I was mulling on the behaviour of Thargoid so-called interceptors again the other day.
When we first met them, they scanned us and mostly let us continue on our way, unless we were carrying something which, in their view, we ought not to be.
Now we meet them in ostensibly hostile combat, yet their behaviour is strange from a tactical perspective. A Thargoid deploys into a system, and then once encountered, turns hostile but otherwise sits in place, drawing fire until destroyed. Some Thargoids provoke engagement, by attacking convoys, bases or stations. No Thargoid, to my knowledge, apart from the Orthrus, runs from the fight, even when heavily damaged. So are these truly "interceptors" - or are they something else?
I propose their behaviour is consistent with lures, and data recorders, rather than true combat vessels. They provoke an engagement from the best weapons, ships and pilots that humanity can muster. They draw weapon fire, consistently, to particular points: we call these hearts, but could just as well call them sensors: calorimeters, spectrometers. They only reveal targeting data when ships fly close, well inside sensor range: 500m or so, the range at which the engaging craft can also be scanned and measured. They probe mechanical (Thargon), energy (lightning) and data processing (shutdown wave) hardening of craft which engage them. They can observe a variety of tactics in engagement with single (interceptor), multiple (scout) or mass (thargon) hostiles, in open space and atmospheric evironments. The only Thargoid to run from the fight is the Orthrus, which has almost expressly a data-gathering function.
And now we have the Maelstroms, giant clouds with a mysterious core, into which pilots now willingly endlessly throw ships and materiel in a vain quest to make it to the centre. What the Thargoids do with all this, I do not know.
I have a feeling we are at present only being provoked and measured, rather than being truly fought.
When we first met them, they scanned us and mostly let us continue on our way, unless we were carrying something which, in their view, we ought not to be.
Now we meet them in ostensibly hostile combat, yet their behaviour is strange from a tactical perspective. A Thargoid deploys into a system, and then once encountered, turns hostile but otherwise sits in place, drawing fire until destroyed. Some Thargoids provoke engagement, by attacking convoys, bases or stations. No Thargoid, to my knowledge, apart from the Orthrus, runs from the fight, even when heavily damaged. So are these truly "interceptors" - or are they something else?
I propose their behaviour is consistent with lures, and data recorders, rather than true combat vessels. They provoke an engagement from the best weapons, ships and pilots that humanity can muster. They draw weapon fire, consistently, to particular points: we call these hearts, but could just as well call them sensors: calorimeters, spectrometers. They only reveal targeting data when ships fly close, well inside sensor range: 500m or so, the range at which the engaging craft can also be scanned and measured. They probe mechanical (Thargon), energy (lightning) and data processing (shutdown wave) hardening of craft which engage them. They can observe a variety of tactics in engagement with single (interceptor), multiple (scout) or mass (thargon) hostiles, in open space and atmospheric evironments. The only Thargoid to run from the fight is the Orthrus, which has almost expressly a data-gathering function.
And now we have the Maelstroms, giant clouds with a mysterious core, into which pilots now willingly endlessly throw ships and materiel in a vain quest to make it to the centre. What the Thargoids do with all this, I do not know.
I have a feeling we are at present only being provoked and measured, rather than being truly fought.
