Field hand

The field hand is an artificial body part that provides both the functionality of a normal hand, while also increasing Plant work speed by 160% and inflicting a -8% Moving penalty.

Acquisition

Field hands can be crafted at a machining table once the specialized limbs research project has been completed. Note that this research requires a techprint. Each requires 60 Steel, 8 Components, 15,000 ticks (4.17 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 5.

They can also be bought from Outlanders and Empire settlements.

The pawns that populate Farming work sites owned by an Outlander or Pirate factions, including minor factions, very commonly spawn with field hands.

Summary

Body part

Field hands replace the user's organic hand. They are universal and can be installed on either the left or right. This is a hand replacement, and cannot be installed on an artificial or missing arm.

The field hand acts as a fully functional hand, providing 100% Manipulation. This fully replaces the functionality of a regular arm, but with no enhancement. Manipulation, in turn, affects a great many stats. For a full list of stats, see Manipulation.

Other effects

Each field hand installed gives +160% Plant Work Speed. Note that this is an offset to the base value of the stat, which is then multiplied by factors like Global Work Speed and Manipulation. This means that the final value can be significantly higher. The effect of multiple field hands will stack.

Each field hand also inflicts a −8% Moving penalty. Moving, in turn, affects the following stats: Hunting Stealth, Melee Dodge Chance, Move Speed. This results in a directly proportional change to a pawn's move speed, and a penalty to melee dodge chance equivalent to an losing −1.44 levels of Melee skill per arm replaced.

Combat

A field arm replaces the natural "Fist" attack of the replaced hand.

Name		Damage	DPS	AP	Damage Type
	Human Fist	8.2	4.1	12%	Blunt
	Field hand	9		13%	Blunt

Installation

Installing the part requires 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) of work, 2x medicine of herbal quality or better, and a Medical skill of 4.

Removing the part requires 2,000 ticks (33.33 secs) of work, 1x medicine of herbal quality or better, and has no Medical skill requirements.

If the operation fails, the part will be destroyed.

Analysis

Field hands offer an extreme boost to planting speed. With 1 field hand, a Plants 0 pawn sows and harvests as fast as a baseline Plants 13 pawn. With 2 field hands, this same pawn works faster than a Plants 20 pawn. While the field hand disables the use of a work-enhancing bionic arm or archotech arm, if a pawn's primary job is to grow, then a field hand offers a clear benefit. (Note that this implant does not increase Plant Harvest Yield, so your Plants 0 pawn will not get much per harvest).

Plant work speed is calculated as

(100% + Offsets) * Plant work speed skill modifier * Manipulation * max(100%, 100% + (Sight - 100%) * 30%) * Global Work Speed

Harvest yield is calculated as

(100% + Offsets) * Plant Harvest Yield skill modifier * (100% + (Manipulation - 100%) * 30%) * max(100%, 100% + (Sight - 100%) * 20%)

The effective plant work speed (yield per unit time spent working) is equal to the product of the work speed and the yield. The table below details the results of using bionic arms compared with field hands (rounded up), assuming a constant 100% global work speed and 100% Sight efficiency.

Plants Skill	Plant Work Speed				Plant Harvest Yield				Effective Work Speed				Plants Skill
Plants Skill	Baseline	2 Bionic	2 Field	Bionic + Field	Baseline	2 Bionic	2 Field	Bionic + Field	Baseline	2 Bionic	2 Field	Bionic + Field	Plants Skill
0	8 %	12 %	34 %	26 %	60 %	69 %	60 %	65 %	5 %	8 %	20 %	17 %	0
1	20 %	29 %	82 %	63 %	70 %	81 %	70 %	75 %	14 %	24 %	57 %	48 %	1
2	31 %	47 %	130 %	101 %	75 %	86 %	75 %	81 %	23 %	40 %	98 %	81 %	2
3	43 %	64 %	179 %	138 %	80 %	92 %	80 %	86 %	34 %	59 %	143 %	119 %	3
4	54 %	81 %	227 %	176 %	85 %	98 %	85 %	91 %	46 %	79%	193 %	160 %	4
5	66 %	98 %	275 %	213 %	90 %	104 %	90 %	97 %	59 %	102 %	248 %	206 %	5
6	77 %	116 %	323 %	250 %	95 %	109 %	95 %	102 %	73 %	126 %	307 %	256 %	6
7	89 %	133 %	372 %	288 %	98 %	113 %	98 %	105 %	87 %	150 %	364 %	303 %	7
8	100 %	150 %	420 %	325 %	100 %	115 %	100 %	108 %	100 %	173 %	420 %	349 %	8
9	112 %	167 %	468 %	362 %	101 %	116 %	101 %	109 %	113 %	194 %	473 %	393 %	9
10	123 %	185 %	517 %	400 %	102 %	117 %	102 %	110 %	125 %	216 %	528 %	438 %	10
11	135 %	202 %	565 %	437 %	103 %	118 %	103 %	111 %	139 %	239 %	582 %	484 %	11
12	146 %	219 %	613 %	475 %	104 %	120 %	104 %	112 %	152 %	262 %	638 %	530 %	12
13	158 %	236 %	662 %	512 %	105 %	121 %	105 %	113 %	165 %	285 %	695 %	578 %	13
14	169 %	254 %	710 %	549 %	106 %	122 %	106 %	114 %	179 %	309 %	752 %	626 %	14
15	181 %	271 %	758 %	587 %	107 %	123 %	107 %	115 %	193 %	333 %	811 %	675 %	15
16	192 %	288 %	806 %	624 %	108 %	124 %	108 %	116 %	207 %	358 %	671 %	724 %	16
17	204 %	305 %	855 %	661 %	109 %	125 %	109 %	117 %	222 %	383 %	932 %	775 %	17
18	215 %	323 %	855 %	699 %	110 %	127 %	110 %	118 %	237 %	408 %	993 %	826 %	18
19	227 %	340 %	951 %	736 %	112 %	129 %	112 %	120 %	254 %	438 %	1065 %	886 %	19
20	238 %	357 %	1000 %	774 %	113 %	130 %	113 %	121 %	269 %	464 %	1130 %	940 %	20

The data above shows that using a pair of field hands is 20% faster than using a bionic arm alongside a field hand. Whenever or not this increase is worth the additional -8% Moving penalty of the second field hand and the opportunity cost of not using a bionic arm (or archotech arm) is something to be considered.

Planting is essential to virtually every colony. Crops are a mostly stable form of food, and this skill can also be used to grow useful products like drugs, cloth, and devilstrand. Even on the sea ice, (successful) colonies will eventually reach hydroponics and be able to farm. You may want to consider planting rice; since the field hand is so efficient, the workload of rice is easily managed.

This comes at a cost of movement speed. In addition to the reduced efficiency in regards to day-to-day work, installing a field hand will hinder a pawn's performance in combat. For ranged fighters, slower movement means that kiting tactics are no longer as viable. For melee fighters, the Moving penalty directly encumbers a pawn's melee dodge chance. This can be eventually compensated, partially, by using bionic legs.

Field hands can also be used to replace a missing hand. Compared to the wooden hand, the field hand offers +10% Manipulation for −8% Moving.

Version history

Royalty DLC initial release - Added
1.1.2565 - 50% part efficiency increased to 100%, plant work speed buff reduced from 180% to 160%. -8% Moving penalty added.

Artificial body parts