You Fools: It is a warning!

The more I see the encounter the more it could be seen as pulling prey out, disabling it, powering up a weapon (compare to Vorlon ships from B5) and then realising, not my target, and leaving

Conversely the human wreks had green energy like damage, vs the Yellow we see, so Green Weapon, Yellow Scan?
 
The more I see the encounter the more it could be seen as pulling prey out, disabling it, powering up a weapon (compare to Vorlon ships from B5) and then realising, not my target, and leaving

Conversely the human wreks had green energy like damage, vs the Yellow we see, so Green Weapon, Yellow Scan?

Didn't the first conflict with the thargoids start because of a misunderstanding simmilar to what kicked off the Earth Minbari war anyway?
 
They could be pirate thargoids, scanning us for tasty cargo. Like Wotsits, Caramel Logs and pop. Well Ive got new for you thargy, you mess with my cheesy wotsit supply chain and there'll be trouble.

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My take is similar to the OP. I think being pulled out of Hyperspace is a hostile act. Any interdiction is usually a precursor to being attacked. Just this ship is able to pull you out of Hyperspace and disable everything on your ship. SCARY! If they decide to open fire what can we do? Exactly nothing!

Maybe they are also benign this time. Admittedly nobody has been harmed in any way. But like many of the posts here they may be just gathering intel or have planted something in our ship with the yellow effect that gets thrown at the ship. Indeed after the interdiction they do parade in front of the canopy. As if to say "puny meat sack! What can you do to us now!" But in insect chitter! Thargoids were nasty evil bugs back in 1984/85 when I played the original Elite game on a BBC Model B!

Just sayin!
 
Honestly it doesn't seem like a threat. If it was intended as a threat only our drives would have been disabled and our computer would have been reading off "unknown weapon signature detected" or something like that.

I can't agree with this logic because it makes assumptions about how an alien culture would think. We have no idea of knowing, for sure, what they would or wouldn't disable to be 'peaceful' or threatening. But we get wrenched out of space against our will, then bombarded with an impressive display of loud noise and visceral, bright light. It really comes across to me like they want to be noticed and seen as 'impressive'. Like a peacock.

Reading a lot into it. I see it as: FD creates a nice asset and wants us to get a good look at it, so they make sure it flies in front of our ship.

Don't get me wrong, this was just a flourish to my way of presenting. My main focal point is that our ships have already been scanned in Elite: By each other (Cargo, Kill) and by UAs and UPs. I appreciate that the year is 3303 but I would be shocked to learn of ANY 'scanning' tech that took THAT much power to run.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think it is a scan. Message yes. One in the yellow light and one in the sound.

A message seems way more likely than a scan. I just feel the whole event is too energetic and intimidating to just be 'Hello!'.

Not possible for me to know that, I can't know alien culture. It could be their equivalent to the Maori 'Haka'.
 
When we catch birds and put rings on their legs I wonder if they think, "oh, thanks for that. Thats really kind of you. I always wanted a lump of stuff wrapped round my ankle"

Or when the whale goes, "gee. Thanks for that dart on the side. Whats that? Oh a gps tag. Great."
 
I am sure this has been brought up before but with thousands of messages to scour I literally don't have time to check. Besides, I want to focus on this as a small discussion;

I have seen many people throwing around the word 'Scan' in regards to this first encounter. The alien ship interdicts and 'Scans' us.

Am I the only one who's first impression was actually that this is a threat?
Here is my take on what happens;

The vessel interdicts us from Witchspace and disables us. It then flies very deliberately across our view and turns to face us. It feels like it is posturing, as it rotates around a defined 'Bottom' and 'Top', despite being a roughly circular shape. It wants us to get a good look, knowing that IT made us so helpless and fragile.

Then that noise, and the bright yellow light. It feels more like the charging and dissipating of a very high energy weapon. A show of force. Shock and Awe. The equivalent of a Western Outlaw pulling back the hammer on a revolver to show how serious he is.

Do you guys agree? Or is the 'scan' the prevailing theory?

I am convinced it is a gun to our head, but I want your thoughts. Please keep discussion to this aspect of the encounter specifically. There are already plenty of threads for general discussion :)


I think it could certainly be interpreted in such a way.
But we just don't know for sure.

If (Some say that is a requirement) only ships with alien stuff on board get 'hyperdicted' then this might be a warning to leave their stuff alone.
 
My first thought when I saw that yellow lasery thing combined with the noise was that it was charging a weapon of some sort, or at least draining power from the target ship.

If it was charging a weapon, it wasn't fired, but doesn't mean it wouldn't be fired in an unscripted scenario...
 
My first thought when I saw that yellow lasery thing combined with the noise was that it was charging a weapon of some sort, or at least draining power from the target ship.

If it was charging a weapon, it wasn't fired, but doesn't mean it wouldn't be fired in an unscripted scenario...

It makes me wonder, and this is pure speculation;

-IF- it is a weapon, it is -possible- that the vessel had full intent to fire it, but the reason it warps off is because it was called off.

As an idea, this could be reinforced by the 'bump' it gives our ship as we leave.
The wake of its engines do not affect us when it flies ONTO the scene, but when it leaves we get knocked. Not badly, but certainly firmly. It reminds me of when a standoff simmers down between two humans, but one can't help but shoulder-barge the other as they leave.
 
I can't agree with this logic because it makes assumptions about how an alien culture would think. We have no idea of knowing, for sure, what they would or wouldn't disable to be 'peaceful' or threatening. But we get wrenched out of space against our will, then bombarded with an impressive display of loud noise and visceral, bright light. It really comes across to me like they want to be noticed and seen as 'impressive'. Like a peacock.

As an idea, this could be reinforced by the 'bump' it gives our ship as we leave.
The wake of its engines do not affect us when it flies ONTO the scene, but when it leaves we get knocked. Not badly, but certainly firmly. It reminds me of when a standoff simmers down between two humans, but one can't help but shoulder-barge the other as they leave.

Both of those are also human perceptions of posturing and intimidation, they might be right but also they might, as you say, be a haka or gun ports open type communication that can be misinterpreted and provoke a reaction, FD wrote it after all.

Having said that, I'm with you on the posturing :)
 
Both of those are also human perceptions of posturing and intimidation, they might be right but also they might, as you say, be a haka or gun ports open type communication that can be misinterpreted and provoke a reaction, FD wrote it after all.

Having said that, I'm with you on the posturing :)

Yeah, very valid. I made my own assumptions too. Although I suppose my point was more trying to show not that we shouldn't assume, just that we cannot assume a non-threatening behaviour haha :)
 
They're given us space kisses. They turn to face us and then suck us towards them in that yellow light. No point kissing us from behind. They do fly in a big flower after all. They're space hippies. We need to stare into the light and welcome them!

fhd996idy_kiersten_warren_003.jpg
 
My first reaction to the news-flash was:

Oh, they are sending us flowers!


i9025_Passionsblume_Purple_Haze_0.jpg



As for the "scan" I think we can not say what it is yet. Fact is, no one get hurt after first encouter. I would put this on the positive side of things. But it all can be a ... trap!

What struck me is, that there is a littel bubble in the center of the "flower" that very much looks like some sort of canopy. Maybe some people could take a closer look at this if those encouters keep happening? Maybe we could see the pilot inside the "ship"?
 
As the only commanders getting hyperdicted are ones with Unidentified Artifacts in them, I do think that yellow scan might well be aimed at the UAs in the hold, as was said earlier in this thread. However, I also see it as a benign act showing some limitation to their yellow scanner, as in it can't be operated in hyperspace so they have to pull us out to normal space to get the scan. Not really a hostile act, but a very neutral one that can lead to either hostilities or peace depending on how *we* respond.

keep it frosty people and leave the guns stowed ;-)
(daggit, I will get hyperdicted even if it takes all weekend . . . the alien ship is utterly beautiful, and scarey<g>)
 
As the only commanders getting hyperdicted are ones with Unidentified Artifacts in them, I do think that yellow scan might well be aimed at the UAs in the hold, as was said earlier in this thread. However, I also see it as a benign act showing some limitation to their yellow scanner, as in it can't be operated in hyperspace so they have to pull us out to normal space to get the scan. Not really a hostile act, but a very neutral one that can lead to either hostilities or peace depending on how *we* respond.

keep it frosty people and leave the guns stowed ;-)
(daggit, I will get hyperdicted even if it takes all weekend . . . the alien ship is utterly beautiful, and scarey<g>)

I had meta alloys and got interdicted twice.
 
My take on the interdiction's is that our hyperspace jumps interfere with something in their witch space, and they are trying to do something to our ships that will stop the interference. Perhaps our jumps make micro fractures in space-time that allow seepage of matter into their dimension? And they don't like that.

S1E
 
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