Titan Anatomy

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 Defenses

Main Titan defenses consist in Cyclops and Glaive patrols. If in sight of theses patrols (or any other Thargoid vessel in the area) the Titan will increase alert status and begin deploying defenses. The alert status of the Titan can be determined by the color of the surface textures with 5 different stages:

• Green
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red
• Blue

The green idle status indicates that the Titan is completely unaware of human ships in the area, while Red is when combat procedures are initiated to neutralize the human threat detected in the area. During red alert stage, if the Titan can establish a target lock on you (your heat is above 20%), the surface turrets will begin firing upon you. The Blue stage occurs when the Titan is charging its Torus Attack.

Alert status climbs if Thargoid vessels spot you, you shoot at any of them or the Titan itself, miss a drill missile, or you collide hard with the surface of the Titan. Alert level lowers once you are cold and out of sight of any patrols. The ability to find a secure hiding spot is crucial for survival.

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.

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. After things calm down you will leave the hideout, deploy all limpets, and fire the Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner. This will highlight the sub surface storage chambers that then can be targeted and breached with Sub-Surface Extraction Missiles. Release the button when the bar reaches the blue zone, and about 8 pods will be released for your waiting limpets to secure.

You then 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 pod floating around waiting to be collected and prone to be picked up by Scythe’s drones.

Besides being cold, it is also recommended to always be in cover staying as low as possible to the surface. 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. Keep low and cold and move to the next valley were 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.

Rescue Ship Build Philosophy

A large amount of cargo space is the logical choice if you want to collect as many pods as possible in a single run, but some consideration must be made on how many limpets should be deployed simultaneously. A Scythe competing for the extracted pods will be very common in this journey so having a lot of limpets out is the right way to ensure most pods will be collected. The most beneficial module for that is the 7A Universal Multi-Limpet Controller which can control up to 8 limpets, since only one can be fitted we have to add extra Collector Limpet Controllers with lower limpet counts. A good baseline amount of limpets is 13, more is better.

To be able to survive and have peace to do the job a good shield is recommended, Bi-Weave is optimal for its fast recharge which reduces the time your ship will be over 20% heat. Temperature is what determines your visibility and a low heat signature will help a lot. Besides that, it is necessary to get inside the Maelstrom so a TG Pulse Neutralizer and set of Caustic Sinks are a must- alongside a Pulse Wave Xeno Scanner and a Sub Surface Extraction Missile for locating and rescuing humans.

Ship Build Suggestion

Ship	Cargo (T)	Limpets	Shield/Armor	Link
Anaconda	208	15	546/3,357	EDSY
Type-10	288	15	146/2,964	EDSY
Imperial Cutter	320	22	355/1,757	EDSY