History Characters / EmpiresOfTheUndergrowth

* TheMedic: The medic units can heal nearby allies every time they hit their attacks.

* BonusBoss: A huge whip spiders can be found in Frontline, hidden under a log. It will emerge after some time has passed, depending on difficulty. It guards some of the largest harvestable plants on the map.

* BonusBoss: In Babysitting, an Uber hermit crab can be found hidden under a log. Killing it is not required to beat the mission. It was left there as a joke during a developing stream.

!!Bombardier Beetles (''Brachinus altenans'')
Bombadier beetles can shoot a powerful stream of scalding liquid from their abdomens. They are enemies in the swamp missions.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: You don't find much information about the rainforest rove beetles online.

OutsideContextProblem: Beyond being a hybrid, this creature incorporates parts from tarantulas, which not only haven't yet shown up in the game as normal enemies, but have not been implied to be enemies the player will fight ''at all''.

* MixAndMatchCritters: They're hybrids of two different arthropods, [[BodyHorror albeit mishappen ones that clearly would not be able to function in real life]].

** Ants have designated color on various parts of their bodies to show which colony they belong to. In story mode missions, your colony is red by default.

* ZergRush: Because upgraded ants don't gain much stats, it's more benefitial to focus on quantity over quality for more damage output and more labors. Upgrading is recommended when you have a surplus of food or when level 3 abilities are required.

* DivergentCharacterEvolution: In story mode, your gene-thief ants only have [[WorkerUnit workers]] at the beginni g. You have to use royal jelly to [[LegoGenetics unlock other species as your units]]. You can only pick one type of wood ants, leafcutter ants, fire ants and matabele ants per colony. The choice is permanent. You can also unlock two additional abilities for each unit, including your queen, which let your colony keep up with the formicarium challenges.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Formicarium challenge 3 has the player gene-thief colony face off against a rival colony, which is implied to be the one that provided the ants in the previous formicarium challenges. The rival colony is the technician, which focuses solely on strong melee units, while the player colony is the performer, which uses a more variety of units like melee attackers, ranged shooters and tanks, further customized to suit the player's strategy. The performer ends up outmaneuvre and defeat the technician.

* SignatureMove: Formic acid strikes, which are the only ranged attacks useable by ants in the game.

Fire ants are playable as a complet species. They are famous for using their own bodies to build rafts and bridges. They can spawn two ants from one tile at level 3.

* SignatureMove: Stings, spwaning two per tile with max upgrades and using their bodies to build bridges. And while all ants can clibm titans, fire ants are especially suited to this due to being able to use all attacks haivng hte numbers to create dedicated groups for swarming enemies and scaling them simultaneously.

* ZergRush: As ants that can spawn two per tile, you're encouraged to use them to swarm enemies. Their unique powers, however, can skew how best they are used in rushes. This is especially encouraged with the pervasive brood, as it gives a rapidly decaying StatusBuff when the ants first hatch, encouraging you to immediately send them into battle. Pervasive Brood ants are best kept in reserve until a later rush, so that they can take advantage of free respawns.

* UndergroundMonkey: They are variants of jumping spiders, with different models, stats and abilities.

* AntlionMonster: Beach tiger beetle larvae burry themselves underground. Unlike antlion, they have to leave their burrows to attack, exposing their soft bodies.

* UndergroundMonkey: They are variants of tiger beetles, with different models, stats and abilities.

Ladybugs are obtacles for harvesting honeydew.

* PuppeteerParasite: Although infected ants don't lose health and can still follow order, they receive multiple debuffs, which drastically hinder their harvesting ability, and die after a short period.

Wasp mantisflies are enemies in the swamp missions.

** Note that only the pitcher plants' nectar is real, though -- the material produced by flytraps and sundews is bait.

* BodyHorror: Using the royal jelly on incompatible hosts (read:anything not an ant) makes it possible to fuse together animals that should ''not'' be able to hybridize in real life. The first one is a hybrid between a hermit crab and a scorpion, the second is actually a pair of whip-spider and mantis hybrids, while the third is a mishappen combination of tarantula and dragonfly.

* OutsideContextProblem: Beyond being a hybrid, this creature incorporates parts from scorpions, which not only haven't yet shown up in the game as normal enemies, but have not been implied to be enemies the player will fight ''at all''.

* CainAndAbel: The two of them ''do not'' like each other, and try to kill each other before the scientist throws them into the formicarium. Players can exploit this by luring them into attacking each other, saving you time and ants killing them.

* NiceHat: All arachnids wear different hats in arachnophobia mode.

* BonusBoss: Something between this trope and a necessity -- killing it isn't required to complete the mission "A Bridge Too Far", but good luck getting enough ants to escape while this thing is in the air.

Venus flytraps and pitcher plants are enemies in the swamp missions.

!!Driver ants (''Dorylus'')
Driver ants are confirmed to be enemies in the 5th set of missions. They are known for devastating everything on their hunting trail.

** Brood tiles also have different colors and texttures corresponding to their units in one colony.
* MonoGenderMonsters: All ants in the game are female. It is currently impossible to create male alates in the game.

* AdaptationalWimp: Real-life fire ants have the ability to use offensive faster odors, just like the little black ants. It has [[WordOfGod been confirmed]] that this is to make each species unique and give them different play styles.

* {{Fartillery}}: By waving their gasters, they release foul-smelling odour to debuff enemies.

!!Bullet Ants
Bullet ants are confirmed to be playable only as the last gene-thief ant units in story mode. They are known for their huge size and incredibly powerful stings.

* BodyHorror: It has spider legs on one half of its body and dragonfly legs on the other, a spider's cephalothorax attached to a dragonfly's abodomen, and its wings do not look like they were meant for this kind of animal.

* MadScientist: The male one is a downplayed example even though the developers have literally called him "Evil Scientist". He's more interested in amusing himself by having the gene thief ants fight other creatures in increasingly more elaborate battles rather than giving them reasonable challenges. He's also the one responsible for providing the gene thief ants with royal jelly, something the female scientist doesn't approve of. Other than that, he doesn't really act like a typical mad scientist. [[spoiler:He finally comes into this role in full during the Fourth Formicarium Challenge, where it's revealed that his royal jelly can hybridize ''any'' two species, resulting in the
* {{Narrator}}: They narate for the gene thief colony. Their opening dialogue following a completed mission will reflect whatever resource you chose to receive extra amounts of for completing the mission. They have unique dialogue following the completion of the formicarium challenges.

* BewareMyStingerTale: Has a scorpion stinger tail hidden under its hermit-crab shell. Damage done from mounting will cause the shell to break faster, exposing the tail sooner.

* MadScientist: The male one is a downplayed example even though the developers have literally called him "Evil Scientist". He's more interested in amusing himself by having the gene thief ants fight other creatures in increasingly more elaborate battles rather than giving them reasonable challenges. He's also the one responsible for providing the gene thief ants with royal jelly, something the female scientist doesn't approve of. Other than that, he doesn't really act like a typical mad scientist.

** Both are aggressive. Leafcutter antss are[[XenophobicHerbivore territorial]] while the fire ants are predatory.

* HelpfulMook: They constanly secrete honeydew and repopulate, making them a reliable food source for your colony.

* ChestMonster: The ants may trigger the traps and die while harvesting sweet nectar.

* MadScientist: The male one is a downplayed example even though the developers have literally called him "Evil Scientist". He's more interested in amusing himself by having the gene thief ants fight other creatures in increasingly more elaborate battles rather than giving them reasonable challenges. He's also the one responsible for providing the gene thief ants with royal jelly, something the female scientist doesn't approve of. Other than that, he doesn't really act like a typical mad scientist. T