It’s Tuesday, and the entire species is about to go to war with a powerful alien race. At least we are in space sim Elite Dangerous anyway, which sees the Thargoids finally invade human systems with the arrival of Update 14 for the game today. Eight massive space anomalies called Maelstroms are on their way towards human worlds, accompanied by massing Thargoid starships.
Players can prod about in the Maelstroms to discover more about what they are, although they appear as massive clouds of gas from the outside. Frontier say that human systems can fall to the Thargoid onslaught and any that do will show signs of devastation in-game, such as abandoned or damaged star ports and settlements. These used to be safe areas, but the Thargoids have begun to target them so don’t take anything for granted. You can help defend human systems against the invaders by taking them on in combat, or doing other things to help in the war effort.
The storyline of Elite Dangerous has been working towards an out and out tussle between human and Thargoid for quite a while. Graham briefed us back in August on the game’s Update 13, which ended the two-year-long Azimuth Saga by causing a colossal anti-Thargoid space laser called the Proteus Wave to backfire and devastate human forces. That created an opportunity for the Thargoids to strike, as the devs hinted at during our chat with them about Elite’s future a couple of months ago. Update 14 sees the Thargoids debut their revamped Interceptor, the Orthrus, which doesn’t behave the same as their other vessels. You’ll need to figure out what these ships are for to help stop the Thargoid fleet.
Elite Dangerous is on Steam and the Epic Games Store for £20/$30/€25. Anyone playing in Live Mode will be able to experience the Thargoid invasion, whether they own a copy of the Odyssey expansion or not.
CJ Wheeler
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