Boomrat

Boomrats inhabit temperate forests, temperate swamps, and arid shrublands. Be careful of their powerful fire-starting explosion whenever they die, including when they are slaughtered.

Summary

On death, boomrats explode, doing 10 Flame damage in a 1.9 tile radius. This explosion does not itself set fires nor create chemfuel puddles to burn but the Flame damage might ignite surrounding objects and pawns.

Boomrats have 90% Toxic Environment Resistance rendering them highly resistant to environmental effects such as rot stink and toxic buildup from non-attack sources.

Tactics

They are a smaller version of the boomalope and spawn in areas where the ground is mostly flammable. Like the boomalope, they are a punishment for being in an area with a long or year round growing season, and are very dangerous to settle near for a permadeath settlement as a manhunter pack of them can create a devastating fire with no hope of being stopped, that will eventually melt through steel. It is very hard for your colony to put the fire out until it rains. They will also eat your crops if given the chance.

Consider avoiding them, and keeping them healthy. Boomrats are best hunted in the rain, which will extinguish the fire. Alternatively, you can use a firefoam pop pack, tame and sell them, or slaughter them in an area with no risk of fire, such as lake, or in a room of stone floors and walls.

As attack animals

Tamed boomalopes are considered pen animals, meaning that raiders won't attack them. Boomrats, however, are not.

They can be used as an explosive weapon, especially when combined with transport pods. Load a pod with some boomrats, some stronger explosives (like mortar shells or a proper boomalope), and land it on top of stationary enemies. Sieges are prime targets, as you can set their own shells on fire.

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	10
Skull	10
Brain	4
Nose	4
Neck	10
Jaw	8
Eye ^[1] (left, right)	4
Ear (left, right)	4
Body	16
Kidney^[2] (left, right)	6
Lung^[2] (left, right)	6
Liver^[2]	8
Heart^[2]	6
Spine^[2]	10
Stomach^[2]	8
Limbs (left, right, fore, hind)	12
Appendage (left, right, fore, hind)	8

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

Gallery

Boomrat facing east
Boomrat facing north
Boomrat facing south
Boomrat decaying

Lore

The origin of the boomrat has varied over time. In the initial release of the Revival Briefing, which is now considered non-canon, they were described as originating as a biological weapon that survived and bred after wars on the worlds they now inhabit. The current version of the Revival Briefing states that they, along with the boomalope, were originally engineered as a primitive renewable fuel source. While this holds true for boomalopes, boomrats cannot and could never be milked for chemfuel in-game. Meanwhile, their current in-game description also disagrees with the current briefing and supports the now-obsolete original version, stating that their explosive tendencies are either a result of deliberate weaponization or intended as a defense mechanism.