Spiders IN SPACE! The giant spider is the bane of stations galaxywide, not only will they destroy everything you love and hold dear, but you'll be powerless to stop them. If allowed to settle into an area, they'll start wrapping objects up in webbing and suck the juices out of any nearby bodies so they can lay eggs, which hatch into spiderlings that themselves will grow into a new generation of giant spiders. Sharp objects are needed to cut through the webs in order to make whatever they're covering usable again.

Contents 1 Spid-o-Vision 2 Stages 3 Queen Conditions 4 The little spiderling that could 5 ;OH GOD SPIDERS IN DOR- 6 Notes

Spid-o-Vision

Spiders have a very acute night vision, seeing flawlessly in complete dark, bright lights however will block vision on an area until the light source is broken. For most effects and purposes, spiders need dark and can't see in light. [[File:Spider-human-vision.png|thumb|300px|What a spider sees vs what you see.

Stages These are the general stages a spider will go through, keep in mind that behaviours described here are for NPC spiders unless otherwise stated. A player-controlled spider can and will behave differently for the most part.

Stage Description Health Damage Poison

Eggs

Completely harmless, filled with some toxin and if left unchecked will hatch into 6 to 8 spiderlings, each with the potential to become a fearful adult or a terrifying queen. Takes from 50 to 100 ticks on average to hatch. N/A N/A N/A

Spiderling

Tiny, weak, easily killed, but with huge potential. Can ventcrawl and move under tables/items. Has a 75% chance to be able to mature into the Hunter, Guard or Nurse forms, but has to wait from 50 to 100 ticks to evolve. Player spiderlings will always mature. NPC spiderlings will always try to crawl inside vent pumps regardless of situation and move someplace else. 12 5 (Harm) N/A

Guard

The guardians of the nest, these dog-sized arachnids will stay close to whatever nests the Nurses and Queens make, making retrieval of victims and tools difficult. About half growing spiderlings will become guards. Fairly slow, but tanky. Will chase lights and bots within its available area unless seen or attacked, moment at which it will hunt the attacker. 200 15-20 5u Toxin per bite.

Hunter

These will actively leave the “nest” and hunt for prey nearby, they can force open airlocks and will break any lights they see, but unlike their guard counterparts, will actively chase any living being, expanding the area for the nurses and guards. 120 10-20 5u Toxin per bite.

Nurse

The crafters and breeders of the colony, these will chase any living being, incapacitated or not, cocoon them then suck out their fluids. After which they will lay a single egg group. They will cocoon whatever they can find, from corpses to tables to shards of glass, etc and will place web around, making movement difficult. Needs special conditions fulfilled to evolve into a queen. 75 5-10 10u Sleep Toxin per bite.

Queen

A fearsome mix of both Hunters and Nurses, with a ton of health and damage to boot. These walking behemoths not only move decently fast, but can throw a ball of sticky web to “web” a victim remotely, giving it valuable time to approach and attack. Even if the victim somehow escapes, the sleep toxin will do the rest. Player controlled Queens can constantly web tiles they walk on, which blocks movement and lasers/bullets (once). 500 30-40 10u Sleep Toxin per bite.

Queen Conditions Nurses need a certain amount of “total spiders” per nurse/queen for one to grow into a queen. For NPC spiders there must be at least 10 spiders per nurse/queen for a nurse to evolve. For player-controlled spiders there must be at least 6 spiders per player for a nurse to evolve. Keep in mind that NPC and player controlled nurses/queens are not counted separately, so an NPC nurse might evolve into a queen if you were distracted. For example, if there are 3 player spiders you'll need 18 spiders in total to unlock the Queen.

The little spiderling that could

You're one of the sentient spiderlings that woke up on Space Station 13 and you want to prepare the grounds to make a family, good for you. You will need to wait for your growth tick to go fully into adult, which will take anywhere from 100 to 200 seconds. Stay in dark places, the crew will not hesitate in stomping any and all spiderlings they can see, for your success means the end of the crew.

Once mature enough to grow, ventcrawl to your location of choice. Most would go for genetics or virology, due to the abundance of non-aggressive food (monkeys), but mind your surroundings, as it will take you a while to kill a monkey, cocoon it then suck out its fluids, and you can't ventcrawl as an adult spider, so keep escape routes in mind. If satisfied with the area, get out of the pipe and evolve into a Nurse. Nurses are the only normal adults spiders that can reproduce, this is how you will make more of your family.

After becoming a Nurse spider, kill and cocoon as many beings as you can then lay eggs in various places. Do not lay all your eggs in virology, only enough for you to become a queen (2 or 3), as the newborn spiderlings will not be able to escape the area. Find vents in low traffic areas where you can lay your eggs, so the newborns can ventcrawl, evolve and reproduce in different areas of the station.

Once there are enough spiders for you to become queen, quickly claim the queen status for yourself (since other player spiders might do it before you). Go on a rampage, capture humanoids, make more children, repeat.

;OH GOD SPIDERS IN DOR- Calm down, it ain't so bad. Sure, there might be like 40 spiders in that room, but you're a goddamned spaceman, no walking nightmare will kill you if you prepare. As is usual with most threats, spiders can be killed in any mundane way, from lasers to bullets, to a lucky spear to the exoskeleton. Be aware of the kinds of spider you are going to face. Guards are slow and can be Run&Gunned with ease, but hunters will need at least one person to work as bait and run constantly. Hunters cannot open bolted/welded doors, so a quick weld on a closed door will leave the spider locked behind, where you can safely kill with lasers.

Spiders are not resistant to the space winds of ZAS, so a well placed breach will move all spiders in the area to the same location, where they're the perfect target for intense firepower or explosives.

Being hot or cold will slowly damage spiders over time, so hot or cold rooms (space is not cold for these purposes) are a good way to kill a nest. One way to achieve this is to remotely access the air alarm and overheat/freeze the room, or just throw a molotov inside and pray.

Check if the spider is sentient or not. Sentient spiders have self-preservation and will not engage when very injured, so plan accordingly.

If you're the only survivor left, call the shuttle and God have mercy on your soul.

Notes Any living being can be cocooned and sucked for fluids and eggs, this includes mice and cockroaches. Spider meat and legs are mildly toxic, but the toxic glands can be removed on a food processor. NPC spiders cannot break windows into space, but player-controlled ones can. Beware the sentient menace.