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SimAnt

Page history last edited by Namo 13 years, 8 months ago

 

       
Game Info: http://www.mobygames.com/game/simant-the-electronic-ant-colony
Download: http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Simulation%20Games/Simulation%20Games.htm
 
 

Testing-History

 
 

Status

Comments

Version

Debug.log

Not Working Unsupported Opcode upon startup 0.20  
Not Working Unsupported Opcode upon startup
0.15  
Not Working Unsupported Opcode upon startup
0.14  
Not Working
Unsupported Opcode upon startup
0.13  
 
     
 

Testing Comments:

 
  As recommended, ran straight at the start without running any other programs.  
     
 
 

Comments

Audio Volume 

Program isn't working

Touchpad Mouse (TPM) 

Program isn't working

Game-Speed

Program isn't working

Suggested .exe-file

SIMANT.exe

 
     
 

Useful comments

 
  None
 
     
 

Custom Control Scheme:

 
 

INI Settings 

Additional Notes

 
 
 
     
 

User Review

 
 

A Bug's Life

The Ant Colony is regarded as one of the many marvels of Science, and one of the greatest examples of an organized society other than Humans and Bees (A close relative of the ant).  If you once saw this in the store and cast it off because of the concept or because you are grossed out by Ants, then you ought to check yourself - SimAnt is one of the greatest Sim titles available.

 

In SimAnt, you control an Electronic Ant Colony, only instead of those Ant Farms you used to buy as a kid, this isn't for watching.  This time, you control one of the ants.  When you start the game, the first thing you'll notice is a yellow winged thing; that's you, a female ant, full of eggs and ready to start your Colony.  You can't do anything as a pregnant ant, and its advised you don't; it's a dangerous world out there.  Just start out by digging under ground, dig some tunnels, and lay an egg; and this is where the fun begins.

 

Control is switched from the now-lazy queen over to the worker ant you just gave birth to.  The queen does nothing from here on out but lay eggs, and, if you have "Silly" turned on - complain about it!  What you must do as the worker ant is search out food - or green pellets - and bring it back to the nest for either you and your teammates to feast on or for the queen to.  If you want to, you can make a scent trail to the food, so all your ant brethren, when born, can follow in straight lines to the food.

 

But, an ant's life isn't without some hardships, as you'll realize soon.  There are spiders out there ready to eat you, ant lions waiting in the ground, Humans who will step on you, lawnmowers, rain that floods your nest and erases scent trails, and the biggest antagonistic force?  The Red Ant colony.

 

The Red Ant colony and your colony battle for food, and ultimately, control of the yard and house.  However, these guys aren't exactly friendly neighbors.  Once their ants find your ants, its all out war.  In some cases, they'll even track you down via your scent trails to find you, and your biggest asset, your queen.  If they kill your queen before you have a chance to create mates to fly to other parts of the yard, you can't continue.  Whats worse is that the red ants reproduce just slightly faster than you do, so you better start breeding some warriors to take out their queen first.  There is some quality control here though; if you kill their queen before they make mates to fly off, open up your map to find that the game just automatically created another red nest somewhere far off.  That's what you get for being a jerk!

 

As for the other life forms out in the yard, a bit of the ol' numbers can take them out.  More often than not, you're going to see that spider out there somewhere, chasing after ants and eating them.  The good news is that they don't discriminate, so the red ants aren't safe from the spider.  The bad news is, that means that the spider also eats you, and if he's hanging around your nest, its pretty much ant buffet for the spider.  Thankfully, there's only one on the plot of land you're on at a time.  So, what do you do if your anthill is being agonized by the spider?  Take action!  Its one spider against hundreds of ants!  Call your ants together with the recruit feature and chase him down, making the hunter become the hunted, and making the hunted become food.  The same goes for the ant lions and the harmless caterpillars and pill bugs; its survival of the fittest out there, so don't be afraid to surround a bug and kill it for eats.

 

So, now that the basics are out of the way, you need to set up some things.  Go to your stats and set up what's being what:  The Ant Behavior, and the Niche.  The Ant Behavior is split into 3 things:  Digging, Gathering Food, and Nursing.  Its best to set everything equally.  Digging is digging in the nest and Gathering Food is obvious, but what is Nursing?  Say you're walking around, low on energy, and there isn't a food pellet in sight.  You're about to starve, and you walk by a friendly ant and you hear a retching, puking noise.  That ant just regurgitated some food into your mouth.  Gross, but you're no longer hungry.  The nurse ants also occasionally move the eggs around, and in case of invasion, keep them away from the enemy.  The Niche, too, is split into 3.  There are workers, soldiers, and mates.  The workers work, the soldiers have bigger mandibles, and the mates have wings and, come mating season, are ready to fly off into another part of the yard to start another colony.

 

The game does have an ending, sadly.  Once all quadrants of the yard and house are taken over by the black ants, the game is over, and you've won.  You can start over, or go for a quick game, or try experimentation mode where you can set traps, build mazes, and take control of the spider or a red ant.

 

In short, this game is a "Pleasant" experience that no one should miss out on, and still tops even today's strategy games.  Who needs spore when you have an "Exuberant" game like SimAnt?

 

-Namo

 

 

 

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