Spoilers for Future Contents

These information are publicly announced in the Slug Disco forum, Youtube channel, Discord and developer streams. They are subjected to change as the game is developed. **Datamined info must not be mentioned here in agreement with the developers.**

## **Interim updates**

### **Six-spotted fishing spider**

Six-spotted fishing spider (*Dolomedes triton*) are challenge mode enemies for fire ant missions. They can run on top of water and attack bridges directly.

### **Freeplay**

New maps will be made for freeplay with bridge building being the main gimmick: **Archipelago** and **Wetland**.

## **Final chapter**

The fifth tier will feature world's largest termites (*Macrotermes bellicosus*) with new food processing mechanic that is somewhat similar to leafcutter ants.

There will be 3 new documentary missions and 1 new formicarium challenge.

**The spoilers below were unofficially leaked from Liam's stream in August 2021 and subsequent discussions on Discord. They should only be discussed with spoiler tag on Discord. Don't start any conversation about them anywhere else so that you don't spoil other people. This begins from September 2021 in agreement with the developers.**

There will be a story mission that allows 6 colonies in play.

The fifth tier is set in a savannah in Ivory Coast, Africa.

Matabele ants (*Megaponera analis*) will be playable as complete colonies and gene-thief ant units. They have queen, workers, soldiers and medics. They only eat termites and will suffer from certain penalty if they consume other meat.

An ability called **Flashheal**, which lets them heal nearby allies every time they hit their attacks, has been revealed and tested in **Adventure**. There is no confirmation if this is their innate ability or an adaptation.

Termites can't build wall or blocking tile. They have king, queen, workers and soldiers.

There are complete termite colonies in matabele ant missions. However, termites won't be playable as complete colonies in freeplay before full release.

Driver ants (*Dorylus sp.*) will be the main enemy ants. They have workers, small soldiers and large soldiers. They are confirmed to be unplayable as complete colonies because they build bivouacs, not underground nests.

Other enemies include sun spiders, rainbow lizards (*Agama agama*), alligator back scorpions (*Hottentotta hottentotta*), unknown mantises and unknown ants.

## **Full release**

### **New game plus**

New game plus will be available after you have beaten the entire story. You get to play story again from the start. You will start with all formicarium unlockables and minor improvements you have unlocked in the first playthrough.

All customizations will be aplied to the respective units in documentary missions. This also applies to queen and workers of other species.

Non-colonial enemies will be powerscaled in this mode. AI colonies will have greater headstart.

### **Other features**

Bullet ants (*Paraponera clavata*) will be available only as gene-thief ant units after you have beaten the main story.

*Myrmecia ereptor* will be added as unlockable skin for gene-thief ants, but only for kickstarter backers. It is still unknown if other players can have access to this skin.

## **NOT in version 1.0 of the game**

### **Mechanics**

Multiplayer will never be in the game. The current game is not fun for multiplayer due to how the nest design and the movement code works. Any form of multiplayer would require rewriting the game from scratch, which delays the project even further.

Rebuilding soil tiles and moving queen will never be in the game. It conflicts with how the movement code works and would create extra pathway cheking.

The story missions weren't made with saving mid-game in mind. The scripted events require unique saving system for each mission. Any changes currently may delay the project further.

### **Contents**

Slave-maker ants, trap-jaw ants and army ants are unpkayable as complete colonies due to either their complex nest systems or not forming pheromone trails. Arboreal ant species like weaver ants are deconfirmed for similar reasons.

Antlions were replaced with larval tiger beetles due to the hexagonal design of the game.

Hooded praying mantises and leaf-mimic bush crickets were rejected from leafcutter ant missions due to redundancy.

Titan beetles were rejected from leafcutter ant missions, not sure what the reason was.

Black widows were rejected from fire ant missions due to redundancy and their lack of aggressive behavior.

Mammals and birds will never be in the game. The developers want to keep the game free from red blood and gore.

Multiple ant species were made as concept arts during the early days of the game. As the game evolves into an RTS game, the developers have focused on quality instead of quantity. Species that offer the most unique gameplay or special combat abilities will have higher chance of coming back. The rejected species currently include raspberry crazy ants, bull ants, exploding carpenter ants, Indian jumping ants, honeypot ants, Saharan silver ants and turtle ants.

## **Spoiler screenshots**

Silhouette of a matabele antSix-spotted fishing spiderOverview map of **Wetland**Overview map of **Archipelago***Myrmecia ereptor*

## **References**

1. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4sH7rwNzo&list=WL
2. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord.
3. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (2/9/2021).
4. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (29/6/2022).
5. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bJm3gVOc0
6. ↑ Confirmed by John on Discord (24/8/2021).
7. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (11/8/2021).
8. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (27/1/2024).
9. ↑ Confirmed by John on Discord (10/5/2021).
10. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (26/8/2021).
11. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (27/1/2024).
12. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4sH7rwNzo
13. ↑ http://www.geekypen.com/blog/geeky-projects/empires-of-the-undergrowth-translation/
14. ↑ Confirmed by John on Discord (29/10/2022).
15. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (24/3/2023).
16. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (28/3/2021).
17. ↑ http://www.steamcommunity.com/app/463530/discussions/0/1771511442684693498/#c1771511442686595985
18. ↑ Confirmed by John on Discord (29/10/2022).
19. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (27/3/2021).
20. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (14/5/2022).
21. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4sH7rwNzo&list=WL