Thargoids: what do we know?

Thargoids are possibly the biggest mystery in Elite - they pop up out of nowhere, wreak havoc with a few starports, then dissappear.
Here's a summary of what we know, as well as some crackpot theories of mine regarding what they want.
In no particular order:
  1. Thargoid tech is obviously biomechanical
  2. thargoid tech may be the 'goids themselves
  3. they attack starports indiscriminately, and only one in each system
  4. they are moving outwards in a cone shape towards sol from pleiades
  5. we have no confirmation of their actual direction - they may not be heading to sol
  6. they operate in a hive structure - with queens at the top and (scavengers?) at the bottom
  7. around two starports are attacked each week, relatively close to one another
  8. no starport is attacked twice
  9. they use incredibly advanced weapon, shield and FSD tech
  10. they supposedly originated in witchspace - though some sources mention the Col70 sectors as a possible origin
  11. they kidnap humans (dead or alive) from their encounters - possibly to research
  12. we know they have territorial claims on certain parts of our galaxy
  13. we know they have some semblance of mapping (the TSS "map rooms")
  14. their is a hierarchy within different classes: hydra ranks above medusa, and cyclops ranks above the highest scout class
  15. FDev has hinted at a thargoid mothership - where is it? (I suspect Col70, or that place the Gnosis was prevented from jumping to)

Now for more tinfoil-hattery, here are my theories:
- they are not heading for sol - there may may be something of thargoid significance within the bubble, though (a dormant mothership)
- they use some kind of recognition system to "see" which starports they have attacked, some bees do this with flowers
- they may not be "attacking" starports, per se, but rather preparing them for something (what that is I have no idea)
- their ships may be the 'goids themselves - they may have altered their biology into the perfect spacewar race
- they might be studying humans, to learn our weaknesses/strengths, but maybe because they're curious about us
- their symbols - what are they for, they may have hierarchical significance (there are so many threads on this), or denote a task designtion for any one 'goid
- they evolved on an ammonia planet somewhere is Col70 or the other place (see mothership in list)
- they are responsible for merope's precise SC distances and orbital perfections and are using it for something- Doctor Who series 4 (David Tennant) last three episodes

I'll probably think up some more points after its too late to change this post, so please post your opinions on the above - I will value your feedback, and look forward to hearing some of your own theories.
 
I think it's simples, those Thargs have a 20 year plan to secure all ammonia worlds in the sector possibel, whatever the odds.


That's all.
 
I think the OP is a Thargoid. Proof? Talking nonsense about 4th series of Doctor Who and David Tennant.... ;)
 
I think the OP is a Thargoid. Proof? Talking nonsense about 4th series of Doctor Who and David Tennant.... ;)

the daleks use an artificial star system centred around a spaceship to act as a transmitter for a bomb that will destroy reality, its possible (but not likely) that the thargoids are doing something with Merope, hence its almost mathematical perfection.
How dare you diss the doctor.

besides, mathematical perfection is not easily found within star systems, so it may have a purpose, which may be similar to that of the dalek system (which used stolen planets).
 
3. they attack starports indiscriminately, and only one in each system
My understanding is that they attack one SYSTEM and the outcome of an insufficiently opposed attack is that one station is damaged.

4. they are moving outwards in a cone shape towards sol from pleiades
They have attacked systems well "past" Sol, even up into Alliance space in the 'North' like Ross 129.


6. they operate in a hive structure - with queens at the top and (scavengers?) at the bottom
Is that a Ram Tah information or something - source?


8. no starport is attacked twice
We have seen systems attacked twice.
 
6. they operate in a hive structure - with queens at the top and (scavengers?) at the bottom
Is that a Ram Tah information or something - source?

I was under the impression someone from FD explicitly said they *weren't* a hive structure. That's second hand though, so I don't have a quote.

11. they kidnap humans (dead or alive) from their encounters - possibly to research

I would expand this based upon this stuff I did a while back.
- They are threatened/aggressive/angered by Guardian technology (but show no reaction to human/guardian hybrid tech). It also makes "Thargoid Structures" react violently.
- Thargoids will start a fight over any ship retaining and not yielding Thargoid technology/components/organs, however their hostility seems related to non-compliance, rather than it's actual posession. They will "call in help" to recover Thargoid items.
- Humanoid cargo (Escape pods, slaves, political prisoners etc) are collected on an opportunistic basis, and do not summon support for it's collection, suggesting that collection of humans is a secondary motivation
- Meta Alloys are probably of considerable value, with their discovery resulting in an excited/pleading/submissive reaction from Thargoids. They will not start a fight to take it from someone, suggesting it's valuable enough that they won't risk destroying it unless provoked, or at the very least no clear offence is caused by it's retention. They will summon assistance for the collection of large volumes of meta alloys.

tl;dr
- Guardians are a source of anger/aggression from Thargoids.
- They deny access to Thargoid things by outsiders and worth fighting over
- Collecting humans is opportunistic, but not worth fighting over.
- Meta Alloys are valued by Thargoids.
 
I was under the impression someone from FD explicitly said they *weren't* a hive structure. That's second hand though, so I don't have a quote.


Nothing so far has been stated (in-game) about the nature of the Thargoid race. The INRA logs were the closest thing to understanding the Thargoids themselves, but the most we got out of that is "we have a specimen". This is largely due to the fact that we have not (in this more modern Lore) actually seen a Thargoid...ever. yes there are the ships that are automated, but no actual Thargoids present. This only serves logical as the last time they cam face to face with humanity in 'person' they copped a face-full of the Mycoid chemical weapon (I'd say virus, but I believe it was actually fungal in origin) which had an impact on their population. better to send out unmanned vessels that are expendable than risk another incident like that.


The Jameson logs detail a bit on this, even confirming a Hive ship. but that is about the extent to what we know about the race. :)


I have all the logs in a vid I will put below if anyone is interested.


[video=youtube;dXysYqEJKJg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXysYqEJKJg[/video]

I Hope OP this help a little to ease the suspicion ;)
 
Barnacles give up mats and MAs.
The mats are proportional to the elemental percentages listed for that body.
Its extraction.
Barnacles have ripe and barren cycles. 2 weeks ripe - a month barren.
The Barnacles that Thargoids harvest are always ripe.

Barnacles exist in the California Nebula but Thargoids are not found there.
Sol >> Pleiades >> California Nebula >> Heart & Soul Nebulae >> Formadine Rift is a rough same direction.
 
The bugs are surrounding Sol with their attacks, almost as if they are marking the worlds they can use as bases.

Once they've marked enough, they'll be able to base their forces at any one of a 100 systems and attack Sol, if driven off they'll be able to retreat back to any 1 of those systems for repair/regroup.

So I suspect we're in for a real storm sometime next year when the bugs attempt to take a major core world out... Vega/Altair/Beta hydri for example.

Whether they know that we've spread out further , or we're not one united political unit is another matter... they may think 'humans... they're all the same.. '

Bill

<<<has finished building the colonia express....and is looking forward to making a shed load of money...... :D
 
I was under the impression someone from FD explicitly said they *weren't* a hive structure. That's second hand though, so I don't have a quote.

I think I remember reading something along these lines in the Codex, perhaps someone has screenshots otherwise we'll probably have to wait until the update goes live.
 
Thargoids are possibly the biggest mystery in Elite - they pop up out of nowhere, wreak havoc with a few starports, then dissappear.
Here's a summary of what we know, as well as some crackpot theories of mine regarding what they want.
In no particular order:
  1. Thargoid tech is obviously biomechanical
  2. thargoid tech may be the 'goids themselves
  3. they attack starports indiscriminately, and only one in each system
  4. they are moving outwards in a cone shape towards sol from pleiades
  5. we have no confirmation of their actual direction - they may not be heading to sol
  6. they operate in a hive structure - with queens at the top and (scavengers?) at the bottom
  7. around two starports are attacked each week, relatively close to one another
  8. no starport is attacked twice
  9. they use incredibly advanced weapon, shield and FSD tech
  10. they supposedly originated in witchspace - though some sources mention the Col70 sectors as a possible origin
  11. they kidnap humans (dead or alive) from their encounters - possibly to research
  12. we know they have territorial claims on certain parts of our galaxy
  13. we know they have some semblance of mapping (the TSS "map rooms")
  14. their is a hierarchy within different classes: hydra ranks above medusa, and cyclops ranks above the highest scout class
  15. FDev has hinted at a thargoid mothership - where is it? (I suspect Col70, or that place the Gnosis was prevented from jumping to)

Now for more tinfoil-hattery, here are my theories:
- they are not heading for sol - there may may be something of thargoid significance within the bubble, though (a dormant mothership)
- they use some kind of recognition system to "see" which starports they have attacked, some bees do this with flowers
- they may not be "attacking" starports, per se, but rather preparing them for something (what that is I have no idea)
- their ships may be the 'goids themselves - they may have altered their biology into the perfect spacewar race
- they might be studying humans, to learn our weaknesses/strengths, but maybe because they're curious about us
- their symbols - what are they for, they may have hierarchical significance (there are so many threads on this), or denote a task designtion for any one 'goid
- they evolved on an ammonia planet somewhere is Col70 or the other place (see mothership in list)
- they are responsible for merope's precise SC distances and orbital perfections and are using it for something- Doctor Who series 4 (David Tennant) last three episodes

I'll probably think up some more points after its too late to change this post, so please post your opinions on the above - I will value your feedback, and look forward to hearing some of your own theories.

1. Yes, it is true. But it's even more complicated if you will research barnacles and dead motherships structures.

2. There is no pilot inside these machines (which we facing at the moment). Only biomechanical structures that is so complicated that it's hard to tell where it's starting to be a bio and when it ends with mechanical parts in it. The basic design and idea of these interceptors and scouts comes from the conflict with Guardians, which forced Thargoids to retreat, by using machines. Just like thargoids doing at the moment against us. In any case, the real live thargoids are on their Hive ships. They are not stupid to fight us in the open after what we did in the past.. They do learn..

3. No, that's not how it really work. By their nature Thargoids have very strong survival instinct. They seeded this whole sector of our galaxy more than 3,000 years ago with Barnacles, because they "claimed" this sector as their own, and then they leave. By the time they went back, there is another civilization already live in this sector. Humanity.

Now we back to their first attack patterns.. First attack targets was 21 laboratorys of organization that is known as AEGIS. Whatever AEGIS did/doing. This really agro them to the highest point ever before in this conflict - attacking our stations. But not just any. They did attack only stations that AEGIS have laboratory on it. People have very different opinions about AEGIS. But Thargoids really knew what they was doing. While we can only assume.

Second attack patterns - the one that we had before late 3304. They attack systems with Ammonia worlds in it. So basically they started to doing exactly what they planned more than 3,000 years before this moment - colonizing this sector. That's was the whole point of our conflict from the start.

Third attack patterns - the one that we facing at the moment. They created 2 fronts of this conflict. One in the bubble and second in the Pleiades. This pattern is yet to be recognised.. They now act very agressively, but not went to the point of genocide yet. They still not willing to actually destroy stations for good. May be they are giving to us some sort of a hint.. we've yet to recognise meaning of it.

4. They absolutely don't care about Sol, don't worry. Yet. Only Ammonia worlds for now. They are also not going for some act of genocide. Yet.

5. There is no direction at all. This whole sector that we call a Humanity Bubble is all theirs. That's their point of view. They don't care about our point if view. Yet.

6. First sentence is correct. Still scavengers are just drones. Think of them like autonomous repair limpets. Cause that's exactly what they are doing for (it seems) 50 years. Repairing dead motherships to the point they can be used as thargoids bases/outposts.

7. It's all depends on how well we protected these systems before the actual attack. New incursion state will criple one station per every week this state will stay in a system. That's why it's called Incursion.

8. No. Not anymore..

9. You don't say.. But jokes aside - Thargoids have very weak shield technology. Not that they really need it anyway..

10. It's very likely, but is a hard topic to speak about it. Yet.

11. Likely.

12. Exactly.

13. This still somewhat of a mystery..

14. These are just different types of military assets that was used against guardian machines. Except Hydra. This beast most likely was created in 3304 year, specifically for us, after researching our combat tactics.. Also, there is no confirmation that even thargons exist in guardian conflict age.. It's very likely that this kind of a weapon was engineered against Humans specifically, since we are fighting dirty and in numbers.

15. We have no confirmation that it is in the galaxy at the moment. Yet. (hint hint)

I do like your tinfoil-hattery. At this moment anything you listed can be a thing
 
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