Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

With the Interceptors might actually be the point. CZ-style combat at damaged ports may be rather useful in Invasions during weeks when outposts are attacked.
Or during the final week of an invasion, too. Unless that happens to be when an outpost was hit…
 
With the Interceptors might actually be the point. CZ-style combat at damaged ports may be rather useful in Invasions during weeks when outposts are attacked.
If you want Interceptors, sure. But we're getting away from the context I was actually responding to, which was;

"Does that mean dropping repeatedly by a damaged port is a quick way to destroy a lot of Scythes?"

Answer - Yes, probably, but if killing a lot of Scythes is the objective I simply pointed out a better way.
 
Victories in Col 285 Sectors OR-B b14-4 and KW-M c7-16, Trianguli Sector CA-A c15, Arietis Sectors FG-Y d66, KM-W c1-15 and MX-U c2-17, and Hyades Sector GW-W d1-88! HIP 11111 ought to complete before or amid this evening, several other HIP systems below are ready for attention, and the tough Omumba is moving along at just about the needed rate.

Thank you all ever so much for keeping those empty Alerts repelled! The default expectation here is to help contain them as Control at just beyond 20 light-years, but without any passing Alert it allows us to turn towards some quite stronger recaptures. Speaking of which, Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-2 (guarding Muruidooges) is at around 6000 of 25000!

Invasions at 08:20 30th September 3309:
HIP 11111 Invasion 82% — Oya 24 Ly, 2 ports, 2474 Ls 0.11g planet attack
Omumba Invasion 72% *72.2%Hadad 14 Ly, 3 ports, 41 Ls outpost attack, 1836 Ls planet damage
HIP 25679 Invasion 38% *39.5%Taranis 17 Ly, 4 ports, 2902 Ls 0.18g planet attack
HIP 20890 Invasion 32% *32.4%Indra 22 Ly, 3 ports, 2983 Ls 0.13g planet attack
HIP 20616 Invasion 18% *18.2%Indra 22 Ly, 4 ports, 176k Ls 0.4g planet attack

Alerts:
HIP 20485 Alert 60% *60.1%Indra 21 Ly, 27 Ls starport, 97 Ls outpost, 27 Ls planet
Balak Alert 12% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost

Clean-up:
Cephei Sector DQ-Y b1 Alert 92% — Oya 18 Ly, empty
Col 285 Sector RM-B b14-0 Alert 84% *84.4%Hadad 21 Ly, empty
77 Theta-1 Tauri Alert 82% — Indra 21 Ly, empty
Col 285 Sector JW-M c7-10 Alert 80% *81.2%Hadad 17 Ly, empty


I took a shieldless hull tank FAS with 4 Azimuth multis and a single escape pod on board and jumped into an Alert. Every couple of minutes in supercruise I was interdicted by Scythes. Either kill till you run out of ammo or take something like a MK II if you want to collect their mats as well. The mats help to unlock more Azimuth multis, and having the xeno scanner on the same button as your guns gets you a scan for your data store.

We tried this a bit yesterday, albeit with a few possible differences; it resulted in many Human pirates trying to get the cargo ahead of any Scythes which may have been around. Some questions are:
  • Insofar as the Breach drones need your shield disabled, are Scythes looking for unshielded targets and ignoring shielded targets?
  • It was an inhabited Alert system; are you flying the escape pod bait through empty Alert systems?

With the Interceptors might actually be the point. CZ-style combat at damaged ports may be rather useful in Invasions during weeks when outposts are attacked.

At the time I was thinking only of the Scythes, but with Interceptors arriving and with Restock available it seems indeed effective now! Provisionally then, those with heavy starships seeking to defend Omumba may consider returning to Zamyatin Horizons for planetary combat with Restock, just without the extra Conflict zone progress and credits.
 
Thank you all ever so much for keeping those empty Alerts repelled! The default expectation here is to help contain them as Control at just beyond 20 light-years, but without any passing Alert it allows us to turn towards some quite stronger recaptures. Speaking of which, Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-2 (guarding Muruidooges) is at around 6000 of 25000!
Thinking of extreme-difficulty recaptures - have you tried freezing a Scout? CMDR Medi0cr3 has discovered that if you're in a wing with one other player who's waiting about 10km away and jump out when the Scout's aggroed onto you it freezes in place, although it doesn't seem to work for two accounts on the same LAN. He's got a writeup with more detail, I'll see if I can find it later.

EDIT: The advantage of this is that you can sit right next to the Scout to have very low limpet travel times.
 
Thinking of extreme-difficulty recaptures - have you tried freezing a Scout?

We have noticed it happen, and I remember from here that PDES enjoys it occasionally¹, but we have not been using it actively. I think it may be barely worth the trouble, though—after destroying Berserkers until it stabilises with four non-Berserkers, said Scouts fly such that we have always at least one within 1 km. Frequently this is an understatement, where often they get so close as to nudge us around and the regeneration formation needs restoring. We can try it, but if it needs maintenance following arrivals or departures then it may not compete well with simply forming up and getting on with it.

Definitely it is good to seek advantages though, and I think a starship and module review may be wise. At one point I was trying to devise an asymmetric wing for separate research and transport, but that seemed mathematically worse than using the ability of each vessel to bring one more Universal limpet plus extras in classes 1–3. Our starships at the moment are slightly asymmetric; all Anacondas but two with 96 cargo and 8+4 limpets, two with 112 cargo and 8+3 limpets. Those are staggered deliberately to make restocks misalign, and the final delivery rate seems to be about the same², though if any of that sounds less than optimal then I would love very much to know!

1. With no ability to return to the same Orthrus encounter, unfortunately.
2. Measured over time while helping with Njorog; 96 T and 8+4 is slightly faster, but not if everyone has it!
 
At this point I guess just compare numbers to figure out which is getting better results.

The method Phill P was describing for Scythe-baiting worked after the launch of update 16. After 16.01, however, Scythes seem to have stopped interdicting. (They still hyperdict)
 
At this point I guess just compare numbers to figure out which is getting better results.

The method Phill P was describing for Scythe-baiting worked after the launch of update 16. After 16.01, however, Scythes seem to have stopped interdicting. (They still hyperdict)
Yes, looks like it has changed since I did it. Didn't get Interdicted at all this time round. Oh well, nice while it lasted.
We have noticed it happen, and I remember from here that PDES enjoys it occasionally¹
Been doing a bit with CMDR Medi0cr3 and it's a bit hit and miss whether the scout freezes or not, but one thing that does seem to have changed is that you can redrop on them and see the scout again at least half of the time. Also we are not restricted to NHSS4s any more, threats 5, 7, 8 and even some combat aftermath signals work (if no NPCs show up and shoot the scouts first).

It's helped a lot.
 
Definitely it is good to seek advantages though, and I think a starship and module review may be wise. At one point I was trying to devise an asymmetric wing for separate research and transport, but that seemed mathematically worse than using the ability of each vessel to bring one more Universal limpet plus extras in classes 1–3. Our starships at the moment are slightly asymmetric; all Anacondas but two with 96 cargo and 8+4 limpets, two with 112 cargo and 8+3 limpets. Those are staggered deliberately to make restocks misalign, and the final delivery rate seems to be about the same², though if any of that sounds less than optimal then I would love very much to know!
We are using Anacondas with 8+2 limpets and 176 tons of cargo, where 112 tons are anti corrosive. We are collecting between 130 und 150 samples per run and take the risk of getting some caustig damage... the Anaconda can deal with it (at least having your fleet carrier only one jump away near the star).

But I guess, it's not better or worse using a 8+3 or 8+4 setup.
 
We are using Anacondas with 8+2 limpets and 176 tons of cargo, where 112 tons are anti corrosive. We are collecting between 130 und 150 samples per run and take the risk of getting some caustig damage... the Anaconda can deal with it (at least having your fleet carrier only one jump away near the star).

But I guess, it's not better or worse using a 8+3 or 8+4 setup.
This is my Conda loadout as well, it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference time wise. With Alerts, even with some signals able to be re-farmed now, finding signals is a factor Controls don't have to deal with. In Solo in particular the more you can gather per trip the better.
 
Victories in Col 285 Sectors JW-M c7-10 and RM-B b14-0, HIPs 11111 and 20485, 77 Theta-1 Tauri, Trianguli Sector EQ-Y b1 and Cephei Sector DQ-Y b1! With Omumba steady and strong surges at HIPs 25679 and 20890, all Invasions seem set to be defended. Remember that the damaged planetary port at Omumba is relatively target-rich and has Restock!

In place of the usual dozen-or-so Control systems by now, Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-2 is at 16346 of 24900; receding this volume gradually should prevent HR 2204, Omumba, Vogulu, Bi Dhorora, Fotlandjera and Muruidooges from appearing here again.

Invasions at 08:40 1st October 3309:
Omumba Invasion 80% *81.3%Hadad 14 Ly, 3 ports, 41 Ls outpost attack, 1836 Ls planet damage
HIP 25679 Invasion 70% — Taranis 17 Ly, 4 ports, 2902 Ls 0.18g planet attack
HIP 20890 Invasion 62% *63.2%Indra 22 Ly, 3 ports, 2983 Ls 0.13g planet attack
HIP 20616 Invasion 36% *37.5%Indra 22 Ly, 4 ports, 176k Ls 0.4g planet attack

Alerts:
Balak Alert 20% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost
70 Tauri Alert 8% *8.9%Indra 21 Ly, 3010 Ls outpost

Clean-up:
Hyadum II Alert 42% *42.1%Indra 19 Ly, empty
Cephei Sector ZE-A c8 Alert 38% *38.3%Oya 20 Ly, empty


We are using Anacondas with 8+2 limpets and 176 tons of cargo, where 112 tons are anti corrosive. We are collecting between 130 und 150 samples per run and take the risk of getting some caustig damage... the Anaconda can deal with it (at least having your fleet carrier only one jump away near the star).

But I guess, it's not better or worse using a 8+3 or 8+4 setup.

Good to know—that seems the same as our 8+3 with 112 tons, but one limpet replaced with 64 normal cargo. We found that 8+2 limpets is slower for Control because the class 1 limpets work more quickly, but I could try switching a cargo rack to have 8+3 with 96+64 tons, if that normal cargo exceeds 16 of 64 consistently. Given the extra harvest rate, perhaps changing our faster loadout to be 8+4 with 80+64 tons would work well!
 
Yes, looks like it has changed since I did it. Didn't get Interdicted at all this time round. Oh well, nice while it lasted.

Been doing a bit with CMDR Medi0cr3 and it's a bit hit and miss whether the scout freezes or not, but one thing that does seem to have changed is that you can redrop on them and see the scout again at least half of the time. Also we are not restricted to NHSS4s any more, threats 5, 7, 8 and even some combat aftermath signals work (if no NPCs show up and shoot the scouts first).

It's helped a lot.
So the scout doesn’t always freeze? Are the tests I’ve performed where the scout jumps away simply me being unlucky rather than any actual inability to do it?
 
So the scout doesn’t always freeze?
it doesn't seem to work for two accounts on the same LAN
Looks connected to me :D
Being on the LAN is just a quick way to say low latency + high capacity, some threshold for one/both of those could be where the desync happens.
It's like the 30 FPS limit for research success, it probably needs a packet rate limit (like "trickle" in Linux, probably most firewalls can do it).

It sounds like the target CMDR is hosting the scout control, then jumps/exits without passing over the control (exit may work better than jump there).
You're counting on the transfer to fail - if it works, the scout script runs and they either fight if they can see the other CMDR heat per distance or leave it not.
A failed transfer leaves the other client knowing where the scouts are but not controlling them, though I think that limbo state can resolve if more CMDRs leave/join.
 
Looks connected to me :D
Being on the LAN is just a quick way to say low latency + high capacity, some threshold for one/both of those could be where the desync happens.
It's like the 30 FPS limit for research success, it probably needs a packet rate limit (like "trickle" in Linux, probably most firewalls can do it).

It sounds like the target CMDR is hosting the scout control, then jumps/exits without passing over the control (exit may work better than jump there).
You're counting on the transfer to fail - if it works, the scout script runs and they either fight if they can see the other CMDR heat per distance or leave it not.
A failed transfer leaves the other client knowing where the scouts are but not controlling them, though I think that limbo state can resolve if more CMDRs leave/join.
Hm. Would there be any way to force that to occur between two accounts on the same machine, or do I just have to try and get someone else to help me if I want to freeze a Scout?
 
Hm. Would there be any way to force that to occur between two accounts on the same machine, or do I just have to try and get someone else to help me if I want to freeze a Scout?
Maybe - haven't dabbled with it, but basically you'll need something which can add packet latency per process, even for localhost (could be treated as IPC in the kernel).
Firewalls are the right type of software though may not have such a weird feature, you need to look for something designed to emulate a slow network for software testing purposes.
Some antivirus software can also cripple a game connection if it has active packet scanning.

Starting a big download won't cut it because it won't use up local comms resources (may also not matter if QOS scheduling keeps your game latency good).
 
So the scout doesn’t always freeze? Are the tests I’ve performed where the scout jumps away simply me being unlucky rather than any actual inability to do it?
It seems to be hit and miss, either happens all the time for a while or you can't get it to happen at all and they just run away. Still some testing to do there. I doubt you're doing anything wrong.
 
So the scout doesn’t always freeze? Are the tests I’ve performed where the scout jumps away simply me being unlucky rather than any actual inability to do it?
There is one thing I can verify. Do you have a low emissions PP? I had one fitted when I dropped into a threat 8 in an Alert and all 4 scouts ran even though I shot two of them, not enough to kill them but just to draw their aggro. Made no difference, they ran anyway. Soon as I swapped back to armoured they stayed put.
 
There is one thing I can verify. Do you have a low emissions PP? I had one fitted when I dropped into a threat 8 in an Alert and all 4 scouts ran even though I shot two of them, not enough to kill them but just to draw their aggro. Made no difference, they ran anyway. Soon as I swapped back to armoured they stayed put.
That’s not likely to be it - I’ve always been running an Armoured power plant.
 
Guess not, another possibility eliminated. I'll let you know if I find out anything else, as I say we are still in the process of testing it.
Scout AI had something done to it in U15(I think) where it seems to act more like standard AI in its detection range, rather than (seemingly) reacting to your ship no matter the distance.

They also leave when there is no target, and it seems as though they are hard locked into that sequence when it starts, so no amount of shooting will make them stay in the instance.
 
Victories in Col 285 Sectors BA-P c6-16, RH-B b14-2 and OS-T d3-105, HIPs 20890 and 25679, Cephei Sector ZE-A c8 and Hyades Sectors JN-K b8-3 and LX-U d2-95! Both remaining Invasions are still on-course for completion, and M. Leigong should now fail one attack.

Invasions at 06:40 2nd October 3309:
Omumba Invasion 86% *87.4%Hadad 14 Ly, 3 ports, 41 Ls outpost attack, 1836 Ls planet damage
HIP 20616 Invasion 52% *52.4%Indra 22 Ly, 4 ports, 176k Ls 0.4g planet attack

Alerts, narrowly:
Balak Alert 44% — Raijin 23 Ly, 9 Ls outpost, 16 Ls planet
Trailing:

70 Tauri Alert 14% *14.5%Indra 21 Ly, 3010 Ls outpost

Clean-up:
Cephei Sector WO-A b4 Alert 96% — Oya 15 Ly, empty
Hyadum II Alert 88% *89.5%Indra 19 Ly, empty
Col 285 Sector WY-F b12-5 Alert 56% — Cocijo 19 Ly, empty


Albeit not the strongest, the empty system Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-2 is our new closest eviction at 9.38 Ly from M. Hadad:

Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-2.png

The hope is that a defended Omumba then will leave many Imperial systems out of Thargoid reach. There is some more trimming still to be done to reduce the cost of guarding those systems, but pacing it from here will keep things equally safe. In the meantime, next will be finishing the order for Tougeir!
 
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