Atomicrops – Walkthrough Guide + Tips [2021]

Getting Started

 
[NOTICE: MAJOR UPDATE just came in, so some stuff here is definitely out of date. Will be update for real this time soonish] 
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CHARACTER SELECTION: 
 
Lavender – 20% faster growth speed is very useful in later seasons when you need big harvests to fund your gun-shopping and get seasonal rewards. The 2 Bees are great since they fertilize crops AND mega-crops if you let them. 
 
Rye – Starting with a turret is a godsend if you get unlucky with camps on Day 1 or 2. Having a 50% chance of keeping your gun is handy if you managed to get good upgrades, but you might have to switch it out anyways if you plan on clearing a biome that doesn’t suit it. 
 
Robusta – Purely for self-challenge, do not pick if you are bad at twin-stick shooters or multi-tasking like a god. If you do pick him, good luck! 
 
Dandelion – Starting with Cleats, Crampons, and Flying is amazing. Moving like a drunk ostrich on Day 1 in Year 10 is not amazing. Do not pick for Year 10. Probably more fun for a casual run. 
 
Thyme – Best choice in my opinion. You get around a whole minute more during daytime and extra time between night waves. However, you lose -20 seconds whenever you get hit, but if you’re getting hit that often in Year 10, you’re dead anyways. (And the free pig is really nice too) 
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ANT UPGRADES: 
 
Legacy upgrades (bonuses you get for completion of a previous run) are not necessary, but they are extremely helpful since you can get some excellent starting items like Lardor Rake. Otherwise, I recommend getting as many ant upgrades as you can, especially ones that improve running speed or daytime length. 
 
*Note: The Alien Ant upgrades are definitely worth grinding for, since they all upgrade your starter gun which can help immensely during Spring.* 
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Quick Tips: 
 
>Multitask by uprooting any nearby weeds wherever you walk, this saves a lot of trouble later on and gives a headstart for energizing. If you’re quick, you can uproot weeds while shooting enemies to stay energized. Uprooting *small* weeds is also the fastest way to get energized early game while your farming stats are low. 
 
>Don’t be idle. Uproot weeds or water/fertilize crops if you’re not doing anything else, be constantly busy, even while you’re scrolling through seeds and avoiding skulls. Feel free to pull up the map/menu for a mental break if needed. 
 
>Always plan to sow seeds in a 2×2 if you can, so that you can make mega-crops whenever you have enough fertilizer (If you have 3 fully grown crops, merging with a fourth crop will still make the mega-crop ready to harvest!). Avoid planting Roses/Sunflowers especially if you don’t have four seeds. Extra roses go a long way, and a Mega-Sunflower is worth a whopping $1500. Only plant single sunflowers during Spring or when you feel like you need a bit of extra cash for the next day. 
 
>Strafe Strafe Strafe and Kite! Circle around enemies to avoid being in a barrage of bullets and try to pull individuals away from camps/waves so you can pick them off one-by-one. And avoid standing in the middle of the farm right when the next wave hits. 
 
>Never stop moving in order to avoid off-screen threats. Year 10 constantly throws enemies and skulls your way so vigilance is necessary. That said, sometimes a shadow-bird or bull will catch you off-guard, but don’t worry about it. Unless you’re at one heart, then yes you should worry. 
 
>Know which guns are best for which Biome. Guns with fast reload or fire rate are best for the Plains/Jungle Biomes due to the speed and high number of enemies. Guns with high single-target damage or long range are best for the Desert/Tundra Biomes where enemies spam bullets and have tricky movesets. 
 
*Disclaimer: I did my practice runs and final run with Thyme, but the guide should be helpful for other characters since they don’t differ that much in terms of gameplay in the long run* 
 
*Additional Disclaimer: I completed Year 10 using Mouse + Keyboard controls. It’s clunkier than a game controller, but I think more accurate aiming and farm management is worth it* 
 
 

Quick Guide for Tractors/Guns/Animals

 
TRACTOR TIPS: 
 
>Megaton Tractor: All-purpose nuke, if you have this, congratulations, you’ve won the run as long as you don’t run into bullets/enemies. Can clear camps, insta-grow crops/tree harvests, and expands your farm. Don’t be afraid to use a charge if you’re in a tight spot in the outskirts, better to waste a charge than be dead. 
 
>Tunneler Tractor: Handy if you need to get back to base quickly, and steadily expands your farm. (Try to use natural burrows rather than the tractor since 1 charge = 1 extra soil plot) 
 
>Wood Chipper Tractor: Great for clearing out camps and enemy waves while making fertilizer. Especially useful versus minion-spamming bosses like The Bundertaker or U.F.B.. Be mindful being hit by enemies that get dragged to it. 
 
>Sprinkler Tractor: Excellent pickup if you haven’t gotten many cows yet by mid-year. Can be strategically used to farm high-tier crops for their seeds and even tree saplings (sometimes). 
 
>Wacker Tractor: Excellent for seeds/weed harvesting if you’re bad at clearing weeds or have no chickens or weedwacker item. If you have a well-kept lawn and lots of chickens/turkeys, this is not as useful. 
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GUN GUIDE: 
 
>Cattling Gun: No longer as good since it got nerfed, but still an excellent pick for most situations, especially boss fights. Avoid using in the Plains/Jungle Biomes if you have no upgrades that reduce slowdown. Being unable to avoid/shoot the more numerous enemies due to the slowdown is a death sentence. 
 
>Biodegrader: Good on its own, overpowered when fully upgraded (especially with the triple ammo upgrade). Can clear any camp with a few well placed volleys, fast reload, great crowd control. 
 
>Spud-Rifle: Great all-purpose weapon when upgraded with zap/homing. No reloading needed, so you can just hold the fire button and concentrate on aiming/dodging. 
 
>Parsniper Rifle: Excellent for Desert/Tundra Biomes and deals massive damage to bosses. Terrible at crowd control without zap/piercing upgrades. The crit damage was nerfed, so if you aren’t confident with your aiming, get a gun with faster reloading. 
 
>Jack-Rabbit 12: Rapid Fire shotgun is good for close encounters and crowd control. Unfortunately, many enemies like to shoot bullets from far away. Can perform well in all Biomes if used correctly though. 
 
>Sriracha Soaker: Bad without upgrades. Decent with upgrades and for clearing Jungle/Plains Biomes. Terrible boss damage. 
 
>Rusty SMG: Not great compared to other guns, very solid when fully upgraded, but avoid if you can only afford 1-2 upgrades. 
 
>Squirrel Launcher: Can net you extra seeds if you’re low and deals decent damage. Requires precision aiming and ammo conservation to use properly. Not easy to use during Year 10 when everything is hyper-caffinated. 
 
>Shallotgun: Upgrades can make this okay. But really only useful for players that are good at getting up close to enemies and the Plains/Jungle Biomes due to the number of enemies that like to invade your personal space. 
 
>Blunderbloom: 2x Damage up close with lots of explosive damage upgrades? Good! Obscuring your field of vision in a twin-stick shooter while doing low damage to bosses with an abysmal reload rate? Bad. 
 
>Butcher’s Knife: Actually decent gun for early game in the Desert/Tundra Biomes if you have nothing better. Just as hard to aim/use as Squirrel Launcher. Slightly better than Blunderbloom, but has no crowd control. 
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ANIMAL MANUAL: 
 
>Pigs/Hogs: Tills Soil for you, sometimes expands your farm, and makes better tilled soil! Hogs also do knockback damage to enemy minions! Cows are more important in the early game, but 4-6 pigs can do wonders for your farm management. 
 
>Cows: They water your crops for you. Enough Said. Always pick cows over any other animal, especially early game. You’ll need around 4-6 cows if you want a self-sufficient farm, depending on its size. (I like to keep the number of cows and turrets around the same if possible) 
 
>Turkeys: Eats weeds fast and eggs are worth a lot, especially with egg upgrades. 
 
>Hummingbird: They’re Bigger Better Stronger Bees. 
 
>Chicken: Chickens are a situational pick. If you have the Weedwacker/Wacker Tractor, you can just harvest the weeds yourself and pick another more useful animal. If you manage to get the Fertilized Eggs upgrade, then it is absolutely worth grabbing 1-2 chickens to grow a flock of chickens for weed management and their eggs. 
 
>Bee: Very cute. Fertilizes crops for free…slowly. Useful early game with Lavender. Definitely not better than a cow/pig/turret. 
 
 

Heartbeets/Blood Moons

 
HEARTBEETS ARE CONFUSING: 
 
Heartbeets are extremely confusing to figure out for a new player. After a lot of personal experiments and comparing notes to other players, here are a handful of key rules to keep in mind when using your precious heartbeets efficiently for the madness of Year 10. (These are personal tips so they may be wrong, and I don’t know the official percentages used in the game). 
 
(1) The only way to increase your life total is by planting and harvesting Heartbeets (Aside from special item upgrades). In order to obtain 1 extra heart, you must harvest 4 Heartsprouts (unofficial name). If you are at full health, harvesting 1 unfertilized Heartbeet will contribute 2 Heartsprouts to your life total. If you are at less-than-full health, harvesting 1 unfertilized Heartbeet will contribute 1 Heartsprout to your life total. 
 
(2) Fertilizing a Heartbeet consumes slightly more fertilizer than a normal crop. Fertilized Heartbeets have an *increased chance* of yielding an additional Heartsprout. It’s not guaranteed *unless you fully fertilize the Heartbeet*, so if you are low on fertilizer and money, prioritize fertilizing your more valuable crops first and just harvest the regular Heartbeet if needed. 
 
(3) Merging a Mega-Heartbeet is very fertilizer-heavy. Fertilizing a Mega-Heartbeet is even more fertilizer-heavy. An unfertilized Mega-Heartbeet yields 5 Heartbeets = 2.5 extra Hearts if you’re at full health. A Fertilized Mega-Heartbeet can yield up to 2 additional Heartsprouts for a total of 3 extra Hearts. 
 
(4) Conclusion: Unless you have the Participation Trophy item which merges crops for free, it’s more efficient to plant and fertilize individual Heartbeets as soon as you get them in order to increase your life total. And even if you have free merging, it’s not worth fertilizing Mega-Heartbeets unless you have nothing else better to fertilize. 
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HOW TO RECOGNIZE IF A BLOOD MOON WILL SCREW YOU OVER: 
 
There is now a fairly high chance of a Blood Moon appearing at least once during your run. These can affect how well you do during Year 10, depending on what season it appears, what type of moon it is, and how much loot you get from it. As far as I can tell, the type of moon you get is completely random. What is not random, is that the Moon-Muncher (unofficial name) will always appear soon after the Blood Moon begins. I recommend avoiding it and finding the nearest burrow back to your farm. 
 
 
 
Moon-Muncher (unofficial name). The possible lunar cousin of the Chain-Chomp 
 

 
 
 
Blue Moon (unofficial name) 
 
 
 
Harvest Turnip. Although it could be a Rutabaga 
 

 
 
 
Purple Moon (unofficial name) 
 
 
 
The Bunny Witch. (Don’t shorten the name you naughty children) 
 

 
 
 
Full Blood Moon (unofficial name) 
 
 
 
Goo-Coccon. Shoot to pop.