Pikeman

Pikemen are a type of slow-moving, long range mechanoid. 
== Occurrence ==
Raids = Yes. When?
Ancient shrines = Yes 
Clusters = Yes
Diabolus summons = Waves 2, 3, 6
War queen summons = Waves 1, 3, 5 
Apocriton summons = No. 
== Acquisition ==
Dead, friendly s can also be resurrected at the using the "Resurrect medium mechanoid" bill. This requires the corpse of the friendly , steel, and 1 gestation cycle taking to initiate.
== Summary ==
Dead pikemen may be shredded at a machining table or crafting spot for steel, though these values are affected by mechanoid shredding efficiency as well as any missing parts on the pikeman.
=== As an enemy ===
Pikemen will slowly move until they are at range, in which they will stay at maximum range to fire. They will not move around to seek cover, or avoid incoming fighters. Pikemen have moderate resistance to sharp damage and very small resistance to blunt damage, making them trivial to disable if one can get close enough to them.
Mechanoids can raid the player's base through events, and are found in most poison ships, psychic ships, and mech clusters. Pikemen are often supported by centipedes, scythers, and lancers, though their speed and range difference often leaves them at the back of the formation. 
=== Combat ===
Pikemen are always equipped with needle gun. It doesn't deal too much damage, but has an extremely long range, and better-than-average armor penetration. Like any other weapon, the needle gun has the possibility of getting a lucky shot to the head. They are also able to engage in (less effective) melee combat with colonists.
Pikemen have a shooting accuracy of 96%, equivalent to a pawn with a Shooting skill of 8. They have a melee hit chance of 62%, equivalent to a pawn with a Melee skill of 4.
=== As an ally ===
Mechs under player control require power: pikemen use 10% of their power per day while active. If set to dormant self-charging, they instead recharge for 1% power / day, without pollution. They recharge in a large mech recharger (400W), for 50% power/day, creating 10 wastepacks whenever the recharger's waste is filled up.
== Analysis ==
=== As an enemy ===
Pikemen play a supportive role. While their damage output is atrocious, their range is massive, analogous to a sniper rifle. Thus, a pikeman serves a few functions:
*They make kiting a group of mechanoids, i.e. firing and backing away from them, more difficult. Kiting a lone centipede is easy, but kiting a centipede with a pikeman firing potshots is very difficult. 
*They allow crashed ship parts and mech clusters to fire from far away.
*They have a small chance to instantly kill a pawn. If the needle gun hits the right body part (brain, heart) without protection, it can flat out kill. 
In large groups, they are not to be underestimated, and don't expect basic mini-turrets to be able to hit them. 
As their description says, engaging pikemen at close range can be a viable way to take them down, though you'll have to deal with their comrades first. Their gun is weak, but their melee is even weaker.
=== As an ally ===
Pikemen are quite weak. Enemy pikemen can be threats as they can headshot colonists, but a tiny chance to instakill a raider doesn't really matter. Thus, they aren't the best for combat. Enemies almost always have larger numbers than you, so occasional lucky kills are not impactful and good overall is much more reliable and useful metric - and one where the pikeman lags behind. Once you've researched High Mechtech, lancers become a better option for general combat: they move much faster and have a much greater DPS.
Therefore, the pikeman is a niche support unit, using its massive range to its advantage. While any pawn can boast the same range with a sniper rifle, pikemen are safer to use due to being eminently replaceable. When fighting enemy snipers, a colonist risks getting their head lobbed off but pikemen can easily be revived, so this is not a problem. Thus, pikemen can be used to lure sieges into attacking, pick off preparing raiders, or hunt animals. When using one, beware of their rather slow movement speed. They typically will not be able to run far before aggroed enemies catch up with them - even at maximum range, human enemies will typically catch up to the pikeman within at most tiles of its starting position. Keep your fighting force ready and somewhere nearby when triggering or baiting an attack.
== Health ==
Note, that due to mechanoids having different body part structures, this table is only provided as a rough guide.
== Trivia ==
The line in the description, "Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest place to be around a pikeman is touching it." is copied almost verbatim from a previous version of the Lancer's description, namely: "Veterans of mechanoid wars know that often, the safest thing to do against a lancer is to charge."
== Version history ==
* 1.1.0 - Added.
* Biotech DLC - Introduced ability to create and control friendly mechanoids, including pikemen.
Category:Mechanoids