Anti-Thargoid Build-Ship

[Kolthard]

Hi CMDRs,

I've never been as angry as I am now in this game. I just came back from a trip just to see that one of my player controlled faction's station had been attacked by thargoids. And exactly the one where I used to dock most of my ships...I had very good times at that station and that's why I tried to save as many people as I could...

But now I need my personal vengeance. I've never entered in combat with one of those bugs...but the time has come. I'm gonna kill them, exterminate them!

Just need a couple of good advices so I can build a ship exclusively for this purpose. Recently I saw a video where a player traveled to a Guardian site to extract technology from it. Wich is the best way to start? Do I need to unlock guardian tech to get access to anti-thargoid weapons?
Does anybody know a guide or something like that? And a very important thing, wich are the best ship and build for this? I have about 450 million to invest in my new purpose.

Sorry but now I'm just too angry to start looking on the internet...that's why I hope you can give me a good advice.

Thanks for the help!

[ReeNoiP]

I'm no Thargoid expert, but you should be able to make do with AX weapons if you can't be bothered with the guardian grind. You probably want a field neutralizer and xeno scanner.

You can do it in an Adder or an Eagle if your are really good, but most people would probably need something like a Chieftain or FDL.

Check out a guy called gluttonyfang on youtube for some pretty stellar goid killing.

[Commander Hitman2b]

we need guardian weapons i think but i am ready to grind to make a good Vette to kill thargoid

[Tokfan]

The easy way is a hull tank conda (altough NOT the cheapest way).

As for outfitting:
Utilities;
Shutdown field neutraliser (when you hear energy surge detected quickly switch to this and charge it).
Xeno scanner (not really needed since the exposed heart will glow really bright red, but sometime in the future we might need the data).
pop in 6 shield boosters
Engineer if you want to feel safe:
Boosters - Heavy duty & super cap.

Optionals;
-class 7 bi-weave shield engineer if you fancy for reinforced & fast charge. Your shield should hold a whole fight but if it drops ... well... the hull is awesome and your shield will be back in no time (if you disable the boosters while charging). And since it's recharging super fast you can go engage the next thargoid instead of waiting for ½ hour for the prismatics to recharge.
-A 1E decon limpet (if you get unlucky and miss boosting away from the corrosive missile) and a cargo bay for the limpets.
-As for the rest? fill them up with hull reinforcements. Slap on Heavy duty & deep plating if you can.
Note: You can unlock "meta alloy hull reinforcements" which will give you some corrosive resistance, but well.. they give a bit less hull compared to the normal ones unengineered and with the latter ones fully engineered they give you double the hull amount so between that fat hull and the decon limpets I wouldn't bother to get the corrosive resistance.
-As for an AX fighter... just too tedious, doesn't contribute much and gets killed by the swarm in no time, doesn't do a good job in distracting the swarm either so don't bother with one, slap on more hull instead.

Core;
Well, you want speed and hull, and enough juice to run your systems, so;
military grade hull (again reinforced, deep plating), 8a power plant (you probably want to bump it a tiny bit with overcharged or monstered - your choice), 7a thrusters (dirty & drags are highly recommended), 8a power dist (charged is really handy or don't bother if you don't spam).
-Now there's guardian power dist & power plants, but those are lack luster and doesn't really keep up with engineered stuff... they are a tad bit better than unengineered stuff for the lazy one but they need 4 module techs from a different guardian site and hooly hell isn't that boring to farm!

And finally weapons... well...
Synueffe eu-q c21-10 A3 has a guardian site that yields weapon tech after you complete the mini "puzzle" and scan it.

You'll want at the very least 4 weapon tech for guardian gauss cannons. 3 of those puppies will melt the heart in one salvo, although you probably want to have 2 equipped.
That leaves us with 2 slots for other AX weapons...
Plasma chargers & Shard cannons (8 weapon techs each)...
-Shard cannons have limited range but will rip the shields of the bastard and expose the heart in a blink of an eye.
-Plasma chargers have better range but are slower to expose, they do however have this feature to charge/spin up then wait for you to release the trigger to fire.

Honestly... Depends on how you like the farming, In retrospect I'd stick with just the gauss and plop 4 of those bad boys on there. 4 gauss cannons will expose the heart in a single salvo then the next will rip it apart.

Whichever way you choose to go, equip atleast 1 preferably 2 remote flaks to handle the swarm..

Or you could just brute force it and exploit the power creep and go 2 gauss, 2 shards and kill before the swarm can really hurt you.

Just a heads up: you will never make back the money you invested in buying the parts and the ship.
And after a few kills you'd figure you could do this soooo much faster in a FDL and all that money was wasted :/

It's just a massive time sink and a hole in your pocket at the end of the day...
But if it's revenge you want to serve... ... the conda I described above will let you kill 4 in a row (more if you go shard/gauss combo) before you need to limp to a station and repair.

Final note:
Before you head off to collect guardian data, make darn sure you have SRV ammo refills to spare. And noone is blaming you for bugging out of there before grabbing just 4 weapon techs instead of "since I'm here I might just aswell grab 44 to unlock every weapon".

[Kolthard]

Wow! Thanks so much for such a complete and amazing guide, and obviously for taking your time writting it. I think this is the definitive build for an anti-xeno ship.

Anyway, I'm quite new into this aspect of the game, so I'd like to make something easier to start. How about an easy build for the Chieftain? I'd like to do all this one day, but I prefer to have more money and more combat experiencie, because as you said I'll never get back the invested money, and the rebuy of that ship must be so high considering that an unexperienced xeno-combat pilot like me will die in the first encounter for sure xD.

I've saved your message in my personal notes, so I can take a look at it in the future.

Thank you very much once again commander!

[Tokfan]

Tried a chieftain, didn't pack enough "umpf" and then there's the chilling sound of your canopy breaking, and having only 3 AX slots 1 of which needs to be flak leaving 2... Yeah, that was wasted engineering mats.

FDL should be a good middle ground. It's fast, agile, got sweet harpoints, enough optional slots to make anyone yealous and good enough internals.
A FGS might work too, plenty of hull there albeit a bit more sluggish.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Terd Furgesson will be here shortly to offer great advice.

But just to get you up and running a good option is the Federal Dropship. If you can invest in Guardian weapons, it'll make life so much easier.

I think the "Best" option is two Guass and two Flak. While Gauss isn't ideal for exerting the hearts, it will work, and it absolutely destroys the hearts once they are exposed.

Hull tank all the way, Heavy Duty your HRPs and Bulkheads.


Fer-De-Lance is not really a good option for Thargoid Hunting. It's a shield tank, but has kind of a paper hull.

Type 10 is almost invincible against Thargoids short of the Medusa, when properly equipped and engineered. You should be able to push 10,000 Hull Points, it's got good hardpoints and even a Fighter Bay for the AX taipan. If you wanted to do Multicrew Goid Hunting, nothing beats a Type 10.

[Tokfan]

Hmmm, there's a few things here I need to question;

That darn gluttonyfang seems to be in god mode in his FDL.
Now in all honesty after a few solo cyclopses you get a feel to the fight and you might aswell step down a notch from the bigguns... unless as you said you start going after medusas in a wing.

Python would be quite solid "cheap" alternative, haven't used them in combat so cannot speak how the convergence is with fixed weapons on it, but it should be able to boost away from the missile and lands at 6,2k hull & 1,1k shields. compared to chieftains 775 shields & 5,35k hull (although the canopy is what it is so -300 hull and add an AFMU and severly lacking in hardpoints).

Conda lands at;
3673,7 shields (2 pips, although you'd probably have 4 at all times honestly so effective lands around 9,184) and 9033,4 hull (2 slots sacrificed for decon & cargo rack).

As for the convergence on the T-10... has this been fixed??
https://i.imgur.com/WMP34r5.png
https://i.imgur.com/pKnPD72.png
original thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/396306-T10-hardpoint-convergence

Because the convergence on the conda is really really good if you use the over/under slots for the "real guns" and the side ones for flak, heck you can boop the tharg and still land either of the pairs on the heart.

As for hull, the T-10 EDshipyard spits out 9175 hull... that's with all the optionals & military filled with hull reinforcements.
Am I missing something obvious here? Is EDshipyard not up to date or calculating something that shows up different ingame?

links to the builds (hope steam accepts them since they are bloody long);
T-10
http://www.edshipyard.com/new/#/L=Ca0H4C0S0,,EBD0EB20DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58,9onG5H50upD4v7iAkPcEkPcIkPcADIG7H36u008wPcCu00ARMG5H56qpD8phXEq00GwPcKypDAg_G5Ha0upD6qpD8qpDGyPcAtUG70254pD8_PcBAEG3IcIkPcKxCpQkPcSxCpYkPcaxCpBLe0BeE0,16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD,7XmG7H6Kw58UoPcWphXcrHxgrHxkrHx16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD13qG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD13qG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD12GG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD
Conda
http://www.edshipyard.com/new/#/L=C60H4C0S0,,EBD0EB20DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58,9onG5H50upD4v7iAkPcEkPcIkPcADIG7H36u008wPcCu00ARMG5H56qpD8phXEq00GwPcKypDAfQG5Ha0upD6qpD8qpDGyPcAtUG70254pD8_PcBBoG9H30qpD5400AupDBRu0Bcg0,16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD,7WCG7H6Kw58UoPcWphXcrHxgrHxkrHx16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD073077U0

[Rick]

Here is my Anti-Thargoid Conda BUG SPRAY.

http://www.edshipyard.com/new/#/L=C60H4C0S0,LYS0LYS0LYS0LYS0L3I0L3I0,EB20EBD0DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58DBwG5Ia16004qpD8u00Cw58CjwG2G31000Oy00Sy00CjwG2G31000Oy00Sy00,9onG5H50upD4v7iAkPcEkPcIkPcADIG3H40sPc50pD8phXEphXARMG5H56qpD8phXEq00GwPcKypDAfQH5Ha0upD6qpD8qpDGyPcAtUG50210pD54ZsBBoG7Hd4upDGwk5MrmfOwk5UrmfWwk5crmfBRuG3G32_Pc6y00Iu00Bcg0,16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD,7VsG7I6Kw58UoPcWphXcrHxgrHxkrHx1tO07jwG50b6sPc8u00Ev7iOoPcUthX16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD16yG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD15OG5H50wPc4zmfAqpDEqpDIqpD23u020m0,BUG_0SPRAY

Gluttony Fang has a discord as well, "Anti-xeno initiative". Lots of builds and good advise on killing goids there.

As far as Guardian weapons goes, yes, you want them. The AX weapons are no good against human ships and if you get in a scrap (player or human NPC) you are in trouble. The Guardian weapons are good against both and the DPS against Thargoids is MUCH better than the AX weapons. As you can see in my build, I went with the Gauss cannons. There is no need to unlock anything more than that. It's the best of the guardian weapons and your only issue will be managing the heat. That said, if you use the fixed version (which is the best, you need to master using fixed weapons, if you have not already).

Where to get the Guardian weapon blueprints and other guardian mats

Synuefe Eu-Q C2110 A3

Welcome to the fight! o7

[Commander Hitman2b]

gardian have plasma accelerator weapons ? just to know

[Rick]

USG Hitman2b původně napsal:

gardian have plasma accelerator weapons ? just to know

yep, they can be good but the drawback is the charge time on them. Getting a full charge and keeping the target sighted isn't easy. Also, you only need 4 blueprints for the gauss. on the other hand, I think the thermal is much less on them so I guess its a trade off.

[Commander Hitman2b]

i will try something but first i need to Full A grade my vette and maybe starting to collect ressource

[Rick]

If you have the engineers unlocked it won't be too bad, but you are going to need engineering to be effective against thargoids. The other issue, of course, is getting your ship place to place. When I build my anti thargoid conda (no fuel scoop), I just paid to have it transported to the engineers, which cost a pretty penny but it is what it is.

[nzguzzi]

The grind for guardian weapons is yawnage.
Rewards for killing Thargoids minimal.
Huge investment in time and materials
All feels like a place holder to me, although the fights are fun, a casual player probably will never see a guardian weapon unlock.
I am waiting until the next update, hopefully it is more fleshed out with better jump distance on ships and ways to deal with corrosion damage.
No wonder the Navy are getting their asses kicked, it takes 200 jumps just to get the Corvettes into battle, by that time the Thargoids have already destroyed the stations and made love to all the pot plants.

[nzguzzi]

Rick původně napsal:

If you have the engineers unlocked it won't be too bad, but you are going to need engineering to be effective against thargoids. The other issue, of course, is getting your ship place to place. When I build my anti thargoid conda (no fuel scoop), I just paid to have it transported to the engineers, which cost a pretty penny but it is what it is.

Agree.
The game mechanics for low sub 50 Ly combat ships no longer cuts it.
This needs to be vastly improved like the good old Elite days, 1990's, your military rank unlocked military grade equipment.
The Navy knew they needed the best pilots, so your rank and combat rating provided equipment unlocks for jump range, shields, armour etc.....
This was a far better game mechanic than chasing a bunch of blueprints and farming RNG drops.
Felt like you were actually making a difference and being noticed, not just picking up brightly coloured pebbles and putting them in your basket, flying back 900 Ly and then magically having a one time unlock...... yawn/lazy coding/no imagination/place holder.

[Tokfan]

nzguzzi původně napsal:

This was a far better game mechanic than chasing a bunch of blueprints and farming RNG drops.

Something about the Military Grade Drives;
They used a different kind of fuel (military grade fuel) as the regular ones and spat out radioactive waste. And that was illegal to carry in most systems so enjoy the Game Over screen.
Add to that the grade 3 was only sold at three systems (Barnard's Star, Facece & Gateway).
And no fuel scooping period.

While point 1 would only be an annoyance. BUT we have to solve the issue with fuel from fuel tank -> full cargo hold issue.
Point 3 won't solve the transport issue. You'd still be forced to operate inside the bubble.