Are Thargoids going to be isolated to a certain place?

[JosiahD]

If yes. Then i think this is a huge mistake.
They should be a threat no matter where you are, not just outside the bubble.

If it's a case of one Thargoid faction running from another, and in the process of moving through our region of space, then I'd expect a commensurate pattern in their movements to emerge as things progress. If that's the case, I'd hope it's possible to predict/anticipate that movement, at least if it's linear and they're heading in a particular direction with a specific destination in mind (ala in a Battlestar Galactica heading for Earth fashion), and be able to use that to avoid them if one wishes.

 

[Archduke]

Thargoids are they going to come to the capitals of the Empire and the Federation ?

Thargoid flower ships can decimate the Federal naval capital vessels at their current state, so... yeah.The anti-Thargoid weaponry ought to make a difference, I also expect there may be sokme more defensive capabilities too.

 

[Noctover]

The Galaxy is a very safe place, and i doubt that will change. I strongly suspect the Thargoids will be opt in, IE go here for danger ->.

I agree with OP though, it would be so much cooler if the bubble was actually in threat, stations having to be evacuated/locked down due to invasion. Invasion areas coming up on GalNet and the fate of the system lies with the community response in defence etc.

Again though, sincerely doubt it.

 

[mp4x]

I'm sure you'll get strays in other parts of space. I think even if you don't visit Col70, you're still going to see Aliens from time to time.

 

[Red Anders]

The Galaxy is a very safe place, and i doubt that will change. I strongly suspect the Thargoids will be opt in, IE go here for danger ->.

I agree with OP though, it would be so much cooler if the bubble was actually in threat, stations having to be evacuated/locked down due to invasion. Invasion areas coming up on GalNet and the fate of the system lies with the community response in defence etc.

Again though, sincerely doubt it.

Yeah that's very much the experience I'd want from it. Streams of refugee ships fleeing the systems on the leading edge of their approach, systems falling into anarchy, famine and disease spreading as they struggle to cope with the huge surge of people running from certain death, desperate attempts to capitalise on the resulting chaos provide humanitarian aid, all that good stuff.

Unfortunately I think FDev will have identified by now that a significant proportion of their players are so utterly risk averse that what we will get is something which is impressive from a graphics and audio perspective but presents no significant (and in particular no unavoidable) risk whatsoever.

Time will tell I guess.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

IIRC, there was a dev comment that to interact with thargoids you would have to choose to do so, something like that. Whether this means they will be moving through an area of space which you can avoid by simply staying out of the region, or whether they will only appear in certain signal sources that you will have to drop into, or whatever, it means those who want a Thargoid free game will probably be able to have it.

While you might not like that OP, there will be those who appreciate it, and there is nothing stopping you having all the Thargoid experience you want without worrying about how much thargoid experience others are getting.

 

[Archduke]

I agree with OP though, it would be so much cooler if the bubble was actually in threat, stations

The Bubbler will be under threat. However the reality of that "threat" is debatable, since it will largely be a case of community goals with huge rewards to fend off assaults or deliver needed supplies to enable the defence.As such, there will always be sufficient playerbase and demand for the rewards to ensure such goals are either completed to a satisfactory contingent that at worst a number of systems may be removed from teh envelope of controlled "bubble" status.There's no danger whatsoever of the playerbase doing nothing to hgelp and all systems to Sol, Alioth, Eravate etc. succumbing to invasion. Despite the rhetoric, the galaxy is not that dynamic to player choice, but more obeyant to FDev's narrative design.

 

[danteuk]

It would make sense for the attacks / encounters to start around the Pleiades area a spread slowly across the bubble - so people not interested in having to unlock and grind whatever hindrance FDev decide to put in front of the Thargoid weapons/defence modules can simple stay away.

I'd love to see FDev script some evacuation ships - megaships you can dock at that will 'jump' to Colonia at a specific time, eg:
Sept 25 3303 22:00(game time) Megaship evac1 will depart from BARNARD'S STAR for COLONIA - you must be docked at least by 09:30 at the latest!

That way you could dock in a T9 and get transported to Colonia without the painful 400+ jumps or the expensive transfer fee!


It's also possible that the Thargoids will simple ignore all ships without the Thargoids modules/hardpoints fitted unless you are stupid enough to fire on them.

 

[Vandaahl]

Engineer Grind 2.4. [where is it] More grind is not fun and is not emergent gameplay.

Then stop grinding.

 

[Cucco-Master]

Yeah that's very much the experience I'd want from it. Streams of refugee ships fleeing the systems on the leading edge of their approach, systems falling into anarchy, famine and disease spreading as they struggle to cope with the huge surge of people running from certain death, desperate attempts to capitalise on the resulting chaos provide humanitarian aid, all that good stuff.

Unfortunately I think FDev will have identified by now that a significant proportion of their players are so utterly risk averse that what we will get is something which is impressive from a graphics and audio perspective but presents no significant (and in particular no unavoidable) risk whatsoever.

It's possible that they give us the chaos you described without adding any risk for the players. Think about how wars are fought right now - inside instances you can only enter deliberately. I guess once a Thargoid invasion fleet arrives at a system, it will just spawn a number of CZ which you can go to if you wish to defend the system, but which you can just completely ignore as well.

 

[Red Anders]

IIRC, there was a dev comment that to interact with thargoids you would have to choose to do so, something like that. Whether this means they will be moving through an area of space which you can avoid by simply staying out of the region, or whether they will only appear in certain signal sources that you will have to drop into, or whatever, it means those who want a Thargoid free game will probably be able to have it.

While you might not like that OP, there will be those who appreciate it, and there is nothing stopping you having all the Thargoid experience you want without worrying about how much thargoid experience others are getting.

To be honest (and I'm posting this just as an explanation of my mindset, not as a challenge or looking for an argument) the very fact of opt-in means that I'm already not having the Thargoid experience I want and it has nothing to do with being concerned about how much anybody else is getting.

To clarify, the experience as it stands today is essentially a trip to a theme park. It's Thargoid Towers, which I'll admit does sound like possibly the best concept for Planet Coaster DLC that you're ever likely to hear but doesn't actually reflect what I'd hoped for from our ammonia-loving friends return to the Elite Dangerous galaxy.

There is no threat. There is no peril. They have no effect whatsoever on me, my ships, or my gameplay. Nothing has changed. In fact despite me having been in and out of Maia, Col 70 and the surrounding area numerous times since they first reappeared (including shipping holds full of meta alloys which are harvested from their bloody barnacles) I still haven't even been interdicted by one.

My own hopes for the return was that it would bring gameplay to which I had to react, rather than choose to make a special trip to participate in. I'm increasingly sensing that what we're actually going to get is some kind of Universal Studios The Thargoid Invasion Experience ^TM and whilst I'm sure it will look beautiful, sound incredible and prompt a torrent of screenshots of Asps in front of it like nothing we have ever seen before, the chances of me logging in one day and discovering that my home system is being completely evacuated, or jumping to Founders to discover that Jameson has been cut in half and the engine section has fallen out of orbit causing an environmental catastrophe on the surface would seem to be pretty much nil.

Now maybe I'm wrong and FDev are going to surprise me but honestly I just can't see it. It's their call obviously, they make the game and I'll accept there's no doubt that there would be an outpouring of rage and misery on the forums were some players to lose so much as a limpet as a result of non-consensual hard Thargoid action but I think it's to the detriment of the game overall.

 

[Jukelo]

If Thargoids are purely opt-in, then count me out. I want it to be content forced upon the player, and for that latent threat to color every move we make and force us to think ahead.

Alas I doubt Frontier has it in them to upset those darlings among us who bought an Elite game but somehow thought combat in one form or another wasn't part of the core experience.

There could be some way to opt out, but it should come at a hefty price.

 

[Whitehair]

If Thargoids are purely opt-in, then count me out.

Bye then

 

[lokvette]

Even though Im not really that interested (as of yet this is subject to change) in the whole Thargoid thing I have to agree with Red Anders, as in such that the galaxy should be burning in some places and not in others but in the places it's burning the story line and CG's, Galnet hell even the livestreams should all be involved in some way.

The only thing I can think right now off the top of my head is the way the Cylons did it in the new BSG. Kicked and people had to run, now I'm not saying the whole bubble should burn but some systems should fall and we have to fight to get them back and along with the falling systems ...without repeating myself you can see where this is going.

 

[Jukelo]

Bye then

Interacting with the Thargoids is not going to involve interacting with other players, so I don't get the point of your post. Why would you say "bye" when we never met and were never going to meet in the context of thargoid related content anyway?

 

[Jason Lightning]

I'd rather Thargoids be opt out in the sense that you have to evacuate if you don't want to deal with them. It fits the lore better since if the very powers that be are considering running, then why would a player that doesn't want to fight be any different? Can even tie it in to the Colonia crowd, if you don't want to fight Thargoids there can be a mega-ship evacuation shuttle that is taking people away from the invasion. If you want to stand your ground against the invasion that's fine too, but the area that the Thargoids are grabbing should be quite extensive over time, something like an ever growing tidal wave as opposed to isolated mini pockets.

 

[thirstyfish]

Depending on how things play out, things will be interesting for me. I am well outside the bubble on an exploration trip. As such, my ship is very light, and has no weapons. Getting back to a combat ready ship might be difficult depending on how pervasive and invasive the thargoids are. I have an FDL that I will probably be using to take the fight to the thargoids, but it is several thousand light years away from my current position. I guess we'll see how this works out.

Just saying that I shouldn't be seeing anyone when I am thousands of light years away from everything, thargoids included.

 

[CMDR M Kozak]

There is always going to be those who will rage on forums in defence of the hourly credit rate they have. Dying in games and danger is something that I think a large part of this community is simply against.

 

[Red Anders]

Even though Im not really that interested (as of yet this is subject to change) in the whole Thargoid thing I have to agree with Red Anders, as in such that the galaxy should be burning in some places and not in others but in the places it's burning the story line and CG's, Galnet hell even the livestreams should all be involved in some way.

The only thing I can think right now off the top of my head is the way the Cylons did it in the new BSG. Kicked and people had to run, now I'm not saying the whole bubble should burn but some systems should fall and we have to fight to get them back and along with the falling systems ...without repeating myself you can see where this is going.

The Cylons are a reasonable reference point actually, although as I understand it (from a synopsis of plot points from a novel that I haven't read, which someone posted on here...) what we're looking at is essentially a Thargoid civil war and we just happen to be in the territory that falls between where their two factions are fighting, so rather than them being here explicitly to wipe us out, we're more or less going to be collateral damage. Well, other than the few idiots who will end up choosing sides in an alien civil war waged by beings that we barely understand. Like me, obviously.

That sense of helplessness and despair in the face of a terrifying and technologically advanced enemy is very much what I'd wanted the feel of it to be though.

 

[Red Anders]

There is always going to be those who will rage on forums in defence of the hourly credit rate they have. Dying in games and danger is something that I think a large part of this community is simply against.

Of course it is. That's my single biggest issue with multiple aspects of the gameplay and the underpinning mentality that informs it - the risk/reward equation is completely skewed for me because there is effectively no risk at all, which in turn diminishes the satisfaction that the reward is supposed to provide. Even avoiding interdictions has now been made so easy that I can avoid being pulled out of supercruise in my Anaconda when I'm being interdicted by a Viper.