Soldier ant
a soldier ant 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 6 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d4, Sting 3d4 poison |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 37 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 20 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | Poison |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison (20%) |
|
A soldier ant: | |
| Reference | monst.c#line116 |
A soldier ant, a, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an insect that is a stronger, poisonous cousin of the giant ant. Soldier ants are among the most common source of early-game deaths, and as of March 2024 they occupy the #3 position on NAO's list of most frequent deaths.
Soldier ants have a bite attack and a poisonous sting attack, and possess poison resistance.
A soldier ant corpse is poisonous to eat, but eating a soldier ant corpse or tin has a 1⁄5 chance of conveying poison resistance.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated soldier ants are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups of 2-4.
An anthole may be populated entirely by soldier ants.[1]
Hostile soldier ants can be generated by the summon insects monster spell.[2]
Soldier ants appear among the a that are part of the first quest monster class for Valkyries and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters that are randomly generated on the Valkyrie quest.
Strategy
As with giant ants, soldier ants are very fast at 18 speed, and their poisonous sting makes them even deadlier to the point of possible instadeath. They also have the same AC of 3 as a giant ant, making them hard to hit without trained-up or enchanted weapons. Even for characters with poison resistance, their stronger attacks can also chew through poorly-armored characters.
The same techniques for escaping or fighting giant ant swarms can work for soldier ants: avoid being surrounded at all costs, and try to lead them through a nearby corridor or close doors to block them off. Keep an eye on where any stairs are located and be prepared to retreat there if possible - avoid being burdened if at all reasonable to maximize your movement speed. Elbereth reliably works on soldier ants, and any form of magic can work as well since they also have no MR score. Have whatever escape items you can, e.g. scrolls of teleportation and wands of teleportation, ready to go if a group of ants threatens to overwhelm you, and once you escape them steer clear as long as possible until you can deal with them.
For characters capable of fighting soldier ant swarms, use your best ranged weapons, offensive spells and/or wands where possible. Wands of sleep and slow monster can work in a cautious fighter's favor and can also work as a means of escaping them, and wands of magic missile are also somewhat effective. Even if you can contain a group of soldier ants to a corridor, their damage and speed makes it wisest to bring them all down quickly as possible. Once killed, soldier ant corpses can be used as a source of poison resistance for characters who lack the intrinsic, but have an external source on hand and/or a tinning kit to make them safe to eat.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Poison no longer causes instadeath, but still results in significant damage to HP and attributes.History
The soldier ant first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. In Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and from Hack 1.0 to NetHack 2.3e, the giant ant behaves much like the modern soldier ant does, attacking with a poisonous sting and leaving a poisonous corpse.
Origin
Giant ants - specifically, ants or ant-like creatures that are human sized or larger - are a popular form of insectoid in science-fiction media, codified by the giant ants seen in Them! (1954) and Empire of the Ants (1977). Other notable examples include the Bugs of Starship Troopers, the Formics of Ender's Game, and the ants that accompany Marvel Comics super hero Ant-Man. Like other ants in various forms of fiction, they are commonly portrayed as a hive species, which is a common misconception regarding ant colonies.
The soldier ant is a nickname given to army ants, which refers to any of over 200 ant species that display aggressive predatory behavior and travel in large foraging groups known as "raids". Unlike most ant species, army ants do not construct permanent nests, and an army ant colony moves almost incessantly over its lifespan. All army ant species are members of the true ant family Formicidae, but several groups of army anys have independently evolved the same basic behavioural and ecological syndrome: this is often referred to as "legionary behaviour". The largest genus of army ant is Neivamyrmex, which contains more than 120 species; the name comes from the common name for the most predominant species of army ant, Eciton burchellii.
The soldier ant of NetHack is derived from the "warrior" giant ants Dungeons & Dragons, which have the same hit dice, armor class and damage dice. 'Warrior' ants make up roughly 1⁄10 of giant ants that a group will encounter, especially within their nests where there is one warrior for every 5 workers, and 5 warrior ants guard the egg chamber. If the queen ant is killed, the warriors will become confused for six rounds before fleeing the nest like the other ants.
Variants
In variants that incorporate the Convict patch, the soldier ant is the first quest monster for Convicts, and makes up 96⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, soldier ants are lawful.
Several soldier ants are encountered on the Lawful Quest, and can generate with armor made to fit their body shape - this is a pun on their nickname. A soldier ant generated on the Lawful Quest has a 3⁄5 chance of generating with armor: a 1⁄10 chance of generating with plate mail, a 1⁄5 chance of generating with chain mail, and a 3⁄10 chance of generating with scale mail; soldier ants that receive any body armor will also generate with a helmet.
Encyclopedia entry
This giant variety of the ordinary ant will fight just as
fiercely as its small, distant cousin. Various varieties
exist, and they are known and feared for their relentless
persecution of their victims.
