|
"Is that gnat drunk or something? It's coming right at me." |
| -Max |
|
"[radio click] Kssht. Tower to gnat, say intentions: your flight path is not cleared." |
| -Pete |
|
"Ugh, here comes another homing gnat." |
| -Willow |
|
"These gnats are more annoying than my little brother." |
| -Hoops |
The Gnat is a small, mostly passive flying insect found around the central sections of the Backyard, especially in high abundance around the Flooded Zone biomes. Gnats are seen in bigger swarms around sources of light. They are identified by their fuzz and big eyes, as well as their loud buzzing. They have an infected variant and another variant found in the Trash Heap.
Behavior[]
Gnats are slow-flying insects and never land on the ground. While flying, they sway from side-to-side and have mostly erratic flight patterns. Combined with their floaty movement, they can be difficult to hit with ranged weapons. Gnats near flowers can be seen carrying tiny balls of Pollen or Spoiled Meat. When damaged or killed, the Pollen is dropped. During night-time a majority of the Gnats in the Backyard will fly to the large garden lights and swarm them in clusters.
Interaction With Player[]
Gnats are mostly passive but actively “boop” the player on sight, causing slight movement and possibly knocking the player off a secure position into a more dangerous one. Doing this they make an "eugh" sound. After several boops, Gnats typically lose interest and fly away. Others may give chase but due to their slow movement speed, they are easily outrun. Despite their very close interactions with the player, Gnats will always run away when attacked by the player. They can also be tamed by the player with Spoiled Meat Slurry.
Interaction With Other Creatures[]
Gnats tend to have no direct interaction with other creatures and don't attempt to boop other creatures. They will, on occasion, get stuck in webs made by Orb Weavers.
Taming[]
Gnats can be pacified by the player by feeding them enough Spoiled Meat Slurries, in which they will eat when on the ground. When dropped, the Gnat will automatically descend and land on the ground to eat the slurry. After enough is eaten, the Gnat will be tamed by the player. When tamed, they apply the Gnat Friend Bonus that increases glide distance with a Dandelion Tuft. They will ignore slurries if they are currently being attracted by any of the garden lamps at night.
Advanced Loot Table[]
This is a more advanced covering of the loot-table of Gnat. Each item has an independent chance and count, in which the chance is the chance it can drop and the count is the amount of items that have that chance. If a count larger than 1 is in one section, then each item has an independent chance from one another (EX: Instead of getting say 2 of a resource, you can get 1 with a 70% chance and another with an additional 70% chance). In terms of Stealing, it can take one item from every section of the loot table, so even if a item count is say 5, the player will only steal one from that section.
Creature Loot Tables also tend to have large amounts of 1% items, which is intended to make stealing more rare items harder, as the player is more likely to steal the large amounts of 1% items than a singular 50% item.
Note: For consistency sake, all duplicate categories have a multiplier next to them, but function as unique loot types when say using Stealing.
| Item | Count | Chance | Additional Info |
|---|---|---|---|
 Apple Bits
|
1 | 1% | - |
 Billy Hog Bite
|
1 | 1% | - |
 Cookie Sandwich Bits
|
1 | 1% | - |
 Gnat Fuzz
|
1 | 100% | - |
| Gnat Fuzz
|
2 | 50% | - |
| Gnat Fuzz
|
1 | 1% | - |
 Pet Memorial Gnat
|
1 | 100% | When Tamed Not Stealable |
 Raw Gnat Meat
|
1 | 100% | - |
| Raw Gnat Meat
|
1 | 1% | - |
Strategy[]
Killing Gnats can be annoying due to their tendency to fly high off the ground. The player can bait them by attempting to lure the gnat to "boop" them, and then attack them with a melee weapon. However, a better option is just to use a Sprig Bow, as it can kill them in mostly 1-2 hits. Spoiled Meat Slurries can be used to attract gnats for easier hunting.
Trivia[]
- The developers have commonly used the term “booping” for the action of a Gnat bumping into the player.
- This is likely a reference to the term commonly used in meme culture, referring to touching a creature's nose in an affectionate way.
- The Gnat seems to be based on a fly, specifically Psychodidae, commonly known as the drain fly or sewer gnat. True gnats are more mosquito-shaped and also bite humans, but the Gnat in-game doesn't bite and has a rotund shape with lots of fuzz just like the drain fly. It's also attracted to light as seen at night near the porch lights, so the Gnat may actually be based on Psychodidae.
- The "Handy Gnat's" name is Felix.
Gallery[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||