Thargoid Combat: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Thargon-Swarm.png|thumb|250px|Thargon Swarm]]
When attacked, Interceptors will deploy a swarm of '''Thargons'''; small, independent drones, capable of firing their own caustic projectiles. The most dangerous aspect of the swarm is its powerful '''phasing damage.''' While Interceptors do a standard 10% of their damage through shields, Thargon Swarms have a much more potent effect, dealing nearly
Even if the swarm can be avoided, they also possess a second capability. Swarms can become 'agitated', at which point small groups of them will employ a suicide run, ramming into their target for massive damage to hull and modules. This can be crippling to unshielded vessels, but can be avoided. Agitation can only occur when the swarm flies over a target, causing them to initiate a top-down attack; the swarm can then be pacified by flying through it a second time. Naturally, this comes at the risk of taking damage from the agitated swarm. Especially against larger shielded vessels, the Thargon Swarm can be the most devastating aspect of the fight.
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=== Experimental Guardian Weapons ===
'''Focused Long-Range High-Penetration Guardian Shard Cannons''' (otherwise known as "God" Shards) are experimental versions of traditional Modified Shard Cannons. They could only be obtained by participating in their associated [[Community Goals|Community Goal]], and offer far superior capabilities compared even to
'''Hi-Cap Burst Fire Guardian Gauss Cannons''' (otherwise known as the "Salvation" Gauss) are an experimental version of the traditional Modified Gauss Cannons. They could be obtained by delivering [[Basic Medicines]] from the Heart of Taurus megaship to any of the Rescue Megaships in the Cornsar system before 20th September 3307. Afterwards, they would be available at [[Bright Sentinel|The Bright Sentinel]] megaship in the [[Mbooni]] system on the 23rd of September 3307. Very little is known about this weapon, although it is suspected to be incredibly powerful compared to the original Modified Gauss Cannons.
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* Finally, they can be purchased and sold at any Guardian Technology Broker, rather than needing to be engineered.
The dividing line lies at about 1200 repairs. If a player is going to repair less than 1200 hull (about 4 C5 Repair Limpets), then human hull reinforcements are superior - however, at that point, players are better off swapping repair modules for more hull reinforcements, which will give more than 1200 hull. Often, this higher hull total will still make some amount of Guardian Hull Reinforcements worthwhile, but this will vary based on the ship and build.
If a player is going to repair
===Guardian Fighters===
* '''WARNING
▲* WARNING! Ship-Launched fighters are controversial in the AX community, largely due pre-3.4 lag in multiplayer instances. It was commonly believed that they cause lag and desynchronization in group settings; this seems to have been fixed post-3.4, but ALWAYS check beforehand if SLFs are allowed, and be sure to check and comply with group rules!
Ship-Launched Fighters are a contentious subject. While they have some perks, they also die very easily in AX combat, often in frustrating ways, which can make them not worth the effort to some players.
Their most significant disadvantage is that they have no effective defense against being attacked, including lacking the vital '''Caustic Sink''' module. As such, they will die instantly when flying through the caustic clouds left behind by the death of
They also lack
On the flipside, the fact they are being fired on generally means a more important target is not being prioritized, so simply by existing, they can be a protective factor for all other ships in the area, as swarms tend to focus on them. They also offer a surprisingly decent amount of damage, comparable to an entire ship armed with human AX weapons. A skilled player in a fighter can multiply the damage being dealt without needing to be anywhere nearby, as they can use '''telepresence''' to multicrew into the pilot's seat of the fighter. A mothership with two active fighters and a gunner can be a
Broadly speaking,
There are good arguments both for and against the use of fighters, ultimately coming down to player preference. Generally, fighters will be most useful in any case where a player has a hard time exerting the hearts of an
===Subtypes===
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There are three types of Guardian fighters.
'''XG9 Lance'''
The Lance is a powerful fighter for AX combat, carrying a
'''XG8 Javelin'''
The Javelin is incredibly powerful, but limited by short range and slower projectile velocity. It carries
'''XG7 Trident'''
The Trident is the weakest of the Guardian fighters for AX purposes. It uses a
'''AX Taipan'''
There is one more type of fighter, but it is not of guardian design. The AX Taipan uses AX
==Additional AX Modules==
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===Xeno Scanner===
By default, Thargoids emit alien signals that confuse sensors, hiding their health values, preventing module
'''Enhanced Xeno Scanner'''
The Enhanced Xeno Scanner was developed during the Second Thargoid War, and massively improves the range of the Xeno Scanner
'''Caustic Sinks'''
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Caustic Sinks are a recent invention in the Thargoid conflict, which actively absorb caustic '''damage over time''', shunting it into a sacrificial anode on the outside of the ship. Once full, they must be manually ejected to load a new one. While not strictly necessary, they are extremely beneficial, avoiding the need for Decontamination Limpets or overheating of the mothership entirely. They do, however, require a Utility Slot, which can make then unusable in certain niche scenarios.
Broadly speaking, one
===Repair Limpets vs Decontamination Limpets===
Most players doing Thargoid combat will typically carry some means of
The main difference between these two is total repairs. As a rule of thumb, both repair about the same ''rate'', but Repair limpets repair for a significantly greater duration. Decontamination Limpets repair for a shorter duration, but can also remove the caustic damage over time left by caustic missiles, while repair limpets repair longer, and can repair the ship's canopy. Since the release of Caustic Sinks, the utility of Decontamination Limpets has been somewhat diminished, leaving most players preferring repair limpets, outside certain niche scenarios like
In general, these should be as large as the player can carry. The smallest size variants are rarely worth using at all.
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While '''shields''' are ubiquitous in normal combat, they are often omitted for Thargoid combat. There are three primary reasons for this.
*Thargoid lightning attack deals massive damage (~50x compared to armor) to shields, and avoiding it relies on careful range control that many players do not have.
*Thargon Swarms fire a shotgun spray of bullets with 40% phasing damage. Since shields widen the hit profile of ships, shielded ships can take double to triple the amount of damage.
*Shields also require far more pip usage to properly take advantage of their durability and regeneration. This dramatically increases the complexity of a fight. The worst outcome is if an interceptor targets a player when their SYS capacitor is empty, preventing them from using a Heat Sink, forcing them to either discard their shields by activating Silent Running, or soak up enormous damage trying to escape while running hot
*Finally, caustic missiles will ignore shields entirely, directly damaging the hull beneath. Unless the player sacrifices their shields, they cannot use Silent Running to help overheat themselves to remove this caustic damage.
In general, shields are not the optimal choice. When they ARE used, they are usually used in a very different manner to normal PVE combat, such as by carrying an undersized shield to compliment repairs from repair limpets, while minimizing distributor draw and hesitancy to use Silent Running. This is a deep and complicated subject, so learning with shields is not advised
===Engineering===
Engineering is heavily encouraged for Thargoid Combat. While Guardian modules do reduce the engineering requirement for an
*'''Power Plant''' - Armored, for lower heat, higher durability, and higher power generation.
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*'''Engines''' - Possibly the most critical of all engineering, it takes a powerful engine to cold orbit; the more powerful the engine, the more easily the orbit can be maintained. Dirty Drives + Drag Drives are the only good choice.
== Getting Started ==
===Locating a Thargoid===
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Thargoids are most commonly found at [[Non-Human Signal Source|Non-Human Signal Sources]], which are found in high densities in Thargoid territory, such as the Pleiades, the Coalsack Nebula, and the Witchhead Nebula.
To find a lone
===Cold Orbiting===
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