Directive 8020 Guide: How To Solve The Anomaly Log Number Puzzle
Getting stumped by a basic combination lock while an alien mimic hunts you is a terrible way to spend your time aboard the Cassiopeia.
Exploration is a massive part of surviving Directive 8020. You spend a lot of time creeping through dark corridors looking for collectibles, audio logs, and hidden objects that piece the narrative together. During Episode 5, specifically in the Radio Silence section, the game throws a frustrating curveball your way. You take control of Cernan and almost immediately stumble across a locked terminal that demands an Anomaly Log Number.
If you are anything like me, your first instinct is to open your menu and frantically read through every single video recording and datapad you collected up to this point. Do not do that. Standing perfectly still in a dark hallway while trying to cross-reference menu text is a fast track to getting yourself killed. You need to keep moving. Keeping your crew breathing is already a massive headache, which I covered extensively in my Directive 8020 save everyone guide. Do not throw a good run away just because you got stubborn about a locked door. I am going to show you exactly where the physical clue is hiding and how to translate it so you can grab your loot and get out.
Locating The Terminal And The Clue
Before you can solve the puzzle, you need to know exactly where the moving pieces are located within the Radio Silence map.
The locked terminal itself is very hard to miss. As soon as you start the section playing as Cernan, you head up a set of stairs. The terminal sits right there waiting for you. Interacting with it prompts you for the four-digit Anomaly Log Number. Ignore the lock for now and look at the doors right next to the terminal. Walk through them and head straight toward the ship's cockpit.
The Cockpit Discovery
Once you step into the cockpit, you will notice a Secret waiting to be picked up on the right side of the room. Grab that, but your real objective is on the opposite side. Look toward the left side of the room near the pilot chair. Sitting directly on the console is a seemingly random note containing the letters "CAIF".
This is the clue you need to open the door back by the stairs. If you decided to play on the harder difficulty setting as outlined in my Directive 8020 explorer vs survivor mode breakdown, you know that lingering in these rooms is dangerous. Grab the note mentally and prepare to do some quick translation.
Solving The CAIF Cipher
The game hands you four letters, but the terminal explicitly requires a four-digit number to lift the lockdown.
The trick here does not require any deep lore knowledge or hacking skills. You just need to know the alphabet. The solution requires you to convert each individual letter on the note into its corresponding numerical position in the standard English alphabet. It is a simple substitution cipher disguised as technical ship data. This is a very different kind of technical headache compared to the early game computer choices I detailed in my Directive 8020 oracle reboot guide.
Claiming Your Reward
Now that you have the translation, the final code is 3196. Walk back to the terminal above the stairs, punch in those four digits, and the door will unlock.
Inside, you will find the Orbital Oddities Secret. Collecting these items is mandatory if you want to piece together the overarching mystery of the game. If you are trying to hunt down the rest of the major collectibles hidden across the ship, you will absolutely want to reference my Directive 8020 all curator secrets locations guide to save yourself a massive amount of backtracking.
