Difference between revisions of "Centipede gunner"

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Compared to [[mechanoid commander]]s, centipedes have less health ({{%|4.32 / 5.6 round 2}} the health as the [[war queen]]) and ''very'' slightly less armor - {{--|3%}} Sharp/Blunt armor. In turn, centipedes cost less and take up 1 less [[bandwidth]].  For the role of "pure" tank, the [[war queen]] has more health and health per bandwidth. This is further bolstered by its [[war urchin]]s, which can act as valuable distractions. If a [[doomsday rocket launcher]] is aimed at a war urchin, then it's little lost.
 
Compared to [[mechanoid commander]]s, centipedes have less health ({{%|4.32 / 5.6 round 2}} the health as the [[war queen]]) and ''very'' slightly less armor - {{--|3%}} Sharp/Blunt armor. In turn, centipedes cost less and take up 1 less [[bandwidth]].  For the role of "pure" tank, the [[war queen]] has more health and health per bandwidth. This is further bolstered by its [[war urchin]]s, which can act as valuable distractions. If a [[doomsday rocket launcher]] is aimed at a war urchin, then it's little lost.
  
The main advantage of centipedes are that they are cheaper and that they have "regular" firearms. A [[diabolus]]' hellsphere cannon may destroy parts of your killbox. A [[war queen]]'s minions can end up being shot by [[friendly fire]]. [[War urchin]]s can be an effective bait for explosives and the like, but each individual urchin is frail. Centipede gunners wield a minigun, so have none of the complications of either mech commander. The minigun itself can be valuable firepower, as mentioned in the Analysis section.
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The main advantage of centipedes are that they are cheaper and that they have "regular" firearms. A [[diabolus]]' hellsphere cannon may destroy parts of your killbox. A [[war queen]]'s minions can end up being shot by [[friendly fire]]. Centipede gunners wield a minigun, so have none of the complications of either mech commander. The minigun itself can be valuable firepower, as mentioned in the Analysis section. A possible niche is to use 1 war queen as a distraction, then have a squad of centipedes for the dual purpose of damage dealers and emergency tanks.
  
 
==Version history==
 
==Version history==

Revision as of 05:16, 23 January 2023

Centipede gunner

Centipede gunner

Heavy combat mechanoids that glide on dozens of tiny legs. Their thick carapace and firepower makes them very effective against bunched-up static defenders. They are somewhat vulnerable to mobile hit-and-run tactics.

Base Stats

Type
Mechanoid
Market Value
1200 Silver
Flammability
0%

Armor

Armor - Sharp
72%
Armor - Blunt
22%
Armor - Heat
200%

Pawn Stats

Move Speed
1.9 c/s
Health Scale
432% HP
Body Size
3
Mass
180 kg
Pack Capacity
105 kg
Carrying Capacity
225 kg
Filth Rate
1
Life Expectancy
2,500 years
Comfortable Temp Range
-100 °C – 250 °C (-148 °F – 482 °F)

Melee Combat

Attack
Head
17 dmg (Blunt)
25 % AP
2.6 second cooldown
Average DPS
4.05

Creation

Crafted At
Large mech gestator
Required Research
High mechtech
Resources to make
Steel 255 + Plasteel 255 + Component 8 + High subcore 1
Technical
weaponTags
Minigun


Centipede gunners are a variant of centipede that wield a minigun.

Summary

As mechanoids, centipedes are immune to fire, toxicity, and temperature extremes, despite having a Comfortable Temperature. They do not need to eat, rest, and have no mood. They will be stunned by EMP attacks and will "adapt" for 2,200 ticks (36.67 secs), starting from the stun, rendering them immune to further EMP strikes. Centipedes have a Psychic Sensitivity of 75%, reducing the effect of some psycasts.Content added by the Royalty DLC

Combat

Centipede gunners are always equipped with a minigun. They are also able to engage in (less effective) melee combat with colonists.

  • Melee Attacks Damage Amount Cooldown
    Blunt 11.7 2.6 sec
  • Centipedes 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.

    As an ally

    Centipede gunners are heavy mechanoids; gunners require High Mechtech to be created. They require Steel 255 Steel, Plasteel 255 Plasteel, Component 8 Components, High subcore 1 High subcore and 4 bandwidth from a mechanitor. They take 1800 ticks to initally craft, and then it must gestate for 6 cycles. Mechanoids can be fully repaired at the cost of power and nothing else. A dead centipede can be resurected for 100 steel and 1 gestation cycle so long as the corpse is extant.

    Mechs under player control require power: centipedes 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 (constant 400W), for 50% power/day, creating 20 wastepacks whenever the recharger's waste is filled up.

    Analysis

    As an ally

    In general, centipedes are the tanks of the mechanitor's arsenal - slow, but incredibly bulky. This is due to 2 key factors:

    • High raw bulk. Centipedes have good armor, but a massive health scale of 4.32. Centipedes have much higher bulk than 4 bandwidth of any lighter mech combined.
    • Superior physiology. Most light mechs are bipedal, with 1 torso and 2 legs. Centipedes have 6 body rings, all with a roughly equal chance of being shot. Due to its higher health scale, a single headshot won't kill a centipede like it would a lancer.

    And like all mechanoids, centipedes are disposable - able to be repaired and resurrected for a rather cheap cost. A centipede placed in the front of your line can take a doomsday rocket launcher that would otherwise kill or dismember multiple colonists, and come out largely intact. While war queens may be better in the tank role, centipedes have "regular" armament. See the Comparions section for more detail.

    Centipede gunners are effectively an incredibly tanky pawn with a minigun. They can be used alongside regular pawns if you were already using miniguns in the first place. Miniguns are great in a dedicated kill area, mowing down a crowd of raiders without worry for accuracy. In those cases, gunners add more firepower at little worry. The only disadvantage is that mechanoids can't wield higher quality weapons. If you find value in miniguns, you'll find value with a centipede gunner.

    • Firepower

    In terms of raw firepower, centipede gunners are superior to lancers and tessrons per bandwidth, as well as support-class mechs like pikemen and centurions. A centipede is weaker against single targets than 4 militors, but militors have a tiny 12-tile range. And miniguns become incredibly good when firing at a crowd, as missed shots can hit other nearby enemies.

    In return, the minigun is unwieldy. With a long firing cycle, it is less flexible. And because centipedes are slow, they aren't as great for repelling breachers and the like. Centipedes are also poor at DPS / material cost, when bandwidth can be ignored.

    Comparisons - as an ally

    Compared to other centipedes

    Compared to centipede blasters, centipede gunners cost Plasteel 100 plasteel less and are unlocked at High mechtech rather than Ultra mechtech. The minigun has 66.6% the damage per shot, but has a firing cycle 154.7% faster, and fires 1 more shot per cycle. The heavy charge blaster has a shorter warmup than the minigun, but a much longer cooldown. In addition, the blaster is slightly more accurate and has +7% AP, but 4 tiles less range.

    This results in the gunner having more sustained DPS than the blaster, while the blaster has a faster time to kill. In many killbox setups, time to kill can be very important. If all your colonists, armed with charge rifles, are killing a pawn within the charge rifle's 60 ticks (1 sec) warmup time, then the centipede should only shoot if an enemy gets lucky and survives all your colonist's attacks. In this case, centipede blasters will be the preferred option, due to the lowered warm up and higher per-shot damage. In contrast, the gunner's higher average DPS is good if it is constantly firing, such as in the aforementioned minigun kill setups.

    Compared to mech commanders

    Compared to mechanoid commanders, centipedes have less health (77% the health as the war queen) and very slightly less armor - −3% Sharp/Blunt armor. In turn, centipedes cost less and take up 1 less bandwidth. For the role of "pure" tank, the war queen has more health and health per bandwidth. This is further bolstered by its war urchins, which can act as valuable distractions. If a doomsday rocket launcher is aimed at a war urchin, then it's little lost.

    The main advantage of centipedes are that they are cheaper and that they have "regular" firearms. A diabolus' hellsphere cannon may destroy parts of your killbox. A war queen's minions can end up being shot by friendly fire. Centipede gunners wield a minigun, so have none of the complications of either mech commander. The minigun itself can be valuable firepower, as mentioned in the Analysis section. A possible niche is to use 1 war queen as a distraction, then have a squad of centipedes for the dual purpose of damage dealers and emergency tanks.

    Version history