A Bridge Too Far

Information
Name	A Bridge Too Far
Categories	Story Documentary
Environment	Swamp
Player species	Fire ant
Player units	Fire ant worker Fire ant soldier (either)
Surface	Yes
Features	Challenge mode Non-player colonies Titans Circadian rhythm Timed attacks Rising water Bridge building Aphid relocation
Music	A Bridge Too Far Theme Swamp Night Theme
Remix	Yes

Impending floods could mark the end for this fire ant colony.
Semi-aquatic predators wreak havoc with the fire ants' pontoon plans.(challenge)

Objectives

• Gain 195/ 270/ 330/ 375/ 480 points by increasing population.

• Gather 50/ 70/ 90/ 100/ 125 ants at the top of the mound.

Rewards

• Base value: 6 territory, 475 food, 17 Royal Jelly

• Difficulty bonus: 300%/ 325%/ 350%/ 380%/ 420%

• First-time bonus: + 1400%

• Challenge bonus: + 100%

• Completion bonus: + 200%

• New game plus bonus: + 40% x plus number

Settings

Your fire ant colony must grow large enough to form a raft and escape the upcoming flood. Your nest is located on the second layer of the mound. Nest entrance will be excavated automatically when the attacking waves are about to arrive.

You must reach a certain number of population points to complete the first objective. Workers give 1 point while soldiers give 1.5 points.

The mission starts during the day.

Water rises in the morning and in the evening. It washes away any creatures, excluding the amphibians, and lets you reach various resources through floating bridges.

You can build up to 20 bridges throughout the mission as water rises from the ninth layer to the third layer (1 - 3 - 1 - 5 - 2 - 6 - 2 respectively).

You have access to an empty milkweed plant at the start of the mission. There are 50 aphids on the map.

You can find magnolia saplings and carnivorous plants across the map. Milkweed seeds frequently land on the map and disappear after 90 seconds.

You must choose either pervasive or vigorous soldiers before playing the mission.

Non-player colony

The enemy little black ant colony is trapped on the southwestern island. You can only approach it on the second and the third night. Its nest is entirely flooded from the fourth day onward.

Notable enemies

Other enemies are on the same side and are hostile to the ants.

Woodworms, checkered beetles, false bombardier beetles, bombardier beetles and narrow-mouthed toads live in your nest.

Larval checkered beetles enter your nest through 8 hillside spawners and move between them through the soil during the day. They disappear at night if you don't dig into their tunnels. Narrow-mouthed toads replace them on the third day. You can encounter 4 enemies with this mechanic each day.

Surface enemies are washed up on the eastern side of the mound. They may fight among themselves to keep their own number in check.

Surface enemies gather in small groups during the day. They invade your nest at once 60 seconds before water rises in the evening. Red velvet ants only appear on the second and the third day on extreme and impossible.

• Day 1: Larval checkered beetles, larval false bombardier beetles, magnolia green jumpers

• Day 2: Adult checkered beetles, adult false bomberdier beetles and six-spotted tiger beetles

• Day 3: Adult checkered beetles, adult false bomberdier beetles, bombardier beetles, six-spotted tiger beetles and green lynx spiders

• Day 4: Checkered beetles, false bombardier beetles, six-spotted tiger beetles, bombardier beetles, magnolia green jumpers, green lynx spiders and red velvet ants

Juvenile eastern newts and pine woods tree frogs only appear on the surface at night. They don't invade your nest. Eastern newts only appear from the second night onward.

Surface enemies freely roam the mound and become hostile to the amphibians only at night. They randomly invade your nest before water rises in the morning.

The 3 wasp mantidflies can heal 1 HP every 0.1 second when they rest on high locations and only attack when you approach. The eastern one doesn't attack before the second day on easy, medium and hard.

Titan

The size-level 1/ 1/ 1/ 2/ 3 great blue skimmer flies across the map. It lands near your nest on the third/ third/ third/ second/ second night. It only takes off in the morning before landing again on the third night on extreme and impossible. It will remain there for the rest of the mission if undisturbed.

It flies to the third layer and doesn't take damage after it has been reduced to 55% of its health. It will move away permanently if you don't mount it within 30 seconds. It will fly to the first layer, become vulnerable again and stay there for the rest of the mission if you succeed.

If you have prepared a pheromone group on the third layer or if it has already been flooded, the great blue skimmer will fly directly to the first layer. You still have to mount it in time to prevent it from leaving.

Challenge

Six-spotted fishing spiders appear near bridging locations shortly after water rises in the morning or 90 seconds after water rises in the evening. They disappear 60 seconds before water rises. They are hostile to the amphibians.

Nearby spiders will move onto the nearer bank to attack when you are halfway done building a bridge.

Achievements

Achievements
Icons	Name	Requirements
	A Bridge Too Far	Beat the mission on designated difficulty.
	Collector	Gather all milkweed aphids then beat the mission. (medium)
	Entomophobia	Beat the mission without gathering any aphids. (hard)
	Disposable Bridges	Lose 14 completed bridges to the rising water then beat the mission. (extreme)
	Multitasking	Gather all food on the northwestern island and eliminate the little black ant colony on the third night then beat the mission. (impossible)
	Military Bridge	Eliminate the little black ant colony on the second night then beat the mission. (challenge)
	A Bridge Too Many	Build 15 completed bridges then beat the mission. (impossible - challenge)

Strategy (by Pixel Demise)

• Particularly on higher difficulties, clearing some of the enemies that gather before an attack can significantly reduce the difficulty of the assault.

• The ability of Fire ants to build bridges is based on their body size. This means that each soldier is better than each worker as a bridge-part, and upgraded soldiers are the best, level 3 especially due to gaining double the soldiers. Quickly gathering a force of level 3 soldiers allows for much more reliable bridge construction.

• Having multiple groups of soldiers of varying numbers is helpful when building bridges due to making most or all of a bridge out of one group and using another to cross. Pheromone groups update their destinations at a static rate, meaning if two groups of ants mix to create a bridge, when deconstructing that bridge it will take longer than if multiple groups are redirected at once.

• There is an extremely high density of food inside the nest, making for a substantial boost in soldiers before you need to venture outside. Using Vigorous soldiers can allow you to kill enemies more easily, allowing for more food to be collected.
  • The food directly below the Queen is unguarded.
  • The food along the very top of the nest opens a spawning tunnel but is unguarded otherwise. Tunneling through the passage left of the single False Bombardier beetle to the north lets you reach it without fighting.
    • If you have gathered a reasonably sized army, the False Bombardier beetle can be defeated for some additional food, and more space to build.
  • The food directly to the right has 1-3 woodworms guarding it, but can be easily dealt with once other food is collected and a small force of soldiers is built up. Additionally, the group of enemies further to the right is two separate groups. The lower group that that curves is slightly larger group of woodworms guarding more food.
  • If playing on New Game+ with access to Formicarium Adaptations, disabling attacking on all ants before digging out most if not all groups of enemies nearby, then allowing Fierce Mother and Royal Guard to defeat them, can offer a monumental boost in food. Not only are they guarding food stores on their own, but they will give a large amount of food by harvesting their bodies afterwards. Due to the free ant spawning from Royal Guard, any workers lost when digging out enemies will be regained for free.

• The Woodworms and Toads that spawn inside the tunnels in the nest only appear at specific points. Having a batch of soldiers stay in the nest group can let you deal with intruders while the majority of your force can focus on outside tasks.

• Once the Little Black ant colony can be first reached, even if you have no intention of raiding the nest, sending soldiers with attack and gather turned off can let them move past the Little Black ants will let you collect the aphids easily.

• The Aphids on the small island to the south can be collected at the start of the mission, or after the waters rise once. Before the waters rise, the bridge needed is extremely small, so collecting as much food as possible inside the nest and then rushing soldiers to gather the Aphids can give a major boost to food income. Just make sure to disable food collection, as there are two carnivorous plants along the path.
  • Be cautious when collecting the Aphids here, as well as on the Little Black Ant island. Both islands have multiple levels, and if the water rises it will destroy the bridge, but may not drown all the ants, resulting in some being trapped. They can assist with building a bridge to be rescued, but otherwise will cripple your army size until they are rescued or die.

• When attempting the Challenge mode, Fishing Spiders will remain attacking until there are almost no ants remaining. Gathering your ants before the bridge spot, beginning to partially build it, and then once the spiders move in ordering the workers to return to the initial spot, allows you to fight the spiders with more of your army prepared.

• When the waters rise during the evening, the Fishing spiders do not spawn immediately. If you gather your ants at a location before the water rises, you may be able to build a bridge and collect Aphids or some of the food before the spiders spawn and stop progress. This can help significantly when attempting to get A Bridge Too Many, as you can easily build a bridge and immediately retreat without collecting the food/aphids to count towards bridges completed.

Trivia

• During the victory cutscene, the colony forms a raft with the queen on top and floats away. Six-spotted tiger beetles and larval false bombardier beetles appear in this cutscene even if you have killed all surface enemies, trying to attack the queen.

• There is another defeat cutscene, which happens when water floods your nest. It shows the dead fire ant queen floating to the water surface, among her dead brood.

• Enemies float upside down when they are carried to the eastern shore by the water. This make senses because their lungs and spiracles are located on their bottom side.

• Dead big headed ant queens can be found to the southeast of your queen. It can be inferred that this mound was home of a big-headed ant colony before it was overrun by beetles.

Minimaps

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  Surface

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  Underground - player

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  Underground - blue