Starjack

Starjack are a xenohuman breed engineered to be more effective space crew maintenance workers. They are well suited for construction work outside the safety of space stations in the vacuum of space where heat and cold tend to fluctuate. However, due to being more adapted for zero-gravity environments, they make for terrible melee fighters.

Lore[edit]

Starjack are one of humanity's oldest xenotypes and played a crucial role in the colonization of space. They are commonly seen on deep-space stations and interstellar ships, where genetic modification is cheaper than designing spacecraft that better support the unaltered human physiology,

Starjack are designed for stellar living, thus are able withstand the conditions of deep space. Their reflective pressure-adaptive skin provides insulation against extreme temperatures and allows them to survive brief exposure to hard vacuum. These adaptations make them invaluable for spacewalk repairs and emergency decompression scenarios. Most starjack spend their lives beyond planetary gravity, leading to lower muscle mass and reduced physical strength compared to baseline humans. However, their resilience in zero-gravity environments makes them essential for maintaining orbital platforms and working aboard long-haul vessels.^[1]

Occurrence[edit]

The table below describes the chance for a given pawn from each faction being a starjack. Note that this value does not account for chances in xenotype chance from ideoligion or from pawn kind, it only shows the base value before those factors.

Faction		Chance
	Gentle tribe	0%
	Fierce tribe	0%
	Savage tribe	0%
	Cannibal tribe	0%
	Nudist tribe	0%
	Fierce neanderthal tribe	0%
	Savage impid tribe	0%
	Civil outlander union	2.5%
	Rough outlander union	2.5%
	Rough pig union	0%
	Pirate gang	2.5%
	Cannibal pirate gang	2.5%
	Yttakin pirates	0%
	Waster pirates	0%
	Shattered empire	2.5%
	Traders guild	25%
	Salvagers	10%

Summary[edit]

Genes[edit]

Starjack have a gene complexity of 11 complexity. With a 0 metabolic efficiency, they have a hunger rate of x100%.

All starjack have these xenogenes:

Assorted:


Cold super-tolerant	Heat tolerant	Vacuum resistant	Weak melee damage	Indoor dweller	Low gravity adapted

Cosmetic:


No hair	Facial ridges	Sheer white skin

Skills:


Awful melee	Great construction	Awful mining	Awful animals

Analysis[edit]

Usefulness[edit]

Starjack are not necessarily better at combat or work in space than other pawns.

The starjack's Vacuum resistant gene is less impactful than one might expect. While it does allow starjack to reach 100% vacuum resistance with just a helmet, avoiding the heavy speed penalty of wearing a vacsuit which theoretically makes them excellent at working and kiting enemies in space, clothing with a significant Insulation - Cold offset is required to prevent hypothermia in space, even with Cold super-tolerant.
Hypothermia decreases the utility of not wearing a vacsuit to work outside of the confines of the gravship, as it leads to unconsciousness, frostbite, and death. This makes at least 56°C of Insulation - Cold essential for starjacks in space.
Masterwork thrumbofur duster + tribalwear are exactly enough to prevent hypothermia in space for starjack. The resulting minimal comfort temperature will be around -70°C. Excellent quality on any of these items is not enough. Another option is wearing a less protective parka.
Marine armor or other similar suits will solve both hypothermia and vacuum resistance problems. This limits usefulness of Vacuum resistant gene to early-mid game.
While Great construction is generally an incredibly useful gene, it is comparatively less useful in space than on the surface due to gravship components not having minimum construction requirements, compared to surface-only buildings such as the geothermal generator which has a minimum construction skill of 8.

Their combat utility is further decreased by the close-quarters nature of space combat.

Space maps have a smaller maximum size and the environments often consist of close-quarters of space stations, ruined buildings, or the gravship interior, which is less conducive to hit-and-run tactics. This makes any benefit they might gain from increased kiting ability notably less effective.
Their Awful melee and Weak melee damage genes are potentially more detrimental for combat in space than they would be for combat on the surface, as the tighter environments make melee combat more likely.

They have some redeeming features that could make them useful, especially as part of a colony with other xenotypes.

Great construction is a very useful gene that is only found endogenously on the starjack.
Indoor dweller is a gene that synergizes well with gravship travel, whether on space or surface maps.
Although the starjack's temperature resistance genes are generally insufficient to allow for spacewalking without a vacsuit or parka, they are marginally useful in keeping the colonist alive in the event that the gravship's climate control is insufficient to fully handle the extreme cold of space. Alternatively, they help make the starjack more survivable in the extreme climates one will encounter looking for gravcores on the surface, allowing for less temperature-resistant pawns to take priority in being assigned more temperature-protective clothing.

Gene extraction[edit]

Starjack are a great source of genes. They are the only xenotype with Great construction and Awful melee. Awful melee is the only negative melee skill gene that spawns on default xenotypes, and pairs well with Weak melee damage. They also have two other Awful skill genes, which while more common (with default faction settings) are still excellent to have. While temperature, vacuum and indoors genes are generally less useful, starjack still have a relatively low amount of rarely used genes and any extraction has odds to immediately be useful to any colony or gravship.

Remember that xenogerms replace all xenogenes. If you implant a xenogerm into a starjack, all of their genes will be replaced. This also applies to certain other xenotypes. Don't install unstoppable onto a genie as part of an elaborate joke, unless you want to erase their other genes (or are prepared to replace them).

Version history[edit]

Odyssey DLC release - Added.
1.6.4566 - Starjack Gene adjustments, added low gravity adapted gene.
- Removed Cold tolerant, Poor melee, Awful Plants genes.
- Added Cold super-tolerant, Awful melee, Low gravity adapted genes.

Biotech (DLC)