Anthill Wars Review: Lowkey Addictive Free Ant Colony Game — Tips & Strategy | AI Game Lab #22
Eggs that need tapping, bosses every day and wars that cost more each time
This time I picked a new Poki game, Anthill Wars. You raise an ant colony: the queen lays eggs, workers gather food, warriors fight off invaders, and you raid red ant colonies to grow your territory. If you ever played SimAnt, it feels a lot like that.
Supported on: desktop and mobile browsers (phone and tablet). It is free and runs in the browser with nothing to install.
What kind of game is it
There is one mode, Campaign. Days go by one at a time and an invasion comes every day. Progress saves on its own.
There are two screens: the surface (grass) and the nest (brown). The blue round button at the bottom right takes you up and down.
The final goal is to dig out the whole nest (the last task, worth 900 food). You cannot dig yourself. Only red ants dig, and you cannot choose where. Red ants come from winning wars.
The nest: tap the eggs first
The buttons at the bottom raise workers (5 food), warriors (12 food) and honeypot ants. Each one shows up as a white egg next to the queen.
I got stuck here at first. I thought eggs hatch by themselves. You have to tap each egg to hatch it. A red badge on the down button means there is something to do in the nest.
Do not forget the honeypot ants. Workers pick berries from bushes and turn them into purple nectar; honeypot ants drink it and swell up. Tap a swollen honeypot ant for 10 food.
Sometimes a larva hides in the soil of the nest. It shows as light blue on the minimap. Tap it and send warriors.
The surface: hunting for food
Food comes from the surface. Tap butterflies one by one to knock them down; workers carry them home.
Flies work a little differently. Knock one down, tap it again and a ‘How many warriors to send?’ box opens. Hit Send and a column of warriors marches over.
Use the minimap at the bottom left for things off screen: small blue dots are butterflies, blue squares are flies, red squares are enemies. Tapping the minimap centers the view on that spot. Blue and red triangles at the screen edge point the same way.
Tasks: the red number badge
The blue document button under the ant counts opens the task list. The red number on it is how many rewards are waiting. Every reward is food, and a harder task takes its place (raise 5 ants, then 30, 80, 200…).
If your storage is full you get ‘Storage is full’, so claim them one at a time when food runs low.
Invasions: a boss every day
A timer like ‘Invasion in 9:56’ counts down at the top. Here is what I faced: day 1 a beetle, day 2 a bee, day 3 4 wasps, day 4 5 stag beetles, day 5 8 beetles, day 6 a swarm of bees.
Invaders also need warriors sent at them, by tapping. Leave them alone and they eat your workers and red ants. On day 4 the stag beetles took my workers from 70 down to 14. You also cannot raid while an invasion is on (“defend it first”).
Tapping an enemy your warriors are already fighting opens ‘Call them back?’; cancel it. When all are gone you get ‘Invasion stopped!’, and you can tap the bodies to collect food.
War: the red map button
Between invasions, fill your warriors to Max and press the red map button. Pick a red ant colony, hit Attack, and the fight plays out on their nest map.
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Attacking costs food: 0 at first, then 100, 400, 500 as colonies get stronger. Red ants hit harder than yours; I once lost 31 warriors to a colony of 14.
Win and you get ‘Colony defeated!’, reward eggs, and higher colony limits (food storage 100, 200, 600, 800, 1000; workers 10, 30 … 90). Hatch those eggs and red ants come out and start digging.
What was hard
1. Everything happens at once. Eggs, honeypots, butterflies, flies, tasks, invasions, wars. Stay in the nest too long and no food comes in; stay outside and eggs pile up. For my first hour I could not get the order right and it was a mess.
2. The tutorial does not tell you everything. It covers butterflies, flies and the first war. That eggs need tapping, honeypots need tapping and bosses need warriors sent, you find out by trying. The red badges, arrows and triangles are all hints.
3. Food is always short. Raising ants eats food, but wars need 400 or 500. Keep to the order: warriors to Max, save food, then war.
Key points
1. Always check red badges. Task badge = rewards; down-button badge = work in the nest.
2. Eggs first in the nest. Hatch everything next to the queen, then raise more.
3. Enemies first in an invasion. Jump to a red square on the minimap and send warriors. Once sent, do not tap again.
4. Refill right after a war. Try to fit one more war before the next invasion.
5. The minimap is teleport. Wherever you tap becomes the center.
My record
Time played: about 3 hours (Campaign, day 1 to day 7)
Red ant colonies destroyed: 5; invasions stopped: 6
Colony: up to 88 workers, 60 warriors, 10 honeypot ants, 19 red ants
Food storage: 100 to 1000
Nest dug out: 0% to about 38%
Task rewards claimed: 20
Ratings
Fun ★★★★☆ — watching a column of ants take down a wasp feels great
Difficulty ★★★★☆ — simple rules, but everything comes at once
Replay pull ★★★★☆ — “one more invasion” until day 7
Look and feel ★★★★☆ — the nest turning into a maze is nice to see
Guidance ★★☆☆☆ — after the tutorial you learn by tapping around
Tips
1. Eggs only hatch when you tap them.
2. A swollen honeypot ant is 10 food.
3. Send warriors at bosses too, or your workers die.
4. Claim task rewards one at a time when food is low; a full storage blocks them.
5. Go to war only with warriors at Max and enough food; a loss wipes your army.
If you like strategy and colony games, give Anthill Wars a try. It is a new free game on Poki and it runs on your phone too. See you in the next Game Bot Lab review.
This review was written after playing the game with the help of AI.
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