Demolisher Lobotomization
Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2025 4:13 pm
TL;DR
Allow capture bot tech to work against Demolishers, letting engineers exploit their immense regeneration abilities.What?
Demolisher Lobotomization would be a branch of capture bot tech that also requires Vulcanus as a dependency, obviously. As said in the TL;DR, unlocking it would allow you to launch capture bots (or a different, but similar bot) towards demolishers to leave them brain-dead and docile. The effect is not instant, however. Meaning in order finish the operation, you need to overwhelm the demolisher's natural regeneration for the bot to take root. Needless to say though, the demolishers don't exactly like the process, meaning they'll become much faster, aggressive, and resilient while the bot is attached to them. Nothing that can't be solved with more bullet, mind you. But if the demolisher reaches full HP, then the Loboto-bot would only be able to stay attached for a few seconds before falling off.Once a demolisher is successfully lobotomized, it will function similarly to a captured biter nest. Engineers can feed the demolisher Bioflux, and in turn it will generate chunks that can be extracted from the worm via player or inserter. Like biter eggs, these chunks could be processed into nutrients via assembly machine and biochamber. Though you'd probably also be able to turn them into Tungsten ore, or use them to clone new demolishers once you unlock cryogenic science, similar to biter nests.
Why?
The Biochamber is unquestionably the weakest of the planet-signature assembly machines on account of it's limited recipe pool and the fact that most planets have infinite oil. However, "most" is not "all", and that means the biochamber does have a potential role on Vulcanus, where the player is required to rely on coal liquifaction for their oil supply. However, using the biochamber means importing some form of Nutrients to feed it, which itself needs to be imported from Gleba.Nauvis alleviates the amount of flux that needs exported with Biter Nests. In addition to the egg-specific uses, Biter nests and eggs let you multiply the nutrient efficiency from eggs by a (frankly unnecessarily) large amount, which makes using Biochambers on the planet significantly easier to manage.
Vulcanus, however. Doesn't have this. So using Biochambers on the planet means either importing bioflux raw, which is dramatically less efficient and more susceptable to deadlocking due to only being broken down by Biochambers. Or by Importing nutrients from Nauvis instead. That second option does work. I've built fished-powered oil cracking on Vulcanus before and will almost assuredly do it again in the future. But the process definitly stands out compared to anything else in Space Age, and is something most players likely wouldn't want to bother with.
Demolisher Lobotomization would, of course, fill this role on Vulcanus. With them allowing you to launder bioflux through them to make it into a more efficient and easy to manage material. And by extension making it more viable to export Biochambers outside of Gleba.