Elite: Dangerous‘ enigmatic Thargoid aliens have been splattering players’ ships for months in apparent self-defence. Now, they have gone on the offensive. The outer-space starfish have begun destroying space stations, forcing players to rescue their inhabitants.
Today, players of massively multiplayer space game Elite began receiving SOS messages from stations that had been devastated by Thargoids. Here’s a video of one such station from player and YouTuber Gluttony Fang:
“Station interior has overheated, everything’s on fire, and the storage/engine department of the station is giving off abnormal interference with our ship systems,” Gluttony Fang wrote in the video’s description.
It’s a fact of life that games add more content after release, but few have done so in 2017 with as an effective a sense of mystery as Elite. Elite: Dangerous has been building to this point for years now, beginning with hints that extraterrestrial life was out there back in 2015. All the winks and mysteries finally began to pay off earlier this year when Thargoids warped into player space and, when approached, defended themselves in vicious fashion. In response to advanced new “anti-xeno weapons” developed by players, they evolved and became resistant to certain forms of damage. Still, the Thargoids have largely been reactive up to this point, and some players weren’t sure if fighting them was even the right thing to do. Now they’re taking initiative, though players still aren’t certain exactly why.
Players who’ve plunged into the game’s burning space houses and lived to tell that tale recommend kitting your ship with passenger cabins so that you can help evacuate computer-controlled residents. Also, and this part is kinda self-explanatory, they advise everyone sure to steer clear of the fire.
At first, players on Elite‘s subreddit and forums weren’t 100 per cent certain that the Thargoids were to blame for these ugly cases of space arson, with some even calling it a “false flag” operation intended to implicate Thargoids. A new story video released by developer Frontier, however, has confirmed that Thargoids are definitely to blame for the attacks.
In short, the Thargoids have figured out how to fry space stations’ defences and carve them up like Christmas turkeys. That doesn’t bode well for the whole of virtual humanity, but at least Elite players will have an interesting next couple weeks.
Comments
16 responses to “Elite: Dangerous’ Aliens Are Attacking Space Stations Now”
I miss this.
Come back to us.
I’m at Liman Legacy now helping evacuate civilians.
I’m sure you can get save at least 4 at a time in your Sidewinder… :-p
Hey there’s plenty of room in a Diamondback!
…I wouldn’t trust me to drive it though.
I’ve just done my first run in a Python. Wouldn’t want to be in anything bigger – station’s full of debris…
I’ve been running 176 PAX a time out in my ‘Conda
Not easy dodging the debris, and the occasion explosion that blows the ship around add to the challenge.
Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be in anything larger. Python’s doing it for me. Rescued about a thousand folks across the three stations.
It’s fun, and a bit nuts.
Managing just fine in ‘Conda “Annie Hastur”. Sure she’s missing some paint in places, and that cargo door is having some issues staying shut.
But every time we boost out of a station with a full load of refugees I know I’m making a differance.
I hear large pads are congested as well, will probably have to kit out the Python for passengers to run relief efforts… Clipper might be a bit too… wide 😛
Agreed I really should get back into it even though when I did play I had no clue what I was doing
I’ve never played Elite, but dammit all uf this doesn’t sound cool as hell.
It’s a strange game – spectacular sandbox with lots of players and groups roleplaying… and crazy stuff like this. But the crime and punishment system is bollocks… it can be frustration.
But when it’s good, it’s bloody good. Bounty hunting in asteroid fields, low flights into planetary bases, and some of the space stations are some of the best feelings I’ve had in gaming, ever.
Its an amazing game. But its a game you need to invest time in. You cant just pick it up and have the time of your life. You need to spend time doing stuff. But its well worth it.
I feel like I would need friends who already play to make it worth my while.
There’s lots of Aussie players and an active Aus/NZ faction based out of Kunti (where else? 😀 )
If you’re on the book of face, a search for Elite Dangerous Australia New Zealand will find us.
Community generally is pretty helpful to new players. If you don’t like PvP (like the faction that is currently destroying rescue ships at the damaged bases) playing in Solo mode or in one of the many PvE private groups is a good idea – Mobius is the largest PvE group with thousands of active players world-wide.
Feel free to ping me if you do join us in the 33rd century. 🙂
I’ll be sure to do so.
This was my problem with the game. What was there was clearly well constructed, but I play casually, and prefer to pop in and out every few months. Which was quickly shown to not be viable.
So in the end, because of MY playstyle, I found the game shallow and ultimately unrewarding. I ended up just being a taxi service of one kind or another, which became more repetitive than NMS.
I found myself grinding mission after mission just to raise enough money to get a bigger ship and fit it out, after which I’d just be doing the same thing for the next tier. And each ship was basically dedicated to a single purpose, whether it was transporting documents or people, or fighting pirates.
Even with all the Thargoid stuff they’ve put in since, I’m not sure I’d dedicate enough time to make it work for me. Clearly others have different experiences, but for anyone that hasn’t invested into it, be well aware that theres a high level of commitment to get the most out of it. A level I wasn’t willing to put in when I was playing, which is on me.