Thargoid Interactions

[Louis Calvert]

Here's a little hypothesis to work on;
The Thargoid menace attacked our systems all those years ago and as a result we created a way to disable their jump drives rendering them unable to go get reinforcements. As a result they couldn't gather resources either. So instead they crash landed into the planets and started about a metamorphosis into what we now know as Thargoid Barnacles, These barnacles once they are mature will start to produce smaller offspring and caretaker type units which scavenge and repair any wounded thargoid offspring. Eventually after a set amount of resources have been collected by the barnacle and its offspring a new metamorphosis occurs whereby the barnacle mass transforms into a Base. This Base then continues producing Scavengers and eventually starts seeding itself by laying eggs in its central chamber. These eggs are in fact what we see as Flowership's and once they are mature are launched from the top of the base into space with even more "barnacle seeds", these then start to deploy probes into the systems around searching for hostile threats and suitable planets for reseeding and extraction. The Flowership's take this data and relay it back to their home base, they also take any organic mater in any state and return to process it for further unit and base reinforcement. The response we see from the Flowership's now is purely a instinctive behavior learnt from the previous hosts which were persecuted by humans. I dont believe this is the final stage in the design of the thargoid's, i think that the base will transform once more into a war station and start producing soldiers. The reason that we don't see these current thargoid's flying off to get reinforcements is they probably considered inferior and weak by their original race and therefore must adapt and survive without a queen. However if the original race has come into contact then they are fully aware of the threat we represent as a race and are coming to eradicate us.

This is my hypothesis and i believe this is highly likely the correct chain events in the re emergence of the thargoid race.

That's an interesting theory!

I would say though that the ground bases we're finding are from the old Thargoids, they aren't new. They are damaged and there's what seems to be mycoid damage on them (from comparisons with the stuff at the INRA base and the crashed scout ship). The "eggs" are more likely to be blisters or boils, as a result of the mycoid virus. The Scavengers seem to be just left there dumping something on the wounded areas, it's likely this was an early attempt to heal the bases, I think they're just relics of the past rather than something newly growing (that's why several are dead, and have bits collapsed).

I think you're broadly correct though, from all the bits and pieces we know it seems like these Thargoids we're encountering now are "newly born" and are emerging from somewhere. Either they are emerging from the Pleiades or travelling there without interacting with anything else - there are no interactions with Thargoids outside around 150ly of Merope. I don't think the ships are "grown" from humans, since Thargoids are ammonia-based and humans water-based, and so to them we'd be super-hot organism that would literally burn them on contact. It's more likely they are either researching ways to kill humans, or implanting them with brain-slugs and returning them to the bubble as spies!.

It does seem that it's likely that their "home systems" are in the Col70 sector, although why there's been no Thargoid encounters around the borders of that area is unclear. From FFE lore the Pleiades was the Thargoid "Forward Staging Area". But that doesn't really explain why they seem to interested in that area and no-where else in the Galaxy (that we can get to). I do think the ships we're seeing now are animals, I don't think they have "pilots" at all, they're grown and are sentient.

The Barnacles do seem to be an outgrowth of something. We've seen the ships interacting with them and "extracting" something. We know the ships also seem to like Meta-Alloys when they're given them. It seems that meta-alloys are important to them.

I suspect that they are building something in deep space. A space-station or something similar, or a new fleet, or shipping the meta-alloys back to their home systems? They don't really seem to care about planets very much but we know they collected a lot of data on them via the Probes. It seems likely that the Barnacles are mines/factories, generating the resources the Thargoids need.

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I think the same (posted it earlier in this thread).

Also, how do we define caustic? As from acid or base or some organism eating metallic hull of our ships?

I think that regarding acids and bases, the hull of human ships should be pretty safe. It can withstand radiation and temperature - to some degree of course. So, it should be able to hold against acids and bases. The metal eating bio-weapon is logical conclusion IMO.

You obviously didn't see the recent BBC programme on alien life; I posted on it, probably in the closed Canonn or follow up threads. On Earth the pH range goes from 0 to 14. On alien worlds with different chemistries and atmospheric conditions it can go (if my bad memory is working properly) from around -26 to +40, hence super-corrosive acids and alkalis. If thargoid chemistry is really ammonia-based and they prefer different atmospheric conditions then their bodily fluids might do really nasty things to humans and human technology, so a GGG (Goid Goo Gun^TM) is a real possibility!

AX MCs are available now then?

Yep, got one in Shin Dhez yesterday; only class two but fixed and gimballed available.
I also want to know what the effect is on human/noc ships!

 

[Jorki Rasalas]

I don't knew what they are 

Clones engineered for ED culinary duties. wiki is your friend!

 

[son of khzvoltz]

thargoids (from what I have seen) dislike the gaurdians.

either: guardians where thargoids ancestors, which thargoids are their weapons (similar to human v human combat) but turned against them (kinda Cliché ik)

or the Guardians where against the thargoids (posed a huge threat to their kind ect)

I wouldn't know, I'm not a therorist

 

[Louis Calvert]

thargoids (from what I have seen) dislike the gaurdians.

either: guardians where thargoids ancestors, which thargoids are their weapons (similar to human v human combat) but turned against them (kinda Cliché ik)

or the Guardians where against the thargoids (posed a huge threat to their kind ect)

I wouldn't know, I'm not a therorist

Yep, and interestingly dropping Tharg tech in Guardian sites does nothing at all (tried it myself!).

So that suggests that the reaction might be because it's specifically the Thargoids that don't like the Guardians, enough to react strongly against the tech, rather than a mutual dislike, or the Guardians just didn't program any sort of adverse reaction into their technology like the Thargoids did in theirs!

Personally I think this combined with no mention of Aliens at all in the Guardian history (that we know of), that suggests that the Thargoids are in some way the product of the Guardians, but that the link is something the Guardians didn't know about. Either an evolved creature that retained just enough memory of being hunted by the Guardians (makes little sense due to differences in chemical physiology), or they are the descendants of either the Guardians themselves (significantly altered for some reason) or the evolved from of the Guardian AI (which sort-of fits, more than any other specific link).

There's quite a lot of possibilities when you take into account 1-2 million years of history and a species that's adept at bio-engineering and fairly advanced mechanical technology. Thargoids might have been made as sewer cleaners of Guardian research outposts for all we know.

 

[William J Smith]

And I think the thargoids are becoming more aggressive towards us puny humans

Eg, dropped a bunch of meta alloys for a thargoid in a USS last night.... damn thing ignores them and procedes to try and turn me into bug food.

Praise Palin for blessing me with a god roll when I tuned my Asp's 5A thrusters [cool]

Bill

Oh and the PDT for shooting down that missile lobbed in my direction too

 

[M. Volgrand]

I see a very interesting theory about the Thargoids "marking" us, so our previous actions may influence on how they react to us.

I believe that would be worth an in-depth study. A group of commanders may coordinate to record some thargoid reactions on equal circumstances. I would propose the following study:

1) Gather three commanders: One that has destroyed some thargoid ships, one that has not interacted with the thargoids, and one that has filled the thargoids with loads of meta alloys and never engaged them.
2) Each commanders sepparately finds an NHSS threat 5 with no cargo.
3) Fully stop and let the Thargoid scan the commander. Note its reactions.
4) Recod the whole event on a public video.

 

[Louis Calvert]

I see a very interesting theory about the Thargoids "marking" us, so our previous actions may influence on how they react to us.

I believe that would be worth an in-depth study. A group of commanders may coordinate to record some thargoid reactions on equal circumstances. I would propose the following study:

1) Gather three commanders: One that has destroyed some thargoid ships, one that has not interacted with the thargoids, and one that has filled the thargoids with loads of meta alloys and never engaged them.
2) Each commanders sepparately finds an NHSS threat 5 with no cargo.
3) Fully stop and let the Thargoid scan the commander. Note its reactions.
4) Recod the whole event on a public video.

I've fed them many times and never once shot them. Even carrying Guardian items on me I still have time to scan them fully and move away before they aggro me. I've also been hyperdicted by them and all they do is scan and leave. To me they appear totally non hostile. I don't even back away when scanning, they actually move off themselves and just ignore me afterwards.

 

[Reido]

I've just had a new (at least to me) encounter.

I was in system Pleiades Sector HR-W d1-21, which is about 75lys from Merope, so half-way to the sensor shell when I dropped into a NHSS5 (confirmed by EDDiscovery) and saw that there was nothing there at all, except a Thargoid sensor, no wreckage, no green cloud and no Thargoid Cyclops...yet.

Just seconds after I scooped up the Sensor I hear Betty say, "Frame-shift anomaly detected" and a Thargoid Cyclops drops in behind me. Just as I get flipped around it EMP's me and then starts a scan. I'm dead in space and figure it really wants it's sensor back, but I've got no power to jettison it. Just a few seconds after it finished it's scan while it's waiting, my systems reboot and I get my power back and get rid of the Sensor, then back off as the Cyclops scoops it up and then jumps out. Also interesting is that EDDiscovery listed the Thargoid Sensor I scooped up as "stolen", which I guess is technically correct

My "Thargoid Imprint" value is still at 30, but I've dropped into dozens of NHSS5's and had peaceful encounters with the usual mutual scan and with them turning away to do their usual behavior and me occasionally trying to scoop up an escape pod with limpets. I have learned that they REALLY don't like it when you win the tug-of-war over an escape pod. They'll go hostile and attack. That one attack hasn't affected the imprint value, and the encounters after that have been the same peaceful ones as before, so a single transgression doesn't seem to register.

Reido (CMDR Andrew Reid)

 

[CmdrZaratan]

I've just had a new (at least to me) encounter.

I was in system Pleiades Sector HR-W d1-21, which is about 75lys from Merope, so half-way to the sensor shell when I dropped into a NHSS5 (confirmed by EDDiscovery) and saw that there was nothing there at all, except a Thargoid sensor, no wreckage, no green cloud and no Thargoid Cyclops...yet.

Just seconds after I scooped up the Sensor I hear Betty say, "Frame-shift anomaly detected" and a Thargoid Cyclops drops in behind me. Just as I get flipped around it EMP's me and then starts a scan. I'm dead in space and figure it really wants it's sensor back, but I've got no power to jettison it. Just a few seconds after it finished it's scan while it's waiting, my systems reboot and I get my power back and get rid of the Sensor, then back off as the Cyclops scoops it up and then jumps out. Also interesting is that EDDiscovery listed the Thargoid Sensor I scooped up as "stolen", which I guess is technically correct

My "Thargoid Imprint" value is still at 30, but I've dropped into dozens of NHSS5's and had peaceful encounters with the usual mutual scan and with them turning away to do their usual behavior and me occasionally trying to scoop up an escape pod with limpets. I have learned that they REALLY don't like it when you win the tug-of-war over an escape pod. They'll go hostile and attack. That one attack hasn't affected the imprint value, and the encounters after that have been the same peaceful ones as before, so a single transgression doesn't seem to register.

Reido (CMDR Andrew Reid)

That's a neat one.

If it was stolen after you jettisoned, but not before, then that's normal. You need to use Jettison (Abandon) to prevent the stolen part.

 

[TheHavoc]

I see a very interesting theory about the Thargoids "marking" us, so our previous actions may influence on how they react to us.

I believe that would be worth an in-depth study. A group of commanders may coordinate to record some thargoid reactions on equal circumstances. I would propose the following study:

1) Gather three commanders: One that has destroyed some thargoid ships, one that has not interacted with the thargoids, and one that has filled the thargoids with loads of meta alloys and never engaged them.
2) Each commanders sepparately finds an NHSS threat 5 with no cargo.
3) Fully stop and let the Thargoid scan the commander. Note its reactions.
4) Recod the whole event on a public video.

I consider this really worth trying, unfortunately I currently have no wingmates to do that.

 

[Reido]

That's a neat one.

If it was stolen after you jettisoned, but not before, then that's normal. You need to use Jettison (Abandon) to prevent the stolen part.

EDDiscovery lists it as stolen as soon as I scooped it up. I filtered my "collect cargo" entries and my alt account has picked up 3 Thargoid sensors in NHSS5's, and only one was listed as stolen, whereas my main account has picked up one Sensor (stolen) and one Probe. It must be the circumstances and/or context that they're picked up in that makes them labeled as stolen.

I play in VR, so I only check my EDDiscovery log after a session, so it's going to be hard for me to correlate the different states with the context I picked them up in, perhaps that's something someone else would like to take on.

EDIT: Additional Info

This isn't strictly "Encounter" related, but might effect them at some point in the future. I visited another inactive Thargoid structure (site TS0003 - Pleiades Sector OS-U c2-7). My "Thargoid Imprint" value was 30 before I landed, then I collected all 10 MA's and scanned all scavengers with no change to the value, but it did increment by 1 for each uplink scanned for an additional 15 points for an inactive site.

I also tested again by moving my ship out away from the "settlement" zone and then logging off and then back on again and found I couldn't scan any uplinks as I received a message that they had already been scanned. I only received 10 text messages out of the 15 uplinks scanned.

After dropping into dozens of NHSS5's and then finally losing my ship after having another tug-of-war with an Interceptor over an escape pod, I think I'm done playing around with them except for testing out this imprint value while also giving them some MA's, and I've still got 213 sites left to scan.


Reido (CMDR Andrew Reid)

 

[Assimilator1]

Did you know there are now 220 TSs?

 

[Louis Calvert]

Did you know there are now 220 TSs?

What's a TSs?

 

[son of khzvoltz]

ts: Thargoid sensor

TL Thargoid link

TP Thargoid probe

 

[Codger]

What's a TSs?

He's using the previous meaning of TS, Thargoid Structure. Those places.

Now that the former UAs are Thargoid Sensors, also TS, it's become confusing.

 

[Louis Calvert]

He's using the previous meaning of TS, Thargoid Structure. Those places.

Now that the former UAs are Thargoid Sensors, also TS, it's become confusing.

Thanks!

 

[Assimilator1]

ts: Thargoid sensor

TL Thargoid link

TP Thargoid probe

Nope , TS as in Thargoid Structure, an acronym still being used for them, TS Cannon 3D map.

He's using the previous meaning of TS, Thargoid Structure. Those places.

Now that the former UAs are Thargoid Sensors, also TS, it's become confusing.

Ah yeah, good point!
Although I was replying to Reido who was talking about Thargoid structures, & there are a finite number of those (220 atm) .

 

[LCU No Fool Like One]

Ive been trying for a while to get a Thargoid to follow me into an Asteroid Field specifically trying to get them to Sister's Refuge so I can film them from the safety of the station.

Today I managed to drop a couple of NHSS at about 100k from the station and the thargoids I dropped in on stopped whatever they were doing and jumped out of the system. I was unarmed so didn't get a chance make them chase me.

I went and got some guns and tried again. This time I was about 340k from the station I opened fire and turned tail for the cover of the asteroids. The Thargoid and Swarm had no trouble getting through the field. But I had a lot of trouble keeping them in range because I was fast and they would sometimes drop back very quickly. I lost them a couple of times but got them back when I returned to look for them

The most extraordinary thing was that the Thargoid had opened a wormhole but failed to jump. It just stat there spinning with a swirling vortex in front of it joined by golden lines. I did a few flybys and even attempted to go through the wormhole ahead of the Thargoid, but there is an exclusion zone.

I hung around for a bit and only left when the Thargons got me down to 28%

It would be great to try that again and destroy the thargons, then I could hang out and film and take pictures.

I have some screenshots and footage but they were shot at 620kms

Click the spoiler to see the moment I prepared myself to jump to Raxxla

Spoiler

 

[Drelthar]

It's probably already been tried, but as I haven't 100% kept up with every Thargoid thread...

Someone has tried dropping an Ancient Relic and immediately shooting it in front of a Thargoid right?



Like in that image FD posted on their twitter account at one point?