Thargoid attacks on stations, reaction of the community - I'm having flashbacks of Bast

[EdzUp]

I think the main issue here is the attacks ONLY happen when the server update kicks in on Thursday so basically all wenhave to do is look wait till next week for the next attack. This sense of we can wait and nothing happens inbetween gives everyone the artificial alien feel like they aren't attacking but it's FDEV smashing a few stations and pointing the finger

What we need IS THARGOIDS ATTACKING whilst we are there so we can see the conflict at the moment it's a spreadsheet war.

 

[Leadfoot]

I think the main issue here is the attacks ONLY happen when the server update kicks in on Thursday so basically all wenhave to do is look wait till next week for the next attack. This sense of we can wait and nothing happens inbetween gives everyone the artificial alien feel like they aren't attacking but it's FDEV smashing a few stations and pointing the finger

What we need IS THARGOIDS ATTACKING whilst we are there so we can see the conflict at the moment it's a spreadsheet war.

If attack results are only going to be a result of a server update, having an actual attack in progress happen due to the same update would mean the attack is going to be on-going for the entire week, right? Unless it was done as a community goal, how would you know if you won or lost the station?

Or would we have to battle them for the entire seven days until the next update?

 

[sorcer3r]

If attack results are only going to be a result of a server update, having an actual attack in progress happen due to the same update would mean the attack is going to be on-going for the entire week, right? Unless it was done as a community goal, how would you know if you won or lost the station?

Or would we have to battle them for the entire seven days until the next update?

in short: thargoids attacking during server downtime is a bad game design/mechanic.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Sorry but I strongly disagree. The stations under attack are mainly unimportant (2 are an exception) and I really can't see a lot of players jumping on board a hard push to repair stations. It's a game not a job.

Space stations are essential for the human civilization. Without space stations planets are basically cut of the rest of the galaxy - unless they have surface ports. Space stations are needed to move commodities and passengers around, to refuel, repair and outfit our spaceships.
In that way all space stations are important.
And how do you decide what space station is important - not for you, but for humanity?

Sure, now there are plenty stations in the Pleiades that are operational, but we don't know how many stations will get attacked in the future. Do we really want to abandon the Pleiades region and do we really think that the Thargoids will stop after disabling all stations in the Pleiades?
Are we absolutely sure that we won't need the stations in the Pleiades in the future?

Every station that gets disabled increases the amount of work players have to do to get the stations repaired. Every disabled station moves us closer to the possibility that the Thargoids attack stations in the bubble.

If a lot of players help to repair the stations the individual player has to do less work. Players who say they won't help because it's to much work are just putting the burden on the shoulders of other players.

Also if people don't like Aegis then theyre more likely to not participate or worse, shoot repair haulers. These attacks are clearly against Aegis, not "every CMDR out there". Maybe you can raise that point if they attack a station without an Aegis lab.
…

A destroyed or disabled space station is affecting every CMDR - it reduces the options, it makes things harder. Claiming that a CMDR wouldn't have used that options anyway doesn't change the fact that options got removed.


AEGIS isn't an organization of extremists disconnected form the rest of humanity. It's an organization backed by and made by the three superpowers. All three superpowers support AEGIS, all three superpowers pay for AEGIS, all three superpowers provide personnel, equipment and resources to AEGIS.
Go to the GalMap and look at system aligned to the three superpowers. That systems are all potential targets if AEGIS is the target of the Thargoids.

We are "quickly" approaching the point where nobody can say it doesn't affect him/her.

 

[NeilF]

I think the main issue here is the attacks ONLY happen when the server update kicks in on Thursday so basically all wenhave to do is look wait till next week for the next attack. This sense of we can wait and nothing happens inbetween gives everyone the artificial alien feel like they aren't attacking but it's FDEV smashing a few stations and pointing the finger

What we need IS THARGOIDS ATTACKING whilst we are there so we can see the conflict at the moment it's a spreadsheet war.

What we need is the Thargiod Attacks to give an impression we are taking an active part in this battle. And more importantly, for this to be done via the game offering us some nice mechanics and gameplay to utilise.

For all that attacked stations are wonderful to look at, we have the resultant gameplay of?:-

• A Thursday server tick and invisible/untouchable Thargoids take down a station.
• Evacuation missions via docking with a heat sync.
• Station repairing via take X to Y.

With years to prepare for this, I'd hoped for something more involved and engaging personally - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...uot-with-the-current-Thargoid-attack-gameplay

 

[NeilF]

We are "quickly" approaching the point where nobody can say it doesn't affect him/her.

...but you're surely missing the most important thing? If the resultant gameplay isn't of interest/entertainment to a CMDR, why would they take part?

Yes half the stations in ED could be taken out by Thargoids, and yes this would be a pain to CMDRs going about their (other) business. But if the idea of taking X to Y to fix said stations (I feel we've possibly done this before over the past few years?) doesn't appeal to them, why will they do it?

Ultimately the Thargoid attack/invasion should be an opportunity to open up new interesting and exciting gameplay to the community, surely not simply an excuse to put more grinds in their way.


Consider at the moment... We're in the middle of a conflict, and how can we participate it? Scout out enemy positions (nice stealth related gameplay)? Do first strikes on forces that are going to attack a station (nice co-ordinated attacks)? Actively build up defense at stations, so they have defense weapons and/or shielding (simple transport missions)? Actively defend stations against attack in person (combat gameplay)?

No, after an invisible attack, we get to do passenger missions and cargo missions. Does that feel like you can take part in something meaningful?

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

...but you're surely missing the most important thing? If the resultant gameplay isn't of interest/entertainment to a CMDR, why would they take part?
…

I understand that players might not care about the current situation because they see no interesting gameplay. Those players might want to take part because the consequences of not taking part might result in even more uninteresting/unentertaining gameplay in the future. They don't have to, it's a game after all and it's their decision if the result of doing something they don't like is worth the effort.

Players who enjoy playing the game in it's current state, but just don't care about the in-game events in the Pleiades region might want to take part because those events could have a bigger impact on their gameplay than they currently think they have.

I'm looking at the game and try to find things to do with the tools provided by the game.
I agree with you that the tools are rather limited and that there are a lot of things that could make it much more interesting/entertaining for more players. I could come up with ideas that would add gameplay I would enjoy, but it doesn't matter because only FDev can add things to the game. I can only play the game (or not play the game). That's the options I have (ok, and maybe tell FDev that it would be nice if they added more gameplay options).

If I want to play the game now (and I do), I have to use what the game offers me now. If I want to play the game in a certain way I might have to do something I would prefer not to do - repairing stations because I think not repairing those stations will result in a situation that I might not want (Thargoids in the bubble) and that might result in more gameplay I don't want.

 

[NeilF]

If I want to play the game now (and I do), I have to use what the game offers me now. If I want to play the game in a certain way I might have to do something I would prefer not to do - repairing stations because I think not repairing those stations will result in a situation that I might not want (Thargoids in the bubble) and that might result in more gameplay I don't want.

I'd suggest the notion of the game significantly forcing you to do stuff in it you'd prefer not do do, is not ideal. It's what burned me out of The Engineers, and ultimately the entire game (I very rarely play these days).

If we suggest half the stations in the game get taken out, and people would be forced to repair them, I suspect many CMDRs would ultimately not do it, or potentially not even play...


Again, the game needs to be adding more interesting mechanics and things to do. Not simply putting more hurdles in players way, forcing them to do X year old shallow gameplay. (This is what The Engineers did to a large degree and I generally hated it)

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

I'd suggest the notion of the game significantly forcing you to do stuff in it you'd prefer not do do, is not ideal. …

I partly agree with you on this.
Having to do things a player might not want to do, if it's not too much, can add to the game by giving the player the feeling of overcoming an obstacle.
If done wrong it will drive the player away.
Balancing this is a difficult task for a game developer I guess.

As much as I hated hauling medicine for the Bast CG, the sense of achievement after the CG finished successfully was quite big.

 

[Julio Montega]

You know what is really funny?

Guys going to the pleiades shooting barnacles for science,
thargoid refuelling stations or something, and now they
fail to see the thargoids mimicking their behaviour.
If the thargs wanted to destroy the stations,
they had done so.

 

[NeilF]

You know what is really funny?

Guys going to the pleiades shooting barnacles for science,
thargoid refuelling stations or something, and now they
fail to see the thargoids mimicking their behaviour.
If the thargs wanted to destroy the stations,
they had done so.

Agreed. But when you've already been using this take X to Y mechanic for 3-4 years? And when it's supposedly part of an epic super duper conflict with an alien race attacking your stations.... which seemingly you can't witness, can't detect, can't prevent, and only participate in by, take X to Y due to a server tick actioning an IF statement?

 

[Julio Montega]

Agreed. But when you've already been using this take X to Y mechanic for 3-4 years? And when it's supposedly part of an epic super duper conflict with an alien race attacking your stations.... which seemingly you can't witness, can't detect, can't prevent, and only participate in by, take X to Y due to a server tick actioning an IF statement?

Yup that is the blessing of the BGS,
civil wars and wars are not different.
Other story, same system and dressing

 

[relayer]

...but you're surely missing the most important thing? If the resultant gameplay isn't of interest/entertainment to a CMDR, why would they take part?

Wait, I think that post should go to the "Everyone Come Into Open!" threads

 

[relayer]

THREAD 1: The game is shallow! There's no story! Mile wide, inch deep!

[FD starts to tell story, gets three words out]

THREAD 2: This is boring!

[FD gets two more words out]

THREAD 3: FD is making us puppets to their strings!

DISPUTING THREAD 3, #4: Can't we give FD a little time and space to tell their story?

THREADS 5,6,7,8,9,11-44: I could think of 50 other ways to tell this story!

ME: zzzzz

 

[Karamon]

Issue about stations in pleiades is that they offer very limited options , most has no shipyard , some lack different services . They are very bad bases to operate from . As long as large surface bases giving me full service are operational i wont bother about some useless station blown up

 

[Factabulous]

In some ways I hope the grumps get their way: the Thargoids destroy all the bases - taking the remains of the 10 year of the game to do it. Then FD shut down the servers with a parting "We told you we had a 10 year plan".

ED : First gamers to let the aliens win

 

[Heavensburn]

In some ways I hope the grumps get their way: the Thargoids destroy all the bases - taking the remains of the 10 year of the game to do it. Then FD shut down the servers with a parting "We told you we had a 10 year plan".

ED : First gamers to let the aliens win

Yes, let the Thargoids win. Let them destroy The Bubble. Let humanity be scattered to the four winds of the universe.

Our leaders don't care. Why should we?

I haven't seen any of the leaders of Power Play say anything of value about the Thargoids. Nothing in Galnet from President Hudson, or Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval, calling pilots to arms. The last time either mentioned Thargoids -

Nov 18, 3303 - President Hudson, Galnet:
"They haven’t set foot outside the Pleiades, and if they do, we have the means to deal with them. With the Federation and the Empire working together, there is no enemy we cannot overcome. The galactic community has nothing to fear."

The Federation does not care that the most powerful threat humanity has every faced is martially their forces less than 10 jumps from humanity's core. And when the Aegis science nerds (who appear to be the only group actively fighting the Thargoids) are attacked, the Federation is alright with that as they haven't set foot outside the Pleiades. His leadership's only contribution has been to let his name be used for the Hudson Observatory - which he passively watched burn.

This is Hitler's troops landing in England, torching Brighton, and Churchill saying "They haven't crossed the Thames, but if they do...."

Dec 15, 3303 - Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval, Galnet:
"Our thoughts are with those affected by these attacks. While I have every confidence that system authorities will be able to address the situation, the Empire is ready to help if necessary."

The Empire's response is also to do nothing, but good luck to the local militia in Brighton!!! We are sure you'll beat Hitler's troops...

Oct 28, 3303 - Senator Denton Patreus, Galnet:
I have reviewed much of the available intelligence on the Thargoids, and it is clear that we are facing a formidable threat. Granted, we do not know the reasons for their hostility, but in my experience such details are rarely important - what’s important is knowing where and when to strike.

.... and where is the follow-up Senator? You spin a good tale at being the most aggressive of the leaders, but you are a paper tiger.

You don't matter. Your leaders don't care. The only way to impact the galaxy is to ignore the Thargoids - like our leaders are doing.



Bring back Michael. We need a story teller to give reason to fight the Thargoids. And Beyond? Why upgrade Galnet if it's new voice option will have nothing interesting to say?

 

[Toffmeister]

The strangest attack was the prison ship, again nobody knows (as far as I'm aware) What was onboard the prison ship with the crew and inmates.

If you are paranoid like me, that act was far more ominous than any station getting the paintwork scuffed. Another thing is what do they want with humans? What are they doing with those pods? I can't help but think back to Babylon 5 and the Shadows, they used humans to pilot the Shadow ships and suspect the Thargoids are doing the same. Or they are reprogramming the captured humans as a throwaway army,
So far the Thargoids are mirroring our behaviour, sooner or later they will act otherwise, that's when the fun starts.

 

[Toffmeister]

In some ways I hope the grumps get their way: the Thargoids destroy all the bases - taking the remains of the 10 year of the game to do it. Then FD shut down the servers with a parting "We told you we had a 10 year plan".

ED : First gamers to let the aliens win

Then release ED 2.0 " Beyond Beagle Point"
A plucky band of survivors try to regain their Galaxy.

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Then release ED 2.0 " Beyond Beagle Point"
A plucky band of survivors try to regain their Galaxy.

"Let's reclaim the planet we came from!"
"What's the profit?"
"No, it requires A-B hauling, that's boring"
"Humanity never came from Sol - Earth, it's a lie from AEGIS"
"Thargoids have every right to kill us, we haven't been licking their boots enough"
…