Waterside Bugs is the fourtieth offline mission and the fourty-third online mission in Earth Defense Force 2025 and the fourty-second offline mission and the fourty-fifth online mission in Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair.
Objective[]
2025: Huge alien creatures have been confirmed along the river that runs through the city. They seem to have made several entrances to their tunnels by the river. You must hurry to the area and destroy the tunnels. Flying types have also been spotted in the area. Good luck.
4.1: Huge alien creatures have been confirmed along the river that runs through the city. They seem to have made several entrances to their tunnels by the river. You must hurry to the area and destroy the tunnels! Flying types have also been spotted nearby, so good luck.
Storyline[]
Storm Team is in a residential area, when the Tactics Officer reports that the number of giant insects is increasing and she suspects that there are Tunnel Exits somewhere. HQ then orders to search and destroy them. Storm Team can already see large number of Hornets flying up from the river and soon Scout confirms that there's an underground tunnel going along the river. The soldiers eventually find it and a Ranger reports it to which HQ tells the importance of keeping the bugs at bay.
Aurora Situation Report then reports the appearance of flying giant insects and that the EDF is planning a large-scale attack against them. Scout than decides to tell about the insects on the river once again.
Ohara randomly states that giant insects need water, as if it was some kind of big revelation, to which HQ replies that there is no water on Earth for Aliens. After a few seconds he feels like he should talk more so he orders Storm Team to destroy the tunnels and unnecessarily repeats it again.
TO gets an emergency transmission from Sidney, but gets confused because the only thing she hears is "swallowed whole", HQ speculates that a new giant insect type might have appeared. Then another poor quality transmission can be heard from Hawaii again talking about being swallowed whole, displaying the clarity of mind and communication skills exemplified by the EDF. HQ asks to clarify but something seems to block the signal.
4.1 Changes[]
The mission was moved to the Town map.
The number of enemies has increased and mutant insects were added on higher difficulties.
A Wing Diver team and a Fencer team were added, and the weapons of the Rangers were changed.
The mission starts near the school and the Tactics Officer doesn't say anything until the transmission from Sydney.
Allies[]
2025[]
- Two team of 4 Rangers both equipped with Shotguns appear near the players at the begining of the mission. They cannot be recruited.
4.1[]
- A team of 5 Rangers equipped with Assault Rifles and their leader with a Shotgun appears near the players at the begining of the mission. They cannot be recruited.
- A team of 5 Rangers equipped with Rocket Launchers appears near the players at the begining of the mission. They cannot be recruited.
- A team of 5 Fencers equipped with Blasthole Spears appears near the players at the begining of the mission. They cannot be recruited.
- A team of 5 Wing Divers equipped with LAZRs appears near the river at the begining of the mission. They cannot be recruited.
Enemies[]
2025[]
| Wave | Spawn | Enemy | Amount | Notes | |
| 1st | Appears at the begining of the mission. | Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||
| Black Ants | 5 | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||||
| Hornets | 8 | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||||
| Hornets | 9 | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||||
| Spiders | 4 | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||||
| Spiders | 12 | ||||
| 2nd | Appears when only two Tunnel Exits remain. | Black Ants | 2 x 15 | Only one or two types of insects appear from their respective Tunnel Exits depending on which two remain. | |
| Hornets | |||||
| Spiders | |||||
4.1[]
| Wave | Spawn | Enemy | Amount | Notes | |
| 1st | Appears at the begining of the mission. | Tunnel Exits | 2 | ||
| Black Ants | 8 each | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 1 | ||||
| Crimson Ants | 8 | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 2 | ||||
| Hornets | 8 each | ||||
| Tunnel Exits | 2 | ||||
| Spiders | 8 each | ||||
| 2nd | Appears when only three Tunnel Exits remain. | Black Ants | 3 x 10 | Only two or three types of insects appear from their respective Tunnel Exits depending on which three remain.
On Hardest or above mutant variants appear instead. | |
| Gold Ants | |||||
| Crimson Ants | |||||
| Dark Crimson Ants | |||||
| Hornets | |||||
| Red Hornets | |||||
| Spiders | |||||
| Slver Spiders | |||||
Online Limits[]
Armor Limit
There's no limit for Inferno difficulty.
| Difficulty | Ranger & Air Raider | Wing Diver | Fencer | |||
| 2025 | 4.1 | 2025 | 4.1 | 2025 | 4.1 | |
| Easy & Normal | 896 | 899 | 498 | 499 | 1120 | 1123 |
| Hard | 2177 | 2407 | 1138 | 1253 | 2721 | 3009 |
| Hardest | 3451 | 4180 | 1775 | 2140 | 4314 | 5226 |
Weapon Level Limit
| Game | Easy & Normal | Hard | Hardest | Inferno |
| 2025 | 12 | 36 | 61 | - |
| 4.1 | 12 | 37 | 63 | - |
Approximate Weapon Drop Rate
| Game | Easy | Normal | Hard | Hardest | Inferno |
| 2025 | 5-9 | 7-11 | 21-33 | 3-58 | 12-72 |
| 4.1 | 4-9 | 6-11 | 22-37 | 0-59 | 13-73 |
Strategy[]
4.1[]
Bring a weapon that can deal with a swarm of insects from both land an air. And a weapon to destroy the tunnels.
There are seven Tunnels on the river. The left- and rightmost tunnels both spawn Black Ants the ones closest to them spawn Spiders the one in the middle spawns Crimson Ants and the two on the opposite bank of the river spawn Hornets. The order which ones you destroy is important since the last three remaining spawns ten of their respective insects and on Hardest or Inferno they spawn the mutant versions of them.
Which anthills you keep is dependent on how you play. On Hardest or Inferno ground units might want to destroy the ones spawning Black Ants first because the Gold Ants that will spawn as reinforcements can one-shot even high armor characters. While an Air Raider with a helicopter would want to keep both the Crimson and Black Ant spawning ones since they have a hard time hitting aerial enemies.
The two tunnels farthest from the player's spawn point are close enough that some weapons (like some of the Air Raider's air strikes) can destroy both of them at the same time. By destroying three others and then destroying those two only two batch of the insects will spawn during the reinforcements instead of three.
| 1-10 | Reconvene • Spreading Disaster • Winged War Goddess • Setting Sun • Wind Break • Underground Cave • Eruption • Retaliation • Beach Fear • The Return |
| 11-20 | Air Force • Day of the Demons • Takedown • Preventing Landfall • Land Collapse • Fortress Siege • Valley Shadows • Artillery • Breaking Through • Shining Stronghold |
| 21-30 | Into the Depths • A Trap • Giant Robots • Summit Ship • Anchored • Silver City • Crimson • High-Speed • Bloody Mountain • Brute Force |
| 31-40 | Charge Phase 1 • Charge Phase 2 • Dark Prisoner • Charge Phase 3 • Thunder • Infiltration • Convergence • Inferno • Starship • Dense |
| 41-50 | Crossing • Search • Waterside Bugs • Annihilation • Natural Calamity • Steel Beast • Void Ship • Blue Fighters • Earth Defenders • Fleet Attack |
| 51-60 | Mountain Pass Trap • Fortress Frenzy • Pincer • Ravages of War • Air Mobilization • Bug Invasion • Transport Ship Surprise Attack • Bug King • Crazy Skies • The Fleet Below |
| 61-70 | Bad Premonition • City of Horror • Mountains Ablaze • Breaking Through (2) • Bug Tower • Fortress Attack • Mountain Liberation • Sniper Attack • Mountain Giants • Towering Beast |
| 71-80 | Teeth of the Universe • Giant Ship • Spearhead • Tower Siege • Den of Thieves • Death Queen • Machine Squad • Monster Party • Labyrinth of Light • City Flaws |
| 81-90 | Monster Camp • Fallen Flagship • Heaven's Army • Encircling • Divine • The Threat • Troubled Valley • Battle to the Death • Massive Mobilization • Legion of Monsters |
| 91-94 | Scorching • Demon Army • Surrounded! • Star Eaters |
| DLC 1: Special Forces | Exploration • Giant's Advance • Silver Camp • Citadel • Floating Fleet |
| DLC 2: Mutant Rampage | Advance • Mountain Assault • Enemy Camp Infiltration • Underground Advance • Giant Robots • Battle Species • Beast Mountain • Dark Arena • Gathering Around • Armored Species • Iron Wall • Mountain of Change • Whirlwind of Death • Bugged City • The Tough • Golden Darkness • True King • Final Impact • Into Destruction • Ship of Dragons |
| DLC 3: Beyond Despair | Tracking • Underground Complex • Blocked Pass • Close Formation • Dragon Ship Fleet • Heavy Artillery • Bloody River • Dangerous Goldmines • Beast Mobilization • Total Protection • Aerial Bombing • King of Armor • Cannon Defenders • Traps Behind • Four Kings of Nightmares • Resistance Against the Twilight • Shivering Nexus • Three Giants • Crimson Lotus • Starry Prison |
| 1-10 | Reconvene • Spreading Disaster • Winged War Goddess • Setting Sun • Wind Shear • Underground Cave • Eruption • Retaliation • Beach Fear • The Return |
| 11-20 | Air Force • Day of the Demons • Takedown • Preventing Landfall • Land Collapse • Fortress Siege • Valley Shadows • Artillery • Breaking Through • Shining Stronghold |
| 21-30 | Into the Depths • A Trap • Giant Robots • Summit Ship • Anchored • Silver City • Crimson • Assault • High-Speed • Bloody Mountain |
| 31-40 | Brute Force • Charge Phase 1 • Charge Phase 2 • Dark Prisoner • Charge Phase 3 • Thunder • Infiltration • Convergence • Inferno • Starship |
| 41-50 | High Density • Dozing Beast • Crossing • Search • Waterside Bugs • Annihilation • Natural Calamity • Steel Beast • Void Ship • Blue Fighters |
| 51-60 | Earth Defenders • Fleet Attack • Mountain Pass Trap • Fortress Frenzy • Pincer • Ravages of War • Crash • Air Mobilization • Bug Invasion • Transport Ship Surprise Attack |
| 61-70 | Bug King • Crazy Skies • The Fleet Below • Ill Omen • City of Horror • Mountains Ablaze • Breaking Through (2) • Bug Tower • Fortress Attack • Mountain Liberation |
| 71-80 | Battle of Giants • Sniper Attack • Mountain Giants • Towering Beast • Teeth of the Universe • Giant Ship • Spearhead • Tower Siege • Den of Thieves • Death Queen |
| 81-90 | Machine Squad • Monster Party • Labyrinth of Light • City Flaws • Monster Camp • Fallen Flagship • Heaven's Army • Encircling • Divine • The Threat |
| 91-98 | Troubled Valley • Battle to the Death • Massive Mobilization • Legion of Monsters • Scorching • Demon Army • Surrounded! • Star Eaters |
| DLC 1: Time of the Mutants | Air Offensive • Giants Advance • Recon • Dust Town • Defense Line • Underground Advance • War Breed • Mountain Assault • Enemy Camp Infiltration • Dark Arena • Beast Mountain • God's Army • The Gathering • Armored Species • Iron Wall • Silver Base • Shifting Mountain • Whirlwind of Death • Bugged City • Toughness • Golden Darkness • True Sovereign • Final Impact • Floating Fleet • Into Destruction • Ship of Dragons |
| DLC 2: Extreme Battle | Tracking Bogeys • Underground Complex • Blocked Pass • Close Formation • Dragon Ship Fleet • Heavy Artillery • Overflight • Dangerous Goldmines • Beast Mobilization • Total Protection • Bombs Away • King of Armor • Cannon Defenders • Bloody River • Three Giants • Traps from Behind • The Four Horsemen • Cross the Line • Facing Off • Crimson Lotus • Shivering Nexus • Last Bastion • Starry Prison |