Mechanitor

Mechanitors (pronounced Mek-AN-it-TOR) are pawns who have a mechlink installed and are used to create and control friendly mechanoids.

Mechlink

Colonists can become mechanitors through a mechlink. Mechlinks are self-installed implants, meaning a solo colonist can become a mechanitor. Multiple mechanitors may exist in a colony, and function normally.

Other than starting out with one, they can be obtained in the following ways:

• Destroying an ancient exostrider midsection, which generates on most new maps. This allows you to call in a mechanoid ship, with the mechlink and some hostile mechanoids. Note that the Mechanitor starting scenario prevents the spawning of the exostrider by default.
• The "discovered mechanitor complex" quest, with hostile mechanoids guarding it.

Either way, you will have to extract the mechlink from the long-dead corpse of an ancient mechanitor. They can also be extracted from your dead colonist mechanitors, assuming it isn't destroyed.

Pawns that are psychically deaf can't become mechanitors, and pawns that are incapable of Smithing cannot gestate or repair mechs. To be able to unlock mechanitor research the pawn can't be incapable of Intellectual.Also, pawns with trauma savant can't summon a diabolus directly from the comms console and must summon them by using the "summon mech threat" button of the pawn.

Summary

Mechanitors are required to control, build, and repair your allied mechanoids. They are required to initiate the mech gestation processes, and at least one mechanitor must be present in order to work on mech-related research. Mechanitors are limited to controlling mechs they have enough bandwidth for (See #Bandwidth for detail). They can't tame mechanoids that are already hostile, even if they were once part of your colony.

Mechanoids require power and create pollution when recharged normally.

Mechanoid control

Mechs are fully autonomous. Mechanoids assigned to work tasks have an effective Skill of 10, though most have a 50% Global Work Speed, and some of them work even slower. You cannot order mechanoid work in any direct way, though you can indirectly control it through setting zones. Specifically, mechs are put into control groups, and the control group as a whole can then be assigned to one of four orders:

• Work: Do available work tasks. Start charging after reaching a configurable % of power left (defaults to 5%).
• Escort: Follow the mechanitor around and fight enemies. Start charging after reaching a configurable % of power left (defaults to 5%).
• Recharge: Look for available recharging stations and use them. Enter dormant self-charging if full or no available charging stations.
• Dormant self-charging: Turns off the mechs. While dormant, mechs recharge a very small amount of power (+1% power / day) without a charger or any pollution. Mechs can be woken up again when they reach 15% energy.

Control groups and orders may be changed, however the mechanitor must be controllable (not downed and not under a mental break), and their mechs are in the same map. If they are separated, mechs will continue to do their tasks without a problem, and won't become hostile. However, control groups and their orders can not be changed. By default, a mechanitor has 2 control groups, but this can be increased through the use of control sublinks and the control pack.

Mechs can also be drafted for combat, where they are controlled like any colonist. However, the mechanoid can only be ordered to move to spaces within a 25-tile radius from their master, and they can only be ordered to do other commands while in said radius. Mechs can be drafted outside of this range (but not if the mechanitor is downed), where they can defend themselves, carry out previous combat commands, or be commanded to go near the mechanitor.

If the mechanitor dies or runs out of bandwidth, mechanoids will go into the Uncontrolled state. They will not be uncontrolled if the mechanitor is downed, in a caravan, etc., and mechs with enough bandwidth are unaffected. After 1 game-day, or 60,000 ticks (16.67 mins) uncontrolled, there is a chance for a mech to go feral with MTB of 10 in-game days, with a cascade radius of 25 tiles.^[Verify]

Upgrades

All mechanitor upgrades are installed like the mechlink itself.

• Control sublink: Increases work speed by +6% per sublink, and increases control groups by +1, to a cumulative max bonus of +6 additional control groups and +36% work speed.
  • Standard control sublinks can be installed 3 times.
  • High control sublinks can be installed 3 times on pawns with 3 standard sublinks already installed.
• Mech gestation processor: Increases mech gestation speed by 33.3% per implant. Can be installed up to 6 times.
• Remote repairer: Allows repairing mechanoids from range. Can be installed up to 3 times to increase range.
• Remote shielder: Allows creation of bullet-blocking shield on a mechanoid. Can be installed up to 3 times.
• Repair probe: Increases mech repair speed by 33.3% per implant. Can be installed up to 6 times.

Allied mechanoids

With the release of the Biotech DLC, mechanoids may be built, gestated, and controlled by a colony - specifically, by a mechanitor.

Acquisition

Mechanitors are required to build, gestate, and control your own mechanoids. Research must be done with a valid mechanitor in the colony, and only the mechanitor may initiate any of the mech creation processes. First, creating your own mechs requires the Basic Mechtech research, which in turn requires the Electricity research to be completed first.

1. Mechanitors must have enough bandwidth for the mechanoid in question. The larger and more complex the mechanoid is, the more bandwidth is required.
2. All mechanoids require a subcore to create, along with other materials like steel. Simple mechs use a basic subcore (from a subcore encoder), while more complex ones require a standard subcore (from a subcore softscanner) or high subcore (from a subcore ripscanner). The ripscanner in particular requires killing a human pawn to create.
3. After being "built" for a tiny amount of a mechanitor's work, mechs must gestate at a mech gestator or large mech gestator.

Gestation types are measured in cycles, where larger mechs require more cycles, and each cycle will need to be initiated by the mechanitor after the previous one is completed. When cycling is done, the mechanitor must take the mech out. If power is lost during gestation, the cycle will be paused, but no other adverse effects will occur.

More complex mechanoids require more research. Mechanoid research in particular requires killing one of three mechanoid commanders - the diabolus, war queen, and apocriton, in order of progression - and studying their specific item before it is possible.

Hostile mechanoids cannot be tamed or converted in any way, even if once part of your colony. You can create every mechanoid in the game, except for the termite and apocriton.

Gestation

Rather than traditional work to make them, creating mechanoids requires the undertaking of some number of gestation cycles. A mechanitor must work at the gestator for 1,800 ticks (30 secs)^[Modified?] in order to initiate each cycle, but once initiated each cycle will run independently for its duration. Initiating a gestation cycle is considered Smithing work.

Each gestation cycle lasts for a baseline of 2 days, modified by the initiating mechanitor's Mech Gestation Speed. Mech Gestation Speed is controlled by the mechanitor's Crafting skill and the number of mech gestation processors they have installed. This varies the resulting duration from 64 hrs with 0 Crafting skill and no processors, to 14.77 hrs with 20 Crafting and 6 processors. Gestation cycle time is updated when Mechanoid Gestation Speed is, even if a cycle is already running - if you start a cycle, then install a Mech gestation processor or level the Crafting skill, then it will reduce the remaining cycle time proportional to ratio of the new speed to the old. For a full breakdown of the factors affecting mech gestation speed and the resulting cycle durations, see Mech Gestation Speed.

If a cycle is interrupted temporarily (e.g. by losing power), the cycle will pause until the interruption is ended (e.g. by power being restored), but no other adverse effects will occur

General information

Mechanitors are required to control mechanoids. A mechanitor has a limited amount of bandwidth, which limits the number of mechanoids they can command. Larger and more complex mechanoids require more bandwidth.

In general, mechanoids are immune to fire, toxicity, and temperature extremes, despite having a Comfortable Temperature. They are vulnerable to EMP attacks, being stunned by them. Mechanoids do not need to eat, sleep, and have no mood. However, they require power, and cause pollution in the process.

Mechs considered "light" use a regular mech recharger and mech gestator. Mechs considered "medium" or heavier use the large mech recharger and large mech gestator.

Power

Player mechanoids use a variable amount of power, depending on their state.

• They use 10% power / day when active: labor mechs doing work, or combat mechs being awake at all.
• Labor mechs use 3% power / day while idle, or not doing work. ^{[Including tunneler?]}
• Mechanoids can be commanded to enter a state of dormancy, preventing power drain, instead recharging at a very slow rate of +1% power / day. Mechs that run out of power will also enter this state.
• When downed, or in the world map on a caravan, they use 0% power.

They can be recharged at a mech recharger or large mech recharger, which quickly recharges them - +50% power / day. This leads to a theoretical uptime of 83.3% - 5 days working, 1 day charging. The mech recharger itself creates waste. Once its waste meter is filled, toxic wastepacks are created. The amount of waste is directly correlated to the mech's bandwidth, where 1 bandwidth = 5 wastepacks.

Repair

Mechanitors can repair friendly mechanoids regardless of who actually controls it, at the cost of Energy. Damaged parts are repaired first in random order before missing parts are replaced, although replacing a completely destroyed part takes roughly the same amount of time as repairing 1 point of damage to a non-destroyed part. The overall Energy cost depends on the mech's weight class, and the speed of repair on the Mechanitor's crafting skill, starting at 80% for skill level 0 and +10% speed for every level, to a max of 280% at level 20^{[rate in dps?]}. If killed, Light mechanoids can be resurrected with a Mech gestator and all other mechs using a Large mech gestator at the size-dependent cost of some steel and 1 gestation cycle.

Weight Class	Energy cost per 100 units of damage	Steel cost to resurrect
Light	66	25
Medium	33	50
Heavy	20	100
Ultraheavy	33	150

Work speed

Most mechanoids have a natural Global Work Speed of 50%. Tunnelers have a Global Work Speed of 150%, and the agrihand and constructoid have special modifiers to their specific job's work speed (applied after all Global Work Speed calculations).

Work speed can be increased in a number of ways, and final work speed is controlled by the following equation:

Final work speed = (Base Work Speed × Mech booster) + (6% * Num. Sublinks) + Mechanoid Labor Bonus

• Being in range of a mech booster boosts workspeed by 50%, multiplicative. This does not multiply any future factors to work speed.
• Each control sublink installed into the mechanitor increases Global Work Speed by +6%, after the mech booster is applied. Up to 3 standard and 3 high control sublinks can be installed at a time, for a +36% boost.
• If their mechanitor follows an ideoligion with the Mechanoid Labor: Enhanced precept, mechs gain an additive +20% boost to Global Work Speed, at the cost of colonist work speed. This boost is additive with sublinks and the booster but its effect is not multiplied by the boosters.

As most mechs start with 50% Global Work Speed, additive boosts are larger than they seem. For example, Labor: Enhanced will boost most mechs from 50% to 70% - that's a ×140% increase.

For example, with a work speed of 50%:

Control Sublinks	Work Speed	Mech Boosted	Mech Boosted + Labor: Enhanced
0	50%	75%	95%
1	56%	81%	101%
2	62%	87%	107%
3	68%	93%	113%
4	74%	99%	119%
5	80%	105%	125%
6	86%	111%	131%

Work speed can be further modified by regular factors, such as light and the Manipulation stat.

Raid points

Main article: Raid points

The market value of mechs, and of any weapons they carry, do count as wealth for raid point calculations. Mechs also contribute towards "pawn points" relative to their mech's combat power. The exact percentage depends on current wealth and can be viewed in the pawn points section. The combat power of all combat mechs can be viewed here.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth controls how many mechs a single mechanitor can control at any one time. The mechlink itself gives +6 bandwidth. To increase it further, you must build or craft items.

Mechanoids cannot be gestated without enough bandwidth. If a mechanitor's bandwidth is lowered below their bandwidth cost, then the mechanoids will become uncontrolled. Uncontrolled mechanoids may leave or become hostile to your colony after enough time. A mech's bandwidth also dictates how many toxic wastepacks they will produce after recharging.

Bandwidth cost

The heavier the mechanoid is, the more bandwidth it takes up:

Mechanoid Type	Bandwidth	Wastepacks Per Recharge
Agrihand, Cleansweeper, Constructoid, Fabricor, Lifter, Militor, Paramedic, Scorcher	1	5
Legionary, Pikeman, Scyther	2	10
Lancer, Tesseron, Tunneler	3	15
Centipede blaster, Centipede burner, Centipede gunner	4	20
Centurion, Diabolus, War queen	5	25

Increasing bandwidth

Apparel and gear items must be worn, and band nodes must be powered, for bandwidth to actually increase.

• Band node: +1
• Airwire headset: +3
• Mechlink: +6
• Array headset: +6
• Mechcommander helmet: +6
• Bandwidth pack: +9
• Integrator headset: +9
• Mechlord helmet: +12
• Mechlord suit: +12

Therefore, the maximum bandwidth possible without band nodes is acquired with a mechlink, bandwidth pack, mechlord helmet and mechlord suit for a total of 39.

To connect to a band node, select a band node, click the Tune to... button and select an available Mechanitor. Tuning for the first time lasts 5 seconds, re-tuning lasts 3 days. Band nodes stay tuned to a pawn when they leave the map. A band node is no longer tuned when the connected mechanitor dies. When band nodes no longer receive power, they shutdown and because of that, mechanitors bandwidth gets lowered, which can lead to unconnected mechanoids.

Mech signaling

Mechanoid bosses may be called in by a mechanitor via the Summon Mech Threat gizmo.

• Diabolus - Powered comms console
• War queen - Mechband antenna
• Apocriton - Mechband dish

Except for the comms console, the building used to call in the mech will be destroyed. After a delay, the respective boss will drop in from the outskirts of the map. There is a cooldown before spawning in another boss.

Controllable mechanoids

Click to

Mechanoid		Class	Armor (S/B/H)	Body Size	Health Scale	Move Speed	Melee DPS (Post Hit Chance)	Ranged weapon	Bandwidth	Research	Cost	Cycles	Market Value
	Agrihand	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	3.4 c/s	4 (2.48)	-	-	Basic mechtech	50 +  1	1	800
	Cleansweeper	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.3	1	3.4 c/s	2.31 (1.43)	-	-	Basic mechtech	50 +  1	1	800
	Constructoid	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	3.4 c/s	3.45 (2.14)	-	-	Basic mechtech	50 +  1	1	800
	Lifter	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	2.8 c/s	2.31 (1.43)	-	-	Basic mechtech	50 +  1	1	800
	Militor	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	3.8 c/s	2.31 (1.43)	Mini-shotgun	-	Basic mechtech	50 +  1	1	1800
	Centipede burner	Heavy	72% / 22% / 200%	3	4.32	1.9 c/s	6.03 (3.74)	Inferno cannon	-	High mechtech	255 +  255 +  8 +  1	6	2600
	Centipede gunner	Heavy	72% / 22% / 200%	3	4.32	1.9 c/s	6.03 (3.74)	Minigun	-	High mechtech	255 +  255 +  8 +  1	6	2360
	Diabolus	Superheavy	75% / 25% / 200%	4	4.5	2.4 c/s	6.06 (3.76)	Charge blaster turret Hellsphere cannon	-	High mechtech	300 +  300 +  2 +  1	12	3000
	Fabricor	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	3.4 c/s	2.31 (1.43)	-	-	High mechtech	100 +  1	1	800
	Lancer	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	0.72	4.7 c/s	5.63 (3.49)	Charge lance	-	High mechtech	75 +  75 +  4 +  1	2	2555
	Paramedic	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1	3.8 c/s	2.31 (1.43)	-	-	High mechtech	100 +  1	1	800
	Pikeman	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	0.85	2.5 c/s	5.23 (3.24)	Needle gun	-	Standard mechtech	100 +  40 +  4 +  1	2	2600
	Scorcher	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	0.7	4.5 c/s	5.23 (3.24)	Mini-flameblaster	-	Standard mechtech	80 +  32 +  3 +  1	2	2200
	Scyther	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	1.32	4.7 c/s	10 (6.2)	-	-	Standard mechtech	75 +  75 +  4 +  1	2	1200
	Tunneler	Heavy	80% / 40% / 200%	3.5	1.5	1.9 c/s	7.59 (4.71)	-	-	Standard mechtech	150 +  75 +  4 +  1	4	1200
	Centipede blaster	Heavy	72% / 22% / 200%	3	4.32	1.9 c/s	6.03 (3.74)	Heavy charge blaster	-	Ultra mechtech	255 +  355 +  8 +  1	6	2600
	Centurion	Superheavy	75% / 25% / 200%	3.6	3	1.6 c/s	6 (3.72)	Charge blaster turret	-	Ultra mechtech	300 +  200 +  2 +  1 +  1	12	1600
	Legionary	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	0.72	4.3 c/s	5.23 (3.24)	Needle launcher	-	Ultra mechtech	100 +  6 +  1	4	2600
	Tesseron	Medium	40% / 20% / 200%	1	0.72	4.7 c/s	5.63 (3.49)	Beam graser	-	Ultra mechtech	110 +  7 +  1	4	1344
	War queen	Superheavy	75% / 25% / 200%	4	5.2	1.6 c/s	2 (1.24)	Charge blaster turret	-	Ultra mechtech	600 +  300 +  3 +  1 +  1	12	1600
	War urchin	Light	20% / 10% / 200%	0.7	1.3	4.2 c/s	3.17 (1.97)	Spiner	-	Ultra mechtech	25		1300

Version history

• Biotech DLC Release - Added.
• 1.4.3527 - Fix: Abandoning a colony with mechs in it and making new a base will cause a mech control group error and show mechs are still active.
• 1.4.3555 - Mechs now count as partial pawns for determining raid points. Added Mechanoid labor precept. Combat mechs now count as Autonomous Weapons for the Autonomous weapons precept.
• 1.4.3580 - Fix: Bandwith loss warning shown when pawn drops non-worn mechanitor equipment

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Mechanoids

Mechanoids | Core

Centipede (Blaster, Burner, Gunner) • Lancer • Pikeman • Scyther • Termite

Combat

Centurion • Legionary • Militor • Scorcher • Tesseron

Command

Apocriton • Diabolus • War queen (War urchin )

Labor

Agrihand • Cleansweeper • Constructoid • Fabricor • Lifter • Paramedic • Tunneler

Cluster | Buildings

Condition causer • Count-down activator • Mech assembler • Mech capsule • Mech drop beacon • Mech high-shield • Mech low-shield • Mech node • Proximity activator • Unstable power cell

Turrets

Auto charge turret • Auto inferno turret • Auto mortar • Mini-slugger turret

Creation | Pawn

Mechanitor

Buildings

Mech gestator • Large mech gestator • Mechband antenna • Mechband dish