Megaspider

Megaspiders are giant, bio-engineered, subterranean invertebrates and the largest and most dangerous of the three insectoid types.

Summary

They are hostile towards any nearby colonists, have plated armor that makes them quite resistant to ranged attack, and can do lethal amounts of damage in close combat. Like all insects, megaspiders only begin spawning in events where colonists come into contact with their underground habitat: In caves, when opening an ancient danger, during an infestation, or by deep drilling.

All insectoids, including the megaspider, experience hypothermic slowdown instead of fatal hypothermia, have 100% Toxic Resistance, rendering them immune to toxic buildup from any source, and 80% Toxic Environment Resistance, rendering them resistant to environmental effects such as rot stink. They experience also pollution stimulus when in polluted terrain. See that page for full details.

Insectoids are incapable of sexual reproduction like other animals, due to their breeding type (EusocialInsect). Instead, wild insects reproduce via hives which create new insectoids periodically, up to a maximum value each hive can support. Tamed insectoids cannot reproduce at all. For more detail, see the Hive page.

Combat & Strategy

Megaspiders are slightly slower than spelopedes and megascarabs. A common feature of any insectoid swarm is for these smaller, less dangerous creatures to glove the megaspiders' approach, absorbing the fire of your colonists and bogging them down until the big hitters are in range. Fully fit humans can outrun even megascarabs, so the strongest tactic is to hit and run, continually falling back in front of the swarm. If they've infested your base, open your doors and try to lead them out into the open.

Melee block tactics are very effective, but otherwise you should avoid melee combat. Megaspiders are sturdy and can do a lot of damage very quickly. Do not underestimate how many bullets they take to go down.

In 1.3, Megaspider wildness decreased from 95% to 40%, making them much easier to rescue and tame. Their trainability also went from intermediate to advanced, making them capable of hauling. With a minimum handling skill of 3, Megaspiders have become much easier to tame and train compared to wargs (changed to intermediate trainability in 1.3) or elephants (min handling skill 7 required).

Armor

Armor

Taming

Wild megaspiders always generate hostile, making them difficult to tame as they will try to attack the animal handler. In order to try and tame a megaspider, you will need to down them. Down a megaspider, then destroy all hives from their infestation. With the Too Deep: Infestation event, there are no hives, so all you need to do is down the insect.^{[Wastepack infestations?]} This does not make them non-hostile, but it will prevent them from seeking out colonists like a raider would.

Alternatively, a doctor has a small chance to bond when tending to a wild megaspider, instantly taming them.

As tamed pets, megaspiders offer few advantages over bears, cougars/panthers, or elephants, which are all easier to tame. In addition, megaspiders are unable to reproduce. While insectoids have a gestation time defined, due to their breeding type, EusocialInsect, they are unable to actually reproduce when tamed. (Wild insects reproduce via hives)

Training

This animal can be trained as follows:

Guard:
Attack:
Rescue:
Haul:

*As of version 1.1.2610, all animals can be tamed. The percentage of likelihood of success depends on factors such as the Animals Wildness Percentage, Pawn Handling Skill, and others. More information can be found on the animals page.

Health

Body part	Health
Head	63
Skull	63
Brain	25
Nose	25
Neck	63
Jaw	50
Eye ^[1] (left, right)	25
Ear (left, right)	25
Body	100
Kidney^[2] (left, right)	38
Lung^[2] (left, right)	38
Liver^[2]	50
Heart^[2]	38
Spine^[2]	63
Stomach^[2]	50
Limbs (left, right, fore, hind)	75
Appendage (left, right, fore, hind)	50

↑ Located inside of Head.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 ^2.5 Located inside of Body.

Gallery

Megaspider facing east
Megaspider facing north
Megaspider facing south

Version history

Beta 19/1.0 - All insects main attack cooldowns 2.5 -> 2.9
1.3.3066 - Wildness decreased from 0.95 to 0.40, manhunter on tame chance reduced from 40% to 0. Trainability changed from intermediate to advanced, gestation changed from N/A to 6.
Biotech DLC relase - Now gain a stat boost on polluted terrain

Animals