are mechanitor worth it?

[Siegfried]

considering you had to go to trouble to get mechlink, dealing with pollutions, robots has less skill level than ordinary humans...

[Playzr 🐵]

If you have the resources then it's useful. I've only used the lifter/hauler bots and have 16 of them doing all the hauling freeing up my colonists to do other things. The waste packs sound bad but you can just put them in your freezer and forget about them. They aren't going to build up very quickly. I would probably have built the combat mechs if it wasn't for my kill box.

[Rainnd]

Polution is non issue once you have drop pods

[Helios]

Originally posted by Рlαγζr 🐵:

If you have the resources then it's useful. I've only used the lifter/hauler bots and have 16 of them doing all the hauling freeing up my colonists to do other things. The waste packs sound bad but you can just put them in your freezer and forget about them. They aren't going to build up very quickly. I would probably have built the combat mechs if it wasn't for my kill box.

i use mine to refine things 24/7 (unless they recharge) like advanced components stone blocks ect.

[Playzr 🐵]

I suppose their use depends on what other means you have to produce those things, like a kill box or Project Rimfactory to automate the crafting of some things. But there are lots of things you can use them for, with more advanced options opening up when you obtain the necessary items and follow the appropriate quests/events.

[Juicy Beefcake]

You have to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to build/use them but yes a mechanitor is very worth having. A single pawn can do ALL of your hauling, planting, and cleaning. and maybe have enough control points left over to field some combat mechs. The flamethrower and beam mechs are very good against non imp organics. The mobile shield mech is a great support mech. Centipedes are great inside your killbox but too slow to be useful anywhere else on the map. The war queen is fantastic, equally slow but effectively acts as a cavalry as it arrives late to most fights but then just starts popping out fresh fighters.

[Hoki]

tbf getting the first mechanitor is a joke given the initial quest has a map trigger unless disabled (which is the case in only the mechanitor setup which pretty much puts you right after the quest).
the initial research is just 200 points if you already have electricity.

[Juicy Beefcake]

I was thinking more about the steep infrastructure/logistics costs. I don't know what the perfect ratio of chargers to mechs is but you def need more than 1 charger. Then you need the power to support them and your production and antennas. Then you need to store or dispose of the waste which costs more power and/or your own personal cognitive bandwidth. etc

TLDR: its not just a set and forget proposition, you will need to do work to set it up (and a smaller amount to maintain it)

[jordanleemn]

5 mechs to 1 charger. Each mech should produce one toxic waste ever 2 days. (Please correct me if any numbers are wrong)

[Cyrus]

Setting up the first one (assuming you didnt start as one) is trivial as its a simple quest, easy encounter and takes minimal research.

I HIGHLY recommend at the very least getting the 'freebie' and setting up 6 of the haulers and a couple chargers.

Those things alone are amazing in reducing your colonists work loads.

As for the toxic waste, its not an issue as long as you have a freezer and can be easily 'disposed of' by many means and the easiest early game way is to caravan it to a tile 5+ tiles away and just leave there (not sure on exact distance needed but have seen the 5+ a few times and has not been an issue for me at that distance)

[Fyredrakon]

At the end of the day its replacing something a human colonist can do with a robot that can do it, albeit some fancy robots. You don't have to get them, but they are going to be worth the cost, since the alternative is a human colonist with a different set of "costs".

[Xeal]

At the very least, I'd say hauler/cleaner bots, agriculture bots, and combat bots are worth it. It free's your pawns from fairly minor but time consuming or annoying tasks. And bodies in front to take fire for your pawns is always worth it.