Here are the current (well, aside from this afternoon's recaptures...) Control maps of each Maelstrom.
- Matrix/Spire systems are shown in red, formerly-inhabited systems dark green, other uninhabited Controls light green
- systems within 15 LY of the Titan get a thicker border, systems within 10 LY a very thick border
- arrows point away from the Titan and connect systems based on the Thargoid's 10 LY attack range.
- position on the map doesn't correspond at all to position in 3-D space, and distances between systems are likewise arbitrary, to focus on the connectivity aspect
- to save a little space, the word "Sector" has been omitted from system names
The 10 LY range of the Thargoid advance means that despite the same rules applying at each Maelstrom, the consequences are very distinct - a use of the geography of space in a way that hasn't really been seen in the series since the original Elite.
The maps themselves can be quite substantial, so I've put them inside the spoiler cuts below.
I've also made versions which also show the attackable systems from each Control, as that's sometimes interesting but does add a lot of clutter as well. Those bonus images are in this zip file - inhabited targets are shown in a darker grey.
- Matrix/Spire systems are shown in red, formerly-inhabited systems dark green, other uninhabited Controls light green
- systems within 15 LY of the Titan get a thicker border, systems within 10 LY a very thick border
- arrows point away from the Titan and connect systems based on the Thargoid's 10 LY attack range.
- position on the map doesn't correspond at all to position in 3-D space, and distances between systems are likewise arbitrary, to focus on the connectivity aspect
- to save a little space, the word "Sector" has been omitted from system names
The 10 LY range of the Thargoid advance means that despite the same rules applying at each Maelstrom, the consequences are very distinct - a use of the geography of space in a way that hasn't really been seen in the series since the original Elite.
The maps themselves can be quite substantial, so I've put them inside the spoiler cuts below.
Previous fights around Taranis have left it quite loosely connected, with lots of disconnected systems, and a very weak bridge via Ixbalan. Its remaining dense cluster on the left has a balance between the relatively weak spire at HW-M b7-4 and the very strong Hupang which would require an extremely coordinated attack to overcome.
Previous activity has already split Leigong into a couple of disjoint clusters, as well as a few extra loose systems around their own spires. The weakest Maelstrom to begin with, it's now critically dependent on the KN-K b8-3 spire to hold most of it together. At the moment, that one is too close-in to threaten.
Despite the high system density at Indra, recent recapture work has split it into two separate clusters, with very different characters - the cluster shown on the right is anchored solely by the HG-X b1-0 spire and has no other strong sytsems, whereas the left side would likely be near-invincible even without its multiple spires. There is longer-term potential for a sufficiently large clearance of the right cluster to weaken the outer spires on the left cluster, however.
Oya's two Spire sites are tucked away behind the Titan, but the connectivity of the remaining groups, using other near-Titan controls, will make further progress costly beyond the few remaining outliers.
A large and well-connected single cluster at Cocijo will make significant progress difficult from most directions. Trimming further uninhabited controls uniformly off the fringes is possible, and the isolated WY-F b12-1 is an obvious option for recapture, but the dense inner core around Nyani is one of the strongest of any Maelstrom.
Considerable disconnection work has taken place at Thor already, with the most interesting feature being the entirely disconnected Rajuarpai pentagram - a major project to recapture, nevertheless. Outside of that, some well-distributed spires and the extremely strong Leunii-Gluschen pairing will make further shrinking of Thargoid territory very difficult.
Raijin currently combines a large size with strong connectivity and well-distributed anchors in terms of both Spires and Titan-adjacent Controls of other sorts. There is some weakness on the top-left side, with the clusters around Iceniguari, Chakma and Sugalis not having any particularly strong systems, but this is very limited.
Hadad has already been the target of many recapture attempts, which have left it in the interesting situation of having no inhabited systems on its perimeter, and only two remaining inside it. The spire system at HIP 30439 forms the only bridge between the two halves of Hadad - though not one the Thargoids need to be concerned about losing! - which have quite different characters - the top half is more loosely connected, but has a very strong set of individual systems at its core, whereas the bottom half is much weaker in its individual systems but much more strongly connected.
I've also made versions which also show the attackable systems from each Control, as that's sometimes interesting but does add a lot of clutter as well. Those bonus images are in this zip file - inhabited targets are shown in a darker grey.
