Hunter drone

A hunter drone is a self-propelled explosive machine added by the Odyssey DLC that homes in on its target after activation.

Occurrence[edit]

Hunter drones do not spawn as pawns natively in the world, but instead only come into existence during interactions with two related objects.

These are:

The hunter pack, a craftable, single use utility item that allows the user to deploy a hunter drone within a set range; and
The hunter trap, a building that turns into a hunter drone when activated by an enemy of the faction that owns the building. They can be constructed, in which case they will belong to the player colony and be activated by, and target, only enemies of the colony. Hostile hunter traps belonging to the Hostile Ancients faction can also be encountered in landmarks, such as an Ancient Garrison. These can be triggered by most^[All?] other factions, including the player's colony.

Summary[edit]

Drones are similar to mechanoids in several ways - they eschew cover, do not drop equipment when destroyed, die when downed, are non-flammable, and have 100% toxic environment resistance and 100% vacuum resistance. Unlike mechs, they are not entirely immune to flame and heat damage and have a psychic sensitivity of 0%.

When generated as part of a map, drones will be at least 200 years old^[Verify]

Hunter drones will chase, and attempt to close with, targets^{[LoS? Range? Ever change target? Ever disengage? Living?]} through doors, including player-owned doors, without breaking them.^[Verify]

Upon reaching a target^{[How close to detonate?]} or dying due to damage, they will explode, dealing 40 Bomb damage in a 2.9 tile radius. Shows sparks for ??? ticks^{[How long?]} and then explodes. When it explodes, it does not leave a corpse.

While the drone is active, its battery slowly depletes. The battery lasts 12,500 ticks (3.47 mins), which is displayed on a gizmo visible when the drone is selected, regardless of whether the drone is friendly or hostile to the player. After this time, the drone dies without exploding, leaving a corpse. The corpse can be shredded for 15 steel.

Analysis[edit]

Hunter drones are very dangerous for colonists in the early game as, without high-tech armor or shields, the explosion can instantly kill them. They are best avoided, especially mid-combat, since speed is crucial for escape.

A shield belt will completely protect the wearer from the explosion damage, however normal and below quality shield belts will be broken and require recharging afterwards. This can be dangerous when other threats are present.

Multiple Hunter drones can spawn in a single room. Rooms may contain a combination of items that could magnify the explosive reaction of an exploding Hunter Drone, such as Chemfuel or Ancient mining charges.

A healthy target can outrun it, allowing others to take it down, especially with fast ranged weapons, however they typically spawn inside ruins with close confines, obstructions, and doors which may slow down a pawn enough to be caught by the drone. Hunter drones attack in melee, staggering their targets and usually preventing them from escaping their final explosive attack.

It is possible to avoid damage from a sparking drone by quickly moving away from it (similar to a turret sparking before the explosion) or hiding behind a wall. Friendly Hunter drones can be used to destroy hostile and triggered Hunter drones as they will aggro onto one another if one becomes the closest target.

Hunter drones are vulnerable to EMP damage, but stunning them is risky, as they still explode on death, and move quickly enough that EMP grenades may miss them and leave your colonists without a safe way to escape. EMP damage completely nullifies hunter traps, as long as they are stunned before activating. EMP-stunned hunter traps never deploy a hunter drone, and drop steel and chemfuel instead of exploding when destroyed. Since they trigger in line-of-sight, not all hunter drones or traps can be safely stunned, even if already scouted. Hunter drones adapt to EMP damage the same way mechanoids do, but this is not a notable concern due to their low health and single attack nature.

The Skip and Wallraise psycasts are ideal for dealing with them.

Health[edit]

Body parts[edit]

The body part table is collapsed due to length. Expand to view.

Body part	Health
Head	9
Skull	9
Brain	4
Nose	4
Neck	9
Jaw	7
Eye ^[1] (left, right)	4
Ear (left, right)	4
Body	14
Kidney^[2] (left, right)	5
Lung^[2] (left, right)	5
Liver^[2]	7
Heart^[2]	5
Spine^[2]	9
Stomach^[2]	7
Limbs (left, right, fore, hind)	11
Appendage (left, right, fore, hind)	7

↑ Located inside of Head.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Located inside of Body.

Armor[edit]

Armor

Gallery[edit]

Facing east
Facing north
Facing south

Version history[edit]

Odyssey DLC Release - Added.

[Head-1] Located inside of Head.

[Body-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Located inside of Body.

[1]

[2]