Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

[Disemboweled Ego]

4) Game changer happens when next week's Salvage CG at taranis finishes. I can't see us just grinding through all eight like it is now.

This is the most fun of the options, but the longer the current stage of the war lasts the higher the chance of a much-needed rebalance with an eventual actually fun option instead of just grinding them down the same way we did before.

We can't really predict the future, but would it have played out much differently if we had all the AX weapons, gadgets and activities available to us from the start including the ability to delete titans. Using the original or first re-balancing strengths.

 

[Kira Goto]

Well, my guesstimate of ‘heart 4 down in the morning’ was slightly off.

The first 24 hours have had just under 3 hearts go, which is about the same rate Taranis was seeing at 7 controls (and much slower than it was seeing at 6 controls).

Well, at least, it is better than the previous progression rates for the Titan. Hadad might become an example of ‘What happens to a Titan with 0 controls’ if the spire clearance allows for the surrounding controls to all be retaken… and providing it survives long enough, or there is motivation/desire to actually achieve that once it comes under attack. Especially when it… at least, currently, isn’t necessary. There’s as yet the possibility of Titans becoming harder to clear as they drop one by one.

Game changer happens when next week's Salvage CG at taranis finishes. I can't see us just grinding through all eight like it is now.

We’d also need one if those torpedoes are suddenly not quite as effective any longer. If that does happen, of course, but I’d be kinda surprised if the Thargoids just ignored the threat which those pose. (The internal defense mechanisms of a Titan can clearly remove them already, unless it is just heat destroying the nanobots after use.)

… maybe they also want us to remove some of the Titans before they throw the Nemesis plot twist at us, but what do I know. They’re willing to hand out decals and stuff for all 8 of the Titans so that’d make you think all 8 will end up in some sorry state eventually.

 

[Factabulous]

Progress today is a bit below yesterday when we kicked off at around 10% and went up - we're about half that today. Though it will still be done by tomorrow (we're only just about to start hitting the usual upswing)

 

[Kenpachi85]

Thank you!
You see, there is a tiny but important difference between "they said that" and "I think they meant that". We don't know yet how this conclusion of the war will look like and what final form it will take. Will it end completely, or remain as part of the game somehow, or even will be integrated in PP 2.0? Personally I can't wait to see how they will turn whole this story.

True but if we take the roadmap at face value the war will end this year in one way or another. If they want to keep it a part of the gameplay(they should imo) maybe it will take the form of a new thargoid led superpower with D2 I mean Seo at the helm. Just spit balling though and in agreement with your sentiment on things here.

 

[Kira Goto]

If they want to keep it a part of the gameplay(they should imo)

They probably will. But if Titans were to be a part of it and act as, I don’t know, some kinda station equivalent(?), they’d have to be made… mh, how did they put it, not so prone to rapid (un)scheduled disassembly.

Alternatively, I suppose spires could serve this purpose in some way. But the Thargoids are going to need replacements for Taranis and Leigong at the very least. Or perform a very expensive repair job that would as well amount to building a new Titan entirely.

On the subject of Seo - doesn’t really come across as much of the leader type to me, to be honest. Probably just wants to be left alone about it(at least from what we know about her position on it right now). Don’t know if it’d make sense for her to be a figurehead for any Thargoid faction. But then, I don’t know if I’d have an interest of getting lobbed into the same bunch as the Far God nutjobs if the First Apostle ends up being that figure. Urgh.

 

[Kenpachi85]

They probably will. But if Titans were to be a part of it and act as, I don’t know, some kinda station equivalent(?), they’d have to be made… mh, how did they put it, not so prone to rapid (un)scheduled disassembly.

Alternatively, I suppose spires could serve this purpose in some way. But the Thargoids are going to need replacements for Taranis and Leigong at the very least. Or perform a very expensive repair job that would as well amount to building a new Titan entirely.

On the subject of Seo - doesn’t really come across as much of the leader type to me, to be honest. Probably just wants to be left alone about it(at least from what we know about her position on it right now). Don’t know if it’d make sense for her to be a figurehead for any Thargoid faction. But then, I don’t know if I’d have an interest of getting lobbed into the same bunch as the Far God nutjobs if the First Apostle ends up being that figure. Urgh.

Who knows how the new powerplay structure will be implemented maybe there will be more aggressive moves taking place with factions trying to take over each others domain more dynamically. In that case Titans could be deployed along the fringes of the Thargoid space in an attempt to subsume the other powers territory. It's all a guessing game at this point either very interesting or dissapointing times lie ahead I'm a optimist and as my favorite game of all time I hope it's the former. We'll see in due time

 

[Ian Doncaster]

4) Game changer happens when next week's Salvage CG at taranis finishes. I can't see us just grinding through all eight like it is now.

Yes, though in certain respects that ends up being a variant of 3, at least in terms of the advice they're telling Paul to hand out.

"Don't target the Titan yet, you need to wear down its controls first, all you're doing at the moment will be saving a few hours at most in the final week"
"... actually, don't target the controls yet either, we're about to bring out some new plot points to make them easier, you might as well shoot at the Titan for fun"

We can't really predict the future, but would it have played out much differently if we had all the AX weapons, gadgets and activities available to us from the start including the ability to delete titans. Using the original or first re-balancing strengths.

On either of those strengths, I think the only plausible option would be all the Titans rapidly obtaining "Maximum" resistance and becoming unbeatable except by wearing them down at 1% a week through that. Depending on the exact mechanics for the Thargoids placing and maturing Matrix/Spire sites when they're not tied to a version release, it's possible that Leigong might eventually have been taken out more quickly with a full-force attack, but no chance on the rest.

 

[Kira Goto]

Depending on the exact mechanics for the Thargoids placing and maturing Matrix/Spire sites when they're not tied to a version release,

On that note - do we know if any Titans have placed any dynamically since they’ve started to take more space, or have none exceeded their size at the time of U16 yet? (As, by all observations I’ve made, that seemed to be the primary determining metric for how many of those sites a Titan planted in its controls.)

… this would likely also rely on players actually discovering them if it was the case, too. But I don’t think Frontier would throw more invincible systems out again, especially not with the ‘More controls = higher Titan damage resistance’ factor.

And thinking of it, maybe Hadad could also provide a better clue of exactly how spires influence the whole matter of what the spires actually do in terms of (presumably) being resource processors. If, say, it were to end up with only HIP 30439 to its control and nothing else. Or three controls and one of those being the spire. Though perfectly understandable if that is not a chance anyone wants to take. (Or random participation ends up taking the spire out anyway.)

 

[Ian Doncaster]

On that note - do we know if any Titans have placed any dynamically since they’ve started to take more space, or have none exceeded their size at the time of U16 yet? (As, by all observations I’ve made, that seemed to be the primary determining metric for how many of those sites a Titan planted in its controls.)

I've not heard any reports of that.

Oya, Cocijo, Thor and Raijin are slightly bigger now than they were in August; Hadad is considerably larger by system count (a bit less so by radius).

None of them have yet exceeded their previous largest extent since they were mostly already shrinking a lot by U16. Hadad is the closest to exceeding its previous largest size but probably not before the end of April.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

And thinking of it, maybe Hadad could also provide a better clue of exactly how spires influence the whole matter of what the spires actually do in terms of (presumably) being resource processors.

I imagine the latter discovery will be much sooner the case at M. Oya; if aligned well and in the context of a full clear as opposed to a Titan meltdown, the good use of Lyncis Sector WU-P b5-0 in 11th place would reach closely enough to Inara in 5th to leave maximum room for Alerts in the Final Ten periphery while avoiding Cephei Sector XO-A b3 in 4th. Then, changing the context to a Titan meltdown, it would be very vulnerable while retaining one Spire site.

There may be little to discover, though—we know already that the Titan damage is permanent, so that leaves speculatively that:

• Spire sites could add more resistance beyond being one Control system.
• Spire sites could prevent ring loss somehow.

 

[Factabulous]

fdev doing their bit for the cause https://www.elitedangerous.com/news/galnet/assault-leigong

 

[Cori]

Another Leigong heart down, according to the message I just got in the instance.

 

[Kenpachi85]

Does it feel like there are more thargoids defending as the Titan is getting down to just a few hearts left? Maybe it's my imagination but sure feels like a lot more today. Still got a 50mil run in nonethless

My Krait doing it's best to be a fly on the wall and go unnoticed

 

[Kira Goto]

Does it feel like there are more thargoids defending as the Titan is getting down to just a few hearts left? Maybe it's my imagination but sure feels like a lot more today. Still got a 50mil run in nonethless

My Krait doing it's best to be a fly on the wall and go unnoticed

I don’t think it is a coincidence. Apparently Taranis on its last heart was absolutely swarming too, so it’ll only get more messy around Leigong from now.

 

[Kenpachi85]

I don’t think it is a coincidence. Apparently Taranis on its last heart was absolutely swarming too, so it’ll only get more messy around Leigong from now.

Thought so guess my slf pilot will be earning her keep for once running distraction for me. Was skeptical about trying to use her but she stays alive for a good bit and is doing a great job. Usually plop her out on one side then move to the other side or if a glaive gets on me I chunk her at them. Ty for the info

 

[BDelacroix]

Does it feel like there are more thargoids defending as the Titan is getting down to just a few hearts left? Maybe it's my imagination but sure feels like a lot more today. Still got a 50mil run in nonethless

My Krait doing it's best to be a fly on the wall and go unnoticed

Well I ended up tanking 4-5 interceptors by the end of today's play time.
Let's just say I made a lot less on the combat bonds than it cost to rebuy.

 

[RaketeMike]

Is anybody else ATM sometimes not getting single heat vents as selectable targes, despite them being open and yellow/active? Up to now, I only read about vents not opening at all, or about them staying blue all the time without consecutive heat core exposure. This evening, I sometimes had their grey selectable target reticule not appearing. In some cases, it was visible from more than 100 metres away, and somtimes it did not appear at all BTW: all in solo mode..

 

[Kenpachi85]

Well I ended up tanking 4-5 interceptors by the end of today's play time.
Let's just say I made a lot less on the combat bonds than it cost to rebuy.

Oof sorry to hear that cmdr as the aggro ramps up I'm finding my slf pilot more and more useful for a change she has been a champ at pulling them away from me. Just got another 50mil run in and broke my 5.2mil ceiling getting nearly 5.4mil on a few heat cycles. Its war biowaste happens hang in there dude gl.

 

[Kenpachi85]

Is anybody else ATM sometimes not getting single heat vents as selectable targes, despite them being open and yellow/active? Up to now, I only read about vents not opening at all, or about them staying blue all the time without consecutive heat core exposure. This evening, I sometimes had their grey selectable target reticule not appearing. In some cases, it was visible from more than 100 metres away, and somtimes it did not appear at all BTW: all in solo mode..

In solo no bugs whatsoever but hearing lots of chatter about bugs in open atm. No bugs for me that is on the 3 runs I've had today if you are getting bugs in solo try a reload maybe your instance is bugged out. Hope it starts working for ya o7

 

[BDelacroix]

Open for the last hour have been either empty instances or bugged ones.