Cover Image by Stoyben Xi
Welcome Commanders to the 10th article of the Biscuit Bugle! This week we’ll be covering the recent events that have unfolded in the Pleiades area of space, along with a few announcements.
Aegis Partners with Engineers
A few weeks ago Aegis began to form partnerships with the famous engineers to create Anti-Thargoid technology, and late last week the Anti-Xeno Missile Rack and Xeno-Scanner were released to the public. This equipment, along with future equipment, will be exclusively available to High Tech and Military planetary bases (with the most notable being in Alcazar’s Hope in the Merope system) for sale.
Thargoid Combat
With the addition of Anti-Xeno weaponry, many commanders have attempted to kill the dangerous Thargoid vessels. It is advised that a group of at least 3 ships are present for the fight, as trying to take on a Thargoid alone is not advised and will most likely result in the destruction of your ship. The Thargoids are armed with laser weaponry, caustic missiles, an EMP, an electricity attack, and a deconstruction beam. The main dangers of the Thargoid is its electricity attack, deconstruction beam, Thargon Swarm, and caustic damage. The Electricity Attack is very close range and low damaging, but it is powerful enough to overload multiple modules on the ships(usually overloading the shields, thrusters, and life support.) The Deconstruction Beam is also very close range and only works on shielded targets, but causes massive hull damage. Caustic Damage slowly destroys a ship’s hull at an estimated rate of 1% Hull a second. It can be very dangerous for any ships at 30% or less hull, or any ship without a large hull integrity. Repair Limpets can sustain a ship for a short time, as long as the Thargoid doesn’t shoot down the limpet. Thargon Swarm The Thargon swarm seem to target weaker ships first, and have lasers that can penetrate shields. Though SLFs can distract the swarm for a short time, they can become the most dangerous between being able to penetrate shields, and the Swarm Missile Barrage which can break through shields and cause massive damage to the ship’s hull.
Evacuation Disaster in Maia
Beginning last week Obsidian Orbital started a massive evacuation of the system, calling cruise liners to help evacuate the citizens of Maia. Due to the large amounts of Orcas and Belugas in the recent week, the large pads of Obsidian Orbital have become backed up, causing many large ships to be left outside the station for up to 30 minutes before a pad is assigned. Along with the congestion the station’s security has been gunning down and Orca or Beluga taking too long to land or take off, causing the deaths of hundreds so far. Caution is advised when docking or taking off from Obsidian Orbital until the evacuation has completed.
Gnosis’ First Jump and Current Flight Plans
The Gnosis completed its first jump last Thursday, going from Varati to Hyades Sector AQ-Y D81, and it was a successful jump. Shortly after the Gnosis’ flight crew decided to give it Canonn Orange trim and updated decals. On the 5th of October 3303 the Gnosis will be heading for HIP 18778, and on the 12th of October 3303 the Gnosis will be heading from HIP 18778 to Witch Head Sector DL-Y D8.
Barnacle Forests and Uplinks
Late last week, whilst scoping out Hyades Sector AQ-Y D81 a lucky commander stumbled upon a group of 23 barnacles centred around a large barnacle. Thargoid Probes seem to act differently at these forests, seeming to “sing” instead of their normal sound. Thargoids are also frequent to visit the forest, occurring to visit far more frequently than normal barnacles. Thargoid Uplinks located at the Unknown Structures have been recently reported to update our system map to include barnacles in certain systems, allowing the discovery of barnacles to be a lot simpler.
Thargoid Scout
Along with the barnacle forest an old Thargoid Scout ship has been found in HIP 17125. It appears to contain traces of the Mycoid fungus, and its design dates back to the first encounter with the Thargoids long ago. Thargoid commodities have been found scattered around the site. The cause for the crash is currently unknown, but the idea that the Mycoid could have caused failures inside the ship.
Interesting Locations
HIP 17125 A 3 A [-65.8/48.8] – Thargoid Scout Ship Crash
Hyades Sector AQ-Y D81 C 2 [9/-152] – Barnacle Forest
If anyone has any feedback about the Bugle or any suggestions for sections or events to report on, I would love to hear it. Thank you to all of my weekly readers for supporting and taking the time to read my articles at the end of each week.