopedia. A table recording the time between completion of each block of 10 million edits can be found [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Katalaveno/TBE here], which suggests that the value 0.67 Sec/Edit is a little high, with the average being closer to 0.63 Sec/Edit.
|-
|[[File:vibrator.gif]]
|Someone buys a vibrator||style="text-align:right;"|2.99||style="text-align:right;"|20||style="text-align:right;"|10,550,000 || This is just a joke; there are no reliable statistics on worldwide vibrator productions or sales.
|-
|[[File:car china.gif]]
|China builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|1.89||style="text-align:right;"|32||style="text-align:right;"|16,700,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, China is the world's most prolific car manufacturer, producing just over [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 18 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car japan.gif]]
|Japan builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|4.01||style="text-align:right;"|15||style="text-align:right;"|7,870,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Japan is the second most prolific car manufacturing country, producing just over [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 8 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car germany.gif]]
|Germany builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|5.8||style="text-align:right;"|10||style="text-align:right;"|5,440,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Germany is the third most prolific car manufacturing country, producing nearly [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 5.5 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car us.gif]]
|The US builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|6.95||style="text-align:right;"|8.6||style="text-align:right;"|4,540,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, the US is the fourth most prolific car manufacturing country, producing just under [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 4.4 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car elsewhere.gif]]
|Someone else builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|1.03||style="text-align:right;"|58||style="text-align:right;"|30,640,000|| This relates to car manufacture in countries other than those four listed above. According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, this total is just under [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 29.4 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:kiss.gif]]
|A European Union resident has their first kiss||style="text-align:right;"|5.53||style="text-align:right;"|11||style="text-align:right;"|5,700,000|| Given that each person can only have their first kiss once, this statistic is tied to the EU birth rate. This [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/File:Number_of_live_births,_EU-28,_1961%E2%80%932012_(1)_(million)_YB14.png eurostat graph] shows the birth rate in the EU, and if we assume that the majority of people experience their first 'real' kiss at around age 12-16, then the years 1998-2002 are of interest, where the birth rate is fairly stable at just over 5.5 million.
|-
|[[File:fire dept.gif]]
|A US fire department puts out a fire||style="text-align:right;"|23||style="text-align:right;"|2.6||style="text-align:right;"|1,370,000|| The latest available statistics from the US Fire Administration show that in 2011 there were [http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ roughly 1.39 million] reported fires.
|-
|[[File:holeinone.gif]]
|Someone hits a hole-in-one||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="180"|180 (3 minutes)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="0.333"|⅓ (20 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|175,320||A {{w|hole in one}} is a feat in {{w|golf}} in which the player hits the ball directly from the tee into the cup with one shot. This does not account for the possibility of [https://what-if.xkcd.com/85/ Rocket Golf].
|-
|[[File:turnsignal1.gif]]
|My turn signal blinks||style="text-align:right;"|0.94||style="text-align:right;"|64||style="text-align:right;"|33,638,400||This, together with "The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[File:turnsignal2.gif]]
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks||style="text-align:right;"|0.9||style="text-align:right;"|67||style="text-align:right;"|35,215,200||This, together with "My turn signal blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[File:earthquake1.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 1)||style="text-align:right;"|2.43||style="text-align:right;"|25||style="text-align:right;"|13,000,000||These are continually happening, and not felt by humans. The [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22feed%22%3A%221419026358584%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-85%2C0%5D%2C%5B85%2C360%5D%5D%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%7B%22help%22%3Afalse%2C%22list%22%3Atrue%2C%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22settings%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Afalse%2C%22search%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221419026358584%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22Search%20Results%22%2C%22isSearch%22%3Atrue%2C%22params%22%3A%7B%22starttime%22%3A%222014-12-12%2000%3A00%3A00%22%2C%22minmagnitude%22%3A-1%2C%22eventtype%22%3A%22earthquake%22%2C%22endtime%22%3A%222014-12-19%2023%3A59%3A59%22%2C%22maxmagnitude%22%3A1.9%2C%22orderby%22%3A%22time%22%7D%7D%7D USGS does report them], but the link provided was produced at the time this description was written. It can however be updated by the user.
|-
|[[File:earthquake2.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 2)||style="text-align:right;"|24.26||style="text-align:right;"|2.5||style="text-align:right;"|1,300,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 1.3 million] earthquakes of magnitude 2.0-2.9 occur worldwide each year.
|-
|[[File:earthquake3.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 3)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="242.6"|242.6 (~4 minutes)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="0.25"|¼ (15 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|130,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 130 thousand] earthquakes of magnitude 3.0-3.9 occur worldwide each year.
Earthquakes below this magnitude pass by largely unnoticed by most people (or [[723|tweeters]]).
|-
|[[File:earthquake4.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 4)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="2426"|2426 (40.4 minutes)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="0.025"|0.025 (1.5 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|13,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 13 thousand] earthquakes of magnitude 4.0-4.9 occur worldwide each year.
|-
|[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]
|A member of the UK parliament flushes a toilet||style="text-align:right;"|10.06||style="text-align:right;"|6||style="text-align:right;"|3,140,000||At the time of this comic, there were 1,430 persons assigned to one or other of the two houses of the UK parliament, meaning that Randall inferred an average of 6 flushes per individual per day. Supposing that they sleep for 6-8 hours and get up to go to the toilet once per night, that means that during the rest of the day they are averaging a trip to the toilet every 3.2 to 3.6 hours. This estimate is somewhat on the high side, but members of parliament, particularly members of the Lords, do skew older, and older people tend to use the toilet more.{{Actual citation needed}}
|-
|[[File:flight.gif]]
|An airline flight takes off||style="text-align:right;"|0.93||style="text-align:right;"|65||style="text-align:right;"|34,000,000|| Research conducted in 2008 by Thomas Ruosch and Dr Karl Rege at [http://www.init.zhaw.ch/index.php?id=9&L=1 Zurich University of Applied Science] plotted the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR00_uLfGVE 93,000 daily worldwide airline flights].
|-
|[[File:book mockingbird.gif]]
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird''||style="text-align:right;"|42.05||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|750,000||"{{w|To Kill a Mockingbird}}" is a novel by {{w|Harper Lee}}, often an assigned reading in high school. Since 1960 it has sold in the region of [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/09/harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird 40 million copies], an average of 740,000 a year.
|-
|[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird||style="text-align:right;"|1.82||style="text-align:right;"|33||style="text-align:right;"|17,340,000||Whereas the previous item references the well-known book "To Kill a Mockingbird", this one talks about {{w|Mockingbird|mockingbirds}} being literally killed (in this case, by cats). [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Mimus_polyglottos/ There are 45 million mockingbirds in the world;] this means that according to Randall, cats kill 39% of mockingbirds in one year, i.e. in 2.5 years they are able to kill all mockingbirds (excluding the ones that are hatched in the meantime).
|-
|[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes||style="text-align:right;"|1.08||style="text-align:right;"|56||style="text-align:right;"|29,200,000||Since {{w|Phoenix metropolitan area|metro Phoenix}} has 4,200,000 inhabitants, according to Randall people in Phoenix buy 7 pairs of shoes per capita per year.
|-
|[[File:phoenix.gif]]
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom||style="text-align:right;"|2.05||style="text-align:right;"|29||style="text-align:right;"|15,390,000||Randall probably found the number of Condoms sold in Phoenix and estimated that most of those would be used. Estimates directly from the frequency of intercourse and contraceptive uses would be wildly inaccurate, especially as those statistics count encounters that might need multiple condoms as one instance of intercourse. There are [https://www.birthcontrol.com/condom-use-statistics 450,000,000 Condoms sold in the US each Year.]
|-
|[[File:keys.gif]]
|Someone locks their keys in their car||style="text-align:right;"|2.43||style="text-align:right;"|25||style="text-align:right;"|13,000,000||There does not appear to be any data on this mishap, but a [https://twitter.com/search?q=locked%20keys%20in%20car&src=typd Twitter search] reveals this happens, or people discuss it happening at a high frequency.
|-
|[[File:amelia.gif]]
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda||style="text-align:right;"|7.79||style="text-align:right;"|7.7||style="text-align:right;"|4,000,000||Randall Munroe is a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/01/31/the-baby-name-wizard/ fan of The Baby Name Wizard] blog and its [http://www.babynamewizard.com Name Voyager] tool which shows that "[http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/amelia Amelia]" has recently exploded in popularity. 
This particular frequency is taken from:
* The number of persons called {{w|Amelia (given name)|Amelia}} ([http://howmanyofme.com/ est. 82,572 people in the U.S.])
* The number of persons born between November 22 and December 22 under the astrological sign of {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (~1/12th of the population, i.e. approximately 6881 Amelias in the U.S.)
* The frequency of soda (soft drinks) being drunk ([http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_sof_dri_con-food-soft-drink-consumption 216 liters per person per year in the U.S.]).
According to our figures, 6881 Amelias drink 1.44 million liters of soft drinks per year in the United States alone, which means that Randall's figures only account for American Amelias (drinking 355 mL or 12 fl. oz. of soda in each drink).
|-
|[[File:dogbite.gif]]
|A dog bites someone in the US||style="text-align:right;"|7.01||style="text-align:right;"|8.6||style="text-align:right;"|4,500,000|| A [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18836045 2008 report] by the Centers for Disease Control concluded that 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year.
|-
|[[File:bike.gif]]
|Someone steals a bicycle||style="text-align:right;"|24.93||style="text-align:right;"|2.4||style="text-align:right;"|1,265,000||About half of all people who cycle infrequently have their bikes stolen at some time, but people who cycle every day have a 90% higher chance of bike theft, all according to [http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/04/these-8-depressing-bike-theft-statistics-show-just-how-bad-problem/8890/ this report] of cyclists in Montreal.
|-
|[[File:eagle.gif]]
|A bald eagle catches a fish||style="text-align:right;"|2.69||style="text-align:right;"|22||style="text-align:right;"|11,700,000||It is estimated that there are 70,000 bald eagles in the world and they eat up to [http://www.hancockwildlife.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=949 a pound-and-a-half of fish] every day.
|-
|[[File:bottles.gif]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced||style="text-align:right;"|1.27||style="text-align:right;"|47||style="text-align:right;"|24,848,504||This fact speaks for itself, but here are some [http://www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts/ alarming facts] about plastic bottle production and usage.
|-
|[[File:recycled.gif]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled||style="text-align:right;"|4.64||style="text-align:right;"|13||style="text-align:right;"|6,801,207||27% of the plastic bottles manufactured get [[885: Recycling|recycled]]
|-
|[[File:meteor.gif]]
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere||style="text-align:right;"|1.15||style="text-align:right;"|52||style="text-align:right;"|27,400,000||This varies based on location, time of day, time of year, weather, personal perception and a number of other factors, but according to [http://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-faq/#4 The American Meteor Society], between 2-16 can be seen during the hours before daylight where it would be too bright to see them.
|-
|[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]
|Old Faithful erupts||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="5640"|5640 (94 minutes)||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="0.011"|0.011 (15 per day)||style="text-align:right;"|5,595||{{w|Old Faithful}} is a geyser in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}} in the US, that tends to erupt every 65 or 91 minutes. XKCD's period of 1h 34m falls between the [https://geysertimes.org/geyser.php?id=Old%20Faithful mean and median of recent Old Faithful eruptions] and corresponds to a [https://geysertimes.org/eruption.php?id=645135 February 16, 2014 eruption].
|-
|[[File:shark.gif]]
|A fishing boat catches a shark||style="text-align:right;"|0.83||style="text-align:right;"|72||style="text-align:right;"|38,000,000|| [[1326: Sharks]]; Shark populations have experienced severe declines due to fishing impacts both of {{w|shark finning|finning}} and by-catch.
|-
|[[File:us cancer.gif]]
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer||style="text-align:right;"|18.99||style="text-align:right;"|3.2||style="text-align:right;"|1,660,000|| According to the [http://www.cancer.org American Cancer Society], there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed in the US in 2014.
|-
|[[File:us cancer death.gif]]
|Someone in the US dies from cancer||style="text-align:right;"|54.34||style="text-align:right;"|1.1||style="text-align:right;"|580,000|| According to the [http://www.cancer.org American Cancer Society], in 2014 there will be an estimated 585,720 cancer deaths in the US.
|-
|[[File:dog.gif]]
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter||style="text-align:right;"|15.6||style="text-align:right;"|3.8||style="text-align:right;"|2,000,000||[http://www.statisticbrain.com/pet-owner-industry-stats/ 10%] of owned dogs were adopted from shelters
|-
|[[File:cat.gif]]
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter||style="text-align:right;"|21.3||style="text-align:right;"|2.8||style="text-align:right;"|1,500,000||[http://www.statisticbrain.com/pet-owner-industry-stats/ 18%] of owned cats were adopted from shelters
|-
|[[File:wedding.gif]]
|Someone gets married||style="text-align:right;"|0.75||style="text-align:right;"|80||style="text-align:right;"|42,000,000||According to [http://www.statisticbrain.com/marriage-statistics/ this study], there are 2,077,000 marriages in the US every year.
|-
|[[File:domain.gif]]
|Someone registers a domain||style="text-align:right;"|0.64||style="text-align:right;"|94||style="text-align:right;"|49,300,000 ||According to [http://www.dailychanges.com/ Dailychanges.com], about 135,000 domains are registered every day, but this figure fluctuates.
|-
|[[File:house.gif]]
|Someone in the US buys a house||style="text-align:right;"|6.22||style="text-align:right;"|9.6||style="text-align:right;"|5,000,000||According to [http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf The Census Bureau], on average there are 400,000 home purchases in the US each month.
|-
|[[File:tattoo.gif]]
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo||style="text-align:right;"|2.06||style="text-align:right;"|29||style="text-align:right;"|15,300,000||This estimate is probably based on the percentage of people who are tattooed, and not how frequently they purchase one, but the figures [http://theweek.com/article/index/233633/the-tattoo-economy-by-the-numbers here], [http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_facts.htm here], and [http://www.statisticbrain.com/tattoo-statistics/ here] add to the credibility of the claim.
|-
|[[File:pulsar.gif]]
|The star PSR J1748-2446AD rotates 1,000 times||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|42.9||style="text-align:right;" data-sort-value="22548240"|22,548,240 (×1000 for source rate)||{{w|PSR J1748-2446ad}} is the fastest spinning {{w|pulsar}} known.
|-
|[[File:facebook.gif]]
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook||style="text-align:right;"|4.32||style="text-align:right;"|14||style="text-align:right;"|7,300,000||To sign up for Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/help/210644045634222 the user must claim to be at least 13 years old]. This is a reflection of the U.S. {{w|Children's Online Privacy Protection Act}}.
|-
|[[File:iphone.gif]]
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen||style="text-align:right;"|0.93||style="text-align:right;"|65||style="text-align:right;"|34,000,000||According to a [http://www.cnet.com/news/quarter-of-iphones-have-a-broken-screen-says-new-poll/ CNET report], up to a quarter of iPhones have a broken screen.
|-
|[[File:littleleague.gif]]
|A Little League player strikes out||style="text-align:right;"|1.23||style="text-align:right;"|49||style="text-align:right;"|25,754,400||{{w|Little League Baseball|Little League}} is a system of local youth baseball and softball competitions. A {{w|strikeout}} is a situation in baseball and softball. This figure will be inconsistent throughout the year as baseball is normally not played in the winter.
|-
|[[File:ndsex.gif]]
|Someone has sex in North Dakota||style="text-align:right;"|1.38||style="text-align:right;"|43||style="text-align:right;"|22,900,000||Since {{w|North Dakota}} has 723,000 inhabitants (ranked the 48th state), and if we estimate the sexually active population as 80% (and if ''someone'' means ''a couple)'' this means that people in North Dakota have sex 79.1 times a year. It is estimated that [http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyofsex.htm 3.93% of the world population has sex on a given day;] Randall's rate for North Dakota is 17.3% which is not low.
|-
|[[File:bieber.gif]]
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter||style="text-align:right;"|4.73||style="text-align:right;"|13||style="text-align:right;"|6,670,000|| [[802: Online Communities 2#Twitter Region|802: Online Communities 2]]; {{w|Justin Bieber}} is a Canadian pop music singer whose [https://twitter.com/justinbieber Twitter account] is extremely popular.
|-
|[[File:denverpizza.gif]]
|Someone in Denver orders a pizza||style="text-align:right;"|1.27||style="text-align:right;"|47||style="text-align:right;"|24,800,000|| In 2013, an estimated [http://www.statisticbrain.com/pizza-statistics/ 3 billion] pizzas were sold in the US. With a population of approximately 320 million, this is an average of just over 9 pizzas per person per year. According to the [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08/08031.html 2010 Census], the population of Denver was, rounded, 650,000. The frequency shown equates to over 38 pizzas per person per year, four times the national average. But counting the larger {{w|Denver metropolitan area}}, with a population of 2,890,000, the frequency shown equates to a much more reasonable 8.5 pizzas per person per year
|}

==Transcript==
:[Repetitive events are written in grey and arranged in a grid. Each statement pulses to black and then returns to grey at an interval characteristic of the named event.]

{| style="text-align:center;"
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Heartbeat (0.86 sec)
|One birth (0.24 sec)
|One death (0.56 sec)
|Someone edits Wikipedia (0.67 sec)
|Someone buys a vibrator (2.99 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|China builds a car (1.89 sec)
|Japan builds a car (4.01 sec)
|Germany builds a car (5.8 sec)
|The US builds a car (6.95 sec)
|Someone else builds a car (1.03 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|A European Union resident has their first kiss (5.53 sec)
|A US fire department puts out a fire (23 sec)
|Someone hits a hole-in-one (180 sec)
|My turn signal blinks (0.94 sec)
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks (0.9 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Earthquake (magnitude 1) (2.43 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 2) (24.26 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 3) (242.6 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 4) (2426 sec, 42 min)
|Member of the UK Parliament flushes a toilet (10.06 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|An airline flight takes off (0.93 sec)
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (42.05 sec)
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird (1.82 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes (1.08 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom (2.05 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone locks their keys in their car (2.43 sec)
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda (7.79 sec)
|A dog bites someone in the US (7.01 sec)
|Someone steals a bicycle (24.93 sec)
|A bald eagle catches a fish (2.69 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced (1.27 sec)
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled (4.64 sec)
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere (1.15 sec)
|Old Faithful erupts (5640 sec, 94 min)
|A fishing boat catches a shark (0.83 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer (18.99 sec)
|Someone in the US dies from cancer (54.34 sec)
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter (15.6 sec)
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter (21.3 sec)
|Someone gets married (0.75 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Someone registers a domain (0.64 sec)
|Someone in the US buys a house (6.22 sec)
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo (2.06 sec)
|The star ''PSR J1748-2446ad'' rotates 1,000 times (1.4 sec)
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook (4.32 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen (0.93 sec)
|A little league player strikes out (1.23 sec)
|Someone has sex in North Dakota (1.38 sec)
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter (4.73 sec)
|Someone in Denver orders a pizza (1.27 sec)
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]

Talk:3037: Radon

2025-08-27T05:18:23Z

82.132.244.228:

The sun is a white star. It looks yellow from within the atmosphere because blue light is scattered out of it, the same reason the sky is blue. How did physicist Randall not know that? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:26, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Randall is almost certainly a Superman fan, and we all know that Kryptonians get their powers from yellow suns. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:07, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Wikipedia disagrees; The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf, though its light is actually white. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.87|172.71.23.87]] 20:43, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::Your quote agrees with me. As @Starstar says below, it might be intentional on his part. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:53, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::: No "his quote" doesn't?? (Unless I'm understanding your meaning with "his quote") Yes the sun is White. HOWEVER, it is NOT called a "white star". Stars aren't categorized by color but by tempeture. Which I mean I guess it sorta means their catagorized by color but thats being nitpicky. Our sun is 5,772 K, which according to wikipedia means its a class-G star which is known by the not nerds as a yellow dwarf. Being a physicist means Randell is VERY aware of the category of our Sun. Repeat, the Sun is called a "yellow dwarf", therefore is Ponytail said "white star", she'd be talking about a star that is 9000 K and therfor NOT our Sun. Seriously this was like a 5 minute google search. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 21:01, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::: At any rate, I believe it plays into Ponytail just goofing around more than being precise [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 22:12, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Perhaps it is intentional? [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 20:36, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Possible trivia: The effect used in the title text for "²³⁸Umbrella" does NOT use html formatting. It uses unicode for the almost-but-not-technically superscripted "238" before "Umbrella." On some systems, this renders with the "23" being larger than and slightly below the level of the "8". Whether Randall knew of this effect or not is a mystery. If he did know, his motivations are a mystery. Maybe the 8 is radioactive and emitted a non-massless particle, thereby making it smaller (less mass != less volume, but go with it here) and more buoyant (less weight) in the presence of the adjacent characters. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.227.105|198.41.227.105]] 21:19, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:You can't use HTML markup in the title attribute, so there's no other way to do super/sub-scripting there. He could have used JavaScript to emulate the title attribute, though. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::I see no issue with the title text's 238 when on a PC neither on xkcd or here. The numbers are all similar. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:22, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

What do people think of Hairstylist Wannabe's near-total rewrite of the explanation? While they added lots of technical details about radon, I think they missed much of the humor. Ponytail's comments are typical of the kind of things a home inspector or repair person will say to the owner, not really "flippant". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:48, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:I like the facts but i changed the joke explantion back. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:07, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:The rewrite has waaaaay too much detail. This site is for explaining what's going on in a comic, not repeating everything you know that's related, however remotely, to the comic. Just add wikilinks to things! Like, do we really need to have repeated here how much 238U the Earth contains? How much radiation one experiences from uranium? I vote to remove a lot of the detail and just explain the comic. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 23:45, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Possible trivia: 238 Umbrella is a common weight for a patio umbrella stand. {{unsigned|TallJason|22:53, 13 January 2025}}

I started to write another paragraph:
:The primary reason why the radon is considered more deadly than the original uranium (and thorium) is its nature as a heavy gas; the earlier states of decay remain stuck in the original rock, interstitially, whereas radon more freely leaches out. This quickly disperses to extremely diluted levels in the open air but, being a gas that is denser than air, it can accumulate to low (but potentially significant) levels in a cellar or basement, having few natural air-currents to drive the heavier gas atoms out of the sump in which the radon sits. Although each atom does not last long in this state, the resulting polonium, bismuth or lead atoms (all being isotopes that are themselves radioactive) ''can'' find themselves drifting as dust particles initially (and, after settling, easily disturbed), with the potential
...but it got out of hand. Was going to edit it down (and correct anything I'd accidentally mispoken/misedited/ispunctuated, in the initial fervour) when I'd finished, but I've got to go somewhere, so leaving it as possible inspiration for someone else to use/ignore/tear part/whatever. Have fun. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.92|172.68.205.92]] 23:50, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
: "possible inspiration for someone else" Good stuff, but surely it already exists (without xkcd context) many other places? Can be just linked? [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:33, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

I thought, the title text was a reference to nuclear umbrella. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.200|172.68.50.200]] 07:45, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

"This process will render the Earth uninhabitable for humans within approximately 5 billion years." That seems very optimistic. Isn't it more like 1 billion years? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 10:05, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
:Yes the Earth will become uninhabitable in close to but less than a billion years. But not because the sun is expanding at the end of it's life. But because it gets hotter and begins to strip the Earths atmosphere, and this also means the end of the oceans. When they are gone, complicated life forms should not be possible. Bacteria could live until the sun possibly engulfs the Earth (it is not certain if this will happen though.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:22, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

This comic sparked a tangentially related discussion at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Chemistry#Radon_and_Radium_spectral_lines Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry#Radon and Radium spectral lines], leading to the discovery that the spectra given on Wikipedia for multiple chemical elements (including Radon) had been wrong since 2013 -- the result of a bug in a 15-year-old Matlab plugin. [[User:Rexon Mobile|Rexon Mobile]] ([[User talk:Rexon Mobile|talk]]) 17:03, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

I'm removing th[e] paragraph [on radiation dose] entirely, since it's wildly incorrect and adding negative value; I may or may not have time to add a more accurate discussion later, if someone else hasn't done so first:

<blockquote>The actual amount of uranium experienced</blockquote>

You're actually talking about the total background radiation exposure, not specifically radiation from uranium (and one wouldn't normally describe exposure to radiation from uranium as "experiencing uranium" in any event).

<blockquote>in any given environment,</blockquote>

No, on average across all individuals, in all environments; the amount of background radiation exposure will be much higher in some environments than in others.

<blockquote>according to Randall's own Radiation chart, is 10 microsieverts worth of radiation, on average,</blockquote>

Across all individuals.

<blockquote>over a year</blockquote>

Over a ''day''. It literally says that in the entry in the chart.

<blockquote>the amount in one's body,</blockquote>

The amount of radiation exposure due to potassium decay within one's body.

<blockquote>in contrast, is about 390 microsievert over that same timeframe,</blockquote>

No, that one actually is per year.

<blockquote>again on average. The lowest dose linked to any serious risk is in the millisievert range, over thousands of times stronger than any of these sources. Thus the radiation from radon buildup in a normal house is not of concern,</blockquote>

No, the ''average'' amount of radiation exposure per individual -- averaged across the entire population, who vary wildly in not only the uranium content of the local soil, but also the characteristics of their basements, and even in whether they ''have'' a basement at all -- is not a concern. There are plenty of "normal" houses in which the radiation from radon buildup is a concern; there are just also plenty of other "normal" houses in which it is not.

<blockquote>as long as it is properly managed in time. Instead it is radon's toxicity that is the problem, both from the radon itself and its "daughter" isotopes, that poses a danger to humans.</blockquote>

This is absolutely false. Radon and its daughter products are dangerous to humans precisely because of the ionizing radiation they emit, which has a tendency to produce lung cancer when decay occurs within the lungs (in the inhaled air for radon itself, or attached to floating dust particles for daughter isotopes). Radon itself isn't poisonous in a chemical sense at all -- as a noble gas, it doesn't react with other substances under normal conditions. Some of the daughter products ''are'' chemically poisonous, but are still far more dangerous for their radioactivity than for their chemical properties (e.g., lead-214 is far more dangerous than a similar quantity of any of the stable lead isotopes (206, 207, and 208)).[[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.191|172.70.127.191]] 20:35, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

I think the title text has umbrella and cover because umbrellas cover things. {{unsigned|Awesome person|20:47, 15 January 2025}}

mēëêèép {{unsigned|Me a meep sheep|00:49, 27 August 2025}}

Rob

2025-08-27T05:16:01Z

82.132.244.228: 14: Copyright (note space!) contains a Cueball, but not obviously a Rob Cueball.

{{Infobox character
| image = Rob.png
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[276: Fixed Width]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Rob|Comics featuring Rob]].''
:''For the generic Rob, see [[Cueball]].''</noinclude>

'''Rob''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. Rob has no identifying features and is a [[Cueball]]. In most cases, he seems to represent the same character, usually being portrayed as [[Black Hat]]'s roommate. He is one of the few of Randall's characters to be given a name. In [[276: Fixed Width]], his screen name appears as "rob", and in [[723: Seismic Waves]] he is posting on the internet as "robm163". In [[838: Incident]] his username appears as "robm". In [[1783: Emails]], Cueball replies to his email in the title text. After the Emails comic, Rob is not mentioned for 800 comics before the name is used in [[2584: Headline Words]]. Cueball is also in this comic, but it seems like Cueball represents Randall rather than Rob in the comic.

==Name==
{{incomplete|Summarise the discussions that led to the name used in this wiki, like we did for [[Cutie]], [[Cueball]], [[Danish]], etc.}}
The name for this character was discussed at length. See the following [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]] topics:
* [[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Proposals#Cueball/Rob|Proposals § Cueball/Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd talk:Community portal/Proposals#Merge Cueball & Rob|Proposals § Merge Cueball & Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Re-proposing merging Cueball and Rob|Proposals § Re-proposing merging Cueball and Rob]]
* [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#New character category for blonde woman news reporter (from 1699)|Proposals § New character category for blonde woman news reporter (from 1699)]]

==Relationships==
Rob had a relationship with a woman known as <emily> on IM. This ended tragically in [[276: Fixed Width]] when he told her the relationship was only for sex while he wasn't really paying attention to what he was writing; he just wanted their chat responses to line up nicely on the screen. Two years later, in 2009, he had a relationship of a few months with what ended up being a spam bot. He discovered this when he asked the bot to pass what it calls a VK test, a reference to the world of Blade Runner, where they use a Voight-Kampff (VK) test to help determine if someone is a replicant. This happened in [[632: Suspicion]].

In [[647: Scary]] we find that he has a nephew born after September 11, 2001, but by 2009 he was old enough to have discussions with Rob about it.

In [[1102: Fastest-Growing]] it seems that Rob is [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] roommate. In fact, it's possible that within the xkcd continuity, every time we see Black Hat's roommate, it's Rob. But with no name mentioned it is not enough to list these comics as comics featuring Rob.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Minor characters]]

User talk:DollarStoreBa'al

2025-08-27T05:07:07Z

82.132.244.228: /* Unnecessary things. */

Hi! Talk here if you want, my life is ever-changing. swears are fine :)

{{Whale}}

==General Chitchat and such==
Hey, as per your comment on [[Main Page#Create my user page]], I created your pages. Welcome to the wiki! Please always remember to sign your comments with <nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki>, and ask in the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]] if you don't know something. If you want, you can read the [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#Why_can.27t_I_upload_pictures_or_create_pages.3F|the Editor FAQ]]! Welcome. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:02, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:Thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 19:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

:hi btw :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)
::hello, how are you doing this fine morning, my dear fellow? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:03, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

==Hiyo==
:I'm trying to lurk less and be friendly so I just thought I'd ah drop in :) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:53, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Bello. me editor guy who edit much. edit fun! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:00, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::hahahahaha edit fun indeed. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:20, 4 March 2025 (UTC)
::::Question: How do you add those user boxes that you have on your page? Those would be nice to have. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:52, 6 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::copy and paste this and remove the nowiki tag:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = alastor jumpscare | info = [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|This user has a pet cannibal deer.]] | float = left}}</nowiki> and replace it with what you desire, for example:

<nowiki>{{Userbox | border-c = #255 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = ;) | info = [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|This user _____ ]] | float = left}}</nowiki>

[[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:50, 11 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::Dude thanks! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 13:48, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::::You're very welcome dear. WEE WOO [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:18, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

==Wow==
Am I so cool that I got a mention on your user page just because I showed you how to make userboxes? I mean, if I am... thanks. [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:44, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes you are. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:43, 25 March 2025 (UTC)
::YAY TYSM i will get you free jambalaya for you immediately due to that (if you're into that) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:19, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

::: No need. Also, I see you're from Louisiana. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 03:44, 29 March 2025 (UTC)]]
::::Haha or maybe I just like jambalaya :). Also you are not 4029 hHHA [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:17, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

==The 5s and Es and Os==
Reply to this if you've figured out what the meaning of the thingy on my user page is.
:it's base 3 [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 09:07, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: :O [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:31, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:: Nope! I'll give you a hint: talk to sam. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 14:33, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
https://voca.ro/1Akmh0zRqa8Q [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:02, 9 April 2025 (UTC)
:uhhh...[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 20:41, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
::sorry, that's not it. Don't know what to say to that.[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:54, 14 April 2025 (UTC)

You have one week! Hint: beep boooop --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 16:30, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

:Morse code? [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 19:33, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

::Morse code of what? You are very, very close.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:47, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Time's up! If you put this into [https://morsecode.world/international/translator.html/] and click play, you get the intro to Bad Apple. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 14:44, 13 May 2025 (UTC)

:It's better than [[2869: Puzzles]] [[User:BobcatInABox|BobcatInABox]] ([[User talk:BobcatInABox|talk]]) 11:11, 14 May 2025 (UTC)

== Want to do some repetitive work? ==

Hey dollar, I noticed you're very active here! I don't have a ton of time, but I recently overhauled the template {{tl|comic}} to add many new features. While we figure out [[Header text]], would you be interested in editing the contents of about 50 pages (the early xkcd comics) to make these new features work? It's a lot of repetitive work, you'd just need to make the same small edits on 50 pages. (If you're interested in why the OG comics were in a different order, see [[LiveJournal]]). Just let me know and I'll finish the documentation for the template! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:13, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:What exactly would I be doing to get these features to work? [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

::If it isn't super-complex wikitext things I can totally help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]] 19:21, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Right so you'd just need to move things around and remove some useless code. This process adds a second white navigation bar at the bottom to browse the OG comics in the original order.
[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1:_Barrel_-_Part_1&diff=374851&oldid=373457 You can follow this example]. The steps are:

Start from [[4|comic number 4]]:
#Based on the short sentence written above the explanation, add "ognumber =", "ogprev =", and "ognext =" (so the navbar can work)
#Add "oglink =", and move ONLY the link from "before" to "oglink" (so from HTTPS://..... until the end of the link, move that to "oglink")
#Now, from the edit preview, copy the original title.
#Delete everything in "before =" now that you moved the link
#Add "ogtitle =" and paste the original title that you copied.
#Finally, in "titletext", add two couples of apostrophes (<nowiki>''</nowiki>) in these places: https://imgur.com/a/BewKKr1
#Now save the changes, and click the new white "Next >" button you just created to go to the next one!
And you're done! It's much simpler when you try it. Of course you don't have to do it, feel free to work on the header text! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:41, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

me am do. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)com/wiki/index.php/S--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)pecial:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 20:51, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:Oh and I added friendly errors for when you forget to add one of the "og" labels. Just note that if you don't provide "ognumber", the cool white navbar won't show up. Remember to always insert a pipe before a label, like this "'''|''' ognumber =". And once you get to comic 55 you're done! That's the last one --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:58, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Hey, I don't really understand where I'm supposed to put these. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

Nevermind, I got this. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 21:05, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
:Erm nope the OGnumber, OGprev, and OGnext you should take from the first sentence above the explanation. For example [[24]] says it's sixth. Anyways, I found a pretty big bug in the template, so I guess we should stop until it's fixed. The Original title doesn't show up! Arghhh! I'll fix it.
:I'll let you know when you can continue. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:18, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

alright, sounds good! Dang tho. Let me know and I'll get right back to it. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 13:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

:Hey, I, um, undid all your edits because they broke the template haha. I guess this was more complex that I thought! Don't worry, I'll finish them myself over time. I'm more experienced than I thought it seems! Thanks for trying to help anyways! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:52, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Reviewing them, it seems you were not isolating the link correctly and leaving there some HTML elements that closed other open HTML elements that weren't finished! It did look, interesting, at least! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:55, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:::So sorry about that, I noticed those random Html elements. Thought they were part of the bug. oops. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

::::No worries! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

==My Mistakes==
=== Your signature is in violation of {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} ===

Hey, I wanted to let you know that your current signature doesn't follow {{w|WP:SIGAPP}} (specifically the first bullet point). Kindly change it. Thanks. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:48, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Changed to 14pt. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 13:02, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:Any height that's taller than the other text on the page disrupts the way that surrounding text displays. 14 px is no better. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:25, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

FINE --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:14, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

:That still disrupts the page flow... I think you signature is already more eye-catching than any other signature on this entire wiki, why do you want to increase its height too? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:19, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:: I thought the issue was the height? Doesn't the wiki use 12pt font, which that Sig is? --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 15:27, 1 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I don't know, I just noticed that it does increase the space between two lines. It might be the superscript's fault then. Well, at least the current one is much better than before. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:49, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Mass-deleting links ===

Hay, just letting you know that maybe you've misunderstood the "incomplete" notice. You shouldn't delete every link on the page ''until there are no links left'', but rather include these links, if they're helpful, directly into the explanation, as explained in [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#ref|the editor faq]]. Thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:09, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

===Creating someone's User pages, without being asked===
In short, not worth the bother. You were helped, above, because you asked (and now, obviously, have become capable of doing the creation yourself, within a very short time). But this wiki is littered with "Welcome, I created your User pages for you" (including for IPs, which is particularly unuseful), where the user concerned has not then used them. However active an editor they are, if they don't know/care about them then it's effort done for nothing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.130|172.70.86.130]] 08:50, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:Yup, I also pointed it out. In case you missed my reply to your message, here's a copy:
:”It's relevant to note that we only create User pages when people explicitly ask for them. On the other hand, User talk pages are created if you want to talk to that specific member privately."--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:03, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry about that. Just trying to help! --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:34, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

=== NEWS ===

Hey uhhh does anyone know about [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/science/randall-munroe-xkcd-science-textbook.html this]? Should we make explanations for these?
--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 20:48, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Google's Ai says there are multiple exclusive comics for the textbook, but I've only been able to find Inside Body, shown here: [[File:Inside Body.jpg]]

:Just so you know, the standard method for announcing something, big or small, to the community is to create a post in te community portal. Just so you don't have to copy and paste every message and reach a wider audience. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:50, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

=== Why [...] is DSBContribs a thing? ===

Did you seriously have to create a page in the main namespace with the sole purpose of redirecting to your user contributions page?

Firstly, the main namespace is supposed to be on-topic. Why, you may ask? Because "DSBContribs" literally appears in the search results for "D" alongside "DSBSig/sandbox" (???), right between DNE (comic #259) and Danger Mnemonic (comic #2487).

User specific stuff should really go as sub-pages of your user page, and nothing is stopping you from directly linking to your contribs page in your signature instead of using a pointless redirect.

As I've read more of your talk page I've realised you're [...] [[Special:Contributions/86.143.223.93|86.143.223.93]] 13:48, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

:Highly disagree on the tone but agree with the message. I redacted the message and scheduled both for deletion, use your user page for this. thanks! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:38, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

::Sorry about this. At the time, I did not know subpages even existed. Thank you random IP for the advice, even if slightly unhinged, and thank you FaviFake for getting to those deletions. I would have done those deletions eventually. I created DSBContribs to save characters on my signiature, assuming that the pages would not show up on the search (linking to special:contributions:DollarStoreBa'al is much longer than linking to DSBContribs). Evidently, I was wrong. I created DSBSIG/sandbox while trying to create a sandbox page and being stupid. That was me trying to work out the wikitext to create a signature. I have perfected my signature now, and these pages are no longer needed. The 'FINE' comment was meant to be a joke. Maybe that would have worked better with a rolling eyes emoji and an 'ugh'. I will be putting this into the 'my mistakes' section of my talk page as this was definitely a mistake. Thanks for bringing my attention to this! Gratefully yours, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

::: By the way, I looked at your little message Mr. IP man. First, I see where you're coming from. I am a little bit immature, this is true. However, this should probably come as an expectation with someone going into 9th grade. This has been acknowledged on my user page and my comment on 3123. Please do your research. Second, swears are fine for basically all purposes EXCEPT to insult people. The fact that you are willing to insult someone who you think is an 8-year-old shows how mature you truly are. Maybe you are the one who should, as you put it 'grow the fuck up'. Thank you, and have a good day. Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[DSBContribs |'''''My life choices''''']] 05:01, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

:::: Hi, it's me (on a different IP because I'm at home now).
:::: I'm sorry for being so aggressive in my original comment, I thought you were a grown adult, not a teen. ("think is an 8-year old" is incorrect btw, I was saying you were "acting like an 8 year old", but that itself was too harsh).
:::: I made stupid mistakes too when I was around your age, and I should have assumed good faith rather than take such an aggressive tone.
:::: Sorry for that, and good luck with school! [[Special:Contributions/90.219.64.93|90.219.64.93]] 13:50, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

::::: I accept your apology with open arms. I truly hope we can work together to improve the wiki in the future. Best regards, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:11, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

=== Possessive and contracted "its"/"it's". ===

This also confused me, oh so many years ago. Then I was given a handy way of knowing ''which'' was the exception, which has served me well, and I've never had to second-guess myself. (Naturally, I've probably typoed/thinkoed it wrong, unconsciously... But since then I've never had a moment of doubt when I've deliberately kept myself/others correct.) Maybe it'll help you. - I tried to summarise it in the edit I made to the message concerned, but ''not enough space'' to do it justice...
#The possessive version is "its". It is one of a number of "irregular possessives", "his" instead of "him's"/, "hers" instead of "her's", "theirs" instead of "they's"/"them's".
#*Basically all the very common and basic pronoun-based possessives that (as I think of it, although not entirely correctly) were added to the language ''long before'' anybody actually tried to regularise the use of possessives, so just stuck that way. If it belongs to "him", "her", "me" "you", "us", "them" ''and'' "it", you're in the realms of using a completely irregular possessive, none of which use apostrophes.
#*''Personally'', I think that "one" (the equally 'basic', IMO, impersonal pronoun) should be included in that. Not for the likes of {{w|Ones' complement}} (that's belonging to (a number of) digit-ones), but in the "{{w|One (pronoun)|one}} is speaking sense. But (as noted in that last link), it isn't. So don't do that.
#This leaves the contractive version as the one that uses the apostrophe. With two interesting caveats:
#*There ''are'' irregular contractions. The word "forecastle" contracts to "fo'c'sle" or "fo'c's'le", which is a lot more overkill than other similarly complicated contractions. And "will not" becomes "won't" (or, some suggest, just "wont", though that's also a different word), despite not having the right set of letters in the right order to remain after (at least) the "not"->"n't" contraction.
#*In reporting speech, where someone says "it's just something I want to say", use it without fear. But, when writing, I find that (except for ''very'' casual use, essentially speaking in text ...or of course when tending to write in abbreviations/limited space) it's{{asic}} just much better to write "it is", in full. Can't(cannot) be written wrong, couldn't(/could not) be read wrong.
#Oh, and then theres "its'", the plural-(non-irregular-)possessive, which ''could'' be used in certain circumstances... "There are loads of ''its'' in this text, without apostrophes... please check that each ''its''' punctuation is correct!". But... not a common occurance. (Far less than "belonging to the word 'it'", the sole reason to use possessive "it's".) ;)

...TL;DR;, irregular possesive "its" because of all the other irregular possessive pronouns that have words of their own. And you might just find it easier to uncontract "it's", most of the time, ''especially'' if you're still not entirely sure about it. (Or, perhaps, you're happy to not let go of such a minor degree of gravitas, and it's not transcriped real-world enunciation, which might even feature such monstrosities as "couldn't've" as the contraction of "could not have"!)

Don't know if that helps, or is understandable, but there you are. Overexplained and overly rambling, as it is..! [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 21:51, 22 August 2025 (UTC)

:While you have way too much time on your hands, it'sn't (it is not) hard to understand, so thank you! As I said, it's basically my only grammatical flaw, so this helps tremendously. Damn my brain and its grammatical irregularities. Its a pleasure to talk with you! Sincerely, --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

::Definitely didn't just make a mistake on an it's. After reading a full page worth of why not to. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 00:44, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

==excuse me==

but it appears you have discovered that I was a spammer in a past account or maybe this account. who's to say anymore? anyway i'm trying to fix that hehe [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 14:02, 7 May 2025 (UTC)

==template==

What is a template? What’s a {{Trout}} and {{Whale}}?
 
If it looks weird, click edit [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 12:20, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

: I'm assuming you're asking what a template is and not about sea life. Templates are basically shortcuts that we use for commonly used things. For example, <nowiki>{{cn}}</nowiki> creates {{cn}}. You can create one pretty easily. I made those because they're commonly used on Wikipedia, and wanted to transfer them here. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:41, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::how can I create one? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:21, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Here's something that may be able to help: {{AprilFoolsHelp}} --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:43, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::thxxxxxxxxx [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::You are very welcome! I hope you are excited to start contributing to the wiki! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

::::::By the way, please don't be afraid to ask me any questions at all. If I can, I will help! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 13:48, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:::::::{{Thx$store}}, which is <nowiki>{{Thx$store}}</nowiki> (if I can call you that)

==Template Tips==
Ok. Sorry, needed to get that out of my system. Thank you for the supplement. Truly. It's a good warning. Just please don't start randomly insulting people towards the end. This is a wiki. Speak the facts, and nothing more. In this case, the facts are:
*Templates are easy to create.
*It's useful to learn from other templates.
Those are the facts. Now, you're done. Don't go on to insult them about how they're too stupid to do something useful.
:No insult intended, no mention at all of stupidity, just the obvious eagerness. Tried only to give caution not to run before you've learnt how (and, ideally, where) to walk. All edits show up, to anyone looking. The initial query had not been answered, when I started the reply, and I had to hastily rewrite things to fit back in on the end.
:To the above, I'd add:
:*Know what purpose your template will have.
:That way you're less likely to create something that you later regret, give or take a rename/delete. (If you want anything totally deleted, it may take a long time, a meanwhile you can only edit it 'clear', but still findable and the history checkable.) Most templates are ''not'' there to add pictures of sealife, but to grease the wheels of common (or not so common) Explanation page scenarios. And we might even thank you for a good shortcut for something we maybe never realised was needed before.
:For a more technical 'manual', {{w|Help:A quick guide to templates}} might be a useful next read, and from there jump around into other Help: items. There's a lot you ''can'' do, though you certainly won't want to use it all right from the start. Take your time and know ''why'' you're doing something, as well as ''what'.
:Good luck for the future, I've probably said as much as you need me to say for now. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.73|82.132.246.73]] 17:39, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

:While this is very useful, it would be nice if you posted this on [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!]]'s talk page. He's the one learning the ropes, and it would probably be very useful to him. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 17:47, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

==Requests/favors==
If you need anything done, reach out to me! I'll let you know what I can do to help you! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 19:49, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

Hi [[User:DollarStoreBa'al | DollarStoreBa'al]], are you good enough to have the link to my user page? [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 01:57, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

:Done! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 15:56, 18 August 2025 (UTC)

==Hello again Darling :D==
I'm back after the summer hello sir O) [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 13:59, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:A fellow school-based follower of the truth, I see! Welcome back, and I wish thee well on your adventures. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 14:00, 26 August 2025 (UTC) P.S. I use monobook style now.

== Unnecessary things. ==

N 19:49 heADer TExt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:49 hEaDeR tEXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 hEaDeR TeXt‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:46 HEADER TEXT‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
N 19:45 Header Text‎ (diff | hist) . . (+25)‎ . . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (Redirected page to Header text)
...now that I know you're doing stupid and unnecessary things deliberately, I won't try to provide help. And you, of course won't be taking my friendly advice, so I'll try not to disturb you further, if I can help it. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.82|82.132.244.82]] 20:57, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

:I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS! Now that you have discovered that I've done unnecessary edits (which are only affecting you), try zooming out a little. Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]]. I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day. Besides, three of those are genuinely useful, and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki. If you want to fix my work, go right ahead. That's what wikis are for. I invite you to fix everything. If you stop stalking my contributions page.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:07, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::Also, I would like to point out that it's harder to get more unfriendly than making a template which only links to my user page insult me, thereby vandalizing my user page. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 23:11, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

::There was going to be no further reply, but you need to know these things:
::;I KNEW YOU WERE STALKING MY EDITS!
::Read what I said. All edits are visible. That's an extract from that list of all edits via the Recent Changes link. You are not being 'stalked'. Though, if I ''could'' easily do so, I'd now specifically hide all your edits and let absolutely ''anyone'' else work out what (if anything) to do in response.
::;Specifically, to the 2,000 bytes I added to [[What if? Chapters]].
::That looked good, as far as I saw it. Would you have me edit something that didn't need editing, just to congratulate you for a job adequately done? There was something I ''might'' have changed, but so trivial that I actively chose not to, and I am now thankful of that.
::;I didn't get almost 300 contribution score by doing meme edits all day.
::Good for you, if the contribution score means so much to you. Quality over quantity is better, and doesn't have a hand macro to show it. But you do you, if you're chasing the scoreboard rankings alone.
::;and I'm not going to listen to a random IP with maybe 10 edits tops telling me how to edit a wiki.
::As you point out, elsewhere, my IP ''will'' keep changing. (And I'm not the only person who may have appeared on any given IP.) I shudder to think how many edits I've made here, in reality, but shall I show you edits by various IPs across a decade or so and claim them as mine? No, because the merit (or otherwise) of one's latest contribution is all that matters. I'm usually happy to be an anon-IP, amongst other anon-IPs and named-users (both venerable and fleetingly transient alike).
::;If you stop stalking my contributions page.
::I can reassure you that I've probably never even looked at ''your'' specific contributions page, certainly not for a long time. I normally only ever check those to check whether "one-edit vandals" have perhaps made other edits that had temporarily slipped under the collective radar, but I don't think I had ever considered you as one of them, before, even back when you were new here. (How long is that? Six months. Two years? Maybe a bit longer?I could look it up easily by checking your contribs page, but I'm now firmly resolved to not do that, for your sake.)
::
::If any what I have written reads as less than polite, it's perhaps partly my exasperation leaking through. By the time I felt the need to add another word to "unnecessary", above, I can see that this had happened. For which I am sorry.
::But text-only communications, like this, also tend to be read in a way that the reader's mood dictates. And I think some of my more straightforward initial contributions got misread at your end, tinted with reflected emotion.
::And, please, let this be it. The world doesn't need to see this, nor does the server need it being added to, and of course there's no alternative backchannel to conduct a lengthy private conversation about it all. I shall read what you reply, just because it's hard to ''not'' read anything that isn't deleted/overwritten, but please no more needless creation of fake user pages (or, indeed, IP user pages). Unnecessary and as likely to be removed as anything else out there. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.228|82.132.244.228]] 05:07, 27 August 2025 (UTC)