Are Thargoids obsolete?

[VR SenseiMatty]

I remember in the interview to the first CMDR hyperdicted by the Targoids who said: "“After all, defending against the Thargoids, or even maintaining peace, will take galactic cooperation.”

Now when I look at the game status right now I see:

> Empire and Federation are fighting eachother without caring about Thargoids anymore.
> CMDR's are collecting Guardians bluprint to increase FSD range or to have better outfit for PvP.
> Thousands of players left the bubble to follow DW2, an exploration expedition that will take everyone away from the Bubble for several months.
> Occasional and veteran players don't fight Interceptors because:
- they don't care
- it requires a complex and expensive outfitting to stand a change against them

Should we consider Thargoids obsolete already?

 

[Arkadi]

clearly optional, as most things.

but: they keep burning down stations that are in systems with ammonia worlds.

so...... maybe not that optional.

maybe we can coexist? we don't know yet. Do we want to find it out? Can we? Do we have a choice? I would like to have some ansewers here too.

 

[mpfj]

Agreed ...I've (currently) no interest in the Thargoid gameplay.

As you say, it's just a specific part of the PvE game and requires "grind" to be able to take part.

I've flown around the area only to experience being hyperdicted (which was cool) and I've jumped in to watch Thargoids scanning destroyed vessels, but I know I don't stand a chance in combat so what's the point in trying.

Of course, the fabled "galactic-wide" effort would/could be fun, but it all depends on how FDev make it work.

 

[Micha]

The (IMHO) big mistake made with the Thargoids was firstly requiring a completely different weapons loadout, and secondly, not having the Thargoids directly engage (ie, interdict) Cmdrs in systems in which they have a presence.

It really feels like the Thargoids are completely optional parallel content, which makes the whole "Winter is coming" prologue a bit farcial. The only way they should be optional is by Cmdrs avoiding the (surrounding) systems in which they have a presence. Mind you, it needs to be done intelligently so that the threat-level depends on the level of the incursion, so pilots -can- engage at a level they feel comfortable with.

It's made even more inconsequential by having the major powers effectively respond with "meh, let's leave the Independent Pilots to deal with the problem". Once an incursion reaches a certain level in a system, the Fed/Imp/Alliance navies should engage.

Hopefully stuff will change in the next season.

 

[Muetdhiver]

They are not obosolete... Just completly irrelevant since they are optional and therefore not a real threat.

1.\ Make regular weapons somewhat effective vs thardoids. 50% effective, so that with G5 engineering we have something that is 75% of an AX weapon.
2.\ Make AX weapons effective vs NPC's. Maybe 80% effective (i.e. still usefull).
3.\ Add an experimental effect that adds an extra 25% damage vs thargoids to regular weapons. That way a G5 weapons with the AX mod is on par with the regular AX.

This makes for a lot more flexibility in loadouts. It's not thargoids or NPC, but rather a matter of compromises.

Then have thardoids appear in SC and make a mess of things in invaded systems.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

The (IMHO) big mistake made with the Thargoids was firstly requiring a completely different weapons loadout, and secondly, not having the Thargoids directly engage (ie, interdict) Cmdrs in systems in which they have a presence.

It really feels like the Thargoids are completely optional parallel content, which makes the whole "Winter is coming" prologue a bit farcial. The only way they should be optional is by Cmdrs avoiding the (surrounding) systems in which they have a presence. Mind you, it needs to be done intelligently so that the threat-level depends on the level of the incursion, so pilots -can- engage at a level they feel comfortable with.

It's made even more inconsequential by having the major powers effectively respond with "meh, let's leave the Independent Pilots to deal with the problem". Once an incursion reaches a certain level in a system, the Fed/Imp/Alliance navies should engage.

Hopefully stuff will change in the next season.

Good points!

 

[Eidolon]

Never bothered with Thargoid combat. I spent over a year preparing with engineers (you better be ready if aliens show up!).

Did all that, only to find that new AX weapons were the way to go. Bullets good vs aliens but not humans? What the actual... Probably made sense to somebody at some point.

Still never seen a Thargoid, I was hyperdicted once but was facing the wrong way so never saw the cutscene heh.
Obsolete? You betcha.

 

[Eckee]

Yes they are. Because ED is a singleplayer game noone cares about the lore and the galaxy. Everyone is trying to have the gameplay they desire through grind. Great mmorpg space sim game FDev!

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

I remember in the interview to the first CMDR hyperdicted by the Targoids who said: "“After all, defending against the Thargoids, or even maintaining peace, will take galactic cooperation.”

Now when I look at the game status right now I see:

> Empire and Federation are fighting eachother without caring about Thargoids anymore.
> CMDR's are collecting Guardians bluprint to increase FSD range or to have better outfit for PvP.
> Thousands of players left the bubble to follow DW2, an exploration expedition that will take everyone away from the Bubble for several months.
> Occasional and veteran players don't fight Interceptors because:
- they don't care
- it requires a complex and expensive outfitting to stand a change against them

Should we consider Thargoids obsolete already?

yes.

 

[Brrokk]

Er, it's a game. It's all optional. Blaze your own trail.

 

[Requiem Mortis]

I remember being informed by FD that there would be other means of interacting with Thargoids than just shooting them, whatever happened to that ?

 

[Arkadi]

Definitly maybe.

I still think next season / DLC / installment / whatsoever

will deliver the next step in the Thargoid s....t...o.........r ..................y.

I still hope Frontier won't leave us with AX combat zones and some meagre BGS effects and call this the final end of Thargoid content.

All this Thargoid Structures, Barnacles and Sensors floating around sure must have been the prologue to something more then this.

If not, well I am really disappointed. But I have not given up hope ... yet.

edit:
it all just moves at a very very very sloooow pace.

And I see it's necessary if ten thousands of players should be able to participate and follow the s...t....o.......r......................y.

Also seeing how long development times in gaming industry actually are. There needs to be some grindy repetitive game loops to fill the time until next season/installment/whatsoever is ready to be served.

edit eidt:
how long am I waiting for Mount&Blade 2 to get finished now????? years, years! omg.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I dont get these topics, and some of the responses. Clearly a lot of people do enjoy fighting thargoids, as the leaderboards showed (didnt log in yesterday, apparantly they are wiped or something?). If someone is not one of those who enjoys it they can do something else. But these 'it is obsolete' and 'noone cares about [x]' posts are just a bit silly. Just say you dont personally care for it (if you feel like sharing) and so something else.

 

[Junagu]

I've read a few of these posts about Thargoids just today. I've only just jumped back into the game recently so I haven't really formed my own opinion on tharg' yet. Still yet to even see one.
I was doing the Rescue ops at the damaged stations quite a lot but never saw any Thargoids. (good for picking up mats for heat sinks though!)

Reading what others have experienced I have to say is a bit depressing unless viewed from the perspective that the story arc (if there really is one) is definitely a slooooow burning trip, which I can respect tbh since the limited time I have to play the game is really nowhere near enough to even follow a small fraction of what is going on in the game.

I do get a feeling that FDev have basically done a very limited introduction to Thargoids in order to let the knowledge about them bed in a bit and spread amongst the playerbase a little. There must be something else coming.

I agree with several other posters here - I'd like to see Thargoids really make a nuisance of themselves for the average player and definitely see more of a link between the tharg activity and the BGS of the game - lots of NPC ships transporting passengers out of the afflicted systems, factions and powers responding etc.

And as a "class of '84" bod I definitely sympathise with the special weapon aspect (as in - do we really have to have them?) - in the original game you just had your normal pulse/burst/beam lasers and that was yer lot.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The problem the Thargoids have is the size of the bubble.

There are 20,000 systems. If absolutely everyone ignored the Thargoids, then they'd take out a few systems a week at current rates. After an entire decade, they'd have taken out maybe 10% of the bubble. On a week-by-week basis, unless you either really enjoy fighting Thargoids, or they're attacking your home system, you can quite safely ignore them with no major difference to the result of the war.

There are a very small number of systems which are really important - Shinrarta, the engineers, a few others. Any individual one of the rest can be allowed to burn with no real consqeuences.



The problem the players have is also the size of the bubble.

If the Thargoids attacked 100 systems a week, they could take out the entire bubble in four years, and irrevocably damage it within three months if they prioritised key manufacturing systems, to the point where you'd need to ship repair materials from Colonia.

But if the Thargoids attacked 100 systems a week, even with a massive increase in the number of players fighting them, the chances of coordinating well enough to save even a tenth of those systems would be very small. Similarly the repair teams would need to be huge to even consider making an impact.



Thargoid fighting is also an advanced activity. You need to be reasonably good at combat and need a reasonably good engineered ship to be much use at it. So new players are always going to need a space "outside" the war that they can get their ship and skills developed. Most players aren't at that advanced level, a lot of players only play occasionally, etc. The pool of possible Thargoid fighters is fairly small, even for just taking out scouts with AX weapons.

There's "living universe" and there's "I came back to the game after a six month break and every system near me is on fire and full of dangerous aliens, how can I get back to safety?"



There's arguments over whether Thargoid fighting could be made easier / more convenient / required in infested/incursion systems etc. but I'm not sure that matters compared with the overall strategic picture: if Frontier makes the Thargoids attack enough that player action can't hold them to a near-stalemate, then they risk the inevitable result being the complete collapse of the bubble in the medium-term [1], probably quite a bit before they'd normally want to end the franchise. On the other hand, if Frontier doesn't make it possible for the Thargoids to do that, they never look like a serious threat and they remain "optional content" in all senses regardless of what they do in the few systems they occupy.

[1] Or needing to pull a deus ex machina out to have the bubble saved by some NPCs regardless of what the players do, in which case the Thargoids were ultimately still entirely possible to ignore after all.

 

[Arkadi]

[1] Or needing to pull a deus ex machina out to have the bubble saved by some NPCs regardless of what the players do, in which case the Thargoids were ultimately still entirely possible to ignore after all.

Good post, and I agree with most.

I just want to add, that I don't think this solution would be bad. Many commanders would have been involved in the story, be it rescue or fighting or BGS consolidation. The most important thing (for me) is that there is a story to be told.

Of course it would be even better if Player Commanders could be the heroes in the story, but if we, the players fail, why not have Frontier telling us a story of other heroes that came to rescure us all... or if they want to tell us a story of humanities origing being taken over by aliens and only some pilots being able to evacuate to a far off place... it's another story. I am all for that storys. I just hope they will be told and not that the story has ended here at an never-ending arcade shooter combat zone game, which is nice, if it helps to tell that story, but not sufficient to carry itself.

 

[Micha]

I don't think Players should be the ultimate heroes of the Elite galaxy. But their actions should certainly contribute to outcomes. They should be the ones swaying things one way or another.

Also I don't have a problem with Thargoids being optional content per se. What I have a problem with is that they have become -parallel- content. It's either Thargoids, or the rest of the game. It should be that you play the game normally and IF you encounter a Thargoid, you should have the option to run or engage with a normal loadout. If you want to become an actual anti-Xeno fighter then yes, perhaps outfit with some specialised weaponry (which should still be somewhat effective against humans too, as pointed out).

The start of the Thargoid story was awesome, with UA's and UP's and the amazing efforts of people figuring out the puzzles. While I couldn't participate directly due to RL commitments, it was great to follow. So I really hope it all picks up again sometime.

 

[Jmanis]

Thargoids (or more correctly, humans) need a new trick besides just combat.

 

[Factabulous]

The problem the Thargoids have is the size of the bubble.

Their problem with the size of the bubble isn't helped when they keep attacking the same few systems over and over again. All the systems that should have been Infested this week* were previously infested / incursioned - nowhere new. At least in 3.2 they were attacking around the bubble - now they have the theoretical ability to wipe out 6 new systems per week plus the 'never repairing'** station mod' to keep systems out of action they could have made some progress, instead they obsess over the systems we save.

When you add this to their preference for ejecting us from the Pleiades over actually attacking the bubble*** then it seems the bubble will be safe for a while.

* Eagle Eye gave 6 systems that should presumably be infested this week - none of them are, so we can't win them, but they were all attacked in the previous weeks of 3.3
** Stations that get attacked by Thargoids have now been on fire for 4 weeks - no sign of how to get them to start repairs in-game. we could try shipping random goods to them - but it's probably broken.
*** Most week there have been 3 systems targeted in the Pleiades, which is a lot for the small number of systems. Once Operation IDA gets bored of defending them then bye bye Pleiades. ofc this may be some way away as Operation IDA are known for doing difficult, repetitive stuff for a long time

Edit: Redacted due to ongoing storyline updates - and they say FDev never responds

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

I would like more ways to interact rather than just dog fighting.. For example by finding their station and dropping some specific item or blocking their attacks by intercepting data at their stations/beacons... Something more brainy than just pew pew