Can you prevent bugs from spawning?

[mrudi]

I'm thinking no but curious what the logic is for spawning. They dont spawn inside your base so is there a radius around structures that they can not spawn?

[MalcolmCooks]

There is a certain max distance away from an existing base where they cannot spawn a new one. existing nests or player structures in a chunk will significantly reduce the chance of a biter nest spawning there, but not eliminate it entirely. but any biters trying to spawn a nest inside your base will probably be killed before they get a chance to. you can see the chunks which biters may expand to by looking in the debug options (F4) for show_enemy_expansion_candidate_chunks

[Mehve]

Just to be clear - the nests don't "Spawn". Periodically, a group of biters will travel from an existing base, to a new, nearby location. Once they arrive there, they'll wait a short time, and then morph into a new base. And the great cycle of life will continue. But there's no magic or teleportation involved, the group needs to physically move to reach the new location.

Where the logic comes into play is when the AI chooses a location to try and expand to - areas that already have stuff in them, whether it's existing nests or player structures, are given a much smaller chance of being chosen.

[mrudi]

Just to be clear - the nests don't "Spawn". Periodically, a group of biters will travel from an existing base, to a new, nearby location. Once they arrive there, they'll wait a short time, and then morph into a new base. And the great cycle of life will continue. But there's no magic or teleportation involved, the group needs to physically move to reach the new location.

Where the logic comes into play is when the AI chooses a location to try and expand to - areas that already have stuff in them, whether it's existing nests or player structures, are given a much smaller chance of being chosen.

So if you have built walls all around your base, a nest can not form within your walls, correct (unless they break through and you dont notice I guess)?

[Mehve]

So if you have built walls all around your base, a nest can not form within your walls, correct (unless they break through and you dont notice I guess)?

Basically, yes. For larger bases, a common tactic is to use choke points between large bodies of water. Set up a defensive wall there, and clear out everything behind the wall. The entire cleared out area will be safe as long as the wall holds. You'll get attacks from the expansion attempts, but killing the biter group will prematurely end the expansion attempt.

[bobucles]

Can you stop biter migration? Yes. Look up the "Victory Pole" tactic. Basically, biters are limited in how close they can build next to your things, so you can short out their expansion by building your own things everywhere.

Can you stop biters from spawning out of their spawners entirely? Also yes. Build yourself a few hundred pipes and surround the whole nest in them. Buuuuut I think this tactic only works on easy (no aggression) mode.

[impetus maximus]

the game mechanic has been changed, and victory poles no longer work.
start walling off areas.