Welcome to my "Basic Early-Game Build Strategy" guide for Impossible Creatures. Although, I am by no means a great player, I hope to be able to improve fellow players knowledge of the early-game and the strategies surrounding it, even if it is just one person. I hope you have as much enjoyment reading this as I did writing it!

As I just explained a little in the previous paragraph, my main aim with this guide is to improve fellow players knowledge of how to play during the early-game. As someone who has been visiting the Steam community page for IC daily since it released on here, I have seen a fair share of threads of players who are struggling during the campaign especially with early rushes which I definitely struggled with myself when I first started playing. This is the main inspiration for creating this guide, and I do hope to help those players with advancing in the game and getting as much enjoyment out of it as I have!

I intend to make edits to this guide over the coming days, so definitely leave any suggestions in the comments! This is my first guide so critique is certainly welcome!

The early-game stage is (in my opinion, at least) from the beginning of a match (Level 1) until you officially enter Level 3. Now, this is of course the stage of the game I am going to be covering in this guide. First of all though, you need to know what to prioritize and what not to.

Your main priority during the early game is resource, and more specifically coal. A rule you should follow across all areas of the game is to have 2 henchmen per coal pile, this maximizes coal production efficiency and eliminates any idle henchmen. So, if you say have 5 coal piles at your lab when you begin the game, you should aim to build at least 10 henchmen before hitting the Level 2 button, I personally create around 14. Electricity as a resource this early in the game shouldn't be as prioritized as coal, but you should aim to have 2 lightning rods before hitting the Level 2 button, and you should have them before the 1:30 mark.

Research and Combat are much less of a priority this early in the game. Research should be essentially non-existent prior to Level 2. At Level 2, I usually aim to create a genetic amplifier or 2 and a research clinic and upgrade my Level 2 creatures (I use a Level 2 melee creature so I usually upgrade it's melee first followed by it's defense and health) and research 'Strengthen Electrical Grid'. Combat is all a matter of preference in my opinion during the early-game, I generally don't start attacking seriously until Level 3 and only make 10-15 Level 2 creatures for defense or to scout the map. Although, if you're someone who is stronger during the early-game or favours attacking at this time, you may want to prioritize it over Research and instead focus on building a healthy army of 15+ creatures to attack at Level 2. Combat at Level 1, should generally be avoided unless you're either aiming to Level 1 rush your enemy or you are pressured into it by your enemy if they decided to Level 1 rush, which in that case, if you aren't using an army with a Level 1, I recommend just trying to spam soundbeam towers in order to fend off the attack. I would recommend trying to build soundbeam towers rather than trying to kill the creatures with henchmen, as the henchmen require a fair bit of attention and can easily get poisoned. During an early rush, you also don't want to take all your henchmen off of coal, as this completely stops coal production and hurts your chances of successfully repelling the attack.

The strategy from Level 1 to Level 2 is fairly simple and revolves around getting as much resources as quickly and efficently as possible without sacrificing a slow advancement to Level 2. First of all, put your first 3 henchmen on coal and proceed to create 4 more at the lab with a spawnpoint set on the coal piles. As soon as you get 150 coal take one henchmen aside and get him to build a lightning rod (ideally you want there to be one square between your lab and this lightning rod to leave space for a helpful soundbeam tower later on). Now, wait again until you have another 150 coal and then take a second henchmen aside and build a second lightning rod (ideally you want this rod to be one square away from your lab and one square away from your other lightning rod). Once the first lightning rod is done take the henchmen that was building it and put him back on coal and create another henchmen at the lab as well, as you should have another 100 coal at this point. Continue producing henchmen at the lab until the second rod is done, then move the henchmen that was building it back on to coal. Keep producing henchmen until you either have roughly 275-285 electricity or have 14 henchmen (remember to NEVER have an idle lab at Level 1 and to always be producing henchmen until Level 2). If you get 280ish electricity first, by the time you have 310-330 you should have 200 coal ready to enter Level 2, which you should hit the button to immediately once you have the required resources and 14 henchmen at around 2:00. If you do all of this correctly, you should be at Level 2 in no more than 2:40.

Once you have hit the button to go to Level 2, you want to do 2 things. Take 2 henchmen away from coal - these 2 henchmen will be your builders for the remainder of the game, replace them if they die, of course - and make a third lightning rod. Depending on the amount of coal you have at your lab you also want to take any extra henchmen and have them build a workshop at a coal expansion outside of your lab (if you have 4 coal piles at your lab, for example, take any extra henchmen on top of the 8 that should be gathering coal at your lab (2 henchmen for every coal pile) and the 2 that should be building; if you have built 14 henchmen you should have 4 extras). If you are on a rare map with 6 or more coal piles at your lab you might find there is no need to expand (and waste 250 coal on a workshop), but if you are playing on Insect Invasion or Tellurian, you may just want to expand anyway in order to get the helpful resource converter found in workshops. After you have sent extra henchmen to find a coal expansion, you want to then split your building henchmen up to have one build a lightning rod and the other build a creature chamber a little bit outside of your base (if you are planning on attacking early at Level 2) or close to your base (if you just want one to defend against attacks). Once the who is building a lighning rod is finished, have him build a fourth rod. When the second one is finished have him build an electrical generator if you plan on rushing to Level 3, otherwise just conserve resources and have him help build the fourth rod. Once you begin to build these structures, Level 2 should finish researching.

And that is what I believe to be the best Level 1 to Level 2 build strategy. It has certainly worked for me up until now and hopefully it will work for you too.

The strategy during Level 2 is quite a bit more interesting and 'looser' than the strategy at Level 1. At Level 2 you want resource to continue to be a big priority, but you also want to expand your base more and make combat a priority as well alongside a bit of research. As soon as you get into Level 2, your 2 building henchmen should still be building. You should also have a workshop set-up at a coal expansion by now as well. You want to hit the button to advanced structures at your lab as soon as possible, which you should be able to do relatively quickly. Once one of your building henchmen have completed their respective structure get him to either build a water chamber if you have any aquatic creatures at all in your army (especially if these aquatic creatures are at Level 2 or Level 3) or save the coal and start producing Level 2 creatures. After the advanced structures research is done, start filling your coal expansion with henchmen (2 for every 1 coal pile), remember if you are playing Insect Invasion or Tellurian you can set the henchmen spawn-point on the workshop to have them spawn from there. Around this point also, your second henchmen should be done their structure and you then want him to build a research clinc. Make sure if you have an electrical generator, to continue to upgrade it throughout Level 2.

Once your henchmen that was building a water chamber is done, bring him back to your base and have him help build the research clinic. You should be able to continue building creatures throughout this time, how many depends a lot on how you play at Level 2 (defensively or aggresively). Once your research clinic is done, you want to research 'Henchmen Yoke' followed by 'Henchmen Motivational Speech' if you are playing Insect Invasion and 'Strengthen Electrical Grid' if you are playing Tellurian. Once you have built and researched everything you want (whether it be a building a healthy army of creatures or just researching things) and have the resources, you want to hit the button to go to Level 3, aiming to be at Level 3 in roughly 6 minutes or less. During the research time, just focus on building up a decent army of Level 2 creatures (depending on if you are attacking or defending). You may also want to build an electrical generator if you still haven't and a genetic amplifier to upgrade your Level 3 creature's stats. Otherwise, I would also recommend conserving resources for Level 3, as the mid-game tends to be where everything begins to get really interesting.

And that is essentially the strategy at Level 2 to Level 3. As with the Level 1 to Level 2 strategy, this is roughly the same strategy I use at this stage in the game and it has worked well for me so far. With this strategy, I also recommend adapting it to your play-style, and to use it more so as a guideline rather than an instruction manual.

Although there aren't many, the Campaign in Impossible Creatures comes with it's fair share of differences that can affect some of the strategies you use. The largest is most definitely the ability to use Rex (especially the further into the game you get). On top of being able to collect animal DNA, Rex can also use his gun to damage/kill enemy creatures with a click on them. This ability is most useful during missions when you are attacked early and don't have quite as much time to build your base up and defend with creatures or soundbeam towers, as well as early in the game when your units aren't as strong. From memory, missions where you are rushed rather early include Mission 2, Mission 4, Mission 8 and Mission 9. During these missions, your ability to use Rex and his gun effectively can mean the difference between winning and losing. Another thing to help with these missions (most notably Mission 2), is to go into them with a Level 1 creature. For me, the only time I have really used any Level 1 creatures is during the Campaign to avoid getting demolished during these rushes.

Lucy is also another important asset you have during the Campaign, as she of course acts as a fourth henchmen from the beginning of a match, meaning you can easily only build 3 henchmen at the lab initially and instead build a lightning rod right off the bat. There are also missions throughout the Campaign where you are given 'extras' from the start which can dramatically affect your early-game build strategy, these missions are mostly found very early into the Campaign, meaning they don't provide a massive aid due to this stage in the game of course being fairly easy, although there are few later into the Campaign which can be very helpful. If you are able to use these 'extras' effectively, they can also dramatically turn the tide of battle.

Another difference in the Campaign during the early-game is the way in which you collect animal DNA. The quicker you are able to collect all of the animal DNA in a given mission, can also mean having access to more powerful creatures in a quicker amount of time. The missions where you collect very powerful animals such as the Gorilla, Hippopotamous, Rhinoceros, Sperm Whale and Elephant, can be completed much easily and quicker if you are able to get these animals early into the mission. Another thing to remember is that in some missions, there are several ways to complete them, and that the most obvious way isn't always going to be the easiet nor quickest way, meaning you should find the best way that suits you.

With those last two points, I believe I have covered all of the major differences between a normal game in Player vs Computer or Online and the Campaign, although definitely mention any you think I have missed in the comments!

And with that last bit covered, I believe I have gone through just about everything to do with the "Basic Early-Game Build Strategy" for Impossible Creatures! I'd also like to credit fellow IC player and Tellurian Developer PALAN-G for teaching me quite a lot to do with the game and how it works, a lot of which has been used in this guide. I hope you have enjoyed reading this guide and hope you have learnt something! I look forward to this community growing and also look forward to the hopefully renewed future of Impossible Creatures!