Tips for the bonus mission?

[Maniac]

finished the 3 normal missions and trying to the the first bonus mission but somehow the creeper is so fast i can barely put my ships out before i get overwhelmed.

I place the mothership first, then all generators while collecting the kirkium.
Then i build the miner to mine the kirkium on the other spot and the coilship for the phantoms.
at this point the creeper is already loose, i can maybe build 1-2 gunships and 4 defenders but thats just not enough to hold it back.
The mothership is placed to the top left of the tree

[Satekoi]

Its not hard, but has some challenge.

Use this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96miqPeESqg

[Maniac]

thats the only way to do it? i restarted this mission like 20 times would be kinda sad if there is only one way to solve a level

[Fireswamp]

Originally posted by Maniac:

thats the only way to do it? i restarted this mission like 20 times would be kinda sad if there is only one way to solve a level

There are plenty of ways to solve the demo levels; some strategies are just easier/faster than others to execute. The video above is one of the faster strategies; the tricks used are not necessary to beat the level but do make the rest of the level easier and faster if you can execute them.

[bob2chiv]

Whenever I hear of anyone struggling, I often recommend pausing the game and making sure you're not overbuilding but also using your energy. It takes some experience (and APM) to do this in real-time and some people (and speed runners) almost never do. Using pause (and frame advance with 'N' while paused) will even let these non-skilled hands do it....

now if only I had the patience too, I could be better at speedrunning ;-)

[FireNinja474]

This bonus mission is a little too hard at the beginning. That video is almost exactly what I was trying to do. I just could not get it to work. I tried a dozen times and just gave up in frustration.

[Maniac]

i really hope the real game is not as hard as the bonus levels, the second one also seems to be pretty imposible for me, i have all ships on the field but cant hold back the creeper at all how should that work if even with all the ships i have available in this mission im not able to destroy more creeper than its being created, give me infinite ships then i ♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥ up but like that its just a joke
i had always full power but at some point it was just too much even with max fire rate upgrade

[AirRevenant]

Originally posted by Maniac:

i really hope the real game is not as hard as the bonus levels, the second one also seems to be pretty imposible for me, i have all ships on the field but cant hold back the creeper at all how should that work if even with all the ships i have available in this mission im not able to destroy more creeper than its being created, give me infinite ships then i ♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥ up but like that its just a joke
i had always full power but at some point it was just too much even with max fire rate upgrade

I haven't won it yet either, but the big tip that has pushed me further, is that the path the creeper is multiplying it's way up through, also multiples anticreeper.

[Bobucles]

For the first bonus mission? Start in the tree chamber for the energy boost and pop out your reactors. Drill under the tree so it spills out low and to the right. That will give your guys a head start on clearing the tree. After that, the rest is pretty comfy.

[Material Defender]

I always spawned the Apex at where the AC ORE EMITTER is at in the pic (there's barely enough room for it)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267102388

then I carved out room for the coilships to defend from the spores, and progressed from there

spoiler for beating this: there's yet another bonus mission, I haven't beaten that one yet

[Maniac]

Originally posted by AirRevenant:

Originally posted by Maniac:

i really hope the real game is not as hard as the bonus levels, the second one also seems to be pretty imposible for me, i have all ships on the field but cant hold back the creeper at all how should that work if even with all the ships i have available in this mission im not able to destroy more creeper than its being created, give me infinite ships then i ♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥ up but like that its just a joke
i had always full power but at some point it was just too much even with max fire rate upgrade

I haven't won it yet either, but the big tip that has pushed me further, is that the path the creeper is multiplying it's way up through, also multiples anticreeper.

yeah seems like that was the solution, i cleared the creeper of that path extremely slowly to not get overwhelmed and let more anticreeper spawn to help.
took me a full hour for that mission, the anticreeper ore spawner even ran out of ore close to the end

[Bobucles]

Don't forget that you get a supply of creeper converter bombs for the mission, and units can phase through the green sand. Max your eco, secure the tree, and send a conversion bomb every now and then into the big area. It'll clear a huge amount of creep with very high efficiency.

There is a bit of time limit in the mission. The green sand pours down, and the lava pours down. It'll take a while, but the upper path will eventually open up. Try to get things under control before then.

For the main route I started above the tree, conquered the tree room, wrapped under the map to the bottom right, and pushed up into the narrow creep tunnels. The tunnel will limit creeper flow against your ships.

[Vyndicu]

Originally posted by Material Defender:

I always spawned the Apex at where the AC ORE EMITTER is at in the pic (there's barely enough room for it)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267102388

then I carved out room for the coilships to defend from the spores, and progressed from there

spoiler for beating this: there's yet another bonus mission, I haven't beaten that one yet

I manage to beat this map by spawning to the left of the tree, below the acids, in between the green pixels that give energy, and the trick is to let the acid fall and form a barrier naturally. Then, slowly whittling down the number of creeps through the tree root and lava channels.

I already have beat the bonus mission as well.

[ KARR™]

I started in the same place, but dug under the lava and went up the right hand side.
Never even thought about moving a portal up with anti creeper/bomb up there....!

[Strategic Sage]

Originally posted by Maniac:

thats the only way to do it? i restarted this mission like 20 times would be kinda sad if there is only one way to solve a level

Originally posted by FireNinja474:

That video is almost exactly what I was trying to do. I just could not get it to work. I tried a dozen times and just gave up in frustration.

As the person who made the linked video, I can say there are definitely other ways. You can watch Angory Tom's video of it as one example. He started in the same area, but didn't cut off the tree from burning, didn't let out the anti-creeper at the start, and didn't know about the pit liquid. Which is fine - it's not a race unless you want it to be, and my method definitely wasn't perfect.

You can just start at the top and get the AC as I mentioned in the video - it's not as fast but very doable, and just fight your way out from there. You can do it without conversion bombs, it just takes a lot longer.

[Sunday Driver]

It's good for these kinds of maps to show off the interactions and how the sandbox style design allows multiple approaches to win with varying routes and finishing times.

One thing I think some people forget is that you've got multiple vehicles to dig too, so you can get the AC free, grab the gems and set up the pit liquid trap that way without running out of time as you would if you tried to just use the one ship that's the designated digger. When you get all four ships busy as early as possible you can get a lot more done if your strategy relies upon or is enhanced by that ability to dig out.