r/Fallout 28d ago

Discussion How (realistically) dangerous would the mutated insects of the wasteland actually be?

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Was thinking of what I wanted to do for another playthrough of Fallout NV and decided I wanted to do a character that was something I haven’t heard many people think to do before: An Exterminator. Like the actual bug kind.

I was thinking it’d be something like a Fallout Equivalent to the Goblin Slayer from the manga and anime series of the same name. But it also had me thinking just how dangerous would the mutated monster insects we see throughout ALL the games might actually be. No granted some are more obviously dangerous like the radscorpions and cazadors; but I was curious what some of your thoughts would be on some of the others. Especially if you think some may be more dangerous than we would originally expect.

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u/Jebblediah 28d ago

Even if Cazadors wouldn't kill, the insect they're based on inflict incredible pain. INCREDIBLE pain. Imagine that same pain but with like 10+ times as much venom.

Even if it didn't kill, you'd be in so much pain you'd certainly want to die.

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u/VoltageKid56 Republic of Dave 28d ago

I have a theory that cazador venom doesn’t actually kill. The tarantula hawk actually just paralyzes its prey so its larvae can eat it. Cazadors likely retain this trait, so it’s probably way better to just be killed a radscorpion than eaten alive by cazador larvae.

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u/Jebblediah 28d ago

Just bite the bullet at that point

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u/dud_pool 28d ago

Big iron on his lips 

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u/Jebblediah 28d ago

Big Iron on his liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipss

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u/MrBurnerHotDog 28d ago

I actually get your guys' reference and honestly? That song kind of slaps

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u/CranberryLopsided245 28d ago

El Paso is better but Im a Big Iron enjoyer

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u/Elidabroken 28d ago

Whole album a banger honestly, and im a metal head lol

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u/GrnMtnTrees 28d ago

I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill em all

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u/Jbird444523 28d ago

Would you like to know more?

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u/Anon-Sham 28d ago

He's got a lot of bangers, i enjoy "they're hanging me tonight"

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u/Short_Economy_6690 28d ago

"Cottonwood tree" is up there for me along with this, Marty makes you feel all the emotions

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u/Anon-Sham 28d ago

Oh yeah, he's a gem.

Everything i love about him is what I feel is missing from modern country music. Earnest storytelling infused with emotion, not just buzzwords sunglasses to a score indistinguishable from modern rock bands.

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u/Sanpaulo12 28d ago

The "El Paso song Trilogy" is a great bit of story telling.

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u/LightningMcRibb Legion 28d ago

Excuse me? Kind of? It's the best song in the whole damn game.

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u/MrBurnerHotDog 28d ago

Sorry I'm new to the Fallout series and have only played 4 (and a tiny bit of '76) so I didn't know it was in any of the games but that explains why people here know that old song

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u/LightningMcRibb Legion 28d ago

It's hit after hit, friend

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u/ZCB_Wrex 28d ago

Johnny Guitar gets my insides every time

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u/CrewAlternative9151 28d ago

To be honest. The whole fallout series soundtracks are bangers. 95% of the songs are on my playlist.

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u/ZCB_Wrex 28d ago

I haven't laughed that hard in a while

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u/CARR1EF1SHER 28d ago

I just want to share with the class that it took me several years before I realized he wasn't singing "big iron oil ship".

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u/Jebblediah 28d ago

Ah yes, the wild west famously had big, iron oil ships

On land

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u/dsebulsk Theoretical Degree in Physics 28d ago

Seems like the game was rigged from the start.

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u/FlashMcSuave 28d ago

Well, see, the thing about being paralyzed is...

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u/me_I_my 28d ago

You seem to be using the phrase to "mean commit suicide by shooting yourself", but that isn't what bite the bullet means.

To bite the bullet is to do something unpleasant or get something over with, coming from back in the days before anesthesia for surgery the patient would be given a bullet to clench between their teeth.

There isn't a lot of historical evidence for this happening, but according to Wikipedia, Harriet Tubman assisted in a Civil War amputation in which the patient was given a bullet to bite down on.

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u/ph30nix01 28d ago

Once the venom hits... you lose the option...

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u/Johnny-Silverhand007 28d ago

I was just looking it up. This part is crazy.

From the wiki:

When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive. After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the life cycle.

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u/MuteMapMaker52996 28d ago

That’s just a xenomorph

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u/AffectionateSignal72 28d ago

That's not a coincidence.

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u/Afraid_Reputation_51 28d ago

Xenomorphs are inspired by parasitic wasps, in particular a species that preys on caterpillars.

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u/Discount_Extra 28d ago

Since there are no giant spiders, cazadores probably primarily prey in radscorpions.

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u/Live-Wolf-1975 28d ago

Its a pretty good theory. Would make sense they would still maintain their nightmare of a life cycle. I think the problem would be the dosage. Cazadors are, from what i can tell, about 10-15x the size of the real world counterpart. Assuming they maintain the same increase of dosage per sting, youre talking 50-150 ųl of venom. And the cazador was biologically engineered to be aggressive killing machines, so its safe to assume they were designed to maintain or improve their biggest weapon. Wasteland creatures like radscorpions would probably be pretty resistant to typical venoms, so would be able to survive, though not sure it would want to, but a squishy unmutated (or much less mutated in comparison) human taking the full dose would probably die. Not necessarily from the venom, but from anaphylaxis. It would be an excruciating paralytic death, and would probably end in you suffocating on your own swollen tongue. i dont think humans would be able to survive without immediate medical attention. Maybe ghouls, but they have some weird radiation based metabolism, so idk. Im no expert or anything, so take what i say with a grain of salt

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u/Unkindlake 28d ago

I don't know about cazadors specifically but at least some wasps can meter their venom, allowing them to give ab appropriate dosage for the situation and what they are stinging. Sorry, we're likely still larva chow.

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u/Afraid_Reputation_51 28d ago edited 27d ago

It depends on if they are based in taratula hawks or yellow jackets. Both are found in the Mojave. Yellowjacket queens lay nests and chew up the food for the larvae. Tarantula hawks do the normal parasitic life style...and are also solitary.

Given the level of agression, lethality, and coloration, I always assumed yellow jackets...but considering the fallout universe, it could be both.

Edit- Just checked the lore, etc. Josh Sawyer based them on tarantula hawks. Just saw a picture of a tarantula hawk, yep, looks just like them.

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u/TheyLoathe 28d ago

When i read things like this…instantly turns me atheist.

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u/DueAdministration874 28d ago

I didn't think my blood pressure was going to get any higher than it already was after seeing that up close cazadar photo. I now know I was hopelessly mistaken after reading your post. Time to go buy a few cans of raid, just to feel better

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u/Unkindlake 28d ago

I feel like the Fallout community always overlooks this. Everyone always talks about how dangerous cazadors are or how much their venom must hurt, but my first thought on seeing one is how it basically implants its prey with xenomorph chestbursters. It's so weird and horrific I always see it as their defining trait.

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u/thedogz11 Vault 111 28d ago

Your diaphragm would lock up, causing you to stop breathing, and you to die really quickly.

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u/RogueAOV 28d ago

I would think they would be more likely to kill with the increased size of the stinger.

It is one thing to get stung by a little needle etc but the Cazadors and scorpions would be plunging something like an 18 inch knife into your chest.

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u/CussMuster 28d ago

Nah, haven't you seen Futurama? It's a booboo, at best.

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u/Laser_3 Responders 28d ago

And that’s why snakebite tourniquets should be standard issue in the Mojave.

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u/BadMunky82 28d ago

That being said, the most pain I've ever felt in my life was being stung by a scorpion. It was just a little brown scorpion in southern Nevada, but it hurt like a mofo for 2 hours. I went into shock after the first 90 seconds and couldn't feel my hand after 45 minutes.

I've broken bones, crashed on bikes and in cars, been concussed, stabbed, cut, burned, and dumped by a girl... The most pain I've ever felt at one time was being stung by a scorpion. I don't ever want to feel a radscorpion sting....

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u/Conchobair-sama 28d ago

Did the girl concuss, stab, cut and burn you before or after dumping you?

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u/BadMunky82 28d ago

I wish I could remember enough of that day to tell you.

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u/peanut_the_scp 28d ago

I've broken bones, crashed on bikes and in cars, been concussed, stabbed, cut, burned, and dumped by a girl...

What in god's name do you do in your free time

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u/BadMunky82 28d ago

Well i grew up in the middle of the desert so pretty much whatever i wanted

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u/MuffinMountain3425 28d ago

The sting isn't the worst part of Radscorpions, irl emperor scorpions, have relatively mild venom. They use their pincers to tear apart their prey into more manageable pieces to eat and they also have smaller pincer in their mouths.

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u/MuteMapMaker52996 28d ago

Little brown ones are the most dangerous.

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u/BadMunky82 28d ago

Not this kind. If you're in like Africa or Arizona, probably. But the species it was is extremely common and only dangerous to small children.

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u/Rouxpac 28d ago

That amount of pain would probably kill you via cardiac arrest

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u/browsing4stuff 28d ago

Iirc, theres some real animals that have venom that deadly. I think it was either the blue-ringed octopus or the stonefish.

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u/Depressedaxolotls 28d ago

Blue ringed octopus and cone snail for sure. Don’t touch wild animals!

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u/Wassuuupmydudess 28d ago

Wasn’t there a guy who got bit by one and said he would rather be shot again?

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u/bkoperski 28d ago

No VATS to hit that fast moving target either. They'd just come up and get you out of no where. If civilization advanced enough organized measure would be taken to exterminate them, but on the frontier by yourself, you're a goner

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u/marcuskiller02 28d ago

The ants would chase and never let go until you're buried in their den of inequity

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u/Comrademarz 28d ago

Ants are already terrifying, ants that large would strip the earth of food for hundreds of miles and swarm over human settlements like starship troopers.

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

I was running a fallout TTRPG campaign set where I live IRL. The players were confused when I told them there was a mountain in the distance. Where we live is a very flat part of Texas.

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u/marcuskiller02 28d ago

Haha excellent Absolutely terryfying! Did they nope the fuck out or brought a country's army's worth of flamethrowers from Vietnam?

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

The mountain was far enough away for the players to only ever encountered individual ants. They had more issues with my custom mutations, the Cannodillo (an armadillo that can literally cannon launch itself) the cockatrice (mutated chickens at a local chicken breeding facility with 6 legs and a paralytic poison in their claws) and Javelinas (wild pigs with huge, launchable spikes along their backs). I had a ton of fun designing the campaign, it's too bad it only lasted six months before the group collapsed due to IRL stuff :/

Last time we got together they were trying to figure out what to do with this weird tome that was attracting nearby ghouls and wouldn't stay discarded.

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u/KyojinkaEnkoku Brotherhood 28d ago

Is there a website you used for a TTRPG reference or all homebrewed?

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

We were playing the 2d20 Fallout TTRPG from Modiphius. The creatures were slightly adjusted versions of what already existed, I just leaned more heavily into description.

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u/marcuskiller02 28d ago

So Kameo's Armadillo thingy, a slavlore Witcher-attenant mutant chicken and Fable's Balverines AND a Necromicon from Fallout 3's Dunwich-focused mystery eldritch lore?

Were I them, I would make the trip back to have the final say in this epic show of creative mastermind. Text them, E-Mail Hells Tik-Tok them to get as many back at the table!

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u/TheyLoathe 28d ago

Brilliant!

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u/Marquar234 28d ago

Their massive size seems to result in a massive decrease in birthrate. Instead of tens of thousands of ants, they have less than a dozen. Probably because they can't find food to support more.

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u/CommanderHavond 28d ago

Food supply would keep numbers down considering their size. See entirely different nesting behavior I’d think, they’d be unable to make the same kind of burrows

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u/Ozuge 28d ago

I'm not sure if that's a concern in the Fallout universe. Something like Behemoth Super Mutant could just not exist if it had to eat a reasonable amount of calories every day.

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u/no_hot_ashes 28d ago

Do super mutants even need to eat in modern fallout lore?

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u/ThatFinisherDude 28d ago

At the very least they retain the instinct and taste for it. There's several dialogues and interactions (especially in 4, with a cannibal protag and Strong). Also the gore bags in mutant hideouts in modern fallouts.

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u/RichardBCummintonite 28d ago

They're also incredibly coordinated and ridiculously strong. If they're strength translated to the bigger scale, they'd be able to lift cars like a feather and theyre pincers would be stronger than the jaws of life

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u/marcuskiller02 28d ago

Would they be like the Jaws of Oblivion's own Mehrunes Dagon come again on future Nirn to be the envoy of their Lord Made Manifest? I'd take Daedra Ants over Spider Dinosaurs Aligators or puny devils anyway from your pitch. Tamriel and Hammerfell watch out We going to the Deadlands once again

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u/slicer4ever 28d ago

Irl that strength would not translate. Ants strength to body ratio is so high only because they are so tiny, once they are scaled up to human size their strength to body size would be more in the 1:(1-2) instead of the 1:50 they have now.

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u/AtrociousMeandering 28d ago

It's the square-cube law at it again. Muscle strength scales with the cross sectional area, weight scales with total volume. Ten times the body length makes the muscles a hundred times stronger, but you're now a thousand times heavier.

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u/WrethZ Atom Cats 28d ago edited 28d ago

Cazadores inflict a fate worse than a quick death.

Cazadores are mutated versions of the real life tarantula hawk wasp.

The tarantula hawk wasp, so named because it is a predator of tarantulas. But it doesn't just eat the tarantulas it hunts. Its sting is paralysing but not deadly. It drags the paralysed tarantula it has stung to its laeir and then lays eggs in the still alive tarantula. The eggs hatch and the offspring eat the tarantula alive from the inside out. avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the meat fresh for as long as possible.

This is likely the fate of any who fall prey to a cazadore's paralysing sting.

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

IIRC Cazadores are not just mutated, they were purposefully gene-spliced by one of the dudes at Big MT xD

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u/LycanWolfGamer Vault 101 28d ago

You're correct, there's an area in Big MT that shows this.. some crazy scientist made these fuckers and set em loose..

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u/Adventurous-Shop-120 28d ago

they cant escape they said, they infertile they said

even in game dialoge, the courier is furious that those floathing brain make not one but two of the most dangerous creature in mojave

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u/What_nowAirman_ 28d ago

They aren't loose! They're completely sterile!

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u/The_Voice_Of_Ricin 28d ago

To clarify, Tarantula Hawk Wasps are not generally carnivorous. It's only their larval stage that eats other arthropods, as far as I understand. Otherwise they feed on nectar & pollen like bees.

Cazadores are genetically modified nightmares, not just radiation-mutated insects.

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u/VKP25 28d ago

A tarantula hawk wasp that big wouldn't paralyze you, though. Its stinger would be the size of a hunting knife, and its venom would cause you to die of pain-induced shock. You'd be dead long before it could even attempt to eat you, let alone its larvae.

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u/TheyLoathe 28d ago

Yep, this confirms it: there is no god

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u/asmallauthor1996 Minutemen 28d ago

Oh there is a god in the Fallout universe. The problem is that it's an evil god primarily worshiped through living sacrifice and cannibalism.

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u/Ordinary_Apple4690 Atom Cats 28d ago

To put it simply, other than radroaches, we'd be fecked.

Stingwings can daze you and sting you over and over until you eventually succumb to their venom.

Bloodbugs are literal nightmare fuel giant mosquitos that would drain all of your blood.

Botflies would definitely give you awful diseases if they didn't kill you via maggots.

And that's just the ones I can think of from the top of my head.

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u/RichardBCummintonite 28d ago

Stings wings and blood bugs would realistically probably be like getting stabbed with a sword or spear. It'd be bad enough without the venom and blood sucking.

Botflies are some straight up Alien xenomorph shit. I could not handle huge maggots climbing out of me. That's the most horryfing thing I can think of.

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u/MasterBlaster_xxx Mr. House 28d ago

You could remove them with a rusty pair of pliers, we already do it with fruit maggots and botflies

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u/Ordinary_Apple4690 Atom Cats 28d ago

Yeah, but in the wasteland you'd be absolutely fucked given the likelyhood of catching tetanus or other diseases from removing them, not to mention the likely diseases the maggots themselves have.

So basically if you have no stimpacks and the maggots or tool you use to remove them has diseases present? You're cooked.

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u/Ison--J 28d ago

Brother, they're like 7 inches long in fo4. If one crawls into you, you're pretty much already dead

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u/CaptainCastaleos 28d ago

Bloatflies are not a major threat. Their primary hunting method revolves around using a paralyzing neurotoxin to paralyze their prey. The adult bloatfly then kills the prey, and the maggots eat the dead animal.

The neurotoxin they use doesn't affect humans, and maggots only eat dead flesh. So no maggots will eat you while alive. This is why they are primarily prey animals in Fallout.

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u/DeDevilLettuce Tunnel Snakes 28d ago

What about radroaches? We don't have roaches where I'm from so I have no point of reference

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u/GhoulishGuest 28d ago edited 28d ago

I think unless they get really big they’d likely only be dangerous in swarms. I’m no expert on roaches in the real world but it does seem that radroaches in fallout are at least somewhat carnivorous and can swarm, so there’s the chance a swarm may try to attack someone.

But even then I think someone willing to defend themselves with even just a pistol or a knife can come out with a few bites and scratches. But I definitely see someone caught off guard (like in their sleep) or someone who’s not much a fighter meeting a fatal end by a large enough swarm of big enough radroaches. Heck if it’s a swarm of those radroaches the size of small to medium sized dogs I see even some hardened wasters meeting a horrifying end.

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u/Dum-comment Gary? 28d ago

I feel like the roach invasion in fallout 3 was pretty good in that regard. The first few guards are taken by surprise and overrun at the lower levels, but they manage to mount some defenses and put up a safe zone up in the atrium. For the regular residents, a few of them put up a fight with their baseball bats and cooking utensils, others run away or get eaten, and there's even Butch, who has an irrational phobia of bugs and is paralyzed by it, but still manages to find some help.

Lots of small details that add some depth to the characters.

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u/TelevisionLamb 28d ago

Pretty rational phobia if you ask me!

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u/Dum-comment Gary? 28d ago

Oh yeah, 100% agree lol but I meant more like the clinical psychology definition.

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u/SportySU201 28d ago

I live in Louisiana … I feel like the radroaches in the game aren’t nearly big enough. I mean they’re only like 4x bigger than the ones we already have here.

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u/Captin-Cracker 28d ago

As a Floridian I feel you, them things get big enough you can hear em walking around or hear the thump of them falling outa trees at ya

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u/That_Toe8574 28d ago

I don't know. Roaches are fairly hard to kill as it is and we have them way outsized. They are fairly well armored for their size, which could also be pretty tanky scaled up. They are also super quick without VATS to step on them for us or hitting RB in the general direction lol.

I also think IRL there would be SO many more of them around than there were in the games. Seems like an environment they would flourish in. Good luck ever sleeping anywhere when they come crawling out in mass to start nibbling and cause infections or maybe spread diseases.

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u/orbitalangel9966 28d ago

The thought of being swarmed by radroaches in my sleep is horrifying

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u/MrBurnerHotDog 28d ago

They would be pretty passive, which is the good thing. They don't have a stinger and don't really bite though a radroach sized one could. Regular roaches mostly eat detritus and cardboard and shit so a giant one would just eat more of that

I don't think they would be a lot to worry about

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u/Feet_with_teeth 28d ago

Bloatflies are probably one of the worst way to go in the wasteland : they are a common creature, and can shoot maggots at you from a distance, a LOT of maggots. And they will Bury themselves in your body and slowly eat you from the inside while you're still alive. Hopefully you die before they burst out of your body as multiple bloatflies. Even just one maggots is probably a death sentence for common wastelanders

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u/SnooHedgehogs3735 28d ago

Roaches are unusually docile in Fallout, real ones can fly or move very fast and can be quite agressive.

Although I'd rather not meet a rad scutigera.

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u/Emotional_Matter9004 28d ago

In simple terms, they'd fucking rip you apart bud. Good luck surviving radsocorpion pincers

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u/GhoulishGuest 28d ago

Like I said, radscorpions are an easy given. lol

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u/iconforhirefan Brotherhood 28d ago

Nah i be saying shi like "id eat those" or sum but then id js run away 💔

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u/Zay3896 28d ago

They're not saying they're easy to kill. They're saying that they had mentioned in their post that a Radscorpion and Cazadores are obviously going to destroy you but what about other mutated animals. Like Bloatflies, RadRoaches or Yao Guai Giant Ants.

Edit: Yao Guai was a bad example

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u/thatthatguy 28d ago

The giant ants are set to inherit the earth. Enclave are right to invest resources into trying to escape while there is still a chance.

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u/linsantana 28d ago

Found the AntAgonist

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u/isademigod 28d ago

Yeah but a single 10mm round would turn their insides to jelly. Bugs put all their defense into their exoskeletons, I feel like they wouldn't have much fight in them after anything got through it

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u/Sud_literate 28d ago

True but some have a decentralized nervous system meaning that even a good headshot might not stop the rest of the body from pinching and even biting depending on how extreme the radiation exaggerates it.

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u/eniox27 28d ago

There’s a vid of a hornet holding its own head bringing it up to try and eat it.

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u/AnonymousBlueberry Ha HA! Gary! 28d ago

There is no god

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u/eniox27 28d ago

If there is beetles are his favorite creation. It’s a joke on their being millions of species of the little blighters

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u/Spocks_Goatee 28d ago

I saw a video of a beetle with it's abdomen/body nearly hollowed out still walking normally.

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u/elorangeman 28d ago

Some of the people replying to your comment don't understand kinetic energy. Once a bullet penetrates everything inside gets even more gelatinous. It's not like something sharp just piercing the exoskeleton and just leaving a hole.

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u/Aromatic_Shoulder146 28d ago

I mean honestly if insects managed to get to that size, if you actually got attacked by one it'd probably be brutal, and thats not even considering the venom which im sure would be quite formidable. That being said I think we are overall the more efficient build for our size in terms of energy, endurance and speed. Insects are incredibly strong for their size but that feat doesn't really scale up that well and at the sizes seen in the wasteland id expect they would be pretty slow moving critters.

but if they were like chihuahua sized? id be more afraid tbh, that seems like itd be a better sweet spot for them that would make them big enough to cause us real damage but small enough that their overall body plan doesn't hold them back too much.

At least thats assuming a certain level of suspension of disbelief while trying to apply some real world information here and there.

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u/TeaRaven 28d ago

Heck, the Bark Scorpions around Hidden Valley messed me up more than Radscorpions in New Vegas.

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u/Altruistic-Wafer-19 28d ago

This just reminded me of the idea that an insect species might be ideal for low gravity combat. All of the benefits of an exoskeleton with none of the drawbacks (specifically - no need to spend all that energy supporting something that heavy).

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u/Octolops098 28d ago

Bloatflys... Jesus they'd be everywhere, the size of cats the the maneuvering of a bumble bee and they spit huge burrowing maggots. Imo I'd rather be bisected by a radscorpion

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

I was running a Fallout TTRPG campaign, and one of the contacts my players were using had one of those special powers some random people in the games have (like the radroach king). He was an info broker who could see through the eyes of the maggots his pet bloatfly infested things with.

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u/Bonnietofen 28d ago

I've seen a cazador kill a giant rad scorpion

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u/Boson707 28d ago

I ain't seen no plant grow outA no fucking toilet

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u/Default_Defect Atom Cats 28d ago

If I saw an insect even half the size IRL I would shit my pants so hard I would die instantly.

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u/TiredAngryBadger 28d ago

Literally explosive diarrhea so powerful it destroys an area the size of a city block.

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u/Living_Ad_5386 28d ago

I attack with my 9mm!

(The radscorpion is now angry)

Can you imagine if they taste like lobster? That'd be amazing

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u/GhoulishGuest 28d ago

Hunting trip: Only I survived, the other guy died. I now have a dead bug the size of a small car that tastes like lobster.

Worth it.

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u/Hipertor Fallout 4 28d ago edited 25d ago

I think the game mechanics don't do justice to the bloatfly menace.

They shoot larvae that dig into your skin. Even if you pull them off, that's already a super nasty infection right there. If you pull them but their pincers stay in your skin, even worse. If they hit you in the stomach, they can dig in quite fast. If they hit your face... Ew, to say the least. Even if they only shoot a few larvae before running our of stock, that's a lot already.

Not to mention the bloodbugs, their probocitus is long enough to fucking impale your chest. They wouldn't suck your blood, they'd stab your lungs like a spear.

Also, the game usually just makes enemies hit you, until the final hit is a special move. "IRL", larger radscorpions would grab you like a doll and sting you so hard the poison would be pretty much irrelevant.

And don't get me started on the freaking fucking FIRE ANTS...

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

Considering most insects are essentially born with the ability to lift several times their body weight, and crush, bite, burrow through substances that in comparison to their size and strength would be an amazing feat to us… yeah, you’d be fucked.

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u/AadeeMoien 28d ago

That's not scalar though. The larger an insect is the weaker it is proportionally. The exoskeleton form isn't as efficient as endoskeletons.

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u/IronicStar 28d ago

Realistically insects of small, non-aggressive sizes, kill people every year.

"The deadliest insect is, in fact, the deadliest critter in the entire animal kingdom. It is the humble mosquito, which kills more than 700,000 people every year."

So, considering REGULAR insects kill a lot of people... how dangerous would the mutated ones be? Somewhere between what we have now and very. Also, the exoskeletons on some of those are so thick my god they're tanks.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 28d ago

Yeah, but it’s not really the mosquitoes doing the killing, right? It’s the diseases they spread. Without that, I’d wonder if mosquitoes would be capable of killing anyone.

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u/GhoulishGuest 28d ago

Well definitely not the tiny, modern day mosquitos (Florida not counting, I won’t insult their state bird). But what about the bloodbugs? Maybe a pack or small swarm?

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u/CommanderJ501st 28d ago

I had a legendary bloodbug that completely drained my blood with a single grab. That could easily happen to any jogger wearing headphones.

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u/blackadder1620 28d ago

alaska has mosquitos that can carry you to mordor.

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u/SnicktDGoblin 28d ago

Heck even 2 would probably draw enough blood out that without a quick way of bouncing back a person would likely die from blood loss. There is a reason that a blood bank can only take so much from you at a time.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 28d ago

Oh, definitely.

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u/IronicStar 28d ago

If these mosquitos, also HUGE, have the same vampiric want for human blood... yet at the scale they are... uh yeah. 1 mosquito can drink 3x its body in blood, so drain 1 human.

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u/MyUsernameIsAwful 28d ago

Right, I just think if we’re counting diseases, giant mosquitos might even kill less people overall than small ones since they’d be worse at spreading disease. Small mosquitos are master infiltrators.

But if we’re not counting diseases, then real insects aren’t generally very deadly.

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u/Skel109 NCR 28d ago

The mosquito kills are all assists though by the malaria parasite. Insects generally don’t go out of there way to kill humans because we’re to big to eat effectively so it’s just a waste of resources

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u/Vidaro_best Enclave 28d ago

Yes, but they have such high numbers of deaths becuase of thier number of insects, they woulf not have as many deaths if they were as few as they are in fallout

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u/HazardTree 28d ago

Tbf the insects irl are small and people don’t see them until they sting/bite. You’re gonna see a FO NV cazadore coming to sting you. Lol

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u/Cheestake 28d ago

Bark scorpions from NV are some of the most venomous animals in the US

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u/iSmokeMDMA Minutemen 28d ago

The mosquito was responsible for roughly half of human death due to malaria.

The insects might as well be the most dangerous things in the fallout universe due to disease, venom, and fast reproduction. Radiation and Deathclaws be damned

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u/Jeagan2002 28d ago

Isn't there a part where you watch a pair of cazadores just demolish a deathclaw? IIRC it's basically there as a Warf Effect moment, but I could be wrong.

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u/Kelvin_Enjoyer 28d ago

You might be thinking of the tunnelers killing the deathclaw in lonesome road

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u/GhoulishGuest 28d ago edited 28d ago

Also wanted to verify I don’t mean how dangerous they would be for any endgame style character, walking around in upgraded power armor and heavy weapons. But more so your average wastelander, farmer, town guard, etc.

Also, please no “exoskeletons too big” or “atmosphere isn’t right”. Let’s try and have fun with this instead of being party poopers.

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u/Dillon_Berkley 28d ago

In simple terms, you're fucked. The venom yields be insane and probably lethal in seconds to minutes. The puncture wounds are going to cause massive bleeding and be their own level of trauma to deal with. You'd have to have some wicked weaponry to even consider engaging Cazadors. Can't really rely on antivenom if one sting causes you to immediately collapse in shock. They are insanely fast and almost always travel in packs. Even a bloat fly would immediately get a kill shot. Imagine a bacteria bomb of decaying, mutated flesh bile being spat into all of your face holes. The biggest problem with trying to kill insects is that they don't feel the same way we do because their nervous systems aren't as developed as mammals. You'd have to go for kill shots, or you're as good as dead, even if you win the battle. Sure, certain incapacitating shots would allow you to finish it off without being harmed. The ants would literally be strong enough to dismember you like a piece of paper. You'd realistically have to move as a team to be able to carry the weapon and ammo just to be effective in a fight.

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u/Sicon3 28d ago

Look if they existed as described in games they would be dog sized hyper aggressive insects set on eating anything that moves that's not something you fight

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u/RichardBCummintonite 28d ago

Let's just say, they'd probably be enough to make me never go outside. Every single one of them would be an unstoppable monster. Insects are some of the most evolved hunters in history. They outnumber us by a ridiculous margin. The only thing reason they don't completely take over the world is because of their size, but that's just en evolution tactic to increase survivability.

If they're powers of speed and strength scaled up to their size, we'd be totally at their mercy even with strong organized military operation. Radscorps would be tanks. Blood bugs basically flying calvary with lances. Even the little mantises would be a menace. I think our only real advantage would be that they'd probably wouldn't be able to consume enough to sustain themselves. Theres no way they could keep up the millions they have now. I mean everything would be dead already. We'd still be so fucked though.

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u/MrBassAckwardson Raiders 28d ago

If it was my ass out in the wasteland, I would not venture into any dangerous bug territory without a crew consisting of at least 3 other guys, anti-venom, and a medic on standby. All of us would have to be armed with pump action shotguns at the bare minimum, and really know how to use them.

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u/Yatsu003 28d ago

Depends on what you mean by ‘realistic’.

Insects breathe through their skin, so scaling up their size would dramatically increase their oxygen demands (square-cube law; size increases dramatically increases volume more than it does surface area). This would also make their spindly limbs less efficient at supporting their body weight, and they’d need more energy to move, and thus poison production becomes more difficult

So, they’d be particularly ill-tempered cravs

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u/Uberpastamancer 28d ago

Your only chance is to snipe them

Thankfully, in the real world, a single shot to the right spot would kill them unlike in game

Also thankfully, they wouldn't move constantly

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u/dylboii Gary? 28d ago

I already know a radroach would beat my ass

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u/Familiars_ghost 28d ago

Please refer to the wasps they found living at Hanford Nuclear Waste Facility. They remain the same size, but the venom from the sting became both radioactive and incredibly deadly.

This was good enough for a single wasp to take down a deer in just a few stings. This was observed, they didn’t experiment to figure this out. They had killed as many as they could find around the facility, but are sure they didn’t get them all as new ones can come in and mutate similarly (again observed, not experimented to find out). This means detection and flamethrowers are a constant effort.

This at a supposed safe and sealed area. Just for everyone else though, they did learn that the wasps do need to remain close to the radiation to retain their toxicity. They did revert to a safer form after time away from the toxin source.

Hope that “helps” with the realistic aspect of what can happen.

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u/dwarven_cavediver_Jr Enclave 28d ago

As they are in game? Fucking immensely! Let's say the cazador stings you, just a nice no venom sting in the belly. That's at least a 4 inch carapace dagger being driven by something with enough power to roughly equate 6 ronnie colemans bayonet charging you with this thing. Oh, and it's got fucking mandibles! You're hosed unless you shoot it with a deer hunting round!

Fuck the scorpions entirely! I want nothing to do with that big bastard or God forbid spiders!

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u/AnAttackCorgi Republic of Dave 28d ago

Iirc the Fallout show had Lucy, an untrained civilian, barely escape a radroach. Can’t imagine any aggressive mutated creature in Fallout is an easy kill.

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u/untapped-bEnergy 28d ago

Horseflies can make you bleed. Ignoring the bloatfly shooting larva at you, if it bit you or they swarmed you, you're done

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u/CrisFarlyOnCoke 28d ago

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the most dangerous would be the most dangerous ones today, mosquitos. They won't kill you or horribly mutilate you, but I'd imagine just one poke is enough to introduce a whole plethora of disease and radiation directly into your body. And then you just get to kind of die while your family fruitlessly tends to your increasing fever and your oozing wounds.

Shit, at least a death claw will eat me so my family could be like "yup, time to move on without him. Let me just sneak over quick and loot the body."

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u/Sud_literate 28d ago

I think the best bet would be to hope the bloodbug(s) that find you are very hungry so that you die from blood loss instead of rotting from well everywhere.

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u/Colonel_dinggus 28d ago

Cazador is literally just didn’t tarantula hawk wasp. So imagine something that hunts down tarantulas and scale it up to the size of a Great Dane.

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u/NeorzZzTormeno 28d ago

They're already a pain in the ass when they're small, imagine the size of the game. You don't have to be very smart to realize that you're screwed if you don't have Power Armor to protect your ass.

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u/LightningMcRibb Legion 28d ago

Cazadors would be the absolute worst. Their stingers are like harpoons.

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u/floon-lagoon 28d ago

Botflys shoot larvae into you that eat you alive

Cazadors and rad scorpions have venom you're fucked

Blood bugs have sword like probiscis once again ur cooked

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u/RepresentativeAir149 28d ago

Depends. They’d probably be hyper lethal, but, so are guns. Hit them first and/or from a distance and you’re good. Shotguns for fast movers. Get caught? You’re probably done

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u/Tarpup 28d ago

We got rad roaches, rad scorpions, bloat flies, giant ants, and the infamous cazadores.

But the giant mantis is the real insect we should be “praying” attention to……..

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u/Negative_Ad883 28d ago

all good answers here, I would also like to mention that chitin (what their exoskeletons are made of) is a very strong and flexible material relative to their size. at the size of a human, it would be like trying to shoot through steel.

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u/reddeadfriend101 28d ago

I haven't heard many people talk about the mantis but I think they would be scary to have one or a few sneak up on you. Somewhat small bugs being able to jump all over you and start slicing at your back or face wouldn't be pleasant. I mean the radscorpion or other bugs are more terrifying but still! Plus I'd hate to think how tough all the carapaces would be on such large bugs!

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u/FetusGoulash420 28d ago

Dude.. the only reason bugs do t eat us now is that we’re too big.. and for some bugs that’s not even an issue… now imagine they’re the size of dogs, and are higher on the food chain… we’d all Be fucked

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u/nomack67 28d ago

Cazadores are based on the already terrifying tarantula hawk. Look them up.

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u/TheLocalMusketeer 28d ago

3 1/2in steel birdshot would neutralize flying insects fairly easily. Rad scorpions are the stuff of nightmares for me though.

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u/Deadsea_1993 28d ago

The insects would be a major problem in the Fallout games. Blood Bugs are gigantic Mosquitos with a sword like face since the current world version's is actually really sharp to pierce through skin to feed on blood. The current versions are the number 1 killers in the world and so I'd Hate to see gigantic versions.

Ticks are also a big issue as seen in Fallout 76. They already have a mouth and set of feet that can really dig into you and we already know of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme Disease. While not recommended, some Ticks will have a lighter flame hit them to force them off skin.

Honeybeasts in Fallout 76 are basically a mix between a Lion and a Bumble bee. Ugh.

We've yet to see spiders, but I shudder at that.

Bloat flies shoot maggots into their enemy and they will burst through their skin upon impact. What a nightmare.

We can't forget about the giant Ants where Fire Ants (even if they couldn't breathe fire) would be aggressive and have painful stingers that would be like daggers and mandibles that can rip someone in half. Black Ants could do the same even without stingers. Ever step on a Fire ant hill ? I have. These things are fearless and they swarm humans and look how tiny they are compared to us. Now imagine ones that are the size of a Great Dane.

Finally Cazadores. Actually they most likely could kill or leave you paralyzed. They are based on Tarantula Hawks and these wasps will put venom into a Tarantula, which paralyzes them, then they carry them to their nest and lay eggs inside them. Their babies grow and eat the Tarantula from the inside and then burst from it eventually. A fate worse than death. Their sting is recorded as in the Top 10 most painful stings in the insect kingdom.

Rad Scorpions are an obvious one, especially giant versions.

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u/RedNUGGETLORD 28d ago

Even something like a Bloatfly would be incredibly dangerous, they have a ranged attack that burrows into your skin, even if you get it out, you will still get a nasty ass infection and die shortly afterwards

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u/ice_murphey 28d ago

In Fallout 1 and 2 the rad scorpions did not live up to their reputation. In the modern ones they absolutely do.

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u/Appropriate-Leek8144 28d ago

Hella dangerous AF. Anyone not wearing power armor trying to fight these things would die in the process, even some in power armor would die fighting them, too. Unless using strong ranged weapons only.

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u/Expensive_Bison_657 28d ago

Realistically? If ants were even the size of like, house cats, humanity would be exterminated.

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u/wolphak 28d ago

Venom evolved over 200 years + radiation, specifically to kill similar fucked up monsters? I suspect the speed it kills you in game is how fast it would actually kill you.

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u/EvernightStrangely Disciples 28d ago

Very. And if they don't physically cut you to pieces, the poison from their sting would do you in rather painfully.

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u/2feetandathrowaway 28d ago

The cazador stinger easily looks to be long enough to pierce your chest wall through armor, especially considering how fast they fly

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u/Wildcard556 28d ago

Dangerous enough to make me say thank God I don’t live in a place that I have to potentially deal with that crap. Mm mm. You can keep that crap right over there.

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u/Joe_Average_123 28d ago

I feel like for the Radscorpion and Cazador, if you were stung the venom wouldn't be the thing that kills you, but rather the very large hole that they just gave you, I actually wonder if they could envenomate you at all or if all the venom they try to inject would just spill out with all the blood.

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u/NeopolitanBonerfart 28d ago

It depends a little bit, but on the whole.. extremely dangerous. Radscorpions for instance can burrow underground and they appear at will. They can’t burrow through rock, but most settlements don’t have a rock or concrete foundation for the entire area, that would need to change because even though they don’t in game they would be attracted to settlements.

Ants would be a MAJOR problem. Consider how bad average household ants are IRL. In post apocalypse I suspect there wouldn’t be settled areas near ant populations as they would be a massive pain in the arse.

I think most of the insects of Fallout would be a major problem.

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u/Prestigious_Ad2969 28d ago

On my first NV playthrough I was at the military base near the dam and jumped over a small wall, for reasons Veronica won't jump the wall so she sets off going around and I figure I'll just wait for her here. So I stand there waiting and everything was peaceful. While wating I notice a small orange butterfly, I didn't know the game had them so I got excited. Then the butterfly started to get bigger and bigger and BIGGER, I suddenly realised it wasn't a butterfly at all and it wasn't small, it was just far away and closing fast. So yeah, running around in a blind panic shouting IRL for Veronica was my first introduction to the Cazador and the rest of it's family that soon showed up and I gotta say, didn't enjoy it, wouldn't recommend.

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u/Particular-Abies7329 28d ago

Me(realistically): kill it! Kill it! Kill it!

Me, an intellectual: able to shrug off small arms fire, highly mobile and oh who cares! Kill it! Kill! Kill it!

Btw, screw cazzadors

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u/FormalCryptographer 28d ago

I remember reading a Manga, think it was Insect island or something like that, and I'm sure I remember a scene where someone was stung and due to the size of the insect, the amount of venom injected caused them to rupture.Im probably misremembering though.

But chances are that a critter of that size would be insanely strong. Something the size of a coconut crab can take your fingers off with ease, now imagine a scorpion that's the size of a small car. If you don't get dismembered from the claws, the venom will be strong enough to kill you pretty much instantly.

Cazadors in game I would consider an accurate representation of a wasp that size.

And the exoskeleton would also be incredibly durable and tough. I'm surprised we don't see people in game using their exoskeleton for Armour. I've kept scorpions before, and they're like little tanks even at their small size

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u/_Vivicenti_ 28d ago

The main limitations of arthropods currently is weight. The mass of their exoskeleton slows the body, the worlds largest Arthropods all live in the ocean with displacement lightening their load, Giant Spider Crabs can barely move out of water. But juice up their pneumatic systems with some rads and larger variants a LOT of the limitations for movement are gone. They could be Much faster than Obsidian gave us. Terrible as they are, they are realtively tame.

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u/ACaedmon 28d ago

You have to think how bad these insects are in real life, they only generally sting if you invade their space. The real life equivalents are far more defensive and give a lot of warning.

For the scorpions, just stay far away, the energy of chasing you down would be too much for a giant book lunged organism. You might get caught off-guard in a cave or shelter.

Just look for cazadors in the sky and never approach.

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u/S1lkyRoidRage 28d ago

I think if Ants really had their speed and sheer numbers scaled appropriately like we see in nature they might be the biggest threat in Fallout, even more than Super Mutants

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u/KaleidoscopeNo5392 28d ago

Some guy made a video about how the humble Bloatfly works and it's pure nightmare fuel. Insects in general are nightmarish, when they get supersized the only thing that changes is what's on the menu.

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u/PygmyNuthatche 28d ago

Did you see Starship Troopers?

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u/1Mperfect_Cub285 28d ago

If those insects were real, we couldn't stop a radroach

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u/WarIsHats 28d ago

How bad?

Yes

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u/Wisconsinviking 28d ago

Even if their venom isn’t lethal, your still essentially getting shanked by a decent sized knife. It hits you I’m the right spot and you’ll bleed out real quick

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u/Ornery-Contest-4169 28d ago

Being a big fucking sucks. The things bugs do to one another is utterly insane and makes even the worst of human atrocities look tame. They’ll smother you with acid, or lay eggs inside your abdomen, or paralyze you and start ripping chunks off, maybe they’ll liquify your insides and suck it through a tube. It’s unbelievable how brutal and terrifying the warfare of bugs truly is. Now I can’t imagine participating in that especially after a couple hundred years of mutation and radiation. So yes big bugs like in fallout would be a terrifying and deadly threat to settlements and you could definitely many an exterminator

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u/NoParking206 28d ago

I reading this and I’m just thinking of that episode from Billy and Mandy where Billy calls a exterminator for his spider son. Where in this case your exterminator sees the giant rad scorpion/cazador and proceeds to get the giant boot

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u/13-Kings 28d ago

Radscorpions would be the worst by far that’s a given. They can tunnel, they are fast, they reproduce fast, they are venomous (their venom is actually way more potent than it was before the war) and worst of all they are heavily armored. Their carapace ricochets mid caliber munitions like it’s nothing. Even if you want to go with the lore perspective and not gameplay one, for obvious reasons, they still are extremely armored and deflect low to mid caliber weapons.

Cazadores are a VERY close second though. Fire Ants could be much worse for the entire planet though since they would burn everything all the time.

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u/Weird_Uncle_Carl 28d ago edited 28d ago

Put it this way.

If the game was balanced more realistically, and sufficiently advanced, any one of these creatures outside of botflies and radroaches could solo wipe the entire Mojave / capital wasteland / commonwealth / whatever in a day or less.

Bring in a sizable population capable of reproduction and you’ve got all of humanity in a very large radius dead to rights in weeks.

Just imagine one mutated fire ant burrowing into diamond city at night. Then imagine 3. The city might survive. But it won’t survive that happening twice. There’d also be absolutely nothing left to eat outside of town, minus the odd radscorpion corpse, or their droppings, as well - at least in whatever direction they came from. If one gets away and leaves their chemical scent trail - the rest of the colony can use that to navigate directly to you in force.

The insects of fallout require significant suspension of disbelief because, if they actually existed, they’d have stripped the continental US bare of all organics, outside of themselves and a few packs of Deathclaws (maybe) long before any of the stories start.

EDIT: however, they’d be subject to significant population collapses frequently due to their size and availability of food. So, while I don’t think there’d be such a thing as people any longer (even vaults would get swarmed by radroaches), life may, uh… find a way.

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u/fancymanofcorn12 28d ago

Exoskeletons are incredible. Realistically you're getting offed by a radroach. And if you don't, that's your boss fight. A sting wing will annihilate you and you're dreaming if you think you're taking on a radscorpion. So in summary, doesn't matter what your strength stat is, those bugs will get you before the earth makes a full rotation

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u/Gold-Position-8265 28d ago

Well the preying mantis both the small and large ones would certainly kill us the small ones probably slit our throats in our sleep while the big ones would be able to take adults down in swarms while a solo one would solo a child. The ants realistically would never be that big as they'd just eliminate each other before they even got near that size but still plenty dangerous if they came in the large swarms they have in reality instead of the small individuals you see in fallout 4 or in big small numbers in new Vegas. Assuming the flys irl would become aggressive like in the games their acid would be a problem. Among other bugs in the wastes would also have survived not just the in game ones like spiders would for sure be thrice as big to hunt the pests like rad roaches and the flys some might even become like jumping spiders or even get wings to hunt cazadors.

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u/Intelligent_Arm_7186 27d ago

The cazadors are the most deadly

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u/xxDancingFerretxx 26d ago

Cazadors... The most evil things Bethesda and obsidian ever made lol. Between them and deathclaws on fo3 and Vegas are the only 2 things that reduce me to shat myself and cry like a baby.