Thargoid experiment

[EponymousCowherd]

After encountering a Thargoid in my regular PvE Cutter I noticed something unusual. While the 'Goid managed to bypass my shields, it did very little damage to the shields themselves (Class 8 G5 BiWeave) and zero damage to any modules. It was all hull damage. They took a minute or so to take the hull down to 50%, at which point I bugged out.

So I get access to Selene Jean, Fit Military bulkheads and two hull reinforcement modules and get the lot engineered up to G5. Hull integrity now 2990 (from 750).

Pop back to the Pleiades, drop in on a Threat 5 'Goid and start annoying it with my 4 ax multicannon and ax Taipan.

5 minutes later I'm down to 1 ring of shield and 50% hull. Zero module damage.

Suddenly, kapowee! Shields drop, thusters fail, kaboom, in about 10 seconds.

So it seems the 'Goids either have some rare weapon effect that will take your shields down instantaneously or their ability to hit modules depends on your current shield level (can't really see this, shields don't work like that) or they can hit modules through shields, and, while it's rare, it's causes huge damage.

Other observations. AX Taipan lasts about 30 seconds when flown by NPC pilot.

 

[CmdrZaratan]

After encountering a Thargoid in my regular PvE Cutter I noticed something unusual. While the 'Goid managed to bypass my shields, it did very little damage to the shields themselves (Class 8 G5 BiWeave) and zero damage to any modules. It was all hull damage. They took a minute or so to take the hull down to 50%, at which point I bugged out.

So I get access to Selene Jean, Fit Military bulkheads and two hull reinforcement modules and get the lot engineered up to G5. Hull integrity now 2990 (from 750).

Pop back to the Pleiades, drop in on a Threat 5 'Goid and start annoying it with my 4 ax multicannon and ax Taipan.

5 minutes later I'm down to 1 ring of shield and 50% hull. Zero module damage.

Suddenly, kapowee! Shields drop, thusters fail, kaboom, in about 10 seconds.

So it seems the 'Goids either have some rare weapon effect that will take your shields down instantaneously or their ability to hit modules depends on your current shield level (can't really see this, shields don't work like that) or they can hit modules through shields, and, while it's rare, it's causes huge damage.

Other observations. AX Taipan lasts about 30 seconds when flown by NPC pilot.

The most likely cause for what you saw there is the Thargon swarm turning into missiles. Those missiles do a crap pile of module damage if your shields drop.

Also after you drop one heart the Thargoid starts using a lightning cannon attack which will eat through shields really fast.

 

[M. Volgrand]

After encountering a Thargoid in my regular PvE Cutter I noticed something unusual. While the 'Goid managed to bypass my shields, it did very little damage to the shields themselves (Class 8 G5 BiWeave) and zero damage to any modules. It was all hull damage. They took a minute or so to take the hull down to 50%, at which point I bugged out.

So I get access to Selene Jean, Fit Military bulkheads and two hull reinforcement modules and get the lot engineered up to G5. Hull integrity now 2990 (from 750).

Pop back to the Pleiades, drop in on a Threat 5 'Goid and start annoying it with my 4 ax multicannon and ax Taipan.

5 minutes later I'm down to 1 ring of shield and 50% hull. Zero module damage.

Suddenly, kapowee! Shields drop, thusters fail, kaboom, in about 10 seconds.

So it seems the 'Goids either have some rare weapon effect that will take your shields down instantaneously or their ability to hit modules depends on your current shield level (can't really see this, shields don't work like that) or they can hit modules through shields, and, while it's rare, it's causes huge damage.

Other observations. AX Taipan lasts about 30 seconds when flown by NPC pilot.

yeah, as pointed above, probably you got hit by the Thargoid drones as missiles. They do a lot of damage, that's why I have my shield boosters modded for extra explosive resistance.