Bees: Basics

This page refers to the Bees! mod, a sub-component of Frackin' Universe.

## Updates

FU development staff are currently working on updates to the ways bees work. To test these out, you can use a Testing Apiary. Go to that page to learn more about what's been changed so far. Until completed, everything else will remain as normal.

## Getting Started

To begin farming bees, an Apiary Crafting Station (crafted at a Machining Table), a Bug Net (crafted at a Foraging Table), and some growing flowers are needed. The Apiary Crafting Station is used to craft an Apiary and its various upgrades, different frames for improving production, and the Honey Extractor and Honey Jarring Machine to make honey for consumption or cooking. The Bug net is used to catch wild bees to put in your apiaries. Both a Queen bee and a Drone bee are need to start production. The flowers need to be within 80 blocks of where you place your apiary.

Once the apiary is placed properly and stocked with a Queen and Drone, they will start producing items. Each bee type produces Honeycombs, which can be eaten, jarred, put in a centrifuge, or put in an extractor. Drones will also multiply and can be sold to the Bee Refuge for pixels. Some bee type also produce other items, such as Bee Silk or Golden Sand.

Once an apiary is active, it will periodically spawn queens and drones. While flying, the bees use the common bug sprite, colored to match their type. Catching the queens that spawn, or others in the wild, is the only way to obtain more queens. A Bug Harvester Turret (crafted at a Foraging Table) will stun the bees so that you can collect them without having to catch each one individually with the bug net.

## Advanced Production

Production rates are affected by the number of drones, the number of nearby flowers, and the use of different Frames. The more drones and the more flowers available to the apiary, the more items will be produced. As more bees are discovered, more frames will become available as well. Only the queens unlock new frames.

Note: No more than 1 bee queen can be placed in the apiary, and up to 1000 drones. Additional drones will be placed in the output area but not speed up production, and additional queens in the top input slot will be ejected if the bees in the hive are producing or interbreeding. Extra queens can be sold to the Bee Refuge for crafting materials.

### Frames and Special Effects

Most frames will boost production rates one way or another. Some frames have special effects that should be made aware before using them as they can greatly influence strategy.

#### Anti-Mite

Varroa Mites can attack and kill bees in apiaries. Drones are more vulnerable than queens, but only one queen can be in an apiary at a time. Using an Anti-Mite frame will prevent mites from spawning and kill any existing ones. Frames with this feature include the Anti-Mite Frame, Uranium Frame, Plutonium Frame, Magma Frame, and Godly Frame.

\*Note\* If connecting Apiaries to an item network, it will not pull/push items if a mite exists in the inventory.

#### Forced Time

Most bees are active during the day. When night falls, they stop production. However, bees can be kept going around the clock by using the Solar Frame or the Magma Frame.

However, this does not apply to Nocturnal, Moon, or Elder bees. They will be active during the night and rest during the day. You can use an Eclipse Frame to keep them active during the day.

#### Mutation Chance

Several frames may cause a mutation, causing a hostile creature to spawn. While this isn't normally desirable, these frames are necessary to breed the Radioactive Bee from Miner Bees. The following table lists which frame have a mutation chance and how much, as well as other effects. Occasionally, mutations can cause Elder bees to spawn.

8x Floral Honeycomb
6x Plant Fibre
 Uranium Frame | 10x Uranium Rod
2x Potent Mutagene
 Plutonium Frame | 10x Plutonium Rod
2x Powerful Mutagene
 Solar Frame | 4x Solarium Star
4x Solar Honeycomb

#### Miner Frames

These frames will make Miner bees produce special honeycombs that can be refined to produce ores. Note that each of these types of honeycomb will produce the same result whether it is put in a centrifuge or extractor. As such, the extractor should be preferred as the centrifuge will not always convert honeycombs to materials. They can also be put into a Honey Extractor or a Honey Jarring Machine to get consumable jars as well. All Miner bees produce Deep Earth Honeycomb, which can be centrifuged or extracted to get coal. Miner Bees are only effected by what frame you put in, is what you get out.

### Breeding

Bees can be interbred to create new kinds of bees by putting a queen and a drone of different species in the same apiary. All bees interbreed only during the day, including the Nocturnal, Moon, and Elder Bees (which typically produce at night). Refer to the table below for a comprehensive list on what species can interbreed and what they produce. When interbred, the new breed of drones will be placed in the output section of the apiary. Also, the new drones and their queens can spawn in the world, requiring a Bug Net or Bug Harvester Turret to catch them. However, the new items they would produce do not start generating until a queen and drone of the same type are in the same apiary. Until then, the interbreeding bees will only produce Honeycombs.

### Stinging Bees

When active, Aggressive, Metal, and Morbid bees will sting the player. This can be prevented by using certain gear, a buff from the Bee Guy Crew Member, or using one of the scented apiaries. Note that if you use the Scented Apiary or Giant Scented Apiary, no drones or queens will spawn for you to collect.

## Bee Varieties

The following lists the available bees and include what items they produce. Also included are what can be obtained from the honeycombs each bee produces when it is put through a centrifuge (such as a Lab Centrifuge), an Extractor (such as the Quantum Extractor), or one of the honey-specific machines, the Honey Extractor and the Honey Jarring Machine