The Harvest

Information
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 Non-player 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%

• New game plus bonus: + 40% x plus number

Settings

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

The mission starts during the day.

The forest floor is covered with harvestable plants. They don't regenerate. Only leaves gathered from harvestable plants count toward the objective.

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

Non-player colony

You can also beat the mission 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. Level 1 trap-jaw ant soldiers 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 and 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.

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  Phorid flies

Achievements

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

Trivia

• Underground woodworms are allies. They leave through the underground nest entrance after you have played for 2 minutes.

• Behaviors of the enemy leafcutter ant colony in this mission are based on leafcutter ants in real life. Majors usually stay inside and only come out to deal with threats.

• Harvestable plants on the entire map give 34455 food.

Minimaps

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  Surface

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  Underground - player

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  Underground - blue