There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers or principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh of flesh, is the death of hope; the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. - G'kar, Babylon 5.
When Salvation fired the Proteus wave, he unleashed all the evil of the Thargoids, causing tens of thousands of deaths. But the worst thing he did was much worse; he gave humanity hope, only to rip it away. Since then, humanity has tried their best to forget 22460, to shove it into the furthest corner of our minds. But that hope still remains there, trapped inside a permit lock on planet HIP 22460 10 b.
This is why I'm calling all pilots, to what I'm calling Operation Pandora. We must reclaim that lost hope. We cannot let the Thargoids think they can take away our hope without a fight. We MUST retake 22460, or at least push deep enough into the system to discover what they did to the Proteus Wave, to prevent it from happening again. Only together can we stand against the darkness of a hopeless future.
This operation has two primary objectives:
The Bright Sentinel had vast amounts of Guardian technology on board, including the primary source of Salvation's modified Guardian weaponry. Since its destruction, the galaxy has turned against Azimuth, resulting in their sole remaining tech broker being inside Mbooni, which is permit locked for its own protection. This prevents all players without that permit from accessing these powerful new weapon options. It is critical than humanity reclaim the Bright Sentinel, and recover the vast knowledge trapped within, because as the war escalates, mankind will need every advantage they can get.
This will also serve as a test of the viability of Operation Pandora, to see whether the Thargoids can be repulsed, even for a short while.
To participate in this part of Operation Pandora, Commanders should drop into the wreck of Bright Sentinel and engage as many Thargoids as possible in the area, with the aim of ultimately returning it to human control. All bonds can be turned in at the fleet carrier Pandora, located 6ly away in Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7, or turned in back in the bubble, per player preference.
Players are highly encouraged to fight in wings, to maximize their individual effectiveness.
The true objective of Operation Pandora is to ultimately reclaim control of the Proteus Site, and discover what, exactly, the Thargoids did to turn Humanity's greatest weapon against itself. To achieve this goal, players should drop in above the Proteus Site, and attempt to fight off as many Thargoids as possible just outside the current exclusion zone.
Support System
To support this, the Fleet Carrier Pandora is currently located in the Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7 system, stocked with AX weaponry and all AX utilities, as well as redemption services. Players can stop here to repair and rearm on their way to fight in HIP 22460.
Because of this, players have a limited choice of weaponry, and wing combat is HIGHLY encouraged.
Firstly, and most importantly, a Shutdown Field Neutralizer is a near necessity. Approximately every four minutes, a new wave will drop in at any player. If this new arrival is an interceptor, they will always fire off a shutdown field, and if players are unprepared for this, they will take significant amounts of damage. All players should have a shutdown field neutralize equipped and ready to fire at all times.
Solo Players
Solo players should use primarily Fixed AX Multicannons, due to their capability to damage thargoid hearts. While they do less damage than AX missile racks, their ability to damage hearts make them the only real choice for serious solo play. However, due to their low damage, players using them should stick to Scouts and Cyclopses, only attempting to kill Basilisks if they have a wing or want a very serious challenge.
Alternatively, players can use Advanced Weapons. Advanced Weapons are human attempts to reproduce guardian technology, and can not only be engineered, they can break the experimental weapons limit. Advanced Missile Racks are the clear superior choice, but require constant synthesis, making them a poor choice for most players. Alternatively, Advanced c2 Multicannons, engineered for Sturdy and Auto Loader, are better than C3 AX multicannons, and once synthed, restore all ammo on death. With enough players, they should allow higher interceptors to be killed before the players need to die to restore ammo, making this cost effective!
Now, notably, AX and Advanced weapons generate very little heat, and draw very little distributor power compared to Guardian technology. Because of this, players can often use cooling beams for the vast majority of their cooling needs! Rather than using heat sinks constantly and saving the cooling beam for shields, players can and should instead use the cooling beams constantly, to keep them cool during the more prolonged fights.
Wings
Wings are the ideal scenario, overcoming the shortcomings of AX weapons with sheer superior numbers. In this case, players might go for AX missile racks for damage, and multicannons for heart killing. Advanced Weapons become an even more viable choice, since a single synth could allow for the killing of multiple interceptors.
As far as other modules are concerned, players should remove any Guardian Module Reinforcements from their builds, since they will take constant damage while in the system. In fact, the only module that will not take damage is Guardian Hull Reinforcements, which may or may not be worth using depending on the duration of a given fight.
Stand together as one! Help retake 22460! Reclaim the hope of humanity!
Visit the Fleet Carrier Pandora in the Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7 system to outfit yourself for combat!
When Salvation fired the Proteus wave, he unleashed all the evil of the Thargoids, causing tens of thousands of deaths. But the worst thing he did was much worse; he gave humanity hope, only to rip it away. Since then, humanity has tried their best to forget 22460, to shove it into the furthest corner of our minds. But that hope still remains there, trapped inside a permit lock on planet HIP 22460 10 b.
This is why I'm calling all pilots, to what I'm calling Operation Pandora. We must reclaim that lost hope. We cannot let the Thargoids think they can take away our hope without a fight. We MUST retake 22460, or at least push deep enough into the system to discover what they did to the Proteus Wave, to prevent it from happening again. Only together can we stand against the darkness of a hopeless future.
This operation has two primary objectives:
Secondary Objective: Reclaim the Bright Sentinel.
The Bright Sentinel had vast amounts of Guardian technology on board, including the primary source of Salvation's modified Guardian weaponry. Since its destruction, the galaxy has turned against Azimuth, resulting in their sole remaining tech broker being inside Mbooni, which is permit locked for its own protection. This prevents all players without that permit from accessing these powerful new weapon options. It is critical than humanity reclaim the Bright Sentinel, and recover the vast knowledge trapped within, because as the war escalates, mankind will need every advantage they can get.
This will also serve as a test of the viability of Operation Pandora, to see whether the Thargoids can be repulsed, even for a short while.
To participate in this part of Operation Pandora, Commanders should drop into the wreck of Bright Sentinel and engage as many Thargoids as possible in the area, with the aim of ultimately returning it to human control. All bonds can be turned in at the fleet carrier Pandora, located 6ly away in Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7, or turned in back in the bubble, per player preference.
Players are highly encouraged to fight in wings, to maximize their individual effectiveness.
Primary Objective: Reclaim the Proteus Site
The true objective of Operation Pandora is to ultimately reclaim control of the Proteus Site, and discover what, exactly, the Thargoids did to turn Humanity's greatest weapon against itself. To achieve this goal, players should drop in above the Proteus Site, and attempt to fight off as many Thargoids as possible just outside the current exclusion zone.
Support System
To support this, the Fleet Carrier Pandora is currently located in the Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7 system, stocked with AX weaponry and all AX utilities, as well as redemption services. Players can stop here to repair and rearm on their way to fight in HIP 22460.
Ship Builds
HIP 22460 is the greatest challenge offered to humanity as yet. All Guardian technology in the area is slowly destroyed by the Proteus Wave, causing gradual integrity loss that will destroy them in around 100 seconds. This means that Guardian Weaponry is effectively not an option here.Because of this, players have a limited choice of weaponry, and wing combat is HIGHLY encouraged.
Firstly, and most importantly, a Shutdown Field Neutralizer is a near necessity. Approximately every four minutes, a new wave will drop in at any player. If this new arrival is an interceptor, they will always fire off a shutdown field, and if players are unprepared for this, they will take significant amounts of damage. All players should have a shutdown field neutralize equipped and ready to fire at all times.
Solo Players
Solo players should use primarily Fixed AX Multicannons, due to their capability to damage thargoid hearts. While they do less damage than AX missile racks, their ability to damage hearts make them the only real choice for serious solo play. However, due to their low damage, players using them should stick to Scouts and Cyclopses, only attempting to kill Basilisks if they have a wing or want a very serious challenge.
Alternatively, players can use Advanced Weapons. Advanced Weapons are human attempts to reproduce guardian technology, and can not only be engineered, they can break the experimental weapons limit. Advanced Missile Racks are the clear superior choice, but require constant synthesis, making them a poor choice for most players. Alternatively, Advanced c2 Multicannons, engineered for Sturdy and Auto Loader, are better than C3 AX multicannons, and once synthed, restore all ammo on death. With enough players, they should allow higher interceptors to be killed before the players need to die to restore ammo, making this cost effective!
Now, notably, AX and Advanced weapons generate very little heat, and draw very little distributor power compared to Guardian technology. Because of this, players can often use cooling beams for the vast majority of their cooling needs! Rather than using heat sinks constantly and saving the cooling beam for shields, players can and should instead use the cooling beams constantly, to keep them cool during the more prolonged fights.
Wings
Wings are the ideal scenario, overcoming the shortcomings of AX weapons with sheer superior numbers. In this case, players might go for AX missile racks for damage, and multicannons for heart killing. Advanced Weapons become an even more viable choice, since a single synth could allow for the killing of multiple interceptors.
As far as other modules are concerned, players should remove any Guardian Module Reinforcements from their builds, since they will take constant damage while in the system. In fact, the only module that will not take damage is Guardian Hull Reinforcements, which may or may not be worth using depending on the duration of a given fight.
Operation Pandora
It's time to stop being defensive, and take the fight to the Thargoids!Stand together as one! Help retake 22460! Reclaim the hope of humanity!
Visit the Fleet Carrier Pandora in the Pleiades Sector BL-X c1-7 system to outfit yourself for combat!
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