Horizons will conclude with the introduction of Thargoids.
The eventual arrival of Thargoids is confirmed by Word of God, but the nature of Horizons and the secret teased for the end of the update cycle makes it highly plausible that the whole expansion pack is putting features in place for Thargoid arrival...- Planetary Landings: Thargoid structures, bases, and crashed ships (as well as those mysterious barnacles)
- The Engineers: Reverse-engineering, salvage, and deployment of Thargoid Organic Technology (canonically compatible with human technology as of Frontier First Encounters)
- Ship-launched Fighters: Thargoid fighter drones
- It's unknown how multicrew and Character Customization will be related to the Thargoids, if at all, but it could be setting up for extra-vehicular activity and FPS components, which have also been promised.
The Unknown Artefacts are a Thargoid weapon
They appear biotechnological, interfere with any technology they get too close to, and people investigating them too closely tend to disappear.- Confirmed that it is Thargoid, but not a weapon. As of 2.4, they now go by "Thargoid Sensors"
A Power or other human organization in the universe has something to do with the Unknown Artefacts
It's plausible that the Unknown Artefact is a combination of human and alien technology, opening the possibility of human-Thargoid collaboration. Furthermore, it's possible that human black ops have something to do with the disappearance of Artefact researcher Professor Ishmael Palin, a theory discussed in GalNet freelance reporting here.
Cue The X-Files music... The Thargoids are ignoring human core systems because the superpowers aren't their actual target yet
All systems the Thargoid have attacked are either locations with an Aegis presence or between the Thargoids and such a system. The simplest solution is that Aegis, a group that went through a great deal of effort to keep the fact that the Thargoids were still around, has something that either the Thargoids want or makes them view the organization as a threat to their existence. Whether it be Guardian tech the Thargoids are afraid of, live or dead members of their race being used for study, or something as simple as the research into the mycoid bio-weapon that humanity attempted to use to wipe them out the first time around.Whether the destruction of Aegis is their primary goal or simply the first phase of their battleplan, there might be an attempt to completely wipe out Aegis before we learn if the Thargoids plan to attack the superpowers' home systems.
The Federation and Empire will eventually enter into open war again.
And when it happens, powerplay will become very important, as suddenly, minor faction allegiances won't matter when they're being supplanted by the powers themselves. There will be massive PvP warzones, and players will be able to obtain a letter of marque to go into enemy systems and destroy trade ships belonging to minor factions affiliated with the enemy.