Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal - 5 tips for new players

[@Terra-Antares]

A couple of tips I've accumulated through playthrough: 1: You can keep units in the air indefinitely (above creeper) by continuously moving their landing spot/s, this is useful if you're waiting for a strategic opportunity or waiting for another vital unit (say a guppy) to arrive. 2: Shift + A while selecting a unit will select all units of that same type, again, useful in many situations. 3: You should probably rebind the destroy key to the X key only (Default is Shift + X), it's a lot faster to press one key instead of two. 4: Tactical pause! Remember the game allows you to pause and plan at any time, use this to plan out strategies before undertaking them. 5: Soylent! Collectors produce energy based on Soylent coverage (the green aura around collectors) keep this in mind when in the early game as energy is vital especially for challenging maps. 6: A small squadron of strafers are highly effective at severing digitalis connections, identify key structures/tethers in the mesh and target those. Cutting off digitalis from most enemy structures weakens it greatly. 7: Shields block spores at the cost of losing some health. 8: Try to reuse your units, it's usually much faster to relocate a pulse cannon to the front than build a new one. 9: When in doubt, plug a power zone with a Bertha, you have ample space (usually) to build reactors for the energy.

[@EwanShawcroft]

Awesome tips, thanks! Just finished the Arc Eternal missions but didn't know half of these!

[@RobinHood70]

5:00 For the power-up circles, EVERYTHING that can be built/moved onto one gets benefits. For most things, it's wider range and/or speed, as you mentioned. For aircraft, they get increased shooting power and energy storage. You can even land a Command node on one for increased connection range.

[@automatedminer7158]

Some additional tips: 6. Click and drag with planes to set a specific path. Works especially well against digitalis with strafers (see below). 7. If digitalis connection is severed, the entire chain dies. Using strafers to cut it off at its source will prevent growth. 8. Guppies and shields are not destroyed instantly, nor are any weapons. Use this to create a large ground force, then land the whole thing in creeper, using a shield to make a small pocket for you to land in. Keep this resupplied using guppies. This speeds up the game massively. 9. Shields block spores.

[@AustinPinheiro_uniquetexthere]

aditional aditional tips: energy unsage will differ in game, especially when you can "Bulild faster" youll use more energy so dont take the energy tip as 1 for 1 as thing also use engergy ammo differently as well. power zone relay is 2x longer than normal relay which is 2x longer than collector and also a lot faster, command node also functions as relay node power zone units get a lot interesting effects than you think, more range, more power, more efficient power, faster ammo gather (and thus your demand) faster shooting, less ammo usage(good on bertha), faster flying, more shots, more storage, some units dont seem to work on power zones careful when severing a digitalis chain, the creeper will spill out and cause problems in certain situations shields are mostly useless, use normal beam to counter spores and sprayer for your ground force anti creeper slows down creeper more than air creating a nice buffer zone upgrades dont seem to work on nulifier sprayer can collect anti creeper and recycle it, good with anti creeper emiters click drag to build, collectors will be optimally spaced apart, normal units will be built packed together

[@avro205]

One very nice thing. If you are winning and want to speed it up then you can load up a command node with Anti-Creeper and send it back into orbit. This will make anti creeper rain from the sky all over the map for a few seconds. You also get an achievement. Thank me later.

[@Humaricslastcall]

Even more tips: You can send command nodes back into orbit instead of dragging them around. Be aware that they do have a cooldown before landing again, and will lose all collected energy and will spill anti-creep all over the map if they have any stored. Unless you are literally building everything on your first go, don't worry too much about overdrafting your energy supply. Things other than shields will run just fine without constant power. Place all of your command nodes down when possible. Collectors and reactors will multiply their energy output accordingly. Generally, tactics that worked with the first game work in this game to some degree. Capping off emitters included. The singularity cannon is the most useful anti-creep measure in the game. Use it when the time is right, and can be used as an alt way to cap off emitters until you can build a nullifier in range. Nullifiers can actually target multiple creep buildings at a time and will destroy them all in one go. Terps have a massive energy load compared to everything else in the game, so don't bother using them right away until you have a few reactors going. Collectors adjust their energy output according to how much open land on the same level as the collector is in their range. Meaning that putting them in power nodes with a properly terraformed area basically is the equivalent to 2 reactors. This also expands their connectivity range. Command nodes on power nodes have the same benefits as relays, plus a small packet transfer speed and energy boost. You can move multiple units at a time by ether shift-clicking on each one or clicking and dragging in an area. The game is generally smart enough to know where you want to place the units. Double clicking on a unit selects alike units nearby. Useful for mass-targeting. It's a good idea to keep some digitalis alive to allow your anti-creep to span void spaces. Cannons, Terps, Berthas, Command Nodes, Totems, and Mortars do have alternate functionality available when you select them.

[@theuncalledfor]

I love mortars so much. I love seeing them do their thing, annihilating thick lakes and mountains of creeper, leaving only a thin layer that's easy for pulse cannons to clean up. I love seeing them single-handedly defend a terrain mountain that would be overwhelmed if it were protected by even multiple pulse cannons instead. I love seeing them fire on an encroaching, growing mountain of creeper, reducing it to a puddle that then retreats from a terrain level it had previously overwhelmed. There's just so much to love about mortars.

[@CheVidya]

This game is beautiful

[@DustyWall]

I've never considered CW a tower defense game, although I guess I can see why one might. I much more consider it an RTS. Maybe that's why some folks are surprised to find that units can be move.

[@-TodayzTheDay-]

Not really an RTS since you can easily just pause and play whenever you feel like.

[@KALEB32154]

@@-TodayzTheDay- Yeah seems like it's against the definition of 'Real Time' Simulation, but there isn't really an alternative that fits better. Additionally, it actually fits the definition as RTS more so seems to focus on both 'players' playing and affecting the game simultaniously, compared to turn based games. Even though you can pause and plan, I feel like the enemy AI is also constantly doing the same so you are technically equal even though you have total control in the end.

[@nathanliteroy9835]

That's because it's half of RTS called "Perimeter" where you had 2 sides that act basically like humans in Creeper World. Highly recommend it if you haven't played it yet

[@talon12020]

I also didn't realize you could move turrets and other units until I did it by accident. The game really should explain that as not knowing forces you to constantly build and destroy turrets just to gain territory in a slow, exceedingly frustrating manner.

[@WaervynsWorld]

talon12020 Agree! That said, it did make one of those 'aha!' moments that are pretty rare in gaming nowadays! But I agree, it's such an important part of the game. Bringing in a fully loaded cannon is so much better than building it slowly at the place where there's action.

[@jaredare2710]

+Waervyn's World I think that it assumes you had played some of the games on your browser, I personally beat creeper world 3: abraxis and I am really looking forward to do it on a much larger scale.

[@theuncalledfor]

+talon12020 Why would you destroy turrets? Unless it's to make room, or increase performance when you expanded too much and your computer can't handle all the connections anymore, there's not really any reason to ever destroy a turret. They don't use up energy or anticreeper unless they're actually firing.

[@noppornwongrassamee8941]

Not only that, several of the later levels in the campaign like to make "surprise attacks" in your back field. So having guns already made in your rear is useful if creeper somehow suddenly appears there. Also, when you have an energy production surplus and enough packet speed upgrades, it sometimes becomes just plain FASTER to build a new gun on the front line than to move a gun up from the rear.

[@AustinPinheiro_uniquetexthere]

i have checked in the first level with the tutorial, it tells you to "move your pulse cannon" meaning this should have been basic knowledge also with the fact that mortars destroy deep pools of creeper better than pulse, it was explained in the level you get them as well as the unique level design to make it clear

[@periurban]

Great tips. I never figured out the energy thing, so on my next playthrough i will make sure to watch that more carefully.

[@Anolaana]

Very good tips, helped me get started and clear more than the first few missions!

[@VegeeMcSalad]

I did not know you could build Bertha on those energy circles! :o Will need to give that a go at some point x)

[@TheTrickyDragon]

Good Tips! Love this game very much, can't wait for particle fleet to come out!

[@WaervynsWorld]

Oh man, forgot about Particle fleet. Any due date?

[@TheTrickyDragon]

Given V's track record, i would say around august - october :)

[@GermanLc]

TheTrickyDragon bad tips the last are real bad

[@stonethemason12]

these are more so the basics than tips I'd say,

[@T_for_teth]

Don't look at me: Creepers. Wait... GET TO THE CITY!!

[@witherschat]

If you collect 2 energyy per second, you can build ONE building, not 2.

[@Cukito4]

Relays carry packets much faster.

[@DeadandDoom]

First :P also did my third endurance run and i got 1.2billion xp!!! i'm lvl 1150 now :D Nice vid like always :)

[@ruthannk9053]

+DeadandDoom Kappa ... LIAR!!!!!! (not just because of the first but you don't have levels)

[@DeadandDoom]

wat

[@ruthannk9053]

DeadandDoom Kappa Wut?

[@DeadandDoom]

why did you say im a liar?

[@ruthannk9053]

DeadandDoom Kappa there is no xp in CW:3