Facing the old enemy
09 Mar 2020Jonny_saturn
Fascinating creatures – the Thargoids. They continue to interest me, I feel drawn to them, obsessed with them. Terrifying, yet beautifully complex life forms. I sometimes wonder if I should be battling against them at all. I know many commanders are reluctant to see them as the enemy, maybe we humans over stepped the mark, marching into what could be their territory, their nesting grounds. But then space is big, very big. Surely they could have connected with us in a friendly way if they wanted and we could have had some kind of arrangement in place. But they don’t seem interested, instead laying waste to thousands of innocent lives, attacking humans without mercy. My ship AI evokes a cold fear reaction to them whenever we get close, their chilling howls penetrating into the inner soul of my trusty companion, who although cant fully understand them, can interpret more fear and dread from the signals that any human can.Back in Thargoid activity areas around the Pleiades systems, I’ve been fighting scouts to get my eye in again, hoping that I haven’t lost my touch during my time away. Scouts are simple enough – launch FAS, find a threat level 4 site, four pips to weapons, two to shields, drop in and engage. With one large beam and 3 x AX multicannons, I’m done a few minutes later, heating through the ship to 220% with the laser beam firing off under silent running to burn off any caustic effects. If I’m good –and quick, I can finish off four scouts before my shield has depleted and without getting ‘dirty’ on corrosive Thargoid goo. Then is off to the next spot for more of the same.
I like the balance of the FAS for scout hunting, manoeuvrable, fast but retaining good firepower and shields. Other ships will do the job just as well though and I’m sure others would also favour different weapon configurations too. Being vulnerable to all weapon types, the scouts can be fought with any half decent bounty hunting set up.
I’ve taken up my old cabin in the Penitent, a large prison ship in Sector HR-W d1-79. There are not so many other commanders here, but the ship has everything I need for a base, even simulated gravity to prevent my bones from wasting away. The food is actually pretty good, although there obviously are not as many facilities as nearby Artimes Lodge or Reed’s Rest – which I do occasionally visit. But its not so busy here aboard the Penitent. The Thargoid hunting is easier too, I find, with more signal sources being non-human, which contain the ships I’m after. The signals in other nearby systems are a lot more `noisy`, more turning out to be encoded emissions or weapons fire. I’m in a separate area away from the criminals – who I tend to stay away from most of the time. Taking off can be a bit of a drag sometimes though, as additional cabin scans and increased security checks can delay me a little in getting out there.
The scouts are one thing, fighting the interceptors is a whole new ball game altogether. In between scout hunting runs, I’ve also been practicing against these, honing my skills and methods.