HERE IS MY EXPLANATION. I will try to make this as clear as I possibly can.
Before you even attempt this puzzle, you must first complete the Cyclum puzzle. The Cyclum puzzle was the last puzzle Klei gave us, and it introduced A New Reign. Complete it to get a tragic torch, which will light up the first part of this new puzzle.
The link to the puzzle is here: http://cyclum.dontstarvetogether.com/login
Not sure if it's expired or not, but the steps to solve it are here:
FOR THE NEW PUZZLE, the first step is to enter the Metheus page. There, you will find that the left side is lit up by a torch. There is also a console on the left. When you click the console, it will take you to a dashboard. There will be characters on the bottom, as well as a black and gold string of symbols on top. To progress with the puzzle, you need to exchange codes.
Specifically, you need to find a buddy and either input their gold or black code, not both. They will input the opposite code of yours (black or gold). The center will turn gold when you input theirs. When they input yours, the gaps will turn purple.
(I input my partner's gold symbols and they input my black.)
After that, you can move on to the second part. But make sure you keep in touch with your buddy, because you'll need them for the second part. By now, the other half of the first screen should be lit by a second torch. There is a second console. When you click on the console, you'll either have tile squares and a string of black symbols at the top, or vice versa. There are 32 symbols and 13 tiles. One partner will get the symbols and the other will get the tiles. I happened to get the tiles, so my screen looked like this:
Now comes the hard part. You need to put in the code that your partner has, as well as give them the code that you received on yours. As far as I can tell, it's random, and the symbols never correspond to the same tiles twice. Usually, when you swap codes, at least one dot will light up. That means that one of the tiles is in the correct placement and it's the correct tile, meaning it corresponds with your partners symbol. For example, let's say that I have a tile with a dash at the top. My partner has a symbol that looks like a funky F. We happened to find, through trial and error (removing the tiles and submitting until something turned off), that the F symbol and the tile make one of the dots light up when they're in a certain slot. When you have a match, it could be in any of the slots.
(This is us with two symbols and tiles correct. I think in this case, it was the first and the sixth. I can't remember what symbols they had on their end. The main code started us off, and then we had to find the right input by trial and error. The best we got was three before it refreshed.)
Here's the worst part: you only have a certain amount of submissions to get it right before it refreshes, and you have to start over again. That's at least what I've been able to gather from our experiments.
Here's a better explanation for how to solve the second part:
Apparently, it's just a matter of switching the symbols and tiles that you already have in unison and submitting the answer in a cohesive fashion.
When you get all six dots, the button will glow gold.
EDIT: I finally finished the puzzle for myself, so here's what you need to do.
First, follow the binary method. What I mean by this is to have the tile person enter in all of the first tile in their partner's code.
That should get you at least one dot. Then one of you can check to see which tile/symbol is in the correct placement by replacing them with a filler not in your code and pressing submit. Be sure to refresh the page often to make sure that the website is recording your inputs.
Using this method, you should be able to narrow it down.
Here's us trying to find the second symbol/tile placement. I put in the second part of their code into all of my slots.
It sounds more complicated than it is. Honestly, others have explained it better than I have.
Whew. Sorry, that was a lot, but it needed to be clarified.
DO NOT POST FOR BUDDIES HERE. To find a buddy, go to this thread: