1.1 Challenge mode normal
- Thread starter Troy
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Serafine said:
Alternatively - build some extra workers, move fast, know your environment. 1.1 is mainly about carefully choosing your battles. If you know what's coming and how to combat it, a few more workers can help bring the food home quicker for the next mole cricket attack.
I found helpful to use workers as just food gatherers. There had been a few times where I had enough soldiers and needed some cheap food collectors and so I built those tiles for a cheap price and put them where they don’t attack. Plus they are cheaper to hatch. And when I am done using them I just put them in the colony tab to help replenish eggs faster.
Mike said:
Almost never have worker ants gathering food, besides early levels of 2.1 and 2.2 where I need bodies rather then damage. Although I just went and did a challenge on easy mind you only using workers, might pump it up too medium. SS too large, so took a SS of the numbers
you can either build workers or all soldiers either works, best way ive found to do it is sacrifice the 7 worker ants in first for all rooms by sending them in with attack off and soldiers right behind them. they cost so little to replace and gives soldiers time to surround.
for the last room have enough food saved to replace soliders, you will probably we wiped entirely and need a second wave. open the wall with workers and have them run down and to the left and it will split the group and you can kill most with soldiers and finish level when they respawn.
for the last room have enough food saved to replace soliders, you will probably we wiped entirely and need a second wave. open the wall with workers and have them run down and to the left and it will split the group and you can kill most with soldiers and finish level when they respawn.
Hypothetically, one could farm the mole crickets for food, and slowly build up an army, but where's the fun in that?
I wish I knew who on the forum said it originally, but someone pointed out that mole crickets alternate between a wave and a single cricket. You can thus play it safe by fighting off the large wave first, and then going for the final chamber, ensuring that the only unexpected threat is a single mole cricket spawning while you're dealing with the devil's coach horse beetles.
Just make sure you have enough food to send in multiple waves of soldiers.
Just make sure you have enough food to send in multiple waves of soldiers.
I beat insane challenge 1.1 and 1.2. Crickets are easy if you are prepared for it, which is to wait for them to spawn the multiple cricket waves between opening nests.
The trick is: get level 1 warriors and rush to clear nests in an order (I had three groups of 19 warriors each and like 400 food buffer before the I dig the final wave of 6 adult beetles, they never had a chance). Keep your army by the queen most of the time and dig paths to the beetles so they come to you.
I also designed my nest so I can hit a wave from three sides at once (1 path to the queen and two paths to warrior nests which all connect to a crossroad killing ground).
The order to clear nests is to start with the easiest first up to the nest of 4s, then focus on getting the pillbugs.
The trick is: get level 1 warriors and rush to clear nests in an order (I had three groups of 19 warriors each and like 400 food buffer before the I dig the final wave of 6 adult beetles, they never had a chance). Keep your army by the queen most of the time and dig paths to the beetles so they come to you.
I also designed my nest so I can hit a wave from three sides at once (1 path to the queen and two paths to warrior nests which all connect to a crossroad killing ground).
The order to clear nests is to start with the easiest first up to the nest of 4s, then focus on getting the pillbugs.
Something that helped me finally get it was to build nest in only one direction out from the queen. (right, that is) The Mole Crickets will only spawn on your nest tiles, so this keeps them from reaching the queen from a direction your warriors are cut off from.
It also helps to have wider pathways, say 3-4 tiles instead of only 1. Without upgrading, there is no need for walled off brood chambers. This obviously helps with getting a good surround. Fighting a swarm of crickets in a 1 tile hallway is a hopeless battle... It seems crickets can stack in a single tile almost as much as ants can. 5-6 crickets vs 5-6 ants at a time equals a lot of lost food, and if your workers can't get past them, that might mean no reinforcments.
And finally for the last battle, you can clear out a large area just below the room with the 6 adults. Had group 1 out of sight to the left, group 2 out of sight to the right, and group 3 far to the south. After the beetles killed my diggers and leave their chamber, I swarm them from all sides.
It also helps to have wider pathways, say 3-4 tiles instead of only 1. Without upgrading, there is no need for walled off brood chambers. This obviously helps with getting a good surround. Fighting a swarm of crickets in a 1 tile hallway is a hopeless battle... It seems crickets can stack in a single tile almost as much as ants can. 5-6 crickets vs 5-6 ants at a time equals a lot of lost food, and if your workers can't get past them, that might mean no reinforcments.
And finally for the last battle, you can clear out a large area just below the room with the 6 adults. Had group 1 out of sight to the left, group 2 out of sight to the right, and group 3 far to the south. After the beetles killed my diggers and leave their chamber, I swarm them from all sides.