Machinefall’s enemy roster contains three massed bug types and three giant threats. Basic bugs have only 1 health each but become dangerous through numbers, while giants combine thousands of health with attacks or reinforcements that can overwhelm a settlement.
Military strength is an eligibility threshold, not an exact arrival timer. Reaching a threshold allows that enemy to enter the population or giant rotation when the other conditions are met; it does not guarantee an immediate encounter.
Threats at a Glance
- Firebugs are the first target when they are close to units or buildings. Each has only 1 health, but its contact explosion deals 4, 5, or 6 damage depending on difficulty.
- Floaters have no direct damage value. Their threat comes from flying over terrain and deploying groups of 80-100 Firebugs onto populated targets.
- Spiders have the most health and the strongest direct attack of any giant, while continually adding Spitters around themselves.
- Stompers are slower than the other giants, but their stomp can damage a building and then carry any remaining damage into units on the same tile. They also produce Crawlers.
- Spitters should be removed from behind a Crawler screen before their combined acid damage builds up. Their range is 3.
- Crawlers are individually weak, but their higher population ceilings make them the main mass threat.
Basic Enemies
The damage columns show the value for one enemy on Easy, Normal, and Hard. Claw and acid values are DPS; Firebug values are damage from one explosion. Speed values are relative, so a larger number means a faster enemy.
| Enemy | Health | Attack | Easy | Normal | Hard | Range | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawler | 1 | Claw DPS | 0.1 | 0.12 | 0.14 | Contact | 0.5 |
| Spitter | 1 | Acid spit DPS | 0.08 | 0.1 | 0.12 | 3 | 0.4 |
| Firebug | 1 | Explosion damage | 4 | 5 | 6 | Contact | 0.35 |
Population Thresholds
The initial-area ceiling is the maximum population used when an inhabited area is first seeded. The actual starting population is reduced by distance scaling and distributed across the area’s houses. Ongoing growth stops when a tile approaches 90% of its listed tile limit.
| Enemy | Military strength | Listed tile limit | Easy area ceiling | Normal area ceiling | Hard area ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawler | 200 | 100 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 |
| Spitter | 500 | 80 | 7,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 |
| Firebug | 1,000 | 40 | 4,000 | 5,000 | 6,000 |
Giant Threats
Giant damage is shown for one stomp on each difficulty. The Floater has no direct attack value; all of its offensive pressure comes from the Firebugs it deploys.
| Giant | Health | Direct attack | Easy | Normal | Hard | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stomper | 6,000 | Stomp DPS | 200 | 300 | 400 | 0.15 |
| Floater | 4,000 | No direct attack | None | None | None | 0.2 |
| Spider | 8,000 | Stomp DPS | 400 | 500 | 600 | 0.2 |
Eligibility and Reinforcements
A giant becomes eligible only after both its military-strength threshold and progression milestone are reached. These conditions do not predict exactly when it will arrive.
| Giant | Military strength | Progression milestone | Movement | Reinforcements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stomper | 600 | Giants | Ground path | Continuously creates Crawlers while the local enemy count is below 150 |
| Floater | 1,000 | Iron Age | Air path; crosses rivers, hills, and walls | Periodically deploys 80-100 Firebugs onto a populated nearby target |
| Spider | 1,500 | Plastic Age | Ground path | Continuously creates Spitters while the local enemy count is below 150 |
Stomper
The Stomper is the first giant threat. Its 0.15 speed is the lowest of the three, so the safest response is to intercept it away from dense construction and keep vulnerable units off its tile. The longer it remains active near the front, the more time its Crawler reinforcement stream has to build.
Floater
The Floater uses air movement and can cross terrain that blocks ground threats. It periodically selects a populated tile in its current area and drops 80-100 Firebugs there, so walls alone do not protect a dense base. Its 4,000 health is the lowest giant total, but leaving it alive creates repeated explosive outbreaks.
Spider
The Spider combines 8,000 health, 400-600 stomp DPS, and a continuous Spitter stream. It is the toughest direct fight in the roster. Clear its ranged reinforcements when they begin stacking, but keep sustained damage on the Spider so it cannot rebuild that screen indefinitely.
How Enemy Escalation Works
Basic Bug Attacks
Basic bug population and organized attacks are separate systems. Military strength controls which species can populate inhabited areas. Reaching Stone Age enables organized moving bug attacks, and the game maintains no more than two of those attacks at once.
On Easy, an inhabited area receives its initial bug population once and does not use the normal ongoing refill behavior afterward. On Normal and Hard, an already seeded area can continue adding eligible bugs while nearby tiles remain below their limits.
Giant Count Scaling
Before Iron Age, the game aims for one living giant at a time. After Iron Age, its target becomes:
1 + destroyed hives + floor(military strength / 10,000) + difficulty bonus
The difficulty bonus is 0 on Easy, 1 on Normal, and 2 on Hard. This means destroying hives reduces the local hive threat but also raises the number of giants the game tries to keep active. Crossing each 10,000 military-strength boundary raises that target again.
After the Mother
Completing Kill mother hive stops routine bug spawning, new giant spawning, and further hive growth. Enemies and giants already on the map are not removed and continue acting until they are defeated.
Combat Priorities
- Remove Firebugs before they make contact. Their health is trivial, so early ranged damage prevents disproportionate losses.
- Attack a Floater as soon as it enters a populated area. Its Firebug drops bypass ordinary ground barriers.
- Keep giant fights away from construction when possible. Stomper and Spider attacks can damage buildings and units sharing their tile.
- Thin Crawler and Spitter reinforcements without abandoning damage on their parent giant. Stalling indefinitely allows the stream to rebuild.
- Prepare before military strength crosses 200, 500, 600, 1,000, and 1,500. These thresholds add Crawlers, Spitters, Stompers, Firebugs and Floaters, then Spiders to the eligible threat pool when their progression conditions are also met.
For troop health, armor, weapon range, vehicle capacity, and equipment comparisons, see the Units, Vehicles, and Equipment guide. For the milestones that gate giant eligibility, see the Technology Tree and Objectives guide.