Aggressive Bugs, Like Really Really Aggressive Bugs

[infamousblob]

Hi,
Haven't played RimWorld since Alpha 16 and recently decided to get into it again now Beta 18 came out. Just came up against a pretty huge scale problem though.

I sent about 2/3 of my colony out on a raid on a (distant) pirate base (roughly 17 days travel considering I sent them out in pods although thanks to ambushes turned into 30). Was a super fruitless raid as well, just got some simple meals and a couple of weapons. While they were away a bug hive spawned. My thoughts were, since the folks that were left were about 1/2 non-violent etc. that I'd wait for the aggressive guys to come back before I go after the bugs. They were far enough away from my base to not be any trouble (or at least considering what they were like in alpha 16 anyway).

But weirdly they were super aggressive. Instead of just sitting around and only getting nasty if I approached them, they kept going into massive rages, calming down and then going for it again. I'd restricted the area they were in, animals were moved far far out of the way etc. so there was no clear trigger. They just kept loosing their tempers. First they battered down the door to my in mountain barn. Then they calmed down, and went back to their zone. Then they lost it again, came for the (turned off) freezer room next to the barn, battered down some more doors and the cooler (making a path to the outdoors). Then they went for it again, went outside, bashed in my turrets (which were miles away from their hives), broke down my indoor farming building and went back to calm again. Few moments later they're at it again. One of them during a calm phase mined the outside wall of my main freezer and next they're battering the coolers there. They also broke down my front door at this point (they actually spawned behind my base but ended up flanking me) and started going wild in my workshop. By this point my other guys had just come back, although because of ambushes, poor planning and my inability to reach my pods to dispatch some food/medicine to them on their way (the bugs blocked my path there), they arrived back malnourished and with infections. Two of them arrived immobile. The bugs got angry again, killed two and knocked down everybody else.

I quit at this point because I deemed the situation fairly unsalvagable. The only colonist not down was trapped in the hospital (off the workshop) and couldn't safely get out to do any rescues. If they had don't think there's anything I could have done aside from maybe grab some resources whilst the bugs were temporarily chill and abandon the colony.

My question I guess is is this normal? Seemed quite odd compared to their far less problematic ways in alpha 16. They were only a problem if they got into your base/spawned there. You needed to deal with them before that happened, but it was safe to wait a bit because they'd never come for you unless you went for them/ended up in their expansion path. In this case they just kept phasing in and out of aggression with no obvious trigger. Don't have any mods which theoretically should modify insects. Something I did notice were dead megascarabs lying around (hypothermia, it was winter), did that set them off? A glitch assuming that I'm causing the damage? Or them seeking warmer temperatures (the way they did it they'd struggle since they just opened buildings to the elements each time they went aggressive)?

Thanks

[Snafu_RW]

Something I did notice were dead megascarabs lying around (hypothermia, it was winter), did that set them off? A glitch assuming that I'm causing the damage?
Thanks

Bugs in A17+will aggro towards your pawns if harmed, no matter where the dmg came from. This makes them a PITA & has already been reported as a bug (hah!) a few times

The new cave system in B18 may help (bugs spawning but non-hostile), but I've yet to encounter one in my preferred biome(s)

From what you've written ISTM the bugs were aggro-ing due to environmental (temp) dmg. I hope this is addressed, but that's up to DEVs to balance (eg player-initiated firestrike on sealed room vs natural biome temp)..

BTW did you take a look at temps within the spawn area? Bugs shouldn't be able to spawn at <-17C (A17 stats), so unless you've been digging deeply & greedily into undermountain & then heating those areas they shouldn't have appeared..

[infamousblob]

Ah that explains it then. Is a nice little catastrophe event as is I guess. Did always want bugs to be a little less passive in A16 - my strategy used to be send a guy in with something incendiary whilst they're asleep, set fire to the hive area, walk away and no consequences, dead in a few hours from overheating. Alternatively used to get a guy with a sniper to stand just out of their range for chasing (he could shoot with impunity for a good few mins).

My experience with the cave bugs is that they didn't really seem to last long. They spawned in the way of a route traders used to enter in the one case where they showed up and when the traders walked in the bugs attacked them for getting too close to the hive before the traders turned around and whacked em' back for attacking. Also was an oddidity where their hive area wasn't visible to me for a while, meaning that with the visitors mod I'd get warned that there were bugs making visitors scared of visiting, even though I wasn't aware of any. Spotted them when they dug an exit for their cavern which explained the mysterious warning.

The spawn area was probably at about -7 when they spawned, although outside it was -20. There was a bit of a disparity between the area they spawned in and the outside which steadily adjusted over time, partly because they were three or four compartments away from the outside (I'd done this on purpose to keep any bugs contained) and, despite their zone being unheated, it took time for the outside temperature to move through each compartment. Also partly because my base leached some heat into there, keeping the lowest it could get always a few degrees above the outdoors.

[Foefaller]

Probably is a bug related to temperature. I had one map that had a small hive to start with, and during the first cold snap the bugs left the cave they were in and started wandering around my base. Best I could tell it was because it got so cold that the hive that anchored them to the cave was destroyed.

Weren't aggressive at first, but after one of my pawns got struck by lightning from a flashstorm (what luck) and fires started popping up, had no choice but to kill them since most of the colonists fled in terror at the sight of them.

[Hans Lemurson]

What about passive-aggressive bugs?

I don't want to attack you.  I don't.  I'm a naturally peaceful creature. I'd be content to just mind my own business chewing rocks in my cave, but SOMEBODY didn't leave the heat on for us, and I tried to mention it, dropped a few HINTS here and there but I guess you colonists think you're just *too good* for us bugs out here.  It's ok, I understand.  I get it, I really do. I'm just saying, that if it's still this cold tomorrow, I really can't be held responsible for what happens.