Thargoid invasion - Next target systems?

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Arietis Sector YJ-R b4-4, Cephei Sector EL-Y c23, HIP 10616 and HIP 2422! Another small poke at a Control system spotted in HIP 20948, and Fotlandjera is proving tough but not immobile, so I think I can warrant its completion.

Targets at 09:00 30th April 3309:
HIP 18702 Invasion 82% — Thor 35 Ly, 1 port, 2004 Ls outpost attack
Fotlandjera Control 72% — Hadad 20 Ly

Alerts:
Bi Dhorora Alert 54% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost, 1857 Ls planet
63 Eridani Alert 52% — Taranis 20 Ly, 1698 Ls starport, 2726 Ls outpost, 432 Ls planet
Jaoi Alert 52% — Oya 25 Ly, 317 Ls starport
Ngolite Alert 30% — Raijin 27 Ly, 48 Ls starport, 2730 Ls planet
Aurus Alert 26% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
Pathamon Alert 20% — Leigong 22 Ly, 105 Ls starport, 194 Ls outpost, 105 Ls planet
HIP 20850 Alert 10% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet

Clean-up:
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty
Gliese 9843 Control 14% — Oya 27 Ly, empty
Cephei Sector FB-X b1-5 Control 12% — Oya 26 Ly, empty

Will everyone please turn off report crimes. I do try to keep my bullets on target, but if you've got the nose of yer ship buried deep in a Thargoid flower I may inadvertently hit you with a few rounds

Remember to thank Commanders who did, and to account for system AX forces also getting in the way, that one still needs to make every effort to hold fire if it will hit something else!

 

[Starsong]

HIP 20948 is an AXI operation, interestingly. They have a carrier in HIP 20899 buying samples for people who want to help the effort.

 

[Frank]

Victories in Arietis Sector YJ-R b4-4, Cephei Sector EL-Y c23, HIP 10616 and HIP 2422! Another small poke at a Control system spotted in HIP 20948, and Fotlandjera is proving tough but not immobile, so I think I can warrant its completion.

Targets at 09:00 30th April 3309:
HIP 18702 Invasion 82% — Thor 35 Ly, 1 port, 2004 Ls outpost attack
Fotlandjera Control 72% — Hadad 20 Ly

Alerts:
Bi Dhorora Alert 54% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost, 1857 Ls planet
63 Eridani Alert 52% — Taranis 20 Ly, 1698 Ls starport, 2726 Ls outpost, 432 Ls planet
Jaoi Alert 52% — Oya 25 Ly, 317 Ls starport
Ngolite Alert 30% — Raijin 27 Ly, 48 Ls starport, 2730 Ls planet
Aurus Alert 26% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
Pathamon Alert 20% — Leigong 22 Ly, 105 Ls starport, 194 Ls outpost, 105 Ls planet
HIP 20850 Alert 10% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet

Clean-up:
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty
Gliese 9843 Control 14% — Oya 27 Ly, empty
Cephei Sector FB-X b1-5 Control 12% — Oya 26 Ly, empty




Remember to thank Commanders who did, and to account for system AX forces also getting in the way, that one still needs to make every effort to hold fire if it will hit something else!

Thank you commanders

Of course I try to be as accurate as I can. Any bullet that ends up in an ally is one that didn't hit the enemy, and on a purely selfish note... I don't want an ally have to leave the skirmish to fix their hull

...but my observation is that the NPCs don't get as up close and personal to the flowers as do the human players

 

[Weps]

Any opinions on an IClipper solo Orthrus build? Obviously the DPS potential is the biggest issue here.

 

[yttrbio]

If you're just hunting Orthrus, a clipper has enough hardpoints. Putting AX missiles (enhanced or sirius) on all 4 hardpoints and a decent enough shield to start off with a ram to reduce its shields should be sufficient.

 

[Neilski]

I don't want an ally have to leave the skirmish to fix their hull

Surely AX weapons barely scratch human ships anyway?

 

[Kayvan]

Yeah I've seen Clipper builds than can quickly kill an Orthrus - combining AX missiles mostly plus the Clipper's Class 8 hardpoint.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in 63 Eridani, HIP 18702, Fotlandjera and Jaoi! Unfortunately that is all for Invasions this cycle; for what it is worth, the present Alert projection leaves eight for next cycle, and the Alert report predicts many more after that. This is inevitable without Control eviction!

Speaking of which, I am extremely proud of our Fotlandjera recapture! It took quite a bit more than one Wing has any business doing, but as the only thing which can reduce the Thargoid presence, my hope is that it might inspire others to attack Control systems. Being the means by which the Thargoids move around, those empty Control systems are important also!

I would also like to think that it will help provide the reactivation missions which @Cori and many others seem to enjoy!

Alerts:
Bi Dhorora Alert 68% — Hadad 18 Ly, 2734 Ls outpost, 1857 Ls planet
Aurus Alert 38% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
Ngolite Alert 38% — Raijin 27 Ly, 48 Ls starport, 2730 Ls planet
Pathamon Alert 32% — Leigong 22 Ly, 105 Ls starport, 194 Ls outpost, 105 Ls planet
HIP 20850 Alert 24% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet
HIP 23716 Alert 16% — Taranis 18 Ly, 2314 Ls starport, 2351 Ls outpost

Clean-up:
Cephei Sector FB-X b1-5 Control 40% — Oya 26 Ly, empty
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty
Gliese 9843 Control 22% — Oya 27 Ly, empty

HIP 20948 is an AXI operation, interestingly. They have a carrier in HIP 20899 buying samples for people who want to help the effort.

It is great to hear that there is an appetite for evictions! Having operated our Carrier privately for Fotlandjera, it occurred to me several times that INIV could really use some transport help for doing this, albeit without a clear vision for how that could work. I admit I become hesitant when I try to imagine it; offering to buy samples would admit the possibility that they are not for the intended system, and selling samples to somebody else admits the possibility of not arriving at the Rescue megaship.

I suppose the ideal service would keep a Carrier present close enough to a spatial volume to be cleared, buy all samples regardless of system, and transport them at fixed times. One wonders whether the logistics of accepting and transporting large amounts of corrosive cargo from specific staging systems could be something which some particularly dedicated Truckers may be happy to do, if @Flossy or @Vingtetun have any ideas there?

I suppose the transport aspect would be faster given a "proper" corrosive vessel which uses sacrificial modules and strict timing rather than corrosive cargo space, but thus far that is not something we are keen to risk doing.

Any opinions on an IClipper solo Orthrus build? Obviously the DPS potential is the biggest issue here.

Exactly as said above by stabbing the shield, and note that the weapon damage is no less than it was prior to the Stabiliser modules, Clipper hardpoint distances permitting. As far as weapons are concerned it would be much like the old Orthrus video made by @CMDR Vulkarius, just with a Clipper rather than with a Cutter.

Surely AX weapons barely scratch human ships anyway?

Some of them can cause a bit of damage depending on how they work; I believe the anti-xeno damage component deals a tenth to Human targets, but that aspect can be as little as half the total damage. For example, half of the Plasma damage is actually absolute, so that total 55% poses an obvious threat to Human ships which rely on resistances.

 

[Kayvan]

Surely AX weapons barely scratch human ships anyway?

Oh they very much can. Especially the Plasma chargers are quite effective, since 50% of their damage is Absolute. In raw numbers this may seem to be not competitive with G5 engineered human weapons, but then add in the gun handling afforded by >5000m/s shot speed.
Also, if you're hitting AX ships, these will usually sport a military hull that is virtually never optimized for resistances, so Shards will also be just as effective, and Gauss even get a bonus on top.

In one of the recent CGs I participated just out of curiosity to test my Plasma Chargers, and believe me they were effective. ^^

 

[Frank]

Oh they very much can. Especially the Plasma chargers are quite effective, since 50% of their damage is Absolute. In raw numbers this may seem to be not competitive with G5 engineered human weapons, but then add in the gun handling afforded by >5000m/s shot speed.
Also, if you're hitting AX ships, these will usually sport a military hull that is virtually never optimized for resistances, so Shards will also be just as effective, and Gauss even get a bonus on top.

In one of the recent CGs I participated just out of curiosity to test my Plasma Chargers, and believe me they were effective. ^^

In most cases the slight tickling of weapons from friendly fire is nothing to be bothered about. You should turn report crimes off until you see that someone is deliberately targeting you to test their weapons

 

[BDelacroix]

attack Control systems

Attacking or sampling to death?

 

[Kayvan]

In most cases the slight tickling of weapons from friendly fire is nothing to be bothered about. You should turn report crimes off until you see that someone is deliberately targeting you to test their weapons

Yes, agree. At one point when we were trying out new builds my buddy and I had a little dogfight, and I'd say that roughly each Shard hit on a Krait takes away about 1% hull. Not a big deal if it happens accidentally in the heat of battle.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Attacking or sampling to death?

A little attacking, though mostly sampling! Having watched a Cyclops collide with our Cutters occasionally and not really move them particularly far, I now wonder what is the mass of a Cyclops and whether rescue megaship Foerster in the Yenistani system now has enough pieces to build a few of them.

As an additional for @yttrbio, with Fotlandjera which is 19.69 Ly from M. Hadad, the extrema were closing in upon a little over 6000 samples. Assuming that one progress point is the semi-open interval [2%, 4%) of at least 2% but not as much as 4%, the initial measurement and subsequent deliveries looked like this:

Units delivered	Progress display	Projected total
514	8%	5140–6425
2237	36%	5887–6214
4404	72%	5952–6117
6132	100%

 

[Grimscrub]

HIP 20948 is an AXI operation, interestingly. They have a carrier in HIP 20899 buying samples for people who want to help the effort.

Small update, carrier has been relocated to 20719 - 20899 had 500Ls supercruise due to asteroid clusters, where 20719 is 10Ls and still only 5.56Ly out - convenience and quicker turnaround if someone's doing wing-work and Really needs to get back faster.

It's as much, seeing if we have the people/there's Substantial enthusiasm our side to work on recapture via sampling with all the info, good guides and stuff out there now, or if its best we just reinforce whatever's being worked on after invasions.

Had been asked about specific alert/control targets by some folk here and there, was looking at a couple of systems for a while now. With the invasions clearing early this week, figured give it a shot - don't know unless we try.
Yttrbio was kind enough to arrange the initial pip and more concrete numbers on the samples required, a handful of folk have started building ships and so on for it - going to have to see if it accelerates as more alert targets are cleared.

The 50kLs to planet may be a hinderance but with the enrage evade stuff you've figured out, in theory, things can be done - best case its not the worst to defend and i'll get one less angry letter in my inbox, maybe.

All that aside hello, stellar work you folk've been putting in this side.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Bi Dhorora, Cephei Sector FB-X b1-5 and Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-1! The Alerts remaining below are the ones projected to finish, with HIP 23716 being borderline, leaving 8–9 Invasions next cycle.

Alerts at 20:50 1st May 3309:
Awara Alert 80% — Taranis 22 Ly, 9157 Ls starport, 7962 Ls outpost, 7972 Ls planet
Ngolite Alert 76% — Raijin 27 Ly, 48 Ls starport, 2730 Ls planet
Pathamon Alert 52% — Leigong 22 Ly, 105 Ls starport, 194 Ls outpost, 105 Ls planet
Aurus Alert 48% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
HIP 20850 Alert 44% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet

Risky:
HIP 23716 Alert 20% — Taranis 18 Ly, 2314 Ls starport, 2351 Ls outpost, 2354 Ls planet

Clean-up:
Gliese 9843 Control 42% — Oya 27 Ly, empty
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty

All that aside hello, stellar work you folk've been putting in this side.

Hello, and thank you!

It's as much, seeing if we have the people/there's Substantial enthusiasm our side to work on recapture via sampling with all the info, good guides and stuff out there now, or if its best we just reinforce whatever's being worked on after invasions.

If it helps to inspire a general plan, not necessarily better than simply recapturing systems you want recaptured, I can speak for what I am doing with INIV at M. Hadad. Our weekly script for the past few cycles has been something like this, in this order:

• Check the very useful Alert report and target first any easily-removed Control systems which could place an inhabited Alert next cycle.
  • See HIP 28913 in defence of HIP 28150, noting that it may not leave Recovery yet.
• Stage either one large single inhabited eviction (ideally also as a protection measure), or protect one inhabited system which has a lot of smaller attackers.
  • See Fotlandjera, which happens also to defend Putas.
• Clear other Control systems within 10 Ly of inhabited or previously-inhabited systems.
  • See Col 285 Sector RH-B b14-1 and soon-to-be FQ-O c6-3.
  • More around the other side of Bagalya planned this cycle, in preparation to capture and keep Bagalya later.
• Clear any other uninhabited Control systems faster than it can place Alerts.

Most of the Maelstroms will be placing some very difficult-to-stop inhabited Alerts this time, though it may be as well at least to start removing some attackers, either in that list now or within 10 Ly of those systems you have just defended!

Yttrbio was kind enough to arrange the initial pip and more concrete numbers on the samples required, a handful of folk have started building ships and so on for it - going to have to see if it accelerates as more alert targets are cleared.

Note that those numbers from previous systems will be much more indicative than the single 2% point at HIP 20948; consider that our initial check at Fotlandjera was an 8% chunk which placed the samples requirement at 5140–6425, a quite large margin which turned out to be towards the upper end.

If it helps to know:

• Yukait was 26.15 Ly from M. Hadad and required 1680–1800 samples (504 measured 28%).
• Fotlandjera was 19.69 Ly from M. Hadad and required 5952–6117 samples (4404 measured 72%).

At 23.54 Ly from M. Indra, HIP 20948 may be somewhere in between. All Maelstroms assumed equal, I would guess not more than around 3000.

The 50kLs to planet may be a hinderance but with the enrage evade stuff you've figured out, in theory, things can be done

Definitely that is a case for an open harvest, yes! It is good if the targeted Commander stops new limpets at around three minutes until the Swarm, allow those to finish, then Exit/Continue (mind that starting the Exit timer also retracts the cargo scoop).

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Awara, Ngolite and Col 285 Sectors FQ-O c6-3 and OB-D b13-6!

Alerts at 07:30 2nd May 3309:
Pathamon Alert 78% — Leigong 22 Ly, 105 Ls starport, 2696 Ls outpost, 105 Ls planet
Aurus Alert 58% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
HIP 20850 Alert 46% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet
Senocidi Alert 46% — Taranis 20 Ly, 184 Ls starport

Risky:
HIP 23716 Alert 24% — Taranis 18 Ly, 2314 Ls starport, 2351 Ls outpost, 2354 Ls planet

Clean-up:
Gliese 9843 Control 70% — Oya 27 Ly, empty
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty

 

[Grimscrub]

Back again sorry - was a messy day so only just caught the replies.

Note that those numbers from previous systems will be much more indicative than the single 2% point at HIP 20948; consider that our initial check at Fotlandjera was an 8% chunk which placed the samples requirement at 5140–6425, a quite large margin which turned out to be towards the upper end.

If it helps to know:

• Yukait was 26.15 Ly from M. Hadad and required 1680–1800 samples (504 measured 28%).
• Fotlandjera was 19.69 Ly from M. Hadad and required 5952–6117 samples (4404 measured 72%).

At 23.54 Ly from M. Indra, HIP 20948 may be somewhere in between. All Maelstroms assumed equal, I would guess not more than around 3000.

3k was the expectation our side in turn - Far as broader data for inhabited, they've been busy so didn't catch the Fotlanjera data, but Quaadrvark had been compiling things for us a bit on inhabited systems, using info they could find shared so far plus some tests of their own, taking higher estimates where possible - save under-estimating things. -

- The population, sol and nearby maelstroms columns were efforts investigating Secondary effects, last i saw they'd been looking into the kills per chevron/effectively, combat to match samples but, life got busy.

In any case, it was enough data to try and guesstimate things.
Given the rough data - personally focusing purely on the maelstrom Ly, my expectation was around 55-60 samples as an initial guess so was planning around 3000 too, with Yttrbio reporting 45-61 for the first chevron lining up with that quite nicely. Given the 11111 data for 24.12Ly, was relatively confident on it being the higher end of that estimate so, figured better aim high than leave it with 5% to go or something if we Did get a high uptake on things.


As it stands, think Quaadrvark's sheet was the most effective thing to come out of the experiment.
20948 was raised as a target Saturday, from checking the carrier we have about 361 samples so far (not counting the chevron), and the vast majority of those came from four people. I'll leave the carrier and buy orders up to build up over time, but I think its evidently not what folk signed up for, nor something that i can get immediate traction for as an idea.

Will stop burying the targets here - kudos again, incredible stuff, whether I can gather people to imitate it or no.

 

[Planewalker]

Risky:
HIP 23716 Alert 24% — Taranis 18 Ly, 2314 Ls starport, 2351 Ls outpost, 2354 Ls planet

Doing what i can by transporting passengers. I've only seen one other CMDR in the system during missions.
(i do realize not everyone plays in open)

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Victories in Cephei Sector ZE-A c10, HIP 28183, Gliese 9843 and Pathamon!

Alerts at 22:20 2nd May 3309:
Aurus Alert 84% — Raijin 26 Ly, 751 Ls outpost, 130 Ls planet
Senocidi Alert 80% — Taranis 20 Ly, 184 Ls starport, 3144 Ls outpost
HIP 20850 Alert 62% — Indra 27 Ly, 94 Ls planet

Risky:
HIP 23716 Alert 30% — Taranis 18 Ly, 2314 Ls starport, 2351 Ls outpost, 2354 Ls planet

Clean-up:
Hyades Sector ZZ-O b6-1 Control 28% — Taranis 26 Ly, empty
Col 285 Sector XN-Z b14-5 Alert 10% — Hadad 32 Ly, empty
Hyades Sector LN-K b8-4 Alert 6% — Leigong 26 Ly, empty

The population, sol and nearby maelstroms columns were efforts investigating Secondary effects, last i saw they'd been looking into the kills per chevron/effectively, combat to match samples but, life got busy.

Good point about the population; that will be something to keep in mind for eviction difficulty discrepancies. The Sol distance was a loose hypothesis here in the context of empty systems, for want of something to explain a quite stark discrepancy we saw in week 20:

System	M. Hadad	Sol	Index units	Index progress	Projected total
Col 285 Sector RX-Z b14-0	27.41	177.06	144	40%	343–360
Col 285 Sector VN-Z b14-7	27.48	191.8	144	32%	424–450

Nearly identical Maelstrom distances but a quite different total, and most puzzling is that the farther system had the higher total. Invoking the Sol distance and noting that M. Hadad is around 202 Ly from Sol, this had us wondering whether being on the Sol-facing side reduced the total. @Ian Doncaster pointed out that this could also be indirect; being Sol-facing can provide Conflict Zones, which may also confer a fixed difficulty reduction. It may also be not repeatable and could be considered misread.

20948 was raised as a target Saturday, from checking the carrier we have about 361 samples so far (not counting the chevron), and the vast majority of those came from four people. I'll leave the carrier and buy orders up to build up over time, but I think its evidently not what folk signed up for, nor something that i can get immediate traction for as an idea.

That is quite fair, and I have noted here several times that present harvesting is best directed at Control systems after leaving an achievable number of Alerts to become Invasions, specifically because there is a large, eager amount of port defence capacity! If it helps to know though, exactly 360 samples appears to be a minimum lower limit for completing an empty Control system some distance from a Maelstrom, so that might be a more realistic target. You can see the 360 number appear above, and moreover:

System	M. Hadad	Sol	Index units	Index progress	Projected total
Col 285 Sector RX-Z b14-0	27.41	177.06	144	40%	343–360
Col 285 Sector NR-B b14-0	30.36	177	288	80%	352–360
Col 285 Sector FQ-O c6-3	30.68	206.74	346	96%	354–361
Col 285 Sector OB-D b13-6	30.94	220.01	357, 360	98%, 100%	358–360

Systems which are closer than 30 Ly but without a Sol-facing bonus seem to start needing slightly more than 360 samples; for example, Col 285 Sector OC-L c8-11 was 29.21 Ly and projected 390–400. That 195.86 Ly from Sol is not considered Sol-facing, and 288 samples measured 72%.

Doing what i can by transporting passengers. I've only seen one other CMDR in the system during missions.
(i do realize not everyone plays in open)

As long as you are aware that HIP 23716 is far from an assured completion, and that any unfinished Alert progress will not carry. If so, very well done for continuing to give it a best chance at being picked up for completion tomorrow, regardless of whether that actually happens!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Victories in Cephei Sector ZE-A c10, HIP 28183, Gliese 9843 and Pathamon!

So that's 11 controls cleared to match last week. There's a minor science opportunity here if you only clear at most one more control at Hadad this week (so 7 but not 8 total) and then are able to follow that up with at least 8 cleared the following week.
(As always: please don't let that stop you clearing 8 locally this week if necessary for local strategy)