Sightstealer

The sightstealer is an entity added by the Anomaly DLC. It is likely to be one of the first anomalous entities a colony will encounter.

Acquisition

The Sightstealer will randomly wander onto the map in an invisible state. In this state, it can pass directly through a tamed animal without being detected. It will reveal itself when it either gets close to a colonist or an invisibility disruptor, such as a disruptor flare forcing it out of this state. Once it's out of this state it can be engaged in standard combat.

Summary

Relatively weak entities that feel pain, bleed, and are susceptible to disease. Sightstealers will trigger proximity detectors when in range. However, the proximity detector will not reveal it. They can also walk through traps without triggering them. They will make a howling sound effect even when invisible, you can listen for this sound to detect them instead of using a proximity detector.

Sightstealers also do not trigger traps regardless of their current visibility.

Multi-wave raids

At higher raid points, sightstealer raids can come in multiple waves. The first wave usually have a single sightstealer as a kind of warning. After being killed, a "Sightstealer howling" message will appear, indicating that more waves are to come; their arrival time ranges from a few hours to a few days. The next raid will include more sightstealers. After being defeated, the "Sightstealer howling" message may appear again, indicating even more raids to come.

1-2 Shards can be dropped from destroying the each wave.

Yield

Contained Sightstealers yield 1.6 bioferrite per day when attached to a Bioferrite harvester.

Containment

The Sightstealer is fairly weak, requiring only 30 containment strength. This means you can use wooden walls and a basic holding spot to contain it with minimal risk.

Analysis

When encountered early, a single Sightstealer is unlikely to be a threat to even a group of brand new colonists. But when the "Sightstealer howling" message is triggered, it becomes dangerous for any colonist to go outside. Unlike manhunter events, sightstealers' raid give no warning for pawns to run inside, and their speed means that they can quickly surround any group of exposed pawns. In this case, it's best to lock your colonists in, turn up the game volume and listen for their howling sound. If you hear howling, open a door and fight them like how you fight a manhunter event.

A Sightstealer is one of the easiest anomalies to capture and contain that could be technically considered dangerous. Effectively a blessing to most colonies, providing an easy source of beginning research. Their weakness and stealth give them practically no defensive application.

Sightstealers are extremely vulnerable to fire. A pawn armed with an incendiary launcher, molotov cocktails, or incinerator can easily cripple even a pack of sightstealers. If the colony contains a mechanitor, scythers, scorchers, tesserons, and centipede burners are effective counters. If a sightstealer howls, drafted mechanoids are valid targets for the sightstealers, and they will reveal themselves to attack. This can be used to force sightstealers to become visible before they draw close to colonists.