Upgrade or Add?

[Trent]

I just finished the story on medium but I have to admit, I still have a poor understanding of what upgrading gets you beyond the lv3 perks.

I know they are stronger but is there a way to see what the exact increases are for each level? Thus far Ive started upgrading when the number of ants becomes cumbersome for the map.

[MultiDavid]

Originally posted by Trent:

I just finished the story on medium but I have to admit, I still have a poor understanding of what upgrading gets you beyond the lv3 perks.

I know they are stronger but is there a way to see what the exact increases are for each level? Thus far Ive started upgrading when the number of ants becomes cumbersome for the map.

Upgrading will increase the ant's basic stats (health, damage) and sometimes other characteristics (termite harvests will harvest a lot more per trip).

The level 3 upgrade is often what makes the entire upgrade tree worth the hassle, but level 2 upgrades are pretty meh in comparison since the 1, level 2 ant, is not the same as the 2, level 1 ants.

[Grumbl3dook]

Agreed, would be great to have exact visibility on stats.

'Which is better' I find to be situation-dependent. If I'm pillaging something far away and suffering attacks along the line, lots of ants keep each other covered and generally keep my pathways clear.

If I'm fighting other ants in constricted tunnels where only a few ants are in combat at once, high levels work better.

If I'm fighting big bugs who can kill any ant in one hit, lots of ants are better.

If I'm leaving a small unit separate from my main army to guard something - high levels.

.... All that being said, like 90% of the time lots of ants is best and I'd keep adding them until the pheremone delay becomes impossible to handle + plan nests around "lots of ants" not around "easy upgrading". I know I starting running into a point on A Bridge Too Far / Insane where low level ants were just dying too fast to toad contact poison and had to begin upgrading.

[Trent]

Thanks for the responses. Hopefully the devs will make the differences more clear in a future update.