The Boogey Man

Internal Name : Debt Collector

Enemy Type : Inside

Faction : Workforce (Military)

Rarity : Spawns when in debt

Health : 30

Damage : 20 dmg (Slice), Instakill (Grab)

Power Level : 0

Max Count : Unlimited

Favorite Moons : N/A

Config : Merchant Options

General Description

The thunder of a roaring engine far above the sky. A blaring alarm piercing the heavens. A peacefully floating war machine delivered to your doorstep. The timer of the crate ticks down, a warning sign. Once it opens, the beast inside is released. Blood starved. A modified Peacekeeper unit, its head split open, beaming red lights, its gatlings broken and its right hand replaced with a sharp hook. It wears a bowler hat, the only aspect of decency on its being. Its covered in barbed wire with the hanging heads of past wrongdoers. Blood covers its body, seemingly moving all around its body. A heartbeat and a metal scraping sound accompanies its every movement.

When the light turns red and the coins go into the negatives. Someone has to pay it back... DO. NOT. STEAL.

Gameplay

The debt collector is a persistent threat on any moon. So long as the Denomination Analyzer is in debt, it will keep spawning, releasing from a crate delivered by a B-47 Armistice bomber plane at the start of the moon. It is slow but it knows where every player is. Once it spawns it selects a target player, never changing until they are dead or another player attacks it. If its incapable of reaching its target it will teleport next to them, continuing the chase. When near it slashes players quickly for low damage and occasionally winds up for a grab where it will cut off the grabbed players head, killing them instantly. Killing it rewards players with an explosion of coins, helping clear the debt. However each Debt Collector kill will spawn one more Debt Collector on the next moon land.

Lore

When the merchant needs a debt repaid, he'll send a B-47 Armistice Bomber plane to deliver the Debt collector to any moon. The Armistice is a space capable, rocket powered plane, able to carry heavy cargo to any nearby moons. To locate any crew in debt, the merchant uses the Denomination analyzers built in tracking device. There is truly no escape from it.

A modified Peacekeeper unit once destroyed and abandoned. It was freed and rebuilt by the Merchant to join his growing arsenal. It now possesses a basic form of sapience, craving violence. It lives off of blood. Kept in a faraway facility, starved, waiting for action. Once released, these monsters will relentlessly hunt down anybody who wronged their master. They are blood lusted, feeding off of fear and pain. It has been seen imitating the heartbeat of those scared, rapidly beating when near. The Debt collectors remain a true marvel of engineering, capable of mending broken parts with blood as well as having built in teleporting capabilities. The raise of their hook acts like an antenna, able to pin point their location to be promptly teleported. However, despite this technology, the collectors choose to chase down players, finding the thrill of the chase to be more fun. The Debt collector is also known by the names "The Company Boogey Man" and "The Merchant's Right Hand Man".

When a debt collector is compromised, its treads giving out from below it, it will choose to cut off its own head. A last act of defiance. They do not fear death.

Strategies

When in debt, plan for the arrival of a Debt Collector. Upon landing on a moon, a grace period is accorded, allowing players to reach the interior and loot rapidly before having to deal with the enemy. The crate's timer varies between 1min 30s and 3mins. Guaranteeing 2-4 hours, in game time, uninterrupted. Use this time wisely. Once it spawns it will target a specific player and ignore every other player. This can be used to bait it away while everybody else continues collecting scrap. Attacking it will draw its attention. Otherwise if players have enough firepower they can attempt to kill it once it releases. It has 30 hp but can only take a max of 5 Dmg per hit or 10 Dmg if the damage source would be an instakill. So weapons like Turbulence are not recommended. Use fast firing weapons like the Ceasefire or Oxidizer.

Images

Dev History

Originally when V1.0.0 Oxyde update dropped with the new merchant, stealing from him meant he would shoot you with his turrets and shoot down the ship when leaving resulting in a guaranteed team wipe. However the stealing mechanic was revisited along side the coin system in V1.5.0 Nursed to health QoL update. The idea to make stealing viable came from Zeta's suggestions. Now the punishment is not losing anymore, but rather having to deal with the debt collector. The design for the Debt Collector is heavily inspired by Elden Ring's Bell Bearing Hunter, dawning the same barb wire and red glow.

Debt collector teaser art posted before release

Debt collector model finished screenshot

"Fun fact. The debt collector is evil because he smokes. That's the only reason you know he's evil."
-QWERTYrodrigo

"I think he's the coolest enemy we have." - Xu Xiaolan

Related

Merchant and Coin System - https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/XuXiaolan/CodeRebirth/wiki/3938-misc-merchant-and-coin-system/
PeaceKeeper - https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/XuXiaolan/CodeRebirth/wiki/3920-enemy-peace-keeper/