Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

[Aleks Zuno]

Week 74, 25th April 3310​

Maelstrom Hadad
Spire: 43% progress at Col 285 Sector SX-Z b14-0; 100% needed to remove two Spire sites.
Most Commanders will be found attacking the alternative Spire site at Col 285 Sector US-Z b14-7 instead.
Peripheral Alerts and Controls: Awaiting 85% peripheral progress.
These are Muruidooges and Col 285 Sectors RM-B b14-4, QM-B b14-2, RM-B b14-3, SH-B b14-4, KW-M c7-12, KW-M c7-30 and QM-B b14-7.
Non-peripheral Controls: Order open for Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-4. Week 74 targets

Report
One Invasion defended at Nu Guang.
One Control eviction at HR 2204.
In addition to the defended Invasion, one recaptured system starting Recovery is HR 2204.

Targets updated at 08:00 27th April 3310
Auaker Invasion 86% *86.1% — Thor 36 Ly, 2 ports, 386 Ls 0.4g planet attack
Muruidooges Alert 84% *84.3% — Hadad 18 Ly, 1018 Ls starport, 7321 Ls outpost, 7320 Ls planet
Kagutsuchi Invasion 50% *51.5% — Indra 22 Ly, 5 ports, 42 Ls 0.17g planet + 85 Ls outpost attack
Col 285 Sector SX-Z b14-0 Matrix 42% *42.9% — Hadad 19 Ly
Asletae Invasion 32% *32.3% — Cocijo 29 Ly, 4 ports, 93 Ls 0.5g planet attack
65 Kappa Tauri Invasion 28% *28.5% — Indra 25 Ly, 2 ports, 72k Ls 0.18g planet attack
Hyades Sector CR-J a10-1 Alert 18% — Indra 27 Ly
HIP 20527 Alert 14% *14.1% — Indra 23 Ly, 595 Ls starport, 834 Ls outpost
Pegasi Sector ON-S b4-2 Alert 12% — Raijin 27 Ly
HIP 113535 Control 12% — Raijin 20 Ly, 3842 strength
80 Tauri Alert 10% *10.3% — Indra 26 Ly
HIP 20719 Alert 10% *10.1% — Indra 28 Ly, 1426 Ls outpost, 1417 Ls planet
HIP 117177 Invasion 10% — Raijin 25 Ly, 3 ports, 213 Ls outpost attack
Arietis Sector NS-R a5-1 Alert 6% — Indra 26 Ly
Pegasi Sector OY-O a7-0 Alert 4% *5.7% — Raijin 28 Ly
Arietis Sector LM-V b2-2 Control 4% *5.6% — Indra 25 Ly, 809 strength
HIP 20485 Alert 4% *5.6% — Indra 21 Ly, 27 Ls starport
Pegasi Sector SP-L a9-1 Alert 4% — Raijin 28 Ly
Pegasi Sector HH-U b3-7 Control 4% — Raijin 29 Ly, 494 strength
Arietis Sector DA-Z b3 Control 4% — Indra 25 Ly, 826 strength
Hyades Sector BR-J a10-0 Control 4% — Indra 26 Ly, 816 strength
Hyades Sector JH-U b3-5 Control 4% — Indra 26 Ly, 756 strength
Hyades Sector LC-U b3-4 Control 4% — Indra 25 Ly, 822 strength
Hyades Sector UO-Q b5-2 Control 4% — Indra 26 Ly, 759 strength
Obamumbo Alert 2% *2.8% — Indra 19 Ly, 10 Ls starport, 17 Ls outpost
Isla Alert 2% *2.6% — Raijin 24 Ly, 888 Ls starport, 2193 Ls outpost
Pegasi Sector JS-Q a6-2 Alert 2% *2.4% — Raijin 28 Ly
Chibis Invasion 2% — Cocijo 25 Ly, 3 ports, 1149 Ls outpost attack
Pegasi Sector KC-U b3-1 Alert 2% — Raijin 28 Ly
Pegasi Sector NY-O a7-3 Control 2% — Raijin 25 Ly, 878 strength

Notes
The Alert report lists predicted attackers.

Week 73, 18th April 3310​

Report
Eighteen Alerts repelled at HIPs 29217 and 21099, Col 285 Sectors OB-D b13-0, RM-B b14-7, OR-B b14-9, VS-Z b14-1, OR-B b14-8, VS-Z b14-6, GF-G b11-5, KB-O c6-10, MQ-F b11-3, SH-C b13-1 and QX-U d2-47, 78 Theta-2 Tauri, Pegasi Sector VK-L a9-3, Hyades Sectors IH-U b3-3 and JH-U b3-4, and HR 1403.
Six Invasions defended at Koko Oh, Unktety, HIPs 20492, 19781 and 20616, and Hyades Sector ST-Q b5-4.
Seven Control evictions at Col 285 Sectors SH-B b14-2, VS-Z b14-0, PM-B b14-1, PM-B b14-2, SH-B b14-6, US-Z b14-0 and RM-B b14-2.
The defended Invasion systems will start Recovery.
Titan Oya has overheated and exploded.

Previous summaries​

Week 74 • Week 73 • Week 72 • Week 71
Week 70 • Week 69 • Week 68 • Week 67 • Week 66 • Week 65 • Week 64 • Week 63 • Week 62 • Week 61
Week 60 • Week 59 • Week 58 • Week 57 • Week 56 • Week 55 • Week 54 • Week 53 • Week 52 • Week 51
Week 50 • Week 49 • Week 48 • Week 47 • Week 46 • Week 45 • Week 44 • Week 43 • Week 42 • Week 41
Week 40 • Week 39 • Week 38 • Week 37 • Week 36 • Week 35 • Week 34 • Week 33 • Week 32 • Week 31
Week 30 • Week 29 • Week 28 • Week 27 • Week 26 • Week 25 • Week 24 • Week 23 • Week 22 • Week 21
Week 20 • Week 19 • Week 18 • Week 17 • Week 16 • Week 15 • Week 14 • Week 13 • Week 12 • Week 11
Week 10 • Week 9 • Week 8 • Week 7 • Week 6 • Week 5 • Week 4 • Week 3

---

Titan systems or Maelstrom systems​

Eight systems contain large caustic Maelstrom clouds, themselves containing Thargoid Titans.
Titan systems are a Hazardous Environment which damages most Guardian modules.
Flying through the caustic cloud requires a Caustic Sink Launcher, available at Rescue megaships.
Access to a living Titan requires a Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser, available at Rescue megaships.

Rescuing survivors gives a small amount of progress to nearby Counterstrike systems.
Rescues require a Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner and a Sub-surface Extraction Missile, available at Rescue megaships.

Damaging the Titan requires a Guardian Nanite Torpedo Pylon, available at Rescue megaships.
Heat Vents are around the Titan edge on its upper Maw side, and the Thermal Core is on the lower side.
Using Nanites to freeze the Heat Vents adds time to attack the Thermal Core with normal AX weapons.
Thermal Core attacks deal more Titan damage if that Titan owns fewer Control systems.
Titan damage is very fast with 3 Control systems, quite fast with 6–7, and quite slow with 10.

Spoiler: List of Titan systems

Titan/Maelstrom	System	Planet	Distance
Hadad	HIP 30377	B 8	39230 Ls
Cocijo	Col 285 Sector BA-P c6-18	3	1300 Ls
Thor	Col 285 Sector IG-O c6-5	3	820 Ls
Taranis	Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6	A 1	130 Ls
Indra	HIP 20567	7	3330 Ls
Leigong	HIP 8887	A 4	2540 Ls
Oya	Cephei Sector BV-Y b4	B 1	5850 Ls
Raijin	Pegasi Sector IH-U b3-3	2	400 Ls

Peripheries​

Each Maelstrom has Peripheral systems, defined as its outermost ten systems where Thargoids are present.
Peripheral systems are known to include Alert, Invasion and Control.
Each week, those Peripheral systems can receive up to 85% Peripheral progress, or 100% if a Matrix (containing a Spire site) is present.
The Peripheral progress is applied as a percentage, ignoring the system strength.

Spire site actions (within Matrix systems) affect Peripheral progress; see below.
Titan rescues no longer affect Peripheral progress.

Matrix systems or Spire systems​

Some systems contain a Thargoid Barnacle Matrix, revealed on the Galaxy map with the words "Spire site present".
Matrix systems cannot be completed via normal means, only via Peripheral progress.
All known Matrix systems are otherwise the same as empty Control systems until cleared via Peripheral progress.
Matrix systems which are cleared then recaptured later by Thargoids become merely normal Control systems (see below!).

All Spire sites are on thin atmosphere planets, therefore Odyssey is required for any access using vehicles or on-foot.
Spire sites can be used for Peripheral progress even if they are not themselves Peripheral at present.
Destroying Orthrus Interceptors at a Spire site affects Peripheral progress (old source).
Looting Spire Refinery Compounds affects Peripheral progress (old source).
Spire Sabotage missions affect Peripheral progress, available at Rescue megaships.
Spire sites at cleared Matrix systems lose most of their items and all of their Thargoids.
Thargoids cannot reoccupy a Spire site, and nor is any Peripheral progress granted by a recaptured Matrix system.
Spire sites are therefore a limited resource; be sure not to clear the final Matrix system inadvertently.

Spoiler: List of Matrix systems

Maelstrom Hadad​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
HIP 30439​	3.68 Ly​	ABCD 1 c​	37.6352​	-110.4734​
Col 285 Sector US-Z b14-7​	10.06 Ly​	12 c​	33.6787​	-87.0504​
HIP 31223​	15.34 Ly​	9 c​	74.2048​	-79.8026​
Col 285 Sector KW-M c7-15​	16.07 Ly​	B 3​	17.1996​	-11.1717​
Col 285 Sector SX-Z b14-0​	19.08 Ly​	3​	28.8509​	-48.869​
Col 285 Sector VS-Z b14-3​	24.12 Ly​	C 6​	74.645​	-82.6007​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Cocijo​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
Col 285 Sector XT-Q c5-18​	11.44 Ly​	2 a​	18.3102​	-12.3277​
Col 285 Sector VN-H b11-1​	14.62 Ly​	3​	61.6848​	-130.6153​
Col 285 Sector OS-T d3-143​	16.15 Ly​	B 5​	50.716​	84.7805​
Col 285 Sector ZT-F b12-3​	16.73 Ly​	A 4​	66.0258​	-108.1829​
Col 285 Sector YT-F b12-2​	24.23 Ly​	2​	30.5852​	14.8356​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Thor​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
Col 285 Sector NG-E b12-0​	10.97 Ly​	7 d​	-27.6606​	-148.9617​
Col 285 Sector PB-E b12-3​	15.16 Ly​	2​	13.5641​	-99.3092​
Col 285 Sector EA-Q c5-5​	16.71 Ly​	5​	50.3331​	40.7242​
Col 285 Sector OG-E b12-1​	22.65 Ly​	6​	36.497​	100.3555​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Taranis​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
HIP 25654​	10.11 Ly​	1 b​	10.8894​	77.8581​
Trianguli Sector BA-A d85​	10.72 Ly​	15 b​	16.9342​	-63.845​
Hyades Sector DQ-O b6-0​	12.3 Ly​	A 4​	50.1541​	30.8933​
Trianguli Sector EQ-Y b0​	16.57 Ly​	1​	42.3884​	13.6958​
Hyades Sector EG-N b7-1​	18.07 Ly​	A 1​	51.6959​	69.6465​
Hyades Sector HW-M b7-4​	18.33 Ly​	A 2​	26.6043​	-92.7225​
Hyades Sector HW-M b7-1​	18.57 Ly​	5​	42.0211​	-11.1243​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Indra​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
Arietis Sector KR-V b2-1​	9.92 Ly​	1​	69.7864​	-127.8902​
HIP 19870​	13.69 Ly​	3 b​	48.1511​	46.9961​
HIP 20187​	15.03 Ly​	AB 1 b​	32.7496​	120.8423​
Arietis Sector HG-X b1-0​	21.39 Ly​	5​	50.5891​	54.6366​
Hyades Sector ST-Q b5-5​	21.7 Ly​	2​	57.5021​	-27.0478​
HIP 22350​	21.92 Ly​	A 4​	29.6467​	-5.8841​
HR 1358​	22.04 Ly​	AB 9 e​	31.3553​	3.9502​
Hyades Sector DX-H a11-1​	24.16 Ly​	1​	-3.1061​	83.7539​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Leigong​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
HIP 9180​	14.42 Ly​	4 b​	-1.1044​	-85.3932​
Arietis Sector YE-R b4-3​	15.1 Ly​	A 4​	41.2249​	-37.8209​
Hyades Sector KN-K b8-3​	16.21 Ly​	A 5​	-21.3334​	71.4688​
Arietis Sector MX-U c2-19​	24.03 Ly​	8 e​	22.1925​	-48.0601​
Ceti Sector BQ-Y b4​	30.13 Ly​	8 b​	61.4868​	-120.678​
Hyades Sector NT-I b9-4​	31.15 Ly​	C 3​	50.8541​	97.5338​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Oya​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
Cephei Sector XO-A b3​	5.82 Ly​	2​	56.9983​	146.9645​
Lyncis Sector WU-P b5-0​	9.13 Ly​	3​	-20.4765​	49.9134​
​	​	​	​	​
Maelstrom Raijin​	Distance​	Planet​	x​	y​
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-2​	5.23 Ly​	A 3​	42.2959​	60.0331​
Pegasi Sector JH-U b3-4​	6.64 Ly​	C 2​	-50.2914​	-75.6563​
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-7​	11.35 Ly​	2​	33.9739​	28.2928​
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-9​	14.49 Ly​	A 1​	22.6448​	-92.8602​
Pegasi Sector KC-U b3-4​	18.45 Ly​	B 2​	51.8624​	10.9831​
Pegasi Sector IH-U b3-4​	19.99 Ly​	AB 1 e​	52.1061​	-37.0889​
Pegasi Sector NN-S b4-3​	23.83 Ly​	2​	-1.1107​	31.4136​

Alert systems​

Cargo delivery refers to high-demand items at the Commodities Market, and equally to items requested via supply missions (source).
Cargo delivery has a moderate effect (source), though should be done via supply missions (source).
Passenger evacuation has a weak effect (source).
Salvage can be collected at signal sources, including for unpopulated systems (source), albeit slowly.
Combat is possible at signal sources, including for unpopulated systems (source), or using Hyperspace to summon a target.
Combat via summoning Interceptors has a strong effect (source).
Research samples via summoning Interceptors have a strong effect (source).
Settlement reactivation missions for nearby Control systems will help both systems; Odyssey is required.

Invasion systems​

Ports can be operational, attacked, damaged or abandoned.
Operational and attacked ports are active, damaged and abandoned ports are inactive.
Invasion systems reported with 0 active ports should still have at least one damaged port for conducting evacuations.
Docking is not possible at an abandoned port.

Cargo delivery to an active port has a weak effect, and is best supported via Fleet Carrier. Inactive ports cannot receive cargo.
Cargo transport of the injured from an operational port has a weak effect, limited by being very few in number.
Cargo transport of the wounded from an attacked port has a moderate effect, limited by being few in number.
Cargo transport of the critically wounded from an damaged port has a strong effect. Look for the "significant damage" status.
Passenger evacuation from an active or damaged port has a moderate effect.
Combat is plentiful at AX Conflict Zones and at ports under attack.
Combat is possible by dropping from Supercruise and awaiting Frame Shift Anomalies.
Research samples from Interceptors have a strong effect (source).
Settlement reactivation missions for nearby Control systems will help both systems; Odyssey is required.

Control systems​

Combat is plentiful at AX Conflict Zones.
Combat is possible by dropping from Supercruise and awaiting Frame Shift Anomalies.
Research samples from Interceptors (source) and from Scouts each have a strong effect.
If a Military settlement is present, populated Alert systems within 20 Ly will offer AX Reactivation missions; Odyssey is required.

Recovery systems​

The recovery completes itself automatically after four weeks if a port was damaged, otherwise after one week.
Four-week recoveries can be assisted via settlement reactivation missions; Odyssey is required.
Despite being listed as a possible action, cargo delivery has had no effect in the past. (tested by Operation Ida)
The weekly reset does not apply to recovery progress.
Recovery has no effect on the respite interval for being attacked again; see Analysing the Thargoid Simulation.

Completion​

Victory in a system looks like this:

It does not look like this:

The white chevron marks one unit of progress which is still missing, and the clue is in the text above which tells you explicitly what will happen.

---

With HIP 23716 and HIP 20485 secured, and while everyone is on downtime due to an arbitrary progress wipe, where next should effort be directed?

Taking a cursory glance around the Maelstroms:

• M. Cocijo (by Jackson's Lighthouse) has minimal attention, just one progress point in the Mapon system.
• M. Taranis (by Meene) has a quite notable effort in 63 Eridani and Imeut, plus a little in Ebisu, Awara and HIP 25679.
• M. Indra (Pleiades direction) has a point at HIP 20916.
• M. Oya (up by Alioth) has a point at Lahua.
• M. Leigong (below) has two points at Arietis Sector KM-W d1-94 and one at Obassi Osaw.

All of those are Invasion systems; no other Alert system nor any Controlled system seems to have any attention. If I may point out a couple of general observations:

• Controlled systems require combat exclusively, Alert systems in effect require support exclusively¹, and Invasion systems accept both.
• The scattering of effort above plus the effort potential during downtime could have been combined to win a third system.

Therefore:

• Supposing momentarily that combat and support aggregates are equal, it seems to me that the combat effort could start at a Controlled system and support effort at an Alert system, both then meeting up at an Invasion system after the former two are secured.
• In practice, the rapid completion of HIP 20485 suggests to me that support efforts are superior and might best be focused entirely on containment via securing the Alert systems, while combat efforts retake Controlled systems one by one, perhaps only considering one Invasion target per progress wipe if both efforts will have a surplus which can be combined to do that.
• If it is important to stop an Invasion then we could begin with one Invasion target, though I imagine that would risk poor surplus management unless we focus only on Invasion targets.

I have no personal system preference as long as the efforts are consolidated, and I am actually wondering whether a formal decision process² might be useful. M. Taranis is the closest general threat and seems like a natural popular choice, with M. Cocijo likely becoming a strong secondary due to its proximity to Jackson's Lighthouse and Deciat, though it would be best if we have specific target ideas ahead of time. Thoughts, ideas, preferences?


1. I know it says that destroying Thargoid craft helps with an Alert system, however in practice I could find no attacks nor conflict zones there, only sporadic signal sources several thousand light-seconds apart. That is objectively not a good use of pilots providing combat effort.

2. Longer-term, it is not beyond the capacity of Imperial Navy Intervention and Rescue to implement an actual Patronage system for this. The idea would be to allow individual Commanders to set their preferred targets, or just to assign their support to an organisation which chooses targets on behalf of all of its supporters, and report the highest-weight targets. If the progress wipe were to stop then such would become immediately less necessary of course, though perhaps nice to have.

 

[Murphy1135]

Bullet points and footnotes... Respect!
We cannot lose.
1. Somewhere with a large landing pad would be nice

 

[Spaceman-FXL5]

I'm off to Imeut today as it is a sort of day off (no possible more wins) to practice on Scouts with new EAX (Enhanced stuphs).
I'm OK with Evac, wounded, missions, CG deliveries, etc.
But could do with a 'Daily War Targets' pinned forum thread instead of having to look everywhere including discord to see who is attacking/defending where.
Also pages and pages of replies and discussions would not help someone looking for a daily/weekly target system.

 

[Ravnik]

It would be nice if we had a sticky so ppl could post where the next system should be to target efforts. I was in Imeut at the start but then saw the post about the tide turning in HIP 23716 so concentrated my efforts there. I think it would help!

Damn, just saw spaceman-FXL5 said the same thing. I need to take more notice when i read posts

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I suppose in terms of "set targets" the question is "set by who"?

There were a lot more than two systems being targeted this week by various groups - not all necessarily with the expectation of winning, of course - a sticky post is only as useful as the first poster's willingness to keep trawling those groups' orders for you and updating the notice.

If you want to follow a particular group's advice, you probably need to find where that group is publishing and go there direct. If you want to go fully independent then use the in-game map to find a system of the support-or-combat mix you want that's making decent progress, and join in there.

 

[deleteduser]

.

 

[deleteduser]

.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

If this becomes a proper MMO event, the bun fight over the 'Chair' positions is going to be at least as entertaining as anything in-game.

If it carries on being the case that we can only expect to protect 2-3 systems a week, then the choices are "follow the coalition which includes AXI as they have the firepower" or "don't". Certainly at the moment one could just repost their target - but enough people will that it doesn't need a sticky thread.

If it becomes possible to protect tens of systems a week, then we still lose the overall war but multiple groups are then capable of coordinating a defence of somewhere, so there's much less need to fight over "who is in charge" ... but tracking where every credible group is allocating its forces suddenly becomes a significant piece of work for someone.

 

[Astaran]

With HIP 23716 and HIP 20485 secured, and while everyone is on downtime due to an arbitrary progress wipe, where next should effort be directed?

Taking a cursory glance around the Maelstroms:

• M. Cocijo (by Jackson's Lighthouse) has minimal attention, just one progress point in the Mapon system.
• M. Taranis (by Meene) has a quite notable effort in 63 Eridani and Imeut, plus a little in Ebisu, Awara and HIP 25679.
• M. Indra (Pleiades direction) has a point at HIP 20916.
• M. Oya (up by Alioth) has a point at Lahua.
• M. Leigong (below) has two points at Arietis Sector KM-W d1-94 and one at Obassi Osaw.

All of those are Invasion systems; no other Alert system nor any Controlled system seems to have any attention. If I may point out a couple of general observations:

• Controlled systems require combat exclusively, Alert systems in effect require support exclusively¹, and Invasion systems accept both.
• The scattering of effort above plus the effort potential during downtime could have been combined to win a third system.

Therefore:

• Supposing momentarily that combat and support aggregates are equal, it seems to me that the combat effort could start at a Controlled system and support effort at an Alert system, both then meeting up at an Invasion system after the former two are secured.
• In practice, the rapid completion of HIP 20485 suggests to me that support efforts are superior and might best be focused entirely on containment via securing the Alert systems, while combat efforts retake Controlled systems one by one, perhaps only considering one Invasion target per progress wipe if both efforts will have a surplus which can be combined to do that.
• If it is important to stop an Invasion then we could begin with one Invasion target, though I imagine that would risk poor surplus management unless we focus only on Invasion targets.

I have no personal system preference as long as the efforts are consolidated, and I am actually wondering whether a formal decision process² might be useful. M. Taranis is the closest general threat and seems like a natural popular choice, with M. Cocijo likely becoming a strong secondary due to its proximity to Jackson's Lighthouse and Deciat, though it would be best if we have specific target ideas ahead of time. Thoughts, ideas, preferences?


1. I know it says that destroying Thargoid craft helps with an Alert system, however in practice I could find no attacks nor conflict zones there, only sporadic signal sources several thousand light-seconds apart. That is objectively not a good use of pilots providing combat effort.

2. Longer-term, it is not beyond the capacity of Imperial Navy Intervention and Rescue to implement an actual Patronage system for this. The idea would be to allow individual Commanders to set their preferred targets, or just to assign their support to an organisation which chooses targets on behalf of all of its supporters, and report the highest-weight targets. If the progress wipe were to stop then such would become immediately less necessary of course, though perhaps nice to have.

Taranis is also quite close to Meene (Ram Tah). We should probably keep an eye out for any Thargoid expansion towards one of manikind's most important xeno experts (although I am sure he has enough plot armor to survive everything the Thargoid can throw in his general direction).

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

I am sure he has enough plot armor to survive everything the Thargoid can throw in his general direction).

With the Sirius heat sinks his most useful engineering is now obsolete and the decryption for the guardian codex missions is still broken too. FDev should just mercy kill him.

 

[deleteduser]

.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I suppose in terms of "set targets" the question is "set by who"?

The most important part!

Short term—we need target selections ready now so that Thursday isn't a divided mess, and I believe the surplus effort at Imeut and 63 Eridani has spoken for itself. Each have one more week in Invasion, and as much as I would like to join an attempt at a Controlled system, I propose rewarding Commanders who fought there by hitting them hard on Thursday with the aim of winning both.

I imagine we will need an extra Alert target after a few days, but for now we need to ensure that Thursday gets congregation at no more than a couple of places, for which I advance that the aggregate Commander actions in Imeut and 63 Eridani mark those choices. If those get stormed to completion, we should gauge a Controlled system as a combat effort target.

Long term—as I noted earlier, the best system I can imagine is designed like a Patronage, which INIV could implement if it would help the Galaxy to do so:

• Individual Commanders set their preferred systems privately, or assign support to another Commander privately, or to an group/organisation/squadron privately.
• Commanders offer to represent others (that is to say, be a Patron) by making their choices public.
• Group choices are always public.

We just got a Frontier log-in system working the other day, intended for some unrelated future integration with I.N.T.R.A., but that could be used equally as a way to give Commanders that choice interface. We were only considering individual Commanders at present, so support for squadrons may have to come later, though I see no problem with at least a basic Patronage system.

I will see what INIV can do about that on the weekend, noting that the time between now and then is perfect for other suggestions.

In any case, my answer to the question "Set by whom?" is:

• Short term, by everyone who invests in an incomplete effort.
• Long term, by everyone via a means to assign their support.

 

[Northpin]

With the Sirius heat sinks his most useful engineering is now obsolete and the decryption for the guardian codex missions is still broken too. FDev should just mercy kill him.

if you leave explorers without g5 lightweight heatsinks, you might find yourself kidnaped and dumped between a pair very tight orbiting stars

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I think it's doubtful that 10's of systems will ever become a viable proposition. FDev seem to have adjusted the numbers to suit player engagment while catering to their unknown narrative component.

The numbers have been adjusted, yes, but we don't have enough data to say if it was a manual tweak or just the way the Thargoid sim works. The Galnet hint is that the difficulty of individual systems is related to the dispersion of Thargoids through them having to manage more systems.

If that's accurate - it'll be at least a few more weeks before we have good data either way - then at some later point in their advance we'd naturally be able to defend 20-30 systems.
(Of course, at current rates they'd still be adding 60-80 systems a week for us to consider, so that would still count as losing ... but a more strategically interesting form, at least)

 

[BDelacroix]

This is what I was advocating for a few days after the war started. Less a "go here or we lose, maggots!" thing and more a "hey, we have groups with efforts on these fronts, come join" thing.

Some won't care. Some just want to help where the help would be more useful. None of us are in the space army and none of us are beholden to any player or player group.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Ebisu and Awara were last week's Alert systems so probably still fairly workable from a hauling perspective. Earlier Invasion systems will be harder due to closure of markets.
We'll have to wait till Thursday to see which new systems go to Alert. Plus the incoming Stargoids.
Imeut has seen fighting since day one but didn't get the attention of AXI, I don't know if the Cmdrs fighting there can grab AXI attention.
On top of that PDES sound like they're considering switching from refugees to cargo hauling.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

This is what I was advocating for a few days after the war started. Less a "go here or we lose, maggots!" thing and more a "hey, we have groups with efforts on these fronts, come join" thing.

That is more or less what happened last week - most groups focused on HIP 23716 because it's where the majority of progress was made the week before, with the exception of AXI who went off and did their own thing in HIP 20485 and Op Ida who sat it out. AXI switched back to HIP 23716 after a couple of days and when it became clear that it would succeed Op Ida also joined in. Then everyone moved back to HIP 20485 when HIP 23716 completed.

I think the inevitable conclusion that we are moving towards is a voting system of some sort to determine where to focus, because I can't see widespread co-operation happening consistently in any other way.

 

[He$$eeTant]

The forum is a place for -cough- ‘professional’ debate but also a beacon of information for the casual player.

Each week there will definitely be a thread(s) that will point to the system that is most likely to be won. This will allow the causal gamer to be able to choose and hopefully share in the positivity of winning the system. The system will be ‘self’ chosen simply by the greatest movement of the progress bar. It seems to me the best day for this review would be Friday as by then the focus should be clear simply by looking at the GalMap. Note if your part of the larger groups then hopefully they will be organised for a fresh start Thursdays morning Tick time.

In reality as Obsidian Ant says we could do with a proper coordinated counter attack assigning teams to tasks but I suspect that is just not going to happen.

As for the larger groups it will be as political - and pointless - as Empire vs Federation vs Independent.

 

[Astaran]

That is more or less what happened last week - most groups focused on HIP 23716 because it's where the majority of progress was made the week before, with the exception of AXI who went off and did their own thing in HIP 20485 and Op Ida who sat it out. AXI switched back to HIP 23716 after a couple of days and when it became clear that it would succeed Op Ida also joined in. Then everyone moved back to HIP 20485 when HIP 23716 completed.

I think the inevitable conclusion that we are moving towards is a voting system of some sort to determine where to focus, because I can't see widespread co-operation happening consistently in any other way.

CMDRs will vote with their feet, so to speak. Whereever is the the most progress until Sunday evening will probably be the main focus until either victory is achieved or it looks like success becomes unlikely. From that point on CMDRs will sit the time out until next reset, rinse&repeat

 

[gooddoc]

Also you won't know until tomorrow what's involved in repairing the Stations of the two Systems won back this week......Frontier could well have not told us that unless they're fixed in 7 days the Systems 'reset' again to the start of the campaign