Spider
Spiders are the worst thing a xenobiologist can release, not only because of their lethality but, how incredibly hard it is to truly kill them off as even letting one egg sack grow up into a new wave of spiders is a hell the ship should not know of.
Spiders
Common Spiders
Ice Spiders
Above all that, some spiders are ice spiders. Ice spiders are exactly like the normal ones, but they have a different color and they are resistant to the cold. That's it.
Uncommon Spiders
Spiderlings
This is a baby spider, created by either a nurse spider or something far worse, They have a suprisingly high amount of health and they move around fast, but don't attack and are not player controlled. They will run around for awhile until they grow into a big spider. They can and most certainly will use vents, so they're very good at not getting killed.
So you're a spider
It seems science has gone too far! The spider will, depending on it's type, either go around killing, or laying eggs for the next generation of killers, or both. Some are better at the former, and others are better at the ladder.
Objectives
The most important thing for spiders is ensuring that there will be another generation for the spiders. If you already have a lot of them, a steady flow of new spiders is to be expected but if you're just starting out, getting your first kill is the most important part of ensuring the survival of your species. If you came from xenobio, follow your directives, damnit! They are your most important objective, moreso than other spiders.
Abilities
Webbing
This ability is used by all spiders, and by god is it great. Placing webbing will have a chance to prevent carbons from moving. Only decent, right? Well, it gets even better as you can stack webbing over and over making one tile you spend a lot of time reinforcing almost impossible to cross webs. Bait humans in and then go wild.
Cocoon
Also usable by all spiders, wraps up bodies and items. If you're a normal spider, it's good for basically destroying items that could kill you. If you're a nurse, bodies will feed you, allowing...
Lay eggs
Only for Nurse spider. Every cocooned body will feed you, allowing one use of lay eggs. Spawns a few spiderlings after awhile. Protect them, the eggs are easily destroyed
So you're hunting spiders
So the spiders have run out of flypeople to eat and now have a taste for human flesh! What do?
Kill the Nurses
Remember, only nurse spiders can reproduce. If you kill all of them, you've already won. And, on top of that, they're easy to kill if you're careful. With only 40 health, a couple swings with any decent blunt weapon will take them out. They still are venomous so even if you kill them they can really injure you with toxins, so carry some medicines. Avoid other spiders if you can, as they're the ones who can wreck you.
Flood with space
Spiders still breathe, which makes getting a spacesuit and removing the ship's air pretty viable. Now, obviously, this will incur the ire of your fellow spacemens, so it's more of a last resort. It does do a stellar job of killing spiders, though, as they can't put on a spacesuit. If you want to kill a lot of spiders without also turning your space ship into a spaced ship, you could just...
Remove air from the vents
Spiders LOVE vents! They use them to get everywhere. They CAN attack doors to get around, but this takes forever and it's only a last resort for a smart spider. Don't fill it with plasma. Just remove the air from the vents by turning on 'Loop to Waste' and turning off anything that would feed the loop. That should create a space-like environment in the loop, which kills spiders who try to ventcrawl extremely fast. You can also add a freezer to the loop if you're experienced with atmos, and that'll kill them faster if combined with low pressure.
Avoid webbing
Spider's webbing is their bread and butter. If they can't fight you, which hopefully is the case, the smart ones will recede back into their webbing and taunt you. Don't fall for it! Once you enter the webbing, the spider can destroy you, as you cannot move in some of the bigger webs.
Relevant Code Changes
#2311 - Added spider meat, meals, and butchering
#5050 - Updates spiders to have full player functionality
#7984 - Reworks the pink/light pink slime line to not be nearly worthless to breed