Where can I read Empire of the Ants patch notes?

This page lists official Steam announcements for Empire of the Ants, including the latest post "🛠️ Achievement fixes". Each entry links to the full changelog on Steam.

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Empire of the Ants currently shows 20 concurrent Steam players on SteamScope. Player counts refresh on a rolling schedule — typically about every 30 minutes for high-priority titles.

How often are Empire of the Ants patch notes updated on SteamScope?

SteamScope ingests new Steam announcements as they are published. Check back after major updates, seasons, or balance patches to see fresh entries at the top of this feed.

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Empire of the Ants Patch Notes & News

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Empire of the Ants Patch Notes & News | SteamScope

🤝 Time to Unite 🤝 The Swarm Together Update is Now Available

Saltmandersteam_community_announcements

382d ago

Greetings fellow ants, The time to unite has finally come!

The Swarm Together Update is Now Available in Empire of the Ants

This free content update brings a lot of new things to the game:

🎮 New Game Modes

Co-Op Mode
- Available in Mutiplayer hub
- Play with a friend against 2 AIs
- Each player starts with 2 nests, and cooperation will be key to defeat the enemy team
Horde Mode
- Available for 1 player in Skirmish hub and 2 players in Multiplayer hub
- Defend your nests against unending waves of enemies
- Waves grow stronger and stronger
- Waves are always composed differently
Story Challenge Mode
- Available in Skirmish hub
- Replay 6 missions from the main campaign in a more challenging format
- Some actions, from the attacks to the movements, will cost points
- Some other, such as defeating an enemy nest, will grant you additional points
- Finish the mission with the highest score possible

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/f401c1b97dfcea0ff8f1d9fef3801b1259ba9ae8.png

🐜 New In-Game Content

New Map: The Riverside
- Designed specifically for large scale battles, this strip of land is the ideal place for 2 v 2 combats
New Support Unit: The Paussus
- A stealthy unit which cannot be detected by units without a certain range, nor enemy nests
- Steals the economic and information upgrades of enemy nests
- Weak during fights, using the Paussus will require some strategy to be used at its full potential
New Power: Pheromone Storm
- Create a huge smoke-filled area where information is not displayed
- Upgrading it will extend its duration
- Some upgrades and power can counter its effect

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/eaa44e8a2266fd5f5495eaaacc517b79bb65909c.png

🛠️ Misc. Changes

Loadout Setup
- Dedicated loadouts for the Skirmish and Multiplayer hubs
- Set up to 5 loadouts which include units and powers
- When the map is set, choose which loadout you want to play with
New AI Difficulties
- ”Imba”, “Unfair” and “Darwin”
Balancing
- Information upgrades now cost less resources to build
- Aphids now grant a movement boost while moving
- Snails move 30% faster
- Dor Beetles now receive 5-10% less damage across the board
- Hornets now receive 10-15% more damage from gunners
- Flying units, such as the Rhino Beetle, can now be sent directly to a nest

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/ce0611d01efc3a347c713b92a0c1d9d2579b67ab.jpg We hope you’ll have as much fun playing with these new additions as we enjoyed crafting them!

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/

📬 Stay connected!

Empire of the Ants Discord Empire of the Ants Twitter Empire of the Ants Reddit Tower Five Studio

☀️ Upcoming Swarm Together Update 5/5 - New Unit & Power 🌪️

Saltmandersteam_community_announcements

383d ago

Greetings fellow ants, The Swarm Together update will bring new options to fight in all the different modes, except for the Story Mode. These options are: a new support unit and a new power. (Yes, we know support units might not be your favourite to play with, but this one brings something very unique to the table)

🐜 Introducing the Paussus

The Paussus is a stealthy unit. You will only be able to detect it if one of your units is close to it. Your nest will NOT detect it. So, unless you see the Paussus unit coming for your nest, you will get no other warning that something is happening. But what does this Paussus unit do? Why should you be worried? Because it is good at pretending to be a friendly ant, it takes that opportunity to steal a nest’s eggs and food. To be more precise, it copies and sends over some of your Nest upgrades benefits while also disabling some functions of the nest it is “sitting” on. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/8fb050353da78b7ccddd34a0c7f089669b1b7696.jpg In terms of gameplay, how does that affect your upgrades in the infested nest?

The economy upgrades are fully copied over to the enemy. (Yes, even the chemical laboratory and library) This nest will stop giving you any income
The information upgrades are fully copied over, but you don’t lose anything
The defense upgrades are unaffected
The legion upgrades are unaffected, but the unit will not regenerate if it is dead
The power upgrades are unaffected

This is a powerful effect! But, the downside is that the Paussus is not a combat unit, and it is the most expensive support unit.

🌪️ Unleash the Pheromone Storm

To help the Paussus reach the enemy base undetected, a new power comes into play: the Pheromone Storm. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/40cb4d2f3a15063bbe4c7a56fe1c3e5f8eca7f1d.gif This power creates a huge smoke-filled area where information is not displayed. To see anything in it you will need to be close to it. This disables visual and UI elements from that zone, preventing you from knowing what is happening inside. Very powerful for sneak attacks and playing mind games with your opponent the next time. Careful though: some information upgrades and powers have been tweaked to counter the Pheromone Storm’s effect…

The Swarm Together Update is almost upon us! See you at 6pm CEST/12pm ET/9am PDT to try out all the new additions

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/

📬 Stay connected!

Empire of the Ants Discord Empire of the Ants Twitter Empire of the Ants Reddit Tower Five Studio

☀️ Upcoming Summer Update 3/5 - QoL & Balancing ⚖️

Saltmandersteam_community_announcements

388d ago

Greetings fellow ants, Let’s start this one off with the balancing and explaining what we did to make the Information Upgrades more fun and useful. Currently, Information Upgrades are too expensive and don’t perform as well as we have intended them to. This is why we have severely reduced the price for most of them and the space they take up (a patch note will be coming with the Summer Update detailing these exact changes). Coupled with the new unit and new power, we think you will soon see added value to this forgotten upgrade branch. But these are not the only balancing changes; we changed some of the super predators, but more importantly, the support units. Snails will move 30% faster, while Aphids will give a speed boost to units around them when they are moving (instead of healing for units that are unhurt). We have also added some Quality of Life improvements. The first one is the option to make and save different loadouts. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/ce0611d01efc3a347c713b92a0c1d9d2579b67ab.jpg This is coupled with the main course: the possibility to choose your saved loadout right before launching a PvP match. This means that you’ll see which map you will be playing on and choose your loadout based on that information. This works for all the non-Story modes. (So in the Skirmish and Multiplayer modes) Also, we have changed the fact that flying units could not be sent to an enemy nest. Rhino beetles will now be easier to use. The Summer Update is slowly approaching, but not there yet. We still have a couple more things to tell you about before it lands in your garden!

⚔️ Don’t forget to tune at 4pm CEST/10am EST/7am PDT to watch an Exhibition Match between the Dev & Community Representatives, featuring the new Summer Update content ☀️

Empire of the Ants Discord

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/

📬 Stay connected!

Empire of the Ants Discord Empire of the Ants Twitter Empire of the Ants Reddit Tower Five Studio

🐜 8 Tips to Win Your First Battles in Empire of the Ants

Saltmandersteam_community_announcements

600d ago

Empire of the Ants, the real-time strategy game inspired by Bernard Werber's novel, is now available. Matthias Varlet, Senior Game Designer at Tower Five, shares his tips for triumphing in this new article! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/96c956d1363f0cc7289ff10c030aa234b4195de7.png

Early Game: Building Your Economy

Kickstart Your Economy: Begin by launching your economy. You have two buildings at your disposal, the mushroom farm and the silviculture, which produce food and wood. With these resources, you can upgrade your army, acquire powers... "The economy is the backbone of war," says Matthias.

Send Your Ants to a Second Nest: Uninhabited nests can be found by exploring around your headquarters. Occupying them early in the game allows you to build additional production buildings, giving your empire a more efficient economy.

Strengthen Your Army with a Second Legion: Go on to conquer neutral nests and supply points. In solo mode, you typically start with a legion of warriors; it’s good to create a legion of gunners (shooting acid jets) or workers (gathering resources) for diversity.

Mid-Game: Growth and Information

Evolve Your Empire: It’s possible to advance to tier 2 and then tier 3 through the laboratory and the chemical library. This allows you to increase the number and power of your agents, unlock more power charges... and especially access super-predators like the Dor beetles.

Build Defenses in Your Frontline Nests: "Your opponent will start advancing and wanting to claim your territory; good defenses will make their effort more difficult," explains Matthias. There are wooden barriers and nest gunners targeting any approaching enemy.

Become the Master of Information: The "Cartographers" upgrade reveals what’s happening around you, while "Traitors" even allow you to spy on the enemy headquarters. Another more affordable option is the "Gnat Spies" power, allowing you to scan the entire map for a few moments.

Late Game: Taking the Enemy Headquarters

Head Towards the Enemy Base: When your economy and army are developed enough, two popular methods are conquering the opponent’s nests one by one to weaken them, or directly striking their headquarters when they least expect it, using speed pheromones. "Be careful not to fall victim to this devastating strategy yourself," warns Matthias.

Gain the Upper Hand and Win the Game: To come out on top, think about the possible combinations between units and powers. For example, your hornets can only be fought at a distance by gunners. Why not inflict fear pheromones on enemy gunners, making your wasps unstoppable? Many combos are to be discovered in Empire of the Ants!

Matthias, Any General Tips to Conclude?

With these tips, you have the keys to victory in the campaign and multiplayer modes of Empire of the Ants. Finally, Matthias Varlet from Tower Five has two more general best practices to share: "First, always keep in mind the predation circle that governs our game. Warriors beat workers, workers beat gunners, gunners beat warriors." "Also, don’t hesitate to use the custom game mode in multiplayer as a training tool," continues the Senior Game Designer. "Against AI or friends, it allows you to test different scenarios and strategies at your own pace." {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/16f971bfd4d3ba57b5b760ce2189bc7e46840f65.jpg

Ready to put your skills to the test?

You can now train in our brand-new Skirmish offline mode, facing off against 1 or 2 AI opponents before diving into multiplayer mode to compete against other players. Seeking a greater challenge? The new Master AI will truly test your limits.

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/ 📬 Stay connected! Official Empire of the Ants Reddit - Official Empire of the Ants Twitter - Tower Five Studio - Official Empire of the Ants Discord

🛠️ Update 1.02.19779 Now Available

Saltmandersteam_community_announcementspatchnotes

626d ago

Greetings, fellow ants! 🐜 We’ve deployed a new patch with several enhancements, fixes, and balance adjustments for Empire of the Ants. Here’s what’s new:

Additions and Improvements

Added support for monitors with different aspect ratios (e.g. Steam Deck, widescreen monitors)
Added a field-of-view slider in the Video Options
Added a monitor selection option in the Video Options
Improved the “Vertical sync” option to work with high refresh rate monitors
Increased maximum frame rate to 144 FPS

Fixes

Fix for rare hang when commanding Hornets
Fix for ‘Space bar’ indicator to restart a mission not working
Fixed a fatal error when starting the game on a PC that has DLSS Frame Generation (i.e. Nvidia RTX 40 series card)
Fix for missing sounds in missions

Multiplayer balancing

Defense upgrade changes

The “protective Barrier” upgrade provides 15% HP in shield instead of 20%
Slightly increased Nest gunners Tier 1 damage to Hornets
Slightly decreased Nest gunners Tier 3 damage to Hornets

Super predator changes

Nerfed the Dor Beetles (blue beetles):
- They will take more damage than they used to (compared to Rose Chafers they now take 70% of the damage instead of 50% - they have the same amount of HP)
- Reduced by 20% the damage they deal across the board
Increased damage inflicted by Hornets to ant/termite legions
Decreased damage inflicted by Hornets to creeps (Firebugs/Ladybygs/Spiders/etc.)

Support changes

Increased aphid healing range from 300 (which was a bug) to 1500
Decreased max shield value provided by snail from 40% to 30%,
Decreased the time it takes to fill up Snail's shield from 20sec to 15sec

Power changes

Powers start with their cooldown at 0% charged instead of 100% charged
- It however keeps the previous charges as they were
- So if you had a T1 Rage charge at 53% cooldown, and built the T2 Rage you will have one charge at 53% and the second charge at 0%
Increased all but 2 power prices from 20/30/40 to 20/40/60.
- Burrow and Gnat Spies remain unchanged.
- Decreased build time for all powers from 20sec to 5sec
- The “Shielding spores” power has been changed as follows:
  - Each charge now gives 15% HP instead of 30% HP in shield
  - Shield cap used to be 90% for all tiers, now it depends on the Shield power tier:
    - Tier 1 caps at 15% HP
    - Tier 2 caps at 30% HP
    - Tier 3 caps at 45% HP
  - To be noted, they still stack with Snail and the protective Barrier up to 90% HP, maximum.

Thank you for your feedback, we’ll keep you updated for future updates!

🐜 The Ambitious AI of Empire of the Ants: Up to 20,000 Units on the Battlefield

Saltmandersteam_community_announcements

626d ago

Now available on PC and consoles, Empire of the Ants immerses you in massive insect battles. In this article, learn more about the numerous agents populating the game and the artificial intelligence that brings them to life.

An Impressive Number of Characters on Screen

As you develop your army in Empire of the Ants, you can accumulate up to 4,200 Units under your command. Adding to this are your various opponents and the neutral insects that populate the world, making the strategy game capable of accommodating up to 20,000 units in a single game! "It was important to have a large number of characters," says Quentin Daveau, Game Engineer at Tower Five. "Firstly, for authenticity's sake, because insects are extremely numerous in real life. But also to offer players an impressive aspect, with swarming masses charging at each other. When a legion of gunners positions themselves on a mountain and it becomes entirely green, it's really something."

The Challenge of Limiting the Impact of Units on Performance

A major challenge for the Tower Five studio was displaying these thousands of insects without compromising performance. The developers found several tricks to achieve a result that is both spectacular and smooth. "We decided not to use the usual method of skeletal animation, which involves creating a skeleton that dynamically moves the surface around it," explains Quentin. "We opted for the older method of vertex animation, which is similar to frame-by-frame animation. It was more work, but the result is less demanding on the machine." The team also used other techniques to optimize the performance of Empire of the Ants, such as limiting the number of calculations for the agents. For example, an insect tasked with producing a resource will not think again until it has finished its task. Avoiding continuous updates to the AI reduces the load on the processor.

Tough but Fair: The Behavior of Artificial Intelligence

The second challenge for the designers of Empire of the Ants was making the artificial intelligence credible, especially in its movements. "What’s unique in our game is that you can walk vertically or upside down," Quentin recalls. "The classic navigation mesh method wasn't very suitable for this, so we had to innovate again. Nothing is pre-calculated: the units test the terrain around them on the fly, as if they were moving blindly." Of course, Tower Five also worked hard on the AI's decision-making to achieve a satisfactory result. "It was quite difficult to balance; the AI must be convincing and provide resistance, without overwhelming us," says Quentin. To achieve this, the studio gave the player the same tools as the computer: it doesn't have more resources or stronger units. It doesn't see the entire map but only around itself and has a reaction time quite close to that of a human. This allows for games that are just complex enough without feeling arbitrarily outpaced by the AI. But for fans of tough situations, rest assured - as Quentin tells us, "You can set the AI to its highest difficulty level in private game mode and find some optional missions in the campaign that will challenge players."

Empire of the Ants news & patch notes

Empire of the Ants news & patch notes

The Swarm Together Update is Now Available in Empire of the Ants

🎮 New Game Modes

🐜 New In-Game Content

🛠️ Misc. Changes

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

🐜 Introducing the Paussus

🌪️ Unleash the Pheromone Storm

The Swarm Together Update is almost upon us! See you at 6pm CEST/12pm ET/9am PDT to try out all the new additions

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

⚔️ Don’t forget to tune at 4pm CEST/10am EST/7am PDT to watch an Exhibition Match between the Dev & Community Representatives, featuring the new Summer Update content ☀️

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

⚔️ Tune in on July 11th 4pm CEST/10am EST/7am PDT to watch an Exhibition Match between the Dev & Community Representatives, featuring the new Summer Update content ☀️

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

Stand Your Ground in Horde Mode

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

Thank you for your patience and your trust!

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

📬 Stay connected!

🐾 Come join us in the Little Critters Festival to celebrate small heroes with big adventures 🐾

🐜 Get Empire of the Ants at 30% off now

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Get Empire of the Ants at 30% off now

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

Empire of the Ants wins the Best Artistic Design Pégases Award 🎨🏆

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

Show the world there’s strength in numbers with the Microtopia + Empire of the Ants Bundle

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

🐜 Get Empire of the Ants at 30% off now

Sharpen your mandibles for what comes next in 2025

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

Discover the 2025 Roadmap for Empire of the Ants

What are you most excited for?

Enjoy the Accolades Trailer

Additional Hotfix

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

Early Game: Building Your Economy

Mid-Game: Growth and Information

Late Game: Taking the Enemy Headquarters

Matthias, Any General Tips to Conclude?

Ready to put your skills to the test?

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

New Features

Main Updates

Bug Fixes

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

You can now nominate Empire of the Ants for the Outstanding Visual Style award

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

So far, what is your favorite Power build for 103,683rd?

For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜

Additions and Improvements

Fixes

Multiplayer balancing

Defense upgrade changes

Super predator changes

Support changes

Power changes

An Impressive Number of Characters on Screen

The Challenge of Limiting the Impact of Units on Performance

Tough but Fair: The Behavior of Artificial Intelligence