Roasted Thargoid Titan (The Recipe)
02 Mar 2024Meowers
Author's note: fictional story elements aside, the middle section of the text may be actually considered a manual for Titan fights. At the moment of publishing, there are still seven of them left and, if you aren't sure what to do, I'd be happy if it could help you.
So, straight to the point: I've been there and I've done that. Can't miss such a showdown, you know. And certainly couldn't miss that particular one. The Taranis. First in, first out. I'm sure they have their own names and designations for these damn fat things, so this one is absolutely going down in their history as 'the first friggin loser'.
Those fancy new torpedoes. The broadcast about them reaching production hit the networks and a mere few minutes later my superiors called me directly. AXDF command wanted to see us out there doing damage and wrecking the bastard, as many pilots and as much damage as possible. What can I say? We've been ready for this day to come. Starting with two, now ten wings, and ooow ooow hells did I train them really well. So I took six from the top of the roster, ordering the remaining four to run doubled patrols on doubled coffee and rely more on the local community militia. Also, some transport and utility vessels. Should think about rotation, to let every one of my pilots get a taste of blood, but yeah, later.
No way I'm staying in the camp with all the fun stuff taking place elsewhere. Still had to go as a separate unit of my own, yet hoping that my performance out there would serve as a solid proof of my recovery. No escaping me, you big chunk of crap.
* * *
Rescue ship Hutner, the first step, to get the equipment. It's in the Telin system, quite close to the Taranis. Another one, Cornwallis in the Mac Cimi, was a good option too. Generally, there's quite a lot of them floating around and their services and inventories are identical, so you can choose one depending on which side you're approaching from. We needed the torpedoes, of course, one pylon per ship is enough, and some non-Guardian weaponry that won't melt being so close to the big bastard. Oh, okay, the torpedoes are Guardian tech too, yet they have some kind of a magic mumbo-jumbo shielding upgrade. But why, tell me, why in the living fuck didn't you put the same damn thing on our trusty Gauss and Shards? We'd absolutely annihilate the poor piece of shit if it wasn't for that... Limitation. If not to say total bloody dimwit nonsense. AX multicannons are a pathetic piece of crap and they shoot expired peas, but it's arguably the only option to splat them that close to the Titan where you can't use real weapons. And AX missile racks for bombing, they're... Less crappy kind of crap. Torpedoes can damage some of the other Titan stuff too, but you need them for only one phase. Also, Pulse Neutralisers, one per ship, to get past the repulsor wave, and Caustic Sinks to stay alive in the cloud of goop without becoming one with a cloud of goop, two per ship is enough to cover the infiltration and the way back. Thermal vent beam lasers are much welcome because it's a long story you certainly don't have enough heatsinks for.
Getting our loadouts squared out, we went further, to establish a forward operations base in the Njorog system, Sekowski Horizons station, docking the transports there. That place is only fifteen lightyears from the Titan, right next to the contested territories. Having a place to rearm, refuel, catch your breath and do repairs just two jumps away is, kind of, common sense.
So... Off we go, to the Titan. Three of my wings were outfitted for bombing, and the other three for combat support, and I was running a bombing loadout myself because... Muh firepower! Having the audacity to piss me off is the best way for the buggers to end up detonated.
I went into the cloud first, alone, and, have to admit, that's much easier than going with a bunch of other ships, you don't have to be that careful in those... gravity... tidal... whatever kind of shit waves the Titan emits. They throw you left and right, but, flying alone, you don't have to think about the formations and simply not bumping into someone else. The minefield is easier too, just boost and drop heatsinks or stay below 20% in any other possible way, and get through as fast as you can, heat seekers won't see you coming. Repulsor wave is a joke as well, all power to the systems, remaining to the engines, and keep pushing forward, the only discharge you're going to face is yours, and timing the neutraliser is a trivial task in that case. Press that button a couple of seconds after the discharge and keep the finger on it until the wave passes. And, stay calm. Generally, the best advice for all that shit, just, stay calm. Your systems will go insane, your HUD will glitch, g-forces will try to rip you out of the seat, but, stay calm. Drop another heatsink since this wave peaks your temperatures, and keep charging forward. Visual centre of the wave is also a great reference because your sensors won't be able to pinpoint the Titan accurately, with that marker jumping left and right. Aim at the centre and keep moving. Operating your systems properly is a key to get through the defences absolutely unscathed.
Then, a narrow strip of the safe zone, out of the caustic field already, but not too far from its edge, the patrols won't notice your presence while you're there. Slow down, make sure the bars on your caustic sink indication have stopped, get rid of the mines around you, patch yourself up and refill the heatsinks, you're going to need them. Smoke, tea, coffee, every sort of a short break: this is the place to do it.
By the way, if you cleared the caustic field but don't have a visual on the Titan, and you think you're lost, here's the trick. Switch your sensors output to the widest possible range and look at the asteroid markers. The Titan is surrounded by them, so, it's in the centre. If your sensors are shit then sorry, probably won't work.
Locating the vents might be a problem for the first time, since they open for only a short period, but observing the Titan for a while should give you a clue. Speaking simply, it's an oversized, bloated Interceptor, the same eight-limb-petal-whatever-flower-thing, but a hundred times bigger. With glowing yellow maw-portal placed on one of its broad sides, in the centre, that big hole Interceptors come from. So, the vents are on this same side too, on the tips of the limbs, and there's smoke going out of them when they're opened. Stay cold, stay calm, stay cool, get closer. They open for a short time, so, floating right next to one and waiting, to get the most of that time window, may be the best choice.
When they open up, you finally can get a target lock on them from like two and a half kilometres, even without scanning the Titan beforehand, and... It's showtime! Wait for the full target lock, shove a torpedo into that damn thing and don't worry about aiming too much, they may be called torpedoes but they're more like close range homing missiles, quite fast and agile. Just make sure the torpedo is away, seeing the pylon reloading is your sign. Boost and go in a circle, lighting up as many as you can on your way, keeping an eye on your temperatures. Three or four successful hits are usually enough, and, staying below 20% will guarantee that they won't even see it coming, unless there's a bug right next to your ship.
The vents will begin to close soon, and, when you notice that, waste no time. Slip between the limbs and get to the other side of the Titan, and switch to your bombardment weapons. Right in the centre, there's a... slot. A hole. A biological orifice of the Titan, to say. And a big glowing rod that looks like corn will slide out of it, for a few seconds too. This is the emergency heat vent. You know what to do. Yeah, that thing is hot, so, watch your temps and don't get too close. You don't want to hug Titan's hot glowing corn. And the sensors as well, keep an eye on them, the bugs around you would probably be especially upset at that moment.
And the way it shrieks, oh, the shrieks... The most violently pleasant sound I've heard in the last few years.
Realising that it just had been stung in its glowing corn, the thing will get angry. And, when it gets angry, it emits a blue toroidal shutdown wave. So, there are two options available for you if you still want to live. The first one, and the most popular for some reason, is sticking really close to the Titan, so that, when that shit will try to throw your ship side to side, the damage would be minimal. But, meh, my way is to boost the heck out of it to the safe zone. So, depending on your speed. My Marshmallow does like almost 550 in boost and can boost every two seconds, and that's okay, once that thing fires, I'm already far enough to be totally safe.
Patch up, refill stuff, repeat.
Should I mention that performing that shit flawlessly is a way to stay unharmed at all? Seriously, that bunch of morons had finally managed to chip a bit of metal off my armour only after eight successful bombing runs.
* * *
You probably know my methods. I like things that make the fucker dead by shooting right in the face. Things that are heavy, loud, with flash and recoil, things that can make the fucker dead along with everything it uses as a cover, and the whole direction the fuckers come from if you hold the trigger long enough. And the more dead the fucker gets after applying the method, the more I like it. Yet... Have to admit, that torpedo strategy has some good moments in it too. Give me some loud metal music blasting from my helmet headphones and now I'm not simply a pilot making a bombing run, but an executioner, a harbinger of death, an inevitable doom for that friggin bloated bastard, and hells do I like that!
Figuring out the tactics, I sent a message to the pilots waiting on the other side, and... Hells, I've never seen them so bloodthirsty, phah.
Yeah yeah yeah, the ethics and whatever, there are still people inside and we risk cooking them along with the Titan, but, you know what? First, I saw rescue vessels, many of them. Doing their thing. And they confirmed that the amount of occupied pods is getting lower and lower, significantly, and it may reach zero real soon. Second, every single minute those giant hunks of shit are alive, their doggery of little pests claim even more lives, and we can't be everywhere and can't afford a war of attrition.
So... I expected to see a lot of people out there, while refitting our ships on Hutner, or organising the operations base on Sekowski. You know, these vibes. People were getting ready for something we wanted for a long time, and something that involves a lot of arse kicking. Lines of ships, every single one carrying familiar types of weaponry. Civilians waving hands and wishing us the best. Emergency teams standing ready. Supply transports and refuellers dashing back and forth. Many people, from every corner of the inhabited space. People, craving for revenge, craving for victory.
And I wasn't disappointed. Like, everyone was there, both dedicated anti-xeno organisations and not, military ships, volunteers, mercenaries, freelancers, literally everyone. Other AXDF pilots from other groups and from our carriers as well. The whole thing looked more like a party with fireworks and a light show. People went in, people chilled out in the safe zone, people were entering and leaving, even those who were shot down and had to eject, still bombarded the helpless beast with curses that, personally, have made me laugh, knowing that, with so many human vessels around, they'd be picked up and rescued in a couple of minutes. Smaller bugs darted left and right frantically in pathetic attempts to get a lock at least on someone, an easy prey for the combat support ships. Bombers ran circles, stuffing the sorry bastard with so many torpedoes that I swear it will have to spend a few centuries in the afterlife on a strict diet. Ah... Truly, the battle we all were waiting for. Not the gritty, brutal and hard one, but more of 'hey folks let's send that piece of shit to hell' kind. Almost... Festive.
"This place is fun! I'm not leaving! Keep bringing me ammo and fuel!"
So, this is it. The Taranis is deader than dead now, but there are seven more of these for us to have the same kind of fun.
A fact worth noticing. It is possible to get through the perimeter without taking any damage at all. As well as to make a successful bombing run. It was done in-game by me, personally, several times and frequently enough to consider it being something more than a simple luck. Stay calm, do everything well and keep your eyes open, and you're going to be fine. Currently, four consecutive flawless strikes is my personal record. Doubled that number for Meowers just because she's cool.
Credit for the picture used in the header artwork goes to Lhorndra, her pic is amazing and I couldn't take one that would've been better. And it isn't exactly possible now. The explosion was spectacular and I'm looking forward to seeing at least seven more of them.
With all that being said, let's go shred those arseholes to bits. :3