Howitzer

Howitzers are land and air Calamities.

Spawning

• Spawned from a Womb when no conditions for specific Calamity types are met or if the parent signal location is at or above Y=120.

Unique Behavior

• The Howitzer is capable of shooting groups of 1 - 4 Flesh Bombs every 4 seconds at targets within ~14.14 to 64 blocks. There are four different types of flesh bombs, all with unique parameters and abilities. When getting close to their target, the Flesh Bombs are capable of redirecting themselves to get a more accurate hit. Also, all Flesh Bombs have a 20% chance to hold a random Evolved inside. In this instance, the bomb will appear larger, and when landing, one of the following mobs will spawn in the crater: Knight, Griefer, Braiomil, Phayres, Scavenger, Bloater, Leaper, Spitter, Stalker, Brute, Infected Vindicator, or an Infected Evoker.

  • The Howitzer will first check all the blocks within an 8x8 cube around the target. If there are more than 8 flammable blocks, he will shoot his incendiary Flesh Bombs. These bombs appear charred and smoke particles trail behind them as they fall. They will leave a fiery crater where they land. There's also a 30% chance any single incendiary bomb will instead be a bile Flesh Bomb instead.

  • If not, the Howitzer will then check to see if the target can be damaged by Corrosion. By default, the only mob like this are Iron Golems. If true, then the corrosive Flesh Bomb will be fired, which appears green and leaves a lingering cloud of Corrosion II for 15 seconds.

  • If false, it is then checked to see if there is at least 1 other target near the original, or if the target has an armor value of 10 or more. If either is true, the bile Flesh Bombs will be launched. There is also a 30% chance incendiary Flesh Bombs will be replaced with bile ones. These bombs appear yellow and leave a pool of bile in the resulting crater.

  • If all other checks fail, the basic Flesh Bomb will be shot. They appear as a fleshy, bulbous mass with multiple tendrils coming out the top. The crater created has no special effects.

• The Howitzer performs his stomp ability when he normally takes fall damage and if his leap time tracker is greater than 140 ticks (the tracker starts at 200 ticks and counts down.) The Howitzer has a 10 second cooldown between leaps and will only perform it if the target is within ~14.14 blocks, the Howitzer is on the ground, and has both of his arms. There is also a 75% chance it will fail, and he won't leap.

  • The actual stomp has a range of 12 blocks in all directions (for block effects) and a range of 8 blocks in all directions (for entity damage.) Blocks within range that have air under them will be affected by gravity and fall (excluding Bedrock.) The damage inflicted by the stomp is 15 (x7.5 hearts.)

• When either of the arm's hitbox sustains 25% of the Howitzer's health, it will fall off. This will spawn a Howitzer Arm, and the model will change to not have the corresponding arm anymore. After at least one arm falls off, the Howitzer loses his stomp ability. He can regain his arms by healing back to 100% health. Hitting either of the arms of the Howitzer deals x1.5 damage, however this does not affect the arms' personal HP.

• Hitting the mouth of the Howitzer deals x2 damage.

• The Howitzer has a 0.3% chance to perform his spore burst ability every tick and can only be successful if the target is within ~14.4 blocks; or a 20% chance when taking cold damage. He will summon a Scent and give Speed, Strength (both for 30 seconds at amplifier I,) and Resistance for 30 seconds at amplifier II to all allies within a 16 block radius. The spore burst will also apply debuffs to mobs within a 16 block radius. The debuffs include Blindness, Mycelium Infection, and Slowness, all for 30 seconds at amplifier II.

  • When performing a spore burst, all Infected, Evolved, Hyper Evolved, Scampers, and Gastgebers within a 16 block radius will receive 0 - 3 kill points.

  • Additionally, when doing a spore burst, all CDUs within a 16 block radius will be clogged, meaning they no longer work. They can be fixed by breaking them and placing them back down.

• Howitzers have three possible custom death messages, being "<player> was eaten by Howitzer", "<player> was crushed by Howitzer", and "<player> was dismantled by Howitzer". 50% of the damage Howitzers do is custom 'calamity damage 1', this solely effects the death message. If it fails, 50% chance to deal 'calamity damage 2'. If that fails, 50% chance to deal 'calamity damage 3'.

• When not pursuing targets, the Howitzer will search for ores within a 64x8x64 block range every 10 seconds when in his desired location. He has a 50% chance to dig to these ores and break them. After breaking 100 ores, he will gain his Elephant's Foot adaptation.

  • If the target has 100+ HP or 20+ armor and the 1 minute cooldown timer has run out, the Howitzer will fire its nuclear Flesh Bomb. This check goes before all other Flesh Bomb type checks. This bomb appears bright green and has a larger crater. It also spawns a nuke entity, which will slowly grow, dealing 10 fire damage every half second to entities in its range (it being fire damage means it is survivable by having the Fire Resistance effect.) It also places down fire and Acid Pools as it grows, having a total range of 10 blocks in all directions (this accounts for damage range too.) Water blocks in the nuke's range will be removed. The nuke lasts for 15 seconds before it finishes and disappears.

  • Will apply Weakness every second to mobs that can be targeted by the Howitzer within 12 blocks for 20 seconds. It will be constantly be reapplied until the enemy leaves the range. If the Alex's Caves mod is installed, he will apply the Irradiated effect from said mod instead of Weakness.

  • When reaching 10% health, the Howitzer will enter a meltdown stage in which it glows green. As the timer gets lower, it starts flashing a brighter green. The total timer length is 30 seconds. After the timer finishes, the Howitzer will explode, creating a massive crater and spawning a custom nuke entity with a larger range of 20 blocks in all directions.

Behavior

• Howitzers are melee combatants and ranged combatants, attacking mobs with Infected forms, golems, and most hostile mobs.

• Howitzers inflict Mycelium Infection II for 30 seconds when dealing melee damage.

• Essentially has Sweeping Edge, as their attack has an AOE.

• Like horses, Howitzers are capable of stepping up blocks, meaning they don't have to jump to go up one block.

• The minimum amount of true damage a Howitzer can deal to a target is 30% of its base melee damage, however the Womb Crafting System can increase that.

• Can fall from up to 28 blocks before taking fall damage.

• Has a follow range of 128 blocks.

• Howitzers are influenced by signals and objectives (explained on the Proto Hivemind page.)

• Howitzers can become rooted (explained on the Calamities page.)

• Howitzers can summon Scents (explained on the Calamities page.)

• Will summon an age 1 Mound when reaching a new objective location.

• Howitzers can increase their armor by killing skeletons (explained on the Calamities page.)

• Can summon Vigils when below 50% health (explained on the Calamities page.)

• Howitzers load chunks when following signals to new objectives.

• When dying, Howitzers will place a variety of blocks and Corpse Pieces in their death location (explained on the Calamities page.)

• Howitzers can be affected by the womb crafting system (explained on the Womb page.)

• Howitzers are immune to debuffs that are not above amplifier one.

• Howitzers have a 5% chance to drop a Scent upon death.

• Howitzers have 1.0 knockback resistance, meaning they can't be knocked back by attacks.

• Howitzers do not attempt to group together, nor do they follow mobs. They are lone hunters.

• Evolved mobs will follow Howitzers.

• Can perform low leaps/dashes to chase prey quickly through water.

• Able to use kill points to give themselves buffs, such as strength or speed if the target is running away. They can also give themselves regeneration if they are low on health.

• Capable of breaking blocks with a hardness of 5 or below.

• Have a damage cap of 100 (x50 hearts.)

• Present a weakness to the cold, like all spore mobs.

Related Advancements

• Meet the Team

• PTSD

Drops

• Armor Fragment

• Cerebrum

• Fang

• Innards

• Mutated Fibre

• Mutated Heart

• Spine Segment

• Terrestrial Reforged Biomass

• Tumor

Lore

• The Howitzer is meant to resemble trauma of artillery in war and PTSD, as the bodies used to make it were victims of war.

• The bile the Howitzer shoots out is hot.

• The body of the Howitzer is mostly comprised of fat to absorb the shock of artillery shells.

• The Howitzer has sensory organs to aid it in finding prey, along with the commander and Proto Hivemind assisting it.

• Mobs shot out of the Howitzer are covered in a protective membrane to negate fall damage.

• In order for the Howitzer to jump into the air, it has to exert 2207250 joules of energy at 11400000 newtons and moves at Mach 8740.3 (1.3% the speed of light.)

• The bile production of the Howitzer produces ethanol as a by product due to the rate of production, essentially meaning the Howitzer is always in a state of being drunk.

• The Howitzer is able to become radioactive from ores is because the ores contain radioactive elements that the Howitzer uses.