The Hatchling Arachnoid, colloquially referred to as the "Scorp" by Earth Defense Force soldiers, is a newborn Arachnoid. Like the heavily armored adults, they are armed with a chaingun which they use as their primary weapon in combat. They are first introduced in Serious Sam 3: BFE, and then reappear in Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE, Serious Sam 4 and Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.
Overview[]
Hatchling Arachnoids are a late addition to Mental's forces, seeing as the latter had to start drafting younger specimens for his army in order to meet demand during the ongoing war on Earth.[1]
Hatchling Arachnoids are young holy warriors of a primitive arthropod race from the planet Scorpius. Besides the extreme difference in size in comparison to the fully grown Arachnoids, they can be distinguished by the lighter color of their exoskeleton. They are not as tough as the adults, as they still have undeveloped exoskeletons.[1] They carry a chaingun which is extremely accurate and equipped with a techno-magical ammunition replenisher.
In Serious Sam 4, the Hatchling has been given a new design, and sports an orange exoskeleton, making it resemble the Arachnoid from Serious Sam 1 more in appearance. They also have strange mouth-like appendages under their abdomen and carry a chaingun with two hands as opposed to replacing one of their arms like before.
Appearances[]
Hatchlings are fairly common enemies, though they don't usually appear until the third or fourth level of the game they are in. At first, they appear sparingly, but become much more frequent later on. They are more numerous than the adults.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
A Hatchling Arachnoid in Abu Simbel.
In Serious Sam 3, they are first encountered in Under the Iron Cloud in small groups. Later in the game, Hatchlings appear few at a time, often to distract the player whilst they are attacking other enemies. Hatchlings are also common in Jewel of the Nile, appearing in all three levels in the expansion pack.
In The Last Man on Earth, a large swarm of Hatchlings spawn in a room inside the temple the player starts at. Entering the room by jumping off the platform is extremely dangerous, as the player will be instantly gunned down by the Hatchlings within and won't have anywhere to take cover or time to react.
Serious Sam 4[]
Hatchlings are roughly as common as they were in the previous game, though they more often appear alone or in small groups with other enemies. They first appear in Gates of Hell, and are replaced by Adult Arachnoids later in the game.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
The first Hatchling is seen in A Smell Of Petroleum Prevails. They are not encountered very often throughout the remainder of the game, appearing only a handful of times. They are more numerous when playing on New Game+ and beyond.
Application[]
As Hatchling Arachnoids are not as strong as adults, they are often deployed in medium to large groups to compensate for their lack of physical strength and to overwhelm the enemy. Like the adults, they are sent to patrol the streets of alien-infested cities or to serve as frontal assault troops in combat and to force enemies hiding in cover and out into the open.
Behavior and skills[]
Hatchlings are not as tough as the Adults due to their underdeveloped exoskeletons, so they can be dispatched of relatively easily with small-arms fire such as an assault rifle or a shotgun. They are also suspectible to flinching upon taking damage. Aside from their weak exoskeletons, Hatchlings also have thin, underdeveloped necks, which serves as one of their weaknesses; snapping the creature's neck with enough force will instantly kill it.[1]
Weaponry[]
Hatchlings are equipped with a chaingun that is provided with unlimited ammunition, so they never have to reload. Their chaingun is however, prone to overheating after being fired for a prolonged period of time, resulting in a short delay after firing a rapid burst of bullets. Once it has cooled down, the Hatchling will resume firing. This weapon is extremely accurate and the bullets are hard to dodge, but is not as devastating as the chainguns used by the adults.
Another weapon the Hatchling uses is its stinger, but it is only useful for close-range combat. The stinger is a dangerous weapon that can deal a lot of damage upon contact.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
The Hatchling will, upon spotting the player, get close enough to the player to ensure maximum accuracy when firing. They will not move when firing their chaingun, which can render them vulnerable. They are also suspectible to flinching when damaged.
If the player is close enough to a Hatchling, they can perform a finishing move; Sam will grab the Hatchling's neck and snap it, which instantly kills it.
Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
Hatchlings behave just the same as they do in previous games. They also take extra damage when shot in the head. This can allow the player to dispatch Hatchlings more easily if they are accurate enough.
Tactics[]
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
- Long range weapons, such as the M29 Infantry Assault Rifle, work best against the Hatchling. These weapons give the distance necessary for some of their bullets to miss, while the player can hit them with very high or perfect accuracy.
- Medium-range Hatchlings can be killed with the XPML21 Rocket Launcher. One shot will gib a Hatchling, and rockets don't take long to travel to their target at medium range. The player may take some damage while the rocket is travelling to the Arachnoid, but this can be avoided by hiding behind something or briefly running away from its field of vision.
- Close range Hatchlings can be killed with either the Double Barrel Coach Gun or a one-hit kill melee attack. Note that going for a melee kill is a little more dangerous than a double-barrel shotgun kill, as the player needs to be right next to the Hatchling in order to do it. This puts the player at a higher risk of being hit by part of a surprise burst or, worse, a highly damaging tail sting. Melee attacks are still often doable as Hatchlings tend to appear in locations with a significant amount of cover.
- Groups of Arachnoids can be dispatched with the assault rifle, C-4 Demolition Charges or the rocket launcher. The assault rifle works for quickly clearing out Arachnoids because of it's instant-hit bullets, while the rocket launcher can be used to quickly lob a rocket at each Arachnoid, killing it instantly. Groups of Arachnoids packed together are very vulnerable to a C-4 charge, especially if it's very close to them. It's very possible for one C-4 to completely wipe out a group of them, depending on how close they are to each other.
- The Sirian Mutilator is also a useful weapon against several Hatchlings. If they are lassoed with the beam, they will be stunned briefly, allowing the player to take out several Hatchlings at once before they get the chance to fire.
- If there are too many Hatchlings in one area, the XM214-A Minigun or XL2 Lasergun can quickly dispatch a large group of them. However, considering the scarcity of minigun and especially lasergun ammo throughout the campaign, it can be seen as a waste of ammo and should really be used as a last resort.
- When paired with other enemies, the Hatchling can be quite irritating because of all the bullets they spam. It should be one of the first enemies targeted in order to prevent it from whittling down the player's health while fighting off other enemies, especially if there are multiple Hatchlings or when having low health.
Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
- The Autoshotgun, pump-action shotgun and the coach gun are ideally the best weapons to use against Hatchlings at close to medium range. Like other enemies, Hatchlings take 3x as much damage when they are shot in the head; a headshot from the autoshotgun or pump-action shotgun usually results in instant death if most of the pellets connect. The coach gun can be to used to instantly kill Hatchlings at close range regardless of where they are shot.
- Two slices from the Combat Knife is enough to kill a Hatchling, but this leaves the player open to being fired upon by the Hatchling or any enemies in the area. It is therefore best to use the knife on them only as a last resort or if there aren't many enemies nearby.
- The pistol and assault rifle are effective for small groups of Hatchlings, though it is best to use the pistol only for when shooting at its head.
- For groups of Hatchlings, C-4 demolition charges, the MK III Grenade Launcher or the XPML21 Rocket Launcher are recommended weapons.
- The XPMR "Burner" Raygun is also effective against groups of Hatchlings as it can blow one Hatchling up and severely damage others nearby it.
- If the player is riding a Sirian Werebull, they can use it to run Hatchlings over and kill them quickly, although their chainguns can easily cut down the Werebull's health if the player and Werebull get in the line of fire.
- The FRPCL is effective as a last resort against Hatchlings.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
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| Break 5 Arachnoid necks. |
Serious Sam Fusion[]
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| Break 5 Arachnoid necks. |
Behind the scenes[]
- Early Serious Sam 4 concept sketches of the Hatchling show that it was going to use a different weapon at some point instead of its chaingun. The weapon appears to be some kind of energy weapon or assault rifle.
- In another sketch, the Arachnoid is missing both of its arms, which have tapered off into sharpened nubs at the shoulders.
Trivia[]
- The Hatchling in Serious Sam 3 has a strange hitbox, a glitch that occurs in other enemies as well, such as the Scythian Witch-Harpy. In this case, weapons such as the coach gun won't always kill the Hatchling in one shot; instead, it will lose half of its health, although this depends on how close the Arachnoid is to the player and if all the pellets connect.
- Snapping a Hatchling Arachnoid's neck requires a force of at least 40 pounds.[2]
- The Hatchling in Serious Sam 3 uses recycled sounds from the ScorpSoldier.
- In Serious Sam 4, the Hatchling reuses some of the Hatchling Antaresian Spider's sounds in addition to a different set of ScorpSoldier sounds.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
Serious Sam 4[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam 3: BFE (First appearance)
- Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam 4
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem