Creeper world 2: Academy (CW2:A or just CW) can be a bit overwhelming when you first play it. Especially if you didn't play the first series. For all those that are lost, this is the place. It contains some general tips and tactical advice on different missions. Might be subject to revisions/additions based on feedback.
General tips > Patience. Patience above everything else. Some missions can take quite long to complete (my "top" time is ~65 minutes). Sometimes, you'll be required to act quickly, but most of the time, it's about planning, executing the plan and waiting.
> Pause! When each second counts, pause and issue your commands without stress.
> Packets can't travel through creeper - you need to cut a path. Also no unit or packet will travel through "dark" parts of the map.
> Work with blasters as though they were foot soldiers - when moving against creeper, have roughly half of your "unit" cover the ones that are advancing.
> Shields can buy you time, but they can't defend you alone. Use them to compartmentalize anti-creeper and as improptu barriers in case of sudden creeper eruptions.
> Micro rifts are the best thing since sliced bread. Remember this. In later missions you'll fight on long distances and weapons will eat ammo like mad. A micro rift atop your ship and close to the frontline will take a great strain from your supply lines (metaphorically), but beware of drones - they can use them too.
> Makers have more production speeds (and therefore ore consumption). Use this to make pockets of hyper-dense anti-creeper before opening assault. It's like opening fire with a nuke.
> Makers can also vacuum. Use it when low on ore. Use charge to "bomb" enemy. Works against drones too.
> Drones can only be damaged by blasters and, to certain degree, anti-creeper. But rely on the blasters - they are often more resilient than they look.
> Repulsors are excellent at keeping creeper away as well as pushing anti-creeper forward. But beware - they can only hold this much.
> A group of launchers should lead each attack. Blasters are great at keeping creeper on a frontline (well, they can push it quite good in larger numbers too), but launchers are the key to eradicating high density creeper. On the other hand, they chug a lot of ammo and can't keep a frontline.
> On a map with phantoms, always cover your buildings with phantom coils. Coils have large range, can attack two phantoms simultaneously and damage them pretty fast, so you do not have to build too many of them. If you forget to cover even one building, phantoms can make LOT of damage.
> Nullifiers should be built in the final phase of the assault when all gates and emiters are covered. They are extremely fragile and take long to charge. On the other hand, they take every enemy structure in range with them.
> You can stuff up to four ore rigs on one ore deposit.
> Do not overbuild tech domes - they get more and more expensive as you build them and you never need too much of them. Also, do not forget to actually spend your technites.
> Collect the artifacts when possible. They can save your arse one day - in mission 10 I burned through cca 1000 units of gems in final phases of the assault.
> Very low densities of creeper (both types) "evaporate".
So much for general tips (might expand). Now on to the missions. There is no advice for missions 1 and 2, as mission 1 is tutorial and mission 2 is child's play.
Mission 3 > Deal with the surface creeper first. Leave the bottom ones as last. By the time you attack them, they will be already joined and dense. Prepare a pocket of anti-creeper, 2-4 blasters and 4-5 launchers. Then open the linking tube from below. It's easy from there.
Mission 4 > There is already enough coils to cover your immediate area. Worry about them later.
> Hurry! The shields last less than you'd like. Prepare some blasters to keep creeper away.
> Launchers will find less work here - most creeper is stretched flat. Use them in phase 2 (lake breach). No emiters here - creeper you shoot is gone for good.
Mission 5 > Repulsors will guard their reactors, but take care of the creeper as soon as possible.
> This is your first encounter with hyper-dense creeper (~8500 K when you get there). Also, this is your first encounter with non-standard creeper flows. There will be drops flying between the two protuberances, so cover them with blasters. There is lot of ore - produce lot of anti-creeper, it will help you. Do not forget to use repulsors and shields to guide it. But foremost, you need launchers. I recommend at least six. Then - patience.
> Collect the holo-cube for amusing comment from Aliana. Mission 6 > You'll be meeting drones for first time now. These are relatively weak, yet they are gathering behind decayable wall, so they'll swarm you in the first wave. Be ready, before you breach the ceiling - for now, you are perfectly safe up there.
> Blasters can have their targeting priorities set - by default they fire at drones first, then creeper. You can reprogram them at will.
> Use anti-creeper to help you with defense against drones. Although exploding drones take a bit of creeper with them (both types), here it's worth - you can stop entire waves of them with relatively few anti-creeper.
> Recommended order of destruction: Top chambers, bottom chamber, middle chamber.
Mission 7 > Enjoy Aliana being sarcarstic.
> Forget about the creeper up - it's safely there. But the gate at the bottom has several metric f*cktons of creeper and it will work it's way up to you rather quickly. There are makers already set, so slime away.
> By the time you finish the bottom gate, there's gonna be lot of creeper in the two upward pockets. Be sure to spend some time preparing your assault positions - pressurized anti-creeper, anti-drone watch and assload of launchers.
Mission 8 > This mission is 0-G. This means you can build in any direction and creeper won't fall down. Use repulsors.
> The "jet stream" produced by the sole emitor on this mission is actually strong enough to punch through two repulsors with long beams. Just a warning.
> Recommended order of annihilation: Space invaders, tiny squares, labyrinth and drones, jet stream, internal bottom drones, external bottom drones.
> Also, beware - there is a nasty surprise waiting for those who do not study their surroundings carefully...
Mission 9 > So the fun ends here. Or starts. Depends on your point of view. First of all, cover the tiny bit of rock in reactors. Then set up anti-phantom defenses (2 coils are enough for the beginning; in the last phases I had 5 coils, but it was a bit overkill) and anti-drone defenses. They'll come right after the first phantom wave.
> Drones on this mission are deadly - it took me two restarts to figure them out. The trick is, they drop creeper upon death. Two blasters per drone recommended.
> Create defens packets - two blasters plus one coil form a packet. Space your packets so that they can support each other (chiefly the coils).
> Create at least one launcher early to help you with creeper.
> Advance entire packets to push the frontline. Create new packets, where needed.
> And remember - you only need to get that capsule, nothing else matters.
Mission 10 > By now, you should know the ins and outs of command. So just a few tips that can help you out.
> Save the bombs for the well of hyper-dense creeper.
> Take care of the left-hand creeper first. It's faster.
> Prepare for long and tedious assault - use some launchers, but most of all use LOT of blasters. I had about three launchers in my assault wave, but I lost count of blasters I had on move. If you lack energy, overbuild some reactors - your gems should suffice to cover the frantic period. By the end of assault, my energy consumption averaged on 25 and my production was 26.5.
> Keep some of those blasters on creeper duty and other default - regurarly, a super drone will come forth from the well (256 hp!)Your blaster will target it and destroy it, but this means they no longer keep creeper at bay. Also, shields can help here.
> The bombs are key to completing this mission. Use them with care. Keep at least one for final boom (so you have place for nullifiers).
> Create micro rifts in your wake. There's going to be ~24 energy worth packets flying to feed your hungry weapons. Every second counts. Also, bombs use micro rifts.
> Once you are in the well, use at least two makers on full making speed and two repulsors to press it down.
So, this is it! Hope it helped you. Feedback appreciated.
General tips: 1. Never use makers. Waste of time 2. Never use repulsors. Waste of time 3. 4-6 blasters enough for almost all emitters 4. Excavation+reactors=key to win. 5. You will NEED tech domes on 5 and 10 missions. Other doable without it. Examples: zone 7 in 15 minutes zone 5 in 15 minutes Comments on strategy: Zone 8 You can safely excavate ground till the chamber under tiny squares and get place for 15-20 reactors. Zone 9 Gather 3 crystals from free asteroid, and move ship to right-up. Destroy Gate (I made this before any phantom or drone appeared), destroy emitters, return to start.
