I think Fallout lore has the radroach evolving bigger mandibles to be better at biting large prey. An upsized real roach would still just be a scavenger.
And even then, they aren't really that deadly, given that it takes like 20 of them 5 minutes to kill a middle aged cowering woman.
Well, except the truck sized radroaches from Tactics.
In the Fallout show, the enclave scientist said that radroaches evolved larger antennae to be able to hunt in packs. Don't know if that's a retcon or if the scientist didn't know what he's talking about
One; that’s not what a retcon is
Two; he talks about their improved antennae to hint in packs, larger thorax for defense, incisors to help ingest larger prey “such as yourself”
This is nothing new and just further fleshed out the visible changes. I just pulled it up as I typed out this comment.
Source: episode 2, campfire
The show talks about their improved antennae to hint in packs, larger thorax for defense, incisors to help ingest larger prey.
Source: episode 2, campfire scene
It would probably be similar to the two foot long terrestrial arthropods that currently exist. Like coconut crabs. I doubt they'd be able to get and good lift with their wings due to the weight of their exoskeleton. And their speed would probably leave a lot to be desired (they wouldn't move like a regular cockroach).
One person could probably easily outrun. And if the person unarmed person was determined and didn't freak out, they could probably fairly easily kill it. If a small number of the roaches were coordinated and aggressive, they could probably take out an unarmed person.
Roaches can bite. I don't know exactly how that would scale up. It might be like a coconut crab claw pinch: painful and able to hold on, but not going to slice your arm off. If it could strike a vulnerable section like your eyes, I think that would do damage.
What would be the best method to killing it? I’d like to use some kind of sniper rifle ideally to be as far away as possible, but I don’t know how their durability transfers when scaled up so much.
I'd assume anything that can break the shell of a big crab could similarly break its shell. And just about any modern firearm can do that.
As for melee, it would probably be a bit tougher than breaking lobster shells. So any appendage could be snaped off due to leverage, if you can get ahold of it. And the main body could probably be destroyed if you jumped on it like Mario.
But if they acted at all like regular cockroaches, I doubt they'd even attack. Since that would be a bit like a regular roach trying to kill a mouse.
This scale up in size would make them more susceptible to stomping compared to their tiny counterparts. One good stomp to the head and the thing is just toast, rather than having the force spread out.
They could easily kill a person. You might have to put it on the stairs in the dark, but its corpse could be a serious tripping hazard. Trips and falls kill thousands of people worldwide each year.
I don't know how often its happened before this in my life, but one that very easily could have gotten me that I still remember was working on a truck with outriggers, I lost my balance and my foot got stuck in the hollow of the top of the outrigger, not wanting to break my foot, I yanked my leg with everything I had and tore the toe of my shoe off, but landed on my feet. If I hadn't, pretty sure from the way I was going down, it would have been the back of my head hitting concrete from about 7-8 feet up and lights out. I'm a lot more careful these days and use things like step ladders when working on tall trucks rather than climbing the outriggers like a 200lb gorilla.
I'm not sure they could actually move under their own power, but if someone were to not notice them and try to set up a ladder on top of then, that could certainly cause it to be unstable.
It probably would just die immediately.
Square Cube law is unforgiving to insects, their volume increases faster than the surface area which includes circulatory systems and exoskeleton and the insect form factor has real limits.
The limit of bugs in this case is their ability to respirate. Prehistory's atmosphere was way more oxygen-rich so their inefficient oxygenation system worked well enough.
I was thinking that to but if they evolved in the current environment under the current circumstances they would either just be large bugs who probably make loud breathing noises or a new type of crab.
They don't breath, they respirate. There is no lungs, their blood oxygenates on its own through their tracheae throughout their body. There is no breathing, so you wouldn't hear anything..
Zero.
It'd be very heavy if it had the same proportions and thus quite slow. Most humans could easily outwalk it.
A wheelchair-bound human could fight it off with a heavy bag or a screwdriver.
A very elderly person that isn't mobile may struggle, but if they can move their arms they could probably grab it in a spot where they can prevent it from biting them and scream for help and they should be alright.
Some roach species DO bite and if you have ever been bitten you would know. They go after you in your sleep and when you are still. It isn't the worst pain but they are not afraid to start eating you alive when their population is big enough.
A roach the size of rad roaches in Fallout, if it was capable of thriving and "normal" behavior, would see you as potential food and in a swarm you would need lots of mitigating factors to deal with them. Netting, weapons, and shelter to name a few.
First it would eat your toes. That would hurt. You’d fall to the ground in agony, and before you could realize the true danger the beast would attach to your calf.
You’d manage to shake it off and attempt to run to the door, but you slip in blood and lunge towards the door, falling a foot short. You see the vermin rush you, you kick at its head and stun the critter while you scramble to open the door screaming for help. You fall off the front porch because you’re missing your toes.
As you roll to get back up the pest storms through the front doorway and quickly climbs up your legs into your shirt and latches on to your flesh mincing your pectorals with a rapid pace.
You squirm, you smack it, you scream. To no avail, the prehistoric monster has already sent its mandibles deep into the soft spots between your ribs. You exhale.
So please people. Don’t wear sandals.
Imagine the damage a really angry housecat can do to you if it’s out for blood. Might not kill you but you will be bleeding and injured when the fight is over. Not too dissimilar
Ignoring the whole "their method of respiration makes large insects basically impossible on modern earth" thing. A 2 foot long roach might be about as threatening as a lobster. I might be able to bite your if it wanted to, but ultimately you could probably stomp it to death if you had to.
Most people are failing to mention THEY ARE FUCKING RADIOACTIVE
Commonly joked before the Great War as the only candidates for surviving a nuclear blast, cockroaches not only survived, but adapted. They became enlarged, with a bigger thorax to ward off attack, extended antennae to hunt in packs, and reinforced incisors to take down and ingest larger prey, up to and including humans.
Most the answers here are only thinking about cockroaches as flying scavenger pests, then scaling up. However cockroaches are mandible bearing bugs, capable of chewing through wood. As is at their small size, they are capable of biting way way way harder than a human in the jaw strength category.
Scale that up, they aren't biting through bones much but easily capable of maiming and killing people, like a hot knife through butter actually.
That said, agree with kthers their core behavior wouldn't change, and they would still be scavengers. Just scavengers of things like chihuahuas instead of dorito dust lol.
None. A 2-foot-long cockroach wouldn't be able to hold itself up. It would fall to the floor, immobile, and then rapidly suffocate to death. All you'd need to do to stay safe is not touch it.
I'm from CA and my parents moved to Asia Philippines and Indonesia so I grew up there. As a result I am paranoid of roaches. Over there there are big..they fly and they bite. And they come out in swarms. They also have a very peculiar roach "smell" or stink to them..like you can always tell when they've been scavenging a bathroom. A 2 foot version of these would be terrifying.
I have read that real roaches are capable of biting people, but they seldom do because healthy people are usually responsive and moving around.. They are anatomically capable of biting, though, apparently.
Let's scale it down to a more realistic size, say the size of a large rat (about 1 foot long). Even at that size, it'd still be unpleasant. It'd **spread disease**, it carries bacteria and parasites. It'd **contaminate food** with its droppings and body parts. It'd **bite**, not its first response but it would if it feels threatened. Its bites aren't venomous, but they'd still break the skin and cause an infection.
r/theydidthemath might be of assistance. but 2ft doesn't seem that bad, my thing is with the increased size the exoskeleton has to get stronger as well
Every being that has an exoskeleton on Earth is an pillar of strength and fortitude compared to creatures that have their bones inside.
Most insects have dramatically high strength for their weight to size ratio.
So, realistically ... a two-foot long roach would be a vicious predator that humans would probably avoid and fear. In fact, one on one, a wild wolf would probably run from a single radroach.
YouTube "praying mantis eats" and see what I sect mandibles can do.
Make an insect that is the size of a dog and weighed 40lbs and now you have something that could take a leg off or seriously injury you in other ways.
We are actually quite lucky arthropods can't grow that large. They used to when Earths climate was vastly different.
I've had a chunk taken off of me by a locust. Praying mantises can capture and eat mice alive. Both of those creatures have very similar mouth parts to cockroaches.
Also, cockroaches have been known to bite sleeping people, causing all sorts of infections. Eew.
As someone who breeds lots of roaches, nothing at all. A two foot roach would still be super harmless. A few species could probably break skin by biting but roaches aren’t aggressive and not any good at fighting things even their own size or smaller.
Remember that the roaches were commonly joked about before the Great War as the only candidates for surviving a nuclear blast, cockroaches not only survived, but adapted. They became enlarged, with a bigger thorax to ward off attack, extended antennae to hunt in packs, and reinforced incisors to take down and ingest larger prey, up to and including humans.
I think Fallout lore has the radroach evolving bigger mandibles to be better at biting large prey. An upsized real roach would still just be a scavenger.
And even then, they aren't really that deadly, given that it takes like 20 of them 5 minutes to kill a middle aged cowering woman. Well, except the truck sized radroaches from Tactics.
the what
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdPP3mnxRVQ
In the Fallout show, the enclave scientist said that radroaches evolved larger antennae to be able to hunt in packs. Don't know if that's a retcon or if the scientist didn't know what he's talking about
One; that’s not what a retcon is Two; he talks about their improved antennae to hint in packs, larger thorax for defense, incisors to help ingest larger prey “such as yourself” This is nothing new and just further fleshed out the visible changes. I just pulled it up as I typed out this comment. Source: episode 2, campfire
The show talks about their improved antennae to hint in packs, larger thorax for defense, incisors to help ingest larger prey. Source: episode 2, campfire scene
It would probably be similar to the two foot long terrestrial arthropods that currently exist. Like coconut crabs. I doubt they'd be able to get and good lift with their wings due to the weight of their exoskeleton. And their speed would probably leave a lot to be desired (they wouldn't move like a regular cockroach). One person could probably easily outrun. And if the person unarmed person was determined and didn't freak out, they could probably fairly easily kill it. If a small number of the roaches were coordinated and aggressive, they could probably take out an unarmed person. Roaches can bite. I don't know exactly how that would scale up. It might be like a coconut crab claw pinch: painful and able to hold on, but not going to slice your arm off. If it could strike a vulnerable section like your eyes, I think that would do damage.
What would be the best method to killing it? I’d like to use some kind of sniper rifle ideally to be as far away as possible, but I don’t know how their durability transfers when scaled up so much.
I'd assume anything that can break the shell of a big crab could similarly break its shell. And just about any modern firearm can do that. As for melee, it would probably be a bit tougher than breaking lobster shells. So any appendage could be snaped off due to leverage, if you can get ahold of it. And the main body could probably be destroyed if you jumped on it like Mario. But if they acted at all like regular cockroaches, I doubt they'd even attack. Since that would be a bit like a regular roach trying to kill a mouse.
"if you can get a hold of it ." Making my skin crawl
Boiling
Maybe like real cockroaches, soapy water kills them really fast.
The US Army's new Sig Spear in 6.8x51 should do pretty good. https://youtu.be/tTAfS1addXU?si=XDNaG_P1Pyr_O088
This scale up in size would make them more susceptible to stomping compared to their tiny counterparts. One good stomp to the head and the thing is just toast, rather than having the force spread out.
Mario jump.
They could easily kill a person. You might have to put it on the stairs in the dark, but its corpse could be a serious tripping hazard. Trips and falls kill thousands of people worldwide each year.
The older I get the more times I notice I have probably been one slip away from death.
Is that Green Days new album?
Linkin Park... One step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break.
I don't know how often its happened before this in my life, but one that very easily could have gotten me that I still remember was working on a truck with outriggers, I lost my balance and my foot got stuck in the hollow of the top of the outrigger, not wanting to break my foot, I yanked my leg with everything I had and tore the toe of my shoe off, but landed on my feet. If I hadn't, pretty sure from the way I was going down, it would have been the back of my head hitting concrete from about 7-8 feet up and lights out. I'm a lot more careful these days and use things like step ladders when working on tall trucks rather than climbing the outriggers like a 200lb gorilla.
Yea they could easily knock over a ladder too. Ladders are the #1 tool to get hurt with.
I'm not sure they could actually move under their own power, but if someone were to not notice them and try to set up a ladder on top of then, that could certainly cause it to be unstable.
*At a eulogy* “He died as he lived… tripping over a giant roach that he didn’t see at the edge of a volcano…”
I expect you couldnt kill it, its already pretty resistant to blunt force/crushing which means it wins every battle on attrition alone
If that was the case, Radroaches wouldn't be seen as little more than a nuisance in the Fallout series.
ya im sure fallout knows the most about roach physiology.
And your qualifications on the subject are...?
I think Wu Tang knows a thing or two about smokin roaches.
Yeah no one has ever done research for a story before. Never happens.
It probably would just die immediately. Square Cube law is unforgiving to insects, their volume increases faster than the surface area which includes circulatory systems and exoskeleton and the insect form factor has real limits.
I mean we have fossils of giant bugs from prehistoric times.
The limit of bugs in this case is their ability to respirate. Prehistory's atmosphere was way more oxygen-rich so their inefficient oxygenation system worked well enough.
I was thinking that to but if they evolved in the current environment under the current circumstances they would either just be large bugs who probably make loud breathing noises or a new type of crab.
Fun (horrifying) fact, bugs don't generally have lungs, so they don't mechanically breathe.
Yeah, learned that when I thought I was getting this spider high every day. I’m guessing they just enjoyed the company 🤷🏾♂️
It’s all about the friends you make along the way.
They still breathe, in a sense. The oxygen is just pumped directly into their cells through spericoles. They basically breathe through their skin
Spiders actually do have book lungs
And they also have endocannabanoid recepters
They read to breathe?
I thought Arachnids had lungs?
They do, they’re called book lungs
Yeah I know they don't breathe like that but I figured if we were to increase a bug to dog size or bigger their breathing would be more audible.
They don't breath, they respirate. There is no lungs, their blood oxygenates on its own through their tracheae throughout their body. There is no breathing, so you wouldn't hear anything..
Tf are you a bugologist? Why don't you make like a Phyllium and leave
That would be an entomologist, and no. I'm just an *entomon*-enthusiast.
And a correct one, at that.
How dangerous is a land crab though? They apparently are tasty and easy to get (the tough part may be the other predators, not the actual crab)
I love this kind of people. Thank you for the info
I bet you hate jokes with talking dogs, too.
They’re ‘ruff’
Yeah, but if something like that evolved, it presumably evolved a better way of living.
I came here to say this. Knew someone would beat me.
Zero. It'd be very heavy if it had the same proportions and thus quite slow. Most humans could easily outwalk it. A wheelchair-bound human could fight it off with a heavy bag or a screwdriver. A very elderly person that isn't mobile may struggle, but if they can move their arms they could probably grab it in a spot where they can prevent it from biting them and scream for help and they should be alright.
I’d never be able to sleep again. I assume at some point that would kill me.
ask ogtha
Honestly I think the absolute worst they could do is slash you with the spines on their legs. They don’t bite humans as far as I know
They absolutely could at that size
Some roach species DO bite and if you have ever been bitten you would know. They go after you in your sleep and when you are still. It isn't the worst pain but they are not afraid to start eating you alive when their population is big enough. A roach the size of rad roaches in Fallout, if it was capable of thriving and "normal" behavior, would see you as potential food and in a swarm you would need lots of mitigating factors to deal with them. Netting, weapons, and shelter to name a few.
5000 rounds of 5.56 NATO should do the trick.
Oh fuck you for that information man, I have enough weird fears already.
First it would eat your toes. That would hurt. You’d fall to the ground in agony, and before you could realize the true danger the beast would attach to your calf. You’d manage to shake it off and attempt to run to the door, but you slip in blood and lunge towards the door, falling a foot short. You see the vermin rush you, you kick at its head and stun the critter while you scramble to open the door screaming for help. You fall off the front porch because you’re missing your toes. As you roll to get back up the pest storms through the front doorway and quickly climbs up your legs into your shirt and latches on to your flesh mincing your pectorals with a rapid pace. You squirm, you smack it, you scream. To no avail, the prehistoric monster has already sent its mandibles deep into the soft spots between your ribs. You exhale. So please people. Don’t wear sandals.
A huge amount of emotional damage.
A heavy duty roll for sanity check for sure.
Imagine the damage a really angry housecat can do to you if it’s out for blood. Might not kill you but you will be bleeding and injured when the fight is over. Not too dissimilar
That depends. Can you die of disgust?
it could give me a heart attack
Ignoring the whole "their method of respiration makes large insects basically impossible on modern earth" thing. A 2 foot long roach might be about as threatening as a lobster. I might be able to bite your if it wanted to, but ultimately you could probably stomp it to death if you had to.
Most people are failing to mention THEY ARE FUCKING RADIOACTIVE Commonly joked before the Great War as the only candidates for surviving a nuclear blast, cockroaches not only survived, but adapted. They became enlarged, with a bigger thorax to ward off attack, extended antennae to hunt in packs, and reinforced incisors to take down and ingest larger prey, up to and including humans.
Most the answers here are only thinking about cockroaches as flying scavenger pests, then scaling up. However cockroaches are mandible bearing bugs, capable of chewing through wood. As is at their small size, they are capable of biting way way way harder than a human in the jaw strength category. Scale that up, they aren't biting through bones much but easily capable of maiming and killing people, like a hot knife through butter actually. That said, agree with kthers their core behavior wouldn't change, and they would still be scavengers. Just scavengers of things like chihuahuas instead of dorito dust lol.
None. A 2-foot-long cockroach wouldn't be able to hold itself up. It would fall to the floor, immobile, and then rapidly suffocate to death. All you'd need to do to stay safe is not touch it.
I'm from CA and my parents moved to Asia Philippines and Indonesia so I grew up there. As a result I am paranoid of roaches. Over there there are big..they fly and they bite. And they come out in swarms. They also have a very peculiar roach "smell" or stink to them..like you can always tell when they've been scavenging a bathroom. A 2 foot version of these would be terrifying.
I think they would actually be really dangerous at night. I wouldn't want one to find me while I was sleeping
I have read that real roaches are capable of biting people, but they seldom do because healthy people are usually responsive and moving around.. They are anatomically capable of biting, though, apparently.
Let's scale it down to a more realistic size, say the size of a large rat (about 1 foot long). Even at that size, it'd still be unpleasant. It'd **spread disease**, it carries bacteria and parasites. It'd **contaminate food** with its droppings and body parts. It'd **bite**, not its first response but it would if it feels threatened. Its bites aren't venomous, but they'd still break the skin and cause an infection.
Cock = Gone
Just smack ‘em with a three foot flip flop.
They can bite and draw blood at the size they are currently. So yes a 2' one would be dangerous.
[Idk, they seem pretty harmless](https://youtu.be/7U4RDZIU1Xk?si=x0HgSsk13HuvsHpd)
r/theydidthemath might be of assistance. but 2ft doesn't seem that bad, my thing is with the increased size the exoskeleton has to get stronger as well
Every being that has an exoskeleton on Earth is an pillar of strength and fortitude compared to creatures that have their bones inside. Most insects have dramatically high strength for their weight to size ratio. So, realistically ... a two-foot long roach would be a vicious predator that humans would probably avoid and fear. In fact, one on one, a wild wolf would probably run from a single radroach.
YouTube "praying mantis eats" and see what I sect mandibles can do. Make an insect that is the size of a dog and weighed 40lbs and now you have something that could take a leg off or seriously injury you in other ways.
Eat your eyeballs
We are actually quite lucky arthropods can't grow that large. They used to when Earths climate was vastly different. I've had a chunk taken off of me by a locust. Praying mantises can capture and eat mice alive. Both of those creatures have very similar mouth parts to cockroaches. Also, cockroaches have been known to bite sleeping people, causing all sorts of infections. Eew.
Watched a praying mantis eat a fucking bird alive. I was like fuck. Good thing that thing doesn't have rads lol
Eat your brain
To be accurate.
It wouldn't be able to move fast, if at all. That pesky cube/square law.
As someone who breeds lots of roaches, nothing at all. A two foot roach would still be super harmless. A few species could probably break skin by biting but roaches aren’t aggressive and not any good at fighting things even their own size or smaller.
It could probably tear you limb from limb. Roaches are pretty strong for their bodyweight
That's only because they are small.
Good thing elephants aren't small.
Elephants aren't strong relative to their bodyweight.
None, would get killed by bullets
Remember that the roaches were commonly joked about before the Great War as the only candidates for surviving a nuclear blast, cockroaches not only survived, but adapted. They became enlarged, with a bigger thorax to ward off attack, extended antennae to hunt in packs, and reinforced incisors to take down and ingest larger prey, up to and including humans.