Maps & Levels

[Shane]

I think the fact that it shows the location of food and enemy numbers in the form of icons on the levels is rubbish, theres no exploration to the game. also it should be a bit more random.

I know where everything is at the start, roughly how much soldiers im going to require, and theres no surprise to it. even the science experiements have no degree of change in them either. it makes me laugh when the guy says the ants will have to be cautious when expanding...

cautious of what i know theres food there, and about 2 enemys of some description !

[Mike]

Trust us, you would be a thousand times more frustrated with the game if you randomly tunneled into a devil's coach horse before you were ready. This is what we call an "anti-frustration measure". The thought of how many complaints we'd be getting if we didn't have those measures in place has caused my soul to bleed. There'd be a ton more replays, and we want to avoid grinding as much as we can.

We've discussed the idea of a "realism mode", much like L4D has, which hides resources and enemies. The intrepid few who wish to live with such inconveniences would be able to then.

[Shane]

Originally posted by Mike:

We've discussed the idea of a "realism mode", much like L4D has, which hides resources and enemies. The intrepid few who wish to live with such inconveniences would be able to then.

best bit of your post haha

[Rurumeto]

accidentally burrows into a beatle with the 7 workers

[Evocracy ツ]

I get what you're saying, but I have to agree with Mike's original sentiment here. Have you tried other difficulty levels?

[Shane]

I dunno just seems a tad more realistic, i mean honestly once you have the winning forumla down to each level, im talking right now to spawns, troop amounts, and so forth, theres nothing left without any variation.

I admit finding enemy free food source under such conditions would be a pain, sure...

PS not tried anything on insane yet, but done the others...

[Elgareth]

I like to think of that like the ants' senses registering food and movement. Now I know nothing about ants, but I assume they have some sort of smelling, infrared sensors or at least feel the trembling of other things nearby.
Also, the freeplay mode probably brings some more random stuff into the game, the missions as such are made as fixed challenges, with fixed upgrades etc., so I'm fine with that.
Realistic Mode could just be a checkbox in the menu, simply disabling the exclamation marks and green highlighting of food, for all who want it though? Shouldn't be too big of a programming task I guess.

[Shane]

Your all talking me outta it ;lmao

[Pervy]

Its not like it cant be different for each mode now does it?

edit: Mike you should make it a toggle option in the game settings.