Chimera

The chimera is a bestial and ferocious entity added by the Anomaly DLC.

Occurrence

Chimeras only require a level 1 Monolith to spawn.

Summary

Chimera packs appear as a Major threat. Shambler Chimeras can be mixed into Shambler animal swarms. Shambler Chimeras can fulfill the entity codex entry for Chimeras.

They bleed at half the rate of normal animals and have 50% Toxic Resistance.

The chimera has the unique ability to become enraged upon taking damage, gaining a hediff called 'Rage Speed.' This ability makes them much harder to put down, and much more adept at closing the distance between it and your pawns.

Rage Speed:

Pain: ×0%
Move Speed: ×175%
- This results in a move speed of 6.3c/s
Stagger Time Multiplier: ×0%

Colonists who see a Chimera will receive a −8 mood effect for 24 hours. Killing or disposing of the Chimera has no affect on this moodlet.^{[Thought Template]}

Chimeras have 3 different behaviors: attack, stalk and withdrawal. Initially Chimeras will be in stalk mode and wander around their initial position. In attack mode, Chimeras will behave very similar to manhunter packs. Receiving damage will generally cause Chimeras to change from stalk mode to attack mode.

Stalk mode will change to attack mode every 16.8 hours on average. Attack mode will change to stalk mode every 8 hours on average. Stalk Mode and Attack Mode will last at least 3 hours. An exception is when Chimeras in stalk mode are damaged and then they can switch to attack mode.

Everytime a Chimera is killed or downed in attack mode there is a 7.5% chance the chimeras will switch to withdrawal mode. In withdrawal mode, Chimeras will flee and not respond to damage. Withdrawal mode will last at least one hour.

Containment

It provides Advanced anomaly research, and can be studied every 2 days. It has a minimum containment strength of 70. When hooked up to a bioferrite generator, it yields 3.225 bioferrite per day. When hooked up to an electroharvester, it provides 430 watts.

Analysis

With its ability to become enraged, and inability to be downed due to pain, it can catch up to ranged pawns frighteningly fast. With much greater movement speed than a default pawn, outpacing it might prove very difficult. Heavily armored melee pawns or ghouls are recommended to intercept them first. It has some of the strongest melee attacks of any single entity, equivalent to a Bear, and can quickly cause a colonist to bleed out by tearing off limbs. Like many entities, it is susceptible to fire, and won't attack while it is putting out the flames.

They are limited to their powerful melee attacks and will eagerly pile up behind a door blocked by melee colonists. Like manhunter animals, they will not attack structures and will wait patiently outside a colony that has walled itself in and closed its doors. Unlike manhunter packs, they won't sleep and will roam outside player bases indefinitely until they're killed. Also unlike manhunter packs, chimeras do not count as mentally broken and can be turned against each other with psychic insanity lances or berserk psycasts - notably, they're affected by the Manhunter pulse psycast, which has a very large area of affect and can often turn entire raids of Chimeras against themselves. Chimeras are also hostile to non-entity raiders. Summoning a mech boss or deliberately failing a draw animals ritual to summon manhunters are both viable ways to eliminate or weaken a pack of chimeras. Another strategy is to attack from afar using Mortars to force them to trigger their rage ability early, so that it will be close to ending or on cooldown by the time they reach the base and susceptible to pain shock.

Capturing chimeras is quite difficult due to their immunity to pain combined with their high speed and durability. The most reliable method is generally to wound one severely, then retreat behind a door until it passes out from blood loss. When using this strategy, keep in mind that they are extremely fast and may block a doorway before your colonist can close the door. They are also susceptible to temperature traps, though their thick fur provides ample insulation against the elements in cold biomes. Psychic shock lances are another option, if available.

If raised as a shambler (e.g. by deadlife dust), Chimera retain their Rage Speed ability.