A new threat could be added though.
Prediction of Azimuth saga conclusion
- Thread starter Condor
- Start date
A new threat could be added though.
Could be, but if the Thargoids were to go that's a long-established bit of Elite lore, plus all sorts of game assetts that are no longer of any use, so a lot of work.
Seems to me that when it is all said and done, there might be a few permit locked planetary bodies missing from HIP 22460. I imagine a view of the remnants might be worth checking out.
Sure, but there's still plenty of room for it to succeed on an immediate tactical level largely as advertised, destroying lots of Thargoid ships, and causing the rest to retreat from the Sol area ... for a couple of months before they return with a lot of reinforcements. Wouldn't even be the longest time - by far - that AX CZs have been out of the game.
From a pacing perspective, we've had pretty much every Galnet article and CG since the start of June be about the Thargoids either directly or indirectly, with just a couple of brief breaks to refuel the Golconda and to capture some minor crime lord ... going straight from that into "the weapon fails and now they're really mad" and yet more Thargoid storyline is risking getting a bit monotone. A bit of a break for them would be good.
Ok, so no actual idea. But perhaps: Thargoids are fully aware of this "weapon" and have already put in measures to turn it on its creators. All the PCs lured to HIP 22460 become Zombies when it is fired. Brains become a new rare commodity to transport in a CG to cure the zombie pandemic er ooops plague.
6 thargoid hive ships drop into HIP 22460 right next to the azimuth megaships and blow them straight to hell .. followed by the salvation superweapon firing and blowing them straight to hell.
The hive ships then crashland near the weapon site.... and its a massed battle to stop on foot thargoids from seizing the weapon, re-calibrating it and using it to kill every human FSD in the bubble (remember the FSD is based on reverse engineered thargoid tech)
Oh and the weapon woke up the guardian AI constructs which are as xenophobic as their creators were......
Bill
Or nothing (which is far more likely)
The hive ships then crashland near the weapon site.... and its a massed battle to stop on foot thargoids from seizing the weapon, re-calibrating it and using it to kill every human FSD in the bubble (remember the FSD is based on reverse engineered thargoid tech)
Oh and the weapon woke up the guardian AI constructs which are as xenophobic as their creators were......
Bill
Or nothing (which is far more likely)
I meant rather than removing thargoids (I agree that would be bad for the game) that the 'something big' be to add another threat.
Thargoid become non-hostile and we have an expended play-ground with new commodities, stations, ships, weapons, knowledge, etc.. What about that hmm?
I'm sitting on a small planet on Flame Sector SY-6 E3-2.
One jump away from this location is
COL 70 Sector NF-T C18-1
I'll wait until Thargsday to see if the permit lock is released. If it isn't, well I'll be disappointed but not surprised.
If it IS released, I'm jumping in, heading for COL 70 Sector FY-N C21-3.
Something has been up there for a number of years so far and damn it, I'm going to find out what.
"Cover me, boys! I'm going in!"
--- Most famous last words in history
It strikes me that it would be nice if the client, and - if so - server too, update finally put to rest the matter with how state changes propagate... It would be slightly anticlimactic, if some minutes after t-minus-zero, bewildered commanders had to scramble to relog, in order to see whatever it was that was supposed to happen... 
Maybe not immediately, but it would create a great opportunity. Could always just include the possibility for Thargoid incursions to destroy stations if you wanted to have more player involvement.
I doubt they’d do it either, but we can dream.
Starions are a dime a dozen to the powers...
Colonia and its bridge and the coal sack show that...
If one gets destroyed fully you just replace it no biggy, if that destroyed again just rebuild another...
if the system matters you have can have multi stations...
If one is stolen and taken back in time to the guardian Vs thargoid war, move on.
.No biggy just build another yet again...
Colonia and its bridge and the coal sack show that...
If one gets destroyed fully you just replace it no biggy, if that destroyed again just rebuild another...
if the system matters you have can have multi stations...
If one is stolen and taken back in time to the guardian Vs thargoid war, move on.
.No biggy just build another yet again...
URGENT Update!!
CMDR Thrust from Bradford reports the Proteus Wave did nothing except for frying all eggs in the system... oh, and cockpit cats
CMDR Thrust from Bradford reports the Proteus Wave did nothing except for frying all eggs in the system... oh, and cockpit cats
Just to give a wider perspective here, I've personally worked as a content provider on an MMO myself, as an Event Manager on Ultima Online, and there's a few things that limits what kind of content any game can actually have.
Firstly, there is the overall structure of the game engine; speaking in general terms here, it can't use anything that isn't patched in already, which means the core content is defined by the programmers, in all potential results of the "event"... usually they'll know exactly how they want it to go, but even if they don't, they will have to code for the win/lose results at least. In practical terms, that would mean art and models for both Thargoid captured stations, or wrecked Thargoid ships, for example. What you can't have is something unexpected or truly player driven, like suddenly one of the players is made King of the Thargoids... unless it's limited to Galnet articles or areas of the game incredibly easily changed, like text strings on Thargoid ships ("All Hail Mighty Insect Lord Cmdr X" etc) But that's risky because the devs will not want to tie themselves in to something they can't control; you don't want to have to suddenly deal with something problematic like CMDR X turning out to be trying to run a Neo- themed leadership, for example. So it has to be a script they can write with an iron fist.
Combined with the idea that the coming event "will change the face of the galaxy forever", which presumably means for Console users too, it can't be something which can go a path which will use specific assets the Console user base has no access too, as development there is being phased out; There can't be a new alien race with new art that takes over any station that console players can reach, because they can't see it in game. But a Thargoid "Empire" that gets more formalised, and appears on the map like the current human factions with boundary areas of control? That's doable, because they already have access to most (if not all) the Thargoid assets, especially those that can be used to indicate something simple like space controlled.
Now, if that makes sense, there's an issue that ED specifically has which limits the scope of the event itself; ED matches players by peer to peer syncing, not fixed servers. Over at UO, I could run a single adaptive event at a fixed time, because everyone who wanted to see it would be on the same server and the same results would propogate to all; I noticed when Drew Wagner was trying to freestyle events here however, he had to pop between groups over and over to manually seed the same content to tiny numbers of players as the gameplay results are only visible within that instance; There's no global backbone that allowed him to appear to everyone the same way at once.
Now, you can set a global event timer to make a global annoucement to all P2P groups active, as you can see them when warned "Server is shutting down" for example. And I think, but I'm not sure, that you can activate or disable certain pre-set up AI events (Conflict zones spawns etc) across the entire user base, as they appear and disappear when System State changes . (Whether you can do it on the fly or it's fixed by maintainence or patch schedule I don't know) So... pulling it all together, finally to what I think you'll actually see;
It'll be a set series of signal based fights, almost certainly thargoid space combat. You'll hear broadcasts saying "Weapon x% ready to fire" (that I believe has already been suggested elsewhere), but you the player won't be able to influence it at all. They could add it to a Community Goal for killing Thargoids for instance, but it would be foolish to do so; If you was, the obsessives could finish it before most of the player base got the chance to see it. As they have for so many. Surely Frontier have learned by now and it'll be held back a few days.
I don't think you'll see another race appear; allowing an entire set of content that Console players can't have will lead to even more negative press and player disgust. And you can't kill all the Thargoids without ruining traditional Elite lore...
(... and as an aside, I don't think taking out the Thargoid artwork, and saying "They're all dead in game" will do anything to bring the Console performance back into playable for Odyssey either, because it's an engine and optimization not file size issue...)
And Guardians wont be able to take the role of a new active alien race, unless somewhere in the game files for console you can squeeze in Guardian stations; they have to be visible on the galactic map to Console users, and it needs to "change the face of the galaxy" for them...
And as you can't predict when players will be on, or due to P2P networking who they will be with, you can't ensure they'll be seeded the special one off event. So it'll be roleplayed out. In game broadcast, and Galnet. Something like "Weapon fired! Look at all those thargoids die!" Then a few days of "Wrecked Thargoid Signals" around HIP24thingy...
Then Galnet article saying "Enraged Thargoids organise for full scale invasion and eradication of human existence." Thargoid control area appears on galactic map. If we're really, really lucky, there's a new mechanic that tracks anti-Thargoid victories, and allows the boundaries to shift like it does in PowerPlay ... if you can't add Thargoid new stations to Console players, simply hiding the human settlements and saying they've been destroyed by enraged Thargoids might work. And capturing the system back puts the stations back, but with a tiny population and economic rating. You couldn't have Guardians or anybody else fighting Thargoids as you'd have two factions that couldn't have local presence then... scorched earth that no one can enter all along the boundaries... unless Guardians put the human bases back too?
Or there's a pro-Xenos human faction appearing, disgusted with killing so many innocent Thargoid maidens and maggots; a 4th human faction, using all human art we already have, and fighting against the other 3 powers in Powerplay.
What you wont be getting is a particularly interesting one time event; the engine just doesn't allow it I'm afraid. It has to be implied, not experienced. Unless I'm really, really wrong and the new patch adds in player account based PvE flags, the hinted "narrative" means something at last, and you can start it by being there this week and doing a PvE event that's account, not P2P based.... but I really, really doubt they've been able to do that. Nope, a few days of AI signal zones, a message somewhere saying "zap zap kapow die Thargoids" (or even "Oh no, it blew up tonnes of human space instead, here comes the anti everyone human cult! 4th faction ahoy!") and there we go.
Firstly, there is the overall structure of the game engine; speaking in general terms here, it can't use anything that isn't patched in already, which means the core content is defined by the programmers, in all potential results of the "event"... usually they'll know exactly how they want it to go, but even if they don't, they will have to code for the win/lose results at least. In practical terms, that would mean art and models for both Thargoid captured stations, or wrecked Thargoid ships, for example. What you can't have is something unexpected or truly player driven, like suddenly one of the players is made King of the Thargoids... unless it's limited to Galnet articles or areas of the game incredibly easily changed, like text strings on Thargoid ships ("All Hail Mighty Insect Lord Cmdr X" etc) But that's risky because the devs will not want to tie themselves in to something they can't control; you don't want to have to suddenly deal with something problematic like CMDR X turning out to be trying to run a Neo- themed leadership, for example. So it has to be a script they can write with an iron fist.
Combined with the idea that the coming event "will change the face of the galaxy forever", which presumably means for Console users too, it can't be something which can go a path which will use specific assets the Console user base has no access too, as development there is being phased out; There can't be a new alien race with new art that takes over any station that console players can reach, because they can't see it in game. But a Thargoid "Empire" that gets more formalised, and appears on the map like the current human factions with boundary areas of control? That's doable, because they already have access to most (if not all) the Thargoid assets, especially those that can be used to indicate something simple like space controlled.
Now, if that makes sense, there's an issue that ED specifically has which limits the scope of the event itself; ED matches players by peer to peer syncing, not fixed servers. Over at UO, I could run a single adaptive event at a fixed time, because everyone who wanted to see it would be on the same server and the same results would propogate to all; I noticed when Drew Wagner was trying to freestyle events here however, he had to pop between groups over and over to manually seed the same content to tiny numbers of players as the gameplay results are only visible within that instance; There's no global backbone that allowed him to appear to everyone the same way at once.
Now, you can set a global event timer to make a global annoucement to all P2P groups active, as you can see them when warned "Server is shutting down" for example. And I think, but I'm not sure, that you can activate or disable certain pre-set up AI events (Conflict zones spawns etc) across the entire user base, as they appear and disappear when System State changes . (Whether you can do it on the fly or it's fixed by maintainence or patch schedule I don't know) So... pulling it all together, finally to what I think you'll actually see;
It'll be a set series of signal based fights, almost certainly thargoid space combat. You'll hear broadcasts saying "Weapon x% ready to fire" (that I believe has already been suggested elsewhere), but you the player won't be able to influence it at all. They could add it to a Community Goal for killing Thargoids for instance, but it would be foolish to do so; If you was, the obsessives could finish it before most of the player base got the chance to see it. As they have for so many. Surely Frontier have learned by now and it'll be held back a few days.
I don't think you'll see another race appear; allowing an entire set of content that Console players can't have will lead to even more negative press and player disgust. And you can't kill all the Thargoids without ruining traditional Elite lore...
(... and as an aside, I don't think taking out the Thargoid artwork, and saying "They're all dead in game" will do anything to bring the Console performance back into playable for Odyssey either, because it's an engine and optimization not file size issue...)
And Guardians wont be able to take the role of a new active alien race, unless somewhere in the game files for console you can squeeze in Guardian stations; they have to be visible on the galactic map to Console users, and it needs to "change the face of the galaxy" for them...
And as you can't predict when players will be on, or due to P2P networking who they will be with, you can't ensure they'll be seeded the special one off event. So it'll be roleplayed out. In game broadcast, and Galnet. Something like "Weapon fired! Look at all those thargoids die!" Then a few days of "Wrecked Thargoid Signals" around HIP24thingy...
Then Galnet article saying "Enraged Thargoids organise for full scale invasion and eradication of human existence." Thargoid control area appears on galactic map. If we're really, really lucky, there's a new mechanic that tracks anti-Thargoid victories, and allows the boundaries to shift like it does in PowerPlay ... if you can't add Thargoid new stations to Console players, simply hiding the human settlements and saying they've been destroyed by enraged Thargoids might work. And capturing the system back puts the stations back, but with a tiny population and economic rating. You couldn't have Guardians or anybody else fighting Thargoids as you'd have two factions that couldn't have local presence then... scorched earth that no one can enter all along the boundaries... unless Guardians put the human bases back too?
Or there's a pro-Xenos human faction appearing, disgusted with killing so many innocent Thargoid maidens and maggots; a 4th human faction, using all human art we already have, and fighting against the other 3 powers in Powerplay.
What you wont be getting is a particularly interesting one time event; the engine just doesn't allow it I'm afraid. It has to be implied, not experienced. Unless I'm really, really wrong and the new patch adds in player account based PvE flags, the hinted "narrative" means something at last, and you can start it by being there this week and doing a PvE event that's account, not P2P based.... but I really, really doubt they've been able to do that. Nope, a few days of AI signal zones, a message somewhere saying "zap zap kapow die Thargoids" (or even "Oh no, it blew up tonnes of human space instead, here comes the anti everyone human cult! 4th faction ahoy!") and there we go.
I, for one, welcome our Thargoids overlords.
Proteus Wave shutd Thargoids in HIP 22460 down, loud shriek is heard throughout galaxy, massive retaliation of Thargoid attacks throughout core systems disrupting the whole of human government resulting in the collapse of of the powers and a full-scale galactic exodus toward Colonia resulting in multi-bubbular (officially a word now) powers system
Hooo maybe FD figured a way out of the faction/superpower bazar : collapse superpowers, remodel the Bubble to have someting less shallow.
I’m gonna go with…the concentration of Guardian Artifacts awakens the Guardian AI which causes a massive influx of Guardian ships to essentially death ball their way across the bubble. A second guess would be the Guardian AI takes over the surface site and creates a Guardian Thargoid hybrid mothership to rise from the ground. About the size of a Coriolis that flies around the Galaxy annihilating various systems. Probably unkillable until the necessary technology is developed. A man can dream!
Something Guardian but fully optional. They'll never touch the precious BGS princesses' work of YEARS (insert tears here).