Workers are the confirmed Food units in Grow A Colony. Their value comes from completed delivery loops, not from standing near a resource or increasing the population counter. Create a Worker in a valid underground nest, use Scavenge, and watch the entire trip from chamber to source and back before deciding that production is stable.
Create a Worker at the right time
The first Worker should come before a combat army. Read the Worker Egg entry in your live interface, including its current Food cost and cap. Current sources disagree on the fixed keyboard letter, so use the visible label. If the action fails, check nest depth, available Food, population space, and whether a menu has keyboard focus.
Later Workers make sense when existing routes are clean but cannot recover Food quickly enough for the next decision. Another Worker does not fix a blocked entrance, wrong order, or unreachable source. Solve those first so the new unit does not repeat the same failure.
Assign and observe Scavenge
Turn on Scavenge for the Worker you are testing. Follow at a distance that lets you see its path without blocking it with the Queen. Confirm departure, target acquisition, collection, turn, return, and delivery. Repeat the test once before changing the nest or adding a unit.
Use Follow only when relocating or recovering the Worker. If Follow remains active during a Food test, the unit may track the Queen instead of completing its economic job. Attack should not be the Worker’s routine assignment when Majors and Drones are available for fighting.
Fix a stalled Worker
If it cannot leave the chamber, move the Queen aside and widen the entrance. If it reaches the surface but not Food, choose a nearer visible source and reissue Scavenge. If it collects but never returns, inspect the reverse path and remove the tightest turn. If every Worker changes direction during combat, separate their selection from fighters and cancel conflicting orders.
Update 5.4 says pathfinding should work correctly, but a controlled short-route test is still the fastest diagnosis. Rejoin a new server only after simple geometry and command checks fail; otherwise a rejoin can hide the exact condition that needs repair.
Measure Worker value without invented stats
Use live outcomes: delivery completion, time between returns, Food gained after spending, and frequency of route failures. Do not publish or rely on a permanent capacity, health, speed, cost, or collection rate unless the current version displays it and the same conditions reproduce it.
Compare two nest layouts by keeping the Worker count and source constant. Compare two Worker counts by keeping the route constant. Changing everything at once makes a faster balance look meaningful even when the improvement came only from a shorter path.
Balance Workers with fighters
A Worker-heavy opening is appropriate because every Major or Drone depends on Food. Once a creature or rival colony blocks production, add combat coverage while keeping at least one route active. Pulling every Worker into Follow during a battle can create a delayed shortage even after the threat is cleared.
The correct Worker count is the count that keeps Food recovering after purchases and during short combat tasks. Save instead of spawning if the store already rises reliably and the next need is a defender, colony unlock, or progression choice.
Worker failure checklist
- Is the Queen in a valid nest and is the entrance open?
- Does the Worker Egg entry show enough Food and free capacity?
- Is Scavenge active for the intended Worker?
- Can it reach a visible Food source without circling?
- Can it turn and return through the same entrance?
- Does the Food store change after delivery?
- Did Follow or Attack interrupt the route?
- Does a simple route still fail in a fresh current server?
When to stop adding Workers
Stop when the marginal unit creates more crowding than production, when Food already recovers between decisions, or when the actual blocker is combat. Pause after every purchase long enough to see a complete route. Population alone is not progress if the nest cannot move units through its entrance.
Move next to Food and Water for a full resource diagnosis, Majors or Drones when a threat blocks the route, and the unit comparison when choosing the next egg.
Sources and confidence
Worker responsibility for Food is Official. Scavenge behavior and the route workflow are Community corroborated across current guides. Fixed stats and shortcuts remain update-sensitive.