Watcher

Attack

A watcher is an immobile outgrowth of the Biomass that uses its psionic power to temporarily paralyse a soldier.

Range: 45 metres
Damage: 80
Damage type: exception

Defence

Soft: 0%
Universal: 15%
Hard: 30%
Burn: 0%
Laser: 30%
Plasma: 0%
Warp: 50%
Paralyse: 0%

Health: 2,000 hit points

Distribution

Watchers are spawned by the Biomass and they are only ever encountered in territory controlled by the Biomass.

Tactical notes

A watcher uses its psionic abilities to temporarily paralyse a soldier over a long range. The soldier will recover in a minute or so, but in the meantime he is totally immobilised and unable to use his weapon.

Although an affected soldier is vulnerable to other transgenants, the transgenants encountered on the Biomass are much less dangerous than the transgenants encountered in areas clear of the Biomass. This means that a watcher is usually little more than a nuisance, and nowhere as near as dangerous as a chrysalis.

When you start a mission in the Biomass, you should usually begin by eliminating any watchers within range of your soldiers. Hold position against the rush attack from the mobile transgenants, dispatching the closest one first. Then move out and dispatch the watchers and the equally immobile jammers in the mission area.

It is not critical what weapons you use against watchers, although a couple of hybrid plasma rifles are useful because of their damage capacity. As watchers are immobile, they are difficult for your soldiers to spot before you are within range of their psionic weapons. If you find watchers too annoying, equip your soldiers with a combination of advanced combat armour and advanced psionic helmets for maximum protection against the psionic abilities of a watcher.

A Watcher is so interconnected to the Biomass that it cannot be captured alive under any circumstances.

The most curious thing about a watcher is its physical appearance. It has a clearly defined head with typical Reticulan features, such as the shape of the skull and the almond eyes. It also has three pairs of atrophied arms, which is an interesting feature for an immobile species to have. Also, when you kill a watcher the head and flesh are blown off, leaving the backbone intact.