Difference between revisions of "Pikeman"

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{{Biotech|section=1}}
 
{{Biotech|section=1}}
 
{{Main|Mechanoid creation}}
 
{{Main|Mechanoid creation}}
Pikemen are medium mechanoids, and require [[Research#Standard Mechtech|Standard Mechtech]] to be researched. They are created from a [[large mech gestator]] with 1 [[standard subcore]], 100 [[steel]], 40 [[plasteel]], and 4 [[component]]s, taking up 2 [[bandwidth]] from a [[mechanitor]]. They take 1800 [[ticks]] to initally craft, and then it must gestate for 2 cycles. Mechanoids can be fully repaired at the cost of power and nothing else. A dead pikeman can be resurected for 50 [[steel]] and 1 gestation cycle so long as the corpse is extant. Mechs do not count as a pawn for determining [[raid points]], but still contribute towards wealth.
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Pikemen are medium mechanoids, and require [[Research#Standard Mechtech|Standard Mechtech]] to be researched. Mechs do not count as a pawn for determining [[raid points]], but still contribute towards wealth.
 +
 
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They are created from a [[large mech gestator]] with {{Required Resources}}, taking up 2 [[bandwidth]] from a [[mechanitor]]. They take 1800 [[ticks]] to initally craft, and then it must gestate for 2 cycles. Mechanoids can be fully repaired at the cost of power and nothing else. A dead pikeman can be resurected for 50 [[steel]] and 1 gestation cycle so long as the corpse is extant.
  
 
Mechs under player control require power: pikemen use 10% of their power per day while active.  If set to dormant self-charging, they instead recharge for 1% power / day, without pollution. They recharge in a [[large mech recharger]] (400W), for 50% power/day, creating 10 [[wastepack]]s whenever the recharger's waste is filled up.
 
Mechs under player control require power: pikemen use 10% of their power per day while active.  If set to dormant self-charging, they instead recharge for 1% power / day, without pollution. They recharge in a [[large mech recharger]] (400W), for 50% power/day, creating 10 [[wastepack]]s whenever the recharger's waste is filled up.

Revision as of 17:13, 25 November 2022

Pikeman

Pikeman

A clunky multi-legged combat mechanoid specialized as a long-range weapons platform. While effective at distance, it is weak in close-range fights and in melee combat.
Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest place to be around a pikeman is touching it.

Base Stats

Type
Mechanoid
Market Value
1200 Silver

Armor

Armor - Sharp
40%
Armor - Blunt
20%
Armor - Heat
200%

Pawn Stats

Move Speed
2.5 c/s
Health Scale
85% HP
Body Size
1
Mass
60 kg
Pack Capacity
35 kg
Carrying Capacity
75 kg
Filth Rate
1
Life Expectancy
2500 years
Comfortable Temp Range
-100 °C – 250 °C (-148 °F – 482 °F)

Melee Combat

Attack 1
Front left leg
12 dmg (Blunt)
18 % AP
2 second cooldown
Attack 2
Front right leg
12 dmg (Blunt)
18 % AP
2 second cooldown
Attack 3
Head
8.5 dmg (Blunt)
13 % AP
2 second cooldown
0.2 chance factor
Average DPS
3.72

Creation

Crafted At
Large mech gestator
Required Research
Standard mechtech
Resources to make
Steel 100 + Plasteel 40 + Component 4 + Standard subcore 1
Technical
weaponTags
MechanoidGunLongRange


Pikemen are a type of slow-moving, long range mechanoid.

Summary

As mechanoids, every pikeman is immune to fire, Flame and Heat damage, and temperature extremes, despite having Comfortable Temperatures defined. They have 100% Toxic Resistance and Toxic Environment Resistance, making them immune to toxic buildup, rot stink and other toxic effects. They do not need to eat, rest, and have no mood. They will be stunned by EMP attacks for a time proportional to the EMP damage inflicted and will "adapt" and rendered immune to further EMP strikes for 2,200 ticks (36.67 secs).

As an enemy

Pikemen will slowly move until they are at range, in which they will stay at maximum range to fire. They will not move around to seek cover, or avoid incoming fighters. Pikemen have moderate resistance to sharp damage and very small resistance to blunt damage, making them trivial to disable if one can get close enough to them.

Mechanoids can raid the player's base through events, and are found in most poison ships, psychic ships, and mech clustersContent added by the Royalty DLC. Pikemen are often supported by centipedes, scythers, and lancers, though their speed and range difference often leaves them at the back of the formation.

Combat

Pikemen are always equipped with needle gun. It doesn't deal too much damage, but has an extremely long range, better-than-average armor penetration, and has the possibility of getting a lucky shot to the head. They also able to engage in (less effective) melee combat with colonists.

Pikemen have a shooting accuracy of 96%, equivalent to a pawn with a Shooting skill of 8. They have a melee hit chance of 62%, equivalent to a pawn with a Melee skill of 4.

Armor

Armor

As an ally

Pikemen are medium mechanoids, and require Standard Mechtech to be researched. Mechs do not count as a pawn for determining raid points, but still contribute towards wealth.

They are created from a large mech gestator with Steel 100 Steel, Plasteel 40 Plasteel, Component 4 Components, Standard subcore 1 Standard subcore, taking up 2 bandwidth from a mechanitor. They take 1800 ticks to initally craft, and then it must gestate for 2 cycles. Mechanoids can be fully repaired at the cost of power and nothing else. A dead pikeman can be resurected for 50 steel and 1 gestation cycle so long as the corpse is extant.

Mechs under player control require power: pikemen use 10% of their power per day while active. If set to dormant self-charging, they instead recharge for 1% power / day, without pollution. They recharge in a large mech recharger (400W), for 50% power/day, creating 10 wastepacks whenever the recharger's waste is filled up.

Analysis

As an enemy

Pikemen play a supportive role. While their damage output is atrocious, their range is massive, analogous to a sniper rifle. This makes kiting a group of mechanoids, or firing and backing away from them, a difficult task. It also gives a mechanoid group flat range. The needle gun's piercing value means that it has the potential to be lethal, if it hits the right body part. In large groups, they are not to be underestimated, and don't expect basic mini-turrets to be able to hit them.

As their description says, engaging pikemen at close range can be a viable way to take them down, though you'll have to deal with their comrades first. Their gun is weak, but their melee is even weaker.

As an ally

A pikeman's needle cannon is still as weak as ever. And, unlike your colonists, a tiny chance to instantly kill a raider doesn't really matter. Enemies almost always have larger numbers than you, so good overal DPS (leading to pain shock) is much more consistent. Once you've researched High Mechtech, lancers become a much better option for general combat: they have the same bandwidth cost, move much faster, and have a much greater DPS.

Therefore, the pikeman is a niche support unit, using its massive range to its advantage. While any pawn can boast the same range with a sniper rifle, getting into a sniper duel risks getting a colonist's head lobbed off. Thus, pikemen are a safer way to lure sieges into attacking, pick off preparing raiders, or hunt with less risk than a human marksman. When using one, beware of their rather slow movement speed. For example, keep your fighting force ready and somewhere nearby when getting a siege to attack.

Note that the legionary shares the needle cannon, moves much faster, has a useful wide-shield, is the same weight, and has the same bandwidth cost. This comes at the cost of the slightly worse health scale (0.72 vs 0.85 for pikeman), a worse physiology, and more time to initially gestate. The actual deterrent to just building legionaries is that they require the Ultra Mechtech research. If you've already got that, then there isn't much reason to continue using pikemen.

Health

Note, that due to mechanoids having different body part structures, this table is only provided as a rough guide.


Body part Health
Head 21
Skull 21
Brain 9
Nose 9
Neck 21
Jaw 17
Eye [1]
(left, right)
9
Ear
(left, right)
9
Body 34
Kidney[2]
(left, right)
13
Lung[2]
(left, right)
13
Liver[2] 17
Heart[2] 13
Spine[2] 21
Stomach[2] 17
Limbs
(left, right, fore, hind)
26
Appendage
(left, right, fore, hind)
17
  1. Located inside of Head.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Located inside of Body.

Trivia

The line in the description, "Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest place to be around a pikeman is touching it." is copied almost verbatim from a previous version of the Lancer's description, namely: "Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest thing to do against a lancer is to charge."

Version history