Multiplayer Map Pack Download Downloads 10 bonus animals Trial Version Download! Insect Invasion is here!

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Please Note: You will need to install the Impossible Creatures Update v1.1 to activate this new mod. Also, if you previously installed the Insect Invasion Mod v1.0 you can run the small patch below to update your version of Insect Invasion rather than downloading and installing the full Insection Invasion Mod v1.4.

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Note: Insect Invasion v1.4 can not be played in Multiplayer games against v1.0. Also, Insect Invasion v1.0 recorded games can not be viewed in v1.4

Check out the Insect Invasion animals in action in the Insect Invasion Screenshot Gallery.

The Animals:


Anaconda

Classification: Reptile
Climate: Tropical Swampland
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 28
Melee Damage: 28
Health: 334
Defense: 6
Speed: 15
Water Speed: 18
Sight Radius: 15
Size: 8

Abilities
Loner (Head)

Strategic Value
The Anaconda has a great many advantages working in its favor. It is the largest creature in the game that possesses an additional melee attack on a limb other than its head. It is amphibious, capable of land and water travel simply by virtue of its torso. And its head gives it the sensibilities of a Loner, granting it massive power when hunting alone. At high ranks, this creature’s destructive power is incredible, mitigated only by its slow speed and very low defense.

Description
Anaconda (snake) is a common name for large South American snakes of the boa family. Anacondas are among the largest and most powerful snakes in the world. The common anaconda is the longest snake in the western hemisphere and the heaviest snake in the world; a large adult may be 6 m (20 ft) long and weigh 107 kg (235 lb). Anacondas kill their prey by constriction or squeezing. The common anaconda inhabits the river systems of northern and Amazonian South America east of the Andes. Female anacondas give birth to living young.

Behemoth

Classification: Insect
Climate: Wherever it Pleases
Research Level: V
Melee Damage: 22
Health: 500
Defense: 79
Speed: 20
Sight Radius: 40
Size: 10

Abilities
Hovering (Torso)

Strategic Value
This legendary beast had existed only in speculation thus far, and has been given form by Dr. Ganglion as the perfect Sigma weapon. Possessing speed, defense, health, power, and the ability to fly limited distances, it is truly the most powerful animal in (or, depending on your perspective, not in) existence.
Description
“Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee… his strength in his loins, his force in the navel of his belly… the sinews of his stones are wrapped together… his bones strong pieces of brass; his bones like bars of iron… Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play… he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.”
-Job 40: 15-24

Black Widow Spider

Classification: Arachnid
Climate: Variable
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 5
Health: 20
Defense: 18
Speed: 30
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Loner (Head)
Poison (Head)
Web Throwing (Tail)

Strategic Value
This tiny, deadly spider would be of very limited use all by itself, but when combined with larger animals grants several spectacular abilities. It has a vicious toxic bite that grows very strong when combined with larger animals, and its head possesses a Loner mentality that amplifies its power immensely when it hunts alone. When this is combined with its paralyzing Web-Throwing ability, it can control fights with multiple opponents and come out on top.
Description
Black Widow Spider, common name for any of several related long-legged, smooth-bodied spiders, chiefly inhabiting the Tropics, but also common in the southern United States and found as far north as Canada. They spin irregular webs in crevices and other dark, protected spots. The fully-grown female of the familiar North American species is about 1.2 cm (about 0.5 in) long and is jet black, with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the underside of the abdomen. Males are rarely seen and are harmless. Contrary to popular belief, the female black widow spider does not kill her partner after mating. The female's venom, a neurotoxin, is poisonous to humans and her bite is characterized by local pain and swelling, nausea, and difficulty in breathing and is sometimes fatal.

Bombardier Beetle

Classification: Insect
Climate: Tropical
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 1
Health: 36
Defense: 22
Speed: 24
Sight Radius: 40
Size: 1

Abilities
Hovering (Torso)
Chemical Spray (Tail)

Strategic Value
This creature relies upon teamwork to be effective, but is devastatingly powerful when this is done correctly. Possessing the Chemical Spray ability, it can bombard enemy units and structures from huge distances away- but only if it knows where those units and structures are. Thus, other units are necessary to ‘spot’ targets for the Bombardier Beetle. Once a team of Bombardier Beetles has a target, though, the enemy will never know what hit them.
Description
Bombardier Beetle, common name for any member of a closely related group of gregarious and predatory ground beetles that have the ability to eject from the anus a glandular fluid that vaporizes with a popping sound when it hits the air, blinding the victim and confusing it with the noise. The sprays, which are used in defense, can be as hot as boiling water. The beetles' bodies are flattened and oval. One common American species is 1.3 cm (0.5 in) long; some are larger. Bombardier beetles spend most of the year in aggregations under rocks, hunting at night for small insects and caterpillars. In the spring they disperse for mating and egg laying. The fertilized female inserts each egg into a ball of mud and attaches it to a twig or rock. In a few days a larva hatches that usually goes through three instars (molting stages) before pupation. The adult that emerges is attracted to a community of bombardier beetles by odors sensed through its antennae.

Cockroach

Classification: Insect
Climate: Just About All of Them
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 2
Health: 23
Defense: 39
Speed: 30
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Plague (Head)
Hovering (Torso)
Defile Land (Back Legs)

Strategic Value
The notoriously disgusting Cockroach provides a versatile source for several chemical-based attacks, and the resilience and speed needed to successfully deliver them. Though weak in direct combat, its abilities to deliver Plague to weak enemies and to set traps for larger enemies by Defiling Land make it a versatile and dangerous unit when properly managed.
Description
Cockroach, common name for an order of insects, the most familiar of which are characterized by their oval shape, foul odor, and their status as household pests. About 4000 species are known worldwide; most inhabit the warm tropical regions of the globe. About 25 species have attained worldwide distribution due to accidental transport in commerce and their affinity for human habitation. Cockroaches are an ancient group, having changed little in appearance in 320 million years. Cockroaches in general are flat and oval in outline. Cockroaches may be winged or wingless, but even winged species do not always fly. Adults range from 1 mm (0.04 in) to more than 9 cm (3.6 in) in length. They are sensitive to light; most species prefer darkness, being largely nocturnal.

Condor

Classification: Bird
Climate: Mountains
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 11
Health: 290
Defense: 31
Speed: 26
Sight Radius: 40
Size: 6

Abilities
Flight (Wings)

Strategic Value
The Condor is the largest and hardiest flying creature in the game. It lacks unique special abilities, but it doesn’t need them- use it to amplify the power of smaller ground-based creatures and give them flight at the same time.
Description
Condors are among the largest living flying birds with a wingspan of 3.2m (about 10.5 ft) and a weight often exceeding 14kg (31 lb). Condors have sooty-black body plumage and a large white area in the wing. The naked head of the condor is often a dull red, and the males have a prominent fleshy comb on the forehead. A fluffy white ruff encircles the lower neck. Condors lay their single eggs on rock ledges or on cave floors. The young develop slowly, beginning to fly at about six months of age. Both species feed almost entirely on carrion; the Andean condor may occasionally attack wounded or newborn animals. Condors range from California to the Strait of Magellan on the southern tip of South America.

Firefly

Classification: Insect
Climate: Plains
Research Level: III
Melee Damage: 2
Health: 18
Defense: 81
Air Speed: 30
Sight Radius: 30
Size: 1

Abilities
Flash (Tail)
Flight (Wings)

Strategic Value
Fireflies are the sole bearer of the Flash ability, and they have the durability to see that it gets delivered to the enemy. With an incredible defense granted by their beetle-like carapaces, they can enter a fray and blind all units there, friend and foe alike, reducing combat to a pure melee. Which, if your army is built accordingly, can be a spectacular advantage.
Description
Firefly, also lightning bug, common name for any of a large family of luminescent beetles. There are about 1100 species found throughout tropical and temperate regions. Adult fireflies are elongate, relatively soft-bodied beetles up to 2.5 cm (up to 1 in) long. The common North American species are about 1 cm (about 0.4 in) long. They are dark colored but may have yellow or orange markings. Luminescent glands are located on the undersides of the rear abdominal segments (see Bioluminescence). Both sexes usually fly, and they emit intermittent light signals to attract mates or prey. They are often seen in meadows on late spring and summer nights. The larvae of fireflies are active, ground-dwelling predators. The larvae of some species are also luminescent and are called glowworms, a term also applied to phengodid beetles, a closely related family.

Garden Spider

Classification: Insect
Climate: Variable
Research Level: III
Melee Damage: 6
Health: 27
Defense: 15
Speed: 28
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Web Throwing (Tail)

Strategic Value
Garden Spiders are capable of weaving incredibly strong webbing, and in your army, they can throw this webbing to completely paralyze large groups of enemies. Since their venom is not particularly strong, they rely on the brute strength of their mandibles to tear apart their foes. As tiny spiders, this doesn’t really do much to your advantage. Combined with larger creatures, however, they can be very fearsome.
Description
Garden spiders belong to the family Araneidae, a group of 2,500 different species of spiders that weave orb, or circular, webs. Marked with varying shades of brown, garden spiders have a distinctive white cross on their abdomens, and some people refer to them as cross spiders. They are found throughout the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico. Like most orb weavers, a garden spider typically sits upside down in the middle of the orb web, placing its eight feet on the threads radiating out from the center of the web. The feet act as sensors, picking up vibrations when prey enters the web.

Giant Anteater

Classification: Myrmecophagidae
Climate: Savannah/Swampland
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 10
Range Damage: 12
Health: 148
Defense: 19
Speed: 25
Sight Radius: 20
Size: 4

Abilities
Digging (Front Legs)
Loner (Head)

Strategic Value
Aside from the whales, the Giant Anteater is the largest creature that possesses a ranged attack. Their ability to burrow into the ground with their claws couples with this to make them an excellent ambush unit.
Description
The Giant Anteater is an insect-eating mammals common to Mexico, Central America, and South America, having a long head with a long, tubular mouth and long tongue, but no teeth. The giant anteater, weighing up to 39 kg (86 lb), lives in forests and swampy areas and on open plains and is mainly diurnal. The front claws, used to tear open termite mounds and for defense, are so long that they are tucked under, and the animal walks on its knuckles. The long tongue flicks rapidly in and out of the small mouth opening, scooping up termites or other insects on its sticky surface. This species is also characterized by its solitary habits.

Hercules Beetle

Classification: Insect
Climate: Tropical
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 9
Health: 89
Defense: 55
Speed: 16
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 2

Abilities
Hovering (Torso)
Horns (Head)
Deflection Armor (Torso)

Strategic Value
The Hercules Beetle possesses Deflection Armor, which will randomly reflect creature-based ranged (but not artillery) attacks back at attackers. This can make them deadly against crowds of range-attacking units that would otherwise demolish melee creatures. Their ability to Hover quickly into bases combined with the Barrier Destroy bonus on their head makes them very dangerous to enemy structures, as well.

Description
Beetle, common name for any member of an order of insects, the most prominent characteristic of which are the elytra, the hardened, sheathlike front wings, which usually cover the entire abdomen when the insect is not in flight. In some beetles, such as the rove beetles, the elytra are short, covering only a portion of the abdomen. Some beetles are wingless. Beetles vary greatly in size. The largest is the Hercules beetle, which grows to 16 cm (up to 6.3 in) in length. Other species may be less than 0.1 cm (less than 0.04 in) long. Although they also vary greatly in form, their basic anatomical structures are similar.



Shield Bug

Classification: Insect
Climate: Plains
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 2
Health: 25
Defense: 50
Speed: 21
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Deflection Armor (Torso)
Stink Cloud (Tail)
Immunity (Inherent)

Strategic Value
Shield Bugs are quite possibly the most defensive unit in the game, ability-wise. Their Stink Cloud and Deflection Armor abilities make them nearly invulnerable against ranged attacks, and their Immunity protects them from a number of special abilities. Add an above average defense score, and you have a very hard to kill bug. Their offense, though, is terrible. Make up for this by combining them with something vicious.

Description
Some bugs secrete a substance characteristically pungent, penetrating, and often having a disagreeable smell. Members of the shield-bug families have a particularly bad odor. Shield bugs are also characterized by their often-bright colors, and the shield-like development of their scutellum, a hard, triangular plate that covers their backs.

Tarantula

Classification: Arachnid
Climate: Tropical
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 11
Health: 65
Defense: 15
Speed: 25
Sight Radius: 20
Size: 2

Abilities
Disorienting Barbs (Tail)

Strategic Value
A strong melee unit for its size, the Tarantula is an effective unit at low ranks for this reason alone. However, it also has the Disorienting Barbs ability, which eliminates the bonuses that enemy units get from Pack Hunter and Herding. Mixing a few creatures with Tarantula tails into your army can have a significant effect on the battle against units equipped with pack and herd.
Description
Tarantula, name applied to a species of European wolf spider, whose bite is not dangerous. The name is generally applied in the United States to the so-called American tarantulas. These are large, hairy spiders occurring in the southwestern United States, Central America, South America, and other New World tropical regions. They feed on insects and a variety of small animals. A large species of this group has a bite that is painful but never, so far as accurate records show, fatal to humans. New World species of tarantulas can rub urticating hairs off of their abdomens, releasing an irritating and blinding cloud of fine, barbed hairs.

Termite

Classification: Insect
Climate: Plains/Savannah
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 5
Health: 22
Defense: 15
Speed: 20
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Infest (Head)

Strategic Value
Termites are lacking in durability, with low health and defensive abilities. However, they have a powerful bite which can complement larger creatures very well, and with that bite comes the option to use its Infest ability- sacrificing the unit to deal as much as 2000 damage to a building over a period of time. As such, they make excellent melee units for base raiding, using their Infest ability when near death.
Description
Termite, common name for numerous species of social insects that can damage wooden structures such as furniture or houses. Of about 2000 known species, most are distributed in tropical countries and some inhabit the temperate regions of North and South America; two have become established in southern Europe. Termites are known also as white ants, a misnomer based on superficial similarities in the appearance and habits of these two insect groups. Termites are relatively primitive; they have thick waists and soft bodies and undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Nevertheless, they have developed remarkable patterns of social behavior that are almost as elaborate as those of the ants, social bees, and wasps.

Walking Stick

Classification: Insect
Climate: Tropical
Research Level: II
Melee Damage: 4
Health: 112
Defense: 19
Speed: 24
Sight Radius: 20
Size: 2

Abilities
Regeneration (Inherent)
Camoflage (Tail)

Strategic Value
Lacking the deadly bite of the Rattlesnake or the potent tongue of the Chameleon, the Walking Stick’s advantage as a camouflaged and regenerating unit is its size and health. At lower ranks, as a size 2 creature, it can enable smaller creatures to be vicious and stealthy, while at higher levels, it’s impressive health becomes apparent when combined with larger creatures.
Description
Walking Stick, also stick insect, common name for insect so named because it closely resembles a twig of the plants on which most species of Walking Sticks live. The insect's body is long and slender, the legs are also twiglike, and the wings are sometimes absent, sometimes rudimentary, and sometimes leaflike. Walking Sticks are found mostly in tropical climates, where some species are known to grow to a length exceeding 30 cm (12 in). Walking Sticks are real masters of mimicry and camouflage.

Wasp

Classification: Insect
Climate: Plains/Savannah
Research Level: IV
Melee Damage: 4
Health: 18
Defense: 25
Speed: 35
Sight Radius: 25
Size: 1

Abilities
Assassinate (Tail)
Poison (Tail)
Flight (Wings)

Strategic Value
Similar to the Hornet but weaker in general combat, the Wasp boasts the unique Assassinate ability. This ability uses a full endurance bar to deal 40% of a target’s maximum health in damage, regardless of its health or defense- 3 stings will kill any unit. This ability makes the Wasp an excellent emergency unit to have on hand, as it can be used to eliminate Loners, high-defense creatures, spotters, and other units that your army may not have accounted for.
Description
Wasp, common name applied to most species of hymenopteran insects, except bees and ants. Insects known as wasps include parasitic wasps, and the stinging wasps, which are the best known. About 75,000 species of wasps are known, most of them parasitic. Common parasitic wasps include the Spider Wasp, common name for any of a family of wasps that hunt spiders to feed their young. A spider wasp quickly subdues the spider it preys on. The wasp's sting affects the spider's central nervous system, paralyzing but not killing the spider. Often the spider is too large to carry in flight and the wasp must drag it to the nest. Some species bite off the spider's legs to make it easier to drag and may drink blood that leaks from the wounds. The wasp lays an egg on the paralyzed spider, which is eventually eaten by the wasp's larva.

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