Line #73 VideoGame/CreeperWorld


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/header_435.jpg]]
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3	->''"In the end, no answer is ever as elegant as its question."''
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5	Creeper World is a single-player RealTimeStrategy shareware game developed by [[http://knucklecracker.com/ Knuckle Cracker]]. The game starts off by throwing the player to the far-off date of 13,271, after humankind has colonized thousands of worlds in the galaxy. For millenia, everything was great, until the [[BigBad Creeper]] showed up. [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Then things started going downhill]]. The Creeper, which seems to be a form of sentient, xenophobic, destructive ooze, flowed across the human empire, killing [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale trillions of people]]. [[OhCrap On the first day alone, it struck 50 planets and slaughtered nearly 500 billion humans]]. The remaining [[LastOfHisKind fifty thousand humans]] gathered on a planet called [[MeaningfulName Hope]] guided by the writings of the Old Man, and constructed the mobile outpost known as [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Odin City]]. The player takes the role of Commander of Odin City. Each map is a human world that had been overrun by Creeper, and your job is to power up [[MacGuffin Warp Totems]] so you can teleport to the next one.
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7	One of the things that makes the game noticeable is that it [[AvertedTrope eschews]] some established RealTimeStrategy tropes, [[PlayingWithATrope and taking new looks at others]]. The result is a rather unique gameplay style, and can be addictive. Like ''{{TabletopGame/Go}}'' or ''{{TabletopGame/Checkers}}'', it's easy to pick up, but can take some time to master. The main resource is energy, which is collected by plonking down [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction Fractal Energy Collectors and Reactors across the map]]. The more sections of the map that is covered by your collectors, the more energy you produce. However, at the same time, Creeper emitters will try to cover the map with Creeper as well, which damages any of your buildings it touches. You stop the flow of Creeper by building weapons, which blasts away the ooze and lets you gradually expand and advance. Fight your way through the waves of Creeper and connect the Warp Totems to win the map. If the Creeper deals enough damage to Odin City, it'll be destroyed and you lose.
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9	The first game can be downloaded (either the demo or the full game) [[http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/downloads.php here]].
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11	The sequel, ''Creeper World 2'', varies the rules a bit. Instead of a top-down perspective, the map is viewed from the side, and there are no Fractal Energy Collectors, instead energy is produced by reactors. This game has you take the fight to the Creeper, destroying the Creeper Emitters and cleansing the planets themselves, rather than just teleporting from place to place.
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13	A third game, ''Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal'' was released in 2013, and is currently available on Steam. In this game, set in the far, ''far'' future. It returns to the game mechanics of the first game, with top-down perspective and Fractal Energy Collectors.
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15	''Particle Fleet: Emergence: A Creeper World Chronicle'' was released in 2016 as a side story taking place in the Creeper World universe. Instead of fighting the Creeper with towers, ''Particle Fleet'' saw the player commanding a fleet of custom spaceships against swarms of evil red particles.
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17	''Creeper World 4'' was released in late 2020, bringing the main series [[VideoGame3DLeap into the third dimension.]] The classic tower defence mechanics remain, but levels are rendered in [=3D=] and can have higher terrain than in ''3''. The game has new enemies and a simple resource system where coloured crystals need to be refined in a factory. It also adds runways, which are required for airborne units.
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19	The next installment of the series called ''Creeper World IXE'' is announced in June 2023.
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21	Despite the name, it is not a ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' world where almost all of the inhabitants are the notorious namesake mobs.
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23	----
24	!!Tropes exemplified in this game:
25	* ActionBomb:
26	** Exploding ships in ''Particle Fleet'' create a blast wave that scatters enemy particles for a moment. It is a legitimate tactic to throw you cheapest default ships between your very vulnerable lathes and enemy emitters to buy more time to destroy them. A very popular custom ship design is simply a command module with an attached engine. Quick to build and able to deliver a stream of kamikaze explosions to the enemy.
27	** Blobs in ''4'' act as this, moving from their nests to the weakest point on your defensive line and trying to blow up your turrets.
28	* AdaptiveAbility: The main threat of the Creeper is its ability to eventually adapt to and subvert the defenses of any civilization it encounters. Many of the advanced weapons and abilities of the Creeper were originally defensive measures that stopped the Creeper for decades, centuries, or millennia, before it patiently studied and adapted to these defenses and turned them against their creators.
29	* AGodAmI: Imperator, the one who corrupted the Loki.
30	* AlliterativeName: Aliana Abraxis's name (which is Aliana Abraxis).
31	* AmplifierArtifact:
32	** Power Zones in ''Arc Eternal'' are left after destroying a creeper structure. Placing a tower on it doubles, triples, or (in case of Bertha) sextuples that tower's capabilities.
33	** Power Crystals in ''Particle Fleet'' are scattered around the level or are retrieved from crystal mines. A Crystal can be used to upgrade your manufacturing/command capabilities, or increase a single ship's weapons range (though, unfortunately, not to the extent of a Power Zone above).
34	** [=ERNs=] act as this in ''4''. They can be found free-floating on the map or buried and needing to be excavated by a TERP. Once recovered, they can be attached to any turret to vastly increase their power or taken to an ERN Portal to provide a global upgrade to your entire base.
35	* AndTheAdventureContinues: At the end of ''4'', [[spoiler:Dr. Seloi (as an AI personality construct) and her AI companions set out across the universe to fight the Creeper across time.]]
36	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: In ''Particle Fleet'', it would be very annoying to have a ship stranded in the enemy space every time it runs out of energy. So, if a ship does run out of energy, it can still move at full speed indefinitely. And, it a ship runs out of engines, it can still move, albeit slowly.
37	* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: In the main ''Creeper World'' games, there is no upper limit on how many weapons and units you can build, but powering them is a different story. Certain custom maps do place arbitrary limits on what you can build, however. In ''Particle Fleet,'' you are limited by level settings to how many and what kind of units you can build.
38	* AttackItsWeakPoint: In ''Particle Fleet'', ships are instantly destroyed when their bridge module is damaged. Clever positioning can often evade most of the enemy armor and take out a ship in a single salvo rather than the back-and-forth match of slowly trying to overwhelm a doppel's regeneration.
39	* AwesomeButImpractical: Megaships from ''Particle Fleet.'' Sure, they look great, hold a million guns, and usually appear in maps designed specifically around them, but they have several disadvantages that put them in this category:
40	** They take forever to build, making them useless for initial defense and TooAwesomeToUse once built.
41	** Huge size means that guns located at the back can [[ArbitraryWeaponRange barely reach beyond the nose of the ship]]. Positioning ship-killing MK-7's anywhere but the nose eliminates their range advantage over other weapons.
42	** Finally, trying to plow through a dense particle cloud can make the game's engine hick-up and place a particle onto the ship's bridge, destroying it immediately.
43	* BagOfSpilling: Upgrades don't carry over from level to level. Justified in ''Arc Eternal'', as the Forge is a storage facility for Aether, which is used for your upgrades. If the Forge is lost, so is the Aether used to power your upgrades.
44	* BaitAndSwitch: ''Particle Fleet''[='=]s prologue shows a doomed corporation transmitting the contents of an [[ApocalypticLog info cache]] out of [[ForbiddenZone Redacted Space]] before being overwhelmed. Dialogue in the first mission details how [[PlayerCharacter Ticon Corporation]] have uncovered a message sent from Redacted Space and are going in to investigate it. In the final mission [[spoiler:as Ticon Corporation makes its last stand, they record their findings in an info cache and transmit its coordinates to the corporation featured in the prologue, with the epilogue showing said corporation receiving that message and preparing to venture into Redacted Space to retrieve the info cache, meaning that the prologue actually takes place after the events of the game. This is hinted at by the design of the main menu, a circular carousel that places the prologue right next to the epilogue. The end of the prologue even indicates that the events shown in the rest of the game are from the Ticon Archive]].
45	* BecomingTheMask: A heroic example in ''Arc Eternal''. [[spoiler:Should the player select the human choice, The Imperator, ''the'' GreaterScopeVillain of the franchise, fully assimilates into his human identity as Skarsgard Abraxis and turns against his former Loki disciples to seize The Arc save the universe.]]
46	* {{BFG}}: The Bertha cannons of the third and fourth games. The [=MK-7=] from ''Particle Fleet'' is a huge triple-barrelled naval gun, perfect for punching through to enemy ship's bridges, especially if specifically set to target ships.
47	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of ''Particle Fleet,'' the [[PlayerCharacter Ticon Corporation]] finds itself trapped and facing a huge enemy horde. All they can do is to transmit the location of the data cache they've assembled and perish fighting, hoping that someone else will retrieve and use knowledge they've discovered.]]
48	* BloodKnight: Sarge is particularly focused on NULLIFICATION of any threat.
49	* BoringButPractical: A great way for capturing a position in ''3'' and ''4'' is to terraform a narrow, maximum-height bridge through the Creeper, preventing it from flowing over, eliminating any landscape obstacles and bringing the most firepower to bear. The biggest downside to this approach is that it takes forever.
50	* {{Catchphrase}}: The 3 AIs that travel with Dr. Seloi each have one
51	--> Sarge: MISSION PRIORITY: NULLIFICATION. ALL OTHER PRIORITIES SUSPENDED\
52	Hippy: GO IN PEACE TRAVELER!\
53	Preacher: PRAYSE BE THE FOUNDERS!
54	* ConstructAdditionalPylons: While there is no hard need to build support structures, Collectors and Reactors are needed to supply energy to power, build, and reload your weapons, and connections to Odin City or the Command Center are needed to supply them. Anti-Creeper and Bombers will need Ore Mines to be connected to the network to supply materials needed to keep them loaded, and the Forge will require a connection to Totems to generate the Aether needed to research upgrades.
55	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: In ''Particle Fleet'', everything that's red is hostile, while everything that's blue is benign.
56	* CommandAndConquerEconomy: In full effect. But to be fair, it's pretty much just the player who is doing all of the work.
57	* CompetitiveBalance: All of the ship designs - and the mechanics behind designing a ship in and of itself - are designed to ensure that each fills a niche and no ship can possibly serve every role better than any other. Different modules have different roles they fill, and power is counterbalanced by cost. Bigger ships can house more modules and tank more hits, but cost more time and energy to build and operate (or replace), and ships that are TOO big will have trouble getting weapons on one side of the ship to hit targets on the other side. On the other hand, smaller ships with more specialized loadouts can be deployed quickly, fight specific threats effectively, and move from one area to another with minimal fuss, but may have difficulty fighting denser, high-powered concentrations of particulate. Additionally, it can be challenging fitting several smaller ships in a tight space together when their bounding boxes collide with one another, compared to a single larger ship needing only to fit itself.
58	* CosmicHorrorStory: The ultimate story is about a ForeverWar in which humanity is doomed to endlessly fight the Creeper and constantly be overwhelmed and destroyed. While the first and second games are LovecraftLite in which the Creeper is defeated after a lengthy struggle, the third game emphasizes that the Creeper can never be truly defeated. Even if it takes a million years of patient waiting, the Creeper will return with new adaptations and tactics and strike when its previous enemies have become complacent. In the fourth game, [[spoiler:the last part of the story involves the player moving through different points in time to collect data caches about the Creeper in hopes of being able to deliver them to another civilization who might be able to defeat the Creeper.]]
59	* CriticalExistenceFailure: Your weapons will continue to deal full damage even if they're down to their last HitPoint. The game actually encourages you to take advantage of this: Dropping a Blaster into shallow Creeper pools will deal deal minor damage to it, but swiftly clear out the area.
60	* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Creeper in 4 flows differently than in previous games, using the wave equation (see ShownTheirWork below) resulting in the creeper being able to flow over terrain it couldn't with the assistance of YOUR mortars. Cannons, in addition to their inability to fire on creeper on higher terrain have acquired a blind spot that prevents them from shooting at ''lower'' terrain creeper directly next to them if the lower terrain is too deep, so unlike in 3, you can't just plant a cannon at height 20 and expect it to shoot at nearby height 5 creeper.
61	* DeadpanSnarker: Danu Seloi is bitter and sarcastic to everybody, in contrast to the much mellower Danu from ''Particle Fleet''. A frequent target is her boss Director Hale; her password is even [="D1RhALEISANIDI0T"=]. To be fair, he gives as good as he gets.
62	* DeathOfAThousandCuts: The Creeper is an immense and amorphous being, so the only way to drive it back is to use huge numbers of rapid-firing weapons to destroy small bits of it at a time. Even the most powerful weapons, like the Bertha, only blow large chunks out of the Creeper that will eventually fill back up.
63	* DevelopersForesight: In the final level of the first game, [[spoiler:you're supposed to complete it by holding out until the super weapon becomes available, but you can actually power your way through the entire level. Only the black hole at the end is supposed to be defeated by said superweapon, the Thor, ramming into it and exploding. So what happens instead? Knuckle Cracker pops up a message congratulating you for being so 1337 and tells you that, for the sake of the story, it's going to assume that you used the superweapon anyways.]]
64	* EarthAllAlong: Most of the planets in ''Creeper World 4''[='=]s campaign are [[spoiler: Mars, where millions of years between the rift lab's visits allowed it to look like a different planet each time.]]
65	* EarthShatteringKaboom: In the third game, these are just one of the many measures that have been deployed in a vain attempt to halt the creeper's advance. It doesn't work.
66	* EasyLogistics: While logistics are essential, the basics are relatively simple, as the player simply needs to place Collectors and Reactors and make sure they're connected to the main base. Things get more complicated when advanced technologies get involved and construction spreads further past your base, as you'll need to manage connections to mines and totems and make sure that Relays exist to speed up travel of packets of energy and ammo to the front line. Things get especially complicated when you start needing to push into islands with Emitters, requiring a constant game of leap-frogging turrets and relays to keep them supplied.
67	* FaceHeelTurn: In ''Arc Eternal'', should you make the appropriate choice, [[spoiler:Skarsgard Abraxis abandons his human identity and form, returning to being [[GreaterScopeVillain The Imperator]] for the final mission.]]
68	* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: After Dr Seloi escapes the Creeper attack on Mars, [[spoiler: the surviving researchers set up a cache with the spatial coordinates of three data archives and a message from the director,]] then bury it in a fortress, knowing that [[spoiler: the malfunctioning rift drive]] will bring her there someday to find it.
69	* FogOfWar: ''Creeper World 2'' has fog covering most of the map, which the player must uncover by building Beacons (or moving the ship). [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''1'', ''3'', ''Particle Fleet'' and most of ''4'', where the player has a full view of the map, allowing them to build and deploy units anywhere. It also serves to give them [[AdvancingWallOfDoom a good view of what exactly they're up against.]]
70	** Fog doesn't naturally appear in ''4'', but Dark Towers can generate fields of darkness that function similarly and can only be dispelled by Beacons.
71	* ForbiddenZone: The Redacted Space from ''Particle Fleet'' is absolutely forbidden to enter under punishment of automatic seizure of all assets you leave behind. It contains [[spoiler: information on history of humanity, some secrets that [[MegaCorp Galactic Corporation]] doesn't want you to know, and the slowly growing universe-ending threat.]]
72	* ForegoneConclusion: ''Particle Fleet'' takes place during the age of the Ticon. If you've played ''Arc Eternal'', you'll know from the events of the third game that [[spoiler:they, like so many civilizations before them, were also wiped out despite their best efforts, so it's not too difficult to guess how things end up for the protagonists.]]
73	* ForgottenSuperweapon:
74	** Oh, did you not notice there's [[InterfaceSpoiler another box for a weapon next to Drones]]? This appears in some custom maps, though it is extremely over-powered. It's called, fittingly enough, [[spoiler:The Thor]].
75	** The final mission of the third game [[spoiler: offers a double whammy: The Thor makes a reappearance, and there are buried missile silos on the map.]]
76	* GenreMashup: Half RealTimeStrategy, half TowerDefense.
77	* GodzillaThreshold: ''Twice'' in the final of ''Arc Eternal'', by the same character no less.
78	** Firstly, once [[spoiler: The Loki prompt [[TheHero Skarsgard]] to [[TomatoInTheMirror remember]] who he [[GreaterScopeVillain really]] is, Lia reveals her real identity as his daughter Aliana, begging her father to hold onto his humanity.]]
79	** Secondly, should [[spoiler:The Imperator choose to cast off his human identity and return to The Loki's cause, Aliana/Lia will make a last-ditch effort to sieze The Arc for herself and save everything by crashing her ship into the centre of it, flooding the area with a ''very'' dense Anti-Creeper rain and excavating the Missile Silos to try and destroy the Loki Hive The Imperator now pilots.]]
80	* GunNut: Director Ogun from ''Particle Fleet'' quite literally salivates over the progressively bigger ships you acquire.
81	* GreyGoo: In spirit if not in practice-It's unclear what, [[DiabolusExNihilo exactly, the Creeper is,]] but in practice it acts as a great, self-replicating purple tide that threatens to swallow civilisation.
82	* HappyEndingOverride: The opening to ''Creeper World 3'' establishes that not only were the triumphs and struggles of ''Creeper World 2'' rendered moot by later events, but ''thousands'' of human civilizations have fallen, risen, and fallen again to the inevitable Creeper threat time and time again, making it clear that your crew never stood a chance to begin with.
83	* HereWeGoAgain: ''Particle Fleet'' starts with you entering [[ForbiddenZone Redacted Space]] investigating a signal sent by a doomed expedition. At the end, during your [[spoiler: [[LastStand last stand]], you send out a location of your data cache for others to investigate.]]
84	* HoldTheLine: The beginnings of each map can play out like this, until you build up enough weapons and energy to push the Creeper back. ''Creeper World 4'' adds Hold missions where you can win simply by holding onto an objective for a set time.
85	* HopelessBossFight: The final map of the first game. It's ''technically'' possible to win it without using the superweapon if you build lots of weapons, but it breaks the story.
86	* HeroicSacrifice:
87	** At the end of the first game [[spoiler:the Commander tries to do this with the ForgottenSuperweapon, but intervention on the behalf of the {{Precursors}} saves him. Played straighter by the {{Precursors}} themselves, except for Platius/Old Man.]]
88	** At the end of ''4'', [[spoiler:Dr. Seloi has to nullify a neutron reactor that will kill her in order to allow the Rift Lab and her AI companions to leave the planet and carry the information caches to other civilizations to fight the Creeper.]]
89	* HumanitysWake: The third game's story consists of drudging through the ruins of civilizations that tried and failed to stand up to the Creeper.
90	* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Characters with the same name and appearance show up in multiple Creeper World games, sometimes millions of years apart. Becomes a plot point in ''Particle Fleet'', where the Ticon crew find out [[spoiler: from the Codex]] that certain names- certain people, perhaps- have been repeating throughout history. Examples include:
91	** Dax Joven, a main character in ''Creeper World 2'' who lends his name to the agile Joven ship in Particle Fleet.
92	** Varro Hale. One of him is Dax's crewmate in ''Creeper World 2'', another is the [=CEO=] of the Hale Corporation in ''Particle Fleet'', and then there's Director Hale in ''Creeper World 4''.
93	** Danu, a member of the Ticon Corporation, who is mirrored in ''Creeper World 4'' as Dr Danu Seloi.
94	** Aliana Abraxis, who gets a Ticon doppelganger in the form of Ana.
95	* InstantWinCondition:
96	** ''Creeper World 3'' and ''Particle Fleet'' have warp inhibitors and Precursors respectively. All enemy structures in a level are destroyed once either structure is gone.
97	** ''Creeper World 4'' adds Hold and Reclaim objectives, where the player can win by reclaiming a percentage of land from the Creeper or keeping it out of somewhere for a set time.
98	* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: In ''4'', No matter how tall the creeper is, it cannot flow over a tiny wall as long as said wall's integrity is above 0%.
99	* ItCanThink:
100	** The Creeper is intelligent and extremely adaptive, even [[spoiler:corrupting other civilizations so that they will also spread it]].
101	** In ''Particle Fleet'', you start off fighting individual particles, but as level progress, you see [[OhCrap to your horror]] the enemy copying, first, the shape and, then, the functionality of your ships.
102	* JumpedAtTheCall: [[spoiler: After her resurrection at the end of ''4'',]] Danu is eager to set off [[spoiler: with the Founders on a journey through time and space,]] fighting the Creeper at every turn, in spite of her characteristic sarcasm.
103	--> [[spoiler: '''Danu:''' Really, Ada, you old girl? I'm cyber-me now? And Preach, Hip, and Sarge want [='me'=] to join them for an eternal voyage through space and time to make the universe a better place? COUNT ME IN!]]
104	* LastOfHisKind: In the third game, Skarsgard is the last (known) human. Lia states that the last civilization went dark millions of years ago.
105	* LevelEditor: A big part of ''3'', ''4'' and ''Particle Fleet''. Some players spend far more time fighting through user-submitted maps than playing the story missions.
106	* MacrossMissileMassacre: The default "Wolf" ship design from ''Particle Fleet'' carries eight rocket launchers. With a ship editor, you can put as many rockets on a ship as you want.
107	* MirrorMatch: In the later levels of ''Particle Fleet,'' the enemy eventually begins copying your ships. Luckily, if everything is going well, you can bring down your entire fleet on individual duplicates. To an extent, this also applies in ''reverse'', with the player (depending on the level) gaining access to limited forms of friendly Particulate, plasma, Struc, Emergent, and so on.
108	* MoreDakka: In some of the later levels you can end up with a massive support system powering a mixture of dozens if not hundreds of Blasters, Mortars, Bombers, Anti-Air weaponry, Missiles, Snipers, Fighter Jets, BFG's, and machines that pump out a friendly version of the Creeper. Typically building forty or so is enough to beat even a late game level, but there's no kill like overkill.
109	* MultipleEndings: The third game has [[spoiler:three]] endings. Apparently all [[spoiler:three]] are considered canon, somehow.
110	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
111	** NamesToRunAwayFrom/AncientDeadLanguages and/or NamesToRunAwayFrom/{{Titles}}: Imperator.
112	** NamesToRunAwayFrom/KNames, NamesToRunAwayFrom/RNames, NamesToRunAwayFrom/XtremeKoolLetterz, NamesToRunAwayFrom/ReligiousNames: Skarsgard Abraxis. With all that stacked on one character, is it a wonder to see the Creeper [[{{Pun}} run]]?
113	* NanoMachines: This game is absolutely in love with nanotech. The plans for new buildings are even called nano schematics. It's implied that this is how humanity did everything before the advent of the Creeper, so you're using the leftovers of civilization to defend you on the maps.
114	* NeverRecycleABuilding: The subversion of this trope is one of the many things that differentiate this game from other RTS/Tower Defense games; you can move any weapons you've built freely around the map, even right on top of the Creeper! They'll take heavy damage if you do that though, so only do so when you need to take a specific location and you have a ''lot'' of them to clear it out. Even your giant Central Command Node is able to be shifted around the map (though that's like moving your King piece in chess; if you have to move it, you've either got one heck of a plan, or you've screwed up big-time somewhere). You can't move your Collectors, Relays, or Reactors though, as they are planted in the ground and are immobile.
115	* TheNicknamer: Danu readily gives nicknames to her friends in ''Creeper World 4'': "Sarge", "Hippy" and "Preacher".
116	* NonEntityGeneral: In the first game you are simply the Commander, though you are given a definitive location (Odin City, along with the rest of humanity). ''Creeper World 2'', ''3'' and ''4'' avert this fully, the PlayerCharacter is given a name and proper characterisation. ''2'' and ''3'' also give the commander from the first game a name, Skarsgard Abraxis, and integrate him into the story.
117	** ''Particle Fleet'' plays this straighter. The main characters are Ticon Corporation's board of directors, each of which serves a different role in commanding the fleet, and it's not made clear which (or even if) one of them represents the player directly. Director Ogun comes closest as he pilots the ships. The characters are still given a definitive location though, as with the other games.
118	* NoRecycling:
119	** In the first game, the energy used to power a Totem is completely lost if your energy network connection to the Totem is broken. You will have to pay to charge it up again from scratch. Likewise, if you lose connection to a Storage unit, and that brings your capacity below what you had. Meanwhile, your weapon buildings will hold onto power forever, if they don't fire.
120	** In ''Arc Eternal'', if you lose your Forge, all Aether put into it and all upgrades researched are instantly lost, even if you build a new one.
121	* OhCrap:
122	** At the end of the second game. [[spoiler: When you first hit the Nexus with a darkbeam, it starts telling you how amusing it finds your efforts, and assures you that many civilizations have tried the same attack on it through history, and they all failed. As you keep throwing more and more firepower at it, it's messages become less smug and more desperate until by the end it's alternating begging you to spare it and begging it's creeper masters to give it more power to resist you.]]
123	** Another example from the second game: you build a mini PortalNetwork throughout a level for faster transportation of units and energy. Imagine the surprise when a player discovers that enemy drones will happily use that network [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to jump straight to the gate sitting right next to the player's mothership]].
124	** The mission Archon in 4 has creeper rain down on you while disabling your tower's energy collection. Dr. Seloi's AI companions all immediately suggest to GTFO.
125	* OmnicidalManiac: The Loki's philosophy is summed up as "The Purity of Nothing."
126	* OneHitKill: In ''Particle Fleet'', hitting the command module destroys the ship regardless on any other factors. Similar to, but not exactly AttackItsWeakPoint since a command module is usually protected by the ship around it, and maneuvering for better firing angles isn't really part of the game.
127	* OneNationUnderCopyright: In ''Particle Fleet,'' Galactic Corporation has recently [[ThePurge purged the ruling aristocracy]] and installed itself as the ruling power among humanity. Among the things they do is issuing licenses for the ships you can build. So, while you can, theoretically, build any number of any ships, you are limited to the types and number of ships you have licenses for.
128	* PointDefenseless: Averted in ''Particle Fleet.'' A humble laser has the shortest range of all the weapons, but also an incredible fire rate and damage. It is specifically meant to protect your ships from being overrun by waves of enemy particles. Default ships only have between 1 and 3 of those to make it fair on the enemy. And the only reason maps don't usually include a ship that's just a sideways bar with a 2x10 array of lasers is because such ships are virtually unstoppable, able to drive right up to emitters without breaking a sweat.
129	* RammingAlwaysWorks: When two ships collide in ''Particle Fleet'', they start annihilating each other until one of their command modules gets destroyed, instantly destroying the unlucky ship. By choosing a good angle of attack, it's often possible to ram a large, expensive ship with a cheap one and come out on top. The "Hammer" ship lacks offensive weapons, but has a huge bulb of blank hull in the front. It is designed to ram straight through to the enemy's command module, and remain alive. And, since the destroyed portions of the hull are blank, they rebuild quickly. Shielded ships are also good for ramming, since their hull gets annihilated at a slower rate than that of an un-shielded enemy.
130	* RagnarokProofing: The third game takes place five ''billion'' years after the previous game, yet a surprising amount of ruins are still recognizable. Machines corrupted by the Creeper are as functional as the day they were built. Subverted in the finale, [[spoiler: where the Loki hive asks Abraxis if he ''really'' thinks that a primitive cryosleep pod could maintain his body through 5 billion years of slumber.]]
131	* RealityWarper: In ''Arc Eternal'', the Ormos dialogue mentions that its civilization could alter physics:
132	--> '''Lia:''' The final humans here managed to alter some physical constants in this region of space. As such, the Creeper flows more slowly than normal.
133	* ReinventingTheWheel:
134	** In the second game, most of your technology is disabled by {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s.
135	** In the third game, your ship has had to repair itself over and over again over several eons.
136	** Also Justified in ''Particle Fleet''. Instead of learning new technologies you use [[AmplifierArtifact power crystals]] to supercharge your manufacturing and command capabilities. The campaign is even nice enough to know how many crystals you've encountered in the previous levels and hands you them at the start of each level.
137	* TheReveal:
138	** From ''Arc Eternal'', the final world of ''Arca'' reveals that [[spoiler:[[PlayerCharater Skarsgard Abraxis]] is [[TomatoInTheMirror in fact]] [[GreaterScopeVillain The Imperator]], [[TheCorruptor responsible]] for bending the Loki to their will and instilling them with their [[OmnicidalManiac "purity of nothingness"]] philosophy. It's how he's still alive after 5 billion years.]]
139	** At a certain point in ''Particle Fleet'', the Ticon CEO is revealed to be [[spoiler:Skarsgard Abraxis' grandson]].
140	** During one of the last missions in 4, you find out that [[spoiler: you aren't traveling through space, but ''time''. You never left Mars, but each time period you arrived in, Mars was vastly changed by the ravages of time and Creeper.]]
141	* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Structures are assembled within seconds, unless the player is running a serious energy deficit or building dozens of structures at once, in which case it might take whole minutes.
142	* RockBeatsLaser: In the finale for the third game, [[spoiler:''ancient'' cruise missiles are used to take down the shields of the Loki ship, which were never designed to counter a weapon so primitive.]]
143	* SealedEvilInACan: In ''Arc Eternal'', Ormos has Creeper sealed in a subspace rift that opens and leaks it once Skars moves near it.
144	* SecretLevel: ''Creeper World 4'' has the aptly-named [[spoiler: Ever After, taking place after the campaign as an epilogue of sorts.]] The mission can be found by [[spoiler: scrolling far, far to the bottom right in the Farsite level-selection menu.]] It tasks the player with completely de-Creepering a difficult planet and letting all its forests regrow. [[spoiler: This marks the start of Danu's new life alongside her [=AI=] friends as an eternal defender of the universe.]]
145	* SequenceBreaking: You're also able to beat the final two stages of ''Arc Eternal'', Farbor and Arca, early. [[YouCantThwartStageOne You]] ''[[AvertedTrope can]]'' [[YouCantThwartStageOne Thwart Stage One]].
146	* ShoutOut: The credits state the author is a fan of multiple science fiction series. The Commander person may have been inspired by ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}'''s Commander Adama (as well as references to The Old Man), and Odin City bears a striking resemblance to [[Series/StargateAtlantis Atlantis]].
147	** The final mission of 4 has 4 [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries Obelisk of lights guarding a neutron reactor that destroy any ground unit with a laser]], and you're given airships that look [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute suspiciously similar]] to the [[Videogame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries kirov airships]].
148	* ShownTheirWork: The spread of creeper and the navigation of energy packets on the network are done with real-life scientific equations (thermal flow (Creeper in CW 1 and CW 3), the wave equation (CW 4), and A* graph search (packets)).
149	* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: In the third game, Skarsgard spent five billion years in cryosleep while the Creeper ground away at human civilizations.
150	* StableTimeLoop: ''Arc Eternal'' reveals that one of these is in existence. [[spoiler: An indescribably powerful nexus of knowledge, including total mastery of space-time, known as the Arc Eternal is revealed as the ultimate purpose of the Creeper, as one method of revealing the Arc is the collection of massive amounts of space-time data, which the Creeper does by spreading infinitely. Skarsgard, at least]] in the good ending, [[spoiler:claims the Arc and then uses its powers to set in motion the events leading to his own victory.]]
151	* SubsystemDamage: Ships in ''Particle Fleet'' ignore hitpoints for the most part, in favor of damage gradually erasing chunks of your ship's hull where the Particulate comes into contact with it. If damage overtakes a module (such as a Cannon or a Guppy), that module is destroyed until your ship has the time (and energy) to repair it. The only way for a ship to be outright destroyed is for the bridge to take damage, though this does mean that careless positioning or a reckless advance can cause a ship to die far earlier than anticipated. The Hammer, a ship designed almost solely to shield your other ships from damage, consists of just the bridge, an engine, a few particle lasers, and a ''massive'' block of armored hull in front.
152	* SubvertedCatchphrase: During the Archon mission in 4, the AIs' catchphrases immediately recommend you run from the planet.
153	--> Sarge: MISSION PRIORITY: [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere LEAVE WORLD.]] ALL OTHER PRIORITIES SUSPENDED.
154	--> Hippy: [[RunOrDie LEAVE NOW TRAVELER!]]
155	--> Preacher: [[PrayerIsALastResort FOUNDERS, HEAR OUR NEED!]]
156	* SupportPower: There are masses of undifferentiated NanoMachines on some maps, and if you can build your energy network to them, you can spend them on upgrades.
157	* TechTree: The tech tree is mostly advanced across maps in the campaign, where the player picks up artifacts and nano schematics lying around on certain maps. Build your energy network to one, and you instantly learn how to build the associated tech.
158	* TimeAbyss:
159	** Platius had been laying the groundwork for the story five billion years before the first game.
160	** The second game's WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue mentions that the human-styglek conflict would last millions of years.
161	** The third game takes place five billion years after the second.
162	* TimeTravel: [[spoiler: The big plot twist of ''4'' is that you were always traveling through ''time'' rather than space. It's just that each time period you arrived in allowed the place to look vastly different each time.]]
163	* TimedMission: It's not until the third game that ''Creeper World'' will throw these at you. There is enough time to complete the missions, though at first it might not seem that way.
164	* TowerDefense: The four main-series games have the hallmarks of this trope: towers facing a dumb endless enemy wave. But it has a few key aversions: towers move, and your goal is not to hold off the enemy till the timer runs out, but to expand to Creeper emitters and take them out (also with towers). So, "Tower Offense"? ''Particle Fleet'' loads the familiar towers onto ships, and becomes a more traditional tactical fleet game.
165	* TurnsRed: Depending on their settings, particle emitters from ''Particle Fleet'' may go into overdrive when approached, spewing out a huge amount of particles and forcing you to reevaluate the size of the force needed to take that emitter down.
166	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: In the third game's finale, the [[spoiler: Loki choice disables all base building as you take control of a starship]]. The credits level is a top-down shooter.
167	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Played with in ''Creeper World 4''. Danu spends most of the campaign trying to return to Mars, only to discover [[spoiler: she had never left. The rift lab had been transporting her through time instead of space, so while she was "home", she could never return to her own era.]]
168	* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: As previously stated, you're going to need a looooooot of energy. The method of gathering and using said energy is pretty unique, though. In the second and third games, you also manage a resource called 'Ore', governing the creation and deployment of 'Anti-Creeper', as well as 'Tech/Aether,' which is spent on upgrades. The fourth game brings in the aptly-named Redon, Greenar and Bluite crystals needed for a handful of special buildings and ammunition.

Context VideoGame / CreeperWorld