COVAS Audio Disruption in Thargoid Areas - Feature or Bug?

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Are the COVAS audio messages such as "Frameshift Anomaly Detected," "Energy Surge Detected," etc. supposed to be distorted all the time at stations/bases under Thargoid attack? I'm thinking this is a feature, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a bug. And if it is a feature - could you please remove it, or reduce the frequency, asap?

I will admit that it does sound very cool and adds to immersion. After awhile, however, it detracts from the game because the garbled audio either grates on my nerves (all the anomaly warnings) or I miss important warnings (shutdown pulse).

It is a nice touch for immersion, so kudos to the audio team. However, can we have this fix via some magic "Pilot's Federation free update" soon?

 

[Alec Turner]

I think (hope) it's a bug. I'm all for a bit of distortion but it's totally broken up making important audio messages (like the shutdown field warning) completely unintelligible.
I did just try to find it in the issue tracker but no luck so far.

 

[CMDR_Halceon]

I noticed audio distortion at the same time my right-hand panel stopped working reliably. And, like you, I enjoyed my ship malfunction as added flavor, whether on purpose or by accident, but then thought, "no this has to be a bug."

 

[Grisnir]

since thargoid stuff will screw up your ship electronics, which included covas i guess that is a feature

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

I'm hoping this is something that was only supposed to happen in Maelstrom systems and/or when around an Orthus interceptor. I don't see why it should be so screwed up everywhere else - Guardian tech works outside of those two areas, so should our COVAS.

 

[Kzak]

See if bringing a Guardian module reinforcement will stop the audio corruption, as that module reinforcement stops the HUD from glitching out in Thargoid areas.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

See if bringing a Guardian module reinforcement will stop the audio corruption, as that module reinforcement stops the HUD from glitching out in Thargoid areas.

I've had 3 equipped on my Challenger the whole time. No, that doesn't fix it. It just prevents the Thargoid lightning attack from rebooting subsystems (mostly).

 

[metatheurgist]

It's probably both. Sound does like to get choppy when the game gets busy.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

They cranked up the frequency and amount of distortion when the Proteus wave happened. It's too much and I have a suspicion it unintentionally builds up over time...

 

[Brrokk]

I like it.

When I get shut down it's usually because the field neutraliser didn't work rather than me not noticing the warning. Now that really is a bug.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

I like it.

When I get shut down it's usually because the field neutraliser didn't work rather than me not noticing the warning. Now that really is a bug.

Are you sure you are using the neutraliser correctly? I ask that with no disrespect as I was using it wrong for years. As soon as you trigger it, it stays effective until you either let off the trigger or your SYS capacitor runs out of energy. I always thought it only worked between trigger pull and cut off shortly after hitting the maximum range. Nope. It stays active as long as you have power in the SYS capacitor and you keep the trigger down. Once I learned that trick, I've never had the neutraliser fail. I've failed to activate it in time, but never had it fail to work.

What has failed to work, on occasion, is the Guardian MRPs not protecting from the lightning attack rebooting random systems. Had a noticeable failure the other day (during first shielded Krait test) when the blast rebooted my shield generator and my engines. That was annoying.

 

[ebbrell]

Feature

 

[Brrokk]

Are you sure you are using the neutraliser correctly? I ask that with no disrespect as I was using it wrong for years. As soon as you trigger it, it stays effective until you either let off the trigger or your SYS capacitor runs out of energy. I always thought it only worked between trigger pull and cut off shortly after hitting the maximum range. Nope. It stays active as long as you have power in the SYS capacitor and you keep the trigger down. Once I learned that trick, I've never had the neutraliser fail. I've failed to activate it in time, but never had it fail to work.

What has failed to work, on occasion, is the Guardian MRPs not protecting from the lightning attack rebooting random systems. Had a noticeable failure the other day (during first shielded Krait test) when the blast rebooted my shield generator and my engines. That was annoying.

I thought I was doing that right, but it's possible I slipped up by releasing the button too soon. I'll be very careful about that tonight.

 

[Covernant]

If distorted Covas is a feature why doesn’t repair fix it and if my ship is destroyed surely the new shiny one should come with a working Covas
Possible a feature with bugs but very immersive

 

[John Stoutbeard]

If distorted Covas is a feature why doesn’t repair fix it and if my ship is destroyed surely the new shiny one should come with a working Covas
Possible a feature with bugs but very immersive

Feature

It's an electronic disturbance, you can't clean up ('repair') data/signal disturbance. You can see this in the Hug and sidepanels, it glitches.
Feature.

 

[Brrokk]

Are you sure you are using the neutraliser correctly? I ask that with no disrespect as I was using it wrong for years. As soon as you trigger it, it stays effective until you either let off the trigger or your SYS capacitor runs out of energy. I always thought it only worked between trigger pull and cut off shortly after hitting the maximum range. Nope. It stays active as long as you have power in the SYS capacitor and you keep the trigger down. Once I learned that trick, I've never had the neutraliser fail. I've failed to activate it in time, but never had it fail to work.

What has failed to work, on occasion, is the Guardian MRPs not protecting from the lightning attack rebooting random systems. Had a noticeable failure the other day (during first shielded Krait test) when the blast rebooted my shield generator and my engines. That was annoying.

An update as I've been paying more attention to this. Yes, there have been times when I'm certain I've done everything right but the neutraliser still doesn't work. Those times seen to go in clusters: I get a few failures in one evening but it's OK the next. Maybe something to do with internets.

 

[nanothargon]

It’s definitely a feature. Thargoids mess with human tech; things are jittery near them and sometimes they completely fail.

It’s one of the scarier things about thargoids; you build an invincible steel shell, the peak of human military technology, and suddenly… your computers glitch and break down, your metal shell melts and you die. Bravery is needed to fight them.