Red Ants

* Worker
* Soldier
* Queen

**Red Ants** are hostile ants that appear near the player colony on the main map.

## General Information

Red ants are a colony of ants similar to the black ants. Red ant workers and some soldiers will leave their anthill to collect resources from nearby leaf sources and the seed source on the map. If any worker or soldier black ants get close enough, the red ants will attack them. However, if left alone they will not come near the player anthill unless it is in the path of a leaf or seed source.

Due to their hostile presence, it is recommended to defeat them as soon as possible, as they can prove to be problematic while gathering resources.

Red ants will attack and kill workers during offline gathering if they are present on the map when the player logs out of the game.

## Appearance

Red ants re-spawn 12 hours after the red queen has been defeated.

There will be 76 red ants on the map when starting a new game. After that colony is defeated, the red ants will always spawn with 96 ants. If some of the red ants are killed but the queen is not defeated, she will continue to lay eggs. Those eggs will hatch into a new worker or soldier every 2 minutes and 30 seconds until reaching a cap of 76 red ants or the queen is defeated. However, if the game is reset these newly hatched ants will disappear.

## Strategy

The strategy to deal with and defeat the red ants depends on the upgrades that the player and soldier ants have.

### Early game

Before the player can breed soldiers, it is necessary to get past the red ants to collect 15 seeds. This can be achieved either by going alone to collect them one at a time, or by sending a large number of workers so that some will survive. It is possible for the player to collect a seed from one side of the pile while red workers are on the other side, without conflict, provided the red soldiers have moved away. Also, in the first few minutes after starting the game, the red ants will go the leaf/seed source in a single group and then go back to the nest allowing the player to collect from the source without being bothered.

#### Defeating

When setting out to exterminate the red ants in the early game, with no or few upgrades, it is best to approach with caution. Recruit 10 soldiers and attack the red ants that are collecting resources. Stand by the resource for a while until the red workers no longer come toward it and then go the next resource to do the same. This should be an easy task as there shouldn't be a lot of soldiers and will help with crippling them as they will have fewer soldiers protecting their nest.

**Tip:** After the red ants stop going to the resources, reload the game (save and exit and sign back in). The red ants that were previously killed will still be gone but the remaining ones will start collecting resources and can be killed at the seed/leaf source once again. This can be repeated several times to drop their numbers down to more easily managed levels.

After every worker and soldier ant that was trying to collect resources (both leaves and seeds) has been defeated, attack their anthill. This is the most challenging part of the battle as they will have many soldiers and lots of workers (that may pose a threat) surrounding the entrance to their anthill. It is best to do this slowly.

If the red ants see the player ant or any soldiers, they will give chase and try to attack. The player and soldiers can wait near the edge of the red anthill. Move closer a little at a time until a red ant sees the soldiers and runs toward them or run ahead of the soldier ants so the red ants give chase. Move away a little and let the soldiers kill that red ant. Repeat the process until only a few red ants are left. At that point it will be safe to attack the rest without much loss.

Once this is done enter the nest and finish off the rest of the soldiers and workers in the halls. The red ant queen has many soldiers in her chamber and they will not go far to chase the player or black soldiers. Once the soldiers are defeated, attack the queen.

### Mid to late game

With enough upgrades it is possible and fairly easy to rush the queen to defeat the red ants quickly.

Wait for the red workers and soldiers to start heading to the leaf and seed sources. Recruit soldiers and run past them, then have the soldiers attack to distract the workers and soldiers guarding the nest. It should be easy to run into the red anthill entrance without needing to defeat all the red ants guarding it. Then, run down the hallway avoiding the red ants there and go into the bottom edge of the seed storage chamber until the attack button activates. The black soldiers should be able to kill the queen without any losses.

Once the queen has been defeated all the other red ants will instantly die.

## Rewards

Defeating the queen will give 1  pink pheromone and 5-10  gems. The red ants are one of the main sources of gems in the game.

A common daily quest item is defeating the red anthill. Completing this daily quest item rewards 50  seeds.

## Events

Red ants are important during Events. Defeating the red ant queen is one of the main sources of activity points for obtaining Special Creatures. 200 points are awarded each time the red ants are defeated.

Red ant re-spawn timers are reduced to 6 hours during regular events. Timers are not reduced during mini Creature Events.

## Trivia

The red ants appear to collect leaves and seeds from the map sources; however, they do not decrease the amount of resources available by doing so.

Red soldier ants will sometimes walk toward the bottom right corner of the map and go off the map. They will return from the same location a few minutes later.