Psychophagy

Psychophagy

Consume the psychic sensitivity of a target. The invoker will increase their psychic sensitivity for a period of time. The effect does not stack. The target will suffer brain damage, causing them to fall into a coma for several days.

Base Stats

Type

Psychic ritual

Creation

Required Research

Psychophagy

Ritual Duration

10,000 ticks (2.78 mins)

Ritual Cooldown

300,000 ticks (83.33 mins)

Resources to make

20

Psychophagy is a psychic ritual that provides a long duration buff to the invoker's psychic sensitivity at the cost of rendering the target permanently psychically dead.

Acquisition

The psychophagy psychic ritual can be performed once every 300,000 ticks (5 in-game days) at a psychic ritual spot at the cost of  20 Bioferrite, once the Psychophagy research project has been completed. Note that this research requires dark study to unlock. The ritual takes 10,000 ticks (4 in-game hours) to complete.

Summary

• Grants the "Psychophage" hediff, which grants 50% psychic sensitivity to the invoker for the duration of the effect.
• 1 day of duration gained per 1% ritual quality.
• Casting the ritual again will stack the duration, but the psychic sensitivity boost is unaffected.
• Has a chance of:
  • Liquefying targets brain, killing them in the process,.
  • Applying a psychic scarring to the brain. ^[Verify]
• Target becomes psychically dead, permanently setting their psychic sensitivity to 0%. Unlike psychically deaf, this is a multiplier, not an additive offset, so no source of psychic sensitivity can bring it above 0%. This effectively prevents consequent usages of Psychophagy (or any phage rituals) on same pawn.
• Applies a −3 / −6 / −10 guilt thought for participants.^{[Thought Template]} This thought is nullified by the Psychopath traits, being Inhumanized, as well as Psychic rituals: Exalted precept.

Analysis

Psycasters benefit the most from invoking psychophagy, as the boost improves their neural heat limit by +40 if at level 6 - this boost can then be multiplied by bioferrite gear, voidsight serums, and void touched. It can also benefit psychic harmonizer pawns, although the invoker must not be downed, so permanently unconcious pawns cannot benefit.

With Anomaly alone, the benefits of psychic sensitivity are much less pronounced. It improves the effectiveness of psychic rituals, boosting the quality by a modest +4% if the cap hasn't been reached, and it improves the mood buff from pleasure pulse. These buffs are fairly small, but since the duration of psychophagy is so high, it can make sense to apply in the late game.

Target

While the usual target for psychophagy will be prisoners, due to the brain damage and chance of death, psychophagy may be used in order to lower a colonist's psychic sensitivity to 0%. This makes them immune to psychic drones and many psycasts (thus preventing friendly fire). Brain damage can be reversed through a few means like unnatural healing and the bioregeneration cycle, and death reversed (expensively) with death refusal.

The psychically deaf gene is much better for the purpose It does not cause brain damage, boosts metabolic efficiency, and psychically deaf pawns can wear sensitivity boosting gear in order to participate in psychic rituals. In addition, if wanting to make an intentionally poor ritual - such as for draw animals to create a manhunter swarm - a deaf pawn can reach a low sensitivty, while a dead pawn cannot participate at all. However, there is no guarantee that a suitable genepack can be found in a timely manner, while psychophagy is available for research from the get go.

Version history

• Anomaly DLC Release - Added.
• ? - Description changed from "[...] target. This will cause the invoker's psychic sensitivity to be increased for several days, and for the target becomes psychically dead and suffers from Psychic Shock." changed to "[...] The invoker will increase their psychic sensitivity for a period of time. The effect does not stack. The target will suffer brain damage, causing them to fall into a coma for several days.".^{[Verify old version existed]}

---

Psychic rituals

Psychic rituals

Void provocation • Draw animals • Draw shamblers • Chronophagy • Psychophagy • Skip abduction • Draw fleshbeasts • Provoke pit gate • Imbue death refusal • Philophagy • Pleasure pulse • Neurosis pulse • Blood rain • Brainwipe

Related

Psychic ritual spot • Void sculpture • Shard beacon