Psychic insanity lance
Psychic insanity lance
A limited-use psychic effector. It overwhelms the target's mind with terrifying perceptual distortions, driving him into a berserk state. There is a risk of brain damage. It has a long range, but requires line of sight.
Base Stats
- Type
- Artifact
- Market Value
- 650
- Mass
- 0.5 kg
- HP
- 80
- Flammability
- 100%
Apparel
- Coverage
- Waist
- Layer
- Belt
- thingCategories
- ApparelUtility
- thingSetMakerTags
- RewardStandardHighFreq
- tradeTags
- Artifact
A psychic insanity lance is a two-use artifact that can be equipped by pawns in the Utility slot and manually activated to cause a target to go berserk.
Acquisition
Psychic insanity lances can be found in ancient shrines or purchased from Exotic Goods traders or faction bases.
Summary
Worn in "Waist" utility slot, the psychic insanity lance can be equipped by pawns. Pawns that are incapable of violence can equip, but not use, the lance. Once the wearer is drafted, it can be manually activated by the player to target a pawn within 35 tiles and within line of sight. Pawns with 0% psychic sensitivity, such as those with the Psychically deaf trait, cannot be targeted by the lance however sensitivity does not otherwise affect the effect.
After a 0.5s warm-up, the target will instantaneously go berserk - this berserk state is essentially identical to the mental break with the same minimum recovery time of 40,000 ticks (11.11 mins) and the same end condition of unconsciousness. There is also a 30% chance that the target will be set alight and given brain damage in the form of a burn scar. When targeting colonists, this 30% chance is multiplied by the Friendly Fire Chance in the Difficulty settings.
If used on a non-hostile faction's pawn, it will decrease Goodwill with that faction by 200 points.
The lance cannot be recharged - when both charges are expended the item is completely destroyed.
Analysis
As it has a significantly smaller warmup time (just 0.5s vs 4.5s) and comparable range (35 vs 36), it can be useful for making pesky triple rocket launcher and doomsday rocket launcher raiders annihilate their companions. For best value, use it on enemies with durability enhancements such as go-juice, the Tough trait, power armor, or a shield belt. It is also useful for causing raiders to clump up to target the berserked pawn, allowing a more effective use of doomsday rockets in an expensive but effective 1-2 combo.
It can also exceptionally useful when used on centipedes - not only does it distract the mechanoids around it, it will continue to attack its compatriots until it or the others are dead. Depending on the composition of the mechanoid forces, this can result in anything just the target dying to the destruction of all but one mechanoid. Centipedes armed a heavy charge blaster are preferred as they can damage other mechanoids - indeed one berserk blaster armed centipede can and will kill any number of inferno-armed centipedes as it cannot be damaged in return.
Version history
- 0.12.906 - Added
- 1.2.2719 - changed from a single-use artifact that occupied the pawn's weapon slot, and had to be activated by selecting a colonist, then right-clicking the artifact and selecting 'Activate' manually. It now also has a limited range and no longer works through walls.
- Utility
- Firefoam pop pack • Orbital bombardment targeter • Orbital power beam targeter • Psychic shock lance • Psychic insanity lance • Shield belt • Smokepop pack • Tornado generator • Low-shield pack
• Jump pack • Orbital mech cluster targeter • Bandwidth pack 
• Control pack • Tox pack • Biomutation lance
• Deadlife pack • Disruptor flare pack • Shard insanity lance • Shard shock lance • Turret pack