Thargoid Scout Hyperdictions

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

Right now, we have 'encounters', which consist of Thargoid interceptors pulling you out of hyperspace and inspecting you - and sometimes attacking, if they find you to have Thargoid items on you. Obviously, they don't like humans researching them. These are really, really cool - a while ago I was flying my courier through the Pleiades, with Thargoid meta-alloys in my hold, and not one, not two, but three thargoids pulled me out of witchspace.

2 Medusae, 1 Hydra. I dumped ALL of those meta-alloys, they collected them, I scurried off. But that's not the point - point is, they're really fun. Why not make it a little more accessible to the common player?

In the days of the first Human-Thargoid conflict, commanders were known to be pulled out of hyperspace by octogonal vessels - which we now know to be the Scouts, not the interceptors. This makes sense, considering these commanders could destroy the aliens which assailed them. it was a bit of a tough fight, sure, but not impossible. Put this feature into Elite: Dangerous. Randomly, anywhere near recently attacked starports (30 ly radius?) and the Pleiades nebula, you can be pulled out of hyperspace by a group of up to four Thargoid scouts.

This could scale based on your combat rank. Harmless to Novice commanders can be more rarely interdicted, and only by 1-2 scouts, Competent to Master more commonly and by 2-3 scouts, and Dangerous+ by 3-4 scouts.

Thoughts?

 

[varonica]

Thoughts?

Currently Thargoid content is optional, a lot of players like it that way.

Why not make it a little more accessible to the common player?

It is accessible to the common player, making it compulsory doesn't equate to making it accessible.

 

[CMDR Yates]

Agreed. More or less.

Thargoid-infested systems should be scary and treacherous places to go. We should feel on our guard at all times there, and I think suspence in a game requires the threat of something non-optional happening.

I'd suggest a new mechanic for Thargoid interdiction that can result in you being pulled from supercruise in infested systems: Give Non-Human Signal Sources an invisible "danger zone" of a few light seconds around them.

Then, if you fly too close to one, there is a chance of the Thargoids disabling your FSD, causing you to crash-drop into the NHSS instance.

This means players have some degree of control over whether they are interdicted -- a careful player with a close eye on nearby signal sources can plot a course that avoids contact -- and encourages an attitude of fearful vigilance in infested systems, making them really feel different and dangerous. It's also different enough from human interdiction, while feeling a bit less cheap than a randomised hyperdiction that you have no say in.