Harvest King
NPC Ship
This ship is unobtainable and can only be used by NPCs.
Description
The Harvest King was a Boss NPC ship added during the 2018 Halloween Event. It was MUCH more powerful than the infamous Grim Reaper featured in 2017's Halloween event. It featured powerful Turrets not found on any other ship called Harvest Super Lasers. It also featured Turrets with high rates of fire like those found on the Alien Harvest Servitors.
The Harvest King was the primary source of Space Pumpkins used to create event Ships, dropping around 30 after being destroyed. The Harvest King would also drop 1 Ghost Pumpkin after being destroyed; this particular pumpkin was used in a quest given by the Grim Reaper (NPC). The explosion of the dying Harvest King could deal a whopping 2,500+ damage to ships as far as 4.5k (10k on its final form) studs away. Like with a destroyed Mothership or Prototype, it was recommended that all Ships nearby warp away as soon as the explosions start.
Alien Harvest Servitors
The Harvest King arrived in the server with two or three Servitors alongside it. These ships share the same symbol as Alien Punishers, but with an orange coloring instead of light green. They cannot call other Aliens to their location, making soloing them a viable strategy. Most players will attempt to destroy these before engaging the Harvest King.
Like Punishers, Servitors can occasionally spawn naturally in the server, providing a somewhat steady source of Space Pumpkins (2 per ship).
Strategies
Like regular Alien Punishers, the Harvest King can call all other Aliens in the server to its location. This can create incredibly deadly swarms, which is why many players target the Servitors or Punishers already spawned.
Use Starbases to your advantage. An incredibly powerful strategy is to lure the Harvest King to a Level 5 Mothership and have it distracted by the Mothership or a small frigate while attacking it. Beware, if it has a powerful enough fleet in the right position (at the aft of Mothership) the Harvest King will overpower it, but it will be heavily damaged afterward.
Use the Mega Base's SAFE dock:
Lure the Harvest King to the Mega Base where a player's ship is docked and the Harvest King would target it without doing any damage. Then, the rest of the players can safely attack it while the Harvest King and other Aliens are distracted.
Another strategy is to let a decently fast enough Frigate distract and dodge the lasers of the Harvest King while a more powerful fleet moves in to destroy the Harvest King. However, the Harvest King has about 350 speed, so it is advisable to use a Draco or a Viper. It is advised never to fly in a straight line, as it is possible for the Harvest King to catch up to you and finish you off with its incredible spinal aim. As the Viper/Draco, it's best to fly in circles where there is a rare chance of the Harvest King landing a hit on you. Remember never to go too close.
Ever since the Harvest King reached its final form, ships like the Draco or the Dragon have become too slow, thus making them unsuitable to outrun the King.
Stage III/Final Form
On October 30, the Harvest King reached Stage III of its evolution, or its final form, at which the firepower of its Turrets and Spinals increased further. It became faster than ships like the Viper, so if you were trying to lure it, you had to warp constantly in the direction you were going so you didn't get outrun by it.
It also changed in design - the red neon parts changed to a pink color, and the "fins" changed color from red to gold.
Once it had reached its final form, the Harvest King dropped 1 Ghost Pumpkin and 25 Space Pumpkins once killed. It's explosion damage was increased so drastically that it was capable of destroying a level 3 Starbase upon death, and its explosion radius had been increased from 6k to 10k studs.
Trivia
- The name "Harvest King" likely comes from the association of Halloween with the harvest season.
- The Harvest King was made by lightning9160, under the name "Judicator".
- The Harvest King grew powerful after achieving Stage III in its final evolution, while the Harvest Servitors weakened from the King's evolution.
- The Harvest King had a grand total of 18 turrets, whereas the turret cap for obtainable ships is 10. Due to this, and having an extremely overpowered armament, it is able to destroy a full hp archeon in 2 salvos.
- A video of a Harvest King battle taken by Glowstone_Guy can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2qiYO0rbec