The Thargoid War: Thoughts and Feelings

[13A]

I had a break from the game and came back to find everything on fire.

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
It's given me a chance to grind my combat rank. Only scouts so far, but it's moved me to Deadly. Once I get to Elite I may try taking on interceptors.

Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
I'm grinding through combat zones, haven't tried any rescue missions yet.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
Neither. I'm guessing it will become a war of attrition, but the bubble will survive.

What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
It's ok so far. It would be interesting if the Thargoids got the upper hand and humanity had to retreat elsewhere (Colonia?)

 

[Oh Seven Commander]

Greetings Commanders,

We're checking in again to see whether you're enjoying the Thargoid War at large. We recently posted this thread to ask for feedback on the specific mechanics, let us know about any bugs or issues and technical things of that nature. We'd like thank you all for the feedback you provided. It has been immensely helpful in working with the developers to plan the direction of future changes. We have already started to roll out these plans the form of recent balancing adjustments and changes to the weekly reset system. If you have further feedback of this kind, please make sure to leave it in that thread!

This time, we're checking in to better understand how you feel about the War. Here are some questions to give an idea of what we're trying to understand:

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

Once again, please keep any feedback on specific gameplay related issues or suggestion, to this thread. Thanks in advance!
O7

I have given up on participating in the war, Bruce. The Orthus came out and I went hunting. It was fun! Then you guys buffed it, and it wasn't nearly as doable solo. So I went to the CZs, I liked the accessibility and found that the shield tanking over planets due to lack of Thargons was a welcome change! However, the CZs are also broken. I did passengers, but honestly that's not my thing and the mission board was broken! So I quit that. Then you guys nerfed Thargoid payouts across the board by quite a bit. So, I went to do reboot missions in the recovery systems. These are also broken. So, I'm doing other things now.

See above. If things work, pay well, and aren't getting nerfed, sure.

I do not think Frontier will let humanity lose. I do not think Frontier will let the systems where the Cobra MkIII is manufactured get taken over by bugs. That's this games baby unfortunately, and the attachment is high. It won't get got. Powerplay home systems, Sol, Shinrarta, some of the other big lore systems from the previous Elite games, etc. I do not think those are actually in real danger. Deus ex machina will save them if needed. I'm not saying that anyone has lied to the player base, but I can't imagine that if this is the story that Frontier wants told, that they would let it end like that.

I don't know the direction of the narrative. I would honestly like the war to encroach more on human space if possible. I do not feel threatened yet, but I bet you have a Thargoid mothership somewhere that could be threatening (show us the hive world?)

 

[Old Duck]

As an outsider looking in, I was initially quite intrigued by the events around the "incident" where the anti-Thargoid superweapon backfired, along with the approaching "Stargoids". It almost tempted me to give Horizons 4.0 a try, despite my many misgivings regarding the game itself.

Likewise, I found the first week of the proper invasion to be very captivating, again as an outsider looking in via forum discussions and various livestreams and "news reports" from content creators. While I've never been that interested in AX combat myself (I prefer the diversity of human ships with their countless configurations as enemies), I thought it would be fun to play in a galaxy where I must actively "watch my step" to avoid these deadly Thargoids. In fact, I still find that idea appealing. I've always thought that the Bubble is too big and too "easy", so the idea of having to be thoughtful in plotting my routes through a war-torn Bubble intrigues me to this day. One might argue that Thargoid-occupied systems are what anarchy systems should have been - terrifying and only visited by the bravest of pilots.

That said, I've kinda lost interest as the weeks have unfolded. Not totally, mind you, because I think the concept is brilliant - the idea that there is some sort of automated mechanism that is driving the Thargoids to methodically and strategically wipe out civilized systems in the Bubble. However, what I've read about the execution of this concept does not bode well. Perhaps this thread is a sign to not give up hope yet.

As for who wins or loses, I sincerely hope there is a chance that humans could lose. I seriously doubt that Frontier would destroy the entire Bubble, as that would kill the game, so I accept there may be systems protected by "plot armor", but hopefully there's the possibility to significantly reduce the number of safe systems in the Bubble by a sizeable amount. I also accept that as time goes on, Frontier will introduce better weapons to fight back, just like real war, but it would be a shame if Thargoids were "nerfed" as some suggest.

Regarding the narrative, I still frequently read Galnet despite not currently playing the game. I kinda feel a responsibility to, since I was one of the vocal players back during the year when Galnet was cancelled, and I do think your writers are doing a good job with narration. It would be nice if there was more in the way of "war reports" that give an idea of exactly what's going on at the front lines, how much ground is won or lost each week, etc. AFAIK this can only be discerned by reading threads in this forum posted by those very actively involved in the war.

So in summary, as someone who really has no interest in participating in the war directly, I still think the war provides a very interesting backdrop to the game. I'd like to see more effects of the war on things like supply shortages, price hikes, demand for supplies to support the war effort, "regular" missions like passenger and supply runs, etc. for those who prefer playing "basic" Elite. This war should not just affect the systems being invaded, but the entire Bubble on some level. I suspect this would require either hand-tuning or some sort of new scripting to enhance the current BGS, which is notorious for being overly simplistic and sometimes contradictory to itself.

All that said, I don't know if any of this would bring me back as a player. As has been pointed out by others, bugs in the game, performance issues, the new lighting system, etc can ruin the best of gameplay for those of us who care about such things.

 

[JR250]

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

The mechanics and loops are becoming repetitive. I still enjoy it but I've been doing less and less of it. Another thing, CZ in the Thargoid war don't conform to their low, med or high ratings. You get into a low CZ, fight your way through it until you win. If you're lucky (and in solo mode) the CZ will complete and close. But wait! Even after the CZ is done, and instead of having the satisfaction of winning, 2 or 3 Hydras show up! In a low CZ. Zaps the smile off your face.

• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

Pessimistic. There are over 700 systems invaded/controlled by Thargoids. This despite the enormous effort from all AX CMDRs, and a good number of those that came back for the content update. Still, the totals continue to go in Thargoids' favor. As people get bored/used to the new content and move on to other things, winning will be even harder.

• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

I think it was great, still is, but getting long in the tooth (to me). Perhaps we're ready to some side story. I've proposed a peace agreement between peace-seeking humans and Thargoids. Have permit-locked systems where both can coexist. Start cooperating with each other: humans restore terraformed worlds critical to Thargoids to their previous ammonia base, Thargoids improve our FSD to reduce gravity well effect on SuperCruise and increase speeds by an order of magnitude.

Thank you for asking!!

 

[Blaggerdy]

Am I enjoying the Thargoid war:
Yes, I've spent 3 years in private group / solo, but since this kicked off I am primarily in Open. Met lots of decent CMDR's and a couple who inspire me to help them take out hydras

Am I moticated to engage in the gameplay:
Yes, see above

Am I optimistic or pessimistic:
Neither, it's a game and I'm not sure where it is going.
I do wonder if Frontier would allow the game to go down the pan with insufficient player effort or preferred developer outcome. Would this be a first for an open type of game

What do I think of this direction for the narrative:
It's a bit like real life. Many people agree, many disagree. Not much opportunity at an individual to make a difference or for an alternative path (peace, compromise, ignoring the Thargoids) to make a difference.
Not clear on what is intended gameplay or developer constraints. e.g. do we need to do something in respect of Orthrus or Maelstrom or will something happen at a later point without player involvement / effort / investigation.

 

[Vasquess]

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
I never was that interested in pew-pew. But with all related activities the Tharg war gave me ~3 weeks of nice gameplay. Then I moved away. I have to admit that it makes very good use of all the exiting game-loops and brings them together to a coherent thing. But basically theiy are still the existing game-loops...

Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
Researching the malestrom was my highlight of the whole war storyline. But how long did game designers expect me to run into that nenergy wave again and again. I mean, it started ... end of Nov 3308 and now its Feb 3309

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
First I had the impression of something big going on. But with that nice weekly reset mechanic, it immediately felt like a sports game of sorts. - That took away most of my interest.

What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
I now see myself more as an onlooker. Nice to read from time to time.

 

[Sysmon]

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
Just seeing it from a distance, so enjoying reading about it. Not much of it happening out in Acheron though. I did find some probe fragments there, but that didn't seem to mean anything except giving me a few more mats to carry around for future uses.

Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
Not really. I thought I would commit my alt CMDR to it, but haven't found the time. Seeing how the Maelstroems evolved was interesting at first. But now they look like slowly opening raid instances, and I have enough of that gameplay in other games. That also tends to be a gatekeeping mechanic blocking solo players from engaging, which I don't enjoy. I play in Open, but my connection is poor and my schedule unpredictable.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
Neither. I had hoped it would take the game narrative in a different direction, instead of just being a game-wide CG.

What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
I'll wait and see before I make up my mind. It is nice, however, to see the game revitalised.

S

 

[Fizzatron]

Greetings Commanders,

We're checking in again to see whether you're enjoying the Thargoid War at large. We recently posted this thread to ask for feedback on the specific mechanics, let us know about any bugs or issues and technical things of that nature. We'd like thank you all for the feedback you provided. It has been immensely helpful in working with the developers to plan the direction of future changes. We have already started to roll out these plans the form of recent balancing adjustments and changes to the weekly reset system. If you have further feedback of this kind, please make sure to leave it in that thread!

This time, we're checking in to better understand how you feel about the War. Here are some questions to give an idea of what we're trying to understand:

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?

Yes, war has never been so much fun. It has become a prominent aspect of how the galaxy feels even when not participating.

• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

I did initially and then stepped back a bit due to the tick reset, which I think has been partially alleviated with the update to it. I am reasonably content with the way it is now but I feel like it would have been better to make x percent rollover to the next week rather than having a cut off. But really, I will say that aspect has been effectively resolved.

Right now, and since then, and as a result of the now fixed board glitch, I have been in the process of unlocking the engineers I needed to up my builds for duty. It's provided the motivation to finally unlock Palin etc. and I'm liking the results of that. And I guess that's what I mean about the war affecting everything, the process of unlocking the Engineers has an extra purpose to it.

I'm out doing a Guardian run to unlock some more stuff and then I will be back into the fray.

• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

At this rate, not immediately, but eventually if things keeping going as they are, humanity is doomed, unless they make like a Galactica and become galactic nomads.

• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

I think it's been a long time coming but I imagine it took the updates that Odyssey has brought to the game to allow for it to happen at this level? And if that's the case, I'm glad y'all waited. The overall scope of the game is mind bogglingly huge and accordingly, the scope of this war narrative has a massive scope to be a catalyst to drive the game forwards.

Once again, please keep any feedback on specific gameplay related issues or suggestion, to this thread. Thanks in advance!
O7

A few things:

1) Onfoot Thargoids please!

2) Thargoid TTK - I was watching a video showing combat and it while it was great, I do wonder about how to cater to those who want the boss level battles and those who want to blast, or put another way - Football with 90 mins with a final score of 1-1 vs Basketball being "48" mins long final scores like 120-110. I think the Scouts go a good way to provide the more action blasting gameplay, but I think could be kicked up a notch by:

A) with a variant in between the Scouts & Thargoids, that can be not much harder than a scout to kill but there being lots of them, like 16-32 to really ramp up the mayhem, and it be an event that on average lasts for 15 or so minutes.

B) Or maybe just ramp up the amount of scouts that spawn to those kinds of quantities and have more NPC wingmen that are like the opening battle scene in ROTJ, something that is definitely captured by the Thargon Swarm but with individual targets flying in formations of four or six.

C) Having a Thargoid swarm seeder variant that spawns and keeps spamming swarms until they the seeker is killed, but the swarms themselves don't die. They will roam around somewhat aimlessly among the scouts, and every once in a while two or three swarms pick a target and converge to attack in what would likely be a certain death storm for most ships, but triggering their own alert, like the energy surge, that lets everyone know someone's about to get swarmed to induce overall panic and confusion, but gives them a small amount of time to figure out who's "it", for them to take evasive maneuvers or lead them to other ships to be shredded with flak cannons.

3) Evacuation missions should be two-way, refugees and injured on the way out, and soldiers/responders on the way in.

4) If an when onfoot Thargoids become a thing, please let us become the dropship pilots running the gauntlet. I'm probably getting carried away with this now but it would also be awesome to see Scorpions & Scarabs be part of the battle and have the be dropped into battle as well.

All the best, really liking the way it's going so far and am very much looking forward to Update 15, though keeping my expectations in check - even after writing all of the above.

 

[avow555]

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Was fun now repetitive!
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
• Not hugely.
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
• Probably neither as you will stretch this out for as long as you can, doy...
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
• Narrative does not generate any new ships/content does it.

No new Ships yet still.

 

[ubermick]

Am I enjoying the war?
Well, I dunno if enjoying is the right way of putting it, but I certainly appreciate the way in which it engaged and kickstarted the community into acting together, and the narrative has certainly been a breath of fresh air, given that it's been sparse at times over the game’s history.

Am I motivated to engage in the subsequent gameplay?
Yes, but I have to admit that the lustre has begun to wear off. I’ve spent many evenings lugging refugees from various systems to Tarach Tor (Tarach Tor, Tarach Tor, it’s always bloody Tarach Tor!!) and many more shooting Thargoids in combat zones. I can only echo the calls for more Odyssey gameplay to be implemented (including fixing the reactivation missions, and making them at least a bit more atmospheric by putting some caustic damage around along with somecreepy SFX) and we’re all eagerly awaiting the arrival of on-foot bugs. Which, if they end up looking exactly like ordinary human NPCs and we’re told they’re zombies or something, I’ll be fuuuuuuming!

Am I optimistic about our chances?
Oh yeah. Although slaughtering the entire playerbase would be one helluva way to turn the lights off when it eventually happens!

Do I like the current direction?
Yep, as mentioned I love the way it's motivated the community to work together, but can’t stress that it needs to be varied as much as possible. Can’t just be the same stuff we’ve done over and over for years with just a slightly different lick of paint.

 

[Cosmo]

[*]Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?

No, I'm waiting for Thargoids on-foot, boarding a Thargoid mothership (carrier), sneaking around Thargoid bases a la Alien or rambo style.

[*]Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

No, because it's mostly space-based gameplay.

[*]Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

No, because the bubble will never disappear since that would disable a lot of game features. Powerplay would be better if there's Thargoid factions that players can do missions for.

[*]What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

The progress is too slow. For example the Maelstorms have been in-game for a months and there's been no changes to the mystery. The limited gameplay gets boring after a while.

 

[Unbreakable Raids]

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
  Not really, no. I am a firm believe that this was an avoidable war that was forced on us by a minority of xenophobic players. I also believe the influx of new people "Wanting" to do AX Combat is because their home is under threat and they have no choice if they want to get back to playing the game they love. So I do not partake of it, and choose to stay away from it.
  
  
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
  No. I think we would have found much more meaningful and benificial interactions had we chose the route of peace. Imagine, we could be working for or against them in bgs and/or powerplay. We could be rewarded with access to thargoid ships, tech, engineers, we could establish trade relations and have new ways to work together.
  
  
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
  It is my sincere hope humanity gets crushed and we lose the bubble, and possibly colonia. I want to see the despair overtake those AXI pilots as they get pushed back, ultimately lose, and watch the bubble burn knowing it was their fault. So you could say I'm Optimistic.
  
  
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
  I don't like it, peace would have been a better direction for the narrative. You can still have AX combat while not having an open war and even having peaceful trade.

 

[Ozric]

Mod hat on

This is not a discussion thread. Let's keep the thread to feedback on the topic at hand only please.

 

[Onkel Onkelson]

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?

No. I don't particularly like NPC combat and participating in rescue missions gets boring quickly in the long run.

Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

No. I would like to research the background of the war. Why did the Proteus wave attract the far Thargoids? What is it about the maelstroms? Where do they come from? Why do they protect the route to the Pleiades? I think such questions are exciting. The other war mechanics are simply repetitions.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

I do not believe that humanity can lose. But I believe that it is good for the motivation of those involved in the war if it appears that we can lose.

What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

I like the narrative that started with the Adamastor. Unfortunately, when you look at the story in retrospect, the players were able to influence very little in the process. It was predictable that Salvation would not bring salvation.
The direction of the narrative is still good. However, I would like to see a faster narrative pace and more attention paid to players with an affinity for exploration (Thargoid research) in addition to combat and trading (rescue missions). This black and white conflict is not a modern way of storytelling and complexity would be welcome.

 

[Guyperson]

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

For the most part but patience is a finite resource with so many bugs or mechanics not working as expected. Especially when the war's BGS clock keeps ticking regardless of how long it takes to address issues that impact said war.

• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

Neither. Victory is mechanically impossible under present conditions, but the story arc still hasn't played out to the point where we even have a victory condition and we won't know what that looks like until we get there.

• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

I feel like I'm stuck waiting for direction while the story is being drip-fed. There are no clear overarching strategic or research goals we can progress; they just get dropped on us arbitrarily as CGs or in glanet articles as the weeks go by. Or something is vaguely alluded to in such a way that we can't realistically account for it, eg: gathering exobiology data or grelics is supposedly helping advance AX research but there's no indication of how. I mean for all we know you're not using those numbers at all and we're just getting that content according to a set schedule.

 

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Hi Bruce, thanks for asking.

In answer to most of your questions unfortunately I've got to say no.
I've read about the narrative but the whole concept doesn't appeal to me, sorry.
I'm still waiting for some of the features that were initially hinted at within the start of the games kickstarter period. More detailing of the planetary content, gas giants with interactive atmospheres, landable earth like worlds, ect.
Having just one main interactive Alien race in the game (Thargoids) puzzles me when we've got so many other systems and planets in the game with no other different actual native alien races, humanoid or otherwise seems really illogical. I would have thought having different species in some systems would enhance the main structure of the game, in exploration, trade, technology exchange and of course new ships.
The Thargoid 'invasion' just seems to be to me old content geared up to be more intense combat orientated gameplay, with no real interaction with the actual alien race other than war?

In short, I'm still playing the game of course, I appreciate being able to walk on planets, and the exobiology features, but the galaxy still feels in a sense empty for some of the reasons I've listed above.

Jack

 

[Revan2610]

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
  Nope - don't care for it and just avoid that part of space where it is raging.
  
  
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
  Nope - they are the same gameplay loops we have been doing ad nauseam for years just with a different wrapper around it. It's like when they renamed Opal Fruits to Starburst - different wrapper, same contents! The rewards are meh after recent nerfs, and some of the activities take far too long for a solo pilot to do. It's great for AX groups/squadrons so I'm glad some of the playerbase are having fun with it. Personally though, I have zero interest or incentive to get involved.
  
  
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
  Don't care really - humans will win or you have no game left. At some point in the future some FDev handwavium will force the Thargoids into retreat due to some weird and wonderful player/Guardian tech evolving and we send them packing. Or Elite will reach EOL at the end of 2024/5 and we will have an End of Galaxy event where the Thargoids destroy the last human stronghold in Colonia, and humanity is now extinct!
  
  
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
  I don't mind it as long as FDev remember there is more to Elite than this war and that all future patches/GalNet articles are not geared solely towards this war. Many people play Elite without wanting or caring for combat and/or Xeno combat and I hope there is enough to keep them happy going forward as much as there is for the trigger-happy AX crew.

 

[Valmont]

Greetings Commanders,

We're checking in again to see whether you're enjoying the Thargoid War at large. We recently posted this thread to ask for feedback on the specific mechanics, let us know about any bugs or issues and technical things of that nature. We'd like thank you all for the feedback you provided. It has been immensely helpful in working with the developers to plan the direction of future changes. We have already started to roll out these plans the form of recent balancing adjustments and changes to the weekly reset system. If you have further feedback of this kind, please make sure to leave it in that thread!

This time, we're checking in to better understand how you feel about the War. Here are some questions to give an idea of what we're trying to understand:

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

Once again, please keep any feedback on specific gameplay related issues or suggestion, to this thread. Thanks in advance!
O7

Hi, Bruce! Thanks again for reaching out to players to get their opinions about the conflict, and cheers to FDev generally for some of the most quality content in years.

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?

I think it's correct to say that I've enjoyed the Thargoid War so far. It caused me to download 4.0 and pick up the game after a hiatus of about 2 years as soon as I saw the headlines break on other PC gaming news websites. I've enjoyed mastering the shard AX Chieftain, and occasionally running into other CMDRs on the field of battle. It's great when we're able to gib a Thargoid together before they can regenerate, and makes us glow with a sense of teamwork!

Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?

Not any longer. I've killed about 3k Thargoids and rescued over 20k civvies and feel like I've gotten what I can out of the present gameplay loops. That's playing for about maybe 1-2 hours a day, completing half a CZ or a few evac runs in the morning before work, and then soloing a CZ in the evenings usually. The biggest problem I feel is that all the equipment offered so far is a sidegrade, not an upgrade. The shard AX Chieftain still remains my personal meta, despite trying out the 6-shard gib conda, AXMC Chiefs, a shard Corvette, and shard Kraits. I've gotten really good at chaining together the four goids that usually show up in a CZ, taking down each one's petals successively while I wait for the others' shields to drop.

Nothing introduced to this point really improves on that, reducing my time-to-kill on the flowers, and I'm very much invested in killing them in bulk as this seems a sheer numbers game. Interceptor combat as it stands feels too artisanal, which I think is reflected in, say, the ranks and achievements and trick piloting of a player-group like AXI. We need to industrialize the murder of Thargoids to win this war; the time for jousting with them honorably is over. I have an image of the hot-shot AX guys soloing Hydras in an Eagle being like the last samurai during the industrialization of Japan, or something. There's still a place for them, admittedly, shepherding these skills and traditions into a new era of AX combat. But the battlefield has got to change with the moment. That said, I'd myself like something that really mixes up combat for the medium-size ships, as the large ships are just too slow to dictate the pace and tempo of engagement with interceptors. My money is on AX Cannons with muzzle velocities close to that of the Salvation Shards. We also need small AXMCs, badly.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?

Optimistic. Technological improvements will come as a content dripfeed and ultimately turn the tide. In any case, we have 20 years before they make any big dent on the bubble. It's a war of attrition. Defense in depth. Wear them down. We're killing them faster than they can kill our combat pilots. (Civvie casualties are another matter entirely, although they seem unrelated to our industrial base.) The major superpower navies haven't even gotten involved yet. The Pilots' Federation has carried the war so far. Personally, I don't see this going to Colonia. If anything, the Thargoids should strike at Colonia (comparable to the recent attacks in the Witch Head) to demonstrate that there is no "Bubble B," they can reach us wherever and whenever they like, and the only way to end this is to defeat their forces extensively and in detail.

What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

I think it's the only one that makes sense. What are the possible gameplay loops for peace? Most of ED is built around combat. I actually preferred peace and thought that genocide is bad (shocking, that idea, I know). But then when they invaded the bubble, I became furiously involved in the defense. I truly have come to hate the Thargoid with a passion I've never experienced in another video game before, and would now advocate wiping them out to the last. See Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace on how war should be brutal to end it quickly and decisively, or Konstantin Simonov's Kill Him! I.e., blow up their mother-ships, terraform their ammonia worlds, harvest and burn their barnacles to extinction, and watch their stupid detergent Tide-Pod stain remover babies boil and dissolve at room temperature before my very eyes. Seriously, good stuff FDev, engendering this kind of visceral violence against an imaginary foe! I think DCoH puts us at something like 7 billion humans killed or turned into refugees by these space thugs; ~3 million Thargoid war dead doesn't begin to balance that butcher's bill!

 

[vanFace]

This time, we're checking in to better understand how you feel about the War. Here are some questions to give an idea of what we're trying to understand:

• Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
• Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
• Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
• What do you think of this direction for the narrative?

• I am not enjoying the war due to the many bugs introduced with it.
• I am not motivated to engage in the gameplay due to the many bugs it had. Perhaps I'll take a look again later.
• I don't care about the chances, because I get the feeling that I can't change them, anyway. IMO you are rigging the war so that it goes into the direction you feel like.
• The narrative is the single positive aspect I see in the current changes of the game, but of course this is due to the war setting that allows for many interesting stories to be told. Nevertheless, keep it up, please.

Overall I miss new content on the Odyssey side, be it war related or not. The exobiology rank demotion was a major let-down and totally unnecessary. Bring on the on-foot thargoids, please.

 

[Firedrax]

Are you enjoying the Thargoid War?
Yes, even with the mission bugs. With the new weapons it has encouraged me to take on larger interceptors. I used to spend most of my time in a small private group but now play regularly in the AXI private group. Been in wings and taken down Hydras. Has been great fun joining with other like minded commanders. I prefer the surface base combat, high g is frustratinlg entertaining at times.


Are you motivated to engage in the gameplay associated with the war?
Yes, although there are times when I think - ok what should I do now. I finally decided to try out the modifies plasma charger, I like them. Have been taking on a variety of missions.


Are you optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's chances to win?
I am sure humanity will win in the end. My guess is that we will get more weapons and possibly a new ship with regenerative hull.


What do you think of this direction for the narrative?
I think it mirrors real life. Commanders are on different sides of the fence. Not sure where it is going yet, I expect the next update will add more. Like many others commanders I look forward to on foot Thargoid CZ's (fingers crossed).

While not really important to the gameplay, the area I find frustrating is not appearing to be credited with a kill. Example, when in a CZ with other commanders (both in wing and not in wing) I kill a Thargoid scout (only commander in the area), I get the credits message on screen but don't get anything written to the log, but sometimes get both. Makes we wonder if it is contributing to my combat ranking when I only get the credits message on screen.