What if the Stargoids are like, essentially system level nukes?
They showed up right after HIP 22460, and the Thargoids attacked 3 systems. There are 3 Stargoid signals. The Thargoids attacking those systems pulled out, seemingly without reason. I highly doubt they just wanted to bloody our nose a bit. Hell, they didn't even bother hitting any stations!
If they had, we would have begun evacuation efforts. The Super powers deployed significant military resources to those systems (after taking considerable losses at HIP 22460).
Meanwhile, these Stargoids are getting ever closer.
Engaging in what is essentially little more than a probing attack in retaliation for a genocidal attack doesn't really make much sense, unless you're attempting to set a trap and lure your enemy into making a critical error in deploying resources and manpower into a designated kill zone.
Those 3 systems are the kill zone, and those 3 Stargoids are the nukes. The Super powers took major losses in HIP 22460, and if the forces deployed to those systems also get snuffed out, we're in trouble y'all.
Just something that occurred to me.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/xv8cuu/stargoids_as_wmds/