Speed Runs

[Fisherck]

This topic is for the sharing of strategies for beating a map in the fastest way possible. I don't know why I enjoy it so much, but I do :) Anyways though, it's my eventual goal to post videos for all of the Arc Eternal missions that have interesting strategies that go into beating them faster than the obvious strategy (there are plenty...). Jojo was the first map that I deemed interesting enough to make a video of, though I may eventually go back to others.

If you have any screenshots (which can be taken with f11 and f12) or videos of some interesting or unique technique that you used to beat a map, please share them here! It's always amazing what strategies other people think up to beat a map ;)

Here are the direct links to my videos so far:
Chanson -
Ruine -
Defi -
Choix -
Ormos -
Flick -
Jojo -

Map (and video)	Tactic
Jojo	The main tactic here is stay on the high ground and avoid contact with the creeper as much as possible to minimize your energy drain. Once you have a sufficient energy base on the main island, spread out along the other mesas with mortars to contain the creeper, and take out the emitters and spore towers
Flick	The rather unintuitive tactic in this map it to pick up the shield key at the start of the game, send the Command Node back up to orbit, and wait the 30 seconds before you can redeploy it. This will actualy save you time ;) The rest of the map is spent building up as much energy from collectors as possible (reactors will take too long to build in this map), and then taking the shortest route to the emitter as possible. It may seem like a good idea to invest in anti-creeper units early on (because once built they don't require energy), but they also take a long time to build, so I didn't build a Sprayer until the very end of the level. The one thing I would change from my run in this video, is I wouldn't move the CN at the end, because since you're generating so little energy in this map, you'll lose about 1/6th of your energy supply when the CN lifts off
Ormos	The tactic here is simple. Hit the creeper hard, and hit it fast. The key in this map is to engage the creeper as fast as possibly, before it has time to completely envelop the shield key. It is also very important to build a sufficient energy infrastructure to compensate for your dwindling supply of energy from the siphons, or you will very likely run out of energy before you reach the shield key
Choix	In this map, you want to use one of your CN's to grab the shield key, while the other lands and starts connecting to the energy crystals with siphons. The next part is simple in concept, but not so much in practice; build a bunch of blasters, use your two CN's as a bridge, and use the blasters to clear a space for the nullifier.
Defi	This map requires you to preemptively strike the Runner's nest before it get's connected to the digitalis. If you don't do that, the rest of the map will just be a slog... If and once you have done that, start building blasters to attack the three strong emitters. The other two can be safely nullified without any help from blasters.
Ruine	In Ruine you need to build up energy before the first wave of spores, then while defending your base, using guppies to go out and nullify the defenseless spore towers. The island with the emitter can be invaded with a group of blasters and some guppies to supply them.
Chanson	This map has very big shortcut that you can take; most of the obstacles can be avoided. This can be done by building up a collector network on the plain in the map, building a small fleet of blasters, mortars, shields, and guppies, and landing as close to the inhibitor you can. From there you can blast your way to the inhibitor, and nullify it, thus achieving the victory conditions on the map.

[knucracker]

Nice run... moving that CN towards the end to get those extra couple seconds I see :)

[Imposter]

In regards to speed runs, I've been thinking it might be interesting if the game recorded the real time in addition to the game time. So 10 seconds spent paused would equal 10 seconds of real time, and 10 seconds at 4x speed would also equal 10 seconds of real time. I think it'd help show the more skillful players, cuz someone winning a map at 3.1 minutes game time and spending half an hour in real time vs someone winning in 3.2 minutes game time and 3.4 minutes real time seems less skillful. You didn't pause too much, so there wouldn't be much of a difference in time in your play.

[cooltv27]

ya a real time thing would be really sweet, the timer would start when the game is first unpaused. so once and conversation ends or once you unpause it afterwards

[Fisherck]

Nice run... moving that CN towards the end to get those extra couple seconds I see :)

That was one the tactics I used to shave off some extra time. The other one, which took a lot more work, was trying to get to the spore tower in the bottom right corner faster. Even after building the mortar for that corner earlier than the other two, and building a blaster to help clear space for the relay, it was still the last nullifier to go... :)

In regards to speed runs, I've been thinking it might be interesting if the game recorded the real time in addition to the game time. So 10 seconds spent paused would equal 10 seconds of real time, and 10 seconds at 4x speed would also equal 10 seconds of real time. I think it'd help show the more skillful players, cuz someone winning a map at 3.1 minutes game time and spending half an hour in real time vs someone winning in 3.2 minutes game time and 3.4 minutes real time seems less skillful. You didn't pause too much, so there wouldn't be much of a difference in time in your play.

I quite enjoy the ability to pause during the game, and often use it excessively. I wouldn't care for being punished for taking a moment to catch my breath ;) But it would be interesting to have a stat along side each time on the score table to show how much time they paused while playing the map...

[vhl]

In regards to speed runs, I've been thinking it might be interesting if the game recorded the real time in addition to the game time. So 10 seconds spent paused would equal 10 seconds of real time, and 10 seconds at 4x speed would also equal 10 seconds of real time. I think it'd help show the more skillful players, cuz someone winning a map at 3.1 minutes game time and spending half an hour in real time vs someone winning in 3.2 minutes game time and 3.4 minutes real time seems less skillful. You didn't pause too much, so there wouldn't be much of a difference in time in your play.

And who will be better: 3.2 minutes game time + 3.4 minutes real time or 3.1 minutes game time + 3.5 minutes real time? This game is not reaction-based. Reaction - not equivalent of skill. You should think and find fastest way to win with your brain, not your hands.

[4xC]

If I knew how to make movies online, I would have posted my speed run of Chanson which got me through within 12 game minutes.

[Fisherck]

If I knew how to make movies online, I would have posted my speed run of Chanson which got me through within 12 game minutes.

You can still post screenshots :)

[4xC]

Too late, I already won.

All I can say is that I landed guppies and what-nots on the left side of the Inhibitor's peak. No bertha-snagging at all. It was a tough grab even with AC, but in the end, I managed to set a new record.

[Imposter]

In regards to speed runs, I've been thinking it might be interesting if the game recorded the real time in addition to the game time. So 10 seconds spent paused would equal 10 seconds of real time, and 10 seconds at 4x speed would also equal 10 seconds of real time. I think it'd help show the more skillful players, cuz someone winning a map at 3.1 minutes game time and spending half an hour in real time vs someone winning in 3.2 minutes game time and 3.4 minutes real time seems less skillful. You didn't pause too much, so there wouldn't be much of a difference in time in your play.

And who will be better: 3.2 minutes game time + 3.4 minutes real time or 3.1 minutes game time + 3.5 minutes real time? This game is not reaction-based. Reaction - not equivalent of skill. You should think and find fastest way to win with your brain, not your hands.

There needn't be a table to tell you who is better. They can be in separate categories. Someone looking at the table can choose whether they think one is better than the other.

[Fisherck]

I revamped the top post with a table of the map/video and the tactics I employed to do a speed run of each of the maps :)

I also added videos for and (both links also on the top post).

[Fisherck]

Finally got around to adding two more videos on YouTube! These speed runs are on Choix and Defi (links also in top post). Both of these maps have some very fun strategies... :)

Choix -
Defi -

[Ninointeli]

Finally got around to adding two more videos on YouTube! These speed runs are on Choix and Defi (links also in top post). Both of these maps have some very fun strategies... :)

Where is the link?
Or am I blind? :-[

[Fisherck]

Finally got around to adding two more videos on YouTube! These speed runs are on Choix and Defi (links also in top post). Both of these maps have some very fun strategies... :)

Where is the link?
Or am I blind? :-[

You should be able to click on the map names on my post, and it should send you to the video of the map. I'll add the actual links to the post just in case you can't see them for some reason :)

Choix -
Defi -

[Ninointeli]

Amazing speed runs  ;D