Solar pinhole
 | This article relates to content added by Royalty (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled. |
Solar pinhole
Generate a microscopic skipgate linked to the core of a nearby star. Solar material leaks through the pinprick in spacetime, illuminating and warming the surrounding area until it closes. The light is enough to work by, but not enough to grow plants.
Base Stats
- Type
- Psycast
Ability
Solar pinhole is a level 1 psycast that creates a source of light and heat for 5 days.
Acquisition
There are two ways to acquire the solar pinhole psycast:
- Upon reaching psylink level 1, a random psycast of level 1 is granted regardless of how this level up is achieved. This won't apply if the psycaster already knew one or more level 1 psycast.
- Solar pinhole can also be acquired from a psytrainer naming it. See the psytrainer page for further details.
Summary
Upon casting, Solar pinhole will create a solar pinhole on the target tile. This can be any empty tile within 25 tiles, respecting line of sight. Note that while buildable objects such as chairs or sandbags disqualify a tile as valid, non-buildable or placeable objects such as corpses or chunks do not, and Solar pinhole can be cast freely on tiles containing them.
The solar pinhole created by this psycast will persist for 300,000 ticks (83.33 mins), or 5 in-game days. It behaves similarly to a campfire, providing both heat and light over its duration. It produces approximately 10 heat per second (half as much as a heater or campfire), and can heat a room to a maximum of 20 °C (68 °F). Additionally, it provides light within a 13 tile radius, granting 50% illumination within 9 tiles, above 30% between 10 - 11, with tiles within radius 12 - 13 being considered dark.
The pinhole is otherwise intangible - pawns can freely walk through it, it does not affect move speed, and it does not deal any damage or other effects.
Analysis
Solar pinhole is a niche psycast that can be invaluable in some scenarios, yet will see little use in the majority of colonies, due to its benefits being easily replicated by other means.
The primary and most obvious use for solar pinhole is to combat cold temperatures. While heaters are miles better for ensuring livable temperatures, they require Electricity to be researched, a functional power grid, and a moderate investment of components and steel, things which may not be readily available. Additionally, low-tech alternatives like campfires require a steady supply of wood to fuel, something which biomes like ice sheet or tundra can be sorely lacking. In comparison, solar pinhole requires only psyfocus, can be placed anywhere, provides ample light, and needs to be replenished less often than a campfire, though it must be done manually by the player. Additionally, the potential to acquire solar pinhole early on (through the Noble wimp quest, and the subsequent royal title and psylink provided) can be a lifesaver in difficult starts, such as the aforementioned ice sheet, or naked brutality, where methods of temperature mitigation can be few and far between. On a minor note, the maximum temperature of the solar pinhole is below the threshold for the "slept in the heat" thought, making it preferable to a campfire for sleeping spaces.
In conditions with more welcoming climate, solar pinhole is still useful in the event of a cold snap or solar flare (assuming you're relying on heaters for temperature) - a few quick casts will keep temperatures livable until the event ends. In particular, Solar pinhole is extremely useful in the event of a solar flare assuming one has a grow room that relies on heaters to stay warm - depending on the surrounding temperature, a single solar flare can wipe out your crops due to freezing temps if swift action is not taken. Solar pinhole provides a quick and cheap method to rectify this problem.
Besides temperature concerns, solar pinhole is also useful as a quick way to provide light without having to build any temporary buildings or infrastructure. The most applicable scenarios for this are mining operations, pawns working outdoors at night, on caravan ambush or world site map, and battlefield wound tending. Fully enclosing pawns and a solar pinhole with tbe wallraise psycast and the roofing the created area allows for the rapid construction of warm, well-lit shelters. These also make for ideal field hospitals as enclosing a room halves infection chance while the light ensures maximum medical tend speed.
Naturally, the lighting benefit is also particularly useful during a solar flare, where colonies reliant on electricity will be stuck in the dark; the short duration of said event renders this a minor benefit at best, however.
With the addition of the Anomaly DLC, however, comes a threat that Solar pinhole excels in combating: unnatural darkness
. Solar pinhole's long duration and considerable light range can aid in keeping the main body of your colony well-lit and habitable - the instant, ranged placement also allows one to light darkened areas, even after that shadows have already taken root, and attempting to build a conventional light source would place a pawn at risk. Additionally, said qualities also make it incredibly useful for foraying out into the darkness to destroy the fallen noctoliths, providing wide coverage, as well as being trivial to daisy-chain pinholes to create a path to each noctolith. The long duration also eliminates the risk of your light source dissipating before you return, unlike those created by the disruptor flare pack.