Cazador

Cazadores are mutated insects found in the Mojave Wasteland, Zion Canyon, and the Big MT in 2281.

Background
Mutated and enlarged in the laboratories of Big MT, cazadores are the offshoot of DNA experiments, performed by Dr. Borous (allegedly in 2003 ), on tarantula hawk wasps. Formerly, cazadores were confined to the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab in Big MT, but groups of cazadores had escaped the Big MT crater and moved to neighboring areas, such as the Mojave Wasteland and Zion Canyon, in recent years. Doctor Borous denies that they have escaped from Big MT or have the ability to breed, which is obviously false.

Biology
The resulting creatures have distinctive amber-orange wings, a blue-black carapace and blood-red eyes. They have a fast and rather erratic flight movement and a venomous attack which can lead to a quick death if it succeeds in poisoning the target. The spikes on their back inflate and deflate when idle and attacking, likely being a form or respiration.

Cazadores are more common in mountainous regions of the Mojave. They chew wood fiber and mold it into a paper pulp with which they create large basket-shaped nests, many of which can be seen at habitats such as Bonnie Springs, the road heading towards Jacobstown, and the boathouse at Callville Bay. The cazadores' original breeding ground in Big MT is the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab.

Gameplay attributes
While a sting from a young cazador isn't highly damaging, the sting of an adult deals notably more damage to its victim. Their potent poison can be dealt with a high Endurance (and thus high poison resistance) and antivenom. Many other remedies for poison were added to the game in many of the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons.

They generally attack in large swarms, covering a large area, are very fast and hard to escape from without crippling their wings. Because of their erratic flight patterns, it is usually difficult to engage them in combat without the use of V.A.T.S.. Once their ability to fly is disabled, they will continue to scamper towards the player at a surprisingly fast rate. Crippling their legs only slows their speed moderately. Curiously, cazadores cannot swim but will always try to follow the player into the water, at which point they will quickly drown.

Cazador
Cazadores are large with distinctive orange wings, a blue-black carapace, blood-red eyes, a spiky upper abdomen, and a high and rather erratic flight speed. Cazadores are common in mountainous regions in the Mojave Desert, and go around in groups of 2-5.

Young cazador
Young cazadores are often found near other adult cazadores in mountainous regions (presumably members of the same colony, hive, or swarm). Young cazadores are identical in appearance to regular cazadores but are about 3/4 to 1/2 the size. Though their poison is weaker than that of the adults, they have an above average Agility in addition to their small size, making them harder to hit than the more matured cazadors.

They also prove to be quite a hassle because of their swarming tactic, which involves the entire group swarming their target in an attempt to overwhelm it via numerical strength.

Legendary cazador
The only one of its kind, the legendary cazador has twice as many hit points and significantly more attack power than a normal adult cazador. The legendary cazador is one of the four legendary creatures found in the Mojave Wasteland. It is encountered at the end of the cazador-infested Silver Peak Mine. It spawns from an overhead tunnel on the second floor, a nasty surprise for players who don't pay attention to whats above them.

Giant cazador
Giant cazadores are encountered all over Zion Canyon and as their name implies, they are much larger than a normal cazador. They are one of the most vicious creatures in the Honest Hearts add-on and can be found in various locations outside of Eastern Virgin and the Sorrows Camp. They are usually encountered in groups of around two, but it is not uncommon to see other cazadors with them.

Specimen 73
A unique cazador found in The Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab in the Big MT. Judging by the name it was probably some sort of experiment. It is a stronger and more powerful version of a regular cazador and even has more health than the legendary cazador. The main advantage of this unique cazador, though, is its incredible speed.

Behind the scenes
"Lesson I learned while working on New Vegas: Throby bits are the friend to any artist looking to create a nasty disgusting giant insect. You'll notice the Cazador's Butt and back throb like it's full of some type of deadly goo. You'll also notice that all the little hairs on his back and head twitch and wiggle. So much fun to put little details into a rig and animate it! I've included the rig in this video because it's pretty neat to see what is driving the 3D model."
 * Josh Sawyer is responsible for the design of Cazadores.

- Shon Stewart

"No, because I love cazadores and how they mess with players. I felt like Fallout needed a serious mutated insect enemy and came up with the basic idea for the cazador after seeing a picture of a tarantula hawk. From the first time I saw player responses to Brian’s concept art on the Bethesda forums, I knew people were going to dramatically underestimate them as enemies."

- Josh Sawyer

Appearances
Cazadores appear in Fallout: New Vegas and the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons Honest Hearts and Old World Blues. They are also mentioned in the graphic novel All Roads.

Bugs

 * It is impossible to target the head of a cazador in V.A.T.S. unless it is striking forward with its stinger, the player is right on top of the enemy or it is moving on a slope towards the player. Without meeting these conditions the head can never be cycled to as an option in V.A.T.S (only the antennae). This also applies to PCs when using an Xbox 360 controller, but not when selecting targets with the mouse.
 * Poison does not appear to wear off companions in the 1.2.0.31x patch after combat. Dismissing the companion and re-hiring them at their home location or the Lucky 38 seems to bypass this. It will wear off after 30 seconds, administering stimpaks to companions will cause the whole damage-over-time to be applied at once which could bring them to negative HP.
 * On the PC version, can be fixed by, in the console, selecting a companion and typing.
 * It seems to be possible for them to fall through the map and fly about under it. This will drive your companions crazy, since they will be targeting them but unable to hit them. The cazador cannot sting the non-player characters or you either, but they will continue to fly back and forth attempting to attack. If you are on a rise, you will get the name and a health bar when you point a gun at them, but they are invisible and it is clear from the angle of your gun that they are under the map. Attacking with the Ranger Takedown maneuver may fix this bug.
 * Sometimes, the legendary cazador just wanders around the cave without attacking the player, making it an easy target for the player.
 * Sometimes a cazador may spawn underground and still be able to attack you, but you cannot attack it. This was confirmed at the Callville Bay cazador's nest. The only way to kill it is to have a companion to do the job.
 * Rare occurrences of cazadors being able to poison you when they are in no way close enough to do so, seems to only happen in V.A.T.S..
 * Sometimes (or all the time, if your system is affected), if cazadores are in the area, even if you can't see them, you will hear the poison hissing sound loud and close as if you had been poisoned by them. Essentially, you will hear the sound when a cazador anywhere in your active cell poisons something - the attack might not be on the player character or a companion, since even a distant cazador battle will trigger the sound.
 * If you use the flamer against them, they sometimes freeze in the air while on fire giving you a chance to kill them or run away.
 * Sometimes when selecting cazadores on V.A.T.S., it tends to freeze your character from shooting (your character will move around but won't shoot), leaving the cazadores free to attack you for a good 10–15 seconds. Simply restarting the system should do the trick.
 * In the add-on, Honest Hearts, cazadores will often cause severe lag, especially when confronted in groups. The FPS rate can be bogged down to less than 10FPS in some instances. Killing them during the lag does fix the problem, and longer play sessions seem to intensify the bug.