Rising Tide

The beach provides a feast for those brave enough to venture there, but sunset brings new dangers.

The sands are also home to burrowed creatures waiting for a meal to wander near their hole. *(challenge)*

## **Rewards**

* *Base value*: 8 territory, 800 food, 28 Royal Jelly

* *Difficulty bonus*: 115%/ 130%/ 150%/ 175%/ 210%

* *First-time bonus*: + 125%

* *Challenge bonus*: + 50%

* *Completion bonus*: + 100%

## **Settings**

In this mission, a wood ant colony must defend itself from local predators. Your nest is located on the 1st layer the beach. Nest entrance will be excavated automatically when attacking waves are about to arrive.

The mission starts during the day.

Water rises every 75 seconds in the evening until it reaches the 1st layer. It washes away both dead and alive creatures. It recedes entirely in the morning and leaves behind sand fleas. A single fish is washed up on the 2nd day.

You must choose either mortar or rapid-fire shooters before playing the mission. You start with 4 black ant workers, which will be replaced with wood ant workers when they are dead.

## **Notable enemies**

All enemies are on the same side.

Devil's coach horse beetles and black ants inhabit in your nest.

Adult dune tiger beetles and wood ants only appear on the surface during the day. They don't invade your nest. Enemy wood ants have the shooter variant that you don't choose and some stray ants.

Wood ants move toward the fish on the 2nd day and gather anything edible on the way. They keep coming until the fish is gone.

Hermit crabs and sand bear wolf spiders only appear on the surface at night. They only invade your nest when they are attacked, except for large hermit crabs. Nearby enemies are attracted to the battle area every 5 seconds. Sand bear wolf spiders only appear from the 2nd night onwards.

Attacking waves come from the nearby spawner every night. The inbetween time is 100 seconds.

* *Night 1 - Wave 1*: Hermit crabs

* *Night 1 - Wave 2*: Hermit crabs

* *Night 1 - Wave 3*: Hermit crabs

* *Night 2 - Wave 1*: Sand bear wolf spiders

* *Night 2 - Wave 2*: Sand bear wolf spiders

* *Night 2 - Wave 3*: Sand bear wolf spiders

* *Night 3 - Wave 1*: Sand bear wolf spiders

* *Night 3 - Wave 2*: Hermit crabs

* *Night 3 - Wave 3*: Large sand bear wolf spiders and many tiny sand bear wolf spiders

A huge sand bear wolf spider hides under a shell on the 4th layer of the beach only on impossible. It disappears in the evening and only reappears during the day, fully healed.

**Challenge**:

Larval dune tiger beetles appear everywhere on the beach during the day and increase in number each time.

## **Trivia**

* In real life, a young wood ant queen may choose to assassinate a black ant queen and take over its colony using black ant pheromones. Black ant workers are under its control until its own brood is ready to venture outside. This was requested to be in the game by Serafine, a kickstarter backer.

* Stray ants are available only in this mission and only as enemies.

* **Free Willis** a reference to **Free Willy**.

* **The Way Is Shut** is a reference to **Lords of the Rings: The Two Towers**.

## **Community screenshots**

Fish and sand fleas (by Antbzk64)Hermit crabs (by NapoleonBonaparteThe1st)Stray ants and larval dune tiger beetles (by Antbzk64)

## **References**

1. ↑ https://forum.slugdisco.com/index.php?threads/0-1142-change-log.1091/#post-6191
2. ↑ Confirmed by Mike on Discord (15/7/2022).