High-explosive shell
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High-explosive shell
A shell filled with high explosives. Can be fired from mortars or installed as a trap. Explodes when damaged.
Base Stats
- Type
- Crafted Resources – Mortar shell
- Tech Level
- Industrial
- Market Value
- 55
- Stack Limit
- 25
- Mass
- 1.25 kg
- HP
- 60
- Deterioration Rate
- 1.5
- Flammability
- 100%
- Path Cost
- 15 (46%)
Ranged Combat
- Damage
- 50 dmg (Bomb)
- Armor penetration
- 10%
- Velocity
- 41 (m/s)
- Blast Radius
- 2.9
- Stopping power
- 0.5
Creation
- Crafted At
- Required Research
- Mortars
- Skill Required
- Crafting 4
- Work To Make
- 800 ticks (13.33 secs)
- Resources to make
15 + 
15
- defName
- Shell_HighExplosive
- thingCategories
- MortarShells"MortarShells" is not in the list (Armor, Art, Artifact, BasicClothing, Clothing, ExoticMisc, ImplantEmpireCommon, ImplantEmpireRoyal, MortarShell, PsychicApparel, ...) of allowed values for the "TradeTags" property.
- tradeTags
- MortarShells
The high-explosive shell is the most common kind of mortar shell, that deals 50 damage in a 3-tile radius upon exploding.
Acquisition
High-explosive shells are made using 15 steel and 15 chemfuel at a machining table and requires Mortars to be researched. Requires a Crafting skill of at least 4. The steel cost is increased to 25 if the Classic Mortars difficulty option is enabled.
They can also be purchased from traders.
Finally, siege raids will have high-explosive shells drop podded to them, and if unused by the raid, can be taken by the player.
Summary
When fired from a mortar, high-explosive shells deal 50 Bomb damage in a 2.9 tile radius.
When damaged beyond 70% of its health, it will explode after between 30 ticks (0.5 secs) and 60 ticks (1 sec), dealing 50 Bomb damage in a radius around itself. The radius depends on the quantity in the stack, with a single shell covering a 2.9 tile radius, and expanding this radius proportional to the square root of the stack size times 0.4 up to a maximum radius of 6 tiles at a full stack of 25.
They are also used in the construction of explosive IED traps.
Analysis
High-explosive is the standard shell for mortars, dealing high damage to any target with a decent blast radius. Mortars in general are quite resource-intensive, so it's best to wait until mid-game until beginning the use of mortars. Given the mortar's inaccuracy, it's best to have a battery of mortars firing at once to deal heavy damage to the enemy.
Mortars are most useful against stationary targets, such as sieges, crashed ship parts, and mech clusters
. Against sieges in particular, dealing enough damage will force the raiders to assault directly - as opposed to peppering your base with mortar shells. Enemy mortars can and will deal large infrastructural damage to any base not under overhead mountain, so mortars are powerful defenses against them.
Storage
As with all explosive items, these should be stored in separate storage containers. For maximum protection, put each stack of shells in a separate 1x1 stone box to prevent chain reactions. Pawns currently in a tantrum should be stopped at all costs, whether it be by arresting, creating another stockpile zone with a higher priority than the shell zone and prioritizing hauling the shells, or simply by shooting the pawn.
Gallery
One highexplosive shell
Partial stack
Full stack
Version history
- 0.18.1722 - Added to replace mortar type system.
- 1.1 - Crafting cost was increased (20 --> 25 steel, 10 --> 15 chemfuel).
- 1.3.3066 - Steel requirement decreased from 25 -> 15 unless Classic Mortar difficulty option enabled.
- Security
- Barricade • Sandbags • Spike trap
- (research)
- Autocannon turret • Foam turret • Mini-turret • Rocketswarm launcher • Uranium slug turret • Mortar
- IEDs
- IED trap • IED incendiary trap • IED EMP trap • IED firefoam trap • IED smoke trap • IED antigrain warhead trap • IED tox trap
• IED deadlife trap 
- Related
- Antigrain warhead • EMP shell • Firefoam shell • High-explosive shell • Incendiary shell • Smoke shell • Tox shell • Deadlife shell