Punisher

The Punisher (Also known as Alien Punisher) is an AI Alien ship made by the Kneall.

Description

The Punisher fits between the player ship classifications of Battleship and Dreadnought. It has considerable health and firepower and is almost never seen alone. It poses a significant threat to undefended ships, Starbases, and inexperienced players. It is mostly black with a few areas highlighted in neon green.

Behavior

Much like the Swarmer, Punishers will maneuver to a range of 3K to 5K studs away from their targets and will move back and forth along that range. They may also attempt to out speed attacking ships to stay out of player Turret range. Additionally, Punishers initiating an attack will "call" all other Aliens in the server to their location, creating incredibly powerful fleets. The only warning to these gatherings is a small period of time in which all Alien ships will turn towards the attacking Punisher, which can be seen on the Minimap. In version .58a, the Punisher AI received an update that causes them to chase down crippled attacking ships with less than 30% health remaining. Following the appearance of Decimator, the Punisher can also "call" the entire fleet around the map to destroy player's starship or Starbase.

Strategy

Despite their rather low chance of spawning, Punishers are not that rare a sight. Attack these with caution; use either a Dreadnought or a fleet of Battleships and/or Battlecruisers. It is also helpful to lure Punishers closer to armed bases to deal even more damage. Skilled players have been able to solo them without Starbase help using Battleships. Some extremely skilled players can solo them without the help of Starbase firepower in only a Battlecruiser or Cruiser. Be sure to take out other aliens that is not a Punisher so that when it calls for reinforcements, it will not be able to receive any backup because they were destroyed. Prioritize taking out Punisher before other reinforcements arrive as the Punisher will often act as a Command Ship. If the player is outnumbered and outgunned, practically when there is a Decimator and far outside the Starbase, escape is the first priority and do not let the Punisher gave chase.

Loot

Punishers currently drop 100 Alien Parts and a Plasma Battery.

Trivia

• Has an explosion value of 65
• The Punisher got a remodel in version .65a6.
• The first Punisher model was larger than some Dreadnoughts.
• Has a purple trail.
• If the player that is attacking them warps away, they will likely not follow and will go away, or in a fleet, scatter.
• When hulled, you can hear punishers hum if you fly close to it.
• If you fly close to a punisher, you can hear it humming.
• When primary focused on an attack it tries to get away to one of the borders without warping to escape. This mostly happens when soloing a punisher in a dreadnought or a battleship
• Like the Swarmer, the Punisher received a Halloween remodel for the 2019 Halloween Event, known as "Punisher Pie", and receiving a brown Punisher icon, eventually being removed for lag issues.
• At the same time, in the Halloween upgrade, the Punisher got a loot buff adding an extra 500 Uranium to the drop when killed, eventually being increased to 750 Uranium, making alien hunting extremely profitable.
• A crashed punisher can be seen on Myriad III
• The punisher was temporarily replaced by the Alien Scourge in .69b5
• The punisher third railgun was removed in an unknown version, it was the only ship for the longest time to have 10 turrets.
• The punisher also had a blue nametag at the 4th of July event.
• In version .73c8(?), the Medium Alien Railgun turrets were significantly nerfed; they lost their Alien classification and were defaulted to standard medium railguns. This caused the Punisher and the Decimator to become laughably weak ships compared to what they were before.
• Old photos can be seen here: