I was playing a bit this past week, and a strange thought occurred to me. Why is it always mice and space wasps that infest the station? Sure, the mice can be carriers of disease and the wasps are super murderhobos in insect form, but where is the middle ground between these two kinds of vermin?
Flashback to around 4PM. I had a dream about one of the biggest natural swarms in my area: the Periodical Cicada. Loud, obnoxious, and visually frightening, these black and orange bastards are 40 times more annoying than any single noise artifact can be because of their sheer number and ability to make an ear wrenching racket, alone or in a group.
So, Allow me to introduce you to the idea of the Space Cicada (Magicicada Astrapathos).
They will infest in areas with plant-life normally (owlery and botany). After arriving in a brood of 9, they shall then crawl through the vents and perch atop any plants or tall structures they can climb (Potted Plants, vending machines, lockers, etc.) and begin the mating call.
Upon hearing a nearby call, a cicada will do one of two things: either return the call, or fly to the original caller, and spawn 2-3 Nymphs, which will then crawl into the floor tiles.
The calls can be heard a fair ways throughout the station. Due to interstellar radiation and constant exposure to technology, they have adapted their calls to sound like radio static in order to blend into their environments.
Now how is this an in-between form of infestation? Well, if one tries to silence the little buggers, the distress call they shriek can knock someone flat on their ass, and when successful, the cicada will proceed to perch on you, screeking somewhere between once every 30 seconds to once every other minute. This will count as a mating call, leading to oblivious crew accidently helping the infestation.
Generally, M. Astrapathos is a very neutral insect. it will allow humans to pick up and hold them for a time, but due to their poor eyesight and lack of intellect, will after an extended period of time mistake one's fingers for a root or branch, and try to feed by poking the digit with it's proboscis. This is incredibly painful, but not harmful, and the cicada will realize you are not a plant and never poke you again.
When thrown at another person, M. Astrapathos will sometimes take flight at the target and perch onto whoever it lands.
This has been my pitch, in honor of a simple creature that always singles me out to be their "two-legged steed", and has never once bitten me. I eagerly want to hear any ideas you have to add!
Why stop at Cicadas? How about a whole host of little bugs and beetles that can be found, caught, and sold ala Animal Crossing. Or maybe set up insect gladiator fights to bet on
Frank_Stein Wrote:Why stop at Cicadas? How about a whole host of little bugs and beetles that can be found, caught, and sold ala Animal Crossing. Or maybe set up insect gladiator fights to bet on
Excellent! it would add more to Botany, Cargo and potentially exotic treats for the chef, as well as adding an incredible amount to the currently in progress Swamp adventure zone!
Allow me to brainstorm a whole bunch of new insects!
Space termites
Large, overgrown termites that have developed much more omnivorous tendencies, burrowing straight through not only wood, but glass and metal! Basically, they're bugs that will chew straight through walls and windows. They can cause a lot of damage, but they're easy enough to dispose of.
Space locusts
Taking the form of a massive warm of tiny, tiny space bugs, this cloud of insects will fervently track down the nearest available edible food item and devour it. Mostly harmless, but very bad for the kitchen and ESPECIALLY botany.
Space mosquitoes
Small, though horrifically oversized in comparison to normal mosquitoes, these buggers will fly around and chase down whoever they see first before attempting to latch onto them and drain their blood, which will induce most normal symptoms of blood loss in the victim.
Space scorpions
Huge fuckers with giant pincer claws and a mean stinger. Sort of like spacerachnids, but even meaner.
Space cobras
Another flavor of poisonous aggressive space bug. Well, it isn't a bug, but y'know, semantics.
And so on and so forth. I'm always up for expanding the SS13 critterbase, so I like this idea. Also, the idea of a swarm of a shitton of various spiders, bugs, and other such pests in an Exodus-style swarm sounds like a cool random event or admin gimmick.
BaneOfGiygas Wrote:Allow me to brainstorm a whole bunch of new insects!
Space termites
Large, overgrown termites that have developed much more omnivorous tendencies, burrowing straight through not only wood, but glass and metal! Basically, they're bugs that will chew straight through walls and windows. They can cause a lot of damage, but they're easy enough to dispose of.
Space locusts
Taking the form of a massive warm of tiny, tiny space bugs, this cloud of insects will fervently track down the nearest available edible food item and devour it. Mostly harmless, but very bad for the kitchen and ESPECIALLY botany.
Space mosquitoes
Small, though horrifically oversized in comparison to normal mosquitoes, these buggers will fly around and chase down whoever they see first before attempting to latch onto them and drain their blood, which will induce most normal symptoms of blood loss in the victim.
Space scorpions
Huge fuckers with giant pincer claws and a mean stinger. Sort of like spacerachnids, but even meaner.
Space cobras
Another flavor of poisonous aggressive space bug. Well, it isn't a bug, but y'know, semantics.
And so on and so forth. I'm always up for expanding the SS13 critterbase, so I like this idea. Also, the idea of a swarm of a shitton of various spiders, bugs, and other such pests in an Exodus-style swarm sounds like a cool random event or admin gimmick.
BaneOfGiygas Wrote:Allow me to brainstorm a whole bunch of new insects!
Space termites
Large, overgrown termites that have developed much more omnivorous tendencies, burrowing straight through not only wood, but glass and metal! Basically, they're bugs that will chew straight through walls and windows. They can cause a lot of damage, but they're easy enough to dispose of.
Space locusts
Taking the form of a massive warm of tiny, tiny space bugs, this cloud of insects will fervently track down the nearest available edible food item and devour it. Mostly harmless, but very bad for the kitchen and ESPECIALLY botany.
Space mosquitoes
Small, though horrifically oversized in comparison to normal mosquitoes, these buggers will fly around and chase down whoever they see first before attempting to latch onto them and drain their blood, which will induce most normal symptoms of blood loss in the victim.
Space scorpions
Huge fuckers with giant pincer claws and a mean stinger. Sort of like spacerachnids, but even meaner.
Space cobras
Another flavor of poisonous aggressive space bug. Well, it isn't a bug, but y'know, semantics.
And so on and so forth. I'm always up for expanding the SS13 critterbase, so I like this idea. Also, the idea of a swarm of a shitton of various spiders, bugs, and other such pests in an Exodus-style swarm sounds like a cool random event or admin gimmick.
A4Brogan Wrote:Space mosquitos? Hmm...Could be a harder to hit version of the bats spell for the vampire
Well, I was thinking of having mosquitoes be completely separated from vampires entirely. I just like the idea of a critter that deals damage by draining your blood as opposed to just mauling/biting/shooting you like most other ones do.
Spaceworm
Closely related to the rockworm, only with more of an appetite, these critters exist to eat. They will eat all items and furniture they can find. If they can't find any, they will begin to eat into the next room to eat items there.
If not stopped, they will eventually eat a lot of the station. Thankfully they are non aggresive and die easily just like rockworms.
Seems to be that we are looking at this from an antagonistic point. Maybe we should think of some that have some beneficial uses to counteract the bad to a tiny amount.
A4Brogan Wrote:Seems to be that we are looking at this from an antagonistic point. Maybe we should think of some that have some beneficial uses to counteract the bad to a tiny amount.
A passive spaceworm that cleans the station of clutter and gives engineers small jobs to do is pretty beneficial...
Well heres some Neutral/helpful. Sloth
How the hell did this thing get in here?
Wilo-the-wisps
This race of spherical interdimensional energy beings have come to the space station to spread a message of love and joy for all living things.
They will heal passerbys(like a medbot) and speak lots of praise.(to an annoying degree)
Any aggresive action towards them however (much expected) will cause them to shout abuse at the aggressor for being rude and then vanish.
Goonhub
![[Image: 2015-09-23_MosquitosScreamTheDarndestThings.png]](http://paintraincomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015-09-23_MosquitosScreamTheDarndestThings.png)
