WaffleGuy
Colony
Note: This post is still under construction and will undergo MASSIVE CHANGES, especially with the strategy in the next few days. Christmas Break will be spent working on it and it will almost definitely be completed, no matter how hard it seems.
ICS Invite Link: https://discord.gg/u4JJzRUuNt
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the new most difficult challenge EVER attempted by the ICS. 4.2 on insane with WORKERS ONLY. This has to be possible, I know it, which is why effort is being taken to complete it once and for all. This will be not easy nor simple, instead VERY HARD. We will have to push knowledge and tactics to the limits to complete it. If we do, we will have achieved our goal. Even the founders will have been proved wrong and this will spur the creation of the ICS Champion role. Let's get into it.
- Medin
- Heolx
Night One Table
Day Two Table
Night Two Table
Day Three Table
Night Three Table
Day Four Table
ICS Invite Link: https://discord.gg/u4JJzRUuNt
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the new most difficult challenge EVER attempted by the ICS. 4.2 on insane with WORKERS ONLY. This has to be possible, I know it, which is why effort is being taken to complete it once and for all. This will be not easy nor simple, instead VERY HARD. We will have to push knowledge and tactics to the limits to complete it. If we do, we will have achieved our goal. Even the founders will have been proved wrong and this will spur the creation of the ICS Champion role. Let's get into it.
Contributors
- Incan- Medin
- Heolx
Timetable
- Incan
- Writing The Strategy
- Getting Past Night One
Progress
Day One TableRun Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Bunches Gathered |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 421 | Dead | 6 |
2 | 429 | Dead | 5 |
3 | 423 | Dead | 6 |
4 | 418 | Dead | 6 |
5 | 407 | Dead | 7 |
6 | 405 | Dead | 7 |
7 | 406 | Dead | 8 |
8 | 395 | 393 | 8 |
Night One Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Bunches Gathered | Night One Workers Left | Aphids Gathered | Tree Frogs Subdued |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 396 | 8 | 394 | 0 | 0 |
2 | 397 | 9 | Abandoned | 0 | 0 |
3 | 390 | 9 | Abandoned | 1 | 0 |
4 | 381 | 10 | Abandoned | 0 | 0 |
5 | 386 | 11 | Abandoned | 0 | 0 |
6 | 392 | 10 | 392 | 1 | 2 |
7 | 384 | 11 | 384 | 6 | 1 |
8 | 387 | 11 | 387 | 12 | 1 |
9 | 386 | 11 | Abandoned | 3 | 2 |
10 | 383 | 11 | Abandoned | 5 | 0 |
Day Two Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Day Two Workers Left | Night Two Workers Left | Day Three Workers Left |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - |
Night Two Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Day Two Workers Left | Night Two Workers Left | Day Three Workers Left |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - |
Day Three Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Day Two Workers Left | Night Two Workers Left | Day Three Workers Left | Night Three Workers Left |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - |
Night Three Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Day Two Workers Left | Night Two Workers Left | Day Three Workers Left | Night Three Workers Left | Day Four Workers Left |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - |
Day Four Table
Run Number | Day One Workers Left | Night One Workers Left | Day Two Workers Left | Night Two Workers Left | Day Three Workers Left | Night Three Workers Left | Day Four Workers Left | Night Four Workers Left |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | - |
Notes
- Gathering Aphids Will be Essential to Success.
- Pitcher Plants Barely Give a Positive Output.
- Find a Way to Bridge to Monomorium for Aphids.
- Excavate Underground Chambers Speedily.
- Collect From All Pinecones Possible.
- Improve the Early Game as a Priority.
- Dave.
- Kill EVERYTHING You Can!
Strategy
Day One - Preparing an Army for the Challenge
- Excavate all surrounding food and create a group of seven ants. Then, create another group of six ants and nine food stores next to the entrance. Excavate to the woodworms and while looting and making sure most of your ants are hatched, kill both grubs and expand the group of six workers to twelve ants and use them to excavate the entrance, create a group of eight ants, upgrade food stores, and begin harvesting outside.
- Gather the pinecone with the 12 and 8 group and gather surrounding food with the 7 group. Use the queen to excavate and make ants. Build up the 7 group to 30 ants. Meanwhile, harvest the southern bits of food and send the 8 group to the northeast magnolia and the 12 group to the southeast magnola. Then, kill the frubs once you have enough eggs and loot the northwest tunnel. Finally, kill the eastern grubs as your workers return.
- Retrieve all ants back to defend from the magnolia jumping spiders inside the nest while two workers tunnel to the northeast chamber. Then, position your dave south and use group one to retrieve food from the northeast chamber. You can then keep making eggs and excavating until the next set of predators come into the nest. Fight the remaining attack force off with the help of dave. This will be hard, but as long as you have enough food it should work out.
Progress Check
- 0 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
- 95 Ants, None Upgraded
- 100 Reserve Food In Stock
Night One - Aphid Collecting and Dodging Tree Frogs
- Use all ants to gather the northern aphids. Then, retreat all ants with gather ON and attack OFF to the magnolia and and pinecone. The northeast pine food frogs should have passed by then. Meanwhile with ants at home gather extra food and start making workers again. Send your dave to the left of the eastern pinecone. When a tree frog comes, make dave trigger the mantidfly and watch as the mantidfly kills the frog. Repeat the process until it is dead.
- Meanwhile, excavate the grubs to the east and collect the food, refilling stocks and make tons more workers. Then, rush through all the western pine woods tree frogs with attack and gather off to get the southwest aphids. You will lose a ton of ants, so make sure nest workers are NOT making more eggs, instead they should be on aphids. This should be enough, with ants on aphids, for you to make 15 extra workers. Now, dave the frogs that return from the east.
Progress Check
- 13 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
- 120 Ants, None Upgraded
- 120 Reserve Food in Stock
Day Two - Aphids, Pinecones, and Pitcher Plants
- Receive the southern aphids, harvest the magnolia to the right, and hope no velvet ants spawn on the eastern area. You'll have to defend from the checkered beetle larvae inside the nest. Except that you don't, because once they attack the queen they lock on and don't attack anything else. Use this to kill all of them, or rush them with 15 workers. Meanwhile frog some velvet ants or false bombardiers. Collect the eastern pinecones with other workers.
- Harvest the two pinecones there while killing any enemies except velvet ants, where, if there are any, you will have to turn attack off. Then, retreat to the pitcher plants with 500 food in stock, waiting for the attack wave to begin. Once the timer starts, retreat ants to the nest except maybe your aphid gathering group, who should have attack off. You should survive this wave easily, as long as you have at least 180 ants and 500-600 food in stock.
Progress Check
- 180 Ants, None Upgraded
- 0 Reserve Food in Stock
- 18 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
Night Two - Unlocking Chambers and Killing Skimmer
- Excavate the bombardier beetles to the northeast and west. Make sure to bait out their attacks before striking with one group which will save a lot of food later on. Then, excavate the bombardier beetles to the left after killing the other oens. Once you're done with that, you can excavate the group of toads to the west for extra food until the skimmer lands. Remember to collect all the food and store it for the skimmer, which will cost a lot to dispose of.
- Strike at the skimmer from the top of the nest, making sure to ATTACK SWITCH as much as possible to conserve a lot of food when she does the dumb area damage attacks. This should be quick and should only cost about 300 food. The skimmer pays 200 as well as the fact that it has a load of other benefits such as more food from aphids and getting to the nuts faster. You can then excavate one more underground chamber, the three checkered beetles.
Progress Check
- 220 Ants, None Upgraded
- 250 Reserve Food in Stock
- 18 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
Day Three - Rushing the Nuts and Scraping the Wave
- When the water rises, rush the nuts to the south of your colony. Don't mind any enemies, you can just defeat them, turn attack off, then keep rushing. Gathering these things should be pretty quick, so afterwards you can kill more enemies including that toad then retreat into the nest to fight even more toads which spawn for some reason. Remember to keep one group outside to defend against bombardier beetles, this will be important later on.
- Gather all the food, then rush to the east and kill a couple of spiders stationed before the attack wave counter starts. All bombardier beetles should have died so now you can fight off an enemy chamber. Do this multiple times (three would be ideal) before the wave starts. Be sure you have at least 700 food in stock, then retreat all ants into the nest entrance to fight the wave. Hope that you win. If you do, you can progress.
Progress Check
- 220 Ants, None Upgraded
- 100 Reserve Food in Stock
- 18 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
Night Three - Defeating Last Underground Chambers
- Kill every underground chamber you can (except for the northern checkered beetles because that's not a positive food trade). First start by killing the flase bombardiers to the southeast. You can then kill the checkered beetles to the right, gather all the food, and be just 80 workers away from finishing the objective. Defend the aphids outside up to a certain point, you'll hit this point when mobs pile up on the surface, then you can abandon the aphids.
- You can harvest from the aphids but only in rare cases where there are NO mobs in the path. There's still no need to defend them. If you have nothing else to do however, you can kill the two pine wood tree frogs to the north but THAT'S IT. However, when night starts to finish, position your ants right next to the southern pinecone as soon as the counter till daytime hits 20 seconds. When the water rises, you can harvest the pinecone. Loot every last piece of food.
Progress Check
- 260 Ants, None Upgraded
- 200 Reserve Food in Stock
- 18 Aphids on the Milkweed Plant
Day Four - Rushing out Workers and Winning the Game
- Defend the aphids at all costs while maintaining a positive food trade from the surrounding enemies. You want to get the most food value out of everything, so do that. You should maintain a steady income before the attack wave starts via the aphid plants, and make sure to kill any wandering predators for a positive food trade whenever possible. Also make sure you gather the pinecone to the north, as this is 300 extra food otherwise sitting there.
- When the thirty second mark before the wave hits, station all combat ants south of the nest where the milkweed is. Meanwhile, station all nest workers in some random place far away. Gather the carcasses to the east, rush a couple more workers, and finally, rush all combat groups and ants for that matter on top of the hill, even the nest workers, all with attack off. If you are able to clutch everything in time, you WILL win.
Progress Check
- You have just completed the HARDEST challenge the ICS has EVER DONE at the time of writing this message. Congratulations. You have officially gained the Champion of ICS role.
Reference
- 4.2 Done on Hard with Workers Only
- Full video and forum post showcasing the strategy for the predecessor of the challenge, 4.2 on hard with workers only. This was a hard challenge to complete too but was eventually pushed through.
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