So I know I am new to the Canonn research, but having been through all the recent text, and putting it in context of what FD can realistically do with the game, without putting people off playing, has led me to a couple of ideas, of which the text above relates.
To me, the Merope-Sphere of UAs is an indication that there will be a new race [Thargoids] coming in in that area, probably based at Merope from all the UA chatter pointing there. As to why the sphere is its size - well I imagine to make the game playable and exciting, they will restrict Thargoid movement to within the sphere; that way it won't be possible atm for Thargoids to infiltrate human civilised space, so they can see how the new race is accepted within the playing community. Hence, the sphere may change size or shape in the future, but not until we are used to their presence. Ergo, the UAs now purely exist as a form of beacon, so that any Thargoid NPC ship will know that if it meets a UA whilst randomly travelling inside the sphere, it will either de-spawn or be turned around 180 degrees to continue its random path. Random being a loosely used word. I think this will essentially stop an all out hellstorm happening where the homeworlds got overrun by Thargoids, and the human pilots couldn't resist them - this would essentially result in an end-point for the game, which clearly cannot happen. I think it is worth noting though that all the above would also fit with game lore, so it is not simply a business-model mode of reasoning.
Now, we can figure that it will take a significant amount of time to build a new station, and this is where the new CG will enter the story, along with the Galnet articles about compromised stations. I don't doubt that the compromised ones will return to normality sometime soon, sadly despite any efforts we take to destroy them!! To me, these articles, especially as they have cited our work, are there to indicate the potential direction of the story involving this CG. So, I could be well off the mark, as this is like any scientific theory, but I am basing it on what we know, what we can reasonably hypothesise, and what the game's lore along with the 10 year development plan naturally infer
has to happen in the game to keep it and us alive. I suspect that the new home for the station of this CG will be near to Merope. It could indeed be Merope itself, but I doubt that as to me that will be the source-point for Thargoids, whether we can access it in the future or not. We know from Sothis that the stations take forever to build [several game years, thus our years] but can be functional before full completion. So, I predict that the new station will be set to be built within the sphere itself where all the criteria intersect, and we will probably soon see a very basic skeleton station but will be unable to dock with it. Then, when we finally get round to the dawn of the Thargoids, they will compromise this station, and perhaps even cause its destruction, either by aggressive means, or by the passive decay nature that the UAs have caused to our ships and stations. So, no player at all will be able to have any vested interest in the station, or any assets at it, so for FD to compromise it will be easy, and we will just all be aghast at the event.
So to me, the development of a new station in the Frontier regions; the impending dawn of the Thargoids; the new spherical nature of the UAs; the decay nature of the UAs being passive but detrimental of course; and the predicted time-scales of all of the above probably coming to a similar point, does to me point to a possible story/situation being played out like I have alluded to above. At this point I cannot link the SS1 or Antares into the story, beyond pure conjecture - we could find that after the Thargoids dawn, it is possible for us to find wreckage of both voyagers on a planet surface within the region of space along the line plotted that we know of their trips, but I sincerely expect if we find anything of them it will be on a planet surface, so that there is in effect no chance of rescuing humans from the incidents. It could be that the SS1/Antares will not be linked into the story at this time, but I guess this is a lot more flexible from the viewpoint of FD.
So to conclude, the fact that we have seen stations get compromised by the UAs, and that there are hints of station services being affected in the future, it would follow that if we continue our research to running a clinical trial on the effect of UAs on stations [and believe me I know as I work with clinical trials daily!!], we will see more damaging effects, although reversible, as FD cannot happily restrict/remove any player's assets within that station. Any outcomes of these trials will to me, be the way we will see the new station in Pleides go down. I have no doubt that any new station in this area is already doomed sadly, because it will flow on all the lore and so on. Surely if FD didn't want this interaction with the contents of the sphere, they would have chosen any one of the other directions to go in to build it!! So, Galnet will play out the story for those not as involved as us. I imagine this will not occur overnight, but that the station' superstructure will arrive very quickly, perhaps after a week's system lock or something similar. Its easy to lock a system or more for a short time blaming problems, or game story lines, as nothing in these systems will be at risk of a player's own assets.
I hope all this makes sense, and it is written with a very large tinfoil hat on! I of course am open to any criticism, addition, detraction, or alteration of what I have written as that is good science, and ultimately I won't be unhappy if it is all proven with time to be complete garbage! However, it all seems to be following a logical course from what we know and are currently seeing, and how it is possible to further the game story & lore without compromising the main game for those players not so involved in this side of things.
Please let me know what you all think, and please also know that I in no way suggest that you shouldn't wreck some stations with UAs! To my mind any damage will be reversible, even if needing time, but it will help show us what
may happen when human technology meets other technology, somewhere within the sphere that RW has initially proposed and plotted for us. Now I am off for a brew, and you know it - a biscuit or seven will come along too
Cheers, The Hat
PS: - I linked the article above for its last paragraph - to me it is a further nod towards potential risks and dangers of expanding the bubble so to speak, and those of building new stations in uncertain systems - I think you see what I mean?!
CMDR A.S.Shat
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