Ant (Fallout 3)

Giant ants are creatures found in the Capital Wasteland in 2277.

Background
Giant ants are large mutated arthropod insects of the Formicidae family, genus Camponotus, most likely black carpenter ants.

Some scientists theorize this mutation comes from the effects of extended exposure to radiation.

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 in Fallout 3: Workers, soldiers, queens, and the mutated forager ants.

Ant nectar can be occasionally be looted from their corpses and their refuse piles (found in their lairs).

Gameplay attributes
If their antennae are crippled, ants will frenzy and attack everything around them, including their own kind.

There are several dead giant ants outside Megaton. Given that the scouting report from the 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 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. These forager ants are the same as any friendly NPC, 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 HP damage.

Giant ant
Only found dead throughout the Capital Wasteland, not much is know about this variant.

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 ant 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).

Giant soldier ant
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.

Giant worker ant
As their name suggests, these ants do most of the work around the colony. They are relatively frail but are found in large groups.

Invader ant
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 less health than a soldier ant, but more health than a worker ant, so they can still pack a punch for low level players.

Mutated forager ant
These ants are friendly and won't attack you. 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.

Related quests

 * A Nice Day for a Right Wedding
 * Those!

Bugs

 * 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).
 * 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.