Greetings Commanders,

Update 18.06 is now available for Elite Dangerous, bringing with it an overhaul to the Thargoid War.

Thargoid War Overhaul

Following player feedback and internal reviews of the Thargoid War and Titan progression, we are making a number of significant changes.

These changes are designed to make the war more accessible, and ensure that every contribution at any time feels valuable.

War Contribution & Bounty Changes

Whilst numerous gameplay options are available to contribute to the war effort, certain gameplay loops have proven more efficient than others - with scout sampling a clear outlier.

To ensure that all types of gameplay are impactful on the war, every gameplay action has been reviewed; combat in particular should now be a much more viable way to beat back the Thargoid threat.

War contribution values have been rebalanced for all actions and the following actions have received significant boosts:

• All combat actions (e.g. destroying interceptors and Anti Xeno Combat Zones)
• Hunting Orthrus in alert systems
• Spire sabotage actions
• All mission types
• All rescue operations

Combat bonds have been adjusted for the following Thargoid ships:

• Cyclops 6,500,000 → 8,000,000
• Basilisk 20,000,000 → 24,000,000
• Medusa 34,000,000 → 40,000,000
• Hydra 50,000,000 → 60,000,000
• Orthrus 40,000,000 → 15,000,000

System Difficulty Changes

Previously, system difficulty became exponentially higher the closer a system is to a Titan, so systems very close to Titans could be extremely challenging to take.

This often made it very difficult to weaken the Titan to a highly vulnerable state by taking those last controlled systems.

This change aims to ensure that system difficulty remains consistent, and additionally, that all systems can be contested without Spire assistance or stockpiling samples.

• System difficulty is now linear with respect to distance from a Titan
• All system scores have been re-balanced using the new war contribution values

Spire Changes

Spires are highly valuable tools to be used against the Thargoids, as each war effort action within a spire system also has an effect on the 10 systems furthest away from the associated Titan - this is called "spread pushback".

Significant changes have been made to enable new strategies via more dynamic spread pushback mechanics.

• Spread pushback targeting is now dynamic
  • For example, if any of the furthest 10 systems hit 100%, the titan will now start to affect the 11th system, then the 12th, and so on - without waiting for the Thursday turn
• Spread pushback capping has been reworked
  • Previously, spread pushback would only apply to a system under 85% progress
  • Spread pushback is now treated as an 85% pushback allocation per system
  • The hard cap at 85% progress no longer applies
    • For example, a system could already be at 15% progress via in-system activity; the remaining 85% could be completed by spread pushback.
• All contributions within a spire system have been retuned
  • Fully taking a spire system will always result in spread pushback to the equivalent of 85% of 10 systems
• Activity after a spire system has hit 100% will not result in additional spread pushback
• Spread pushback no longer applies to the spire system itself
• Spire systems no longer regenerate on each weekly tick

Counterstrike/AXCZ Changes

Counterstrike systems offer a variety of gameplay options to fight the Thargoids. To better synergise with Spire mechanics, improvements to the Counterstrike marking rules have been made.

• Counterstrike system marking has been partially reworked
  • The 10 furthest controlled systems from a Titan are now marked as counterstrike, regardless of direction
  • The furthest spire system from a Titan is now marked as counterstrike
  • The above changes are in addition to the existing counterstrike marking system, which remains in place
• Additionally, Anti Xeno Combat Zones now spawn in all Thargoid controlled systems
• These changes only apply to the Titan with the fewest controlled systems
  • In the event 2 Titans have the same number of controlled systems, both will follow this new ruleset. Choose wisely, Commanders.

Titan Vulnerability Changes

Previously, Titan vulnerability operated on a curve - the less systems a Titan controlled, the more damage it would take from players hitting the core.

Titan vulnerability has been reworked to two phase system. It will now always be clear when a Titan has been made vulnerable, and therefore ready for a final assault.

• Titan vulnerability is now a two tier system:
  • At 3 controlled systems or below, the Titan will be vulnerable to attack
  • At 4 or above controlled systems, the Titan will take almost no damage from attacks
• Inbox messages and the galaxy map have been adjusted to this new system
• Rules for obtaining Titan rewards are unchanged

These changes will enable you to develop new stratagems in defeating the Thargoid threat, and be assured that every action is contributing to the war effort.

We will be closely monitoring the results of these changes, and will make further adjustments as required.

4 Titans still remain active and a threat to the galaxy. If you have yet to engage the Thargoids then now is the time to join the fight! Jump in now with the AX Combat Jumpstart Alliance Chieftain!

Issue Tracker

• Fixed an issue where context menus were not working with HOTAS (Issue ID 64078)

Bugs/Adjustments

• Fixed a soft lock that could occur when being teleported to carrier seats from a teammate's hangar, but not aboard their ship