[b18] Tribals and the Crashed Ship Part

[sadpickle]

Alright so I was playing a tribal game and everything was fine until the Poison Ship. How do you deal with these? Let's assume for argument you don't get a trader or pirate raid, so no EMP grenades and the best firearm is maybe the starter rifle. What can a tribal start do? Rushing Machining research seems really expensive. When the ship dropped I hadn't finished electricity yet.  I had 7 pawns by this point in the game.

Wall and sandbag cover at max recurve distance = lots of dead tribals, so I'm guessing you have to cheese here.

[Sola]

I'm actually playing a tribal game now.  I build a pathing wall, so the scythers and centipedes get separated, and then fire at the scythers from a roofed wall/sandbag/wall/sandbag line.  Once the scythers are downed, bring your animals to help you with the centipede(s) if necessary.

Do not be picky about starting colonists.  10 guys with bows is not to be underestimated.

One of your colonists should be on crafting nonstop.  Turning leathers into warveils/dusters/shirts/pants adds a surprising amount of survivability, especially if crafted well.  Unworn clothing can also turn into money for the colony.

Once you've researched devilstrand, you should dedicate an enormous chunk of land to the growth of those red mushrooms, then just wall it in to prevent wildlife from eating it.

Once your colonists are fully decked in devilstrand clothing, there shouldn't be a single thing in the game that will kill your pawns in a single shot.

[Dashthechinchilla]

Deadfalls, animal minions, and if you are lucky maybe you will get emergency aid.

War masks increase pain tolerance and act as a weak power armor helmet in what it protects.

[mvargus]

There are a few options, but none are great.

First, you likely have a low colony wealth score so I'd only expect 2-3 scythers.  This can be handled a couple of ways.

1) if you have tamed boomalopes you can attempt to sacrifice them to the mechanoids.  Basically you'll zone them next to the poison ship and then shoot the ship to get the mechanoids attention.  Immediately try to get your boomalopes to explode, it should destroy the poison ship as well as down the mechanoids if all goes well.

2) if you have a lot of trained animals that know release, send in the hordes.  Scythers are nasty at range, but actually struggle a bit if they are dealing at melee range.  Allow your animals to do the work.

3) If you feel like taking the risk, arm everyone with melee weapons and fight in close.  It's dangerous because you can lose limbs to their blades, but scythers are not very durable and you can bring them down quickly.  If its quick enough your people just might survive.

4) leave the tile.  If you don't want to fight, you can always gather up all your goods and move to a new tile.  It's what I did the one time I had a poison ship drop on a tribal start that wasn't armed well enough to win at range.

[Shurp]

Great bows and sandbags/walls at long range should work ok... yes, you'll take some hits, but like mvargus said, you should only be up against a few scythers and maybe a centipede.

If you have your industrial economy going, bolt action rifles also do a decent job.

The key against centipedes is to make sure you have two empty squares between every pawn.  Otherwise the spray will hit the bystanders more often than who they are shooting at.

[BlueWinds]

My experience has been that max range is a mistake - Scythers are pretty good shots, while my colonists tend to suck. Firefights at short range have done better for me than those at long.

Also, yes, dogpile them with animals. Tame everything. Release everything. Eat the furry friends that die, praise, pet and name those that survive.

[Shurp]

I find that colonists with both hard and soft cover do ok at long range against scythers that out in the open.  Nothing fancy, just a layout like this:

  @    @     @
  []=[][]=[][]=[]

Pawn stands directly behind the wall, then leans out behind the sandbag to shoot.  They will take hits, but not enough to kill them unless they lose a head or a stomach.  You might need to put some peg legs on afterwards though

[Dashthechinchilla]

If all you have is recurve, like you suggest, they are going to outrange you. You will have to find a way to close the gap. Set up a visual break so that the syther will advance into your weapon range. Then pop out and fire. The scyther will simply stand and fight, not seek cover like a pawn.