Do you want the Thargoids to hit hard and be actually a threat to the Bubble?

[Uvelius Sång]

And I've nothing against actively avoiding them. Actually I welcome that. Navigation would become fun. Right now it's meaningless.

That sounds good, actually. It would be a bit like *real* Anarchy systems, or like what Combat Zones thankfully already are: Only fly in these areas if you dare, otherwise avoid. As the Anarchy/else warnings should actually mean something, otherwise they are just garbage. Or Spam, better to speak.

And if these areas would move with a possible invasion, why not? providing GalNet or other ingame news would provide warnings and point to a path to get out of becoming-dangerous areas, this should be expected even from occasional/totally non-combat players.

Otherwise, as StiTch said, if the game as a whole becomes just too easy, it would become dull. It is not hard as it is, yet it is at least challenging from different angles, at least as such it feels for me (and I am thankful for it concerning fuel shortages -- squeak ) .

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Personally, I want the Thargoids to kick our butt for the best part of a year. All these big roughty toughty types turn up thinking "yeah, got a heavily engineered Corvette. Let's splat bugs" (me included), and then proceed to have our backsides handed to us until scientists discover a weakness.

Oh can you imagine the moaning! It would be glorious! "Thargoids are OP!"

 

[StiTch]

I don't know about you, but I completely avoid CNB's, HazRES & CZ owing to difficulties.

That's a whole swath of areas I don't touch because I'm not good enough. A whole swath of areas I feel are intended specifically for more able players.

That is outside the parameters of your own discussion - I believe you were quite focused on "unconsensual" content?

It's not like the challenge exists en masse elsewhere of course; many stronger combat players will tell you any CZ, any RES or ComNav you mention can be soloed by any big ship with modded shields/SCBs and good weapons by barely moving a muscle.

But the aliens should be more special than repetitive pew-pew spots. Really. NPCs can just be made harder at a HazRES without affecting lower sites to cater to that, or at a High CZ.

If that's what we get out of the thargoids though, we may as well turn around on every year of development ED has had, every part of Elite's original legacy in our game, and throw it all in the bin so we can proudly display the "badly disguised arcade game of the year" award.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I'm pretty carp at combat.

Sounds rather fishy.

 

[EvE4evah]

I don't know about you, but I completely avoid CNB's, HazRES & CZ owing to difficulties.

That's a whole swath of areas I don't touch because I'm not good enough. A whole swath of areas I feel are intended specifically for more able players.

(all ranting below is just my personal experience so I get your point)

I've never played an Elite game before. I've bought it on PS4 a month ago. After some days I've tried NPC combat. In one day, I was already fully capable of not dying in a High REZ flying low end ships. In two days, I was making credits in said High RES. Then I decided I wasn't good enough to go to a HAZRes in a Vulture, so I stubbornly aimed for an FdL. I grinded Ram Tah's mission and a chunk of the RtR, and bought one, outfitted it and went exploding in a HAZRes lol. After two or three days I was making great credit in a HAZRes. Then I've gone to a CZ and died. After a couple days, I was making big money in CZs.

My point being, I'm still a newbie player compared to the majority of the forum warriors. But after only two weeks I can hold my own. People seem to me are so risk averse with a rebuy screen that they don't even try, just "Nah m8 combat not for me".

Edit: during this month, I've explored, unlocked most engineers, checked Targoid sites, found my first discovered ELW, ranked up with all three factions, traded and mined, helped players in and outside the game, played in Open, PG and Solo, tried out the exploits once each to really know what people were so angry about, got ganked with glory, and still do lots of forum PvP. So no, I'm not a combat focused player at all.

 

[M. Volgrand]

I want to suffer.
I want to fight lost battles.
I want to help to evacuate civilians from populated systems while fending off hordes of almost unstoppable aliens.
I want to have to coordinate with my colleagues to detect Thargoid activity and organize a defense.
I want to answer distress calls in which the only thing I will be able to do is to get a bit of extra time for the victims to FSD out of danger.
I want to be scared.
I want everyone to be scared.
I want traders unable to do their job in peace and safely.
I want that peripheral systems of the bubble suffer from hunger and disease due to the disrupted traffic.
I want pirates taking advantage of desperate innocents.
I want to blockade run into an starving system to get some food there.
I want to evacuate civilians while Thargons try to hunt me down.

And I want that, whenever new weaponry appears to fight the thargoids off, it will not mean that "They are easy to destroy now". I want to still have the feeling "Well, now we have a slim chance to fight back".

So yes, I want to suffer. A lot.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'm not sure how anyone else feels, but when I enter a lower security or anarchy system, especially carrying cargo, I expect trouble.

But there rarely ever is any. I don't even remember my last Interdiction.

As far as PvE goes, (I won't get in to the PvP debate here), the security rating for each system, and even type of government, should drastically change the experience. It currently feels all the same, with the exception of ships being labelled as lawless.

Anarchies should be incredibly dangerous places to visit, but on the other end of the scale, you should be completely safe from PvE crime in high security systems.
You can set your map to route using filters now, so you can plot to suite your needs.

The game already caters for the lowest skilled players, including newbies, but the difficulty fizzes out pretty quickly for the higher skilled players.
It is about time the high skilled players had somewhere to go.
And don't say "do PvP", or "fly a smaller ship" or whatever.
I took a poorly shielded, weaponless slow Python for a trip and still managed to kill a pirate. Lol


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[M. Volgrand]

I understand the logistical nightmare of destroying stations, I'd assume all assets would be moved to the next suitable station. Even though it makes little sense, lore wise, losing your fleet, and possibly yourself, if you was docked there, but offline, is not good in any way.

As for when it happens. No clue. Maybe during maintenance, and it gets replaced with a debris field...?

I dunno.

About that, I propose a very easy solution:

Make Galnet new announce that a Thargoid attack will ocur in X days (mayb a week or so) and that the station is going to be evacuated. Make clear that the station is encouraging any commander to evacuate their ships from it as well.
Then call for a mass event to try to defend that station.

 

[Roybe]

My expectation is based on what the Thargoids interactions used to be...you will jump to a system...randomly get pulled into a new instance (that someone in a wing MIGHT be able to enter)...and fight the ships. Missions will be based on how many Thargoids you have to kill...and the random instance to find them might be made a little bit easier...

If anything more than this occurs...we all should rejoice.

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

Sounds rather fishy.

Fish puns now? I'll come up with one after I have time to mullet over.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

(all ranting below is just my personal experience so I get your point)

I've never played an Elite game before. I've bought it on PS4 a month ago. After some days I've tried NPC combat. In one day, I was already fully capable of not dying in a High REZ flying low end ships. In two days, I was making credits in said High RES. Then I decided I wasn't good enough to go to a HAZRes in a Vulture, so I stubbornly aimed for an FdL. I grinded Ram Tah's mission and a chunk of the RtR, and bought one, outfitted it and went exploding in a HAZRes lol. After two or three days I was making great credit in a HAZRes. Then I've gone to a CZ and died. After a couple days, I was making big money in CZs.

My point being, I'm still a newbie player compared to the majority of the forum warriors. But after only two weeks I can hold my own. People seem to me are so risk averse with a rebuy screen that they don't even try, just "Nah m8 combat not for me".

Edit: during this month, I've explored, unlocked most engineers, checked Targoid sites, found my first discovered ELW, ranked up with all three factions, traded and mined, helped players in and outside the game, played in Open, PG and Solo, tried out the exploits once each to really know what people were so angry about, got ganked with glory, and still do lots of forum PvP. So no, I'm not a combat focused player at all.

Thing is, you are basing this on your own skill level and learning curve.

I've died in a FdL to a T9. Let that just sink in for a moment.

Now repeat after me "We are all different"

 

[Deleted member 110222]

That is outside the parameters of your own discussion - I believe you were quite focused on "unconsensual" content?

It's not like the challenge exists en masse elsewhere of course; many stronger combat players will tell you any CZ, any RES or ComNav you mention can be soloed by any big ship with modded shields/SCBs and good weapons by barely moving a muscle.

But the aliens should be more special than repetitive pew-pew spots. Really. NPCs can just be made harder at a HazRES without affecting lower sites to cater to that, or at a High CZ.

If that's what we get out of the thargoids though, we may as well turn around on every year of development ED has had, every part of Elite's original legacy in our game, and throw it all in the bin so we can proudly display the "badly disguised arcade game of the year" award.

As long as they're not RNG-death for trade ships, I'm good.

 

[jasonbarron]

Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens.

 

[EvE4evah]

Thing is, you are basing this on your own skill level and learning curve.

I've died in a FdL to a T9. Let that just sink in for a moment.

Now repeat after me "We are all different"

We are all different.

Except most of us will still have problems dealing with THAT Vulture NPC in our FdL, man that one is a pain.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

(all ranting below is just my personal experience so I get your point)

I've never played an Elite game before. I've bought it on PS4 a month ago. After some days I've tried NPC combat. In one day, I was already fully capable of not dying in a High REZ flying low end ships. In two days, I was making credits in said High RES. Then I decided I wasn't good enough to go to a HAZRes in a Vulture, so I stubbornly aimed for an FdL. I grinded Ram Tah's mission and a chunk of the RtR, and bought one, outfitted it and went exploding in a HAZRes lol. After two or three days I was making great credit in a HAZRes. Then I've gone to a CZ and died. After a couple days, I was making big money in CZs.

My point being, I'm still a newbie player compared to the majority of the forum warriors. But after only two weeks I can hold my own. People seem to me are so risk averse with a rebuy screen that they don't even try, just "Nah m8 combat not for me".

Edit: during this month, I've explored, unlocked most engineers, checked Targoid sites, found my first discovered ELW, ranked up with all three factions, traded and mined, helped players in and outside the game, played in Open, PG and Solo, tried out the exploits once each to really know what people were so angry about, got ganked with glory, and still do lots of forum PvP. So no, I'm not a combat focused player at all.

You're also not me. What you're capable of does not mean I too am capable of it.

Look at my earlier reference to artistic ability. It's the same principle in gaming.

 

[Whitehair]

Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens. Please God don't let the devs read this thread and nerf the aliens.

Calling the Devs.
Calling the Devs.
Calling the Devs.

 

[Archduke]

The Thargoids will, according to FDev marketing, GalNet and some CG's be perceived as a significant "threat" to the Bubble.If RP's your thing, you're in luck, you can cower under the bed in the starports wondering when the next barrage of Thargoid assaults might shatter the hull and inch closer to Sol or Eravate or wherever...In 'real' gameplay terms, though, the Thargoids will only be a 'thrat' f you're one of the pilots that Opt In for the opportunity to be hyperdicted or choose to gain permit access to the relevant systems and for some reason aren't actually able to defeat the poor AI of Elite Dangerous spacecraft combat.

 

[Stealthie]

I want to have to coordinate with my colleagues to detect Thargoid activity and organize a defense.

That's something I'd love to see implemented.

Players report Hyderdictions in various systems, clever people start to log where these sightings occur and we begin to get an idea of which direction the Thargoids are moving.
Then somebody discovers a wrecked station or, perhaps, mega-ship and we know the Thargoids have been through that system.
The clever people update their projections and we all decide it's time to move our Corvettes, Anacondas, FdLs, Gunships and Vultures to a particular system so that we can mount a communal defence when the predicted attack occurs.

And then, inevitably, we moan about the tools who decide it'd be fun to shoot at player ships during the battle with Thargoid ships but, hey-ho. Cest la vie.

 

[StiTch]

Thing is, you are basing this on your own skill level and learning curve.

I've died in a FdL to a T9. Let that just sink in for a moment.

Now repeat after me "We are all different"

Spoiler

Srs bsns though because someone managed to make a boo-boo and got minced, does that mean the entire game should be dragged down to stop it ever happening again?

If anyone wants to engage in a "mine is bigger" contest about whether the game caters more to lovers of challenge or those scared of challenge, I'm pretty sure the win margin will be measured in light centuries*.

*yes, I just made this term up. Yes, I quite like it.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

So, i see we have two (or more?) main topics going on here.

We have the, let's call it macro effect: Should the Thargoids be having an impact on the galaxy as a whole and by how much? - eg: stations destroyed, systems overrrun, etc.

Then we have the micro effect: Should players be able to choose how much they interact with the Thargoids and should they have to change what they are doing in game to avoid them/seek them?

I think the only way to get full consensus within the community is to let the community itself decide! No! Not by a global poll! No way Hose!

FD run two sets of questions.

Question 1. This goes to all PMF representatives.
"Are your stations fair game for the Thargoids to blow up?"
a) Yes, please have the Thargoids destroy all stations my faction controls.
b) Yes, if we don't defend them. If we kill enough Thargoids as they enter our space then they don't blow up the station.
c) Meh, ill leave it up to chance.
d) No, please steer any invasion around our systems.

Question 2: Goes to all players.
"How much interaction with Thargoids do you want?"
a) I want to be randomly attacked my swarms of Thargoids no matter where i am. NPCs are too easy anyway.
b) I want to be randomly attacked as part of the invasion in a logical manner (ie: in and around systems where the invasion is passing).
c) I only want to be attacked by Thargoids if i am hostile to them.
d) I want to be bestest friends with Thargoids and invite them over for tea and buscuits.

There we go. Now everyone can be happy!