Titan Rescue and Progress

It is expected to know the environment Maelstrom & Titanspace before undertaking Rescues.

Thargoid Motherships, named “Titans,” are alien megaships found at the center of each Maelstrom. They serve as operation hubs for the Thargoid invasion campaign and are the xenos’ capital asset in the Second Thargoid War. Titans are constantly retrieving and deploying Interceptors and Hunters to fight on the frontlines. Titans are also where humans kidnapped by Scythe Hunters after Update 16 are being stored/confined (in Bio-Capsules that are held close to Titan’s surface not far from the Maw). The area around the Maw is one of the most dangerous areas around the Titan.

Titan Alert & Defense

Stay cold, below 20% Heat output at all times to avoid wider detection. Be aware of patrols spotting you – they will make you targetable for the Titans defenses even when staying cold.

Large Ships, which are common for SAR Builds, are especialy susceptible to Titans Turret and Missile fire. Hence a shield is recommended as a buffer. Use that buffer time to retreat or hide from any patrols potentially spotting you.

One reason the alert status may not lower to green even if you are cold and well hidden could be a loose Bio-Capsule floating close to the Titan’s surface. Scythe drones are unable to collect these particular pods but the Scythe(s) will continue to focus on them; as soon you leave your hideout you will be spotted and status will immediately return to red, leading to aggressive behavior again.

Scythes

Scythes are Thargoid vessels of the Hunter Class. They can be visually distuingished from their close relatives the Glaives by their reddish color, just one ‘wheel’ of spokes all pointing counter clock-wise and a pair of mandables on the front side.
They will emit a distinctive greenish pulse scanning for any retrievable humans in the area.

Scythes are specialized in retrieving Humans for the Thargoids gruesome purposes.
They will actively collect any extracted Bio-Pods from the titans with their own scythe collector-limpets and try to hatch-break ships who carry Pods or Passengers.

There is currently a bug concerning Scythe Hunters – where killing a Scythe can cause Commanders in the Instance to crash / their game freeze. Scythes are not interesting to bombing activities, so they should be left alone.

Extracting, Collecting and Surviving

A common scenario is getting to the petal valley with the Titan in red alert, so hiding for a while will be necessary. Besides being cold, it is also recommended to always be in cover staying as low as possible to the surface. Be aware of Patrols exiting and entering the Titans Maw.

After things calm down you will leave the hideout, deploy all limpets, and fire the Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner. This will highlight the Titan Sub surface storage chambers that then can be targeted and breached with Sub-Surface Extraction Missiles

Target and extract the next container and release more pods. A good practice is to wait for the message “No More Valid Targets” before drilling the next Sub-surface storage container to avoid loose pods floating around waiting to be collected and prone to be picked up by Scythe’s drones.

Due to limpet pathing, the limpet will hit the surface and get destroyed if you are too close, so it is recommended to fly with your cargo hatch pointed away from the surface. This will also allow for shorter travel-time of your limpets when going for the pods floating around in open space after getting ejected from the deposits. Keep low and cold and move to the next valley where it may be necessary to hide again and wait.

Bio-Capsules Extraction in a Combat Wing

When opting for a Combat Wing, a Search and Rescue vessel will be escorted by at least one combat ship (such as a Titan Killer Krait MK2). The combat ships’ role is to protect the rescue operation and the rescue ship, eliminating threats and diverting the Titan’s attention (and defenses) to themselves. In this operation, the most common threat will be patrol Scythes sending their drones to collect the floating pods, competing with your limpets. In this scenario, the Rescue CMDR calls for an intervention to intercept and neutralize the Scythe. When the combat scenario starts, Titan alert status will immediately rise to the maximum, and things will go wild and dangerous. In the best case, the Scythe will be quickly neutralized, and the combat ships will go cold and take cover again to calm things down.

A more proactive approach would be for the combat ships to always monitor the Scythes and intercept them as soon as they present a threat to the operation. This requires the combat ships to go into cover, monitoring Scythes through the Radar and using external cameras to assess their intentions. As a real threat is presented, they take off and engage as fast as possible, getting out of sight as soon as the Scythe is killed.

Bio-Capsule Extraction in a Rescue Wing

A wing consisting of just Rescue ships relies on precision and coordination between CMDRs. The operation consists of approaching from opposite sides of the Titan and traveling in the same direction so each one would be responsible for half the structure (or less, if more vessels in wing). Challenges in this scenario include getting the Titan calm with that many ships flying around and firing extraction missiles. When things get too messy, CMDRs should stop drilling (extracting) together, and after collecting the last pods, they should hide and wait for the alert status to drop so a new attempt can be made. All this synchronicity requires a high level of coordination and communication.

Considering that there are 8 valleys (and crests) on the Titan, each one holding around 8 subsurface storage containers, each container holding around 8 pods, the opportunity for a rescue operation is around 512 souls. There is no single ship that can hold that much cargo and be fitted with other required equipment, so to clear a Titan, two or most likely three ships will be necessary.

Ships and Equipment

We have a dedicated page on SAR Ship Builds that covers the basics on SAR Build theory and some recommended Builds we would like to share with you. If you have any questions feel free to ask on our XSF Discord in #ordnance-and-gear !

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