| “ | Naedocyte Breeders serve as the motherships of the Naedocyte Collective, and provide a constant mental link between any nearby Naedocytes. They are known to travel great distances back and forth to check up on their myriad egg deposits, and display a level of solemn tenderness that's almost unheard of on Hoxxes. Still, their constant depositing of fresh egg clutches pose a direct threat to the operations of DRG, and any Naedocyte Breeder should be exterminated on sight. Plus - despite appearances, they are fairly delicious with a spritz of lemon. |
| — Miner's Manual Description |
The Naedocyte Breeder is a hostile Creature. It can spawn in any region of the planet. This enemy's spawn is tied to level generation, meaning that whatever Naedocyte Breeders appear in the level will be the only ones present.
The Naedocyte Breeder is one of the most alien-looking creatures in the whole game. They have an almost marine-like appearance with a large fleshy abdomen and several tendrils extending out from the head. A visible pinkish colored appendage on their underside serves as a mouth. Its "head" is covered in many small bumps, with 2 yellow areas (presumably the eyes). It also makes deep wailing noises as it moves around which sound similar to real-life whales - these sounds can help to identify its presence.
Combat[]
The Breeder has no attacks of its own and generally tries to avoid combat by hovering far away from the action. Its only ability is to dump sacs of Naedocyte Roe onto the ground at set times every so often. To do this, it reveals a mouth-like organ on the underside of its head which drops the sacks onto the ground. The Roe will remain in its position for a few seconds before eventually bursting into Naedocyte Hatchlings, which will seek out and destroy any threats to the Breeder - namely, the Dwarves.
Breeders are capable of producing an infinite amount of these sacks and, if left to their own devices, the amount of Hatchlings they spawn can very quickly mount up - especially if multiple are present at once. Line of sight is not needed for the Breeder to start dumping Roe; in fact the presence of Hatchlings can indicate a Breeder is somewhere nearby, even without sound cues.
The Breeder has the unique ability to conceal its weak spot. The mouth will be retracted while it is not dropping Roe sacks and will not count as a weak point in this state. As a result, the mouth should always be targeted whenever it is visible. Also of note is its high vulnerability to freezing - if its minimum temperature is reached, it will freeze solid and shatter when reaching the ground, dying instantly.
Health and Armor[]
| Effective
Health Scaling |
Hazard Level | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal Mission | DD | EDD | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | ||||
| Player Count | 
|
675 | 975 | 1200 | 1500 | 1800 | 1200 | 1275 | 1650 | 1800 | 1950 | ||
|
825 | 1125 | 1350 | 1500 | 1800 | 1350 | 1425 | 1650 | 1800 | 1950 | |||
|
1050 | 1350 | 1500 | 1800 | 2100 | 1500 | 1650 | 1950 | 2100 | 2250 | |||
|
1275 | 1500 | 1650 | 1950 | 2250 | 1650 | 1800 | 2100 | 2250 | 2400 | |||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
