You know… some days when you are in a big old hurry, things just laughably get in the way. This week, I sat down to make a nice little video about Digitalis, Runners, and a new mission. Part way through my hard drive started thrashing as it was filling up and was running behind keeping up with the video stream (time to defrag it seems). So I had to cut the mission short. But… I really wanted to take out one more emitter/nest combo so I made a second video. That one barely made it before the hard drive started being irritable again. Below you will find the merged videos. So apologies for the rough endings on both videos. Like my performance in the mission I was playing… they aren’t pretty, but they get the job done.
hi i saw ur videos there are alot love to play creeper game i was wondering the the videos u showed where can i find the u are playing from the videos because i would like to play it too
If I understand your post correctly, you’re asking where to play a game that is in development from the developer himself.
BTW, a lot of folk can’t wait for this game to be finished and released. Me included.
the game is currently in development, so unless virgil lets you in as a beta tester, no such luck…
you’ll just have to wait around for it to come out just like the rest of us 😀
1 Your comment was rather hard to decipher, 2 The game is cw3 this is a dev commentary video for the game and it is not out yet.
Looking very good, keep it up and you just might get it out this year! 😀
HEY THIS IS EARLY! wait thats a good thing
well, one thing I saw with the 2nd emitter you killed, the runners can only stun 1 thing before it would get killed, so build 2 nullifiers oh well
release this now and I will forget about all the things I hold against you, full list:
Creeper world 3 not being out yet.
Wow, a day early…..
1) Hey there are cool new sound effects!
2) runners are awesome
3) The connection range between buildings is much larger
4) I can’t wait until it comes out…(also, Halo 4…)
OMG!!! 3rd comment. um this game is having more strateical potential than i thought. everything is amazing the ‘drones’ (thats what i am going to call them) have so much potential for creating a map but i noticed they only go over digitals wich is a potential weakness in there abilities. also i wondered if they could have travelled over ‘dead’digitals
1. not third, though I see why you thought you were
2. runners, but ok
3. over powered if the went on everything
4. probably, hopefully
If you mean inactive digitalis, maybe it could, idk.
OFC they only go over digitals, he probably wanted something new that is superior/equal to the drones, and he wanted something better for the digitalis, instead of only “faster spreading duo to not dying naturally” that you kill very easily, and isn’t much of a threat, so to not be overpowered he made them only over digitalis, which also increased the threat. At least that is what i think.
I think he wanted something that was less about inflicting losses, and more about retarding the player’s advance.
From what I can tell here, the design philosophy here is about attacking the player’s advancement without attacking his units directly. CW3 is looking to very easily be a game with zero combat unit loss, if you are attentive.
I think Virgil is trying to create a game in which you do not have to constantly replace losses, and in which you can be pushed back without destroying your units. The enemy attacks seem designed to force you to retreat without outright destruction – the fact that units can move while stunned is probably a sign of this.
Retreat without destruction makes a rather important-looking aspect of CW in general. As the units are all automatic, unmanned, and tower-like, you would think they would be less suceptible to being destroyed.
I think those modifications on enemies will change the game from “get a stable situation = win” to “something more fun” kinda playstyle.
That was a problem with older games. Not so much difference on how to beat a level.
REALLY LOVED all the new stuff. Will make this the better CW game I´ve buyed.
its getting better and better keep it up 😀
Game is looking great. Cant wait for release.
I would like to see the creeper be more threatening though. Currently there is always an initial build phase where you set up enough of a defense to hold off the creeper, then after that it is just a matter of time before you win so long as you arent careless.
I was thinking it would be cool to have the creeper evolve new traits/abilities over time to give the game flow a bit more of a back and forth. The rate of evolution could easily be controlled with difficulty options for easier and harder games or even disabled entirely.
Interesting Idea about “evolution”……
i am pretty sure this game will be handling the mid-game differently than the first two…..
Let me summarize for you: It would enhance the game if the creeper were controlled by fields, like in CW2.
Do you want this game to be released this year or not D:
Depending on what the creeper can ‘evolve’ to do I think I might opt out of that. Not every map will allow you to build up a defense and then slowly win, some will (well, most are eventually like this if you go too slow) have a critical mass where once there gets to be X amount of creeper, no amount of defense is going to hold back a flood of death.
With the air attack units (and air exclusion towers, though they don’t pose a direct threat), runners, digitalis, and creeper all constantly bearing down on you (With creeper and runners always becoming more and more of a threat as their numbers build up) I think there are plenty of ways to keep the game interesting without adding some new evolution feature.
I think it’s best to stick with the core mechanic of the game, don’t mess with a good thing.
I think the biggest weakness of the CW series is the mid-endgame. There comes a point where you know you’ll win unless you make a mistake – at that point, many players don’t really feel a drive to actually finish the map.
Including some way for the threat to grow would help with that, I think, though I’m not sure I agree with the idea of the creeper magically ‘levelling up’.
I find this to be an element of virtually every RTS — there’s that point in which the scales tip and, unless something remarkable happens, it’s clear who’s won. This can’t be “fixed”, but the complexity of the game be elevated, giving the disadvantaged player further statistical opportunity to win. This is illustrated in chess, where you start with statistical equilibrium, and as the game progresses the number of available moves decreases — establishing a more disadvantaged player. This isn’t to say a player wasn’t disadvantaged, but the number of available remaining moves (as an effect of the complexity of the game) gave the player opportunity to recover.
Hahah! Food for thought, anyway. 🙂
This period of time in which you have no chance of losing unless you make a major mistake is particularly long in the CW series, depending on the map.
I think in CW it’s markedly longer than that point in most RTS’s, where the enemy no longer has any chance of winning.
I think that instead of “evolving” it would be nice if when you are down to the last emitter or about to nullify it it released a wave or mass of creeper that would knock out the emitter unless you are prepared, or maybe the amount of creeper being produced scaling up as the game goes on to both reward players who destroy emitters quickly. however this might not be as fun because sometimes it fun just to take a long time to build up an army and destroy the creeper easily.
I’d hesitate to simply add to the grind – if that increase isn’t capable of breaking the balance, even without player action, it only makes the post-balance slog longer.
I’d rather see increased challenges as you struggle for that balance, preventing you from reaching it easily, and challenge that you can attack and disable. The runners fulfill this, by using the digitalis as a transit route, which you can use to cut off the nest.
This means the balance is something you must struggle for – but once you have it, you can cut off and destroy the source of the challenge, making the after-balance slog much quicker.
That would be awesome…
as in like, really cool…
and it could mabey not only happen/not happen on individual maps, but also in the big picture (galaxy/star-system-thingie)…
did i mention awesome?…
Whoa. I like it. It’s better than the digitalis acting as a creeper highway… more… Unique! I like it! Can’t wait to brutally kill all of them… I mean… liberate humanity from them!
Oh, and what happens when the relay gets stunned? Is it just unable to redirect packets?
I think it is only weapons that can be stunned.
Nope. Look at one of the East collectors in the clip.
in the vid I saw a relay get stunned but it seemed to work fine still, so other things might get stunned but it might not affect them
I clearly saw at least one collector get stunned and later recover.
if you watch the video, there is a point where a relay gets stunned (when he’s assaulting the upper left Nest).
Actually, digitalis now acts much more like a creeper highway than we ever considered. Little cars cruising around, waiting to explode and spill creeper all over the place… And they shoot too!
Scary stuff. Can’t wait to get in there and fight back.
Was I seeing parts right where single strands of digitalis were dying off and disappearing with no shots being fired on them? or was I not catching what was happening the first view through the vid. (where I saw it happen was on the left side when he was cutting it off and stuff… again, haven’t gone back to look at it again.)
Lovely as ever Virgil. Can’t wait to see this out and start trying to bum for money to get it LOL
Digitalis decays when it has no connection to an emitter.
When did that happen? I recall it just not growing, but I did not see if it decayed when it was unconnected.
really? I thought it simply stopped growing.
Let the bombers drop energy bombs
agreement, maby a choice between the two?
what would be the point?
Convservation of AC for beachhead missions?
not needing ore to use bombers
Yea, some way of this. Maybe make the creeper add on 1/4 of what it is producing every 5 minutes?
ehh, its an idea..
I’m confused, what?
I gues sweedude64 intended to reply to the above discussion about inreasing creeper strength on a map to make the mid-endgame more challenging.
This would certainly force you to finish a map rather sooner than later. You’d lose more often, that’s for sure.
I think that was supposed to be in response to the idea of ‘evolution’ above.
I WOULD like to see continuous adjustment of creeper flow . . . I’m imagining a level where emitter power starts weak . . . increases by 500 for ten seconds, then decreases by 499 . . . until you either win or die.
Ah . . . meant to indicate that it should be available to mappers, not a feature of typical campaign or procedural maps.
I’m not impatient, but I have to say about the nullifying, it’s about time we got to see a “2 for the price of 1” move. Taking out 2 enemy structures with 1 nullifier is something I have been longing to see on CW3.
And about the runners and nests: very interesting. And I am impressed that coincidentally, the name of the runner-making structures is the same as the name I had on the forum for AC Beetle makers.
By the way, if they are going to be called “nests”, why not give the runners a more organic, nest-related name too such as “wasps” or something? And why are they in different shades and/or colors?
Plus, what if this map had AET’s in it?
The redder a Runner is, the more damaged it is.
It looked like the runners turned red when shot to indicate they are damaged.
Then we would have a hard fight ahead.
what would make it as hard as you suggest?
Virgil, I really think you should nerf those runners, to me they just seem far too potent.
I was actually thinking they weren’t strong enough…
We’re not even into beta yet – trust me, a lot of balancing will be going on.
not even into beta?? grrrrr!!!
I thought the beta was out?
Virgil’s stated that the alpha has expanded to a larger group of testers, rather than having gone into beta.
Makes you wonder why they are not accepting anymore new testers, doesn’t it?
The cease in beta-testing applicant acceptance happened a long while ago, but there is still a long way to go for CW3 before beta seeing as how new units and enemies are getting all these tweaks. No complaints though.
Apart from Runners being a great addition:
1 – Why don’t Nests create a PZ when nullified? I doubt I am the first or last to raise that issue.
2 – Are Runners destroyed directly or just by destroying the digitalis they are on, or both?
3 – If I have seen correctly, when you double-clicked (I guess that was what you were doing, might alternatively have been pressing a short-key) When you double-clicked on a strafer you selected just the group that touched, and not the other 4/6, respectively. I really, really like that.
4 – If I’m wrong on this the other posters will surely point it out, but I find it noteworthy that with all the speculations about the role and function of digitalis from the past two weeks, nothing similar to the Runners has been suggested.
Oh wait, I think someone mentioned something about the enemy getting new units/structures, but still, they didn’t link it to digitalis.
I already can’t wait for next sunday.
1 – No idea
2 – You can see Runners frozen in place on the terrain. They aren’t dead; they just can’t move
3 – Hey! That isn’t a question!
4 – Hey! That is also not a question! But you’re probably right(ish)
1- Why don’t air exclusion towers or spore towers?(Or do spore towers? I guess I’m not 100% sure)
2 – In the video a few runners had gone off-track and stalled as the strafers shot the digitalis out from under them. Then it looks like they got shot to death.
3 – Indeed, I noticed that too. Looks pretty useful if that’s what I actually saw happening, double checked the end of the video and it sure looks that way.
4 – Well, people did want the digitalis to be able to disable towers and stuff. This is kind of a more creative and unexpected form of that idea. Really nice work Virgil.
I am super excited about this game.
1- My mistake, spore towers do create PZ’s. And AET’s not creating PZ’s is irrelevant if spore towers do, so just ignore my #1 in above comment.
1: As noted in a previous blog post introducing digitalis, digitalis’ origins may not the same as the creeper’s origin. If these are three separate creatures/robots/things/precious ice cream bars that have learned to live in symbiosis, those structures that aren’t directly related to creeper probably don’t share those characteristics that form a PZ. For instance, those things are connected to another dimension, you know?
Hit post too soon. As for 4: Suggestions for things like this have been flying around for quite a while, particularly once digitalis provided the public forums a platform for mobile enemies.
I think everybody’s been wondering what the counterpart to drones would be.
There’s a lot of things that seem to be potential counterparts to CW2 things.
It’s a sequel.
For 1, most likely balance. Maybe in the map editor you’ll be able to specify individually which structures will leave a power zone.
By which I mean you could say “these emitters and this AET will produce powerzones but that emitter and all the other AETs won’t” not just “all emitters will make powerzones, no AETs will”.
You know, you have kept being inattentive and shown us what happens when you lose all your CNs. 😉
I’m going to assume these are almost exactly like Drones, but 100% more infuriating and thankfully have a set path. I will hate you for this once the custom maps start churning out and everyone thinks, “Wow! You can set the health to x * 10^ridiculous? I bet nobody has noticed that before and they will all love me for it!”. Okay, maybe not THAT bad. I’ve only seen a handful of maps with Drones having more than 50,000, and bother were absolutely massive with Dark Beams available. For the sake of my sanity, please PLEASE don’t let players do that!
Finally: what happens when a Runner hits a landing pad for the air units, and can they disable CNs?
…than 50,00, and BOTH were absolutely massive…
I done made me a typo.
I have an idea, well,for orbital I thought there could be an “Energy beam”.It would be a large(5×5-ish) circle beam from your ship,it would clear right down to land and would have 5 min. cooldown.Plz reply.
New idea.For titans it would be cool to have a bigger pulse cannon basicly x2 power half the fire rate and x4 the size.It would cost 350 energy.
You are mathematically wrong, and here is why. Twice the power. Half the fire rate. That is what you said. Damage per second (DPS) is calculated as rate of fire (RoF) in shots per second times damage per shot (D). We can assign two values for the Pulse Cannon. RoF = X, D = Y, and DPS =Z. X * Y = Z. Now, we take RoF and halve it (as per you suggestion) and take D and double it (ditto). Now we have: ((1 / 2) * X) * ((2) * Y) = Z. The only thing that would change is the cost. The range would hopefully change too, but I saw no need to take that into account. Also, at four times the size of a normal unit, it would hog space that could be used for launch pads or a Bertha.
Just an idea.
einstein.
I did not get any of that. ?(
Well said.
2x the power with 1/2 the fire rate sounds like it nerfs the idea. Unless you mean like… 1/2 the reload time, instead of fire rate. Even with 2x power and 2x fire rate, still not a very ‘titan’y weapon.
Either way, I’m sure Virgil has something much more interesting up his sleeve.
that’s alot of energy for something that isn’t much better than a pulse cannon…
cus the two’s would cancel out and give you the rough equivelent of a pulse cannon…
Frankly, I’d like to see titans that behave in different and interesting ways, rather than a bigger bertha shell and a bigger pulse cannon.
hmmm….maybe a giant teslacoil which does frequent damage to essentially random patches of creeper?
Take your ideas to the forums. Communication is more surefire there.
2x power and 1/2 firerate cancels out….
Ok just to clear a few things up
1- orbitals are most likely the 3 command nodes currently
2- when all CN’s are destroyed, same as other games…youl lose and get a restart/quit button…
3- The blasters in CW2 were pretty effective when it came to drones creeper output. I dont think any structure can currently handle a large mass from runners (which,btw, scares me O.o)
This looks amazing as always but i agree with 3 if all the bugs came down one path to my base i whold be dead because they whold all stun me and if i killed one a whold bunch of creeper whold explode over my unites killing them drones with payload in CW2 was no problem because you whold set a blaster to kill drones then one to kill the creeper. i just hope to never see this in CW3 story. AET over a path of digitalis heading right to my base that whold be a hard level
1 – Boo! Why can’t we have pre-built units to drop down? Like a small Collector networks to place with the nodes instead of the pre-placed network in game 1.
2 – But Virgil said early on that losing all 3 CNs doesn’t necessarily mean you lose the mission. Did he lie or change his mind?
3 – That’s probably because CW1 and CW3 physics act a lot like CW2 physics in 0 gravity. I think we’ll be able to handle larger masses when upgrades get implemented.
C1/3 physics ARE CW2 physics, aside from some tweaks. CW2 just applies a global gravity ‘field’ and uses ‘depth’ instead of ‘density’.
Looks great. Love the ability to move strafer’s attack areas without having to call them back to base.
The lack of that option was my main complaint about drones in the first game. Three bombs cleared the pool, and now I have 17 going to waste. Glad to see it implemented! Also, recharging the pad while the unit is away and auto-target speed up everything.
new super weapon (titan) idea: well it’s not much of a weapon it’s a thing that’s a storage 4 reactors and a collector in 1! it is for when you have a big and good base and want to upgrade it. it will be the same size as the Bertha and cost the same as a storage 4 reactors and a collector
new structure/weapon idea: a wall thing that blocks creeper it will be the wall in creeper world and the shield in creeper world 2! it will cost 5 and just be a cheap way of blocking the creeper
new structure/weapon idea: a repairer thing that repairs structures like weapons and walls so you don’t aft to wait if something is damaged
if you wish to post many ideas, please join the forums and post there, that way many people will see your ideas (not to mention that it will be posted right away) and you all can discuss them in great detail. 🙂
1st: nope, easier to buy the things separately. No real reason except slight space conservation.
2nd: Terraforming.
3rd. Already suggested a number of times, but it would be cool. I don’t know if Virgil is planning on adding any new friendly units at this point, though.
1: If the cost is the same, why not actually BUILD four reactors and a storage and a collector? The only thing it saves you is real estate. I’d rather apply upgrades to the actual reactors and collectors when I need to upgrade my base.
2: Terraformers and/or shields.
3: From what I’ve seen, repair time is less in this edition than it was in CW1 or 2.
You really ought to take these ideas to the forum.
I actually like this super-reactor idea. If there were such a thing in CW3 (I don’t know, can someone tell?) I’d add a speed thingy or two.
It could have x4 the power and the same fire rate to make it more titany.
And now my question for KC/the community: in each game, how big is each unit (in terms of feet or meters)? I’ve been rather curious especially about the relative sizes of OC, Thor, and the LS.
Just ideas,just ideas……
I thought the internet was a good place to think out loud, but instead you guys always jast say something negative,so if you guys are going to make my semi-miserable life even more miserable I should stop posting my (what you guys often negate) ideas.
:(…
AND before you reply think about what your doing.
Some of us do think (like me). It is hard to make sensitivity clear when you have to do it purely in words and typed faces.
Besides, the negativity adds to the creativity competition. And seriously, try just putting ideas on the forums. An unspoken reason to do that is to make sure blog comments are on-topic.
I’m replying…
what ELSE would i be doing?…
Not sure about how mechanical these Runners appear. It just feels weird. Even just a blue glowing orb would work in keeping the organic feel, plus you wouldn’t have to worry about changing the direction the Runner is facing which also feels a little “jerky” (instant turns just look weird when the Runners rotate their entire “body” instantly like that).
I think that’s the point. The digitalis is all angular and computerized, but the creeper is fluid and organic. They mesh nicely, I think.
maybe change the runners i dont like where they are going
Is there something specific you don’t like?
I’m sorry for going off like that,I should stop making a big deal over nothing,but I am trying OK? 😉
I think the thing is that this IS the internet. Ideas with flaws get called out, because 99% of people turn into dicks on the internet.
I think, also, you need to rethink your feelings on internet responses. You will never get the sensitivity or consideration on the internet that is common courtesy out on the street. The internet requires thick skin.
If you wish to place allot of posts, please join the forums. you will have a lot more immediate answers. you will be able to discuss in further detail there.
I have no idea if this answer has been made but how will speed upgrades (for pakets) be implamented?
Relays increase the speed of packet conductance….
From what I can tell they wont be implemented because relays are taking the place of upgrades for the network. I honestly prefer that because having to build a better designed base makes the game a bit more strategy oriented rather than waste time waiting for tech domes in cw2.
I’m hoping to see upgrades. Even without them, relays give you extra speed, without reducing tactical considerations by having to build a relay network in order to support that speed. Multiple dispatch points via guppies or CN’s, are another tactic you can use to minimize logistics problems.
Why do you think we have the new relays?
I believe currently packet speeds can be increased by using relays which have increased range and increased speeds of packets crossing them.
Odin City houses 50000 people, plus associated life support structures, packet manufactories, VTOL engines, et cetera, et cetera.
Extrapolate from that. 😉
odin city is probably the size of Texas
Wow fail^
Anyways, It doesnt really bother me if someone is posting ideas, as long as it doesnt get out of hand.
But I’m pretty sure there will be more weapons (virgil said more titans) and im hoping at least one titan will have a non-attacking use 😀
Someone said something about not liking the idea about emitters being partially nullified. Well, think about it this way. Enemy structures have health. So think about the health being energy to resist the nullifiers. The nullifiers deplete the energy that the emitters have. One health means that the emitter can’t resist the nullifier and it dies.
Finally, a natural progression of thought and design. First, Digitalis. Then, a Digitalis Enforcer called a Runner. What a dangerous thing it is. In the presented film the Runner functions as a patrol vehicle of a sort. Because Digitalis can spread under varying height terrain, however, these Runners can function as bombs which might advance past the normal line of pooling Creeper. Another implication is the Wind function which could influence the Runner pay-load. What an interesting pickle.
I wonder. Does the Wind affect the healthy Creeper which subsists on the Digitalis?
What a shame that the Digitalis now degrades over time when not connected to other Digitalis. I can not hold it against the developer to implement that choice. It will serve a grand design.
Again, I noticed a lack of Liquid Shield, particularly because of the presence of the ore deposits. This is not a criticism, just a recognition. I also noticed a neat little Can-Not-Build-Here sound effect.
Thank you for the video. I learned quite a bit. Not the least of which included Nullifier ranges and their orientation-to-target.
Fun improvement for the planes. Flying formation. 2 options, parallel and central.
Parallel. If I send out 3 planes, I click point A1, then point B1 (in this example horizontally), as you do now, I can then click drag from point B1 down creating 2 additional parallel lines A2B2 and A3B3 one below and one equally spaced above, my dragging determining the spacing.
Central, similar to above, the lines cross at the center point of A1B1, and the dragging spaces them out in similar fashion.
This game looks incredible. Loved the last 2, but this is a new level of awesome.
Have this blog died or is it Virgil who haven’t been around to approve the new comments?
Never mind, Virgil seems to be working very hard on his new game 😉
I like to post ideas.
i like the runners will make it more of a challenge
You should implement a system where you can connect your network with digitalis, and conversion packets travel along both networks, so the creeper could take over your base with packets, or you can turn digitalis into another connection hub and advance further towards and emitter, and then the command nodes send out nullification packets to destroy enemy buildings. And the creeper can disable your buildings and use ‘them’ as extra connection hubs into your base, so they can destroy your command nodes with explosive packets.