For an overview of giant ant variants in the Fallout series of games, see giant ant. For an overview of fire ant variants in the Fallout series of games, see fire ant.
Some scientists theorize this mutation comes from the effects of extended exposure to radiation.[2]
Characteristics
Biology
They make a loud chattering noise with their mandibles and are better adjusted to daylight than their California cousins. There are four variants of these ants: Workers, soldiers, queens, and the mutated forager ants.
Ant nectar can be occasionally be looted from their corpses and refuse piles (found in their lairs).
Gameplay attributes
Ants usually attack in droves of 3-5 head on. They don't try to flank enemies, but will surround them if they get close enough. Their mandibles can pack a punch to lower level players, but they are not wholly damaging to higher level players.If their antennae are crippled, ants will frenzy and attack everything around them, including their own kind.
Variants
Giant ant
Only found dead throughout the Capital Wasteland, not much is known about this variant.
Very aggressive: Will attack enemies and neutrals on sight.
Foolhardy: Will never flee or avoid anyone.
Helps friends: Will help friends and allies.
Melee (5 )
none
Giant ant queen
The mother of the ant brood, this variant is roughly four to five times larger that your average giant ant. When threatened, her wings buzz about and she will hiss at the enemy. She will then proceed to spit an acidic saliva at the enemy in an attempt to ward it off.
Ant queens are not very fast, though they do seem to notice you from a distance and shoot spit with surprising accuracy. The queens are generally considered to be one of the "boss" characters in Fallout 3 as they have extremely high health (about half that of a super mutant behemoth) making them one of the few creatures in the Capital Wasteland that can survive a Nuka-grenade blast.
There are only three in Fallout 3: in Marigold Station, Shalebridge and the Corvega Factory. The Marigold ant queen is the queen of the fire ants that have been harassing Grayditch. She was mutated by Doctor Lesko in an attempt to create smaller ants with a chemical mutagen that would be injected into the queen ant, but instead fire-spitting giant ants resulted (for a more detailed description see the fire ants page).
These are the colony's main defense against intruders. They are plentiful and will often overwhelm an enemy, either letting it run off or killing it on the spot; usually the latter.
Invader ants are a species of ant found in Shalebridge that, as their name suggests, are invading the colony of the forager ants (see below). The have the same health as a worker ant so they can still pack a punch for low level players.
These ants are friendly and won't attack the player. They are small for mutated ants and live in the Shalebridge tunnels. They are being attacked by the ant researcher and ordinary giant ants. They make their food with the ant nectar piles in the corner, and adding a stimpak or two to the egg pile will ensure a healthy ant offspring. Destroying the enemy ants will allow them to survive.
There are several dead giant ants outside Megaton. Given that the scouting report from the vault 101 Overseer's terminal mentioning giant ants outside of Megaton is from 2241, it can be assumed the ants were killed by the Megaton gate guards.
A colony of friendly forager ants can be found in a cave in Shalebridge. Unlike most giant ants, this colony is peaceful towards humans. It is under attack by a hostile, more aggressive colony of rival giant ants. The player can help the forager ants by traveling into the rival ant nest and killing their giant ant queen and they can stimulate growth of the colony by injecting the egg clusters with stimpaks. These forager ants are the same as any friendly non-player character, they will become hostile if attacked. If you shoot one the others won't attack you unless they are about two feet away. They are extremely small for regular wasteland ants, are very weak, and will only do about three Hit Points of damage.
Playstation 3 A glitch may occur where once you kill the fire ant nest guardian and leave, the Marigold ant queen will glitch/crawl through a wall near the exit and stand in your way, trying to attack you. with some effort you either can jump over her legs to the side and escape (or, of course, kill her).
Playstation 3 There is a glitch that may occur when you get close to the first defeated nest guardian where the queen will teleport to your location.
