Difference between revisions of "Infestation"

From RimWorld Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(55 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
{{TOCright}}
+
'''Infestations''' are an [[event]] and a serious threat in which a number of [[hive]]s are spawned, alongside [[insectoid]] defenders. They can happen randomly or can be caused by a [[quest]]; quests will warn you if this is an outcome.  Infestations can also occur upon entering rooms in an [[Quests#Ancient_Complex|ancient complex]]; you will get no specific warning for this quest. On the other hand, infestations often leaves behind valuable loot of [[insect jelly]] and opens the opportunity for insect farming.
−
Infestations are an [[event]] and are a big threat. They can happen randomly or can be caused by a [[quest]], quests will warn you if this is an outcome.  Infestations can also occur upon entering rooms in an [[Quests#Old_Ancient_Complex|old ancient complex]].
 
  
−
== Spawning ==
+
== Natural Infestations ==
 +
{{Stub|section=1|reason=initial spawn numbers, protection of expansion rate with examples}}
 +
[[File:PSA INFESTATIONS.PNG|350px|thumb|right|Blue squares show an area with a chance of infestations spawning.]]
 +
[[File:PSA INFESTATIONS_2.PNG|225px|thumb|right|Making 1x1 squares will usually eliminate bugs.<br>But if a 1x2 area has a ''single'' mountain roof - regardless if the other tile is mountain or not - then it can spawn infestations.]]
 +
Natural infestations require an area larger than 1x1, where at least one tile has the [[overhead mountain]] roof, within 30 tiles of a colony [[structure]]. They are centered around a single "valid" tile, which must have a temperature higher than {{Temperature|-17}}. Temperatures under {{Temperature|-8}} will gradually reduce the spawn chances in that area. [[Light]] will also lower, but not eliminate, the chance of infestation in an area.
  
−
Insect [[hive]]s spawn in an area below an Overhead Mountain and within 30 tiles of a colony [[structure]]. Other factors such as rock walls and light have some influence on their spawn point of choice. Temperatures under -8°C (17.6°F) gradually reduce the spawn chances, with the chance dropping to zero at -17°C (1.4°F). A well-lit base discourages insects from nesting, though it can still happen.  
+
[[Hive]]s and [[insectoid]]s will spawn within a given radius, regardless of whether those tiles are valid. A hive does not have to spawn on an infestation's center point. The initial size of an infestation is based on [[raid points]], so infestations will get bigger as the game progresses. If the size of the event is larger than the "valid" space, it will happily expand to appear in nearby "invalid" areas, even if those areas are not directly connected.  
  
−
Upon spawning, infestation choose a single "valid" tile, i.e. one with Overhead Mountain and a temperature higher than -17°C (1.4°F), then spawn the hives in any available spot within a certain<!-- 15 tile?--> radius, regardless of whether those tiles are "valid" or not. Note that a hive may or may not spawn in the triggering tile.  
+
If generated from a [[quest]], Infestations may spawn outside in the open.
  
−
This has two primary consequences. The first is, when spawn proofing a base, care must be taken to remove all valid tiles as even a single warm tile can cause a full infestation.
+
Defeating an infestation with hives grants a {{+|4}} ''Defeated insect hive'' [[mood]] buff to all pawns on the map. This buff lasts 10 days and stacks up to 5 times.
−
Secondly, infestations can spread into seemingly safe areas, even if there is a wall between it and the spawning area. This is especially frequent with late game infestations, which are usually quite large and thus have larger spawn radii. This has the effect of allowing them to spawn pretty far inside your base.
 
  
−
Infestations Require more than 1x1 of overhead mountain to spawn. Stopping infestations can be achieved by building a wall in every second square to ensure there isn't a space bigger than 1x1, to save resources or alternatively you can fill every square but that will require twice the amount of walls.
+
=== Behavior ===
 +
[[File:Insectoid hive aggro range.png|300px|thumb|left|Range at which insects will defend a hive]]
 +
[[Insectoids]] ([[Megascarab]]s, [[Megaspider]]s and [[Spelopede]]s) will spawn near hives and spend their time roaming around them. They will attack and chase any intruder that comes within a 10-tile circular radius from the hive that spawned them, returning to their hives once the threat is gone. Insectoids will only attack creatures they can see, and will not attack while they are sleeping, provided they are not woken up.
  
−
As shown below you can see the 1x1 squares have no chance of spawning infestations but the space bigger than a 1x1 has a chance of spawning infestations
+
They will randomly dig at stone and structures while wandering around their hives, potentially breaching into new areas.
  
−
[[File:PSA INFESATIONS.PNG|400px]]
+
If any of the insectoids are downed or damaged, the entire infestation will go after colonists on the map, attacking and breaking down structures in the process. Even if outside [[raider]]s or other factors (like hypothermic slowdown) down them, they will be aggressive. If insectoids don't see hostiles within 100 tiles, they will give up and return to their hives.
  
−
== Behavior ==
+
If the hives and insectoid colony are left intact, they will reproduce, progressively growing more numerous. But if all megaspiders or spelopedes are killed, the hive(s) will deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.
−
[[File:Insectoid hive aggro range.png|thumb|right|Range at which insects will defend a hive]]
+
{{clear}}
−
[[Insectoids]] ([[Megascarab]]s, [[Megaspider]]s and [[Spelopede]]s) will spawn near hives and spend their time roaming around them. They will attack and chase any intruder that comes within a 10-tile circular radius from the hive that spawned them, returning to their hives once the threat is gone. Insectoids will only attack creatures they can see, and will not attack while they are sleeping provided they are not woken up.
 
  
−
If any of the insectoids is downed or damaged, the entire infestation will go after colonists on the map, attacking and breaking down structures in the progress. This also applies to outside factors, such as the insectoids being attacked by pirates or downed by hypothermic slowdown. After a while, the insectoids will give up and return to their hives.
+
==Other infestations==
 +
These events are called "infestations", but do not generate [[hive]]s, meaning they do not share the behavior as shown above. They are immediately hostile to colonists and will attack like [[raider]]s do.
  
−
Insectoids will also randomly dig at stone and structures while wandering around their hives, potentially breaching into new areas.
+
===Too Deep: Infestation===
 +
Insectoid infestations can spawn from digging from a [[deep drill]]. They don't seem to appear outside of active digging. Insectoids, but not hives, will pop out around the drill's area. These do not have the overhead mountain requirement like regular infestations. However, they are often smaller in number, and are unable to reproduce due to the lack of hive.  
  
−
== Strategy ==
+
===Wastepack infestations===
 +
{{Biotech|section=1}}
 +
{{Main|Wastepack infestation}}
 +
Wastepack infestations may appear whenever [[toxic wastepack]]s are destroyed.
  
−
{{main|Defense tactics#Infestations}}
+
When a wastepack infestation triggers, it creates [[wastepack cocoon]]s. When these cocoons are disturbed, or when a human walks within a set radius, the insects will appear.
  
−
Infestations are most threatening in mountain bases, as they can spawn practically anywhere inside your base. They are much less harmful in other bases though, and can be considered as a normal-level threat there. Insectoids are melee fighters so colonists with ranged equipment can try to kill them from a safe distance.  When fighting an infestation always ensure you completely annihilate every hive. If even one is left, insectoids can keep spawning and leave you back where you started. One way of dealing with infestations in mountain bases is to make the structure with non-flammable materials and wood floors/furniture on the inside. Once you have done this you can place an [[IED incendiary trap]] so insects trigger them and light themselves on fire with minimal risk to the rest of your base.
+
== Strategies ==
 +
{{See also|Defense tactics#Infestations}}
  
−
Since insectoids do not attack creatures while sleeping, it is possible to haul materials in and out of the area near their nests at night, including flammable material. This is however extremely risky, since attacking one of them or doing construction near the insectoids will wake them up. They also wake up when their individual need for rest has been filled.
+
Infestations are most threatening in mountain bases, as they can spawn practically anywhere inside your base. Outside a mountain, they are much less harmful - around a normal level threat. When fighting an infestation, always ensure you ''completely annihilate every hive''. If even one is left, insectoids can keep spawning and leave you back where you started.
 +
 
 +
Since insectoids do not attack creatures while sleeping, it is possible to haul materials in and out of the area near their nests at night, including flammable material. This is however extremely risky, since attacking one of them, or doing construction near the insectoids, will wake them up. They also wake up when their individual need for rest has been filled, so be prepared (with all relevant items staged in a nearby stockpile) and act quickly once they're asleep.
 +
 
 +
=== Prevention ===
 +
{{Stub|section=1|reason=Rewrite, expand}}
 +
Prevention is a useful but fragile strategy of protecting mountain bases in most biomes. By reducing the temperature of every tile of overhead mountain to {{Temperature|-17}}, spawning can be prevented, however outside of the coldest biomes, this requires [[cooler]]s and a significant amount of power. A [[solar flare]], [[EMI dynamo]], or similar can leave you open to infestations, so adequate defences are still recommended. The cold will also affect work speed, pawn moods, and potentially pawn health.
 +
 
 +
When spawn proofing a base, be thorough - even a single warm tile can cause a full infestation. If there is ''any'' valid tile, infestations can spread nearby into seemingly safe areas, even if there is a wall many tiles thick between.
 +
 
 +
As they require more than 1x1 of overhead mountain, you only need to build walls every second square. Only walls are capable of stopping infestations; columns and doors do not work. Note that an overhead mountain square next to an open "thin roof" area is also a valid spawn point.
 +
 
 +
===Melee block===
 +
[[File:Grenades melee block.png|200px|thumb|right|[[Melee block]] with [[frag grenade]]s. Grenades not necessary.]]
 +
With a few, well-armored melee colonists, insects can be very simple to deal with via a [[melee block]] tactic.
 +
 
 +
[[File:Melee_block_door.png|150px|thumb|left|When designing a mountain base, keep these 6 tiles unblocked.]]
 +
Use a chokepoint, such as in any [[door]]way. Have 3 melee colonists behind the chokepoint, and any amount of ranged fighters behind them. If done correctly (see right), you should have 3 colonists fight 1 insect at a time. As insects are only melee enemies, this is a trivial way to dispatch of insects. Frag grenades are extremely effective, but are not required.
 +
 
 +
When designing a mountain base, you will want to create many chokepoints where you can melee block. You do not want to block colonists from standing on the 3 tiles behind the doorway, so place buildings away from the doorway. (See left)
 +
 
 +
===Kiting===
 +
If insects spawn "in the open" (i.e. not inside a mountain), then [[kiting]] tactics are effective.
 +
 
 +
Even [[megascarab]]s, the fastest insect, are {{%|{{#expr:{{Q|Megascarab|Move Speed Base}} / {{Q|Human|Move Speed Base}} round 2}}}} as fast as a healthy baseline human (assuming no Pollution Stimulus). So it is possible to lure the insects, shoot with a ranged weapon, and retreat. After you get to a safe distance, have colonists shoot, and retreat again, repeating until all insects are killed. This strategy works well against Too Deep: Infestations, as well as any hive outside of your base.
  
−
When attacked, insectoids will go after colonists without any walls between them first. This allows the insectoids to be lured away from their hives, chasing a runner colonist across the map. While they are away the hives can be destroyed. As long as hives are being damaged, the insectoids will keep chasing after colonists instead of returning to their hives. To keep the hive destroying pawns safe from having the insectoids' attention turned to them rather than the runner, a wall can first be built to block off the insectoids from the hives. Note that some new insectoids are likely to spawn at the hives during the process. Once all the hives are destroyed, the insectoids will wander the map like normal animals and soon starve to death.
 
 
=== Mitigation ===
 
=== Mitigation ===
 +
[[File:Planned infestation.jpg|300px|thumb|right|An infestation spawn point trapped with incendiary IEDs, surrounded by stone walls and doors.]]
  
−
If you bait insects to spawn elsewhere the chance of an infestation spawning inside is greatly reduced. Temperatures above -8°C (17.6°F) have no bearing on hive spawning (e.g. very hot weather), neither does flooring. If spawned by a quest they may spawn outside in the open.
+
Insects are more likely to spawn in darkness, in "warm enough" temperatures, above -8°C (17.6°F).  
  
−
[[File:Planned infestation.jpg|400px|thumb|right|An infestation spawn point trapped with incendiary IEDs, surrounded by stone walls and doors.]]
+
In a mountain base, you can create a "lure room". This will be a massive room that is warm, unlit, and dirty, ''very'' far away from your proper base. Since there will be many more valid tiles to spawn inside this room, infestations will most likely spawn there. You can then light this room on fire - see below for details.
  
−
If you are able to ensure that there is only one valid spawn location on your base map, you can prepare this area to automatically trap and kill the insects when they appear. (Though never rely on this completely unless you know exactly what you are doing. If your base is in a mountain, be prepared for infestations no matter what.)
+
If you are able to ensure that there is only one valid spawn location on your base map, you can prepare this area to automatically trap and kill the insects with fire when they appear.
  
−
Another good tactic to avoid or minimize this risk of them spawning in your base is by strip mining into many different mountain areas. If you then segment the spaces under the mountain into rooms around 20-40 cells big, this will allow more spaces for the infestations to spawn, and can help drastically odds of one spawning in your base, that they may rarely spawn in your base.
+
===Fire===
 +
One way of dealing with infestations is with [[fire]]. This consists of 2 parts:
 +
# Have a "lure" room - see above for details. In an outdoors base, it is likely that only 1-2 rooms have overhead mountain, meaning dedicated rooms can be built.
 +
# Light it on fire. Fill it with flammable objects like [[barricade]]s and [[wood floor]]. You can either use [[molotov cocktail]]s or [[IED incendiary trap]]s to do the work.
 +
Insects should die of [[heatstroke]] before they breach through 2-3 layers of door.
  
−
If the hives are kept intact, they will reproduce progressively. If all Megaspiders or Spelopedes are killed, the hives will deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.
+
It is important to note that [[temperature]] is usually what kills insects, not the fire itself. Throwing molotovs outdoors is unlikely to be helpful: insects can walk past a burning [[wood floor]] with minimal damage, and even a direct molotov hit doesn't do much damage. Rather, it is the >{{Temperature|300}} heat that ignites the entire infestation and causes lethal levels of [[heatstroke]]. An area must be "[[indoors]]" in order to receive any sort of temperature change.
 +
 
 +
===Insect AI===
 +
When attacked, insectoids will go after colonists without any walls between them first. This allows the insectoids to be lured away from their hives, chasing a runner colonist across the map. While they are away the hives can be destroyed. As long as hives are being damaged, the insectoids will keep chasing after colonists instead of returning to their hives. To keep the hive destroying pawns safe from having the insectoids' attention turned to them rather than the runner, a wall can first be built to block off the insectoids from the hives. Note that some new insectoids are likely to spawn at the hives during the process. Once all the hives are destroyed, the insectoids will wander the map like normal animals and soon starve to death.
  
 
<br style="clear:both" />
 
<br style="clear:both" />
  
−
== Products ==
+
== Farming ==
 +
[[File:Insect farming.png|thumb|A hive room for insect farming]]
 +
It is possible to contain the insect hives and extract resources from them. If well-managed, insect hives become a free source of valuable insect jelly, insect meat, and tamable insects that can be used in combat.
 +
 
 +
=== "Farming" skills ===
 +
Melee skill is required for insect farming, as the farmer will need to regularly fight insects to extract the jelly and the meat, or take their damage when trying to tame them. A pawn with high melee skill, the best armor available, and favorable traits such as [[tough]], [[nimble]], or [[robust]] gene{{BiotechIcon}} (or all of them) is needed. Consider getting such a pawn as your starting colonist if you decide to build a mountain base. Animal skill is also needed if you want to tame insects.
 +
 
 +
Aside from taking damage, the farmer also need to have good wound healing, as they will have to fight insects and take damage everyday. Assign them the best bed, or even a [[hospital bed]], give them [[fast wound healing]] gene{{BiotechIcon}}, the [[healing enhancer]]{{RoyaltyIcon}}, or use a [[ghoul]]{{AnomalyIcon}} farmer. But you may not want to tend their wounds with medicine, as the constant injuries may quickly drain your medicine supply.
 +
 
 +
If you plan to grow [[nutrifungus]]{{RoyaltyIcon}}, note that infestations tend to occur in your dark fungus fields. In that case, you will need to build the insect farm nearby, so try to find a starting colonist that fits both the role of insect farmer and regular farmer to reduce travel time and the risk of insects attacking your other colonists.
 +
 
 +
=== Hive room ===
 +
When reproducing, insect hives never make a new one outside of the current room. After an infestation, you can limit the surviving hives to a small region by building a room around them. If the hive room is in or near your base, it should have at least 2 layers of wall to prevent insects from randomly mining through.
 +
 
 +
The entrance of the room should have a chokepoint in case the hives spawn multiple insects.
 +
 
 +
=== Hive maintenance ===
 +
If left without insects for too long, the hives will display "Due for maintenance"; not long after that, they will take damage and quickly be destroyed. For that, it's crucial to let the insects maintain their hive before killing them. If an insect spawn and one of the hive is due for maintenance, you have to wait for that insect to maintain the hive, or risk losing that hive. Even if no hive is due for maintenance, it's still better to wait a few hours before killing the newly spawned insect. For the same reason, it's safer to keep at least 2 hives at the same time for redundancy.
 +
 
 +
When the insects has finished maintaining their hives, you can kill or tame them, and take the insect jelly. If the insects has mined any part of the wall, send a builder in to fill it back. Try to kill the insect as soon as the finish hive maintenance and don't give them time to mine through the wall.
  
−
Hives spawn [[insect jelly]] in stacks of 20 units every day or so. You can farm these by building walls and doors, but insects may dig out and attack your colony. You can retrieve the jelly when the insects are asleep. <br>
+
=== Benefits ===
−
Hives also spawn [[glow pod]]s, which provide light for 20 days (as long as they’re installed). These can only be reinstalled should the hive be destroyed in version stable 1.0.
+
Hives spawn [[insect jelly]] in stacks of 20 units every day or so. Insects will give [[insect meat]] when butchered. While colonists usually dislike eating insects, it is only a -3 [[mood]]let when cooked - a [[carnivore fine meal]] is a net +2 mood from [[simple meal]]s. If the "[[Ideoligion#Insect meat|Insect Meat: Loved]]"{{IdeologyIcon}} precept is used, colonies can be fed exclusively on insect meat and be ecstatic about it.
  
−
[[File:Infestation.png|400px]]
+
Insect meat can also be converted into [[chemfuel]] from a [[biofuel refinery]], or sold as [[meal]]s with no penalty.
  
 +
===Taming===
 +
If you destroy all hives of an infestation, then any insects that are [[downed]] will become "neutral". They are still hostile, but will not attack unless a colonist gets very close. [[Megaspider]]s are an advanced trainability [[animal]] that can be tamed without a proper manhunter chance. Tamed insects do not breed, therefor you will only have the amount you tamed. This makes them bad for long term use for defense or farming.
  
 
[[Category:Game mechanics]]
 
[[Category:Game mechanics]]

Latest revision as of 20:42, 20 November 2024

Infestations are an event and a serious threat in which a number of hives are spawned, alongside insectoid defenders. They can happen randomly or can be caused by a quest; quests will warn you if this is an outcome. Infestations can also occur upon entering rooms in an ancient complex; you will get no specific warning for this quest. On the other hand, infestations often leaves behind valuable loot of insect jelly and opens the opportunity for insect farming.

Natural Infestations[edit]

StumpChoppedA (cropped).png
This section is a stub. You can help RimWorld Wiki by expanding it. Reason: initial spawn numbers, protection of expansion rate with examples.
Blue squares show an area with a chance of infestations spawning.
Making 1x1 squares will usually eliminate bugs.
But if a 1x2 area has a single mountain roof - regardless if the other tile is mountain or not - then it can spawn infestations.

Natural infestations require an area larger than 1x1, where at least one tile has the overhead mountain roof, within 30 tiles of a colony structure. They are centered around a single "valid" tile, which must have a temperature higher than -17 °C (1.4 °F). Temperatures under -8 °C (17.6 °F) will gradually reduce the spawn chances in that area. Light will also lower, but not eliminate, the chance of infestation in an area.

Hives and insectoids will spawn within a given radius, regardless of whether those tiles are valid. A hive does not have to spawn on an infestation's center point. The initial size of an infestation is based on raid points, so infestations will get bigger as the game progresses. If the size of the event is larger than the "valid" space, it will happily expand to appear in nearby "invalid" areas, even if those areas are not directly connected.

If generated from a quest, Infestations may spawn outside in the open.

Defeating an infestation with hives grants a +4 Defeated insect hive mood buff to all pawns on the map. This buff lasts 10 days and stacks up to 5 times.

Behavior[edit]

Range at which insects will defend a hive

Insectoids (Megascarabs, Megaspiders and Spelopedes) will spawn near hives and spend their time roaming around them. They will attack and chase any intruder that comes within a 10-tile circular radius from the hive that spawned them, returning to their hives once the threat is gone. Insectoids will only attack creatures they can see, and will not attack while they are sleeping, provided they are not woken up.

They will randomly dig at stone and structures while wandering around their hives, potentially breaching into new areas.

If any of the insectoids are downed or damaged, the entire infestation will go after colonists on the map, attacking and breaking down structures in the process. Even if outside raiders or other factors (like hypothermic slowdown) down them, they will be aggressive. If insectoids don't see hostiles within 100 tiles, they will give up and return to their hives.

If the hives and insectoid colony are left intact, they will reproduce, progressively growing more numerous. But if all megaspiders or spelopedes are killed, the hive(s) will deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.

Other infestations[edit]

These events are called "infestations", but do not generate hives, meaning they do not share the behavior as shown above. They are immediately hostile to colonists and will attack like raiders do.

Too Deep: Infestation[edit]

Insectoid infestations can spawn from digging from a deep drill. They don't seem to appear outside of active digging. Insectoids, but not hives, will pop out around the drill's area. These do not have the overhead mountain requirement like regular infestations. However, they are often smaller in number, and are unable to reproduce due to the lack of hive.

Wastepack infestations[edit]

BiotechIcon.png
This section relates to content added by Biotech (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled.
Main article: Wastepack infestation

Wastepack infestations may appear whenever toxic wastepacks are destroyed.

When a wastepack infestation triggers, it creates wastepack cocoons. When these cocoons are disturbed, or when a human walks within a set radius, the insects will appear.

Strategies[edit]

See also: Defense tactics#Infestations

Infestations are most threatening in mountain bases, as they can spawn practically anywhere inside your base. Outside a mountain, they are much less harmful - around a normal level threat. When fighting an infestation, always ensure you completely annihilate every hive. If even one is left, insectoids can keep spawning and leave you back where you started.

Since insectoids do not attack creatures while sleeping, it is possible to haul materials in and out of the area near their nests at night, including flammable material. This is however extremely risky, since attacking one of them, or doing construction near the insectoids, will wake them up. They also wake up when their individual need for rest has been filled, so be prepared (with all relevant items staged in a nearby stockpile) and act quickly once they're asleep.

Prevention[edit]

StumpChoppedA (cropped).png
This section is a stub. You can help RimWorld Wiki by expanding it. Reason: Rewrite, expand.

Prevention is a useful but fragile strategy of protecting mountain bases in most biomes. By reducing the temperature of every tile of overhead mountain to -17 °C (1.4 °F), spawning can be prevented, however outside of the coldest biomes, this requires coolers and a significant amount of power. A solar flare, EMI dynamo, or similar can leave you open to infestations, so adequate defences are still recommended. The cold will also affect work speed, pawn moods, and potentially pawn health.

When spawn proofing a base, be thorough - even a single warm tile can cause a full infestation. If there is any valid tile, infestations can spread nearby into seemingly safe areas, even if there is a wall many tiles thick between.

As they require more than 1x1 of overhead mountain, you only need to build walls every second square. Only walls are capable of stopping infestations; columns and doors do not work. Note that an overhead mountain square next to an open "thin roof" area is also a valid spawn point.

Melee block[edit]

Melee block with frag grenades. Grenades not necessary.

With a few, well-armored melee colonists, insects can be very simple to deal with via a melee block tactic.

When designing a mountain base, keep these 6 tiles unblocked.

Use a chokepoint, such as in any doorway. Have 3 melee colonists behind the chokepoint, and any amount of ranged fighters behind them. If done correctly (see right), you should have 3 colonists fight 1 insect at a time. As insects are only melee enemies, this is a trivial way to dispatch of insects. Frag grenades are extremely effective, but are not required.

When designing a mountain base, you will want to create many chokepoints where you can melee block. You do not want to block colonists from standing on the 3 tiles behind the doorway, so place buildings away from the doorway. (See left)

Kiting[edit]

If insects spawn "in the open" (i.e. not inside a mountain), then kiting tactics are effective.

Even megascarabs, the fastest insect, are 82% as fast as a healthy baseline human (assuming no Pollution Stimulus). So it is possible to lure the insects, shoot with a ranged weapon, and retreat. After you get to a safe distance, have colonists shoot, and retreat again, repeating until all insects are killed. This strategy works well against Too Deep: Infestations, as well as any hive outside of your base.

Mitigation[edit]

An infestation spawn point trapped with incendiary IEDs, surrounded by stone walls and doors.

Insects are more likely to spawn in darkness, in "warm enough" temperatures, above -8°C (17.6°F).

In a mountain base, you can create a "lure room". This will be a massive room that is warm, unlit, and dirty, very far away from your proper base. Since there will be many more valid tiles to spawn inside this room, infestations will most likely spawn there. You can then light this room on fire - see below for details.

If you are able to ensure that there is only one valid spawn location on your base map, you can prepare this area to automatically trap and kill the insects with fire when they appear.

Fire[edit]

One way of dealing with infestations is with fire. This consists of 2 parts:

  1. Have a "lure" room - see above for details. In an outdoors base, it is likely that only 1-2 rooms have overhead mountain, meaning dedicated rooms can be built.
  2. Light it on fire. Fill it with flammable objects like barricades and wood floor. You can either use molotov cocktails or IED incendiary traps to do the work.

Insects should die of heatstroke before they breach through 2-3 layers of door.

It is important to note that temperature is usually what kills insects, not the fire itself. Throwing molotovs outdoors is unlikely to be helpful: insects can walk past a burning wood floor with minimal damage, and even a direct molotov hit doesn't do much damage. Rather, it is the >300 °C (572 °F) heat that ignites the entire infestation and causes lethal levels of heatstroke. An area must be "indoors" in order to receive any sort of temperature change.

Insect AI[edit]

When attacked, insectoids will go after colonists without any walls between them first. This allows the insectoids to be lured away from their hives, chasing a runner colonist across the map. While they are away the hives can be destroyed. As long as hives are being damaged, the insectoids will keep chasing after colonists instead of returning to their hives. To keep the hive destroying pawns safe from having the insectoids' attention turned to them rather than the runner, a wall can first be built to block off the insectoids from the hives. Note that some new insectoids are likely to spawn at the hives during the process. Once all the hives are destroyed, the insectoids will wander the map like normal animals and soon starve to death.


Farming[edit]

A hive room for insect farming

It is possible to contain the insect hives and extract resources from them. If well-managed, insect hives become a free source of valuable insect jelly, insect meat, and tamable insects that can be used in combat.

"Farming" skills[edit]

Melee skill is required for insect farming, as the farmer will need to regularly fight insects to extract the jelly and the meat, or take their damage when trying to tame them. A pawn with high melee skill, the best armor available, and favorable traits such as tough, nimble, or robust geneContent added by the Biotech DLC (or all of them) is needed. Consider getting such a pawn as your starting colonist if you decide to build a mountain base. Animal skill is also needed if you want to tame insects.

Aside from taking damage, the farmer also need to have good wound healing, as they will have to fight insects and take damage everyday. Assign them the best bed, or even a hospital bed, give them fast wound healing geneContent added by the Biotech DLC, the healing enhancerContent added by the Royalty DLC, or use a ghoulContent added by the Anomaly DLC farmer. But you may not want to tend their wounds with medicine, as the constant injuries may quickly drain your medicine supply.

If you plan to grow nutrifungusContent added by the Royalty DLC, note that infestations tend to occur in your dark fungus fields. In that case, you will need to build the insect farm nearby, so try to find a starting colonist that fits both the role of insect farmer and regular farmer to reduce travel time and the risk of insects attacking your other colonists.

Hive room[edit]

When reproducing, insect hives never make a new one outside of the current room. After an infestation, you can limit the surviving hives to a small region by building a room around them. If the hive room is in or near your base, it should have at least 2 layers of wall to prevent insects from randomly mining through.

The entrance of the room should have a chokepoint in case the hives spawn multiple insects.

Hive maintenance[edit]

If left without insects for too long, the hives will display "Due for maintenance"; not long after that, they will take damage and quickly be destroyed. For that, it's crucial to let the insects maintain their hive before killing them. If an insect spawn and one of the hive is due for maintenance, you have to wait for that insect to maintain the hive, or risk losing that hive. Even if no hive is due for maintenance, it's still better to wait a few hours before killing the newly spawned insect. For the same reason, it's safer to keep at least 2 hives at the same time for redundancy.

When the insects has finished maintaining their hives, you can kill or tame them, and take the insect jelly. If the insects has mined any part of the wall, send a builder in to fill it back. Try to kill the insect as soon as the finish hive maintenance and don't give them time to mine through the wall.

Benefits[edit]

Hives spawn insect jelly in stacks of 20 units every day or so. Insects will give insect meat when butchered. While colonists usually dislike eating insects, it is only a -3 moodlet when cooked - a carnivore fine meal is a net +2 mood from simple meals. If the "Insect Meat: Loved"Content added by the Ideology DLC precept is used, colonies can be fed exclusively on insect meat and be ecstatic about it.

Insect meat can also be converted into chemfuel from a biofuel refinery, or sold as meals with no penalty.

Taming[edit]

If you destroy all hives of an infestation, then any insects that are downed will become "neutral". They are still hostile, but will not attack unless a colonist gets very close. Megaspiders are an advanced trainability animal that can be tamed without a proper manhunter chance. Tamed insects do not breed, therefor you will only have the amount you tamed. This makes them bad for long term use for defense or farming.

Retrieved from "https://rimworldwiki.com/index.php?title=Infestation&oldid=155823"