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Building a Good Combat Pawn
Viewer helper — this page is not RICS-specific. It helps chat players plan melee and ranged fighters, including Hussar xenotype (Biotech) loadouts, when the streamer lets you buy traits, passions, gear, or surgeries.
Trait budgets (RICS-friendly):
| Budget | Use when |
|---|---|
| 4 traits | Default target — strong, realistic, works if the streamer caps traits around vanilla+ |
| 6 traits | Luxury / high-spend RICS variant when the streamer allows extra trait purchases |
Sexuality traits (Gay / Bisexual / Asexual) usually do not count toward “combat build” quality and are ignored below.
| Priority | Trait | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tough | ~50% less damage taken — best combat trait in the game |
| 2 | Nimble | Higher melee dodge chance |
| 3 | Brawler | Better melee accuracy; mood penalty if forced to use guns |
| 4 | Jogger | Faster repositioning, kiting into melee, retreats |
Passions: Burning Melee. Minor Medical is nice for self-tend.
| Priority | Trait | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tough | Survivability while holding a line or kiting |
| 2 | Trigger-happy | Much faster aiming → higher DPS (accuracy trade-off is usually worth it) |
| 3 | Jogger | Kiting, peeking, repositioning under fire |
| 4 | Nimble or Iron-willed | Nimble for when melees get close; Iron-willed for fewer mental breaks mid-raid |
Passions: Burning Shooting. Minor Melee helps if someone closes the gap.
Use the same trait lists above. Hussars already bring Great Melee, Great Shooting, and strong combat genes — traits finish the build; you do not need to “fix” mediocre combat genes.
Combat performance is mostly:
- Not dying (Tough, armor, pain, healing, movement)
- Killing efficiently (skill + passions + weapon + accuracy / aim time traits)
- Staying controllable (mental break threshold, drug policy, role fit)
- Fitting the colony (go-juice supply for Hussars, no Body purist if you plan bionics)
Skills matter more than many people think early game; late game gear, bionics, and drugs close gaps. Traits that double as survival (especially Tough) stay valuable forever.
Hussars are engineered soldiers. They are excellent fighters and weak at many civilian skills. They are made, not born (xenogenes do not inherit like germline xenotypes).
| Gene | Effect (practical) |
|---|---|
| Great shooting | Strong Shooting aptitude |
| Great melee | Strong Melee aptitude |
| Superfast wound healing | Recovers from injuries much faster |
| Reduced pain | Stays upright longer under injury |
| Unstoppable | Harder to stagger / stop with certain hits |
| Hyper-aggressive | Combat aggression behavior (dangerous in fights; socially sharp) |
| Go-juice dependency | Must get go-juice or suffer deficiency → coma → death; no long-term health penalties from go-juice use |
| Psychically deaf | Immune to psychic drones; cannot be a psycaster or mechanitor |
| Cold / heat tolerant | Wider comfortable temperature range |
| Partial antitoxic lungs | Some pollution resistance |
- Awful: Animals, Plants, Artistic, Social
- Unpenalized / fine for work: Construction, Mining, Cooking, Crafting, Medical (still not “specialists”)
- Mood issues start after ~5 days without go-juice; coma ~30 days; death ~60 days
- Research Psychite refining + Go-juice production
- Needs yayo (psychoid) + neutroamine (buy from traders)
- A small psychoid plot + occasional neutroamine is enough for dependency maintenance; combat use burns more
- Cryptosleep pauses dependency in emergencies
Viewer tip: If the colony has no go-juice pipeline yet, do not request a Hussar until the streamer is ready — or bring enough go-juice with the pawn purchase if the streamer allows it.
Hussars are genetically good at both. Specialize with traits + passions + weapon, not by fighting the genes:
| Role | Prefer when | Trait focus |
|---|---|---|
| Hussar melee | Shield belts, monoblades / persona weapons, close killboxes | Tough, Nimble, Brawler, Jogger |
| Hussar ranged | Charge rifles / sniper / minigun lines, kiting | Tough, Trigger-happy, Jogger, Nimble/Iron-willed |
| Hybrid | Escort / breach / mixed raids | Tough + Jogger first; skip Brawler if they will hold guns often |
Do not put Brawler on a gun Hussar unless they almost never equip ranged weapons — Brawler gets unhappy with guns equipped.
| Limitation | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Psychically deaf | No Royalty psycasts, no mechanitor mechlink |
| Awful Social | Bad warden / trader / recruiter |
| Hyper-aggressive | More social / combat friction; keep busy and well-mooded |
| Dependency | Always stock go-juice before big trips |
| Trait | Melee | Ranged | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tough | ★ | ★ | Best single trait for combat. Take first on both roles. |
| Trait | Melee | Ranged | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nimble | ★ | ○ | Melee dodge. Ranged: useful when enemies close in. |
| Brawler | ★ | ✕ | Melee accuracy; conflicts with gun use mood and with Trigger-happy / Careful shooter. |
| Trigger-happy | ✕ | ★ | Faster aim, lower accuracy — usually better DPS than Careful shooter. |
| Jogger | ★ | ★ | Move speed wins fights (engagement, retreat, cover swaps). |
| Trait | Melee | Ranged | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron-willed | ○ | ○ | Much harder to mental-break during long raids |
| Steadfast | ○ | ○ | Weaker Iron-willed; fine if Iron-willed is taken / unavailable |
| Bloodlust | ○ | ○ | Mood from combat / violence; strong on pure fighters |
| Fast walker | ○ | ○ | Jogger’s little sibling if Jogger is taken / unavailable |
| Masochist | ○ | ○ | Pain becomes mood gain — funny synergy with Reduced pain genes / injury |
| Psychopath | ○ | ○ | No mood hit from colonist deaths / organ harvest drama — pure soldier vibe |
| Body modder | ○ | ○ | Wants bionics; great if the colony will install armor/speed parts |
| Fast learner | ○ | ○ | Levels combat skills (and everything else) faster — strong early |
| Industrious / Hard worker | ○ | ○ | Useful between raids; not pure combat power |
| Careful shooter | ✕ | △ | Higher accuracy, slower aim — usually worse than Trigger-happy for DPS; niche for long-range precision |
| Trait | Why |
|---|---|
| Wimp | Downs at low pain — dies first |
| Delicate | Takes more damage (anti-Tough) |
| Pyromaniac | Fire starts mid-base / mid-fight |
| Body purist | Blocks bionics / many late-game upgrades |
| Too smart / high neurotic without support | Mental break risk (context-dependent) |
| Brawler on a ranged main | Constant mood hit for holding guns |
| Trigger-happy on a melee-only | Wasted slot vs Nimble / Jogger / Tough |
| Slow learner | Painful to skill up |
| Chemical interest / fascination (unmanaged) | Can wreck drug policy (Hussars already have go-juice needs) |
Trait conflicts (common):
- Brawler ↔ Trigger-happy / Careful shooter
- Trigger-happy ↔ Careful shooter
- Tough does not conflict with Nimble / Jogger / etc.
- Tough
- Nimble
- Brawler
- Jogger
Passions: Burning Melee. Optional minor Medical or Crafting.
Weapons: Longsword → monosword / persona monosword; plasteel / uranium early.
Utility: Shield belt when available.
Armor: Full recon / marine / cataphract as research allows; power armor for breach teams.
Everything in the 4-trait set, plus:
- Iron-willed (or Steadfast)
- Bloodlust or Body modder or Fast learner
| 6th pick | Choose if… |
|---|---|
| Bloodlust | They live for raids and you want combat mood |
| Body modder | Colony installs lots of bionics |
| Fast learner | Early-game skill climb matters |
| Psychopath | High casualty / organ / slave colony |
- Tough
- Trigger-happy
- Jogger
- Nimble or Iron-willed
Passions: Burning Shooting. Minor Melee recommended.
Weapons: Assault rifle / charge rifle mid; sniper for backline; minigun / heavy for suppression (watch move speed).
Utility: Jump packs (if available), smokepop belts, low-shield packs depending on meta / mods.
Armor: Same progression as melee; ranged often prioritizes move speed and cover use over pure melee armor mass.
1–3 same as 4-trait core (Tough, Trigger-happy, Jogger), then:
- Nimble
- Iron-willed
- Bloodlust or Fast learner or Body modder
When the pawn both shoots and occasionally melees:
- Tough
- Jogger
- Nimble
- Iron-willed or Trigger-happy (if primarily guns) or Brawler (if primarily melee)
Avoid stacking Brawler + Trigger-happy (conflict). Hybrid means one accuracy style.
Same trait lists as above. Without Hussar genes you should invest harder in:
- Burning passion on the main combat skill
- Bionics (archotech arms/legs, bionic eyes, painstopper, nuclear stomach optional)
- Armor + drugs (go-juice, wake-up, smokeleaf policies carefully)
- Optional genes later: Strong melee damage (melee), Robust digestion, etc., if the colony gene-mods
Neanderthal note: better raw melee genes than Hussar in some ways (e.g. strong melee damage), worse / different package overall — still use Tough + Nimble + Brawler + Jogger.
| Skill | Melee main | Ranged main | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melee | Burning | Minor | Always useful when someone gets in your face |
| Shooting | Minor / none | Burning | Primary for gunners |
| Medical | Minor nice | Minor nice | Self-tend / battlefield triage |
| Crafting | Optional | Optional | Weapon / armor production if dual-purpose |
| Mining | Optional | — | Melee can double as deep drillers / tunnelers |
Backstories: Avoid “incapable of violence.” Prefer combat-capable childhood/adulthood. High starting Melee/Shooting skill is a free power spike for viewers buying a pawn.
- Good weapon for the role (quality matters)
- Full armor set (helmet included)
- Shield belt (melee / frontline)
- Bionic / archotech legs (speed) and arms (DPS / work)
- Bionic eyes / sight upgrades for shooters
- Painstopper or pain management (Hussars already have Reduced pain — still nice later)
- Death acidifier / utility as colony prefers
| Drug | Combat use |
|---|---|
| Go-juice | Huge combat buff; required maintenance for Hussars; free of overdose addiction spiral for them |
| Wake-up | Longer operations / work; manage addiction |
| Yayo / flake | Situational; often worse than go-juice for pure combat |
| Beer / smokeleaf | Mood, not peak combat |
Copy-paste style requests (adjust to the streamer’s command syntax):
Hussar xenotype, Tough + Nimble + Brawler + Jogger, Burning passion Melee, high Melee skill, capable of violence, no Wimp/Delicate/Body purist. Prefer young adult.
Hussar xenotype, Tough + Trigger-happy + Jogger + Iron-willed, Burning passion Shooting, high Shooting skill, no Brawler, no Wimp/Delicate.
Tough, Nimble, Brawler, Jogger, Iron-willed, Bloodlust, Burning Melee, Body modder OK if replacing Bloodlust, combat backstories only.
Tough, Trigger-happy, Jogger, Nimble, Iron-willed, Fast learner, Burning Shooting, minor Melee, no Careful shooter, no Brawler.
| Mistake | Better approach |
|---|---|
| Taking Careful shooter instead of Trigger-happy for general DPS | Prefer Trigger-happy; Careful is niche |
| Brawler on a charge-rifle main | Use Trigger-happy / Nimble / Jogger instead |
| Hussar without go-juice plan | Stock dependency doses before the pawn arrives |
| Building a psycaster Hussar | Psychically deaf gene blocks it — use a baseliner / other xenotype |
| Skipping Tough for “more DPS traits” | Tough is usually still #1 |
| Body purist combat ace | Blocks the bionic endgame |
| Only raising Shooting, never armor / legs | Speed + armor keep DPS alive to deal damage |
| Build | Traits (4) | Best weapon style | Hussar fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melee | Tough, Nimble, Brawler, Jogger | Sword + shield belt | Excellent |
| Ranged | Tough, Trigger-happy, Jogger, Nimble/Iron-willed | Rifle / charge / sniper | Excellent |
| Hybrid | Tough, Jogger, Nimble, Iron-willed | Gun primary, melee backup | Good |
| Melee 6 | + Iron-willed, Bloodlust/Body modder/Fast learner | Same | Excellent |
| Ranged 6 | + Nimble, Iron-willed, Bloodlust/Fast learner/Body modder | Same | Excellent |
- Check current traits with
!mypawn traits(if enabled) before buying duplicates or conflicts. - Check skills/passions with
!mypawn skills. - Confirm the streamer’s trait cap (4 vs 6) and whether Hussar / xenotype purchases are allowed.
- Trait editors may block conflicting pairs (Brawler vs Trigger-happy, etc.).
- Go-juice and weapons may be separate store items — budget dependency + combat kit.
- Home — wiki index
- Building a Good Mechanitor — do not combine with Hussar (psychically deaf)
- MyPawn Command — inspect traits, skills, gear
- Traits Editor — streamer-side trait availability
- Official references: Hussars · Traits