Adult Arachnid

The Adult Arachnid is a pervasive, phobia-inducing spider that soldier will come to loathe as he explores the Von Braun and the UNN Rickenbacker. The Adult versions are the most frequent and significantly tougher than their first encountered Infant versions, with six times more Hit Points.

Biology
The creature's internal systems are both distributed and redundant in a way that suggests intentional design, or evolution in a very dangerous environment. What serves as its nervous system uses a significantly larger amount of energy than a human's, so the creature's tissues are correspondingly more energy-resistant. The creature's metabolism allows for a boost of hyperkinetic activity, while allowing it to remain normally in a dormant state, and presumably allowing it to exist for a long period of time without nourishment.

Locations
The Adult Arachnids will begin showing up around the Operations Deck of the Von Braun, though they'll be mostly obsolete by around the time the player reaches the Rickenbacker, where they are replaced by their semi-invisible versions.

Strategy
You'll be fighting a lot of Arachnids in System Shock 2, whether you like it or not. Though you'll have cut your teeth on the Infant versions on Hydroponics Deck, the Adult spiders are much tougher, do much more Toxic damage, and you will find them roaming the Von Braun in much greater frequency. In addition, they're quite fond of ambushing you, especially on the Operations Deck.

Although the Wrench or Crystal Shard may still be your best bet, nobody will begrudge you for spending a couple of Anti-Personnel Bullets or Shells on the Adult Arachnids. Suffice to say, be vigilant around these enemies, and always have an Anti-Toxin Hypo ready.

The actual damage done by the spiders is not particularly bad compared to the toxin damage inflicted by their attacks - while you may be used to slugging it out in hand-to-hand combat with pipe-wielding Annelid Hybrids, taking a few hits to deliver a savage beat down in turn... that strategy is terrible against the spiders. Use your powerful Anti-Personnel ranged weapons, Incendiary or Anti-Annelid attacks. Also remember that they're fairly fast compared to the Hybrids, and that you move faster going forwards than backwards. If you try to run backwards to get away from a spider while keeping an eye on it, as you did with the Hybrids, it will catch up and poison you - but you can outrun them if you move forwards, albeit risking letting it get out of your sight range.