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In the chapter "sand traps", touching any of the sand along a large portion of the coast causes an ant-lion or two to spawn, and if you try to run across a long stretch of sand you can easily spawn too many ant-lions to fight off. I was wondering though, if I jumped onto the sand and stood in place, only turning in place to target ant-lions that spawn behind me, would :

  • More ant-lions constantly spawn (i.e., ant-lions are spawned by spending time on sand), so I would be better served just sprinting across a long stretch and then finding a defensible place to eliminate the swarm?
  • Or, do ant-lions spawn when you move while touching sand, which would mean that standing still, shooting, and then moving on would be an effective way to keep the ant-lions from swelling into a swarm?
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  • What would be the point? Even if the antlions stopped spawning, they'd respawn the moment you move, and it's not like you're playing CoD or Halo where your health recovers over time. – Nolonar Oct 23 '13 at 13:24
  • @Nolonar I think the point is that it's easier to fight 2 enemies at a time than 20 at a time. That said, I doubt many people find antlions hard enough to kill to justify this question. – kotekzot Oct 23 '13 at 13:48
  • I agree that this is an impractical concern as the game doesn't really reward you for killing the antlions so you're better off just avoiding needless confrontations with them altogether and conserving your supplies and your time. The game gives you sufficient safe spots, driftwood and material to fashion walkways or to just put one pallet in front of the other so you don't even have to worry about stepping on sand in the first place. I do find the question interesting though. – skovacs1 Oct 23 '13 at 13:54
  • Why not just try it!? – colmde Feb 19 '19 at 13:21
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They constantly spawn when you are touching the sand, but only so many spawn at any one time.

If you're planning to touch the sand, it's best to just sprint until you have to slow down (to climb a cliff or something), and then fend off what's chasing you. There won't be very too many to fight.

It's entirely possible to just sprint / run the entire length of the beach, and make it the whole way to the antlion queen boss, with a small horde of antlions on your tail, without taking too much damage. In this scenario, only kill what manages to close the distance.

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