Empires of the Undergrowth News

A small update to the currently-running optional beta has been released.

• Fixed an issue where allied queens could count towards conquest victory condition
  
• Altered rapid fire wood ants animation to fix an issue with them becoming stuck after attacking (there may still be issues with this; please let us know if you spot any)
  

A small update to the currently-running optional beta has been released. No new features in this one, just some fixes for common issues. This brings the version number to 0.22031.

• Disabled save on quit in freeplay when save should be disabled (currently save is disabled when playing with enemy colonies; the proper mechanisms for saving AI game states are not yet fully implemented)
  
• Prevented creatures attacking dead queens if it was a player that killed the queen in freeplay
  
• Fixed an issue where accepting advanced options in freeplay with the Counterpart Colony selected as your colony would turn it back to a Formica ereptor colony
  
• 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 in tug of war where placing tiles down in the first second would cause an egg to spawn on them instantly
  
• Fixed an issue where the enemy colony difficulty would flip to the other option (easy or normal) when opening the AI colony setup
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred when a medium AI colony tried to pause an attack
  

We’ve updated the currently-running optional beta. As well as fixes and changes to the freeplay AI, this one also includes some rather extensive balance changes that will affect the campaign levels as well. We’re particularly looking forward to feedback on these.

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.

[h2]Freeplay and AI changes[/h2]

• Easy AI Player added
  
  • Will not attack another colony for at least the first 20 minutes
    
  • Far less likely to attack another colony
    
  • Attacks on enemy colonies are shorter
    
  • Will wait longer between attacks
    
  • Makes decisions less often
    
• Medium AI Player added
  
  • Can regroup during an attack if it is going poorly (briefly pause an attack)
    
  • Can come to the aid of an ally if they have more than 10 enemies in their nest and are not currently attacking
    
• Raiding defeated colonies added
  
  • Players may now remain inside enemy colonies once they are defeated
    
  • Defeated players colony is dismantled at a rate of 1 tile per half second, dropping resources to the ground
    
  • These resources can be carried off by an opposing colony
    
• Players can now see into nests where allied ants are located
  

[h2]Balance Changes[/h2]

• Lower difficulties of cheats starting base size and resources reduced slightly
  
• 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
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed an issue preventing movement avoidance code working properly
  
• Fixed an issue where enemy colonies would continue building after their queen had been killed
  

We’ve updated the currently-running optional beta - this will only affect you if you're participating in said currently-running optional beta, detailed in this post.

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Freeplay teams implemented - AI colonies in freeplay can now be assigned a team (including allied with the player)
  
• If the player places a marker on an enemy colony, AI allies will join the attack if it deems it sensible
  
• Allied players ping the minimap when they themselves are attacking an enemy colony to let the player know
  
• AI allies will join in each other's attacks on enemy colonies
  
• Conquest victory condition now takes into account allies
  
• Counterpart colony will now be available to play in freeplay once you beat extra level “The Other Foot” (you will need to beat it again if you already have done so; difficulty doesn’t matter)
  

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Royal Guard are now immune to stun, confuse, pickup and execute
  
• Royal Guard health increased to 200 (up from 120)
  
• AI colonies now build more rooms and should have a more sensible distribution of ants in their marker groups
  
• Formica ereptor AI colonies can now build from the entire pool of ants available to them (even those unlocked by editing the save files)
  
• Formica ereptor AI colonies will now build up to 4 species in freeplay
  
• Infestation landmark is now defaulted to off
  
• AI now turns off harvesting and turns on attacking when going into combat with a colony and turns both on when leaving combat with a colony
  
• AI cheats now have bigger pre-built bases at lower difficulties
  
• AI cheats now have smaller pre-built bases and higher difficulties
  
• AI cheats now have more starting resources at lower difficulties
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where switching from evasive worker upgrade would leave the camouflage on
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause the 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 previously 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 an AI colony ants could be carrying eggs on the surface
  
• If no AI player exists and Conquest is selected a Formica fusca colony is added in freeplay
  
• Fixed an issue where leafcutters were climbing empty plant leaves
  
• Fixed an issue that would cause AI colonies to attack player 0 even if no colony exists in the game with that ID (AI ants will no longer attack inactive nests)
  
• Fixed the revenge mechanic for AI colonies; they will now be more likely to attack a player that has killed some of their ants recently
  
• 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 a crash that would occur when loading a level with pre-set leaves
  

An update to the currently running beta has been released - this will only affect you if you're participating in the currently-running optional beta, detailed in this post.

Here are the notes for this beta release:

• Fixed an issue where formicarium colony’s territory and jelly were set to zero and tunnel exit closed. (If you saved a formicarium in this state we advise restoring it from a backup, detailed here)
  
• Fixed an issue where Tug of War map would display formicarium rewards at the end
  
• Enemy ants should no longer provide vision in freeplay with Fog of War active
  
• Fixed an issue where freeplay enemy colonies unit selection was the opposite of what was chosen
  
• Fixed the game icon