Smokepop

Smokepop is a level psycast that creates a cloud of blind smoke.
== Acquisition ==
== Summary ==
thumb|left|175px|Area of affect of Smokepop. Cast location has been marked in yellow, surrounding affected tiles in white, and unaffected tiles in red.
Upon casting, Smokepop creates a cloud of blind smoke for approximately 60 seconds within a circle of 3 tile radius, centered on the target tile. Valid targets include any tile within a 25 tile radius of the caster, respecting line of sight. While it persists, blind smoke multiplies the accuracy of all projectile attacks pathing through it by , reducing their chance to hit their target by roughly one-third. Note that neither the shooter nor the target need to be within the smoke for this penalty to apply - as long as it exists between the shooter and target, the accuracy penalty will be applied. Additionally, blind smoke prevents turrets from targeting pawns within or behind it.
== Analysis ==
Unfortunately, despite its position as a level 4 psycast, Smokepop is noticeably less useful than psycasts of an equal or even lower level, due to it being restricted to the relatively limited use cases of blind smoke. However, it can still see some use in combat, and can even prove invaluable in some encounters.
The most obvious use case for Smokepop is as a defensive measure against ranged pawns, reducing their accuracy and significantly hindering their ability to harm your pawns. However, as blind smoke impairs the accuracy of all projectiles passing through it, including those of your pawns, using it against enemy pawns can be a double edged sword. As such, Smokepop is best used alongside other methods of dispatching enemy pawns, the most common of which being melee attackers, as blind smoke does not impact Melee Hit Chance, and blind smoke's protection from ranged attacks makes it easier for them to close the gap on their intended targets. Additionally, weapons with a Forced Miss Radius, such as frag grenades or incendiary launchers will be unaffected by the accuracy penalty from blind smoke, though their relatively low effectiveness in direct combat renders this benefit fairly dubious. However, the incinerator stands out as not only being unaffected by blind smoke, but being both far more accurate and lethal than any of the other unaffected weapons, making it a stand-out option to pair with Smokepop. As an aside, Smokepop can be used to provide some protection for both downed pawns and those attempting to rescue them. However, it is inferior to both Skip and Wallraise for this purpose, as Skip allows one to instantly relocate a target at no risk, and Wallraise blocks enemy line of sight entirely.
Another situation in which Smokepop sees use is against mech clusters, and is arguably its primary use case. As blind smoke completely prevents turrets from firing on pawns concealed by it, Smokepop can completely eliminate the highly-lethal mechanoid turrets as a threat to your pawns, allowing your pawns to dispatch them in complete safety, or at the very least temporarily remove them from combat while you dismantle the mechanoid defenders surrounding them. Additionally, the long range of and pinpoint accuracy of Smokepop allows one to place smoke directly on top of turrets, not only providing massive coverage in terms of area denial, but also renders it trivial to approach them in melee, enabling one to dispatch them utilizing breach axes, which - if made of uranium and of sufficient quality - can allow you to fairly consistently dispatch turrets in a single blow, eliminating the risk of them exploding, and by extension the risk of damaging any nearby unstable power cells, allowing one to make use of them as they see fit after the cluster is defeated.
Lastly, Smokepop occupies a near-identical role to both the smokepop pack and the smoke launcher, and as such should be compared alongside them when considering sources of blind smoke. Compared to the smoke launcher, Smokepop has a nearly identical range (1 tile higher), creates a 3-tile radius of smoke instead of 2, is 100% accurate compared to the smoke launcher's 2-tile Forced Miss Radius, and requires only in total to deploy, compared to the smoke launcher's staggering of Aiming Time and Ranged Cooldown. In comparison, the only area in which the smoke launcher excels is sustained fire, as the smoke launcher can be used indefinitely at no cost, whereas Smokepop's neural heat gain allows for only 2 - 3 casts in succession with a typical psycaster, and the psyfocus cost prevents indefinite use, though it is unlikely any combat encounter will require more than a handful of casts regardless.As for the smokepop pack, it generates a moderately larger smoke cloud, with a radius of 4 tiles instead of 3. However, it can only create smoke centered on the wearer, and it is limited to only 3 uses before needing to be refuelled, compared to the ranged, targeted placement and generous use limit of Smokepop. 
It should be noted, however, that the smoke launcher and smokepop pack are substantially more consistent to obtain, only requiring one to research Gunsmithing and Smokepop packs, respectively. Additionally, Pirate and Outlander raiders will occasionally spawn with smoke launchers or packs, allowing one to use them for one's own purposes once their wielder has been dispatched. In comparison, Smokepop requires not only a level 4 psycaster, which can take a significant amount of time barring use of an anima tree, but then also requires one to be lucky enough to obtain it from either the psycast level itself, or one of the other (relatively uncommon) sources of psytrainers. In spite of this, Smokepop's final and most significant advantage is, in fact, its position as a psycast, as both the smoke launcher and smokepop pack occupy a valuable weapon and utility slot respectively, for a mechanic that is generally very niche in its applications, whereas Smokepop incurs no such opportunity cost.
== Version history ==
* Royalty DLC Release - Added.
* 1.1.2571 - Range reduced from 25 to 20, cost reduced from 35 to 30.
* ??? - Range increased from 20 to 25.
Category: Psycasts