Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Hyades Sectors EQ-O b6-2, QN-T c3-13 and EG-N b7-2, HIPs 23593, 116542 and 20899, Gl 886.1 B, Pegasi Sectors MY-O a7-2 and OE-N a8-2, Vogulu, Col 285 Sector JW-M c7-10 and Cephei Sector BV-Y b2! The eviction in HIP 113076 is well on its way to completion, meanwhile several difficult Alert systems follow the next two in terms of layout.

Given Galnet developments, we started readying Maelstrom vessels ahead of what sounds to be the first meaningful anti-Titan action one can perform. Looking back, I think the number of Control systems has taken such a large setback—and our totals continue to exceed the Alert amounts—that I imagine we could reach the point of stopping a Titan before Thargoid expansion could reach anywhere near its previous peak!

Alerts at 06:40 11th September 3309:
HIP 20056 Alert 44% — Indra 24 Ly, 2488 Ls outpost, 182 Ls planet
Balak Alert 28% *28.2% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost, 16 Ls planet
Trailing:
HIP 20948 Alert 20% *20.2% — Indra 24 Ly, 56k Ls planet
Bi Dhorora Alert 14% *15.1% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost

Eviction:
HIP 113076 Control 62% — Raijin 24 Ly, 730 strength

Clean-up:
Hyades Sector EB-N b7-0 Alert 98% — Taranis 14 Ly, empty
Cephei Sector WO-A b4 Alert 80% *80.8% — Oya 15 Ly, empty
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-4 Control 44% — Raijin 21 Ly, empty, 529 strength

I did a test this evening and found that selling Protective Membrane Scrap to rescue ships does not provide any war progress, despite the fact it has an origin tag. I had wondered whether this was the case or not, but it's worth knowing.

Very much so; thank you for trying it! Even if many actions end up having no effect, such is the only way to discover one which does.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Pegasi Sector HH-U b3-4, Hyades Sector EB-N b7-0, HIP 24834 and Cephei Sector WO-A b4! All empty Alerts repelled once again (well done!), and HIP 113076 needs one last disturbance to finish taking it back.

Alerts at 07:20 12th September 3309:
HIP 20056 Alert 80% *80.3% — Indra 24 Ly, 2488 Ls outpost, 182 Ls planet
Narrowly:
Balak Alert 70% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost, 16 Ls planet
Trailing:
HIP 20948 Alert 44% — Indra 24 Ly, 56k Ls planet
Bi Dhorora Alert 24% *25.2% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost, 1857 Ls planet

Eviction:
HIP 113076 Control 98% — Raijin 24 Ly, 39 strength

Clean-up:
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-4 Control 86% — Raijin 21 Ly, empty, 133 strength

 

[BDelacroix]

Are you all really down to just 6 systems left? Surely this is just the top 6.

 

[Kira Goto]

Are you all really down to just 6 systems left? Surely this is just the top 6.

It’s just the current top 6 of the week, yes. There’s two very low progress(single digit range) alerts, one at Cocijo and Thor each. Not that that means much since there is no way to account for tissue samples until they are dumped at a megaship(if a carrier is in play to store them).

 

[BDelacroix]

It’s just the current top 6 of the week, yes. There’s two very low progress(single digit range) alerts, one at Cocijo and Thor each. Not that that means much since there is no way to account for tissue samples until they are dumped at a megaship(if a carrier is in play to store them).

That's ok I don't do tissue sampling anyway. Just thought maybe the player base efficiencied all the content away is all.

 

[Kira Goto]

That's ok I don't do tissue sampling anyway. Just thought maybe the player base efficiencied all the content away is all.

Not much of a chance of that happening, the sheer difficulty stepup of systems around anything within 15ly to a Titan/Maelstrom prevents that.

It is very likely that, barring Thargoid plot twists from Frontier in the near future, that will result in a more frequent appearance of invasions if/when more control spheres are pushed back to that range.

(Still expecting something to come that changes up how things currently are running. Or, at least, I’d very much like to. This sort of status quo is not the most entertaining thing in the world.)

 

[BDelacroix]

Been out of the game so long my carrier just about went to decommision. It would have if I didn't bother to look today.
The wind has really been taken out of my interest in playing.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in HIPs 20056, 113076 (well done!) and 21788, Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-4, Hyades Sectors NN-S b4-4, FH-M b7-2, GH-M b7-0, JN-K b8-2 and MY-I b9-0, and Arietis Sectors KM-T a4-0, KM-T a4-1 and KM-T a4-2! As the clean-up continues comfortably beyond the rate of attacks, activity surges at HIPs 20948 and 20491 push the former into narrow completion and bring forward the latter to trail by around half.

Alerts at 07:20 13th September 3309, Wednesday caution:
Balak Alert 98% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost, 16 Ls planet
HIP 20948 Alert 74% *74.9% — Indra 24 Ly, 56k Ls planet
Trailing:
HIP 20491 Alert 42% — Indra 23 Ly, 1720 Ls planet
Bi Dhorora Alert 32% *33.2% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost, 1857 Ls planet


It seems that the Rescue megaships are indeed moving relatively close tomorrow! I had been using the Foerster in Yenistani at 105 Ly from M. Hadad; while docking it reported usefully that it will move to Xinca at 67 Ly from M. Cocijo. I was hoping they would end up away from groups of dormant Fleet Carriers though, where Xinca being 6 Ly from Deciat is not ideal.

Speaking of tomorrow—in addition to discovering whether a Titan can launch an attack, two other interesting events have aligned! The first is that the quite wonderful @Ian Doncaster has found a new extended pattern which matches the attack behaviour much more strongly across all Maelstroms, and the second is that pure chance presents a new test of said pattern: M. Taranis ought to fail this very week one of its five attacks.

The concise reason is that it appears more costly for the Thargoids to attack beyond the present Maelstrom size spatially and the earlier eviction at Hyades Sector CV-O b6-5 has narrowed said size; much detail is present in Analysing the Thargoid Simulation, but be prepared to read back quite a bit to form the needed glossary!

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

while docking it reported usefully that it will move to Xinca at 67 Ly from M. Cocijo.

Soo the rescue megaships are moving inside the scythe interception range, meaning you can get grabbed any time during the final supercruise journey...

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Two high-difficulty Alerts expected next week which should on precedent lead to at least some Invasions the week after, even if nothing gets through this time.

There's a problem that the attractive steady state is "do the easiest jobs first" - clear from the outside in - which doesn't even require any formal strategic organisation, because overreaches will tend to fail to clear a system, but is of course also a common strategy for organised groups because it feels better to retake a system in a week than to get 40% each week and have a months-long struggle to retake it at that rate. That would probably lead to a state where the Alerts get cleared reliably but there's no energy left to push further and there it sits until the end of time / Update 17.

It needs organised groups to decide that they're not taking the easy option: they want that system back and are going to retake it even though it'll then be a challenge to hold it. Fortunately, some have.

but be prepared to read back quite a bit to form the needed glossary

Yes, it's very much at "back of envelope scribblings" stage in there. It can get a proper write-up if it works!

 

[yttrbio]

Soo the rescue megaships are moving inside the scythe interception range, meaning you can get grabbed any time during the final supercruise journey...

Could be, but scythe interdictions stopped (or at least were greatly toned down) after 16.01.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Soo the rescue megaships are moving inside the scythe interception range, meaning you can get grabbed any time during the final supercruise journey...

Short of immunity in those systems or system forces dropping in and protecting us actively, indeed—another few light-years would leave them clear. We will have to see whether the others position similarly, and also whether there are any changes to the evacuation missions regarding which destinations are used, one of which the Foerster¹ was not.

1. As an inadequate approximation of Förster, or less likely the words første or första given that Rescue megaships honour historical figures, that name is beginning to irk me.

 

[Kira Goto]

I’d still have liked to see more of the rescue megaships get used, instead of each and every independent faction(which accounts for the majority of the affected ones, to my knowledge) just sending you to Bertschinger. I mean, aren’t they getting tired of having to handle the majority of refugees brought in by pilots*?

*I’m aware that this could just be explained away by ‘background’ NPC behavior but still. Would be nice to see different locations, especially if the range to the megaship were shorter than to another.

Unless they’re planning to have a few meet an unfortunate demise…

(Also was not aware their names were those of historical figures.)

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

Could be, but scythe interdictions stopped (or at least were greatly toned down) after 16.01.

Players: "Glaive is overpowered / not fun, pls nerf"
Fdev: nerfs Scythe instead

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Short of immunity in those systems or system forces dropping in and protecting us actively, indeed—another few light-years would leave them clear. We will have to see whether the others position similarly, and also whether there are any changes to the evacuation missions regarding which destinations are used, one of which the Foerster¹ was not.

1. As an inadequate approximation of Förster, or less likely the words første or första given that Rescue megaships honour historical figures, that name is beginning to irk me.

Or someone with the name Foerster...

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Also was not aware their names were those of historical figures.

Of those I checked, they appeared to be all related to astronomy, astrophysics and exploration! To use your example, Bertschinger is almost certainly the astrophysicist Edmund Bertschinger, with work still evidently foundational in 3309.

Or someone with the name Foerster...

Almost certainly the astronomer Wilhelm Julius Förster; my ire at Foerster, regardless of how common its use may be, arises from the way Anglicised words join vowels together carelessly to attempt different vowel sounds. In this case, the correct sound is heard in the words earn and verse, for which ø and ö are equivalent and correct phonetically.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Seacole is likely Mary Seacole (a very obvious person to name a medical ship after) - and on the same nursing theme, Edith Cavell and Docia Kisseih seem fairly obvious too.

Bertschinger might be more likely on that basis to be Claire Bertschinger.

EDIT: and for the other four, Alma Foerster (American, so that appears to be the correct spelling), Rachela Hutner, Tome Yoshida, and Cubah Cornwallis seem most likely.

 

[Grimscrub]

It seems that the Rescue megaships are indeed moving relatively close tomorrow! I had been using the Foerster in Yenistani at 105 Ly from M. Hadad; while docking it reported usefully that it will move to Xinca at 67 Ly from M. Cocijo. I was hoping they would end up away from groups of dormant Fleet Carriers though, where Xinca being 6 Ly from Deciat is not ideal.

I was curious so went bouncing around - For planning around, and/or in case anything happens to them, the five moving tomorrow had flight plans, Bertschinger did not on visit so i'm guessing the second wave will declare later.

Allied Solace: Ross 112 -> Sun Wen (63.41Ly from Oya)
Rescue Ship Foerster: Yenistani -> Xinca (67.74Ly from Cocijo, 6Ly from Deciat) -- as ya said, but noted for completeness.
Rescue Ship Hutner: Enayex -> Telin (61.92Ly from Indra, 66.22Ly from Taranis.)
Rescue Ship Seacole: Kanawas -> Chacocels (58.71Ly from Thor)
Rescue Ship Yoshida: Upsilon Aquarii -> Cornsar of all places. (55.26Ly from Raijin)

That aside - Hello, hope things are going alright.
Our side Trianguli Sector FL-Y b4's cleared now. Taken a step back from targeting but, will try and keep an eye/keep helping in a less... Obsessive, manner. Went a bit daft for a while.

 

[Cori]

Of those I checked, they appeared to be all related to astronomy, astrophysics and exploration! To use your example, Bertschinger is almost certainly the astrophysicist Edmund Bertschinger, with work still evidently foundational in 3309.




Almost certainly the astronomer Wilhelm Julius Förster; my ire at Foerster, regardless of how common its use may be, arises from the way Anglicised words join vowels together carelessly to attempt different vowel sounds. In this case, the correct sound is heard in the words earn and verse, for which ø and ö are equivalent and correct phonetically.

Quoting Wikipedia (yes, I know, but...)

Wilhelm Julius Foerster (16 December 1832 – 18 January 1921) was a German astronomer. His name can also be written Förster, but is usually written "Foerster" even in most German sources where 'ö' is otherwise used in the text.

Either way, I've now learnt of him because of this discussion, and come away slightly more educated, so thank you as always...

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Wilhelm Julius Foerster (16 December 1832 – 18 January 1921) was a German astronomer. His name can also be written Förster, but is usually written "Foerster" even in most German sources where 'ö' is otherwise used in the text.

Either way, I've now learnt of him because of this discussion, and come away slightly more educated, so thank you as always...

As Ian noted after checking all of them, they are likely actually physicians instead, but the spot of discovery is often quite nice!

That reminded me of having yet to research the name Lemonnier, given to the port Lemonnier Survey seen often beside one of my favourite bounty-hunting locations (HIP 20277). I think it may be a physicist named Pierre Lemonnier; I think also that these ports ought to bear memorial plaques we can read, akin to the visitor beacons around the Galaxy, which reveal the historical figure.