Current state of the Thargoid war

Shadowsnog

Shadowsnog
im not going to blame anyone or put some fantastic statistics or hypothetical options in here. just a raw reality of my life.

fraction of war content just disappeared. invasions just stopped existing alltogether and they for sure looked like the most sought, most played, most visited, most fun and most enjoyed bits of the war with content exclusive only to these systems.
gone.

alerts, which provide orthrus hunting, revenant reactivations and last chance to do evac, are cleared so fast, that if you dont get a chance to play right after thursday tick, you can kiss goodbye to all the good systems. oh there are alert systems still available even after 4 days. i visited some of them and couldnt find single revenant reactivation. and i just feel like another good chunk of new content just disappeared. and the systems where those missions are usually available? yea, no missions for you because only people who got there yesterday get to play.
bgs has diminishing cap, that lowers the impact you make after some effort, but lets you play the damn game. alerts? no game for you. zero. nada. nula.
fdev has been multiple times mentioning the horrible numbers of progress being made in systems that have been completed. damn us all for playing the game. god forbid having fun. if you are throwing numbers please let us know the number of scout samples being delivered and what % of progress was being done this way.

if you want to have at least some fun with the new(ish) content, you can still go after conflict zones. you can find them in systems marked as counter strike. you can also find them plenty in controlled systems that on galaxy map are bit more bright green. you can also find them in systems not controlled by thargoids. they just are there. want to jump your carrier right next to ax cz? you can... could... if fc jumps were working. but thats another story... but oh god no way you could have a transparent access to ax reactivations. woe 350 ax czs upon ye.

it just makes me really sad. content being made and then just not being available. for some silly strict rules trying to herd the populace into some phantasmagoric effort that counterdicts itself. n the sandbox game that invites you to blaze your own trail... barriers where gates and bridges shouldve been. this tomfoolery just completely lost all its meaning to me. it boils down to "i cant do this, i cant do that, what am i left with?". and what am i left with are just conflict zones scattered like a shrapnel in a gaping wound. are the 4 minutes of dedicant logs, no matter how well acted, from some horribly predictable event supposed to keep me in game? occupied? engaged?
expect for some 5 minute awe from visiting the titan or vising the barnacle matrices, what would be the difference in my gameplay if this whole "war" shenaigans didnt happen? i could just fight goids in pleiades same way i do today... drop in, get some pew pew, drop out.
its not like the game has nothing else to offer. far from it. i deeply appreciate the great galaxy and the depth put into bgs and things... but for me the thargoid war was the thing. and it looks heckin borked and just makes me not want to engage in anyting else whatsoever.

i just wanted to play. its my 2nd year in elite, ive fallen in love with the game, and today has made me so sad im considering uninstaling it and coming in just to check new content when it drops and then uninstall again.
so... thats the thread. is there anyting to discuss?
 

shockbait

shockbait
I have to say, it is disheartening that FDev seem to keep adding these new great scenarios, only to have them become nigh unavailable due to changes they made to the way the war plays out.

Planetary AX CZs were nearly universally loved by all, now you literally have to alarm clock the war update if you want to participate in those.
And now the same thing has apparently happened to AX Reactivations, becoming difficult to find, and limited to Alerts, which will now end as soon as they are sampled to death.

I get that "Elite is a sandbox, players control the BGS", but they make the rules for how all this works. Surely there must be some way to code this so there is almost always access to highly sought after content. It just might require a complete re-work of the Thargoid War algorithm, which I'm not holding my breath for them to do.

Oh well, I had been getting my fun from Glaive hunting, now Scythes are pretty fun too, and easier to fight.
My FC is on the frontlines near Taranis, I just toss an Occupied Escape Pod in the hold, circle my FC in supercruise, and wait for the interdiction. 4.5mil a pop and I've nearly filled up on my Thargoid mats.
 

Felix DiCestria

Felix DiCestria
Khwal is still offering AX reactivation to Mapon at time of writing but won't last til morning, (8% left right now). The war is temporary as is becoming apparent (at least this stage of it)
The ctrl systems with military settlements will get sampled sooner or later (we already lost Holvandalla).
I think the focus will switch to the new barnacle matrix sites. I'll take a look in the morning (or when I can actually get online)
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
shockbait said:
Surely there must be some way to code this so there is almost always access to highly sought after content. It just might require a complete re-work of the Thargoid War algorithm, which I'm not holding my breath for them to do.
Click to expand...
Simply reverting some of the earlier changes would be sufficient.
- make uninhabited alerts cost the Thargoids 25% of an inhabited alert (as it was to start with)
- put the per-system difficulty back to what it was in March/April (or maybe even the higher values used earlier than that)

All it needs is for there to be more to "do" each week than the players can collectively keep up with.
 

Untilting

Untilting
shockbait said:
Planetary AX CZs were nearly universally loved by all, now you literally have to alarm clock the war update if you want to participate in those.
Click to expand...

Weirdly some of those seem to be persisting throughout subsequent changes of system state, I presume this is a bug. For example, I've been paying occasional visits to Maybury Enterprise if I fancy a bit of swarm-free combat (https://inara.cz/elite/station/52382/), although admittedly this is just for fun and does not contribute to the war effort.
 

vanFace

V
OP, you might be happy to hear that I'm doing my part in not playing the war games at all (well, besides maelstrom sight-seeing). So one player less that is stealing your fun.
 

Ned Flandalorian

N
Untilting said:
Weirdly some of those seem to be persisting throughout subsequent changes of system state, I presume this is a bug. For example, I've been paying occasional visits to Maybury Enterprise if I fancy a bit of swarm-free combat (https://inara.cz/elite/station/52382/), although admittedly this is just for fun and does not contribute to the war effort.
Click to expand...
It is a bug, those CZs aren't meant to be there and update 16 didn't do anything to address them. That's why you get the AX combat co-ordinator in one ear saying "Welcome to the team, let's kill some thargoids!" and station security in the other ear telling you to stow your weapons while handing out stacks of fines for violating the no-fire zone.
 

pFVD

P
Sighman said:
Personally I think it was better when the alert/reactivation/etc status lasted all week, even if it was wasted effort.
Click to expand...
This. So much this. We now get a message when entering the system that it's complete and the regular system resources can handle it from here, look elsewhere. That's all we needed.

Not progressing enough? Then rebalance the play so that combat moves the progress bar more than sampling (or whatever the most popular war activity happens to be) and let us play the damn game. No need to force play or overcomplicate things, no need to stop play when it hits 100%. It wasn't like this to begin with, we could play all week past the 100%.

IF there are invasions (none for a month or more now?) I get to play a few hours on the Thursday, but for me personally, I start work very early Friday morning and don't get time to play again until at least Tuesday, which is far too late.

This doesn't make me go out sampling, I've no interest in that, instead I go do something else (often not Elite or Elite Thargoid War related) and I try again next week.
 

TobiasFuzz

T
So now we start complaining about we winning? What is "content"? There is a war going on and we should be happy that humans gained the upper hand for now. I dont care for "fun" or "activities"... I dont want the Goids near my systems, so keep them at bay is good. The faster and more efficient the better.
 

Disemboweled Ego

D
Shadowsnog said:
it just makes me really sad. content being made and then just not being available. for some silly strict rules trying to herd the populace into some phantasmagoric effort that counterdicts itself. n the sandbox game that invites you to blaze your own trail... barriers where gates and bridges shouldve been. this tomfoolery just completely lost all its meaning to me. it boils down to "i cant do this, i cant do that, what am i left with?". and what am i left with are just conflict zones scattered like a shrapnel in a gaping wound. are the 4 minutes of dedicant logs, no matter how well acted, from some horribly predictable event supposed to keep me in game? occupied? engaged?
Click to expand...

zimms said:
The Thargoid war is optional. There are billions of systems out there for you to explore.
Click to expand...
This doesn't just apply to the thargoid war, but many other aspects of odyssey in particular where things have just degraded because of lack of attention and necessary rebalancing.

One step forward two steps back and all that.
 

Kira Goto

Kira Goto
shockbait said:
I have to say, it is disheartening that FDev seem to keep adding these new great scenarios, only to have them become nigh unavailable due to changes they made to the way the war plays out.
Click to expand...
My personal main dislike of the lack of invasions is the ‘damaged port’ scenario being unavailable, which made evacs feel rather unengaging and hardly different to regular hauling(which bores me to death). Maybe Scythes go some way to countering that, but that’s only one thing.

At least they’re maybe not as obnoxious(from an RP standpoint) as the good-for-nothings that want to blow you out of the void(or into it) for daring to try getting people to safety from a war zone. Gameplay wise, well, have not done any evacs in some time, and definitely not since the update went live. Been busy poking the barnacle matrix sites, trying to find ones not yet marked, and collecting the coral sap stuff alongside. Which has been some fun.
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
I was surprised at how fast the alert cleared in Hip 20019... Fortunately, I'm setup pretty well for rescue pods and there is a thargoid controlled system next door, at least it was when I logged off last night.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
zimms said:
The Thargoid war is optional. There are billions of systems out there for you to explore.
Click to expand...
That doesn't really help if you actually want to play the war instead of just winning it.

TobiasFuzz said:
So now we start complaining about we winning? What is "content"? There is a war going on and we should be happy that humans gained the upper hand for now. I dont care for "fun" or "activities"... I dont want the Goids near my systems, so keep them at bay is good. The faster and more efficient the better.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is actually valid to complain about "winning" it when it is done with a cheese mechanic and destroying fun and engaging gameplay. This was exactly what I was fearing when Frontier caved to the "It's too hard! We can't win!" whiners only what, one? Two weeks after the war began?
 

Fizzatron

Fizzatron
I haven't read all of the replies, but maybe the solution to the problem lies with the players themselves?

My thought is that if the sample gathering is so effective a method to achieve results, to the point where everything is wrapped up the day of the new tick, then maybe the coordinators of the Thargoid war might consider using the tactic as way to seal the deal later on in the week, rather than trying to score the quickest result? I'm thinking that postponing efforts till Monday would give everyone who wants to have a go the weekend to get their battle fix and still leave plenty of time to ensure the strategic victories?

Just an idea and would like to hear thoughts on whether that's doable?
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Fizzatron said:
I haven't read all of the replies, but maybe the solution to the problem lies with the players themselves?

My thought is that if the sample gathering is so effective a method to achieve results, to the point where everything is wrapped up the day of the new tick, then maybe the coordinators of the Thargoid war might consider using the tactic as way to seal the deal later on in the week, rather than trying to score the quickest result? I'm thinking that postponing efforts till Monday would give everyone who wants to have a go the weekend to get their battle fix and still leave plenty of time to ensure the strategic victories?

Just an idea and would like to hear thoughts on whether that's doable?
Click to expand...
That's kind of what I've been hinting at all the time. Well, not really hinting at, more screaming at them :): Frontier is to blame that they listened to the "too hard" faction and provided tools that are completely OP and out of balance, but the players who cheese the war are also to blame, because "winning" is more important to them than playing the war. That doesn't mean the strategists' approach is less legit, but it is still at the cost of other players.
 

zimms

zimms
Blame the players? 😅

"Everybody, stop playing until I've had a chance to get my playtime in!" Does anybody really think that would work in an MMO?
 
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