Alien archaeology and other mysteries: Breaking News, Theories and Tinfoil Hattery

[Louis Calvert]

So tl;dr we knocked out their hyperdrives *and* killed millions of them.

No wonder they're angry

They don't seem that angry in Out of the Darkness which is set in 3270ish. They seem fine about it tbh.

I think artigan99 is right, either they're not angry (because they're alien) or they're hiding it well

 

[Ozric]

So tl;dr we knocked out their hyperdrives *and* killed millions of them.

I think the one thing it does do is clear up where we stand with the lore in Elite Dangerous. We knew that the choice the player had at the end of Frontier didn't happen in this game, now we know they gave it to Jameson and he infected them.

The whole story is very fascinating. Now if there was only more we could do with Thargoids than shoot them...

Couldn't agree more, especially with all of these INRA bases we're finding FD must realise that the majority of us will be viewing their actions with horror. It's such a shame we're being forced down a similar route.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I think the one thing it does do is clear up where we stand with the lore in Elite Dangerous. We knew that the choice the player had at the end of Frontier didn't happen in this game, now we know they gave it to Jameson and he infected them.

Frontier First Encounters took place in 3250. Presumably this crash site (and all the INRA bases being discovered) is from the original infection which ended the war in 3150. This is Jameson (the player from Elite 1), FFE was Jameson's grandchild - we're actually learning new information never known before

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Couldn't agree more, especially with all of these INRA bases we're finding FD must realise that the majority of us will be viewing their actions with horror. It's such a shame we're being forced down a similar route.

Unless it is a deliberate action to raise some kind of empathy towards the bugs, which I presume is happening - for whatever reason.

 

[Vasious]

Frontier First Encounters took place in 3250. Presumably this crash site (and all the INRA bases being discovered) is from the original infection which ended the war in 3150. This is Jameson (the player from Elite 1), FFE was Jameson's grandchild - we're actually learning new information never known before

Yes seems this is bale the initial infection of the Mycoid

So the actions that take place in FFE we don't know what choices were made there if any

 

[Han_Zen]

Frontier First Encounters took place in 3250. Presumably this crash site (and all the INRA bases being discovered) is from the original infection which ended the war in 3150. This is Jameson (the player from Elite 1), FFE was Jameson's grandchild - we're actually learning new information never known before

Actually FE2 was Jameson’s grandchild.

Other than that, I agree that Jamesons Mycoid bombing has nothing to do with the FFE events.

I do wonder If the Mycoid infection spread from this attack or If other commanders were sent to the other hive ships?

 

[Ozric]

I'll go with the majority then

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

Actually FE2 was Jameson’s grandchild.

Other than that, I agree that Jamesons Mycoid bombing has nothing to do with the FFE events.

I do wonder If the Mycoid infection spread from this attack or If other commanders were sent to the other hive ships?

I’m wondering if the Thargoid Structures are actually hive ships; they have a nursery room (doesn’t the Unknown Device chamber have eggs on the ceiling) & the primary function of an insect hive is to raise new generations. There is some interaction between hives in nature, so I think the mycoid infection would have spread around any goids in the Pleiades at the time. But there could also have been other attacks.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I’m wondering if the Thargoid Structures are actually hive ships; they have a nursery room (doesn’t the Unknown Device chamber have eggs on the ceiling) & the primary function of an insect hive is to raise new generations. There is some interaction between hives in nature, so I think the my oid infection would have spread around any goids in the Pleiades at the time. But there could also have been other attacks.

To be honest I can't see those ground sites as ships - simply because it's only been 150 years on an airless environment and they look so very buried into the ground - some more than others, but they look a lot more like they came up from underground than landed.

Also, they're all perfectly level with the ground, not a single one of them landed crooked or crashed, etc.

When there was just one or two I totally thought they were ships, but finding over 220 of them all pretty much identically buried and level...

 

[Assimilator1]

226 (ok you did say over ) .
But good point, until you said that I was thinking along the same lines as Jorki.

 

[Lori Jameson]

To be honest I can't see those ground sites as ships - simply because it's only been 150 years on an airless environment and they look so very buried into the ground - some more than others, but they look a lot more like they came up from underground than landed.

Also, they're all perfectly level with the ground, not a single one of them landed crooked or crashed, etc.

When there was just one or two I totally thought they were ships, but finding over 220 of them all pretty much identically buried and level...

What about HIP 22460?

 

[Vasious]

If the Mycoid Disables the Thargoid Drives, then that would suggested multiple strikes to deliver it, as even if other Thargoids came to the infected hive to investigate, then if the Mycoid is working, they shouldn't be able to jump out again.

The logs suggest it works very quickly, so I don't see how it could spread from a hive to all 200 odd sites given their spread.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

To be honest I can't see those ground sites as ships - simply because it's only been 150 years on an airless environment and they look so very buried into the ground - some more than others, but they look a lot more like they came up from underground than landed.

Also, they're all perfectly level with the ground, not a single one of them landed crooked or crashed, etc.

When there was just one or two I totally thought they were ships, but finding over 220 of them all pretty much identically buried and level...

I was of the same mind, but am rethinking the possibility following the recent find of Jameson’s logs with the mention of hive ships being beautiful etc. The “thargoid structures” ( formerly known as “large wrecks”) would fit that description, they have eggs so a nursery & therefore might be a hive, and if Thargoids have “hive ships” why on Earth (pun intended) would they need ground structures? It might be that their hives are ships and only land for purposes as yet unknown.

Their universal state of burial & level attitude is only slightly negative for this hypothesis- there is no evidence to tell us how quickly mycoid would affect such large vessels if infected whilst in flight; it might be that they would retain control for long enough to land upright and perhaps the burial is intentional- ants, termites, & other insect species burrow into the ground when nesting. They could also have been infected whilst on the ground.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I was of the same mind, but am rethinking the possibility following the recent find of Jameson’s logs with the mention of hive ships being beautiful etc. The “thargoid structures” ( formerly known as “large wrecks”) would fit that description, they have eggs so a nursery & therefore might be a hive, and if Thargoids have “hive ships” why on Earth (pun intended) would they need ground structures? It might be that their hives are ships and only land for purposes as yet unknown.

Their universal state of burial & level attitude is only slightly negative for this hypothesis- there is no evidence to tell us how quickly mycoid would affect such large vessels if infected whilst in flight; it might be that they would retain control for long enough to land upright and perhaps the burial is intentional- ants, termites, & other insect species burrow into the ground when nesting. They could also have been infected whilst on the ground.

I guess we'll see. I don't really agree that those things mean they're ships and not bases but I've already written two near-essays on why I don't think they're ships over the past few months and we've got no new info to change the discussion either way so there's little more to add at this point It still boils down to "they may or may not be".

I personally think the Hive Ship/Mothership that Jameson and Carmichael point mention are the same ship, and that ship isn't the things we're seeing on the ground. I think the "hive ship/Mothership" is considerably bigger than the things on the ground - which IMO are just little resupply outposts or listening posts.

 

[Louis Calvert]

What about HIP 22460?

What about it?

 

[M. Volgrand]

If the Mycoid Disables the Thargoid Drives, then that would suggested multiple strikes to deliver it, as even if other Thargoids came to the infected hive to investigate, then if the Mycoid is working, they shouldn't be able to jump out again.

The logs suggest it works very quickly, so I don't see how it could spread from a hive to all 200 odd sites given their spread.

Well, judging for what we have observed in game, the Thargoids seem to adapt very slowly to new events. The example of this is how long the took to adapt to our maneuvers and basic tactics (ie learning to dodge misiles, resistance, etc).

It may have happened that a "trigger" made the thargoid ships from the hive to wake out. The thargoid hive ship may have warned that it received heavy damage, so all ships and thargoid "evacuated", now knowing that they were already infected. It could also have happened that unaware thargoid ships jumped into the system later on to investigate, further spreading the disease. And, finally, maybe this "hive ship" was so incredibly vast that its lost supposed a genocide itself, forcing the Thargoids to retreat before further damage could be taken.

It i also possible that John Jameson's attack was just the first of a series of strikes. First hitting the "headquarters" of the Thargoids, then bombing the rest of the thargoid sites and ships while they were still trying to find out what had hit them.

 

[M. Volgrand]

I had a whacky theory about disguising myself as a Thargoid ship (at least enough to fool whatever the Thargoids use for sensors). Regrettably the following combinations did not work:

4 hearts
2-4 cyclops tissue samples

4 hearts
4 cyclops tissue samples
1 thargoid resin
1 thargoid biological components
1 thargoid technology components

We don't know how their sensors work or what they detect, which could explain why they scoop escape pods as they get confused about what they are. My guess was that if you have the right stuff in your cargo they might get confused about whether you're a human ship or a Thargoid ship. No change in behaviour though from the normal "you have Thargoid stuff in your hold...drop it or else".

When I can be bothered I might pick up a 5th heart, some baselisk tissue samples and then see if I can pull rank on a Cyclops.

This may be a very long shot but... Has anyone tried to jump throught a Thargoid Wormhole while carrying those artifacts?

 

[Vasious]

Well, judging for what we have observed in game, the Thargoids seem to adapt very slowly to new events. The example of this is how long the took to adapt to our maneuvers and basic tactics (ie learning to dodge misiles, resistance, etc).

It may have happened that a "trigger" made the thargoid ships from the hive to wake out. The thargoid hive ship may have warned that it received heavy damage, so all ships and thargoid "evacuated", now knowing that they were already infected. It could also have happened that unaware thargoid ships jumped into the system later on to investigate, further spreading the disease. And, finally, maybe this "hive ship" was so incredibly vast that its lost supposed a genocide itself, forcing the Thargoids to retreat before further damage could be taken.

It i also possible that John Jameson's attack was just the first of a series of strikes. First hitting the "headquarters" of the Thargoids, then bombing the rest of the thargoid sites and ships while they were still trying to find out what had hit them.

It is the carrying it out, if infected one would expect them to make at most one jump if any at all.
Any ones coming in to investigate would get inflected and not make it away.
The effectiveness described suggests they should have been able to carry it back to the next population centre

 

[G_Bison]

All the information that I've seen. It's One of Two possibilities. First, the Thargoid Hive ship is like the Mothership from Independence Day with smaller "City" sized ships which separated after Jameson's attack. Now some will say that Jameson's attack was a test run, followed further attacks. Problem with that theory is why would the same attack cause some Thargoid structures to be inactive versus all. Plus, the bulk of the inactive sites face toward the bubble.

Possibiltiy Two. The Thargoid structures are the hive. Meaning when all over 200 structures are combined. It becomes the Hive ship. When Jameson's attack hit the Hive ship, it quickly spread and those that were in proximty were hardest hit from the infection. Which would account why so many inactive structures face the bubble.

Right now, Cmdr's are searching for Jameson's strike zone looking for remnants of his attack. My thinking is the Hive ship managed to limp toward the Pleiades Nebula and then, seperated and land on various planets and moons in a ditch to survive. But with Tin foil tightly wrapped. I think the core of the ship is in HIP 22460!!!

 

[RedWizzard]

Their universal state of burial & level attitude is only slightly negative for this hypothesis- there is no evidence to tell us how quickly mycoid would affect such large vessels if infected whilst in flight; it might be that they would retain control for long enough to land upright and perhaps the burial is intentional- ants, termites, & other insect species burrow into the ground when nesting. They could also have been infected whilst on the ground.

Some of them have massive cliffs built up under one side of the structure. They just don't look like crashed or landed ships to me. But perhaps it's a limitation of the asset and they will turn out to be ships.