Formicarium Adaptation

You can customize your gene-thief ant colony using Royal Jelly in the main story.

Royal Jelly

Royal Jelly (RJ) had a mysterious origin. It wasn't known where it came from or how it was made. The scientists were tasked with researching the genetic capabilities of it. Gene-thief ant (Formica ereptor) were made using this substance. The queen could select and pass down desirable traits to its brood by consuming Royal Jelly which was infused with genetic materials of other species.

You can open the adaptation menu by clicking on the gene symbol in the top left corner of the screen when you are in the formicarium. You can spend Royal Jelly here to unlock new units and adaptations, even during formicarium challenges.

You only have access to level 1 gene-thief ant workers at the start of the story. New unit option is only available when you enter a new story chapter. You must choose either of the 2 variants of each unit and the choices are permanent.

You can unlock only 2 out of 4 available adaptations for each unit. You can switch between paired adaptations by spending the same amount of Royal Jelly. Adaptations can be either new abilities, additional effects or stat modifications.

You can also modify some stats of each unit by trading Royal Jelly for improvement points (IP). The improvements are permanent and can't be done during formicarium challenges. The exchange value increases drastically after each trade, which applies to each unit separately. You only gain access to minor improvements after you have unlocked both adaptations of each unit.

Adaptations and improvements are applied to the corresponding units in documentary missions when you are in new game plus.

You can bring your customized story-mode colonies into custom games.

Unlockables

Gene-thief ant queen
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Second wind	50	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 75% HP. Cooldown: 300 User becomes invulnerable for 30 seconds. User heals 300 HP over 5 seconds.
	Fierce mother	50	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 75% HP. Cooldown: 300 Radius: 2600 User confuses enemies for 10 seconds.
	Royal guard	100	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 75% HP. Cooldown: 300 You spawn 14 royal guards immediately near the queen and eliminate them after 60 seconds. You can spawn ants without requiring food or workers for 5 seconds.
	Royal decree	100	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 75% HP. Cooldown: 300 You can spawn ants without requiring food or workers for 20 seconds.
	Minor improvements			Health: + 10 x IP Cooldown: - 0.5 x IP
Note Royal guards resemble workers of the player species.

Gene-thief ant worker
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 2	10
	Level 3	15
	Nimble	30	Stat	Evasion (out of combat): + 60%. Workers can only be detected within a smaller radius.
	Defensive	30	Stat	Maximum taken damage: 20 Physical resistance: + 20% Venom resistance: + 20%
	Aggressive brood	40	Stat	Damage (basic attack): + 200%
	Efficient brood	40	Stat	Movement speed: + 40 Harvest amount: + 10 Work speed: + 2 User can move normally on non-highway tiles.
	Minor improvements			Movement speed: + 2 x IP Harvest amount: + 0.4 x IP
Note Enemy workers with Nimble don't appear on minimaps or show health bars out of combat. Improved workers can only harvest up to 30 food from large food items and 45 food from lignocellulose piles. Leaves and nectar aren't affected by this limit. Leafcutter ant minors with Efficient brood are immune to fungus waste poisoning.

Black ant soldier
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 1	75
	Level 2	15
	Level 3	20
	Dangerous	50	Stat	Attack speed (basic attack): + 20%
	Meat wall	50	Stat	Physical resistance: + 50%
	Self preservation	70	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 40% HP. User runs away from battle for 0.5 second.
	Self repair	70	Stat	Healing speed: + 4
	Minor improvements			Health: + 0.7 x IP Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Armor: + 0.1 x IP Piercing: + 0.5% x IP

Wood ant shooter
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 1	150
	Level 2	30
	Level 3	40
	Corrosive	80	Effect	Mortar: Acid spray deals 6 extra venom damage over 0.5 second. Rapid-fire: Acid spray deals 1 extra venom damage over 0.5 second.
	High pressure	80	Effect	Mortar: Acid spray deals 4.5 extra physical damage over 0.1 second. Rapid-fire: Acid spray deals 0.75 extra physical damage over 0.1 second.
	Crippling	100	Effect	Mortar: Acid spray makes enemies take 40% more damage from physical attacks for 1.5 seconds. Rapid-fire: Acid spray makes enemies take 40% more damage from physical attacks for 0.4 second. The effect can be stacked in value.
	Weakening	100	Effect	Mortar: Acid spray makes enemies take 40% more damage from venom attacks for 1.5 seconds. Rapid-fire: Acid spray makes enemies take 40% more damage from venom attacks for 0.4 second. The effect can be stacked in value.
	Minor improvements			Health: + 0.5 x IP Damage (mortar acid spray): + 0.08 x IP Damage (rapid-fire acid spray): + 0.02 x IP Attack speed (acid spray): + 0.4% x IP Range (acid spray): + 2 x IP

Leafcutter ant major
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 1	300
	Level 2	50
	Level 3	60
	Durable	100	Stat	Armor: + 3
	Shockproof	100	Stat	Maximum taken damage: 20
	Sharp	200	Ability	User makes nearby allies inflict 30% of taken damage on the attacking enemies. Radius: 250
	Resilient	200	Ability	User increases physical resistance and venom resistance of nearby allies by 30%. Radius: 250
	Minor improvements			Health: + 1 x IP Physical resistance: + 0.5% x IP Venom resistance: + 0.5% x IP Attack speed (basic attack): + 0.3% x IP

Fire ant soldier
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 1	500
	Level 2	70
	Level 3	80
	Surefooted	200	Stat	Damage (mount): + 10
	Evasive	200	Stat	Evasion: + 30%
	Last stand	300	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 0 HP. User heals 50 HP over 0.5 second. User only retains 50% of their original attack speed. User gets eliminated after 5 seconds.
	Last laugh	300	Ability	Trigger: User is reduced to 0 HP. Damage (venom): 20
	Minor improvements			Movement speed: + 2 x IP Piercing: + 0.5% x IP AOE resistance: + 1% x IP Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP
Note Fire ant soldiers can avoid the last effect of Last stand if they form bridges immediately after activation. Execution doesn't trigger Last laugh and Last stand.

Matabele ant medic
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 1	800
	Level 2	90
	Level 3	100
	Sustain	400	Effect	Flashbuff attack heals nearby allies by 3 HP after each hitting attack. Radius: 250
	Preserve	400	Ability	User increases out-of-combat healing speed of nearby allies by 1 HP per second. The effect can be stacked in value up to 5 times. Radius: 250
	Field medic	600	Stat	User immediately performs revival 5 seconds after picking up dead ants.
	Surgeon	600	Stat	Revived ants retain 85% of their original health and damage.
	Minor improvements			Movement speed: + 2 x IP Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Physical resistance: + 0.5% x IP Venom resistance: + 0.5% x IP

Bullet ant soldier
Icon	Name	Cost	Type	Effects
	Level 3	2000
	Lean pupation	600	Stat	Spawning cost: - 100
	Fast recovery	600	Stat	Healing speed: + 10
	Reinforced carapace	700	Stat	Armor: + 1
	Sealed carapace	700	Stat	Venom resistance: + 50%
	Minor improvements			Piercing: + 0.5% x IP Damage (execute): + 2 x IP Health: + 3 x IP Maximum taken damage: - 2 x IP

Extra
Unit	Name	Cost	Effects
Wood ant soldier	Level 3	120
	Minor improvements		Health: + 1 x IP Physical resistance: + 0.5% x IP Venom resistance: + 0.5% x IP AOE resistance: + 1% x IP
Leafcutter ant media	Level 3	240
	Minor improvements		Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Piercing: + 0.5% x IP Armor: + 0.01 x IP Health: + 0.8 x IP
Matabele ant soldier	Level 3	600
	Minor improvements		Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Attack speed (basic attack): + 0.3% x IP Movement speed: + 2 x IP Health: + 1 x IP
Termite minor soldier	Level 3	400
	Minor improvements		Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Piercing: + 0.5% x IP Physical resistance: + 0.5% x IP Health: + 0.5 x IP
Termite major soldier	Level 3	600
	Minor improvements		Movement speed: + 2 x IP Damage (basic attack): + 0.05 x IP Physical resistance: + 0.5% x IP Venom resistance: + 0.5% x IP

Trivia

(none)