Feedback for Telemechanical Enthusiast II

[Ridley]

I want to express my thoughts on the Telemechanical Enthusiast II perk (TE2), but it is predicated on my belief that the Zaptrocuter is designed to be like an electric version of the boomerang. Something that is meant to kill small enemies, aggro things that run away, incapacitate robots, and such. I understand some will disagree with what this is or should be, but I am just clarifying my position before jumping into my review of the perk.

In my opinion, the greater range and capacity should not be the benefits of this perk.

Below is a demonstration of the Zaptrocuter range with perks and circuits. Beginning from the far left thulecite wall and moving right, the next thulecite wall is the default range of the Zaptrocuter with no perks. Each thuelcite wall after marks how far the drone can move with an additional Rangebooster circuit + Beta Circuits Tinkering I perk. Where it ends is the hard capped range of the drone where it can no longer be boosted with circuits/perks.

The leftmost wooden wall is the range of Zaptrocuter perks without any Rangeboosters. Only two Rangeboosters can be added before the range limit is met.

My first problem with this range is that the default range with no perks is good enough. It is far enough that you can kill small creatures, zap goats and robots, or pester things safely from range and over walls. If you want that extra range so you can zap enemies without gaining their aggro, why not take a few Rangebooster circuits and the Beta Circuits Tinkering I perk? Just unplug some circuits or use a chassis. One of the more useful cases of the Zaptrocuter is to stun robots, in which case you want to be as close as possible to fix them before they get back up. It really feels like paying two skill points for the same thing.

One thing that you can do with that extra range is safely harass creatures out of their aggro range. Dragonfly, for example, will sit there and take it until pushed into the Larvae spawning phase. I don't see this as a big issue, but it loosely ties into my problem with the charge capacity, which makes the Zaptrocuter have 100 uses instead of 50.

Currently, you stun lock creatures such as Dragonfly and Spiderqueen. The former of which can be seen here stuck in a loop trying to summon Larvae, although it swings too slow to hit me even if it wanted to. 

Now, I understand doing this from outside of aggro range or doing it with the extra charge capacity isn't what is enabling the stun locking, it is the zap effect and how frequently I can shoot it. I don't even have to time my shots! I just need to hold the "f" button down. I am a bit conflicted on how I feel about this, as the resources to kill stunable bosses with only the Zaptrocuter is probably on par with just using gunpowder, though disabling a boss for a friend to kill would be much easier. Zapping Spiderqueen to death is just a bit of pest control as far as I am concerned. The Zaptrocuter also feels clunky enough aiming it, firing slower might end up feeling miserable.

More to my point, stun locking is really the main use of the charge capacity as far as I can tell, since I only need one zap to do boomerang like things otherwise. If Wx78 is able to pin a boss down for a little while, then I think that could be acceptable and fun for a group of players who might be looking for a bit of help. Stunning boss for too long with minimal resources makes the fight boring as everyone just needs to hold down the attack button until it is over.

I think TE2 losing the range boost and the extra capacity would make for better gameplay. If a player desires the extra range back then they would need to interact with the circuits more. The lower charge capacity would give bosses more wiggle room without heavier investments in resources, which is generally consistent with other non-direct combat methods like gunpowder or bunnymen.

So what should TE2 do instead? I'm a bit unsure, but I thought of few options I like:

• Solar powered/regenerative charging
• Killing schools of fish
• Doubling the zap AOE when the world is wet or used on the ocean
• Being able to hit shadows and Rictus in particular

Whatever happens with TE2, this has been a fun experience and I appreciate all the hard work and care Klei puts into their games. 

 

Edited April 7 by Ridley
grammer

[Kvetevk]

I think it deserves to have more utility, it is a bit costly for earlygame and it doesnt have any other uses than zapping.

A funny idea that I just came up with could use some skills that are kinda lacking:

First of all wx78 will have to have chassis with working beta circuits + drone t2 + maybe some circuit tinkering skills to be able to control a chassis with the drone, giving it manual tasks to do or even fight, it would zap the chassis making it awake and then give it commands. It could maybe also have some drawbacks like it will work until it depleted all its charges, making it go back to rest.

This would make some skills like active beta circuits on chassis more usable, because they are mostly skipped.

It's just a wild idea, but I also like your ideas for it.

[YouKnowWho142]

Something for the zaptrocuter that could be kinda cool is if you can possess it with a greater gestalt or grazer to have it be kind of be like a warbler, following WX instead of being remote controlled. I thought about the unique interaction with Walter and how he can possess the slingshot band with a mimic to buff it, so it'd be cool if WX had something like that too.

I just don't really like the zaptrocuter in its current state and how its intended to be used like seen above with dragonfly, so I'm hoping to at least see something for it before the beta ends.

[Kvetevk]

12 minutes ago, YouKnowWho142 said:

Something for the zaptrocuter that could be kinda cool is if you can possess it with a greater gestalt or grazer to have it be kind of be like a warbler, following WX instead of being remote controlled. I thought about the unique interaction with Walter and how he can possess the slingshot band with a mimic to buff it, so it'd be cool if WX had something like that too.

That could be possible with lunar affinity, but we will have to wait.

[YouKnowWho142]

4 minutes ago, Kvetevk said:

That could be possible with lunar affinity, but we will have to wait.

i dont think so, it doesnt make sense for them to tie a lunar affinity skill to another part of the tree without it being a prerequisite, unless it was a side effect of the affinity and not the main focus. Same reason why I think the affinities will be separate from everything else new unlocked in their kit

[Soul7k]

1 minute ago, YouKnowWho142 said:

i dont think so, it doesnt make sense for them to tie a lunar affinity skill to another part of the tree without it being a prerequisite, unless it was a side effect of the affinity and not the main focus. Same reason why I think the affinities will be separate from everything else new unlocked in their kit

meanwhile embers and Willow. could be interesting

Edited April 7 by Soul7k

[Kvetevk]

Just now, YouKnowWho142 said:

i dont think so, it doesnt make sense for them to tie a lunar affinity skill to another part of the tree without it being a prerequisite, unless it was a side effect of the affinity and not the main focus. Same reason why I think the affinities will be separate from everything else new unlocked in their kit

Wurt and her wetness side have a side effect with the affinity, so I thought of something like that.

Don't make me believe that the affinities will be good, or I might be disappointed later.

[YouKnowWho142]

15 minutes ago, Soul7k said:

meanwhile embers and Willow. could be interesting

it requires that you unlock 7 lighter skills to activate. it is impossible to pick up 7 lighter skills without picking up embers. therefore, it has a prerequisite. WX's affinity skills do not.

[ZeRoboButler]

I would like some changes to the zapper drone, although hard to say what would be good outside of a full change to it.

I am not sure what it was meant to enable or encourage, some times you can tell but this feels kind of bizarre in the sense we haven't seen much like it before. 

[patysoloyo911]

Could someone tell me how to recharge it?

[doritosdamafia]

1 hour ago, patysoloyo911 said:

Could someone tell me how to recharge it?

winona's battery or a charged lighting rod

On 4/7/2026 at 4:19 PM, YouKnowWho142 said:

Something for the zaptrocuter that could be kinda cool is if you can possess it with a greater gestalt or grazer to have it be kind of be like a warbler, following WX instead of being remote controlled. I thought about the unique interaction with Walter and how he can possess the slingshot band with a mimic to buff it, so it'd be cool if WX had something like that too.

I just don't really like the zaptrocuter in its current state and how its intended to be used like seen above with dragonfly, so I'm hoping to at least see something for it before the beta ends.

you gonna love that then

credit to jussatoon for making me remember the link

Edited April 22 by doritosdamafia

[Lord-King-Bear]

Can possessed chassis use zaptrocuter? 

[doritosdamafia]

6 minutes ago, Lord-King-Bear said:

Can possessed chassis use zaptrocuter? 

the devs are trying to make that work