Colony Flow Level 174 Solution & Walkthrough Guide

hardPublished recently

Colony Flow Level 174 Solution & Walkthrough Guide

Video Walkthrough

Did this solve your level?

Comments

177 200 207 213 214 215 216 220 224 225 230 244

Colony Flow Level 174 presents a dense pixel art layout shaped like an ornate pocket watch resting against playing cards, all wrapped in a massive cyan perimeter. Your biggest challenge here is navigating the tight five slot holding area while digging through multiple layers of cyan, orange, yellow, and playing card suits. Managing your tray picks carefully ensures your ants always have an active path to matching food without ever clogging your waiting row.

When you start Colony Flow Level 174, the board appears completely locked down by a vast perimeter of cyan food tiles. Beneath that cyan background lies an elaborate illustration featuring a golden yellow pocket watch, an orange pocket watch base cover, white playing cards with red hearts and diamond pips, dark purple accent cards, and intricate black clock hands. Because the cyan border surrounds nearly every other color, your ants cannot reach the interior elements until wide corridors are carved out from the bottom nest.

The bottom tray features four columns containing numbered color blocks. The front rank is packed with cyan blocks displaying numbers like 35, 40, and 70. Behind those front blocks sit more cyan, orange, white, and purple tiles, alongside special elements that will shape your run. You will encounter Connected Boxes linked together by support brackets, which force you to clear matching pairs, as well as Hidden Boxes displaying question marks that conceal their true color until uncovered. With only five waiting slots available at the top of the tray, pulling mismatched blocks before paths open will swiftly end your run in defeat.

The winning approach centers on aggressive perimeter reduction followed by controlled layer extraction. You must never pull a color from the tray unless its matching food tiles already touch an open path connecting directly to the ant nest. Since the cyan background blankets the lower half of the board, cyan blocks must do the initial heavy lifting.

As cyan tiles disappear, the orange watch lid and white card edges become exposed. You need to transition smoothly into orange, red, and white without overloading your holding slots. The Connected Boxes in the dispenser must be planned for, as clearing one linked block naturally pulls its partner forward. By constantly rotating active colors so that blocks count down to zero and vanish from the waiting slots, you preserve open space and give your colony continuous momentum.

Begin by selecting the exposed cyan blocks from the front of the tray, starting with the 35 and 40 cyan tiles. Your cyan ants immediately surge out of the nest hole, eating away the bottom cyan tiles directly above the tray. As these tiles disappear, the ants push left and right along the bottom edge, stripping away the outer boundary. This initial attack exposes the lower orange lid of the pocket watch and clears a direct route toward the lower corners of the playing cards.

With the lower boundary weakened, select the Connected Boxes showing paired 40 cyan values from the middle columns. Ants pour out to clear the cyan tiles flanking the watch. At the same time, pick the front orange block displaying value 30. Orange ants immediately charge into the exposed oval lid of the pocket watch, eating through the outer yellow and orange border. This dual push rapidly drops your active block numbers while preventing your waiting slots from stalling.

Now that the lower left and right playing cards are exposed, select the 34 white block and the 27 red block. White ants begin clearing the white card bodies while red ants chew into the diamond and heart pips. Taking these blocks uncovers a Hidden Box marked with a question mark in the third dispenser column. As the red and orange blocks tick down toward zero, your waiting slots clear out, leaving plenty of room to accept the next wave of dispenser blocks.

With the orange lid almost entirely eaten away, the golden rim of the pocket watch is fully reachable. Pull the 16 yellow block and the large 70 yellow block into your slots. Yellow ants spread across the lower circumference of the watch face. Select the 2 orange block to quickly wipe out the remaining crumbs of the watch lid. Clearing that orange block instantly frees a waiting slot, ensuring that the heavy yellow demand does not bottleneck your queue.

As the playing cards and clock rim shrink, dark purple diamond designs and black outline tiles become accessible. Select the 22 dark purple block and the 10 black block from the tray. Purple ants dismantle the decorative diamond pattern on the left card, while black ants track along the lower clock frame and numbers. Meanwhile, feed another white block into the queue to keep white ants stripping away the card backgrounds, exposing the upper sections of the puzzle.

The lower half of the board is now entirely clear, giving your ants unrestricted paths straight up both sides. Select the newly uncovered 35 yellow block and 30 magenta block. Yellow ants attack the top loop and winding crown of the pocket watch, while magenta ants consume the decorative card corners on the upper edges. Bringing in an additional cyan block sends cyan ants racing along the side channels to begin eating away the thick cyan ceiling at the top of the board.

Focus your attention on the upper watch face and the remaining blue background. Select the 15 orange block, the 23 yellow block, and the 17 orange block as they arrive at the front of the tray. Orange and yellow ants finish off the upper casing and watch details, while cyan ants aggressively chew through the top cyan sky. Pull the dark blue block to start clearing the clock hands and inner Roman numerals. With paths completely clear across the board, your ants move at maximum speed without encountering any obstacles.

The dispenser is now down to its very last options. Pull the remaining 4 black block, 3 red block, 24 cyan block, and 22 white block directly into the waiting slots. White ants swarm the center of the watch face, red ants consume the delicate heart pattern in the middle, black ants devour the clock hands, and cyan ants finish off the remaining fragments in the top right corner. Every waiting slot empties out as the final food tiles vanish, securing victory on the level.

The success of this route depends on recognizing that the cyan border acts as a massive gatekeeper. Many players fail Colony Flow Level 174 because they select attractive high value blocks like yellow, white, or red before those colors have an open pathway to the nest. When ants cannot find a route to their color, the block sits motionless in a waiting slot. Filling all five slots with inactive blocks triggers an immediate loss. By committing fully to cyan at the start, you create wide operational highways that let later ant streams travel directly to their targets.

Managing the dispenser mechanics is equally crucial. The Connected Boxes in the central columns require careful handling because picking one linked block shifts multiple columns forward. By utilizing the paired cyan blocks during the early game when cyan food is everywhere, you eliminate the risk of being forced to take a connected color that has nowhere to go. Similarly, uncovering the Hidden Box only after opening up adjacent pathways ensures that whatever color appears can be immediately routed to food.

Finally, this sequence carefully balances large numbers against small numbers. Pairing high count blocks like the 70 yellow with tiny finishing blocks like the 2 orange or 2 red guarantees that slots open up at steady intervals. As long as at least two waiting slots remain empty or rotate quickly, you maintain full control over the dispenser and prevent the board from locking up.

Patience during the opening phase makes Colony Flow Level 174 smooth and predictable. As long as you strip away the cyan perimeter before inviting yellow, red, and purple into your waiting slots, your ant army will never lose momentum. If you find yourself unsure about which tile path opens next during a chaotic rush, watching the accompanying video walkthrough can help you match your moves to the exact timing shown above.