I would really like it if the surviving 3-6 Titans just departed as they came leaving the "deactivated" spires behind and the Witch Head and Pleiades hives carrying on their pre war behaviour and our resident conduit into the Thargoid group mind saying they got a call from their Mother that playtime was over.
Leigong down - time for retaliation?
- Thread starter HRDiagram
- Start date
I do not disagree with the feeling, and the wish to move on to something else but at the same time, under a narrative point of view, should it all end like this, with just the Titans being destroyed in sequence, with the Thargoids witnessing without any further action, feels like very poor writing.
We don't know what they're trying to achieve, we don't know what they look like, we don't know what the human captives were meant for, all the various plots still open. I would expect some form of closure
Not necessarily a conclusion to everything, but a meaningful cliffhanger would suffice.
At this moment there's nothing of that, just beautiful fireworks.
There can be something very satisfying about not doing that though and it would be more alien.
For example the Bob Newhart WW2 movie Hell is for Heroes which just ends* with them leaving the bunker and vanishing into the smoke or fog to attack when the movie fades to the credits.
*Allegedly they ran out of budget and the director just filmed as scripted until all the film was used rather than rewrite.
I don't think this will be the kind of story where they just take it on the face doing nothing about it. Anyone's best guess how it will actually go in the end though - I just don't believe it will be "The Titans are defeated and everyone goes home happy (except the Thargoids)".
(Nor do I believe it will turn into "Go fight Thargoids in their home land"... because we already struggled with them on our own turn with home advantage.)
(Nor do I believe it will turn into "Go fight Thargoids in their home land"... because we already struggled with them on our own turn with home advantage.)
You are all completely wrong.
When the Thargoids are defeated, the really dangerous opponents come back.
The Guardians.
They will shoot the people to rubble with terrible battleships.
When the Thargoids are defeated, the really dangerous opponents come back.
The Guardians.
They will shoot the people to rubble with terrible battleships.
No one fights a war by losing assets right and left and just sits there, especially not an ancient race that has been around for so long they fought another race and decided to win by simply not engaging with them and waiting out their inevitable destruction caused by themselves after said race developed effective weapons against them. The Titans will do something at some point, even if it's just escaping and leaving some things so destroyed there is no rebuilding (maybe by simply landing).
Be they doing something with the captured/returned humans, finding (I think?) whatever Seo said they were looking for, or doing something with HIP 22460, the end of this conflict will still have something. No decent storyteller puts the climax at the start and just believes repeating it 8 times is okay, and FDev has showed again and again that they write well (even with the odd relocation of homerworld for powerplay celebrities). We're just at the crescendo.
Be they doing something with the captured/returned humans, finding (I think?) whatever Seo said they were looking for, or doing something with HIP 22460, the end of this conflict will still have something. No decent storyteller puts the climax at the start and just believes repeating it 8 times is okay, and FDev has showed again and again that they write well (even with the odd relocation of homerworld for powerplay celebrities). We're just at the crescendo.
Perhaps those assets are considered worthless, the equivalent of the human tactic of dropping leaflets warning of bad things to come?
I don't know, that seems unlikely to me - even for the Thargoids, building a Titan is unlikely to be a simple task or negligible expenditure(if I got the right word) of resources. Which makes it all the more puzzling they'd be so willing to let them face their demise (but still evacuate them when they are about to turn into miniature stars for a few seconds, so they're obviously not looking to take unnecessary casualties).
And it's concerning, at that.
The spire sites also remain a bit of an unsolved mystery. Palin's research either stopped or stalled at 'possibly resource processors for the Titans, so let's mess with it and turn it off'. But all available evidence so far indicates that they really don't seem to appear nearly as vital as made out to be, instead only really hampering Thargoid operations by focusing defensive efforts around them instead of surrounding systems if they come under attack. (And they really don't seem all that well defended for an extremely important industrial operation - considering how it takes humans beginning to screw around with it or Orthrus for Interceptors to even begin showing up.) So that really begs the question, if they are not indispensable for a Titan's operation... what are they really for?
... in the lore sense, rather than their gameplay implications. I don't like that we know so little about them... but maybe the Taranis salvage will provide some more information on that as well. Hopefully.
PS Sit at a spire site at a distance of about 10 kilometers, active or inactive, and wait for the ambience to kick in. Now that's creepy.
Who knows, maybe they didn't come to persecute war on humanity, maybe they just came to colonize ammonia worlds close to us. The titans might be expendable now that they've achieved their primary purpose. I guess maybe time will tell.
This is the game where sampling scouts is more effective than anything else in fighting off an alien invasion right? Where there is no explanation as to why that is so? Not even a Galnet saying "Rah, rah! Our sampling has allowed us to produce bugspray to use in controlled systems and that's why we're suddenly winning" or "Hey your AX weapons are going to be more effective" and killing 'goids actually gets easier.
You are expecting more than that?
The quality is literally at the "I can't believe he did this one weird thing to win the Thargoid war!" or "Do this and the 'goids will leave your system!" level.
Probably less of a challenge. I wish I could point to a statement where they wanted to have this war end by the end of the year, so possibly just ended as soon as possible. Sort of like FD knows this constant battle mode, while it inspired lots of players to join in and push the Thargoids back and eventually defeat them, may lead to burnout with a number of players.
If this were an actual war, we'd fight to the death because the alternative wouldn't be a lot of fun for the survivors. It's a game, and burnout happens. Real Life (damn it to hell) does stick its ugly nose into our business and demands attention.
Based on your usually accurate estimates, I see your point. If FD wanted to end this by year's end, it's possible that the Thargoids may sue for peace with two or three Titans left. Maybe they'll become part of Power Play. Or maybe they'll scoot over to the COL 70 Sector and hide out there.
Or the Guardian AI may show up and demonstrate how easy it was for them to be destroyed by a professional exterminator. And while we applaud the result, the AI looks at us wondering what we're doing with their sufz stuck in our ships and how it got into HIP 22460. I'm sure it'll be a big misunderstanding. Salvation? Don't even know the guy.
I guess FD can "influence" the war's progress if they wish. Personally, now that we have the tools and process I'd prefer they not tip the scales for us; just let us players do this thing.
And if it rolls past the end of the year, so be it. The next big update doesn't come out until near the end of the year. Plenty of time for us to win.
It comes out in summer. I would not call that ‘end of the year’, unless you’re expecting the powerplay rework to a, be delayed, and/or b, not be a ‘major update’.
This Island Earth. Yeah, sometimes they do. But I get your point.
I am beginning to believe they weren't programming the captured humans but learning about us from their memories, language, writing, etc. "Know your enemy" is a very smart tactic, even for aliens. This simply might have been their way to learn.
Thank you for the correction. I wasn't sure about the date. If FD is going to expedite the process, the thing that does that might be included there. Or it may just toss a monkey wrench in there like the Guardian AI.
I just hope it's planets with a thicker atmosphere, maybe gas giants with space whales. Who knows?
Negotiation sounds plausible, of course that implies two way conversation with the 'goids, so keeping an ear to the ground for signs of such.
Some response from the Guardians has been hypothesised almost from HIP 22460 if not before. Add to this some possible encore by Wycherley
There's quite a few loose threads though who knows if there'll be any sort of follow up.
Cmdrs seem reliably rabid once there's discernable progress.
I’ve seen one person in a discord server I frequent mention they’re hoping for a queen to be found (alive) in one of the Titan wrecks by Aegis to have Seo… well, I guess, at least try to communicate in a rudimentary way. Assuming that is at all possible with her not actually knowing their language.
Not that I’m convinced they would be on a Titan, but who knows. I sure as hell don’t.
(There was that odd focus on the Thargoids around that Guardian-Thargoid battleground where they were totally fine with us being there for a few days and then vanished - so maybe something could come from that but I’m not sure if I expect it.)
One of the loose threads and subject of an expedition by the GSC, though little seems to have come of that thus far.
Yeah, I was really thinking more it is down to Frontier to elaborate on that one. They disappeared just like the True Chapters aboard the Testament and Perdition are basically thin air. (Or air in vacuum.) Another plot thread left to cover, or maybe it will gain relevance with the powerplay rework - to be seen, I guess.
I won't be surprised if Guardian AI make an appearance. The Constructs have basically been looming over this all like a hammer waiting to be dropped for a while now. Don't think either Thargoid war or our own infighting will leave a very positive impression - especially since I recently realized the Constructs themselves, as sentient AI, may never have actually faced the Thargoids. They seem to only have been developed proper in the leadup to or during the second Guardian civil war, while what fought the Thargoids were just highly advanced autonomous drones. (Whatever the exact difference is - it just sounds as if there is one to me.)
I think the only twist should be what comes after the war. As FD announced, this is the culmination of the war... it shouldn't "escalate" further with new mechanics which change how the current war plays out.
But.... much like many other real world things, it's not what currently happens that intrigues me, but "what next?"... i think as the Thargoid war in the bubble draws to a close (which, somewhat deliberately i presume, will take time) we'll see PP2.0 and the new mystery feature come online. Both of these have potential to "close the ouroboros" of the Thargoid war into a longer- term loop.
The only concern for me with regard to FD closing out plotlines is... Gan Romero...
It's predicate for the thinking which Ive got vague memories of hearing on a few occasions... that fun FDs perspective, "some mysteries aren't meant to have a conclusion".
So that means:
- Salvation? We'll never know what happened to him.
- Seo? She could be just petting her cat and enjoying quiet life
- the Thargoid/guardian battlefields? Just more context for a conflict we'll never truly understand
I hope that's not the case... but it's a plausible outcome.