Empires Of The Undergrowth lets you command an ant colony in the daily struggle for survival and dominance that takes place in the world of insects. Natural selection and the circle of life are all very much in play, and if you aren't careful, your ants will become food for a more ruthless organism.
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PostsWhile the early scenarios start off fairly tame, the game adds challenges quickly and relentlessly. This guide will help you think like a Queen and ensure the survival of your colony against all threats, spreading your brood across the biome.
Pick Your Battles
It's kill or be killed in the Undergrowth. Defeating enemies lets you harvest them for Food, which you can use to expand your nest, but any ants killed in battle instead cost Food to replace. A victory is almost always a net positive, especially against a large foe, but hatching reinforcements takes time and can get expensive after multiple successive fights.
It's best to avoid combat until you're sure you can windecisively, minimizing casualties to get the most reward out of the encounter. In many scenarios, this means timing your battles so that you don't also have to defend the nest from intruders - the last thing you need is to exhaust your soldiers by taking down a beetle only to find yourself unable to stop a spider attack.
When digging out new chambers, the size of a red exclamation point indicates the relative threat level of a hostile creature. The larger the symbol, the bigger the bug.
Quantity First, Quality Second
While different ant species might have evolved some neat tricks like acid sprays and razor-sharp mandibles, by necessity their tactics in combat ultimately boil down to overwhelming their enemies with superior numbers. If you want to stand a chance in Empires Of The Undergrowth, you'll need to do the same.
Everything that you will fight in this game is bigger than you. You will lose every fight where you don't considerably outnumber your opponent. For that reason, focus on increasing the size of your soldier broods first, then upgrading them once you have a healthy numerical advantage.
A Larger Nest Needs More Workers
The majority of your ants will be Soldiers, responsible for fighting off threats and collecting food from the dangerous surface world. However, you'll need Workers to maintain the nest and keep the army in fighting shape.
Workers build new chambers and dig out areas in the nest, but they also have the important role of moving eggs to Brood Chambers for hatching. Without Workers, you can't reinforce your armies! We recommend having one Worker for every three to four Soldiers to keep things running smoothly.
If you lose a lot of ants all at once, you'll only be able to replenish them as quickly as the Queen can lay more eggs. Be careful!
Fill Tunnels With Speed-Up Tiles
Speed-Up Tiles are cheap and useful upgrades that allow ants to move faster through your nest. They're great for hastening food and egg deliveries, or for getting newly-hatched Soldiers to the front lines.
Ideally, any high-traffic areas in your nest, particularly single-space tunnels, should be Speed-Up Tiles to maximize your overall efficiency. Even if they aren't upgraded, they'll be a big help over the course of the mission.
A tile that isn't built upon isn't doing anything to help the colony.
Keep Expanding Your Storage Capacity
You're going to need a lot of Food, regardless of which mission you're playing. For this reason, it's a good idea to build Food Storage Chambers early and often, upgrading them if you can. That way, you'll be able to take full advantage of any large kills or scavenge that you find.
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PostsIf your storage is full, build more Soldier Broods. It will free up space and give you more fighting power.
Use Hotkeys If You're On A Keyboard
Empires Of The Undergrowth is an RTS, and that means hotkeys are essential. If you're playing with a mouse and keyboard, it's vital that you get in the habit of using the number keys to switch between pheromone groups at the very least if you want to stand a chance on higher difficulties.
An especially useful function of hotkeys in EotU is to quickly move between map locations, particularly using Tab to switch between the surface and underground levels. You can also use the Function keys to view your own colony and those of rivals.
Keep Enough Food To Replenish Losses
Hatching a new ant to replace a dead one costs a small amount of Food, usually about five or six. This is critical during prolonged engagements, where you'll need a steady stream of reinforcements coming from the nest in order to prevail. If your stores are empty, your numbers will diminish until you can no longer offer any resistance.
As tempting as it may be, don't spend all of your Food as soon as you get it. Try to leave fifty to one hundred units of Food on hand so that you aren't fighting with your back to the proverbial wall if a dangerous predator appears. If you can't defend the Queen, it's game over.
Gather The Broods, Then Attack
Individual ants will attempt to reach their assigned pheromone marker, then fight or gather as the situation dictates. Beyond that, they aren't especially good at coordinating without help from you. It's easy for a pheromone group to get split up, making them easy prey for an ambush on the surface.
If you're sending a patrol into an area with dangerous enemies, or readying an attack on a powerful foe, it's a good idea to set the pheromone marker in a safe area near the target first so that the ants all gather in one spot. As long as there are no enemies to fight or food to gather, they'll just stand around.
Once the army is assembled, move the pheromone marker to the main target; this will cause the ants to attack as a unified force, greatly increasing your chances of success.
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