Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

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Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Commander McLane »

Hooray! I finally got around to writing the blurb for the new thargoid_carrier.oxp. :D

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Introduction

This OXP adds a new and powerful weapon to the Thargoids' arsenal, posing a new threat for GalCop. Mighty Thargoid Carriers appear sometimes in a system and head for one of its stations, where they launch a new and frightening attack force: a couple of modified Thargoid warships, armed with plasma accelerators.

While the station is hastily evacuated, its defense forces try desperately to fight off the attack. Will they prevail, or is the station doomed?

Overview

Selezen brought you the original Thargoid Carrier. Here's what he wrote with it:
Selezen wrote:
War is hell. Every one of them has a pattern. Every time we come up with something to give us the edge, the damn bugs come up with something to take it back again.

Take the Navy's Behemoth carriers, for example. We thought we were so smart, bringing a huge capacity carrier to the front. Little did we know that the bugs had them too, but weren't sending them into battle. No, they were keeping them back and letting the invasion ships do the work for them. Now, thanks to us raising the stakes, they're bringing the beasts into the war too.

They are huge. I do have to hand it to the scum though, they've created something that if you see it, you know you are in it up to your neck. The wide profile, the gaping maw of a docking bay, the impression that you're looking at some angry bug as you come at it from the front. It's an intimidating bit of kit.

I don't want to find one. Not today.
This still holds true for thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp. However, there are a few additions, making the Thargoid Carrier even more of a threat.

First, the carrier now sports massive plasma turrets and a triple laser for its self-defense. Second, it has four escorts for its protection. Third—and most important—it has got a new purpose.

The Thargoids not only bring their carriers to the battlegrounds in interstellar space. They also unleash them on GalCop systems. They've done it before, but now things have become very much different, because the Thargoids have gotten their hands—nobody knows how—on a new weapon technology. Meet the plasma accelerator, an invention straight from the future. A glowing white beam of energy that slices through conventional shields and armour as if they were nothing. One short burst is enough to cut a small ship in half. But the plasma accelerator's main target are stations which are practically immune to normal laser fire. Each Thargoid Carrier which appears in a system carries four Thargoid Warships equipped with the new weapon. Its only purpose is to transport these new and frightening weapons as close as possible to one of the stations orbiting the planet. Once the carrier gets close enough, it releases its attack force. As always, the Thargoids are fully devoted to what they are doing. There's no looking left or right, and there's no retreat. There's only fighting to death. Will you be able to help fight off the attack? Or is one of the stations in the system doomed?

Acknowledgements

A big Thank You goes to "Selezen" who gave me ("Commander McLane") permission to use the Thargoid Carrier and do something with it, and who liked the ideas I came up with. Another Thanks goes to Arexack_Heretic, who designed the Thargoid version of plasma turrets for his Thargorn_Threat.oxp, which I borrowed, increased in size, and put on the Thargoid Carrier.

A big inspiration came from Drew Wagar, who introduced the idea of a plasma accelerator as a new and frightening weapon in his novellas. [wiki]Mutabilis[/wiki] contains a first example, and in [wiki]Incursio[/wiki] we meet a deadly Thargoid force equipped with the new weapon. From when I first read Incursio I knew that I wanted to have this weapon in the game. So here's my take on realizing it for Oolite.

Minimum Requirements

Thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp requires at least Oolite 1.76.

Download Location

This OXP is available for download via the [EliteWiki] Elite Wiki.
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by pagroove »

Looks mean and cool. congrats on the release. Will download it soon :).
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Selezen »

Some credit for the plasma accelerator should really go to Frontier Developments too...
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Commander McLane »

Selezen wrote:
Some credit for the plasma accelerator should really go to Frontier Developments too...
Oh! I wasn't aware of that. (I am utterly ignorant in all things Frontier.)

Is the plasma accelerator a standard weapon in the Frontierverse? I somehow assumed that Drew had invented it for Mutabilis.
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by JazHaz »

Commander McLane wrote:
Selezen wrote:
Some credit for the plasma accelerator should really go to Frontier Developments too...
Oh! I wasn't aware of that. (I am utterly ignorant in all things Frontier.)

Is the plasma accelerator a standard weapon in the Frontierverse? I somehow assumed that Drew had invented it for Mutabilis.
Yes, it first appeared in Frontier, in Large and Small versions. You needed a big ship to fit it.
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£4,500 though! :shock: <Faints>
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Maybe you could start a Kickstarter Campaign to found your £4500 pledge. 8)
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Commander McLane »

Has anyone encountered a Thargoid Carrier yet? Or a Thargoid Warship armed with a plasma accelerator?
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Solonar »

I have encountered the Thargoid carrier twice so far in normal space, multiple times in interstellar space, but have not seen the plasma accelerator weapon in action
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Eric Walch »

Commander McLane wrote:
Has anyone encountered a Thargoid Carrier yet?
I just encountered a pitch black Thargoid Carrier. By looking in the log I knew why it was black.

Code: Select all

[texture.load.png.error]: ***** A PNG loading error occurred for /Users/ericwalch/Library/Application Support/Oolite/AddOns/thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp/Textures/thargoid-carrier.png: bad adaptive filter value.
This will only be a problem on the mac though. The current mac release of Oolite can't cope with png files, saved in interlaced mode. :?
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Commander McLane »

Eric Walch wrote:
Commander McLane wrote:
Has anyone encountered a Thargoid Carrier yet?
I just encountered a pitch black Thargoid Carrier. By looking in the log I knew why it was black.

Code: Select all

[texture.load.png.error]: ***** A PNG loading error occurred for /Users/ericwalch/Library/Application Support/Oolite/AddOns/thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp/Textures/thargoid-carrier.png: bad adaptive filter value.
This will only be a problem on the mac though. The current mac release of Oolite can't cope with png files, saved in interlaced mode. :?
Noted. Just another PNG to re-save.
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Rorschachhamster »

I'll just link to this thread.
In short: It is this OXP, that leads to peaceful Thargoids, but the problem is not only that carrier thargoids are set up as escorts... :D
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Bogatyr »

Commander McLane wrote:
Has anyone encountered a Thargoid Carrier yet? Or a Thargoid Warship armed with a plasma accelerator?
I've encountered them several times in interstellar space, they are fearsome and deadly. My current tactic of choice is "RUN AWAY!!!".
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Gimbal Locke »

Bogatyr wrote:
Commander McLane wrote:
Has anyone encountered a Thargoid Carrier yet? Or a Thargoid Warship armed with a plasma accelerator?
I've encountered them several times in interstellar space, they are fearsome and deadly. My current tactic of choice is "RUN AWAY!!!".
Sometimes the carriers jump into planetary space.

My tactic is: get close enough to the carrier to attract some warships, then retreat and shoot the warships when they come after me. I can repeat this a couple of times before the carrier jumps away.

Does anybody have a strategy to destroy the carrier?
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Duggan »

Does anybody have a strategy to destroy the carrier?
One Killit Missile. :)
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Re: Thargoid Carrier 2.0 available

Post by Commander McLane »

Gimbal Locke wrote:
Does anybody have a strategy to destroy the carrier?
Rotate and fire. You need to fire five full military laser salvos at it. Without having a military laser mounted in every direction and using them all this will be extremely difficult.
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