After energetic community participation in last week's community goals, I was really hoping for a strong follow up -- especially in light of this growing Thargoid threat. So when the new goals were announced, I jumped in with both feet. ...or I tried to.
Turns out that, for a solo player, the Rescue Operation in HIP 17692 has some real barriers that probably explain the low participation numbers (compared to last week's). As someone new to Thargoid hunting (and without a successful solo under my belt), my experience went like this:
(1) Hmmm, no escape pod recovery missions on the mission boards in this system; we must be expected to find them in USS's.
(2) Lessee, my experience is that Thargoid Cyclops aren't aggressive (unless you attack them), so I'll take my AspX out in recovery missions to pull them from the wreckage of a Thargoid encounter. Because the only thing more boring than trolling for rare USS's is flying over uninteresting terrain looking for POIs and then hoping those eventually turn out to be escape pods needing to be picked up, laboriously, by an SRV that only holds two at a time.
(3) [Many, many long minutes later, still flying aimlessly in supercruise] <sigh> Nothing but Basilisk and Medusa USS's -- thanks, Frontier, for making this every bit as exciting as trolling for rare USS's when hunting engineering mats... <yawn>
(4) [Impatience sets in] Okay, screw it, I haven't found any escape pod/distress USS's and the ONE Cyclops USS I found contained a Cyclops who promptly vacuumed up the single escape pod before I could get to it. I've had it; I'm dropping into the next USS I find, to see if I can rescue my fellow human before the Thargoid sucks him up and has its way with him!
(5) [Basilisk USS spawns.] Okay, here we go. Cyclops aren't aggressive unless you provoke them. Basilisks are probably the same, right? RIGHT?
(6) [Our intrepid pilot drops in, sees the Basilisk, and it sees him. The two aliens wave politely at each other. I see several occupied escape pods] "Woot! Jackpot!" [Programming limpet drone]
(7) Basilisk launches his Thargons. Pilot is pretty sure this is just a display, right? Right?! Pilot sends out limpet to collect occupied escape pod.
(8) Thargoid displays its extreme displeasure. Against an AspX setup for LR jumps and planetary scan missions, this happens very quickly.
(9) Pilot reflects on how much fun that was while looking at the rebuy screen.
(10) Pilot contemplates using his AXaconda for participating in the community goal ...and then realizes that he'd have to give up module space used for survivability against the 'goids (HRPs and/or SCBs) for a cargo rack to hold the escape pod (against the off chance he actually managed to beat the Thargoid and the escape pod was still there and could be found after that long battle). Pilot decides to go elsewhere and await a more accessible community goal and/or some change that made solo Thargoid hunting less of a snooze fest.
Here's what I was hoping for as some possible, imaginative, community goals:
(A) Some story that allows the community to work toward a new type of Xeno scanner that would operate in supercruise, like our sensors do when bounty hunting humans -- you know, where we could see the Thargoids system wide, scan them (at least for size/danger), and ONLY spend time going after the ones that, you know, you actually have a snowball's chance of fighting successfully. Or, basically, ANY mechanism that made finding a Thargoid you could actually fight more exciting than trolling for that rare HGE USS that never spawns.
(B) A collaboration between engineers, perhaps Selene Jean and Prof Palin, so one could engineer corrosion resistance into one's hull (or shields). (As opposed to the frustrating new tech we just got as a random content add that provides anti-corrosion limpets for people operating as a wing, where they're able to give up module space for limpets and still have a hope in hell of taking down a Thargoid, but which does nothing for us vast number of (mostly) solo players). Or, just as good, the opportunity to work as a community toward the development of a new type of AX armor for our ships, which would have corrosion resistance. (This would also be a good money sink, which the game always needs).
(C) A community goal that would result in the creation of a new type of fighter hangar that would (finally!) provide an escape pod for our NPC SLF fighters. So that our willingness risk our ships in order to defend humanity didn't also result in the sociopathic willingness to subject our co-pilots to permadeath while we selfishly took our ship's one escape pod for ourselves...
(D) Some second community goal that wasn't rescinded shortly after being rolled out because ...oops, we didn't really think that through, did we? ;-) (At least, I suspect that was the case with the second one, "Combat Operation in HIP 17692." Because there ain't no combat bonds available where there ain't no CZz. Although that one is weird, because that goal disappeared for awhile, then seems to have reappeared in another system, then disappeared again. Or is that a bug?
Still, I *want* to contribute to the community goal. (And, tbh, I want a Thargoid heart for my trophy case) So I guess I'm going to go out and see if I can rescue someone in my AXaconda and then get away from the enraged Thargoid by high-waking out if it turns out I can't beat it. Wish me luck!
Turns out that, for a solo player, the Rescue Operation in HIP 17692 has some real barriers that probably explain the low participation numbers (compared to last week's). As someone new to Thargoid hunting (and without a successful solo under my belt), my experience went like this:
(1) Hmmm, no escape pod recovery missions on the mission boards in this system; we must be expected to find them in USS's.
(2) Lessee, my experience is that Thargoid Cyclops aren't aggressive (unless you attack them), so I'll take my AspX out in recovery missions to pull them from the wreckage of a Thargoid encounter. Because the only thing more boring than trolling for rare USS's is flying over uninteresting terrain looking for POIs and then hoping those eventually turn out to be escape pods needing to be picked up, laboriously, by an SRV that only holds two at a time.
(3) [Many, many long minutes later, still flying aimlessly in supercruise] <sigh> Nothing but Basilisk and Medusa USS's -- thanks, Frontier, for making this every bit as exciting as trolling for rare USS's when hunting engineering mats... <yawn>
(4) [Impatience sets in] Okay, screw it, I haven't found any escape pod/distress USS's and the ONE Cyclops USS I found contained a Cyclops who promptly vacuumed up the single escape pod before I could get to it. I've had it; I'm dropping into the next USS I find, to see if I can rescue my fellow human before the Thargoid sucks him up and has its way with him!
(5) [Basilisk USS spawns.] Okay, here we go. Cyclops aren't aggressive unless you provoke them. Basilisks are probably the same, right? RIGHT?
(6) [Our intrepid pilot drops in, sees the Basilisk, and it sees him. The two aliens wave politely at each other. I see several occupied escape pods] "Woot! Jackpot!" [Programming limpet drone]
(7) Basilisk launches his Thargons. Pilot is pretty sure this is just a display, right? Right?! Pilot sends out limpet to collect occupied escape pod.
(8) Thargoid displays its extreme displeasure. Against an AspX setup for LR jumps and planetary scan missions, this happens very quickly.
(9) Pilot reflects on how much fun that was while looking at the rebuy screen.
(10) Pilot contemplates using his AXaconda for participating in the community goal ...and then realizes that he'd have to give up module space used for survivability against the 'goids (HRPs and/or SCBs) for a cargo rack to hold the escape pod (against the off chance he actually managed to beat the Thargoid and the escape pod was still there and could be found after that long battle). Pilot decides to go elsewhere and await a more accessible community goal and/or some change that made solo Thargoid hunting less of a snooze fest.
Here's what I was hoping for as some possible, imaginative, community goals:
(A) Some story that allows the community to work toward a new type of Xeno scanner that would operate in supercruise, like our sensors do when bounty hunting humans -- you know, where we could see the Thargoids system wide, scan them (at least for size/danger), and ONLY spend time going after the ones that, you know, you actually have a snowball's chance of fighting successfully. Or, basically, ANY mechanism that made finding a Thargoid you could actually fight more exciting than trolling for that rare HGE USS that never spawns.
(B) A collaboration between engineers, perhaps Selene Jean and Prof Palin, so one could engineer corrosion resistance into one's hull (or shields). (As opposed to the frustrating new tech we just got as a random content add that provides anti-corrosion limpets for people operating as a wing, where they're able to give up module space for limpets and still have a hope in hell of taking down a Thargoid, but which does nothing for us vast number of (mostly) solo players). Or, just as good, the opportunity to work as a community toward the development of a new type of AX armor for our ships, which would have corrosion resistance. (This would also be a good money sink, which the game always needs).
(C) A community goal that would result in the creation of a new type of fighter hangar that would (finally!) provide an escape pod for our NPC SLF fighters. So that our willingness risk our ships in order to defend humanity didn't also result in the sociopathic willingness to subject our co-pilots to permadeath while we selfishly took our ship's one escape pod for ourselves...
(D) Some second community goal that wasn't rescinded shortly after being rolled out because ...oops, we didn't really think that through, did we? ;-) (At least, I suspect that was the case with the second one, "Combat Operation in HIP 17692." Because there ain't no combat bonds available where there ain't no CZz. Although that one is weird, because that goal disappeared for awhile, then seems to have reappeared in another system, then disappeared again. Or is that a bug?
Still, I *want* to contribute to the community goal. (And, tbh, I want a Thargoid heart for my trophy case) So I guess I'm going to go out and see if I can rescue someone in my AXaconda and then get away from the enraged Thargoid by high-waking out if it turns out I can't beat it. Wish me luck!
...Or are there vast populations of folks flying about in wings of 2-6+, not visible to me (when I fly non-solo, it's only in Mobius PVE and I don't do that often), who are literally slaughtering Thargoids by the hundreds or thousands? That's hard to imagine.