Sightstealer arrival
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This article relates to content added by Anomaly (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled. |
 | Spoiler warning: This page may contain details about the gameplay that might be considered spoilers. If you wish to enjoy the content first hand, you probably shouldn't continue reading beyond this point. |
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This article is part of the Raids project. A standardized format is needed for these pages, and is in development. See that page for details. |
Occurrence[edit]
Sightstealer Arrival is a major threat from the Anomaly DLC. Sightstealer Arrival requires monolith tier 1. They can also arrive if a creepjoiner becomes hostile due to friendly fire and has the Sightstealer attack drawback.
Summary[edit]
Sightstealer raids start with a single invisible Sightstealer from the map's edge, with no warning letter; or multiple sightstealers can raid after a "Distant shriek" raid letter. They will not trigger traps and generally will only be revealed when they're about to melee attack. They will trigger proximity detectors and emit a shrieking sound effect, which allows the player to know their presence, but not their exact location.
Multi-wave raids[edit]
For raids below 400 raid points, the sightstealers arrive as a single wave. At 400 raid points or higher, a multi-wave system is used.
The raid starts with an initial wave consisting of one sightstealer. After this wave is defeated, a "Sightstealer howling" message appears, and a second wave arrives after a delay of 5 hours to 1.5 days. The second wave is generated using 35–65% of the raid points. After the second wave is defeated, there is a 50% chance for a third and final wave to be generated. Another "Sightstealer howling" message will appear, followed by a delay of the same length. The third wave is generated using 100% of the raid points.
The second wave and the third wave (if it occurs) each contain one randomly selected sightstealer that drops 
1 Shard when killed.
The number of waves and the raid point value are fixed when the raid quest is generated. Reloading a save made after the raid has started will not change the number of waves. The raid points at the time additional waves occur do not influence their size. The quest has no upper raid point threshold, so this behavior applies to all raids of 400 raid points or higher.
Analysis[edit]
When encountered early, a single Sightstealer is unlikely to be a threat to even a group of brand new colonists. But when the "Sightstealer howling" message is triggered, it becomes dangerous for any colonist to go outside. Unlike manhunter events, sightstealers' raid give no warning for pawns to run inside, and their speed means that they can quickly surround any group of exposed pawns. In this case, it's best to lock your colonists in, install a proximity detector or turn up the game volume and listen for their howling sound. When you detect them, open a door and fight them like how you fight a manhunter event.