Thargoids and Interstellar Space...too common?

[ClymAngus]

Dear (Commander) ClymAngus

Hello!

Why not just have it such that something like the following is the case?

Only one in three misjumps (but perhaps we should increase the probability of an accidental misjump?) yields any Thargoids. (And perhaps: deliberate misjump attempts succede only one in, say, two times.)

If we (well, er, the Oolite-writers) did that, then the interstellar bug-clash would become slightly more of a novelty, and, thus - I submit - slightly more exciting.

As I mentioned earlier I believe that people should be entitled to alter their game as they wish and make that change available to everyone to take or leave as they please. Do whatever you like with your copy of oolite just make it optional to other people. One man's meat is another man's poison after all. Now all you have to do is find someone game enough to write it. If it can be written. If your petitioning for a fundamental change however, you'll need to do a lot more campaigning.

As to the odds: I found that, at least with the omnipresent navy's help, I did not have that much problem splashing the bugs. But that was before I installed the Spectre, which generates a *huge* number of Thargoids.

Which in itself is an optional oxp.

[Switeck]

Inducing misjumps this way is essentially a cheat code. Including it in your model of what “makes sense” is a tad unfair. It’s also not possible in the core game, since you’d run out of fuel.

Strangely, going from Laenin to Xexedi and doing repeated misjumps burns the fuel up much quicker than going from Xexedi to Laenin. (using v1.75 trunk)
Going from Xexedi to Laenin, I can get about 55 misjumps before my fuel is exhausted...assuming I encounter 2 Thargoids on average and each spit out 4 Thargons, that's 10 enemy ships per misjump. 55 misjumps x 10 enemy ships is still over 500 potential kills.

[JensAyton]

Hmm. I wasn’t really thinking about short jump distances, or the effects of the deliberately-broken rounding function on repeated misjumps.

A possible “fix” for this is to disable induced misjumps when already in interstellar space. This would also limit the scope of Silly Gulf-crossing Tricks. I don’t propose to do anything about this before MNSR, though.

[Switeck]

There really isn't many silly gulf-crossing tricks. Galaxy 7's bottom left can be reached using only 1 misjump and that area is left (by a different system) the same way. Other than Galaxy 8's bottom left world reachable using 4-6 misjumps, I couldn't find any way to reach any other normally unreachable systems.

Since deliberate misjumps can be used 10+ times in a row between 2 very close systems, I do think the sheer number of Thargoids you can kill that way makes it effectively a cheat. Were each subsequent deliberate misjump after the first devoid of Thargoids, game balance would be maintained as would a sense of believability. The Thargoids may be numerous, but for them to be in every nook-and-cranny of interstellar space would require millions of Thargoid warships. Compared that to the ~2000 official systems the player can supposedly visit.

[Zireael]

As to the odds: I found that, at least with the omnipresent navy's help, I did not have that much problem splashing the bugs. But that was before I installed the Spectre, which generates a *huge* number of Thargoids.

Isn't Spectre a ship OXP? Why would it generate Thargoids?

BTW how do you generate a misjump? I think I can take on a few thargs...

[Griff]

BTW how do you generate a misjump? I think I can take on a few thargs...

Be at maximum climb or dive when the witchjump counter reaches 0

[Mauiby de Fug]

Isn't Spectre a ship OXP? Why would it generate Thargoids?

The Vampire Spectre is an advanced military ship designed to combat the Thargoids in interstellar space. It therefore adds some Thargoids to give them something to fight against.
http://www.purgatori.net/spectres.htm

[Kaks]

Since deliberate misjumps can be used 10+ times in a row between 2 very close systems, I do think the sheer number of Thargoids you can kill that way makes it effectively a cheat. Were each subsequent deliberate misjump after the first devoid of Thargoids, game balance would be maintained as would a sense of believability. The Thargoids may be numerous, but for them to be in every nook-and-cranny of interstellar space would require millions of Thargoid warships. Compared that to the ~2000 official systems the player can supposedly visit.

Or they could be calling for reinforcements every time you misjump... maybe we could have the number of thargoids double every time you do a misjump..., on top of that maybe we could have a random piece of equipment break every time you do a misjump from interstellar space...

Balance restored, but in the opposite direction you expected!

Again, doable via oxp, but not to everybody's taste!

[Switeck]

Balance restored, but in the opposite direction you expected!

Balance yes...but not believability. It would still imply huge numbers of Thargoids.

[Killer Wolf]

ants always find a picnic, logic dictates Thargoids can find a ship in WS.

[Killer Wolf]

Balance restored, but in the opposite direction you expected!

Balance yes...but not believability. It would still imply huge numbers of Thargoids.

why should there NOT be huge amounts of an instectoid race? it's the same trouble they had in Starship Troopers, they breed too fast. Thargoids are also way more technologically advanced, so it's safe to assume they can build ships cheaper and faster. the Elite canon itself suggested vast numbers, w/ huge colonies that you could ascend tot he top of - and then get eaten alive.
each to their own but in my mind, small amounts of Thargoids is the unbelievable option.

[Cody]

Does anybody know the estimated number of ants (or termites) living on the planet Earth, compared to the seven billion humans?

[JensAyton]

It has been estimated by E.O. Wilson that the total number of individual ants alive in the world at any one time is between one and ten quadrillion (short scale). According to this estimate, the total biomass of all the ants in the world is approximately equal to the total biomass of the entire human race.

Roughly one million times as many. In interstellar terms, a piss in the wind.

[Cody]

Thank you, admiral.

[Switeck]

Even considering the billions of humans spread between the various systems, how many ships do you expect them to have?

The actual creatures Thargoids, yes...I expect there to be potentially trillions of.
But if they have millions of warships, then I'd expect them to be spilling over en mass into systems -- and not in singles and pairs.
There may be resource limits even if the warships can be built quickly.

For any OXP makers that want to add more Thargoids to interstellar space...or systems for that matter...they have it easy, beyond the possible problem of the Thargoids looking like they just arrived when you do.

But to remove existing ships via OXP scripts, I don't know of a good way to do it without causing weird visual artifacts.