Suggestion: "King of the Hill" Extra Level

TheRexYo

Queen
The idea behind this extra level is that there are four colonies (1 player and 3 AI) trying to control a central 'hill' that is periodically covered with food in the form of harvestable fish. The colonies gain points every second for each ant they have on the hill. Ants that stay on the hill longer provide more and more points, so colonies will benefit more from building ants that are tougher as opposed to deadlier. Similarly to Tug of War, the colonies are able to access all of the ant types to make the level more fun to replay. Ants cannot enter the other colonies' nests, which prevents ending the game through killing the other colonies off, which would obviously defeat the point of the level.

Unlike Tug of War, the colonies do not get free ants or food. This means that players will need to withdraw to gather food if they run out and are unable to harvest resources from the hill. Luckily, the player can still place markers wherever they like (also unlike Tug of War). Of course, the AI ants will also withdraw from the hill to gather food when necessary, so the player will need to fight them off in more ways than one.

Since all food on the hill spawns as fish, ants are forced to spend time harvesting if they wish to utilize it. This means that it is impossible to gather from it while there are enemies present. To circumvent this, seeds will occasionally be dropped near the colonies' nests, allowing them to gather food if they run out. This happens only rarely however; a much more viable source of food is present in the form of creature spawns that are placed between neighboring colonies. These spawns generate progressively stronger enemies, starting off with harmless wood lice and eventually moving up to full-blown adult Whip Spiders.

However, not only are these areas dangerous due to the enemies they spawn, they are also contested due to their placement (remember - they're placed in between colonies). Thus, if you can clear out any enemies from the hill, fish remains the best source of food.

Anyway, all these little mechanics are intended to make it so that every ant type has a use. Workers, for example, are needed for labor and gathering, and they also provide a cheap unit that can be used to rack up lots of points early-on. Attackers are needed to clear out the hill and to kill enemies for food. Tanks are needed to hold the hill, and to provide cover for potential ranged units, who are themselves useful for dealing with larger enemy forces. Even specific ant types are taken into account - Slavemakers have a purpose in this level since (due to hatching costs being used) upgrades are viable again, unlike in ToW.

I put a lot of thought into this concept, but I'm fine with putting in more. If you guys have any thoughts, I'd be quite happy to hear them. Feedback is quite appreciated, since level design is something I enjoy. Thanks for reading, and have a good day!

EDIT: I forgot to mention the objective! XD
You're supposed to be the first colony to reach a specific amount of points. I have no idea how many it should be, so I'd leave that up to the developers since this is their game and thus the general experience (in this case, how long levels should take) is up to them.
 

pakitane16

Colony
You have such a nice idea. Here is my idea for the map:
- 1st layer contains nests, which should probably be separated from each other.
- 2nd layer contains 4 landmark with little starting food and weak enemies. It may house a Titan/Uber which roams around the layer on higher difficulty and gives less food than normal.
- 3rd layer contains stronger enemies, which are set to give half to a third food.
- 4th layer contains only landmarks that give full value food, A LOT OF FOOD. (fishes, aphids and seeds)
My idea is more RTS than ToW.
So the mission is to have 10k food in store, which tranlates to 10k food and 100 lv3 food tiles, a lot of workers to gather constantly and tanky soldiers to keep the workers safe. Just focus on harvesting to win.
The AI will quickly withdraw to their nest if the Titan/Uber picks on them. They will cheat to some degree as this map is hard. The Titan/Uber stays on 2nd layer all the time, you don't need to kill it, though it makes harvesting easier.
You can only choose 3-4 types of unit for your ereptor colony (for balance reason).
New Canvas.jpg
 

TheRexYo

Queen
You have such a nice idea. Here is my idea for the map:
- 1st layer contains nests, which should probably be separated from each other.
- 2nd layer contains 4 landmark with little starting food and weak enemies. It may house a Titan/Uber which roams around the layer on higher difficulty and gives less food than normal.
- 3rd layer contains stronger enemies, which are set to give half to a third food.
- 4th layer contains only landmarks that give full value food, A LOT OF FOOD. (fishes, aphids and seeds)
My idea is more RTS than ToW.
So the mission is to have 10k food in store, which tranlates to 10k food and 100 lv3 food tiles, a lot of workers to gather constantly and tanky soldiers to keep the workers safe. Just focus on harvesting to win.
The AI will quickly withdraw to their nest if the Titan/Uber picks on them. They will cheat to some degree as this map is hard. The Titan/Uber stays on 2nd layer all the time, you don't need to kill it, though it makes harvesting easier.
You can only choose 3-4 types of unit for your ereptor colony (for balance reason).
View attachment 1218
This is an interesting take on the King of the Hill concept as well. I still like my idea, but yours is also quite amazing. Thanks for sharing! :D
If you don't mind me asking, why does making the player select four ant types (as opposed to using whatever combinations they want) make it more balanced? Just curious about your reasoning.
 

pakitane16

Colony
If you don't mind me asking, why does making the player select four ant types (as opposed to using whatever combinations they want) make it more balanced? Just curious about your reasoning.
The limit is mostly for the player I think. Each units are strong against certain situations so access to everything can make stuffs less challenging. This map has a lot of scenarios: little starting food, uber/titans, swarm of enemies bugs with various abilities, swarm of enemy ants that harass you/you harass, do you want your army to just protect your harvest team or join them, ect...
 
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