Better to build more or upgrade ants?

[Daniel.Kiwi]

a soldier is 50 food.
I can build 1 level 3 soldier or 3x level 1 soldiers.

Is it better to have higher level or mass ants?

[Airborne Seals]

Depends on the ant type. With black ants, I would suggest just having more, because they will end up performing better.

[Riccento]

In a flat out battle where it's 60 level 1 (L1) ants or 20 level (L3) 3 ants against a target, the 60 L1 ants will usually do more damage. However, in cases where your colony is defending against a sustained threat and losses are replenished, the L3 ants are the better option. Since they both cost 5 food to respawn, and the L3 ants are tougher, they will die less often, costing you less food. In a simulation of 60 L1 ants / 20 L3 ants against 5 adult coach horse beetles where ant casualties are replaced, the L1 ants will need about 45-50 respawns (225-250 more food) to eliminate the threat, while the L3 ants might only need about 20 respawns (100 more food).

The one exception where L1 ants are preferred is in the 3.1 mission The Harvest, since the goal is to gather food. Naturally, this is better accomplished with more ants instead of tougher ants, as food gathered is level independent.

Hope this helps