The Swarm's forces were divided into squads of several hundred, made up of scouts, Soldier Ants, Small Soldier Ants, and Worker Ants. Each squad was assigned a Transport Bug. Their job was to patrol around the enemy, intercepting and wiping out any foraging parties that ventured out.
A foraging party of around five hundred had just moved less than fifty meters from the main force when two Mobile Squads cut it off.
Five hundred versus a thousand—and with the smaller force's individual fighters slightly weaker than those of the larger one—the outcome was already beyond doubt.
Each Red Ant had to face at least two Worker Ants. Though the Worker Ants were larger and outnumbered them, they focused on tying them down.
The Red Ants' stingers were indeed formidable, allowing them to defeat targets many times their size.
But stinger attacks had a weakness: against units with exoskeletal armor, the attacker had to latch onto its target, brace itself, then find a weak point, such as a joint in the armor, and drive its stinger in.
But with their nimble Catapult Starts, the Worker Ants never gave the Red Ants a chance to get close enough to sting. Whenever a Red Ant curled up its abdomen and prepared to attack, the Worker Ant would dart away.
Even if a Red Ant managed to grab one and it couldn't break free, a nearby comrade would rush over and yank the Red Ant off.
The tactics had been well planned, but things still went wrong in practice. During the fight, some Worker Ants were caught off guard and stung by the Red Ants.
Still, the Coalition Army was wiped out much faster than the Worker Ants were lost. The two kinds of Soldier Ants joined forces, prioritizing the Black Ants among the