Empires of the Undergrowth News

This update has been bubbling in the cauldron for quite some time, and we think it's finally tender enough for everyone to sink their teeth into. Thank you so much to everyone who has been helping us test this patch for the past couple of months - we've been able to resolve issues much faster than we would have done just by ourselves!

We had hoped to have full saving for AI colonies ready at this point but that hasn't been possible; that feature is still in the works and will hopefully appear soon. Other than that, we're good to go.



[h2]Freeplay Overhaul[/h2]

• AI Colonies are available in freeplay (NOTE: activating these will currently disable freeplay saving)
  
  • They have Easy and Normal difficulty and can cheat (if you set them to) to create a greater challenge
    
  • Up to 3 AI colonies can be added, and can be enemies or allies
    The new freeplay setup screen, showing the AI options
• New freeplay map: Basin
  • Designed for 2v2 but can be played in any configuration
    
  • Map option adds in destructible barriers to open up new access routes on the map
    Basin in all its lush green glory
• New option: randomised caverns allow for a different underground setup every game!
  
• Freeplay game type selection allows quick and easy setups
  
  • Victory conditions, creatures and other options are automatically setup when selecting the game type
    
  • All other options can still be found in the tabs
    

[h2]New Extra Levels[/h2]

• Excavators is now available to all in the extra levels section… wait.. did that exclamation mark just move??
  [previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
  
• Tug Of War will be available at the end of November, an auto-battler against an AI
  

[h2]Other new features[/h2]

• Finishing The Other Foot extra level will unlock the Counterpart Colony for use in freeplay
  
• More ramps have been added to Towhead to make it easier at the early stages
  
• Rework of pheromone trails. Ants will now leave the nest immediately and some will turn around on their way to form the trail
  [previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
  

[h2]Full Patch Notes[/h2]

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where a loaded harvestman’s leg could cause the game to crash
  
• Can no longer place markers for nest group underground via minimap
  
• Blocked side routes for the huge whip spider on Aggrandise (preventing your ants pathing through its chamber unintended)
  
• Fixed an issue where switching from evasive worker upgrade would leave the camouflage on
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause first wave to have no creatures in Extremis
  
• Fixed an issue where creatures spawned on lab formicarium 2 after returning from a mission could be stuck slightly in the ground. The friendly spiders will now immediately attack; F in comments for spiderbro :(
  
• Fixed a bug where reloading a freeplay game that has no manual save would cause the map to load in its default setup without workers or queen tiles
  
• Fixed an issue where leafcutters were climbing empty plant leaves
  
• Fixed an issue where the whip spider (and other large enemies) could potentially skip the line-of-sight check if switching targets while an enemy is actually visible (stops whip spider attacking ants above it on the ridge)
  
• Minor improvement to target acquisition efficiency for abilities
  
• Fixed an issue where only 20 refuse was removed when cancelling a build or upgrade job rather than the full amount that was created
  
• Check added to prevent save files read-only crash and appropriate error message given to player
  
• Fixed an issue where resource numbers could appear to float upwards when food drops close to and behind the camera
  
• Fixed an issue on 3.2 where army ant scouts would not move (this may fix other issues as well)
  
• When an ally uses a queen ability it now correctly says an ally used the queen ability instead of enemy
  
• Fixed an issue where the wrong music would play when playing more after 2.1
  
• Fixed a crash that would occur on The Other Foot when creatures got close to bridge edges (after the formicariums are connected)
  

[h3]Balance Changes[/h3]

• Reduced point value of army ant media
  
• Leafcutter ant media buffed
  
  • Attack damage increased to 4.5 / 6 / 7 (up from 3 / 4.5 / 6)
    
  • Health increased to 100 / 115 / 130 (up from 90 / 105 / 120)
    
  • Speed increased to 310 / 320 / 330 (up from 300 / 300 / 300)
    
  • Piercing increased to 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.4 (up from 0.2 / 0.2 / 0.2)
    
• Wood ant melee buffed
  
  • Threat generation increased to 0.2 / 0.25 / 0.3 (up from 0.1 / 0.1 / 0.15)
    
  • Damage increased to 0.6 / 1.2 / 1.8 (up from 0.5 / 1 / 1.5)
    
  • Armour increased 0.2 / 0.4 / 0.6 (up from 0 / 0 / 0)
    
  • Distance values altered so they will get slightly closer to enemies before attacking (should allow other melee units the ability to get closer to the fight)
    
• Health regeneration on many melee units buffed
  
  • Leafcutter major, army ant major and slave maker ants health regen increased to 0.1 / 0.15 / 0.2 (up from 0.1 / 0.1 / 0.1)
    
  • Black ant, wood ant melee and leafcutter media health regeneration increased to 0.1 / 0.2 / 0.3 (up from 0.1 / 0.1 / 0.1)
    
• Rapid fire wood ants will now get in and out of attack mode much more quickly
  
• Reduced mortar arc height
  

[h3]Changes and Improvements[/h3]

• Underground enemy "!" icons are now scaled based on how many points they provide. This should make it easier to gauge threats before attacking
  
• Ramp collision improvements
  
• Marker calculations have been improved (should be more responsive)
  
• Royal Guard are now immune to stun, confuse, pickup and execute
  
• Royal Guard health increased to 200 (up from 120)
  
• Infestation landmark is now defaulted to off
  
• Dropdown boxes in freeplay setup now display tooltips for each individual option when hovered over
  
• Freeplay now has an option to disable colonies entering one another (this turns on by default if playing Domination or Hunter game modes)
  
• Can now select which ubers you wish to spawn in freeplay
  

[h3]Performance[/h3]

• Optimisations for creature movement
  
• Changes to how certain checks are done on the behaviour tree to improve performance
  
• Minor performance improvements on funnel web landmark (still needs more work)
  
• Improved honeydew resource performance
  
• When an egg hatches, the open egg and particle effect will only occur if the player is viewing that tile grid at the time (as will the hatch sound)
  

Mac & Linux are now included in the beta; we're very close to full release of this content for everyone.

• Reloading in freeplay now selects the correct loading screen for the map
  
• Root aphid clusters now spawn closer to the central point of interest in freeplay to prevent them spawning over cliff edges
  
• Fixed an issue where being at the south end of Excavators map would map the world bright
  
• Autosaves are now deleted when a game is deleted fixing an error that could try to load the wrong save into a freeplay level
  
• Killing an uber with a damage over time (DOT) effect will now count the kill towards victory objective Hunter
  
• Uber mole cricket now has 3000 food up from 30
  

[h3]"Sticky innards..... glorious feast..... hunger still gnawing.... appetite must be sated!"[/h3]

- The Hungry Spider, whenever he's awake

Tucked away in a dark corner of the world, this wolf spider hungers. His appetite is insatiable, and there lies a feast nearby. The Hungry Spider is back for Halloween. If you've not seen him before, look for something that needs dusting away on the main menu.

Be warned - this level is notoriously brutal, and few have accomplished it. If you do, you'll be rewarded an achievement - the rarest of them, of course.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thanks to Rensy for the screenshot used in the Steam artwork for this post!

This is hopefully the last release in this current beta before we move it to the main branch. Enjoy the new extra level, Excavators, that features spooky crickets lurking in the dark, grouping up to attack you! We’re fairly sure that’s the first time anyone has ever called crickets spooky, but y’know, ‘tis the season.

This will currently only affect you if you're participating in the optional beta. If you’re not participating in the beta and would like to, please see the details in this link. Note that the beta is only available to Windows Steam owners.

• Extra level Excavators is now available to all… wait.. did that exclamation mark just move???
  
• Fixed some minor underground tile graphical bugs
  
• Hungry Spider will no longer draw marker paths on the minimap
  
• Hungry Spider will now path on left click release rather than walk in a strait line to the location (if you hold down left mouse or right click it is still a straight line)
  
• Added in creature and food info toggles to the Hungry Spider levels (Halloween and Christmas)
  
• Tiles no longer highlight when hovered in the Hungry Spider levels
  
• Right clicking minimap is now disabled in hungry spider levels
  
• Creature scaling in freeplay now affects thorns and knock-back at 10% the rate of other stats
  
• Warning about AI colonies disabling save added into freeplay
  
• Thorns now includes a range check to the affected target so thorns cannot be applied from far away
  
• Fixed an issue where dead creatures would not show their food values
  
• Destructible barriers should save their state in Basin (when playing without AI colonies)
  

It's a bit overdue but due to popular demand we've set up an official Slug Disco Discord - and of course its main section is for Empires of the Undergrowth.

If you'd like to talk with friendly, nature loving gamers about Empires of the Undergrowth (or the other two games in Slug Disco's portfolio - Ecosystem and Beetle Uprising) then this is the Discord for you.

CLICK HERE for your Discord invite!