Summary
- Different ant species in Empires of the Undergrowth offer unique advantages and abilities for players to utilize in battles.
- Players can choose from a variety of game modes, including a well-written main campaign with a curious scientist's experiments.
- Each ant species has its own set of units and colony requirements, with some holding advantages over others in battle.
Slug Disco's Empires of the Undergrowth is a unique action RTS in which players control an ant colony and seek to develop them among a host of hostile predators and environmental dangers. Players can choose from a variety of game modes including a well-written main campaign centered around the experiments of a curious and slightly mad scientist. As players progress, they will unlock new ant species to supply their formicarium.
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Additionally, fans can play freeplay battles with custom settings, or pit the creatures of the undergrowth against one another in battle arena showdowns. Each ant species has its own set of unique units and colony requirements. While they largely play similarly, there are certain advantages that some species hold which elevate them to superiority over their rivals.
8 Black Ant
Simple Species For Learning The Ropes
- Advantages: Easy to use, Well-balanced
- Best Unit: Black Ant Soldier
Black Ants are the baseline species for the game, offering little in the way of unique attributes or units, but retaining an overall solidity and simplicity which makes them ideal for newer players. Black Ant tiles consist of only soldiers or workers, though these can be upgraded to give considerable strength to both units.
While they are certainly not as powerful as some other species, Black Ants are well-balanced and relatively easy to use. While they can be overwhelmed by larger or more skilled opponents, Black Ants will hold their own in most fights and make for an excellent species to learn the game with.
7 Wood Ant
Decent Species With Ranged Attack Capabilities
- Advantages: Unique soldiers, Easy to develop
- Best Unit: Wood Ant Soldier (Ranged)
Wood Ants are an incremental upgrade over Black Ants, though they have the advantage of possessing a unique ranged unit. This unit can be customized either as a rapid-fire or mortar unit and will provide some much-needed versatility on the battlefield.
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While the general structure of a Wood Ant colony is largely the same as others, the inclusion of these powerful ranged units makes them a formidable species to contend with. Both mortar and rapid fire are good options and can be upgraded for additional damage.
6 Little Black Ant
A Strong Swarm-Style Species With Very Cheap Units
- Advantages: Cheap units, Fast growth
- Best Unit: Little Black Ant Soldier
Little Black Ants are distinct from the ordinary Black Ant species by their smaller size, but there is an advantage to this species that offers a unique approach to the game. While units are slightly weaker, they can be produced in much higher numbers, leading them to overwhelm and swarm enemies in certain locations.
Though worker tiles will still cost the standard 20 Food, soldiers can be raised for just 24 Food each, a significant reduction when compared to most other species. This will enable players to construct vast armies, as well as create complex strategies by utilizing pheromone group commands.
5 Leafcutter Ant
Good Balanced Species With Strong Soldier Units
- Advantages: Good unit variety, powerful upgrades
- Best Unit: Major Soldier Ant
Leafcutter Ants operate slightly differently from many other species in that they do not require ordinary food to survive and produce more brood tiles. Instead, they collect small fragments of leaves and bring them back to the nest where they transform into a fungus that feeds the brood.
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While it may seem like a disadvantage not to be able to use conventional food sources, Leafcutters reap the rewards in terms of unique units such as Major Soldiers, a super-sized combat unit capable of taking on several enemies at once.
4 Termite
Strong Species With Great Defensive Units
- Advantages: Great Queen Defense, Fast Development
- Best Unit: Termite King (Guardian)
Termites are a unique and powerful faction with a diverse set of unit types and an exceptionally powerful guardian for their queen. Similar to Leafcutters in the way that they must process both food and waste, Termites have several relatively cheap units with more powerful variants available for a higher cost.
Both the Minor Worker and Minor Soldier units can compete with most standard ant species, but the Major variants of both take the Termites to a different level. The Major units can inflict huge damage on enemies and will tear through rival ant colonies with ease.
3 Big Headed Ant
Powerful Species With Elite Combat Units
- Advantages: Combat specialists, Stun abilities
- Best Unit: Big Ant Supersoldier
Big Headed Ants are a combat-focused species with some of the most powerful soldiers in the game. Though their workers are slightly slower than many rival factions, it is made up for by the supremely powerful Big Headed Super Major.
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This soldier ant is more powerful than most units available to other factions, and may even take on some wild predators such as Funnel-Web Spiders and Devil's Coach Horse Beetles with little trouble. When fully upgraded, few other species will be able to stand up to the Big Heads.
2 Fire Ant
Elite Species With Strong Combat And Worker Units
- Advantages: Nest defense, Hatching abilities
- Best Unit: Super Major Soldier Ant
Fire Ants are another powerful species who particularly excel in combat, but their overall nest mechanisms and special unit abilities make them superior to most other choices in Empires of the Undergrowth. With either the Vigorous or Pervasive hatching options, players can rest assured that new broods will hatch quickly and with additional fighting spirit.
These abilities can provide vital defensive lines, making the Fire Ant nest extremely difficult to conquer. Though Fire Ants may not have any Major or Super Major variants, their standard units can easily overwhelm more powerful units if they are deployed in sufficient numbers.
1 Matabele Ant
Supreme Species With The Ability To Revive Allies
- Advantages: Elite Combatants, Medic units
- Best Unit: Matabele Ant Medic
There can be little doubt that Matabele Ants are the strongest species in the game due to several unique advantages. First of all, the choice between two powerful unit options, Anesthetist and Fast Responder, enables ants to either slow and stun enemies or to move with increased speed and nurse ants back to health faster.
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Matabele ants can revive their fallen comrades through the use of Matabele Ant Medics. This can be extremely useful for unit longevity and will cause the colony to consume less food in the long run. The Matabele's powerful soldier ants are also a worthy match for most adversaries in the game.
Empires of the Undergrowth
- Released
- December 1, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Developer
- Slug Disco
- Genre(s)
- Real-Time Strategy, City Builder
