Greetings, colony caretakers!

We’re excited to share the latest developments for Empires of the Undergrowth, including updates introduced in the optional beta for custom games. This update brings the highly anticipated Custom Colonies feature, enabling players to create unique colonies combining unit types in new ways. Additionally, Empires of the Undergrowth is part of the Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale, offering 50% off until November 23rd.

See other Hooded Horse games in our publisher sale.
Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale 2024[store.steampowered.com]
The optional beta introduces the Custom Colonies feature, allowing players to mix and match different ant and termite units to create their dream colony. This new system provides a fresh layer of strategy and creativity, enabling colonies to adopt unique feeding habits and abilities based on their chosen queen. While some combinations are restricted for technical reasons, most options are available.
Alongside Custom Colonies, several gameplay adjustments and fixes have been implemented:

• Balance Adjustments: Updates to lignocellulose nodes, termite spawn rates, and unit abilities refine the strategic flow of custom games.
  
• Fixes and Improvements: Lighting corrections, texture fixes, and updates to underground levels enhance the overall experience.

As a reminder, Empires of the Undergrowth is part of the Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale at 50% off until November 23rd.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the optional beta. Join the conversation in our forums or on Discord, and let us know your feedback!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/463530/view/6706514098924945207?l=english

Until November 23rd, Empires of the Undergrowth is available at a 50% discount as part of the Hooded Horse Publisher Sale.

Command an ant colony and wage strategic battles in the insect kingdom. This ant-based RTS challenges players to build, defend, and expand their colony, using unique pheromone strategies and powerful warrior ants to survive against formidable foes.

See other Hooded Horse games in our publisher sale.
Hooded Horse November Publisher Sale 2024[store.steampowered.com]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/463530/Empires_of_the_Undergrowth/

Congratulations, Microids and Tower Five, on the Empire of the Ants launch! We're excited to announce that we've created an ant-credible bundle featuring our games to celebrate this fantastic release. Lead your colony through the perils of the forest in this groundbreaking, photorealistic RTS, where you command insect legions in epic battles.

Experience an epic microscopic world with our special bundle featuring both games.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/47006/Empire_of_the_Ants__Empires_of_the_Undergrowth/

This update to the beta has a new feature for custom games - custom colonies! Using it, you can create an entirely unique colony for your game that mixes-and-matches many different unit types - for instance, you can have a Matabele colony with leafcutter majors and termite soldiers in it. Find the option in the colony setup section of the custom game launch menu. There are also further balance changes and fixes - see below for full notes.

If you're not currently participating in this optional beta and would like to, see the previous post for details on how to join it. The password is balanceandchanges.

• New custom game feature: custom colonies
  
  • Allows colonies to contain virtually any ant or termite in the game
    
  • Can be selected in colony setup
    
  • Colony will adopt the feeding habits of the selected queen
    
  • Workers will match the queen
    
  • Some combinations are disallowed for technical reasons (eg: Matabele medics cannot be included in a leafcutter colony)
• Black ants in custom games now have armour (0/1/2, up from 0/0/0)
  
• 3 lignocellulose nodes per landmark will spawn at a time instead of 1
  
• Limited lignocellulose nodes per landmark to 15
  
• Increased time between termite spawns on the lignocellulose landmark (now every 6-30s, up from 4-20s)
  
• If a lignocellulose landmark has no mulch, termites spawned to harvest from it will despawn
  
• Big-headed ant major Adrenaline ability duration reduced to 20s (down from 40)
  
• Adrenaline ability now uses the same visuals as the fire ant Vigorous ability
  
• Fire ant Vigorous ability damage reduction buff is now 15% (down from 25%) in custom games

• Loading screen corrected for several extra levels
  
• Undergrounds of The Culling and Hibernation now use the rotting log environment
  
• Fixed lighting on multiple extra and demo levels
  
• Victory music for the Festive Spider seasonal level now works
  
• Fixed tunnel exit textures in Hibernation extra level
  
• Creature stats in the build menu will now use the ones currently in use, not just the story ones
  
• Moved some unharvestable leaves in 3.2 to be reachable
  
• Fixed an issue where saving and loading would cause the wrong egg type to appear on some termite tiles
  
• Attempted to fix a Cold Blood crash - please report if you are still getting crashes on this level

Ever wonder what it’s like to command an army of ants in a world where everything from ladybugs to hermit crabs wants you dead? Welcome to this ant-based RTS, where you don’t just build a colony—you wage war on the insect kingdom. It’s not just ants versus bugs; it’s strategy on steroids, with pheromones as your secret weapon and hundreds of warrior ants clashing in a frenzy of mandibles and formic acid artillery.

Until October 10th, explore the fascinating world of ants in Empires of the Undergrowth at a 50% discount.

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Empires of the Undergrowth is a real-time strategy game where you manage an ant colony, gather resources, and defend against predators. Check out the recent 1.0 release!

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Until October 10th, explore the fascinating world of ants in Empires of the Undergrowth at a 50% discount.

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Empires of the Undergrowth is a real-time strategy game where you manage an ant colony, gather resources, and defend against predators. Check out the recent 1.0 release!

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The discounts on Empires of the Undergrowth and all other Hooded Horse games are available through October 10th — perfect for enhancing your summer gaming experience. We're excited to see the worlds you build and the adventures you undertake.
Happy gaming!

Now that we've had a few months post-release to ruminate on things, we've got a clearer idea of what we want to do for Empires of the Undergrowth in both the short and long term, outside of the things mentioned in the most recent roadmap for the project. Community manager mike breaks it down (as a talking head piece - don't expect dancing).

Including some new screenies of the upcoming tier 3 art refresh.

This optional beta is testing some fairly large changes to custom games, particularly AI colonies - as well as experimenting with more bold changes to ant stats specifically in that game mode. These changes are being tested in some extra levels, too, where we feel it’s appropriate.

For the first time we are separating stats between the story and custom games, to allow for better balancing (they have slightly different needs) and some more experimentation outside of the more rigid structure of the story. Most stats are staying the same for now, but there are some notable changes.

PLEASE NOTE: We’re taking some broad strokes with experimental changes to ant stats and abilities in custom games! As such they might seem a bit extreme, which is why we’d like to hear your feedback in the optional beta. We’ll be refining as we go on! Please post your feedback in the Steam community forum or on our Discord[discord.com].

You'll notice a new tab on the main menu titled DLC - there is nothing there for now, but in the future this is where DLCs like the Myrmecia ereptor Kickstarter reward skin will live.

The version of Unreal Engine 4 the game runs on has been updated - please keep an eye our for any weirdness. There are also several balance changes, particularly to the newer story levels (5.x). We’ve be very keen to hear your thoughts on those, too.

The optional beta is only available on Windows 64 bit systems, and only on Steam. As well as the featured changes there are a large number of fixes and other balances. Recent changes to in-game text are currently lacking localisation and will display in English.


If you would like to join the beta, the code is balanceandchanges. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:

1. Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
   
2. Choose the "Betas" tab
   
3. In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter balanceandchanges
   
4. After the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "Open beta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menu
   
5. Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.

• Black ant soldier hatch cost reduced to 3 (down from 5)
  
• Black ant soldiers take no more than 40 damage from a single attack
  
• Big-headed ant major soldiers have a new ability - adrenaline. This reduces damage taken by 60%, 20% increased movement speed and 80% increased attack speed for 40s (10m cooldown)
  
• Big-headed ant major cost increased to 35 (up from 25) and egg hatch cost increased to 4 (up from 2)
  
• Leafcutter media harvest quantities increased to 20 / 24 / 30 (up from 17 / 19 / 22)
  
• Leafcutter media health reduced to 80 / 95 / 110 (down from 100 / 115 / 130)
  
• Leafcutter media damage reduced to 4 / 5 / 6 (down from 4.5 / 6 / 7)
  
• Leafcutter media build cost reduced to 65 (down from 80)
  
• Leafcutter colonies will start with 200 fungus (up from 100)
  
• Termite’s lignocellulose landmarks will now spawn a new node every 3m and will not despawn when empty
  
• Large giant African mantis and large hermit crab will no longer invade nests
  
• Earwig nymph should no longer invade nests
  
• Earwig juvenile, earwig and alligatorback scorpion juvenile added as possible cavern creatures in custom games
  
• AI colony queen workers are only sent out for the first 10m and return faster for smaller amounts of food. If harvesters are dead queen workers can go out again
  
• Timid AI colonies are less likely to invade and will harass less frequently
  
• Reduced AI colony food dropoff build priority (except for leafcutters and termites)
  
• AI wood ant colonies make more melee tiles
  
• AI ereptor colonies likely to make more balanced build choices, not always favouring larger ants
  
• AI colonies receive damage reduction to patrols (differs based on cheat settings). This tapers off over time
  
• AI little black ant, black ant and fire ant colonies will make more soldiers than they used to (unless they are docile)

• 5.1 nighttime invasion changes:
  
  • On easy and normal, the sun spider’s stun duration has been reduced to 2.5s (down from 5s) and damage reduced to 5 (down from 8)
    
  • On easy and normal, the sun spider’s confuse duration has been reduced to 2s (down from 4s) and damage reduced to 4 (down from 7)
    
  • On easy and normal, the giant African centipede’s venom pool damage per tick reduced to 4 (down from 8) and initial target damage reduced to 200 (down from 400)
    
  • On easy and normal, the giant African centipede’s body slam area of effect reduced to 200 (down from 300), damage reduced to 30 (down from 40)
    
  • On easy to extreme, the emperor scorpion’s attack damage reduced to 20 / 20 / 35 / 40 / 45 (down from 45 on all difficulties)
    
  • On easy and normal, the emperor scorpion’s stun has been reduced to 1s (down from 2) and confuse reduced to 2.5s (down from 5)
• In 5.2, extra soldier tiles reduced on easier difficulties to 5 / 3 / 1 / 0 / 0 (down from 7 / 4 / 1 / 0 / 0)
  
• In 5.2, casualties required for victory increased on easier difficulties to 120 / 135 / 150 / 150 / 150 (up from 100 / 125 / 150 / 150 / 150)
  
• In 5.3 challenge mode, the emperor scorpion now maintains its health between days but heals 10% life each day
  
• In 4.1 New Game Plus, enemy colonies now receive more food storage at the start of the game and more workers (based on how high NGP is set). The little black ant colony also gets more starting resources
  
• Matabele anaesthetist revival time reduced to 7s (down from 10s)
  
• Increased range of fire ant’s Last Laugh ability to 300 (up from 200)
  
• Mounted creatures are thrown off when a large creature starts to move through a nest exit
  
• Changed final objective in 1.2 Subjugation to say raid instead of wave

• Achievements can now be completed on New Game Plus!
  
• Hovering over achievement in the achievements menu will show the highest difficulty it was achieved on
  
• The Nian Beast and Festive Spider levels can now be accessed at the appropriate times of year
  
• Festive Spider now uses the same music as Hibernation
  
• Festive Spider now uses the updated rotten log textures (WIP - will look overly contrasty for now)
  
• It will now snow in the Festive Spider level!
  
• Extra levels The Culling, The Culling 2, Tug Of War (1, 2 and 3) and Cramped will now use custom game stats rather than story stats
  
• Environmental textures will now be more detailed (WIP - some levels may look dark due to the deeper recessing the extra ambient occlusion pass is causing, please report if you see this, particularly in extra levels and custom game maps)
  
• Tile hover window now displays a message when tiles have been locked out
  
• Graphical updates to Tug of War 3
  
• Game engine updated to Unreal Engine 4.27 - please keep an eye out for any weirdness here
  
• DLC menu added to the main menu in preparation for future content such as the Kickstarter reward (Myrmecia ereptor worker skin)

• Fixed a bug where AI was sometimes unaware of underground invaders in freeplay
  
• Bullet ant attack damage increases from minor improvements should now work against targets that are not executed by their attack
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause Matabele ant medics to get stuck at the queen (happened a lot in Tug of War 3)
  
• Fixed an issue in The Culling 2 where floating seeds were not falling in a small section of the map
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause resources to not count towards score in some levels
  
• Fixed an issue with Imprisoned where termites sometimes could not path to where the water would be
  
• Narrator in custom games should talk about termites more when they are fighting, rather than calling them ants
  
• Assassin bugs will now despawn after 10s like other creatures in 5.1 and 5.2
  
• Tug of War 3 name now in keeping with the other ToW levels
  
• Final objective in 1.2 Subjugation now marks as finished on victory
  
• Fixed an issue where two voice lines were showing as the wrong scientist
  
• Fixes for UI scaling
  
• Minor optimisations to large creatures and queens
  
• Memory use reduction (more things should only load into memory as needed)

• Some extra levels will appear dark or overly contrasty due to rendering changes - please report them if you see them

As the dust continues to settle after the 1.0 launch, we’ve solidified our plans for the short and long term goals for Empires of the Undergrowth. This newsletter will be a bit briefer than usual, as we try to return to some form of normality after the huge upheaval brought by the game’s release!

The ereptor colony languishes in its cupboard purgatory, from Zvistic on our Discord[discord.com]

We’ll go over what the team are working on right now, but for a more comprehensive look at the future of the project I’d highly recommend taking a peek at the previous newsletter or vlog - there’s an in-depth breakdown of the intended roadmap in both of those, and there’s not much point in repeating that completely here.


One of our main priorities, as mentioned in the previous vlog, is tier 5 / final formicarium achievements - they didn’t make it in quite in time for release. These are currently in the process of being implemented - there will be 45 of them in total, and as a little treat the devs have let me show you a preview of 3 of these (I had to twist a dev’s arm up his back to get them):

No Mound Left Behind - Beat “Drive Them Back” on medium difficulty without losing a termite mound.

Shoot Yourself In The Foot - Beat “Triage” on hard difficulty with no termite queens left alive.

Finish Your Vegetables - Beat “Last Mound Standing’” on impossible difficulty after harvesting 10,000 llignocelluose.


Our environment artist is getting on with his refresh of the Ecuador level artwork, to bring them in line with the style and fidelity of the rest of the game. Below are 3 previews of this work - please note, this is very much a work in progress and will change a lot before it reaches its final look (for example, no changes have yet been made to the leafcutter sapling).


We’re currently in the process of upgrading the version of Unreal Engine 4 that the game uses. We’ll be taking it to version 4.27, which is the final stable build of this engine. This is a pretty significant undertaking - we’ve done it before earlier on in the project, but this will be the final time that we do this. In theory, upgrading the engine leads to improved efficiency of the underlying UE systems - but there is always fallout and breakages when undergoing such a fundamental change, so it will take us a while to work through those.

While we’re in the throes of this, it’s worth mentioning that some people have been mentioning graphical issues that only arose with the release of 1.0 - they report overly smooth-looking surfaces on some models. We’ve yet to entirely nail down commonality between them - it appears to be people using some older graphics cards (the 10x GTX series crops up regularly here, although we don’t see the issue on our own 10x laptops).

It is entirely possible that this engine upgrade fixes the issues, and before we release the version of the game with the engine upgrade it’s entirely possible that we’ll run an optional beta - more details on that if/when it happens, but it would be greatly appreciated if people experiencing this issue can do some testing when the time comes.

If the engine upgrade doesn’t address these issues, then of course we’ll go engine diving a lot deeper again to uncover the cause.


We’ve been continuing to collect feedback based on player discussion on both Steam and our other official channels (forum, Discord, etc) and condensing those down into bullet points for our devs to ingest and ponder on. Please keep this coming - overall consensus is really important here for us to identify these areas where things could use tightening up a little.

We’ve also been gathering feedback on how best to tune the systems we have for custom game AI, and over the past several weeks a lot of careful thought has gone into it. We hope to have some of these tweaks ready to go along with the engine update patch.


While an unofficial wiki has existed for some time now, we have recently launched an official wiki[hoodedhorse.com] hosted by our publishing partners Hooded Horse! The Empires of the Undergrowth wiki is the best source of up-to-date information on the game. It contains information on all of the maps and creatures, including stats and abilities for the creatures. It also contains trivia and behind-the scenes info from the game’s development.

Click here to visit the new official Empires of the Undergrowth wiki![hoodedhorse.com]

Our thanks to community member AntBZK for his work (or “hobby”, as he calls it) in creating the vast majority of the content on the official wiki (and its unofficial predecessor). There’s room in the future to bring on other official contributors - if you fancy a go at that and have a decent writing style, come and join us on the Discord[discord.com] where the wiki has its own channel for debate.


Back in May, community manager Mike and marketing content creator Hei Man went to Carmarthen in Wales, to attent ANTCON 2024[www.antantics.wales]. This is the event for UK-based ant fans and keepers, and people come from much further afield as well. Mike had his camera with him and recorded some of the day, as well as taking some pretty darn great macro shots of some of the ants on display, even if he does say so himself.

A macro photo of Formica fusca ants taken at ANTCON. By Mike Connor

Mike also gave a short presentation about the creatures of the savannah, and talked a bit of what was to come in tier 5 (the event was roughly a month before full release of the game). A short travelog is in the works to document some of the day - expect to see that on our YouTube channel soon.

As always, it was a fantastic event and it was great to be able to attent. Thanks very much to Richard and the rest of the team from Ant Antics for organising it, and for inviting us and making it so memorable.


Ever my favourite part of the newsletter, here I gather some of my favourite screenshots from our Discord[discord.com] and the Steam community tab. If you’d like to submit a screenshot for this section in the future, then the Discord is the easiest way to do that. To get really great angles on your screenies, hold down shift while you enter photo mode to uncouple the camera from the ground plane.

Fire ants raft to safety from Thuneral on Steam Community

A bullfrog tries to brush off stinging ants from Alex_O on Steam Community

A whip spider traps a Matabele ant in a diamond prison from 桶上默语(TSMYAFL) on Steam Community