It's the bees. Let's add beekeeping! Apiaries! Honey! BEES!
Getting started:
Spoiler:
Using fifteen planks of wood, you can make a beehive. What does it do? Nothing; it's like a bookcase without the shelf or books.
With another five planks of wood, you can make one (1) SUPER. That's basically a shelf but for bees and honey! You can have up to five supers at once; they're normal-sized items, and don't require bee gear to interact with. Be careful, though - if you don't have enough bees, adding more supers means you get less honey overall!
Now you'll want a beekeeping crate from Cargo. It has a beekeeper suit and helmet (these are essential - touch an active beehive without one and you'll take brute damage to your arms and get stung with toxins! They also help immensely against wild bee swarms by stopping their damage entirely). This crate also contains a prototype bee net and your first queen bee! The queen bee is docile, don't worry, but you should really catch it before it gets agitated... with the net... no, seriously, catch it. If you leave a queen bee out in the open too long, it'll start getting worried; and when it gets worried, it stings anyone it sees! (If there's a flower nearby, it'll eat it and start making bee swarms too...) The crate also has a honey-filled super, which you'll need to make the hive.
OK, did you catch the bee? Good! Take the queen bee and super to your beehive and, with the honey-filled super, click the beehive. You've just turned that empty shell into a READY BEEHIVE. Now, use the net (with the queen inside!) on the beehive to turn it into an ACTIVE BEEHIVE. Now if you touch it without bee gear, you get bee'd on. OH GOD NOT THE BEES!
With another five planks of wood, you can make one (1) SUPER. That's basically a shelf but for bees and honey! You can have up to five supers at once; they're normal-sized items, and don't require bee gear to interact with. Be careful, though - if you don't have enough bees, adding more supers means you get less honey overall!
Now you'll want a beekeeping crate from Cargo. It has a beekeeper suit and helmet (these are essential - touch an active beehive without one and you'll take brute damage to your arms and get stung with toxins! They also help immensely against wild bee swarms by stopping their damage entirely). This crate also contains a prototype bee net and your first queen bee! The queen bee is docile, don't worry, but you should really catch it before it gets agitated... with the net... no, seriously, catch it. If you leave a queen bee out in the open too long, it'll start getting worried; and when it gets worried, it stings anyone it sees! (If there's a flower nearby, it'll eat it and start making bee swarms too...) The crate also has a honey-filled super, which you'll need to make the hive.
OK, did you catch the bee? Good! Take the queen bee and super to your beehive and, with the honey-filled super, click the beehive. You've just turned that empty shell into a READY BEEHIVE. Now, use the net (with the queen inside!) on the beehive to turn it into an ACTIVE BEEHIVE. Now if you touch it without bee gear, you get bee'd on. OH GOD NOT THE BEES!
Spoiler:
Congratulations, you have your first hive! Give it a few minutes and that queen bee will magically generate more bees for your hive. You can examine the hive to see how many bees there are ("It's empty", "it's a little full", "it's about half full", "it's almost full", "it's full"), or you can - with a bee suit - click the hive to bring up the BEE BOX.
The bee box tells you precisely how many bees are in your hive and tells you if your bees need more or less space (you have too few or too many supers, respectively - either fix this or kill/grow some bees!). It also gives you a list of the hive's supers, and lets you take them out when they're ready to be harvested! Taking a super out will keep the bees inside the hive, because they're smart and they stay with their queen. But a hive without any supers won't produce honey!
The bee box tells you precisely how many bees are in your hive and tells you if your bees need more or less space (you have too few or too many supers, respectively - either fix this or kill/grow some bees!). It also gives you a list of the hive's supers, and lets you take them out when they're ready to be harvested! Taking a super out will keep the bees inside the hive, because they're smart and they stay with their queen. But a hive without any supers won't produce honey!
Spoiler:
If you leave your bees in the hive for long enough, they'll generate honey on each super, which you can then take out and shake off for up to five delicious chunks of honey each! We'll pick up on this later. The rate of honey generation depends on the status of the hive - if the hive is too small (too many bees per super), the rate will be less, and if the hive is too large (not enough bees per super), the rate will also be less. The right amount of bees is about 60-80% of the maximum (note the maximum increases each time you add a super!), so if you want optimal honey conditions, you need to split the hive every now and then!
How do you split the hive? Well, that's simple. You take out a super full of honey, and then add it to a new, empty hive, to make a ready beehive (like earlier). Now you go to your original hive - and you can only do this when there are at least three supers - and select "Split hive". Having an empty bee net in your hand will transfer 50% of the bees, as well as the queen bee, to the net. Take this net and use it on the ready beehive to transfer the queen bee to it, as well as the bees in the net! This means your new beehive starts producing honey too.
But what about the original beehive? They don't have a queen any more! Well, that's alright, because give a queenless hive (it has to have bees to begin with, though!) long enough and they'll make their own queen. Good, right? Mmhmm! You now have two beehives; give them some more supers and collect all the honey and you're ready to start cooking!
How do you split the hive? Well, that's simple. You take out a super full of honey, and then add it to a new, empty hive, to make a ready beehive (like earlier). Now you go to your original hive - and you can only do this when there are at least three supers - and select "Split hive". Having an empty bee net in your hand will transfer 50% of the bees, as well as the queen bee, to the net. Take this net and use it on the ready beehive to transfer the queen bee to it, as well as the bees in the net! This means your new beehive starts producing honey too.
But what about the original beehive? They don't have a queen any more! Well, that's alright, because give a queenless hive (it has to have bees to begin with, though!) long enough and they'll make their own queen. Good, right? Mmhmm! You now have two beehives; give them some more supers and collect all the honey and you're ready to start cooking!
Spoiler:
Yep! Cooking! Taking a super and shaking it will dislodge up to five chunks of honey. Grind these up in a grinder for nutriment and vitamin, as well as the all-new HONEY reagent! This has a natural slight healing effect against toxins and brute damage (0.5 of each per tick). You can eat the honey chunks as they are, or grind them up and use them in recipes:
5u HONEY + 10u SUGAR = one HARDENED HONEY. This is like honey, but hard. You can probably grind it up for its components if you have to.
One HARDENED HONEY + one VANILLA CAKE = one HONEY CAKE. It's a vanilla cake, but with honey! It has the natural healing effects of honey, and it's also a cake. Slice it up for bonus fun!
One HARDENED HONEY + 5u SUGAR + one PAPER SHEET = one LOLLIPOP. It's a honey lollipop! It fits in your mask slot like a cigarette too. You can't use it as a breath mask, unfortunately, but it's a lollipop!
Two HARDENED HONEY + 5u SUGAR = One HARDENED CANDY. It's a honey candy, with bonus healing effects! It's also a small item, so enjoy carrying them around!
25u HONEY + 5u UNSTABLE MUTAGEN = OH GOD BEES. This reaction spawns a hostile bee swarm. OH GOD NO NOT THE BEES!!!!!!!!
5u HONEY + 10u SUGAR = one HARDENED HONEY. This is like honey, but hard. You can probably grind it up for its components if you have to.
One HARDENED HONEY + one VANILLA CAKE = one HONEY CAKE. It's a vanilla cake, but with honey! It has the natural healing effects of honey, and it's also a cake. Slice it up for bonus fun!
One HARDENED HONEY + 5u SUGAR + one PAPER SHEET = one LOLLIPOP. It's a honey lollipop! It fits in your mask slot like a cigarette too. You can't use it as a breath mask, unfortunately, but it's a lollipop!
Two HARDENED HONEY + 5u SUGAR = One HARDENED CANDY. It's a honey candy, with bonus healing effects! It's also a small item, so enjoy carrying them around!
25u HONEY + 5u UNSTABLE MUTAGEN = OH GOD BEES. This reaction spawns a hostile bee swarm. OH GOD NO NOT THE BEES!!!!!!!!
Spoiler:
Oh, you can do that too! Using the bee net - you can make these yourself with a wooden plank, a metal rod and any jumpsuit - you can catch a wild bee swarm (but only if the net is wielded in both hands, like a fire axe), transferring some bees to your net. Good, right? If you click the net in your hand, you can empty it, dislodging those bees... and spawning them in as hostile mobs. I hope you have your bee suit on! The bee net is a bulky item, so if you see someone carrying it, look out!
Bees are naturally fickle and capricious in their nature, and when agitated (read: all the time), will sting anyone they see. Even if you've grown them for a long time, they'll still sting you unless you're in a bee suit! (Then they'll try, and fail.)
If you're feeling really evil, you can try and destroy the hive. This will kill half the bees in there; the other half will appear as mobs, angry and out for a bee-ing. You can destroy a hive by hitting it enough with any weapon, but also by exposing it to any naked flame, such as a cigarette, welding tool or plasma fire. Bee hives are flammable, be careful!
Oh, did I mention they're venomous and poison you when they sting you?
Bees are naturally fickle and capricious in their nature, and when agitated (read: all the time), will sting anyone they see. Even if you've grown them for a long time, they'll still sting you unless you're in a bee suit! (Then they'll try, and fail.)
If you're feeling really evil, you can try and destroy the hive. This will kill half the bees in there; the other half will appear as mobs, angry and out for a bee-ing. You can destroy a hive by hitting it enough with any weapon, but also by exposing it to any naked flame, such as a cigarette, welding tool or plasma fire. Bee hives are flammable, be careful!
Oh, did I mention they're venomous and poison you when they sting you?
EDIT: I lost all my bee gear and Cargo won't give me more, what do I do?
Spoiler:
Cry.
No, not really! You make more! Bee helmets and suits can be made in biogenerators (like those in botany), hives and supers can be made with wooden planks, and a bee net can be tablecrafted with a wooden plank, a metal rod and any jumpsuit. As far as bees go, you should catch a wild bee swarm (the hostile mob) and put those in a hive, which will create a queen bee over time. It'd bee a lot easier just to order a beekeeping crate, though!
No, not really! You make more! Bee helmets and suits can be made in biogenerators (like those in botany), hives and supers can be made with wooden planks, and a bee net can be tablecrafted with a wooden plank, a metal rod and any jumpsuit. As far as bees go, you should catch a wild bee swarm (the hostile mob) and put those in a hive, which will create a queen bee over time. It'd bee a lot easier just to order a beekeeping crate, though!
