Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

[Kenpachi85]

Phew ran into some unusually determined scythes leaving Abnett Prospect just now they really dont like people being rescued. The sheer aggression showed towards evacs is why I'm totally fine if we annihilate them in the end though that sounds like a boring end and who knows how fdev will script the wars ending. Thank God for ecms and my cutters prizzy I really didnt feel like having to pick pods back up.

Minwara looks close to complete but will still keep running stuff even though the mission board is lagging to holy hell.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Well done in Minawara! It was quite close, but the heroic @Kenpachi85 surely has secured victory.

Alongside the obvious action of everyone crowding into HIP 8887 to attack T. Leigong, which was at around one-quarter of one ring before but should take significantly more damage after the week 67 cycle begins, a few questions arise which will doubtless have answers sooner than I can check personally:

• Can M. Taranis attack, and where? The would-be targets before should be Hyades Sector EB-N b7-0 and Trianguli Sector CA-A c22.
• Do the previous M. Taranis systems remain, and with what strength?
• Is the hundred-kilometer caustic region around T. Taranis still present?

As a reminder, when Elite returns after the extra maintenance today, there will be an almost certain rush to park Fleet Carriers within the M. Leigong systems cleared in week 66.

We're making a run for 9709..
6584
Approx 700 in the bag at the moment

Very bold! Presuming that it was not completed and delivered in the last possible hour, is that payload an open Carrier purchase order? HIP 9709 will be among the next few systems we seek to complete if T. Leigong needs to be kept vulnerable, and an active order would be perfect.

 

[Factabulous]

I'm interested if they rebalance either Titan difficulty or Thargoid BGS difficulty.

I'm hoping they don't reduce Titan difficulty again as that make the whole 'take back systems to make it possible' game loop pointless as you can just meta-game it an wait for the nerf.
OTOH if they buff the Thargoid BGS to reduced the number of limpets to take a system - and even buffed other methods to make them more useful - I would be fine with that - even Oya looks a significantly larger challenge than Leigong - and I don't even want to think about the others.

If they drop a CRCR CG today to give us some build diversity I'd be even happier

Ian's post (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/analysing-the-thargoid-simulation.611382/post-10328585) seems to say we have given ourselves at least 2 weeks to finish off Leigong, so could get going on Oya while ppl bash it Leigong down - assuming the progress looks good enough.

 

[Kira Goto]

Is the hundred-kilometer caustic region around T. Taranis still present?

This one can possibly be answered by a forum post from Frontier suggesting that caustic hazard(and it is one hell of a hazard now) will take a few weeks to dissipate. Or at least go down to a safe/normal Titan level for it to be properly explorable without dedicating 7 of 8 utility mounts to caustic sinks (and stacking 8k hull hitpoints on a Cutter).

Still going for a quick poke after things go back online(and I can hop back into the game, of course). Just to see what those fixes did and didn’t change about things in there.

 

[Reaversword]

This one can possibly be answered by a forum post from Frontier suggesting that caustic hazard(and it is one hell of a hazard now) will take a few weeks to dissipate. Or at least go down to a safe/normal Titan level for it to be properly explorable without dedicating 7 of 8 utility mounts to caustic sinks (and stacking 8k hull hitpoints on a Cutter).

Still going for a quick poke after things go back online(and I can hop back into the game, of course). Just to see what those fixes did and didn’t change about things in there.

I'll report it when Frontier Servers got back online.

By the way. How much damage are you being able to provoke to the Titans heart in a single round?.
I've been doing around 600.000 with preengineered AX missile rack from Sirius (a little bit less damage, rapid fire). (3x3C + 1x2E + 2x1 thermal vent beam lasers)
Very Max 700.000 in a perfect round.
Any way go higer?. Is better to use Enhanced AX missile rack?. Not enhanced + engineering?

 

[Kenpachi85]

Got too much nerve damage to be able to accurately sense sarcasm these days but guessing that was. Doubt one cmdr running evacs can have that much effect and definitely wasn't the only one there doing it talked to a few other cmdrs who were doing the same up until the end and I'm sure combat operations were having more of an effect. o7 to everyone who was there glad it worked out

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I'm hoping they don't reduce Titan difficulty again as that make the whole 'take back systems to make it possible' game loop pointless as you can just meta-game it an wait for the nerf.
OTOH if they buff the Thargoid BGS to reduced the number of limpets to take a system - and even buffed other methods to make them more useful - I would be fine with that - even Oya looks a significantly larger challenge than Leigong - and I don't even want to think about the others.

Assuming they have a particular end date in mind this year - and they may well not, if they're thinking "permanent feature, we'll just send in a new Titan every few months to keep it fresh" it's fine as it is - they'll probably need to make it at least slightly easier somehow.

Making the Titan DR equation even further off linear would probably be the easiest option - so Maximum stays where it is, but Leigong's difficulty this week is achieved at about 25 systems. It'd still take a focused reduction effort, but not quite digging into the real cores of the maelstrom - but it wouldn't make "total containment" aka "no Invasions for you" an obvious precursor to reduction efforts.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

By the way. How much damage are you being able to provoke to the Titans heart in a single round?.
I've been doing around 600.000 with preengineered AX missile rack from Sirius (a little bit less damage, rapid fire). (3x3C + 1x2E + 2x1 thermal vent beam lasers)
Very Max 700.000 in a perfect round.
Any way go higer?. Is better to use Enhanced AX missile rack?. Not enhanced + engineering?

I have been using exactly your loadout with the Sirius missiles, and I had been getting usually around 800000 at T. Leigong, give or take a bit. This is also without making any particular effort to stop five vents rather than four; here is some video footage I made recently. The first core shown is just shy of 800000, and the second just shy of 880000.

Remember that the same thermal core damage versus greatly lowered resistance this week will give much more Titan damage, and therefore a much higher bond. For the moment, bond credits should be assumed incomparable across different Titan resistance levels; that is to say, there will exist some conversion involving its amount of systems, but we do not know it well enough. For the purpose of deciding loadouts, comparing core damage percentage is good if you can spot it, or record it with video!

Got too much nerve damage to be able to accurately sense sarcasm these days but guessing that was. Doubt one cmdr running evacs can have that much effect and definitely wasn't the only one there doing it talked to a few other cmdrs who were doing the same up until the end and I'm sure combat operations were having more of an effect. o7 to everyone who was there glad it worked out

It was more so hyperbole, where such has at least some element of truth—defending Minawara may not have been all thanks to one Commander, but neither would it be defended without Commanders doing what you are doing!

Beyond being simply one Invasion defended, it helps much with effecting a collapse at M. Oya, and given the imminent demand for a third prepared target I feel most thankful on behalf of everyone who prefers attacking Titans over clearing their systems.

 

[yttrbio]

No new alerts around Taranis. The wreckage didn't fire the shockwave, but the caustic cloud and invisible wall are still there. Leigong now on Very High resistance (rather than Extremely High)

 

[Reaversword]

I have been using exactly your loadout with the Sirius missiles, and I had been getting usually around 800000 at T. Leigong, give or take a bit. This is also without making any particular effort to stop five vents rather than four; here is some video footage I made recently. The first core shown is just shy of 800000, and the second just shy of 880000.

Remember that the same thermal core damage versus greatly lowered resistance this week will give much more Titan damage, and therefore a much higher bond. For the moment, bond credits should be assumed incomparable across different Titan resistance levels; that is to say, there will exist some conversion involving its amount of systems, but we do not know it well enough. For the purpose of deciding loadouts, comparing core damage percentage is good if you can spot it, or record it with video!

I will save my outfit to compare the damage on every Titan's resistance. Perhaps report out outfits & maximum damage reached every week and taking note of the Titan resistance we can research it a little bit more (if Fdev doesn't rebalance the system!), but I bet they will...
880.000, pretty well!. I've managed only until 4 vents before they close.

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

Has anyone bothered to figure out how much prize money a single rocket or single machinegun bullet gives you for damaging the core? it should be also possible to figure out how much an extra hardpoint/extra heat vents cleared is worth based on that.

 

[Reaversword]

Great news!. Taranis appears unable to use Pulse Wave attack!. So, now I can start thinking about It is effectively dead.

Don't know if leave the Pulse Wave attack active this past week was a mistake by Fdev side, and that fact lead us (someones) into thinking Taranis was still alive.
If it was a mistake, clarify it wouldn't be a bad thing. Just to have the community without doubts about the issue.

 

[Factabulous]

Frontier rarely clarify. Best to assume it was a bug, you'll be correct 99% of the time

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

I'm interested if they rebalance either Titan difficulty or Thargoid BGS difficulty.

I'm hoping they don't reduce Titan difficulty again as that make the whole 'take back systems to make it possible' game loop pointless as you can just meta-game it an wait for the nerf.
OTOH if they buff the Thargoid BGS to reduced the number of limpets to take a system - and even buffed other methods to make them more useful - I would be fine with that - even Oya looks a significantly larger challenge than Leigong - and I don't even want to think about the others.

I would hope something changes, probably after the third or fourth Titan, because otherwise doing the exact same song and dance eight times in a row is going to bore the playerbase silly.

 

[Grimscrub]

Field notes,
HIP 9180 spire remains Inactive at this time.
8/10 controlled systems around Leigong have AX Conflict Zones at this time, Arietis Sectors BQ-P b5-0, NX-U c2-20, XJ-R b4-0, XJ-R b4-3, YE-R b4-0, and HIP 9180, 9709, 10118 - I shall take that as in-universe 'The powers, Aegis etcetera agree it's a decent target to push right now'.

For those planning to engage in the control systems, forewarning that NX-U c2-20 conflict zones start at a distant star ~300,000Ls plus away, and HIP 10118 at the B star over 110,000Ls out.
buy order is up my side, Invicta is in HIP 10047, will begin working on 9709/10118 probably, carrier has room for nearer 15,000 samples so 4-5k each should be fine... 9709 first, will monitor progress.

 

[BDelacroix]

As a reminder, when Elite returns after the extra maintenance today, there will be an almost certain rush to park Fleet Carriers within the M. Leigong systems cleared in week 66.

Joke's on you. Gold and Wine's fleet carrier has been there since last week.

Onward to victory.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Has anyone bothered to figure out how much prize money a single rocket or single machinegun bullet gives you for damaging the core? it should be also possible to figure out how much an extra hardpoint/extra heat vents cleared is worth based on that.

The best I have seen is a set of credits per damage percentage point, compiled by the quite prolific @yttrbio and posted here. I drew those against the system amounts here; despite the probably-misleading Very High assessment provided by the Galaxy map, I believe the damage taken by T. Leigong now ought to be almost as much as with T. Taranis.

That being the case, I think the Very High label could dissuade some Commanders unnecessarily; I hope very much that attacking the Titan and displaying to all a completion-worthy damage rate will counteract that and attract more attackers!

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

I think the known 2m minimum damage to get the rewards might also up the individual small contributions amount a lot.

 

[BDelacroix]

I would hope something changes, probably after the third or fourth Titan, because otherwise doing the exact same song and dance eight times in a row is going to bore the playerbase silly.

In the game development world, there is this unwritten rule of threes. Not everyone does that, though.

 

[Cyanidex]

The best I have seen is a set of credits per damage percentage point, compiled by the quite prolific @yttrbio and posted here. I drew those against the system amounts here; despite the probably-misleading Very High assessment provided by the Galaxy map, I believe the damage taken by T. Leigong now ought to be almost as much as with T. Taranis.

That being the case, I think the Very High label could dissuade some Commanders unnecessarily; I hope very much that attacking the Titan and displaying to all a completion-worthy damage rate will counteract that and attract more attackers!

Base income went 2,827k from 1,821k.

Must be around 47,443 for Leigong now if Im not wrong. I did %30 damage and get 1,423,295 bond