Based on a chat with ClymAngus during the recent meet-up (the kind of thing that should probably be banned under the Geneva Convention), I would like to introduce a new concept variation of the Thargoid mothership and Thargons.Galcop Military Intelligence wrote:Urgent Notification to Civilian Commanders
Recent military intelligence and combat encounters have identified a new and potentially worrying evolution in Thargoid technology It appears that the recent appearance of space-borne "wasp-like" creatures within Galcop space (see the report by K. Wolf et al - Galcop Science Network #359-1701) has not gone unnoticed by our alien adversaries, who have also seemingly encountered them and their hive "stations".
As a result of this, a new type of Thargoid combat craft has now been sighted which has been nicknamed the Swarmer. Similar in design to their familiar octagonal motherships, these new vessels are distinguished byexternal protrusions used to carry small drone craft. These secondary vehicles seem to have replaced the conventional "Thargon" robot fighters, but if anything are more of a threat. Whilst they appear slightly weaker in individual weapon power, they are far more numerous with reports of up to 16 being released by a single mother vessel. But the most worrying aspect is that the craft appear to have taken the wasp swarming mentality, with co-ordinated attacks on individual vessels within a target fleet being reported.
One notable encounter with three of the mother vessels took all of the skill, bravery and cutting edge military technology of an entire wing of specialised Raptor anti-Thargoid destroyers to counter and repulse. Sadly this was not without losses of several of our brave heroes, leading to the decision to issue this wideband warning to civilian ships.
The increased numbers of the drone craft combined with their small size and faster speed has led to this new type of mother vessel being classification as an extreme threat to civilian and all but the most powerful of Galcop craft. We strongly suggest that discretion is the better part of valour in case of an encounter, and a wise Commander should consider using his fuel injectors rather than his weaponry to survive. However if combat is undertaken, notification to the local Galcop Intelligence directorate at the system main station should be made to assist in countering this terrible new threat.
Fleet Major J deLance.
Galcop Intelligence.
These are somewhat tougher than their vanilla bretheren, in that they swam attack rather than just work individually. When the motherships hunt in packs, they should be a challenge for even the most hardened battle veteran.
Note that currently under the current 1.76 trunk code, there is a minor issue with a ship script event (see here for details) which means that the Thargons are currently defined with a missile scan class. This means that they can trigger certain OXPs into trying to ECM them (amongst other things). The fix for this glitch should be in 1.76.1 when it is released, at which point the OXP will also be updated.
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