Killing an Ant Hill

Pumbletron · 2016-04-28T01:21:55.000Z

Is it possible to exterminate these completely? I’ve been down there over and over…killed hundreds of these guys but they -still- keep coming and respawning. It’s like there’s no end to them, waves upon corridor-choking waves of soldier ants.

system · 2016-04-28T01:25:25.000Z

I know queen ants lay eggs. A couple months ago, I murdered and pillaged all of the eggs, meat, chitin, and stomachs in a single ant hill. Try taking out the queens and see if the ranks start to thin. You might have to do it yourself, but they might despawn as well.

pisskop · 2016-04-28T01:28:49.000Z

Yea.

Gotta take out the Ant Queen.

She’s in her Queen chamber, laying eggs and growing ants. Surrounded by enough ants to overwhelm the unprepared adventurer.

Although, fair word of warning, if you are using my own mod theres 2 of them, and they dont take quite as kindly to intrusion . . .

Aesop · 2016-04-28T01:42:21.000Z

In one of my games after killing the queen and returning to the surface it seemed like all of the worker ants on the surface were running back toward the anthill. Is this normal behavior? If so it might account for a portion of the reinforcements that arrive while you’re down there.

deoxy · 2016-04-28T01:59:15.000Z

So, you’re saying you don’t want any more meat or chitin?

Seriously, why would you ever want to do this? Some particular reason you need that exact area safe?

(And yes, as I understand it, kill the queen, and no more spawn. Nothing else has any effect.)

Pumbletron · 2016-04-28T02:22:14.000Z

Well, I want to wipe them out because I dug a long tunnel from my LMOE to the Ant Hill, so I could travel long distance underground (being a troglobite means sun and surface = bad) and those ants make it impossible for me to have a safe journey. And yeah, I have taking plenty of chitin and dehydrated 100’s of meats for food. At this point I just want them gone, otherwise my 2 years of digging a long, tedious tunnel was for nothing

Okay, so take out the Queen. I can do that I think.

On an unrelated note, I now have Subterrainean Build -and- Inconvienently Large mutations. What would that look like? A big dwarf?

system · 2016-04-28T02:24:10.000Z

[quote=“Pumbletron, post:6, topic:11779”]Well, I want to wipe them out because I dug a long tunnel from my LMOE to the Ant Hill, so I could travel long distance underground (being a troglobite means sun and surface = bad) and those ants make it impossible for me to have a safe journey. And yeah, I have taking plenty of chitin and dehydrated 100’s of meats for food. At this point I just want them gone, otherwise my 2 years of digging a long, tedious tunnel was for nothing

Okay, so take out the Queen. I can do that I think.

On an unrelated note, I now have Subterrainean Build -and- Inconvienently Large mutations. What would that look like? A big dwarf?[/quote]

Dwarfs are a stocky, stout medium sized creature. You’re like a big dwarf, I guess.

I’ve found queens on the surface too. Be aware of them.

pisskop · 2016-04-28T02:40:44.000Z

nah.

im gonna go with hunched over pale skinned gaunt faced thing with matted long hair and hollow eyes…

almost like a ghoul, but bigger with more meat/muscle and arms that hang down almost to your knees because your posture is for smallish tunnels

Logrin · 2016-04-28T03:08:38.000Z

I always pictured that particular combination as being SPAM shaped. You’re a flesh cube.

deoxy · 2016-04-28T14:57:33.000Z

indigorain:

I’ve found queens on the surface too. Be aware of them.

Whoa, really? I’ve been to a good many anthills (I generally check them fairly thoroughly for storage rooms for the maps and CBMs), and I’ve never seen that… but then, I never though to look for it, either.

pisskop · 2016-04-28T14:59:46.000Z

I put some ants with the name ‘queen’ on the surface in the mod. Im wondering if not that.

Those dont count as actual queens for the purpose of killingthe hive though.

monocata · 2016-04-28T15:37:55.000Z

I just think ant hill will make game…easy?
it means you dont need to care the supplies.

pisskop · 2016-04-28T15:46:23.000Z

Not true.

New experimentals implement a nutrition system, and the need for actual mineral intakes that meat alone cant satiate.

_k1 · 2016-04-28T15:47:46.000Z

Soldier ant has 1d8 bash + 6 cut attack. Does that mean, if my armor on every part is higher than 8 bash and 6 cut, I can take the ants by melee?

deoxy · 2016-04-28T15:48:39.000Z

[quote=“monocata, post:12, topic:11779”]I just think ant hill will make game…easy?
it means you dont need to care the supplies.[/quote]

Anthills, triffids groves, even fungaloids to some extent (fluid sacs are safe to eat, don’t spoil, provide a little nutrition, and can be used as ingredients for some vegetable recipes) all do that, but that’s only after you have some decent combat skills and/or proper protection AND have some way to preserve the food (or make lots of trips back), so by then, I’m usually done caring about the food part of the game, anyway, and just want to get on to other things.

The new system should help with that some, but it still shouldn’t make it too crazy - the amount of supplement needed to ward off real-world problems (like scurvy) is actually quit small.

pisskop · 2016-04-28T15:49:08.000Z

yes, its the basis for immunity to damage that endgame characters often experience.

however, most armor coverage usually isnt 100%, so hordes of anything will kill you via 1000 cuts.

_k1 · 2016-04-28T16:15:18.000Z

It sounds vaguely dangerous. Hopefully my newly learned taekwondo would help.

monocata · 2016-04-28T16:17:08.000Z

[quote=“deoxy, post:15, topic:11779”][quote=“monocata, post:12, topic:11779”]I just think ant hill will make game…easy?
it means you dont need to care the supplies.[/quote]

Anthills, triffids groves, even fungaloids to some extent (fluid sacs are safe to eat, don’t spoil, provide a little nutrition, and can be used as ingredients for some vegetable recipes) all do that, but that’s only after you have some decent combat skills and/or proper protection AND have some way to preserve the food (or make lots of trips back), so by then, I’m usually done caring about the food part of the game, anyway, and just want to get on to other things.

The new system should help with that some, but it still shouldn’t make it too crazy - the amount of supplement needed to ward off real-world problems (like scurvy) is actually quit small.[/quote]
well. the ants will not died itself…so i just need to kill an ant when i feel hungry?

Azrad · 2016-04-28T16:44:40.000Z

I kill all the ants in the ant hill during winter. After that, there’s really no point in hunting for more considering how much you can get. My interest in a character will probably run out before the meat does.

Pumbletron · 2016-04-29T00:43:00.000Z

At long last, they are all dead.

The Queen was a real headache to get to. She was spawning soldiers so fast even a raging inferno, burning them in waves, couldn’t deplete the stockpile. Eventually I had to just keep pushing forward, until I managed to catch her in the flames and she burned to ashes. Then I went chamber to chamber, and annihilated every last ant.

About 4000 kills in total, at the end. I can now continue my vast underground tunnel network, connecting me to various labs, basements and caves across the area, so I can travel long distance regardless of the time of day.

In other news, I gobbled some more mutagens and although I lost my Inconvieniently Large mutation, I got Light Eater and Quick. A fair enough trade I guess. Plus I prefer to just be a smaller sized troglobite dude. Also, survivor masks rock. It’s great to be able to ignore smoke and gas, especially when fighting certain zombies.