Orbital power beam targeter

The orbital power beam targeter is a powerful single-use utility artifact that deals damage in a wide radius for a short duration.

Acquisition[edit]

Orbital power beam 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 power beam 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 massive beam will shoot down from above for 600 ticks (10 secs). Once per activated tick, the beam chooses 4 random tiles in a 15-tile radius of the target, setting them on fire and dealing between 65 and 100 Flame damage to everything on each tile. The warmup time before firing is affected by the Aiming Time stat of the wearer. The beam 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 power beam 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 power beam targeters are incredibly powerful consumables, able to defeat just about any organic major threat in the game (save for some Anomaly threats) if they can fit within the radius. Because it can go through overhead mountain, it can even take out infestations. However, they cannot damage mechanoids at all, and moving targets are a bit more difficult to catch within the radius.

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]

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 power beam 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.

Orbital bombardment targeters have a similar level of power but deal bomb damage, allowing them to also damage mechanoids and be incredibly effective against mech clusters while being worn on the utility slot. Therefore, bombardment targeters are more valuable items in general, but both orbital targeters are rare and valuable, so it is difficult to be picky.

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.