Empires of the Undergrowth Official Wiki - User contributions [en]

Arcade Mode

2025-03-13T03:22:01Z

76561199080303026: Added that creatures in the Battle Arena have story stats

Arcade mode provides different settings and mechanics for you to play with.

 
=='''Demo missions'''==
Demo missions are available for free in the current demo version of the game.

* '''[[Tutorial]]''' guides you through the basic controls and mechanics. You can't lose in this mission.

* '''[[Critters]]''' and '''[[The Nest]]''' let you explore what you have learnt on your own.

* '''[[Hold Out]]''' and '''[[Surrounded]]''' will test the limit of your basic knowledge and skill.

* '''[[The Crucible]]''' introduces [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and their mechanics.

* '''[[The Promised Land]]''' introduces [[Fire Ant|fire ants]] and their mechanics.

 
=='''Extra missions'''==
Extra missions are made using in-game assets during freetime. They also contain spoilery elements from later story missions so procede at your own risk.

Extra missions have distinctive settings or mechanics and don't follow logics like story missions. You usually aren't allowed to choose playable units before playing. Some extra missions may reward you with new enemies or playable units in custom game.

Wave-surviving missions include:
*'''[[Babysitting]]'''

*'''[[Extremis]]'''

*'''[[The Other Foot]]'''

*'''[[Excavators]]'''

*'''[[The Culling]]''' and '''[[The Culling 2 ]]'''

Resource-managing missions include:
*'''[[Aggrandise]]'''

*'''[[Occupation]]''' and '''[[Occupation 2]]'''

*'''[[Cramped]]'''

*'''[[Hibernation]]'''

*'''[[Adventure]]'''

Unique missions with new gameplay include:
* '''[[Tug of War]]''', '''[[Tug of War 2]]''' and '''[[Tug of War 3]]'''

* '''[[Enemy of My Enemy]]''' and '''[[Enemy of My Enemy 2]]'''

* '''[[Beetles Rise Up!]]'''

Holiday missions are hidden and are only accessible during certain periods of the year. You can change your computer clock to gain access to them.

Holiday missions include:
* '''[[Hungry Spider]]'''

* '''[[Festive Spider]]'''

*'''[[New Year's Feast]]'''

 
=='''Battle Arena'''==
You can test creatures against eachother in this mode.

You must click the icons to spawn the respective creatures on the map. You can toggle the number of creatures per click (up to 50), level (up to 3) or star-level (up to 15) of those creatures. You have to manually click the corresponding buttons to switch between left and right side. You can also make the creatures attack either automatically or on command.

Attacking creatures will move to the other side of the map and attack any enemies on their way. They disappear when they reach their destination. You can't remove spawned creatures manually.

You must click and hold the icons of the respective creatures for 5 seconds to spawn [[Uber Creature|uber creatures]].

You can only use creatures that can move and attack freely in this mode.

Creatures in this mode have story stats.

 
=='''Remix missions'''==
You can replay some [[Story Mode|story missions]], extra missions and demo missions in this mode, but this time you have much more options. It doesn't affect your story-mode save files and you can't earn [[Mission Difficulty Setting|achievements]] this way.

You can choose between difficulty settings as usual. You can toggle new game plus level of each mission from 0 to 10. You can use either story stats or custom stats.

You can use your story-mode [[Gene-thief Ant|gene-thief ant]] colonies or [[Custom Game Colony Setting|customize your own colonies]].

*You can only play as custom leafcutter ant colonies in leafcutter ant missions.

*You can only play as custom termite colonies in termite missions.

*You can play as any omnivorous custom colonies in Matabele ant missions and adopt termitivorous lifestyle.

*You can play as custom Matabele ant colonies in any other missions and adopt omnivorous lifestyle.

*You can only play as custom fire ant colonies in '''The Promised Land''' because you can only beat the mission by building floating bridges.

*You can use workers in remix tug-of-war missions but they can't do nest jobs.

 
=='''Trivia'''==
*You can't use fire ant workers and [[Big-headed Ant|big-headed ant]] minors in '''Battle Arena''' even though they have different stats from normal workers.

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:32:42Z

76561199080303026: Removed unnecessary punctuation, added punctuation, added words, and corrected words.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there is enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 

=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in the nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by splitting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking, or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 

=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food is dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappears from storage when it is used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termites are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 

=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see the health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 

=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused, and the camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bounds in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 

=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:29:01Z

76561199080303026: Added a word to better fit the context.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there is enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 

=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in the nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by splitting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking, or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 

=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food is dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappears from storage when it is used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termites are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 

=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see the health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 

=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode, or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused and camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bound in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 
=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:27:51Z

76561199080303026: Corrected typos and replaced words to better fit the context.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there is enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 

=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in the nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by splitting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking, or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 

=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food is dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappears from storage when it is used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termites are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 

=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 
=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode, or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused and camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bound in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 
=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:24:34Z

76561199080303026: Corrected typos, added proper punctuation, and added words that were missing.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there is enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 

=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in the nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by splitting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking, or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 

=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food are dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappear from storage when they are used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termite are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 
=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 
=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode, or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused and camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bound in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 
=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:21:35Z

76561199080303026: Replaced a word to better fit the context.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there is enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 

=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by spliting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 
=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food are dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappear from storage when they are used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termite are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 
=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 
=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode, or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused and camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bound in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 
=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]

Basic Mechanics

2025-03-08T05:19:33Z

76561199080303026: Corrected typos.

This page shows the basic game mechanics. These mechanics may be applied differently in specific missions to provide more variety in gameplay.

 
=='''Units'''==
You usually start with a queen and 3 active workers. The queen chamber usually has 7 tiles. Queen tiles act as both brood tiles and storage tiles. You can't build, delete or upgrade queen tiles.

Your queen can only lay eggs. It is immune to [[Disrupting Effect|disrupting effects]] and [[Repositioning Effect|repositioning effects]]. The screen flashes red when the queen has below 25% of its health. You lose when the queen is dead.

Nest jobs will be done in this paticular order: digging, building and spawning. Workers in nest group will do it automatically while workers in other pheromone groups can only do nearby jobs. They will ignore resources and enemies when they are tasked with nest jobs. Nest jobs can only be done by a single worker each time, except for digging.

Nanitic workers can do anything that other workers can do. You get a free nanitic worker to help revive the colony if you don't have any workers and food left.

Soldiers can't do nest jobs. They are divided into 4 groups: melee, range, tank and medic.

You have a single king if you play as termites. It remains underground and is [[Uncategorized Effect|invulnerable]] until the queen is dead. It is uncontrollable and can only attack enemies.

 
=='''Digging'''==
The black area in your nest indicates diggable soil. The remaining area is indestructible wall.

You must click on a viable soil tile to mark it for excavation. The marked tiles must be reachable for workers to complete the job. You can click again to cancel the task. Soil tiles can be excavated by up to 2 workers at once.

Nest entrance can be excavated by up to 7 workers at once. Nest entrance excavating is the least prioritized nest job.

You can encounter underground caverns in your nest. The entire cavern will be excavated at once when you dig any tiles and hidden creatures are released in your nest.

You can guess the contents of each cavern through underground marks. White silhouettes indicate small food. Red exclamation marks indicate enemies. Green question marks indicate everything else.

 
=='''Building'''==
You can only build in the excavated area in your nest. You must choose an option in the building tabs then click on any parts of the excavated area to mark it for building. You can click again to cancel the task.

Similar tiles can be built adjacent to each other and form a chamber. Active units from the same chamber form a control group.

Units move 10%/ 20%/ 25% more quickly on highway tiles and move 35% more slowly other tiles in the nest. Highway tiles cost 5 food to build.

 
=='''Upgrading'''==
You must choose the upgrading tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for upgrading. You can only upgrade up to level 3. Upgrading cost is the same as building cost.

You can only upgrade tiles with enough upgrading points. Tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading point to same-type tiles and highway tiles around it. Walls give 1 upgrading point and highway tiles give 1/ 2/ 3 upgrading points to any adjacent tiles. You need 6 points for level 2 and 12 points for level 3.

The most cost-efficient shape that allows you to upgrade all tiles to level 3 is a nineteen-tiled hexagon.

Upgraded tiles have higher capacity and effects. Upgraded units are immediately healed, have better stats and may gain extra abilities.

You can enable tile information to see level and upgrading points.

 
=='''Deleting'''==
You must choose the deleting tool in the building tabs then click on the chosen tile to mark it for deleting. The chosen tile will be downgraded before it can be deleted completely. Downgraded units are immediately healed.

You receive 66.67% of the building cost as seeds after deleting tiles. Food are left on the ground along with the refund and the corresponding active units will be dead.

 

=='''Spawning'''==
Workers bring eggs from the queen to empty brood tiles. Eggs gradually turn into active units, as long as there are enough food. New eggs will be placed afterward but the larvae or nymphs stop growing midway if the respective units are still alive. Brood tiles can only incubate one unit at a time but can hold multiple active units at once.

The population is represented by a pair of numbers. The left one means active units. The right one means the maximum population you can have based on the number of brood tiles. Worker population is separated from soldier population. The queen isn't counted.

 
=='''Moving'''==
Active units from the same chamber form a control group. Control groups are represented by the respective ant icons in the control panel. You must split a brood chamber by deleting the inbetween tiles if you want to split the respective control group. You can't choose individual units.

New control groups are automatically put in nest group. You can control up to 5 pheromone groups, which are assigned with roman numbers from I to V. You can move any control groups between different pheromone groups.

You can only control one pheromone group at a time. You can right-click anywhere on the map or the minimap to place a pheromone marker. Your units will move along the shortest path toward the pheromone marker, with 15% of them stopping midway and going back to the nest entrance or to the queen to form a trail. Units become dead if they can't find the way back to the queen.

Your units will retreat back to the queen when pheromone markers are removed. Units in unassigned pheromone groups are treated the same as when they are in nest group.

Control groups in the same pheromone group respond in order from top to bottom and left to right. The number below a pheromone marker shows the number of responding units. Responding speed is always 10 units per second regardless of group size. You can make your units respond more quickly to your commands by spliting the same number of units across multiple pheromone groups.

You can prevent your units from gathering, attacking or mounting by clicking on the respective icons on the right of the control panel.

You can place pheromone markers on top of a nest entrance to make your units enter the respective underground area. Nest entrances work the same as spawners.

 
=='''Gathering'''==
Your units automatically bring any food in sight back to storage. Some units move more slowly while carrying food. Food are dropped on the ground if storage is suddenly full. Food disappear from storage when they are used.

Small food can be directly carried away. Large food can be harvested by multiple units at once. Attack must be used 6 times to cut out a certain amount of food each time. The process must be started over if it is interrupted.

Ants are inedible while termite are edible for most species. Inedible dead creatures disappear over time.

You can enable resource information to see food amount and harvest capacity.

You can disable gathering to prevent your units from picking up food. They still have to bring carried food back to the storage. Gathering food is the least prioritized job.

Food storage tiles cost 5 food to build and can hold 10/ 40/ 100 food.

The similar mechanics are applied to leaves and lignocellulose when you play as [[Leafcutter Ant|leafcutter ants]] and [[Termite|termites]].

 
=='''Attacking'''==
Your units automatically follow and attack enemies in sight. Most workers and some soldiers can ignore enemies while carrying food.

You can enable creature information to see health and level of creatures.

You can disable attacking to prevent your units from initiating combat. They still retaliate after taking damage and have to finish the ongoing battles. Attacking enemies is the most prioritized job.

 
=='''Camera'''==
You can move the camera around by pushing your cursor against the edge of the screen. You can zoom in or out by turning the wheel on your mouse.

You can click anywhere on the minimaps to move your camera there.

You can press a specific hotkey (F9 by default) to enter basic photo mode, or press it together with Shift to enter free photo mode. The game is paused and camera can only be controlled by hotkeys. User interface is removed to let you take better screenshots. You can look at unintended places on the maps or go out of bound in free photo mode.

You can unpause and continue playing the game by using hotkeys while in photo mode.

 
=='''Trivia''' ==
* Placing different pheromone markers makes different chirping sounds, which indicates that pheromone is a form of ant communication.

* In real life, the first few workers are nurtured using the queen's own body fluid. These nanitic workers are weak and have to take care of the queen for their entire life. They soon die after the stronger workers are ready to venture outside. This explains why you can't build, delete or upgrade the queen chamber in the game.

* In real life, nests are naturally designed with intricate chambers and pathways. In the game, upgrading points and speed penalty motivate players to strategically build tiles within chambers and establish pathways between them to facilitate efficient ant movement.

 
[[Category:Mechanics]]