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: 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 be devastating 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.

Giant ant
Only found dead throughout the Capital Wasteland, though not much is known 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 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 1/2 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 mother 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 ant 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 the same health as 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 the player. They are small for mutated ants and live in the Shalebridge tunnels. It is under attack by a hostile, more aggressive colony of rival giant ants. The Lone Wanderer can help the forager ants by traveling into the rival ant nest and killing their queen. They then 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 shot, one of the others won't attack you unless they are about two feet away. They are extremely small for regular wasteland ants, even smaller than radroaches.

Related quests

 * Those!
 * A Nice Day for a Right Wedding

Appearances
Giant ants appear in Fallout 3.

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.