Insect Composition

[Valpo]

Well with the differense that the insects didn t have to die first. So maybe it has to do with the zombies beeing rotten.

[Coolthulhu]

According to the lore they ARE zombies, actually.

Zombies are fully blob-controlled animals. Mutant insects are mutated by the blob and carry it, but they use their own organs to do everything.
All humans in the game also have the blob. Mutagen is supposed to be blob-based.

[Belteshazzar]

Could be that the blob is trying to ‘juice up’ insects so they’ll make better hosts by bypassing the size limitations that would otherwise prevent them accumulating the critical mass required for ‘ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL’, at least I think I’d read a similar idea somewhere?

Still, could be that some element of their insect biology keeps their infection levels lower than mammals, or otherwise prevents them seizing control/killing the host.

Still, I remember hearing from a close friend that black olives taste similar to raw cockroach (supposedly why he cannot tolerate the taste of olives anymore.) Still, bugs wouldn’t be near the top of my ‘good eats’ list given the work that would go into shelling and cooking them correctly. Maybe make giant Louisiana shrimp boil style dishes (if you could find enough spices.)

[Snaaty]

I am also in favour of increasing penalties for eating insects. Maybe make a trait give resistance against that. Imho, even a self-prepared piece of meat from a deer you just hunted and butchered will probably be not very appetizing for most of us.

Also I have always wondered how insects even work when they are so big. IIRC, insects dont have lungs but instead get access to oxygen through their tracheae, tubes going through their body, I imagine it is hard for a man-sized insect to have sufficient tracheae.

[Darkfirephoenix]

Also I have always wondered how insects even work when they are so big. IIRC, insects dont have lungs but instead get access to oxygen through their tracheae, tubes going through their body, I imagine it is hard for a man-sized insect to have sufficient tracheae.

I also wonder about that. Insects are small nowadays because of their inefficient “breathing” system, they wouldn’t get enough oxygen to survive if they are giant sized. Millions of years ago we HAD giant insect due to much higher oxygen levels in the air.

But I think that maybe the blob gives the insects the needed energy to support their giant size.

[Snaaty]

But I think that maybe the blob gives the insects the needed energy to support their giant size.

That’s what so great about having some sort of pseudo-magical thing in your game; you can use it to explain even the most absurd and scientifically impossible situations. (not complaining, here)

[Nathan]

I’d think that XE-37 below the stasis limit isn’t enough to make meat considered tainted, but is enough to spark mutations, and that the reason why zombies are all tainted is that the stasis limit is no longer being observed within them.

[i2amroy]

Also I have always wondered how insects even work when they are so big. IIRC, insects dont have lungs but instead get access to oxygen through their tracheae, tubes going through their body, I imagine it is hard for a man-sized insect to have sufficient tracheae.

See, they are so old that they were grandfathered past the laws of the universe.

Joke about old game content aside, if I had to go with a current answer this is probably what I’d go with:

But I think that maybe the blob gives the insects the needed energy to support their giant size.

[Wally-kun]

I’d think that XE-37 below the stasis limit isn’t enough to make meat considered tainted, but is enough to spark mutations, and that the reason why zombies are all tainted is that the stasis limit is no longer being observed within them.

Something very interesting to see would be varying relationships between a blob and its host. For being a parasite, the relationship between humans (while living) and blobs is pretty symbiotic: the blob gets to exist outside its portals and humans get a plethora of benefits like vastly accelerated healing, increased survivability, and who knows what else? Being infected with a blob is actually a pretty good thing for the survivors. Till they aren’t survivors anymore. But that’s something else.

Insects are…strange. It’s a very strange reaction. Wherein humans blobs are passive and almost exclusively helpful (while alive), they sort of halfway take the reins right off the bat, but stop at allowing the insect to do its…insect-y things. Letting it have control despite doing what it wants to their anatomy. I’m pretty sure most giant insects could technically be zombified due to being over the necessary weight limit, but no zombie insects exist.

And then you have the fungus, which is just…terrifying. And also its own exclusive form of life. Regular blobs and fungaloids have almost nothing to do with one another anymore. They ascended into their own unique species.

I almost want to see what other kind of unique reactions the blob has with other creatures, but I’m a little bit afraid of the potential results.

[i2amroy]

Mutations are another benefit, including mutations from radiation (it’s the blob inside you trying to defend against an unknown stimulus). And yeah, The blob and Fungaloids are rather large enemies actually, which you can find out quite a bit about if you try to go down the fungaloid mutation line while having other types of mutations (or try to get others while you are half fungaloid).

More faction interactions is definitely something I’d like to set up in the future, and I’ve also got a whole list of possible ideas just waiting on the point when we can have different factions actively changing the map while the player isn’t present.

[Pthalocy]

I’d wanna do some research on how different bugs taste before considering penalties to morale for their consumption. XD

I’ve had toasted mealworms and crickets, though frankly, they were so much toasted I found them to be rather bland. Proteiny, but bland. You know when you eat popcorn, you get the kernel’s skins stuck in your teeth sometimes? I’d liken the crickets I had to that for texture and not far off from flavour. Vaguely nutty. Crunchier, but still teeth-sticking. Would be improved with the addition of cheese, or more biomasse on the bug’s part.

[Wally-kun]

I looked around online and have seen comparisons to nuts and also to citrus. Which makes sense to some degree; in Australia they had these really green ants that you could just straight up eat and they said it tasted almost exactly like lemon (though I was not brave enough to test it myself). They made tea out of them as well, apparently, and also have a very distinct lemon flavor. Online people have said there are a few other species with some faintly citrus-y tastes but I haven’t looked particularly hard.

I think it’s very difficult to tell exactly what they taste like if you like, cooked them, because a lot of what you’re going to be tasting is the chitin or the exoskeleton, which would probably be shucked off if they were the size of, say, a cow or something. It’s probably bland because, again, just chitin/exoskeleton. Whatever’s underneath is also probably toasted so thoroughly that whatever is actually there won’t taste like much at all.

I think if you skinned something and THEN cooked it and ate it, you might have a better general idea, but I’m going to run with the assumption that certain species taste vaguely citrus-y but that the texture would be most of what would turn people off. I’m thinking crab meat but with a little bit more fluid and no saltiness.

Still rooting for the ant blood conversion. They should all relaly have the same blood type as Mi-go’s and ant larvae, cuz, well, that’s what kind of blood they have. Not sure about the color but grey seems as good as anything else.

[Pthalocy]

Crab and lobster are probably fair comparison for texture given their exoskeletal nature. Of course, both of those are both gross to some and delicacies to others. I’m beginning to think an agreed-upon definition for ‘gross’ food would be too much work to resolve XD

I kind of think it’d be really neat if dead giant spiders got harvested for a gallon or two of nutritious goo instead of meat XD

Most ants I’ve squished exude a yellow-grey paste. I am unable to tell if that’s just blood or not. Mmm, goo.

It should be mentioned that I’ve largely given up several junkfoods and most sugar consumption. On the rare occasion I try doritos or something, I am repeatedly impressed with how caustically over-flavoured these items are. So I wonder if bugs come across as bland due to a cultural bias towards absurd flavour use? I mean I used to think nuts and coconut water were boring but that’s probably because nobody’s tongue can taste anything after a cola/salt n’ vinegar chip exfoliation.

[Wally-kun]

Raw would probably be god awful and almost guaranteed parasites though. It’d also probably be extremely healthy. Bug meat, that is. But also probably not quite as plentiful as other sources because of the amount of fluid in them.

[Pthalocy]

…do bugs even get parasites that can affect humans? I mean, I know bees have huge problems with mites. With bees being gigantic in CATA, I could see mites being more of a MUTANT FLEAS sort of problem.

…actually that would be a hilarious problem, can we find a place for that in this game too?

Additionally, I was thinking spider goo could go in soup like some kind of delicious cream of ‘mushroom’ blasphemy. Dang I need to learn how to code.

[Coolthulhu]

Dang I need to learn how to code.

There isn’t much to code there, mostly just create content.

The reason insect flesh is disabled is that it would be pretty useless at the moment, with no recipes that use it.

[Wally-kun]

[quote=“Pthalocy, post:20, topic:9442”]…do bugs even get parasites that can affect humans? I mean, I know bees have huge problems with mites. With bees being gigantic in CATA, I could see mites being more of a MUTANT FLEAS sort of problem.

…actually that would be a hilarious problem, can we find a place for that in this game too?

Additionally, I was thinking spider goo could go in soup like some kind of delicious cream of ‘mushroom’ blasphemy. Dang I need to learn how to code.[/quote]

Bees do not have a mite problem. That’s the propaganda piece for people that aren’t willing to accept the concept that overuse of insecticides and pesticides kill everything. And these people tend to have a vested interest in society relying on them for food.

But that’s an entirely different thread…

[Pthalocy]

Yup, bees have problems with (if I recall) nicotinoid based pesticides worst of all since they stick around. They also have problems with idiots trying to keep italian bee strains in northern canada, wasp raids on baby bees and honey stores. Pesticide-weakened bees are prone to a lot of problems like these that wouldn’t kill them otherwise… trust me, I am well aware of a multitude of problems bees have. Regardless, you’re right. Different thread. Temptation to prove I’m not clueless kind of overriding my desire to not argue. My apologies.

Still leaves my original question unanswered: if bees in cata had upsized parasites, would they even be able to do anything to humans? Would this make sense as a problem for uncooked bee ‘meat’ to have?

[Wally-kun]

Up-sized parasites might not do anything on its own. If they get more aggressive that’d definitely do it, but from what I’ve seen there already exist such parasites in game. For example, I’m pretty sure eating raw meat today won’t give you, say, brain parasites. Or something beneath your skin that you can physically feel moving. I don’t know what all the blob did to the microbe world but you can get a lot meaner worms than you can today.

You also have those wasps that lay eggs under your skin. The gestation speed of those things is nuts. The world of parasites is just horrifying.

[Pthalocy]

I’d completely forgotten about egg-skin wasps. …does remind me of botflies though. Hmm. Maybe we’ve got enough things in CDDA of this nature as it is, after all. Heh.