Orbital bombardment targeter

The Orbital bombardment targeter is a powerful single-use utility artifact that calls a series of kinetic strikes against a targeted area.

Acquisition[edit]

Orbital bombardment targeters cannot be crafted. Instead they can only be acquired through trade, as a reward for performing quests, or found in ancient shrines. Note that quest rewards are selected with a weighted random generator, so there is no way to guarantee access to a targeter in a given play-through.

Summary[edit]

When equipped, an orbital bombardment targeter is worn in the waist utility slot. Pawns that are incapable of violence can equip, but not use, the targeter. Once the wearer is drafted, it can be manually activated by the player to target a tile within 45 tiles and within line of sight.

After a 3s warm-up, a targeting laser will shoot down from above and a series of approximately 30 explosions, one every 18 ticks (0.3 secs), will rock the ground near it for 540 ticks (9 secs), dealing massive damage. The warmup time before firing is affected by the Aiming Time stat of the wearer. The targeting radius is approximately 20 tiles, while each individual explosion's radius is 7 tiles and deals 50 bomb-type damage. These strikes can hit targets under roofs, including overhead mountain.

The targeter cannot be recharged or refueled - once its single charge is expended, the item is completely destroyed.

Like all utility items, an orbital bombardment targeter is treated largely like any piece of apparel, however some exceptions exist. Utility items are worn on the waist and are mutually exclusive only with each other, regardless of the layer or coverage of other apparel worn. Additionally, utility items never become tainted, deteriorate from being worn, or inflict a worn-out or tattered mood debuff when damaged.

Analysis[edit]

Orbital bombardment targeters are incredibly powerful consumables, able to defeat just about any major threat in the game, save for large mechanoids and some Anomaly threats, if they can fit within the radius. The projectiles can hit through overhead mountains, allowing them to take out infestations. Their Bomb damage deals 4x damage to impassible structures, and 2x to passible structures, making them great at destroying mech clusters. Moving targets are more difficult to catch within the radius, although trigger happy and/or shooting specialist can help make aiming faster.

Wearing it constantly on a pawn in your colony is ideal, in case a raid catches you off-guard and you need to end it. It is unlikely that every single colonist will want an item in the utility slot, so sparing a few colonist's slots is worth it for the added flexibility.

It could be used as a caravan defense mechanism, but small caravans would rather use psychic shock lances, which are more common and don't come with the risk of collateral damage.

Comparisons[edit]

Orbital power beam targeters are just as powerful against organic pawns, but deal Heat damage, making them completely ineffective against mechanoids. Therefore, orbital bombardments are worth saving for cases an orbital power beam can't cover.

Triple and doomsday rocket launchers are more common and can end end most non-mech raids just as easily, but require the weapon slot, while an orbital bombardment targeter can be always kept in the utility slot, and be immediately used if a colony-ending raid happens. In addition, rocket launchers have shorter range and a larger warmup time.

The other superweapons (tornado generators, antigrain warheads / IEDs, orbital mech cluster targeters) are significantly more clunky than any of the above options, making them less appealing.

Version history[edit]

0.18.1722 - Added.
1.2 - Changed from a ranged weapon to a utility slot item.
1.2.2719 - New visual effects for all orbital bombardments. You can now see and hear incoming projectiles and other details are improved.
1.2.2753 - New artwork for orbital targeters. Removed full-map light up effect of all strikes except orbital beam.
1.3.3067 - Escaping prisoners are now capable of picking up and using targeters.