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Hooded Horse January Publisher Sale 2025
Empires of the Undergrowth Update: New Features and Changes
The latest update for Empires of the Undergrowth introduces exciting additions to gameplay, balancing changes, and a plethora of fixes and optimizations.
Here's a breakdown of the most significant changes and additions:
Headline Features
- New Game Mode: Remix
- Play almost any level with nearly any combination of ants or termites. Custom colonies adapt to the feeding habits of the selected queen, providing a highly flexible and replayable experience.
- Accessible from the Arcade section of the main menu.
- Some combinations are unavailable due to technical constraints.
- Custom Colonies
- Create colonies with nearly any ant or termite species in the game. Custom colonies adopt traits and worker designs matching their queen.
- New Custom Game Maps
- Grasslands
- Drive Them Back (customized for termites or regular ants depending on colony selection).
- Tier 4 and Tier 5 Achievements
- 8 new achievements for Tier 4 challenge levels.
- 45 new achievements for Tier 5 challenge levels, now accessible in New Game Plus.
Story and General Gameplay Changes
Level Changes
- Reduced the stun, confuse, and damage effects of sun spiders, centipedes, and emperor scorpions on Easy and Normal difficulties for fairer balance.
- In 5.2, increased casualties required for victory on lower difficulties, making it more challenging to achieve victory early.
Challenge Mode Changements
- Challenge scorpions now retain their health between days but regenerate 10% daily.
- Scorpions' escape behavior now varies based on combat location (surface or underground).
New Game Plus
- Enemy colonies now start with more workers and resources.
- Increased food storage capacity for enemy colonies in higher settings.
Specific Tweaks
- Matabele revival time reduced from 10 seconds to 7 seconds.
- Fire ant "Last Laugh" ability range increased from 200 to 300.
- Mounted creatures are displaced when large creatures move through nest exits.
Custom Games
Custom games see significant changes tailored to the mode's unique dynamics:
- Black ant soldiers now cost less to hatch and take reduced damage from single attacks.
- Big-headed ant majors gain an adrenaline ability for damage resistance and speed boosts.
- Leafcutter media ants now cost less and harvest more efficiently, though their health and damage have been slightly reduced.
- Termite landmarks regenerate resources over time and maintain persistent spawn nodes for longer gameplay viability.
- Fire ant Vigorous ability buff reduced in custom games for better balance.
- AI colonies now prioritize building soldiers, especially for black ants, fire ants, and little black ants.
Other Additions
- Achievements can now be earned in New Game Plus.
- Seasonal levels, like Festive Spider, have updated visuals, music, and weather effects (including snowfall).
- Several extra levels now use custom game stats instead of story mode stats for a more consistent experience.
Fixes and Optimizations
- Numerous AI improvements, including better handling of underground invaders and more balanced build strategies for AI colonies.
- Fixed issues with Matabele ant medics, subtitles, map resources, and various level-specific bugs.
- Reduced memory usage with on-demand asset loading and minor optimizations for queens and large creatures.
Read the full patch notes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/463530/announcements/detail/547847869991747855