Patrol Marker

Daniel7Sly123

Ants are perfect!
Screenshot_570.png

When I play Eotu I notice that the area around the entrance is a bit unprotected. I think that to protect the entrance better, there could be a pheromon / marker patrol (with the things I've sketched in the picture) keeping the area around the protected entrance protected. In the image I made to give an example, the player would have to position 3 or 2 points (dark blue dots) in a limited area (inside of the gray circle), the ants placed in the group of patrol would go from point to point to the entrance (light blue lines) keeping the area around the protected entrance and increasing the viewing area around the nest if the fog of war is active.
I put in the drawing a purple dot for the ubercreatures, just to be able to identify more easily on the minimap.
I hope you're not too confused.
 

MikeSlugDisco

Community Manager
Staff member
Community Manager
It's certainly a possibility - part of our philosophy in making the game was to keep RTS mechanics fairly simple and this sort of thing strays back into the realms of Starcraft II complexity. But as always, it's a possible option for the future.
 

Buffalo981

Queen
Extremely Helpful Person
Yeah, or for pheromone markers we could set maybe 2-3 patrol points. Or maybe just a completely new pheromone for nest patrol.
 

JohnSlugDisco

Administrator
Staff member
Developer of EotU
It is something we have been considering. I agree it would be useful even if there was just a single point as you could let your colony know which way round an obstacle you needed them to go. This wont be in the game when leafcutters releases but I will definitely raise it again with the others after that point.
 

Serafine

Queen
Backer
Beta Tester
Ecosystem Beta Tester
I'd like to suggest "guard post" markers that have a much longer reaction time than the regular markers (meaning ants will gather at them slower and also leave them slower than regular markers) but ants that gathered at these marker will STAY at the marker and not walk away.

If you look at real ants (Camponotus carpenter ants in particular) you will realize that they often have small mobs of ants hanging out near the entrance, along the trails or near a food source. This (groups of ants that are not moving but just sitting at a place) would take quite some strain from the system (especially due to less pathfinding running in the background) and if we could get a few neat idle animations (ants cleaning themselves) would also look absolutely adorable and immersive.
 
Top