Ant War

The game

Two queens, one glass jar, and three tunnels of amber soil between them. Click the earth to lay a pheromone trail: your brood follows the strongest scent, so you steer which lane gets the reinforcements and never which ant goes where. The invader queen counters whichever caste you field most, so the whole match is a three-way gamble — MAJOR shears FORAGER, FORAGER outruns SPEWER, SPEWER acid out-ranges MAJOR, at double damage when the wheel turns your way. Win a lane, march into her nest cavern and crack it before her raids — and her periodic surge waves — chew through yours.

How to play

• Click the soil to lay a pheromone trail (5 sap). Brood always walks the strongest-scented lane, so trails are how you commit to a lane.
• Press 1 / 2 / 3 (or Q / W / E) to select FORAGER, SPEWER or MAJOR, or click that caste's card in the tray.
• Press Space (or Enter / D) to spawn the selected caste into the strongest lane: 8 / 15 / 22 sap.
• Your nursery releases one free brood ant every six seconds into the lane with the strongest trail, in the caste you last selected.
• Counter the enemy queen: she mostly breeds the caste that beats your most numerous one, so switch castes and watch the tunnel you are reinforcing.
• Sap starts at 44, refills over time (faster while you dominate a lane) and pays +2 for every enemy ant killed; caste cards grey out when you cannot afford them.
• Ants that reach her nest bite for 8 — first queen to 0 HP (both start at 300) loses. Watch for RAID SURGE INBOUND: four brood at once in one lane.
• P or Esc pauses, M mutes. Everything is drawn live in one file: strata, root hairs, aphids, motes and a sunbeam through the glass.