Craters

Craters is the third sector in Serpulo’s campaign. It is a snowy clearing crossed by ice formations, with five visible craters spread across the map and a large central basin. The sector is notable for teaching the player several early production systems at once: sand mining, silicon and metaglass production, fluid handling, and the logistics needed for larger multi-resource factories.

The terrain is more constrained than in earlier sectors, with scarce resource tiles and several narrow approaches into the base area. The Core can land in one of several southern locations, while the enemy approach comes from the north. This makes the sector especially good for learning how to build a compact economy and a defensive line at the same time. Craters also unlocks important technology related to silicon and metaglass, including higher-tier production and campaign progression toward factories such as Ground Factory and Core: Foundation.

Enemy pressure starts out light, but the sector becomes more dangerous as the waves progress. Most early attacks are Crawlers, which can be stalled cheaply by placing blocks, conveyors, or power nodes in their path so they detonate before reaching your defenses. Later waves add Dagger and Flare groups, and the final wave includes a Zenith guardian. The sector’s wave pattern gives enough time between attacks to expand production, but the last waves can punish unprepared power and turret setups.

Practical notes for clearing the sector:

• Use the early waves to establish sand, silicon, and power production quickly. If you can, begin metaglass research early, since it is required for many fluid-related blocks and for upgrading your factory chain.
• Because ore deposits are limited, boosting drills matters more than usual. Water-based infrastructure is valuable here, since it increases drill output and turret performance.
• A good defensive plan is to hold the southern drop zone while sealing off the northern chokepoints with Copper Wall and Large Copper Wall segments.
• Duos and other basic turrets can handle the early ground threats, while Scatters are the most important answer to the Zenith guardian. Placing them near Batteries is useful, since Zeniths like to target power storage.
• If Crawlers begin breaking through, cheap sacrificial blocks placed in their path will force them to explode early and protect your walls.
• If you have the resources, exploit the sector’s sand and coal to produce graphite; it is not essential for the map itself, but it helps with broader campaign research and ammunition supply.

Overall, Craters is a tutorial-like sector with unusually dense mechanical lessons: it asks the player to move beyond simple mining and basic turrets, and into coordinated production, fluid logistics, and layered defense.