Update 0.2 - The Leafcutter Update - Coming April 25th

JohnSlugDisco

Administrator
Staff member
Developer of EotU
Please note this update will release on April 25th!

Headline Features


New Formicarium Tier Added
  • New playable species - The Leafcutters
    • Featuring 4 sizes of ant (minims, minors, media and major) which can walk under / over one another
    • Major leafcutters are tank units with very high health and come in two forms:
      • Stun majors stun targets for 4s and at level 3 will slow them to a crawl for a further 4s
      • Taunt majors force targets to attack them for 4s and at level 3 at 50% health will reduce all incoming damage by 80% for 4s
    • Unique resource management
      • Leafcutters need leaves to cultivate a special fungus which is their only source of food!
      • Leaves can be gathered on the surface from various climbable plants
      • Once gathered leaves are taken to a leaf drop-off chamber
      • Each nursery built spawns a free minim ant (tiny leafcutter)
      • The minims take the leaves from the leaf drop-off to nurseries where it is cultivated into fungus that can be spent
      • Once fungus is spent, its remains will need to be taken to a refuse chamber where it can safely decompose
      • The distance between nurseries, leaf drop off chambers and refuse chambers affects the efficient processing of leaves leading to some careful colony design decisions.
  • Two new levels in the rainforests of Ecuador
    • Two very different levels with unique challenges and threats with carefully designed difficulty settings to suit you level of play!
    • The new environments offer a host of new fauna and flora and have a very different feel to them from previous levels
  • A new formicarium challenge - What has the evil scientist got planned this time?
    • Do you think you could hate the evil scientist any more? We think you might after you see what he has in store!
  • Add the mighty leafcutter major to your formicarium!
    • 4 unique upgrade options
      • Sharp - This aura causes attackers of the major and any nearby friendly creatures to reflect an amount of damage back to themselves
      • Resilient - This aura causes the major and any nearby friendly creatures to take less damage each hit
      • Durable - All incoming damage to the major is reduced by a set amount
      • Shockproof - Limits damage to the major in any single hit
    • 4 improvement upgrades to spend that extra jelly on!
  • More than double the enemy creatures!
    • Variety is the spice of life and the rainforest is the king of variety! Each of the new creatures comes with its own stats and abilities and will require their own approach to take down
  • Subtitles added with two language options (three if you count English) - more to come!
    • Simplified Chinese and German have been added alongside English subtitles
    • We will be bringing more language options to the game as time goes on


Other changes and improvements
  • Creatures sizes mean you can get more to the front line
  • Minimap now displays food that can be collected
  • Quantity held by all food types is now displayed when showing tile info
  • New enemy creatures have made there way into the battle arena and freeplay
  • Freeplay setup dialogue changed to use more screen space for options
  • Pheromone marker assignment panel now displays the living ants from chambers


Balance changes
  • Queens have been given 50% resistance to slow their deaths
  • Queen Second Wind invulnerability duration increased to 30s (up from 20)

And up next!

Hot on the heels of the leafcutter update we will be looking to make an update to freeplay! This update will aim to bring leafcutters into freeplay and with them landmarks containing leaves, new uber creatures and some other new landmarks. Additionally we will be looking at ways of making freeplay harder in the late game with fewer creatures. Of course we will introduce a new map at this point!

Whilst John is looking at that, Matt and Liam will be planning the next formicarium tier.

We will also be looking into bringing enemy colonies into freeplay in a further freeplay update.
 
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MedinB

Colony
Only tiny things. It is ready to go now really just want to get a bit more testing and marketing done before the release! Oh, and we need to get the Mac build created also!
Oh, so you're pretty much done with the leaf cutters, but you just need to test it. And also release to Mac?

Super excited!
 
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MikeSlugDisco

Community Manager
Staff member
Community Manager
Oh, so your're done with the leaf cutters, but you just need to test it. And also release to Mac?

"Tiny things" means small number tweaks to unit balance, but they can have a profound effect on gameplay so there's still testing to be done.

And yes, we also have to get a stable build ready for Mac!
 

Smrots

Larva
I have been eyeing this game for a while and decided to get it. I love what you all have done and see so much potential and even more species added maybe like bullets, yellow crazy ants and perhaps a co op. It reminds me of pikmin but better, :)
 

MedinB

Colony
Probably like in a month tops. They said last round of testing, and I'm waiting for it to be finished!
 
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MedinB

Colony
Here are the patch notes. I just pasted them here.
  • 3 new levels not linked to the campaign have been created
  • The challenge for 3.1 and 3.2 has been added
  • Freeplay has seen an overhaul including tiered enemies, victory conditions, setup saving and sharing and Leafcutters added
  • Optimizations have been added across the board to improve performance in many areas of the game
 
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rakesh

Larva
The game is really good!! Waiting for updates..
Found a bug in freeplay.. not sure if it is right thread to tell.. anyways.. sometimes it is hard for even 3 ants to come out of the base and/or go back. Entrance needs to be fixed.
 

Scyobi_Empire

Colony
Extremely Helpful Person
Ecosystem Beta Tester
The game is really good!! Waiting for updates..
Found a bug in freeplay.. not sure if it is right thread to tell.. anyways.. sometimes it is hard for even 3 ants to come out of the base and/or go back. Entrance needs to be fixed.
Same with me and my Ereptoe/Fusca army, and with the uber beast outside my nest. Both get stuck in the pathway so they don't enter or exit.
 
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