Anti Xeno Combat Initiative group is now available for all players who want to engage in Thargoid combat, it's meant to be a teaching platform and a coordination platform, see here.



[ ATTENTION ] New Thargoid Interceptor Variant, ORTHRUS has Appeared [ ATTENTION ]

Table of Content :



[Special Section reserved for Orthrus ]



[Special Section reserved for Thargoid Conflict Zone ]



[Special Section reserved for Scouts Variants ]

[Special Section reserved for Hydra ]

[Special Section reserved for Medusa ]



[Special Section reserved for Basilisk ]



I. Narrative of my experience and overview.



II. Video demonstrations of soloing the encounter.



III. Overview of mechanics.



IV. Tips and tricks.



V. Thargoid salvage after destruction.



VI. How to farm Thargoid material effectively (Solo)



[Special Section reserved for Orthrus]



General notes:

*Contains Five Hearts

*2% Damage per Gauss

*EMP Capable

*Strange sub-target modules such as "Unknown Drive" *Giant "NO" on the HUD marking *Visually differentiated from the older generation of the interceptors.

*Exclusively found at Palin Research Centre and always wake away.

*Capable of speed greater than the Basilisk.

*Research limpet yields Basilisk sample

[Special Section reserved for Thargoid Conflict Zone]

Order of engagement:



Exerted Interceptor > Unshielded Interceptor > Thargon Swarm > Regenerator > Berserker > Inciter > Shielded Interceptor > Marauder



General notes:



*Don't detonate Flak near NPC, it will give you a bounty

*Your ally NPC are useful, take down special scouts to protect them and let them help you exert the interceptors

*Ammunition is limited, be precise with your shots and carry Guardian Lance fighters if you can to reserve ammo use

*Interceptors will always EMP when they first emerge in the instance, get your Neutralizer ready

*Regenerator's aura is instance-wide, you should always take them down if you do not have other priorities, see order of engagement

*Special scouts do not affect the interceptor's performance

*Interceptors are prone to position themselves in a way that is difficult to damage their heart, take the time to position yourself instead of wasting ammo



Solo set up:



Caustic damage is very common place here, bring AFMU to fix your module after you heat up to burn off caustic, alternatively use decontamination limpet. Have plenty of heatsink synthesis and flak synthesis. Bring full Gauss unless you are not confident with your aim against scouts.



Wing set up:



*Scan data is shared in the wing



Interceptor Duelist - Equipped with Gauss and Flak to fight interceptors like a normal solo engagement, but should focus on the interceptors more than the swarm. [Should have shutdown field neutralizer and Xeno Scanner]

Scout Hunter - Equipped with AX Multi (turreted) and/or gimballed conventional weapons and Flak focused on scout take down and swarm control. [Should have shutdown field neutralizer, Must have Xeno Scanner]

Support - Long range Regeneration Sequence/Concordant Sequence, decontamination limpet, repair limpet, and Flak to support the team and conduct swarm control.

[Must have shutdown field neutralizer, should have Xeno Scanner]

[Special Section reserved for Scouts ]

When encountering different variants of scouts

I recommend taking out the scouts in order of Inciter first, Regenerator second, Berserker third, and Marauder last.



Regenerator:

Berserker:

Inciter:

Marauder:

- Nimble, small profile.



- Does not regenerate.



- All weapons are effective [Except seeker missiles of any kind], but hitscan weapons are advantageous.



- Weak offensive capabilities.



- Can launch caustic missiles.

[Special Section reserved for Hydra ]

1. What do we know ?

- The Hydra variant has eight hearts, its regenerative powers are insane.

- The Hydra variant when exerted has its exposed heart on its back with very little visual cue in the front.



- Hydra swarm size is a crazy 128.



- Hydra interceptor damage is even higher than that of the Medusa.



- Hydra variant has a different visual shape than the Medusa, the Basilisk and the Cyclops. Something special to note is its new back attachment like an enhanced propulsion system along with their passive rotation blocking the heart from taking damage from behind, which is where the hearts are actually exposed.



- Hydra variant shines green when preparing for lightning arc strike.

[Special Section reserved for Medusa ]

1. What do we know ?

- The Medusa variant has six hearts, its regenerative powers are enormous.



- Medusa swarm size is a hefty 96.



- Medusa interceptor damage is even higher than that of the Basilisk.



- Medusa variant has a different visual shape than the Basilisk and the Cyclops, resembling that of the Thargoid bases, which are suspected to be the sleeping hive ships.



- Medusa's hearts when exposed will rotate slowly, making it difficult to target.



[Special Section reserved for Basilisk]

1. What do we know ?



- The Basilisk variant has five hearts, and we can conclusively say that the more heart a Thargoid interceptor variant has, the more potent its regeneration capabilities are.The Basilisk launch swarms sized at 64 instead of 32.



- The Basilisk and its swarm have much more potent damage.



- Shields will protect you from the interceptor's fire and the swarm's missiles, but not the swarm's regular fire.



- The Basilisk's cannon fires at double the rate of the Cyclops'.



- The Basilisk's hull takes 1% damage per missile.



- The Basilisk's heart is as vulnerable to damage as the Cyclops'.



- The Basilisk spawns in Threat Level 6.



- The Basilisk's short range scramble laser is extremely potent against shields.



- The Basilisk's cannon fire are as potent as rail guns modded with super penetrator, and will target your power plant and canopy first.



2. Proposed Strategy.



Keep maneuvering to minimal since the more drastic you maneuver, the more drastic the Thargoid maneuvers.



Use both multi cannon and missiles even if the heart isn't exerted yet, despite the multi does not do as much damage as the missile, it aids in slowing down the Interceptor's regeneration.



After the first heart, always take down the swarm before engaging the Interceptor.



Rinse and repeat four times after the first heart.





I. Narrative of my experience and overview.

Well, after my embarrassing encounter with our lovely alien neighbor who took my meta alloy, shot at me, refuse to give it back and shot at me some more...



I went out for revenge... and I got it, and it's sweet...



II. Video demonstrations of soloing the encounter. I went out for revenge... and I got it, and it's sweet...

Update 6 (3.1):



​

III. Overview of mechanics.



1. Our arsenal -



Guardian Gauss Cannon - Rail gun for hearts.



Guardian Plasma Charger

- Anti-thargoid hull that can be burst fired or charged.



Guardian Shard Cannon

- Fragment Cannon in disguise, very good against panic shields and draw very little heat and distributor capacity.



AX Missiles (size 2/3) - to exert the hearts by damage the hull of the interceptor.



AX Multi-cannons (size 2/3) - to destroy a exerted heart after sub-targeting.



Remote Detonate Flak Launcher (size 2) - to destroy Thargon Swarm.



Xeno Scanner - to obtain sub-targeting information from the interceptor and retrieve data.



Shutdown Field Neutralizer - to neutralize the Interceptor's shutdown field (when it turns Cyan).





2. Thargoid Interceptor Arsenal -



Think of the four hearts as Shield Cell Banks, except, for hull regeneration. Each heart covers 20% of the interceptor's health.



It can launch Thargons (fighter swarm), which can launch themselves as seeker missiles at you.



It can launch Caustic Missiles (slow as a torpedo but will apply permanent hull degeneration if it hits, can only be removed by docking at station or overheating your ship and eventually the caustic damage will dissipate).



It can launch a disable pulse around itself (it turns cyan and you hear "surge detected").



It can shoot a short range yellow laser that scrambles your ship if you get close (it turns yellow, and right after the first heart destruction it will remain in this stage for roughly 15 seconds, stay away).



3. The Mechanics -



Core mechanics:



First, exert a heart by launching missiles or plasma charger or gauss cannon at the interceptor's hull.

Second, target the exerted heart (the petal that flashes red) with multi-cannons or gauss cannon.

Third, rinse and repeat until it dies.



Secondary mechanics:



The Thargon Swarm only spawns when...



-You first begin combat with the interceptor.

-You destroyed a heart.

-You fail to destroy a heart in a timely manner (estimated at 7 minutes).



Heart destruction...



After the destruction of the first heart, the interceptor will begin to use its scramble lasers at close range (750 meter-ish).

After the second heart, the interceptor will use caustic missiles, which are basically torpedo that applies a permanent DoT (damage over time) on your hull integrity unless you dock at a station or overheat your ship until it burns off.

After the third heart, the interceptor will use EMP (shutdown field), which will render your ship inoperable for 30 seconds or so (your wing beacon will also turn off because of this).

After the fourth heart, the interceptor will throw just about everything at you.



IV. Tips and tricks.



You can remove CAUSTIC DAMAGE by OVERHEATING your ship via SCB or SILENT RUNNING.



You need a very sturdy hull and good module protection (with a AFMU [Automatic Field Maintenance Unit), shield is less important but still relevant. If you aren't in the big three ships (Conda/Vette/Cutter), I recommend using bi-weave.



You need to know how to aim with fixed weapons.



Don't leave your multi-cannon magazine sitting low if you are turning to face the interceptor, it wastes a lot of precious time reloading.



The main source of damage comes from the swarm, not the interceptor, do not ignore the swarm.



The Cyclops travel at roughly 400 m/s and the Basilisk goes even faster, know your ship and know if you can outrun the interceptor or not and adapt accordingly.



The repair limpet will not work if you are under fire, it can alleviate the effect of caustic damage, but cannot remove it. It can be removed via overheating your ship until the caustic dissipates.



Solo-



You're on your own, use fighters to distract the swarm if you're not very good with the flak launcher. If you are good with the flak, destroy the swarm first, always.



Only carry repair limpets if you know you can stay out of the interceptor's range with ease.



Bring SCB if you are in larger ships that tank with shields.



Wing-



Bring regeneration sequence/concordant sequence, your wingmate will appreciate you.



Sometimes instancing will bug out, jump out and back in to fix this (make sure someone stays in the instance).



If you want to get the interceptor off your tail, fly toward your wingmates and let them know, otherwise you're probably leaving your wingmates behind.



You can use conventional weapons to gain the attention of the swarm, then drift in reverse and eliminate it.



V. Thargoid salvage after destruction.



Now, for the loot and salvage they leave behind, here is a video on the Thargoid Heart (corrosive cargo), and various engineering materials:





To clarify, you can wait for the caustic cloud to dissipate, the materials in it will still have roughly 40-50 % integrity after the wait. The Thargoid Heart will remain at 100 % permanently.

Spoiler



Missed one material, in spoiler. (Wrecked Components)





[video=youtube_share;C3ufWFPbMLM] https://youtu.be/C3ufWFPbMLM[/video]

VI. How to farm Thargoid material effectively (Solo)



Scouts are now the best and safest source for Thargoid materials (but they don't drop any hearts).



You will need to have a collector limpet controller, preferably 3A, gotta thank my pira--piloting days on this one to remember the quirks of it.



Update 1 (2.4.02):

Spoiler [video=youtube_share;eHfaImDHJ8E] https://youtu.be/eHfaImDHJ8E[/video]

Click here for a playlist of all videos.



Renegerator (Cyan) periodically pulses an AOE (area of effect) healing buff that grants a duration of regeneration to its nearby allies (affected units will show cyan aura and regenerate rapidly).Berserker (Red) periodically pulses an AOE dps buff that grants a duration of increased damage (scout projectiles become bigger and brighter, affected units will show crackling lightning).Inciter (Vermillion) was not shown in the video above, but it's responsible for sending coordinated caustic missile strikes (every scout launch caustic missiles at once).(size 2/3)(size 2/3)