The Harvest

From Empires of the Undergrowth Official Wiki
Information
The Harvest Surface.png
Name The Harvest
Categories Story
Documentary
Environment Rainforest
Player species Leafcutter ant
Player units Leafcutter ant minor
Leafcutter ant media
Leafcutter ant major (either)
Surface Yes
Features Challenge mode
AI colonies
Circadian rhythm


Colonies in close proximity create competition for leaves and ultimately survival.
Lurking amongst the vegetation, insidious flies are waiting to lay their eggs. (challenge)


Objectives

  • Build 5 leaf storage tiles.
  • Build 5 refuse storage tiles.
  • Process a piece of leaf into fungus.
  • Gather 10000/ 10000/ 11000/ 12000/ 14000 leaves first or eliminate the enemy queen.


Rewards

  • Base value: 6 territory, 475 food, 17 Royal Jelly
  • Difficulty bonus: 300%/ 325%/ 350%/ 380%/ 420%
  • First-time bonus: + 1400%
  • Challenge bonus: + 100%
  • Completion bonus: + 200%


Settings

Your leafcutter ant colony must race against another established leafcutter colony in leaf harvesting.

The level starts during the day.

The forest floor is covered with harvestable plants. They give a total of 34455 food. Only leaves gathered from harvestable plants count toward the objective.

You must choose either taunt or stun majors before playing the level. You start with 19/ 13/ 7/ --/ -- minor brood tiles.


Non-player colony

You can also beat the level by eliminating the enemy queen.

The enemy colony only has access to taunt majors. They are kept around the queen and are only deployed to escort the gathering groups.

The enemy colony randomly chooses amongst specific locations on the surface to gather leaves. It will retreat after it has taken enough casualties. It will return to the contested area and bring majors along after 60 seconds.

The reinforcement will briefly follow your most recently placed marker. It is prevented from gathering and lingers around for 60 seconds. The enemy colony will move the entire reinforcement to a new harvesting location before sending the majors back.

Stun majors come from a spawner in the enemy nest to protect the queen when the nest is invaded. They leave when you are outside. Some stun majors stay on the surface to protect the gathering groups.

The enemy colony doesn't invade your nest. Attacking waves actually come from the previously mentioned spawner. They appear and invade your nest after you have gathered 9000/ 9000/ 9500/ 10000/ 11500 leaves and are ahead of the enemy colony. The inbetween time is 2 minutes. Attacking waves only consist of stun majors.


Notable enemies

Other enemies are on the same side and are hostile to the ants.

Green rove beetles and small velvet worms live in your nest.

Surface enemies don't invade your nest during the day.

Harvestmen, small velvet worms and spiny devil bush crickets roam the forest floor all day. Trap-jaw ants move along specific paths on the surface and gather any food on the way.

Jumping spiders and leaf-mimic praying mantises only appear on the surface during the day.

Green rove beetles ad large velvet worms only appear on the surface at night.

Rove beetles, bush crickets and trap-jaw ants can sometimes invade your nest at night.

Challenge

Phorid flies appears every 6 minutes 30 seconds at specific locations on the surface.


Achievements

Achievements
Icons Name Requirements
The Harvest 1.pngThe Harvest 2.pngThe Harvest 3.pngThe Harvest 4.pngThe Harvest 5.pngThe Harvest X.pngThe Harvest X4.png The Harvest Beat the level on designated difficulty.
Regicide.png Regicide Eliminate the enemy queen. (medium)
Boundary Dispute.png Boundary Dispute Beat the level before the enemy colony gather 5000 leaves. (hard)
Live And Let Live.png Live and Let Live Beat the level without digging out underground enemies. (extreme)
Fast Food.png Fast Food Beat the level by gathering leaves within 43 minutes. (impossible)
Trypanophobia.png Trypanophobia Beat the level without losing any ants to phorid flies. (challenge)
Fly Swatting.png Fly Swatting Clear 4 swarms of phorid flies then beat the level. (impossible - challenge)


Trivia

  • Underground woodworms are treated as allies. They leave through the underground nest entrance after you have played for 2 minutes.
  • AI behaviors in this level are based on leafcutter ants in real life. Majors usually stay inside and only come out to deal with threats.


Minimaps