Killer bee
a killer bee 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 1 |
| Base experience | 31 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | Poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison resistance (30%) |
|
A killer bee: | |
| Reference | NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 114 |
The killer bee, a, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. Killer bees are female, oviparous and inediate insects that are capable of flight.
A killer bee has a single poisonous sting that can drain strength, and possesses poison resistance.
A killer bee corpse is poisonous to eat, and eating a killer bee corpse or tin has a 3⁄10 chance of granting poison resistance due to a special case for them in the code.[1]
Chatting to a killer bee causes it to drone, or buzz angrily if it is hostile.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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.
Per commit dbd39f2c, statues of killer bees and other tiny monsters have a minimum weight of 100.
Per commit 47724f01, the killer bee's difficulty is increased to 6.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated killer bees are always created hostile, and are often generated in large groups. Killer bees can hatch from queen bee eggs, including ones laid by a hero polymorphed into a queen bee, and 76⁄77 of eggs laid this way will be killer bee eggs.[2]
Kicking a tree has an effective 3⁄200 of generating 2+rnl(4) killer bees near the hero, which can only happen once per tree.[3]
Hostile killer bees can be generated by the summon insects monster spell.[4]
Beehives are special rooms that contain a horde of killer bees, a queen bee, and lumps of royal jelly—there is a guaranteed beehive within the Wizard's Tower.
Killer bees can 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.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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.
Per commit 4159dd98, killer bees can eat royal jelly to grow up into queen bees if no queen already exists on the level, and pet killer bees will actively seek out nearby royal jelly to do this. If queen bees are genocided, killer bees will die upon eating royal jelly. Per commit 5e26589f, this also applies to a hero polymorphed into a killer bee that eats royal jelly.
Per commit d44c83d4, applying non-cursed royal jelly to a killer bee egg will turn it into a queen bee egg; cursed royal jelly will kill the egg ('The egg quivers feebly'), while non-cursed jelly will revive it if it is stale ('The egg quivers briefly'), and blessed jelly will make the newborn creature consider the hero its parent, so it is guaranteed to hatch tame.Strategy
While not especially strong individually, killer bees are quite fast at 18 speed, and their sting can drain strength and even instantly kill you unless you are resistant. Despite their offensive threat, killer bees have low HP, and will often die in a couple of hits; however, they have a low natural AC, making them hard to hit in the first place. A source of extrinsic poison resistance, such as an alchemy smock or amulet versus poison, will prevent the worst of the damage from the stings; high magic cancellation from armor can offer some protection as a last resort.
Discretion is the better part of valor: if you are low-level, burdened and/or lack poison resistance, you will want to get away as quickly as possible using suitable wands or escape items. Elbereth can also offer some breathing room against killer bees if you find it difficult to avoid them. If you plan to actually fight back, drawing the bees into narrow corridors is a valuable tactic, either to handle them one at a time or else decimate them with wands or spells—killer bees have no MR score, and even magic missile wands will suffice if they hit. An effective alternative, especially for pacifists, is to lead the bees to a falling rock trap, which will dispose of them quickly.
Killer bees are a popular source of intrinsic poison resistance for characters with extrinsic poison resistance, or else with means to prevent strength loss and/or significantly reduce poison damage: You can nullify the strength penalty through the use of a ring of sustain ability, or reverse it with a unicorn horn. A tinning kit makes the corpses safe to eat and slightly increases the nutrition provided per corpse.
Killer bees created by the summon insects spell are usually encountered at a point where they are of no real trouble to most heroes, and can even serve as a useful physical buffer, e.g. against aligned priests.
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.
Per commit d0b11fd2, poison no longer causes instadeath, but still results in significant damage to maximum HP and attributes. Per commit 43d331c4, unicorn horns no longer restore lost attributes.
Since killer bees will eat lumps of royal jelly to become queen bees, it is prudent to save the original queen for last when clearing out a hive if you want an easier fight and/or want their jelly for yourself.History
The killer bee first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. Beehives first appear in NetHack 3.0.0.
Origin
The "killer bee" is an Africanized hybrid of the western honey bee, produced originally by crossbreeding the East African lowland honey bee with various European honey bee subspecies, such as the Italian honey bee and the Iberian honey bee. The East African lowland honey bee was first introduced to Brazil in 1956 in an effort to increase honey production, but 26 swarms escaped quarantine in 1957; since then, the hybrid has spread throughout the Americas. Africanized honey bees are typically (but not always) much more defensive than other varieties of honey bees, and are more easily provoked and react to disturbances faster, chasing targets for up to a quarter of a mile.
"Killer bee" stings are 10 times more frequent than from European honey bees, and have killed horses and other animals, and even some humans - this has made them highly feared, a reaction amplified by media reports and movies such as The Swarm. "Killer bee" is also used as a blanket term for any type of bee demonstrating aggressive behavior, which is often dramatized as actively seeking humans to attack. Despite this, their venom is no more potent than any other variety of honey bee, and higher-reported sting incidents are entirely rooted in their more aggressive reactions compared to European honeybees. While sting cases can still become very serious, they remain relatively rare and only kill one or two people per year on average.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, killer bees are a lawful always-female species.
Several killer bees are encountered on the Lawful Quest, and can be generated with armor made to fit their body shape. A killer bee generated on the Lawful Quest has a 1⁄4 chance of generating with leather armor, and otherwise has an effective 1⁄4 chance of generating with a plain dress.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, poison resistance is a partial intrinsic, meaning that killer bees can be more dangerous for a hero since they need 35% poison resistance to prevent instant deaths from their stings, unless they can obtain the intrinsic by gaining experience levels. Conversely, a hero with extrinsic poison resistance can eat several killer bees to increase their intrinsic levels of poison resistance.
Honey badgers have a mutual grudge against killer bees and can generate on levels with beehives, and will move towards the royal jelly within the hive if they are closer to it than they are to you—this makes it possible that the badgers will awaken the hive before you are prepared to deal with either them or the bees.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, the Gnome King's Apiary is a variant of Mines' End that contains a beehive with a queen bee and several killer bees.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, partial intrinsics function as in EvilHack, with the exception that only 25% partial poison resistance is required to avoid instant death from killer bee stings and other poison attacks. The mutual grudge between bees and honey badgers also applies.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for bee.
References
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 842: When eating a killer bee corpse, the code ignores their base level and automatically grants poison resistance 1⁄4 of the time; the other 3⁄4 of the time, there is the usual level-based 1⁄15 chance to grant it. Combined, these chances exactly equal 3⁄10.
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3914
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1141
- ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 589
