Thargoid Carrier

Thargoid Carrier
Size (metres, W×H×L)	3821 x 353 x 1344
Cargo capacity	Unknown
Cargo bay extension	N/A
Maximum speed	0.28 LM
Manoeuvrability	Roll: 0.3 Pitch: 0.2
Energy banks	N/A
Energy recharge rate	Good (4.0)
Gun mounts	Unknown
Missile slots	Unknown
Shield boosters available	No
Military shields available	No
Hyperspace capable	No
OXP or standard	OXP
Available to player	No
Base price	N/A

Introduction

This OXP adds a new and powerful weapon to the Thargoids' arsenal, posing a new threat for GalCop. Mighty Thargoid Carriers appear sometimes in a system and head for one of its stations, where they launch a new and frightening attack force: a couple of modified Thargoid warships, armed with plasma accelerators.

While the station is hastily evacuated, its defense forces try desperately to fight off the attack. Will they prevail, or is the station doomed?

Overview

Selezen brought you the original Thargoid Carrier. Here's what he wrote with it:

War is hell. Every one of them has a pattern. Every time we come up with something
to give us the edge, the damn bugs come up with something to take it back again.

Take the Navy's Behemoth carriers, for example. We thought we were so smart, bringing
a huge capacity carrier to the front. Little did we know that the bugs  had them too,
but weren't sending them into battle. No, they were keeping them back and letting
the invasion ships do the work for them. Now, thanks to us raising the stakes, they're
bringing the beasts into the war too.

They are huge. I do have to hand it to the scum though, they've created something
that if you see it, you know you are in it up to your neck. The wide profile, the gaping
maw of a docking bay, the impression that you're looking at some angry bug as you
come at it from the front. It's an intimidating bit of kit.

I don't want to find one. Not today.

This still holds true for thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp. However, there are a few additions, making the Thargoid Carrier even more of a threat.

First, the carrier now sports massive plasma turrets and a triple laser for its self-defense. Second, it has four escorts for its protection. Third—and most important—it has got a new purpose.

The Thargoids not only bring their carriers to the battlegrounds in interstellar space. They also unleash them on GalCop systems. They've done it before, but now things have become very much different, because the Thargoids have gotten their hands—nobody knows how—on a new weapon technology. Meet the plasma accelerator, an invention straight from the future. A glowing white beam of energy that slices through conventional shields and armour as if they were nothing. One short burst is enough to cut a small ship in half. But the plasma accelerator's main target are stations which are practically immune to normal laser fire. Each Thargoid Carrier which appears in a system carries four Thargoid Warships equipped with the new weapon. Its only purpose is to transport these new and frightening weapons as close as possible to one of the stations orbiting the planet. Once the carrier gets close enough, it releases its attack force. As always, the Thargoids are fully devoted to what they are doing. There's no looking left or right, and there's no retreat. There's only fighting to death. Will you be able to help fight off the attack? Or is one of the stations in the system doomed?

Acknowledgements

A big inspiration for this new version of the Thargoid Carrier came from Drew Wagar, who introduced the idea of a plasma accelerator as a new and frightening weapon in his novellas. Mutabilis contains a first example, and in Incursio we meet a deadly Thargoid force equipped with the new weapon. This weapon had to be in the game as well.

Download

The Thargoid Carrier is found in the Thargoid Carrier OXP.

Custom Paintjobs

Note: These are based on thargoid_carrier1.2.oxp, and do not have the properties of thargoid_carrier2.0.oxp.

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  ADCK's Type 1 Carrier

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  ADCK's Type 2 Carrier