Hand talon

The hand talon is an implant and body part weapon that gives a pawn an extra melee attack.

Acquisition[edit]

Hand talons can be crafted at a machining table once the Compact weaponry research project has been completed. Note that this research requires a techprint. Each requires 40 Steel, 7 Components, 15,000 ticks (4.17 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 5.

The item can also be traded from exotic traders, and can be earned as a quest reward.

Summary[edit]

The hand talon is a implant that is installed into a pawn's existing, organic hand. They are universal and can be installed on either the left or right hand but cannot be implanted into artificial body parts such as wooden hands or bionic arms. It adds an extra attack to implantee's melee verb pool. This attack deals 15 Scratch damage, with an AP of 15. The true DPS will depend on the specific melee verbs available to the pawn. The implant does not affect manipulation nor does it replace the function of any body part. Hand talons have no quality.

When social fighting, colonists will not use the hand talon to attack their opponent.

Name		Damage	DPS	AP	Damage Type
	Human Fist	8.2	4.1	12%	Blunt
	Hand talon	15		15%	Scratch

Installation[edit]

Installing the part requires 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) of work, 2x medicine of herbal quality or better, and a Medical skill of 5.

Removing the part requires 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) of work, 1x medicine of herbal quality or better, and a Medical skill of 5.

If the operation fails, the part will be destroyed.

Analysis[edit]

The hand talon is a relatively powerful body part weapon, having the second highest DPS of all options second only the power claw. And unlike the power claw, it inflicts no stat malus. Its primary failing is in AP and single attack damage with the lowest of the all the damage-only body part weapons. Against unarmored enemies, the hand talon is slightly superior to a good quality steel longsword but is inferior to normal quality plasteel longsword or uranium mace. As with all body part weapons, is not particularly useful for a dedicated melee pawn if melee weapons of decent material and quality are available.

Its greatest benefit comes in fitting it to ranged pawns, as it gives them the ability to be effective in melee combat while still being able to hold a gun. Being able to give a ranged pawn the melee capabilities of a pawn with a steel longsword means that if an enemy raider closes to melee range, your pawn isn't as defenseless as they would be otherwise. It also makes you pawns more versatile as they can switch from a ranged to melee role in an instant, and still be effective. This is useful if you need another melee fighter immediately for any reason, whether that be to melee block a choke point but no undowned melee pawn is available, or simply see that melee locking an enemy is a more effective way to combat them as they can't shoot back.

Although a dedicated melee pawn will almost certainly benefit more from increased manipulation, the hand talon can still potentially be useful on such a pawn. Since pawns use their strong attack 75% of the time and a "mid" attack 25% of the time, the hand talon can be used to slightly increase the damage of the "mid" attack but, more importantly, it potentially has a shorter cooldown than other mid attacks, allowing for the next strong attack to come slightly faster. For example, a human fist has a cooldown time of 2.0 seconds, and a hand talon has a cooldown time of 1.5 seconds. Determining if the melee pawn's current mid attack has a shorter or longer cooldown than that of the hand talon is important for deciding if that pawn may enjoy a slight boost to their DPS from a hand talon.

Comparison to Power Claw[edit]

The hand talon has slightly lower DPS and significantly lower AP compared to the power claw, has a faster attack speed, and it does not slow the pawn like the power claw. The hand talon hits faster than the power claw but does less damage per hit, making it less likely to destroy body parts, which may be desirable or undesirable depending on the circumstances. This also means it "wastes" less damage by "overkilling" body parts; and allows the pawn to shorten the time to another, potentially stronger melee attack if they have one or retreat from melee combat if they do not. Depending on one's playstyle, the difference in AP may be less significant than it initially appears, as enemy types that favor melee, such as animals and tribals, often lack the high armor that enemies that favor ranged combat, such as centipedes, often possess. The notable exception to this is the scyther, which has a moderate sharp armor of 40%. However, if engaging any creature that is heavily armored, ranged or melee, in melee combat, the power claw will do significantly more damage than the hand talon. Another consideration is the movement penalty to the power claw, which may be less significant to dedicated shooting pawns compared to melee pawns. Moving also affects derived stats including melee dodge chance and hunting stealth. The increased DPS of the power claw, while modest, could also a significant factor, as both parts close to the average DPS you could expect from a raider: Using a power claw will mean the pawn is fighting with a slight advantage more often than not, and with the hand talon they will be fighting at a slight disadvantage more often than not.

Combining a power claw and a hand talon, or using two of either, on a single pawn, is notably rarely useful. This is due to the melee verb selection mechanic, the pawn will use their strongest melee attack 75% of the time regardless of how many are installed; making a second bionic significantly less useful (whether they have a stronger melee weapon equipped or not.) Whether the penalty to damage from the hand talon is worth avoiding the penalties to moving (and stats derived from moving) is worth the reduced AP and DPS compared to the power claw for the individual pawn in question should be the primary difference considered when making the choice between the two.

Part incompatibly[edit]

A significant drawback of the hand talon is that it can not be simultaneously used with two bionic or archotech arms. Manipulation above 100% does not affect Shooting Accuracy, and so for a dedicated gunfighter this may not be a significant drawback. However, manipulation increases general labor speed, meaning that if they have a role within your colony beyond fighting affected by manipulation, such as crafting or constructing, they will be less effective at these roles than they otherwise could be. A pawn can still be equipped with one bionic or archotech arm, and one hand talon without it negatively affecting their melee capabilities after 1.1.2610 changed melee verb selection.

If you choose two bionic or archotech arms over one arm and a hand talon, you also have the option of the knee spike. The knee spike is not as effective in combat as the hand talon however, and has the significant drawback that you then can't install two bionic or archotech legs, which are arguably more important than the arms. In this case you can install venom fangs which, while the weakest implant of all those mentioned, does not conflict with anything.

Trivia[edit]

The stats page of the hand talon claims it replaces the hand and fingers, but this is incorrect. The hand talon is an implant and does not replace any body parts. The elbow blade and knee spike share this mistake.

Version history[edit]

Royalty DLC Release - Added
1.1.2598 - Rebalanced. Decreased AP from 22% -> 15%, and decreased cooldown time from 2s -> 1.5s. DPS increased 7.50 -> 10, market value increased from 210 -> 355

Artificial body parts