How would YOU kill the Xiticix?

[Shark_Force]

again, we're not talking about some normal disease here. we're talking about wiping out the xiticix. completely and utterly. the flu isn't going to work, here, you're going to need something with a 100% infection rate and a 100% fatality rate, against an extremely tough organism.

the potential drawbacks are frankly *huge* and even if the chance of it going horribly wrong is relatively small... it's still there. there aren't many times when "this has a small chance of killing all life on the planet" is a particularly good idea, and i don't think the xiticix problem has reached that point yet...

[grandmaster z0b]

again, we're not talking about some normal disease here. we're talking about wiping out the xiticix. completely and utterly. the flu isn't going to work, here, you're going to need something with a 100% infection rate and a 100% fatality rate, against an extremely tough organism.

the potential drawbacks are frankly *huge* and even if the chance of it going horribly wrong is relatively small... it's still there. there aren't many times when "this has a small chance of killing all life on the planet" is a particularly good idea, and i don't think the xiticix problem has reached that point yet...

Well there are two things that I think you're missing here;

1) I've never said I would use a single virus. In fact my proposal was to use either a virus or a parasite of some kind (which is a very different thing but quite common in the insect world) to target the food source. As well as a virus or parasite on the Xiticix themselves.

2) No virus is ever going to kill everything on the planet. That's ridiculous, there's very little chance of it mutating to another species, let alone to jump animal kingdoms from insect to mammal, and no chance of it killing everything. There's the same chance of a virus made by the CS mutating to kill everything on the planet as there is a chance of the common cold mutating to kill everything on the planet.

I'm not sure if you're actually arguing against my original post or you're just arguing against the idea of a biological agent.

In any case what I was saying is that I think as far as the CS is concerned it's better to use a biological agent like a virus or parasite to target the fungus that they eat and another agent to target the Xiticix themselves rather than the Xiticix Killer.

In response to the OP, I would use the above combination to severely weaken the Xiticix and their ability to reproduce and then initiate an offensive. Preferably with magical allies so I could scout the hives with Astral projection and then teleport nuclear bombs into the Queens chambers.

[Shark_Force]

the question was asked about how to kill the xiticix. if you say "well, i would just use a bunch of viruses and parasites" and then leave it at that, i am left to assume that you mean that you're just going to use viruses and parasites.

so until just now, when you said you would use those to weaken the xiticix and go in with a conventional assault, i'm not quite sure why you think it odd that i would interpret the plan to use biological warfare to mean that that was the extent of your plan.

now then, anyways:

1) targeting the food source slows their growth, i suppose. doesn't really do anything about the fact that there's still just as many of them as before, and that they're still increasing in numbers. furthermore, if you wipe out important insect species, it is entirely possible that you will essentially have made rifts earth (or parts of it) uninhabitable. you don't need the disease to directly kill everything on earth, you just need it to do enough damage to something important to do that.

2) like i said, up until you retconned your plan to include a military assault, your plan was to simply use biological warfare. which would have meant you would have to create some kind of supervirus that has a 100% infection rate, and a 100% fatality rate. perhaps that isn't too likely to target humans directly, but it can certainly go on to wipe out other important species. defoliating the entire planet because plants can't reproduce isn't technically the disease killing everything on earth directly, but it's going to have the same basic problem.

i'm just not convinced that releasing superviruses into an area right next door to your country is *ever* a good idea.

[Vrykolas2k]

I would go with some of the ideas in World Book 23, even though it seems to have been forgotten as of Aftermath...

[grandmaster z0b]

the question was asked about how to kill the xiticix. if you say "well, i would just use a bunch of viruses and parasites" and then leave it at that, i am left to assume that you mean that you're just going to use viruses and parasites.

so until just now, when you said you would use those to weaken the xiticix and go in with a conventional assault, i'm not quite sure why you think it odd that i would interpret the plan to use biological warfare to mean that that was the extent of your plan.

now then, anyways:

1) targeting the food source slows their growth, i suppose. doesn't really do anything about the fact that there's still just as many of them as before, and that they're still increasing in numbers. furthermore, if you wipe out important insect species, it is entirely possible that you will essentially have made rifts earth (or parts of it) uninhabitable. you don't need the disease to directly kill everything on earth, you just need it to do enough damage to something important to do that.

2) like i said, up until you retconned your plan to include a military assault, your plan was to simply use biological warfare. which would have meant you would have to create some kind of supervirus that has a 100% infection rate, and a 100% fatality rate. perhaps that isn't too likely to target humans directly, but it can certainly go on to wipe out other important species. defoliating the entire planet because plants can't reproduce isn't technically the disease killing everything on earth directly, but it's going to have the same basic problem.

i'm just not convinced that releasing superviruses into an area right next door to your country is *ever* a good idea.

I never said "well, i would just use a bunch of viruses and parasites", in fact in each of my posts I've tried to point out what I wrote originally. I didn't respond to the OP, I was making a point about how silly the Xiticix Killer is. If you can't be bothered to read what I said I'm not going to bother to repeat myself or argue with you any more.

[The Beast]

Get a bunch of high level Taboo (WB4, page 77) scrolls made up, create at least an equall number of fetish markers, then gather a bunch of people who can read, can turn invisible, and can stay that way for long periods of time. The group then encircles the hive, set up the markers, then read the scrolls. The hive is now taboo, and as the workers & hunters leave to gather food, protect the hive, or whatever, they'll be crossing the taboo area and become cursed. This will weaken their main food gatherers, and eventually the entire hive will begin to suffer. Best of all, there's no saving throw, and there's no one who's outright attacking the bugs, unless cursed bugs get the "Haunted" option (in that case, it'll be undead, ghosts, and entities attacking the bugs). So the bugs won't realize their in danger unless they abandon the hive. Or one could be particulary fiendish and just pick the "Death" option for all the scrolls and those cursed just outright die sometime within 36 days.

Even better, the Taboo scrolls can be made to target only the bugs, so if you want, the group can go back later with more fetish markers & scrolls, and repeat the process on additional sections of the hive.

[cl7277]

Ask them to leave nicely. If that don't work nuke them. Again and Again.

[Gamer]

I said how I would kill the xiticix however it's yet to be posted because the mods haven't released it from limbo or lost it :/

A TW with the spell "Fumigate insects" p.165 book of magic made into drill bombs that burrow into the hive and set off.

and from the quote in world book 23, page 8 it says "Xiticix are very much "insects." They lack much (if any) individuality or personal identity."

So yeah, put that in your GM pipe and smoke it :3

Not my brand.
One little hitch it is a spell for insect pests not insect like monsters.
That quote mining of yours was taken out of context.
It was describing who they are in comparison to humans not what they are, that's two different things.

[Vrykolas2k]

Not my brand.
One little hitch it is a spell for insect pests not insect like monsters.
That quote mining of yours was taken out of context.
It was describing who they are in comparison to humans not what they are, that's two different things.

another quote "In many ways, the Xiticix are just another type of "bug." The difference is they are an "alien" bug as a big as a man."

Still bugs, just man sized and alien, still bugs, with bug IQ's and bug behaviors that of earths bees, ants, etc.

edit. You know the old saying "If it looks like poo, smells like poo, then it must be indeed poo" This totally applies to them. That would be like having a spell that gets rid of poo, but because it's alien poo it doesn't work, no, it's still poo.

pest (pst)
n.
1. An annoying person or thing; a nuisance.
2. An injurious plant or animal, especially one harmful to humans.
3. A deadly epidemic disease; a pestilence.

The xiticix fit the bill for 1 2 and 3 in my book.

They are annoying things and a nuisance.
They are harmful to humans.
They are TOTALLY a pestilence on the face of any planet they touch.

The CS also fulfills 1,2, and 3 of the Pest definition...

[Hystrix]

Not my brand.
One little hitch it is a spell for insect pests not insect like monsters.
That quote mining of yours was taken out of context.
It was describing who they are in comparison to humans not what they are, that's two different things.

another quote "In many ways, the Xiticix are just another type of "bug." The difference is they are an "alien" bug as a big as a man."

Still bugs, just man sized and alien, still bugs, with bug IQ's and bug behaviors that of earths bees, ants, etc.

edit. You know the old saying "If it looks like poo, smells like poo, then it must be indeed poo" This totally applies to them. That would be like having a spell that gets rid of poo, but because it's alien poo it doesn't work, no, it's still poo.

pest (pst)
n.
1. An annoying person or thing; a nuisance.
2. An injurious plant or animal, especially one harmful to humans.
3. A deadly epidemic disease; a pestilence.

The xiticix fit the bill for 1 2 and 3 in my book.

They are annoying things and a nuisance.
They are harmful to humans.
They are TOTALLY a pestilence on the face of any planet they touch.

The CS also fulfills 1,2, and 3 of the Pest definition...

Negitive. The opposite argument could be made. The CS keeps humans safe. The same cannot be said for the Xiticix...

[Cybermancer]

I like explosions. They're like firecrackers you can enjoy all year round.

Therefore my method of destroying the insects if I were the CS is to program smart long range missiles to hit their hives from all directions, 360 degrees. That way, the bugs have no way of knowing where exactly the attack is coming from. I would pound everything from the ground up into dust. And because the bugs swarm when their hive is under attack, they have just become one giant target that I can hit repeatedly with long range frag missiles until there are no more flying bugs. They are not intellignet creatures. They are bugs. Like farm animals that go into a burning barn for security, the bugs will do what their instinct programming directs. When hive is under attack, swarm outside and chase down attackers. Except they have no means to determine precisely where these missile attacks are coming from so they just swarm. And die.

Then I send in 100's of thousands of skelebots to mop up the rest.

I rinse and repeat for each hive.

And it will work for each hive. Because these are dumb bugs who will not change strategies. They will follow their instincts. When the hive is under attack, swarm.

Because I am the CS, I have unlimited resources with which to do this. And I can pretty much pull them out of my butt at will.

If I am anyone other than the CS in North America, I just let the CS deal with it and enjoy the show.

Of course, if the CS wanted to give the bugs a fighting chance (why?) then they could recruit 1.5 million humans from the burbs (don't worry, more teaming millions will continue to overpopulate the burbs-if there's one thing that breeds faster than bugs, it's humans in the burbs), train them to pilot the old style SAMAS and then sic the lot of them on the Hive lands. If the cannon fodder human army wins, great! They become citizens in the new Fortress city I'll be building right in the middle of the old hivelands. If the bugs win, well, they'll be weakened and vulnerable to my earlier plan (their hive has been attacked, they will swarm, send in the air burst munitions and skelebot chaser).

Again, if I am any other power in North America, I let the CS deal with it and enjoy the show.

[taalismn]

Hey, better living through high explosives and murderous robotic drones.
Works for me.

[dark brandon]

Cut off RoadwarriorFwanks hands, and use them to kill them one at a time.

[Dr Megaverse]

I would follow a multi-stage process.

1.) Creation of a biological agent which adjusts fertility rates of Queens. Make it applicable to all Xiticix genetic material so any bug could be a carrier but it would be designed to adjust the viability of offspring, basically killing them in egg.  This allows you to slow, or stop depending on effectiveness, the population growth removing the fear of an unending tide of bugs.  

2.) Creation of a second biological agent whos main source of nourishment would be Xiticix food. This is another population growth control measure. It also ensure that in the absence of Xiticix PPE Sludge the biological agent dies off. 

3.) Nuclear armed submarines and aircraft would follow up initial infection with targeted strikes designed to lower populations of Xiticix with NO human/D-bee casualties.  This will also help to prevent any spread of possibly mutated biological agents. 

4.)Followed up with a conventional attack force most likely consisting of robots and nuclear shielded power armor. 

There are two big problems I see with eliminating the Xiticix. First their population rate of growth makes any kind of conventional warfare only marginally useful because you are most likely not going to kill all of them and if even one queen nit gets out you've gotta start over. So first you must hobble the Queens ability to reproduce. No eggs means that the Xiticix left...are it. 

In tandem with this is denying the bugs their PPE Sludge, via another biological agent, so that the eggs that are laid don't mature as rapidly thereby reducing the total population growth over time. Again making them more manageable.  So first you must stem the tide of new and upcoming Xiticix.

The second issue is the Swarm. Remember when Xiticix are killed or alarmed they can secrete a pheromone which can just about instantly alert nearly an ENTIRE hive within minutes that something is wrong. So as soon as a single bug dies in/near the hive you are gonna be looking at a pissed off swarm of bugs all rushing OUT of the hive. This makes it hard to get conventional forces in and down deep without heavy resistance and most likely casualties. 

This is why I opted for a biological stage that could be delivered by a small team followed up by large scale nuclear bombardment and THEN your conventional forces. Having the nuclear bombardment first will limit your selection of ground forces however. There is the issue with the fallout, which can be mostly controlled by using tactical bunker buster devices, however I don't think you want regular Warlocks and Shifters running around so radiation shielding is going to be a must. The previously mention Triax robots, refitted with plasma napalm cannons, are an excellent, cheap, effective alternative which will again lower the loss of life.  

As to the long term inhabit ability of the Hivelands, if you recall the Hivelands are a transformed and utterly useless wasteland. I don't see the Hivelands as being slated for colonization before the fallout wears off.   

[X'Zanthar]

I agree that biological attacks in the form of a virus might be a bad thing. Yes, the CS is good at bio-engineering, and it is would probably be a sure bet against a normal enemy in a normal enviroment (though other posters are right, last place you want a virus released is in your own backyard). Xits are not normal, they are d-bees filled with a as yet not fully understood (especially by the CS) energy, which also happens to be flooding the planet. This same energy has also mutated normal humans.

The CS in with their awesome bio-engineering also still can't get dog boys to breed without mutation! Something a CS does not want are dog boys that end up better than humans. Speaking of mutating dog boys, another bit of energy actually quite rapidly turned some into fearsome beings which are now on the loose (darkhounds). So a fast breeding virus zapped with demonic energy say turns into something far worse?

We have the rule that rift enviroments do not mix unless able to via a neutral point of access, such as a firehose shooting water from a hydrant goes through a rift and emerges on the other side to fill a pool.

[Wooly]

Simple is best. There is no need for intricate magic/teleporting/rifting solutions. Genetic research is costly and takes time. There is already proven weapons which will do the job.

1. This doesn't make a good story
2. Palladium Books generally has a poor understanding of military technology post 1980. This can be seen time and time again in various books. The Golden Age Weaponsmith stuff is a glaring example (i.e. The height of pre-rifts fighter technology is the presently retired F-14 Tomcat).

Unless I am missing something the Xiticix have no, I repeat NO defense against long range artillery, missiles, ariel bombardment. A couple of fuel air bombs and MOAB style bombs per hive should do the trick.

The weakly written bit in the back of Source Book 1 Revised and Expanded that the Xiticix would recognize CS forces and then attack Chi-town I just don't buy.

For your reading pleasure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_M ... Blast_bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon

[Mack]

Non-Rifts posts removed.