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.
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.
Code: balanceandchanges
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:
- Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
- Choose the "Betas" tab
- In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter balanceandchanges
- 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
- Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.
Patch Notes
Changes - Custom Games ONLY
- 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)
Changes - Story & General
- 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
Other Changes
- 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)
Fixes & Optimisations
- 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)
Known Issues
- Some extra levels will appear dark or overly contrasty due to rendering changes - please report them if you see them