Knuckle Cracker

Creeper World 2 => Code Mission Discussion => Topic started by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 04:41:54 AM

Title: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 04:41:54 AM
This is a mission to discover which code delivers the most fun map, based on country names, on large/high setting.

Thereby, we will find the 'best' country code.

The secondary objective is to post a high score for every country in the world - or find out if any are impossible.

Let me know here what countries you've completed and I'll add it to the list below - also feel free to discuss the attributes of the maps and decide if you want to nominate it as 'fun'.

You can use any legitimate country name and I will accept multiple variations - i.e. USA, U.S.A., United States of America.

Also, ethnic and international variations are welcome - i.e. The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa (The Land of the Long White Cloud), while the French name is Nouvelle-Zélande. Please let me know in English what country your code pertains to so I can keep the list in order!

There are around 230 countries in the world - though the exact number is in dispute. Is Western Sahara a country or a disputed territory? Is Tibet a country or an autonomous region?

We'd better leave politics out of this, so if someone uses an outdated/unpopular/colonial term, please just accept it for what it is - a string of code used to generate a map. I wonder how long it'll take someone to wind up the Dutch community by referring to their homeland as 'Holland'?!

It'll be interesting to see how long it takes us to cover the world, and if there's a mad scramble to be the first to post a score against Djibouti..!


UN Countries List - not a complete list, feel free to add variations as above.

Completed = Struck Through

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Aotearoa [New Zealand]
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma [Myanmar]
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Republic of the)
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
česká republika [Czech Republic]
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
England
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Gaza
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Great Britain
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Holland
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia (Federated States of)
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
The Philippines
Poland
Polska [Poland]
Rzeczpospolita Polska [Poland]
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Timor Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United Republic of Tanzania
USA
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Vietnam
Wales
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe


Countries presumed 'impossible' - feel free to prove us wrong:

Republic of Korea Done by Kithros
Saudi Arabia Kudos to Kithros who proved us wrong!



Countries considered 'fun' or challenging - feel free to nominate or dispute:

Andorra
Angola (Exp)
Argentina
Armenia (Exp)
Bahamas
Bhutan (Exp)
Brunei
Burundi
česká republika
Cambodia
Columbia
Comoros
Croatia
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Gabon
Georgia (Exp)
Great Britain (Exp)
Guinea-Bissau
Indonesia
Japan
Kyrgyzstan
Madagascar
Marshall Islands
Montenegro
New Zealand (Exp)
Niger (Exp)
Palestine
Philippines
Polska
Tajikistan
The Philippines
Tanzania (Exp)
Thailand
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Tunisia
Singapore
Spain
United States (Exp)
Uzbekistan




Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 04:45:27 AM

New Zealand

Well, what a surprise - I'm at the top of the list!

New Zealand was fun due to high strength emitters, zero gravity, strong drones and the availability of experimental weapons.

Fun map, recommended to anyone wanting to play with experimentals, but not looking for a drawn out slugfest.

Will suit chronic over-builders!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 04:28:41 PM

Djibouti completed.

Bit of a slugfest - the high gravity in an awkward direction made it a bit of a challenge though.

19 minutes. Sheesh!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 01, 2011, 06:57:32 PM
USA
!

Good thread.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 09:28:35 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 01, 2011, 06:57:32 PM
USA

Good thread.

Hooray - someone wants to play with me!

Updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Grauniad on December 01, 2011, 09:37:48 PM
I checked out the USA map and it's pretty boring. I also checked out "United States of America" and while it has 0-g, it is still a walk in the park.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Ebon Heart on December 01, 2011, 10:02:59 PM
Quote from: Grauniad on December 01, 2011, 09:37:48 PM
I checked out the USA map and it's pretty boring. I also checked out "United States of America" and while it has 0-g, it is still a walk in the park.
You have to remember, for most United States citizens, a walk in the park is a lot to ask for. :P
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: CobraKill on December 01, 2011, 10:06:11 PM
Sure not me ;) Truly though a walk in the park is a night of no homework. Too bad I never have those.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 01, 2011, 11:16:33 PM
Quote from: Grauniad on December 01, 2011, 09:37:48 PM
I checked out the USA map and it's pretty boring. I also checked out "United States of America" and while it has 0-g, it is still a walk in the park.

Yep - we're gonna get a few of those. Probably quite a few!

However, The United States of America (note the 'The') provides a moderately more interesting map.

Didja check out New Zealand? I was stoked that my country/the first country I tried provided such a fun experience!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 02, 2011, 12:35:54 AM
Afghanistan is another that isn't very hard. Somewhat time consuming due to the need to fight through one really large chamber, but you have unlimited time and lots of build space to prepare.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 02, 2011, 02:58:51 AM
Quote from: Katra on December 02, 2011, 12:35:54 AM
Afghanistan is another that isn't very hard. Somewhat time consuming due to the need to fight through one really large chamber, but you have unlimited time and lots of build space to prepare.

Updated
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 02, 2011, 03:00:36 AM
Kenya

Didn't look too hard, but it was difficult to gain a toe-hold.

In the end it took me an age 'cos I used up all my crystal energy and my weapons were starving.

Good map, but what a grind!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 02, 2011, 05:28:54 AM
I started "West By God Virginia" and it was pretty interesting...then I realized that some of you might not consider it a separate country.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 03, 2011, 12:51:12 AM
Canada is also quite unremarkable.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 04:46:41 AM
Quote from: Katra on December 03, 2011, 12:51:12 AM
Canada is also quite unremarkable.

I dunno - you've got mountains, lakes, forests and mineral wealth...

:)

Updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 04:49:23 AM

Tanzania is fun.

Uber emitters, zero gravity and experimentals to play with.

What is it with countries with a 'Z' in them? Does the code generate maps with experimentals?

A little slow to gain a toe hold on - good time challenge.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Grauniad on December 03, 2011, 09:58:40 AM
You wrote USA, but by all accounts (your and mine) we also played "United States of America" and "The United States of America."

But we haven't yet played "That country where men are men and sheep are very afraid." :P
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Ebon Heart on December 03, 2011, 10:43:12 AM
Quote from: Katra on December 03, 2011, 12:51:12 AM
Canada is also quite unremarkable.
I've been to Canada, I can vouch for this.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 03, 2011, 04:22:34 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 04:49:23 AM

Tanzania is fun.

Uber emitters, zero gravity and experimentals to play with.

What is it with countries with a 'Z' in them? Does the code generate maps with experimentals?

A little slow to gain a toe hold on - good time challenge.

I second your opinion of Tanzania. Fun map.

Doesn't seem to have anything to do with z, I didn't get an experimental map on several other countries with z in...

I think I found an impossible country. Saudi Arabia has zero G, experimentals, a surface emitter in the center and nowhere to dig in. (Rocks on the left, another pool of creeper on the right.) I Never lasted long enough for the phantoms to launch.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 03, 2011, 05:25:07 PM
@Katra - sounds more like the Hindu Kush than Saudi - rocks, no place to hide, creeps all over the place.

Can't wait to try it!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 03, 2011, 05:34:31 PM
 ;D  Actually Saudi Arabia is mostly desert. Sand, rock, and no place to hide. With vast pools of liquid (oil) just beneath the surface.

Holland makes a real fun map. You'll want to stick a finger in the dike real quick.  ;)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 03, 2011, 06:07:24 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 03, 2011, 12:51:12 AM
Canada is also quite unremarkable.

Eh?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: TonyP2000 on December 03, 2011, 08:17:09 PM
I just played Japan.

The start is cool with a kinda strong surface emitter. Other than that it was ok.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 08:23:10 PM

Added Holland and Japan.

Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 08:25:40 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 03, 2011, 04:22:34 PM

I think I found an impossible country. Saudi Arabia has zero G, experimentals, a surface emitter in the center and nowhere to dig in. (Rocks on the left, another pool of creeper on the right.) I Never lasted long enough for the phantoms to launch.


Added Saudi Arabia to 'impossible' - everyone feel free to try to crack it!

If we get stuck we could always try variations like 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia' - but we'd need to make sure it's a legitimate title.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 08:33:17 PM
Quote from: Grauniad on December 03, 2011, 09:58:40 AM

You wrote USA, but by all accounts (your and mine) we also played "United States of America" and "The United States of America."


USA has a score posted against it, "United States of America" and "The United States of America" do not, so I assumed that while we'd had a look at them, nobody had played them to completion. I decided against including them in the 'countries completed' list as the stated secondary objective was to post scores.

Quote from: Grauniad on December 03, 2011, 09:58:40 AM

But we haven't yet played "That country where men are men and sheep are very afraid." :P


Wales? Australia? Albania? You'll have to be a little more specific! Actually, while living in the UK I got sick of all the sheep jokes aimed at us Kiwi's - just because we had a human population of 3 million and a sheep population of 90 million... That's 30 sheep for every man, woman and child in the country...!!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 03, 2011, 09:47:49 PM

Malawi.

No vices, no virtues.

Dull with a capital 'Duh'.

Nice country though.

Those of you with any sense of geography might have noticed a trend in my posted countries - it's almost as if I was reliving an overland trip across 12,500kms of Eastern and Southern Africa. Where will I go next? Does anyone care? Stay tuned - or wander off to the 'fridge for a snack. You choose...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 04, 2011, 12:03:17 AM
Vanuatu completed. Might be a nice fight if it wasn't for the long dig to get to it. (Map is an instant win on small.)

Handy list of UN nations (http://www.worldometers.info/united-nations/).

Edit. Israel.

Rather a wimp of an experimental map. No point in even building a dark beam for the few weak drones; just build and chuck conversion bombs. (With a squad of blasters to handle the drones.) Probably not too bad even with only conventional weapons if someone were so inclined.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 04, 2011, 02:50:24 AM
Quote from: Katra on December 04, 2011, 12:03:17 AM

Vanuatu completed. Might be a nice fight if it wasn't for the long dig to get to it. (Map is an instant win on small.)

Israel.

Rather a wimp of an experimental map.


Added Israel and Vanuatu.

Nice to see less obvious countries getting a workout - I wouldn't have picked Vanuatu being done in the first 10%.


Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 04, 2011, 06:48:00 AM
Mongolia - meh.
China - Big, boring, and easy to take out with the right weapons. Quite realistic, actually.

Tanzania - concur. That was fun!

Russian Federation - nothing worth seeing - stepped all over them.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 04, 2011, 01:51:55 PM
Mongolia
China
Russian Federation

Added.

Well done guys - we're nearly 5% done already!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 04, 2011, 08:37:59 PM
Completed:
Chad
Cameroon  Both decent experimental maps.

Belize   Really tough fight at the end - 61.5M titan with no experimentals. Be sure to save some crystal energy; I ended up with 62 launchers firing into the titan chamber from 2 sides.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 05, 2011, 07:02:41 AM
Cuba - smoked it like a cheap cigar - not much fun.

Looked at Belize and will give it a go.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 02:06:31 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 04, 2011, 08:37:59 PM
Completed:
Chad
Cameroon  Both decent experimental maps.

Belize   Really tough fight at the end - 61.5M titan with no experimentals. Be sure to save some crystal energy; I ended up with 62 launchers firing into the titan chamber from 2 sides.

Updated.

Also Cuba updated.

Did you want to nominate any of these for the 'fun' list?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 03:14:55 PM

Mozambique completed.

Standard map - no surprises.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 05, 2011, 04:22:11 PM
Argentina is definitely a candidate for the fun list.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 05:20:43 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 05, 2011, 04:22:11 PM
Argentina is definitely a candidate for the fun list.

I see what you mean!

Updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: CobraKill on December 05, 2011, 05:59:28 PM
Marshall Islands start with a a 405K surface emmitor. Pretty Fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 06:11:55 PM
Quote from: CobraKill on December 05, 2011, 05:59:28 PM
Marshall Islands start with a a 405K surface emmitor. Pretty Fun.

Updated.

Also Zimbabwe - standard map, no surprises.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 05, 2011, 07:40:25 PM
Columbia is another fun map. Two chambers at the bottom with long period fields that can be put to good use if you time it right.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 09:03:08 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 05, 2011, 07:40:25 PM
Columbia is another fun map. Two chambers at the bottom with long period fields that can be put to good use if you time it right.

Woah!

You forgot to mention heavy sideways gravity, sideways build, strong drones...

What else aren't you telling us?!

Updated...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 05, 2011, 10:04:05 PM


Zambia - an 'upside-down' map with negative gravity and build direction.

A little awkward, but not much of a challenge.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 06, 2011, 03:05:48 PM
Bahamas

Really fun. Starts with 17 HP drones separated from surface by 1 square of decaying terrain and frequent waves of 10 phantoms. No easily available crystals (the easiest is in that square of decaying terrain) and little build space. Then once you fight your way down to the bottom you end up with a 65M titan neatly cornered. With an immediately adjacent gateway.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 07, 2011, 11:15:32 AM
Bahama Mama!
Bring out the big guns for that one.
Fun game.

Attached is an Excel 2003 spreadsheet with the actual UN names - but with a ".dat" extension. To use it, save it to your system and rename the extension to ".xls".

Working "Uzbekistan" and it is a fun game so far.
EDIT:
Finished it. A good fun start, but then is just build your energy and smoke a bunch of Creeper.
Worth playing the first 10 minutes for sure.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 07, 2011, 02:20:02 PM

Bahamas

Updated - and added to the 'fun' list!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 07, 2011, 03:04:36 PM

Botswana.

Started well - surface emitter and drones - but they were easily attended to and it became a standard map
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 07, 2011, 06:43:32 PM
Qatar

pretty standard map.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 07, 2011, 07:52:02 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 07, 2011, 06:43:32 PM
Qatar

pretty standard map.

Updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 08, 2011, 02:22:08 PM
Would you/could you edit your first post and list all of the countries from the UN link?
As they are completed, you could line them out and make it easier for us to see who's next on the hit list.

Thanks,
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Colin on December 08, 2011, 03:19:32 PM
I'm working on Saudi Arabia, and I think
it should be possible, haven't quite got
a foot hold yet, but I'm using Kithros'
strategy he used here (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7236.300).
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 08, 2011, 03:46:05 PM
Quote from: Colin on December 08, 2011, 03:19:32 PM
I'm working on Saudi Arabia, and I think
it should be possible, haven't quite got
a foot hold yet, but I'm using Kithros'
strategy he used here (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7236.300).

It is indeed possible, let me know if you want any hints to how I did it - I don't actually have a dark beam running, but since I've nullified both emitters at the surface I consider that good enough to say it's possible.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 08, 2011, 06:28:26 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 08, 2011, 03:46:05 PM
It is indeed possible, let me know if you want any hints to how I did it

When I slide the LS back and forth over that Shield to the left, there are no packets getting through. There must be something simple about that process that I don't understand.
Thanks,
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: mthw2vc on December 08, 2011, 06:50:14 PM
Spoiler
There needs to be a shield (ideally 2) above the surface for that trick to work. It relies on the fact that shields keep creeper out of their interiors to continue sending packets out to underground targets even after the surface has been completely overrun.
[close]
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 08, 2011, 07:27:57 PM
Ethiopia

Another fun map. Up-left gravity and upside down building, lots of separate chambers with fields.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 08, 2011, 07:39:38 PM
@mthw2vc - thank you. Good trick to know.

"Albania" is done. Fun start and the first few minutes are worth playing.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: TheBlaster on December 08, 2011, 07:58:14 PM
France, boring. :-\
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 09, 2011, 01:23:34 AM

Woo-hoo!

Lots of activity today!

Sorry, gonna be AFK for a couple of days - going out to the family bach (holiday home) to get it ready for summer rentals. My sister is in Australia and my brother is in California, so see if you can guess who has to do all the maintenance and manage the lettings..!

http://www.bookabach.co.nz/baches-and-holiday-homes/view/18170

Got a job list as long as my arm and no internet connection out there!!

Will update everything when I get back.

Nice idea re: list of countries DBIT, great work on Saudi Arabia guys - be sure to let me know when someone posts a score!!

Have a great weekend (it's Friday night already here!).

CM.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 09, 2011, 06:10:27 AM
Heh! No Internet connection is exactly what I look for on vacation. Enjoy some REAL surf time while you're there.

"Algeria" done and was an OK game, but nothing special.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 10, 2011, 03:45:33 PM
Andorra - worth playing. Kind of an awkward setup - not hard to beat, but perhaps hard to get a good time.
Angola - Good one for you 'Experimental' weapons users.
Antigua and Barbuda - skip it.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: weekendgamer on December 11, 2011, 07:35:46 AM
The Philippines is kinda fun. Upside-down gravity and moderate strength drones.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 11, 2011, 07:58:21 AM
Quote from: weekendgamer on December 11, 2011, 07:35:46 AM
The Philippines is kinda fun. Upside-down gravity and moderate strength drones.

I'll give that one a try - but please note the list of actual "United Nations" names in the link given previously: "Philippines" - not "The Philippines"
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 11, 2011, 09:49:00 AM
"Armenia" - definitely worth playing.
"The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" - play it!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 11, 2011, 11:55:17 AM
Since nobody seems to be getting anywhere on Saudi Arabia I finished it - I started by building 3 shields and flying over to the gems:

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/hMkOI.jpg)
[close]



Then I of course picked up the gems + technytes, and started working on a conversion bomb (be sure to get -20% building cost with the technytes) and finished up the wall. I built some more shields, and flew my LS back and forth over the shields - I actually made a big mistake at this point and accidentally hit ctrl+c instead of ctrl+v when my LS went past the shields once, which resulted in my LS taking a lot more damage than it needed to because I couldn't get the LS back on it's ideal path, which almost forced me to start over but I still got it to work.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/S0c5O.png)
[close]


I sent the conversion bomb in and shielded off the emitter and picked up the white gem. I dug through some of the terrain to make the anti-creeper flow to the surface faster to save my LS and work on some more conversion bombs.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/LBQco.png)
[close]

After nullifying the emitter, build more shields as necessary and send in the 2 conversion bombs, 1 to the shielded in creeper and 1 to the other emitter, hit them both and nullify the other emitter. You easily have more than enough time to do whatever you want at this point - it's quite possible you'll even have more anti-creeper on the surface than there is creeper. The phantoms can be completely ignored because they're only 50000 intensity phantoms, when you have huge amounts of anti-creeper everywhere.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/rCMMV.png)
[close]



I put a score up on this map also, I didn't play through it meticulously at all after that point, I pretty much just sent conversion bombs everywhere.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 11, 2011, 01:35:00 PM
"Czech Republic", when spelled in English, is a pretty boring standard map. On the other hand, the native title "česká republika" actually poses a challenge - gems hidden in hard terrain and a surface emitter and a gateway. Definitely fun to play.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 11, 2011, 02:41:05 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 11, 2011, 07:58:21 AM
Quote from: weekendgamer on December 11, 2011, 07:35:46 AM
The Philippines is kinda fun. Upside-down gravity and moderate strength drones.
but please note the list of actual "United Nations" names in the link given previously: "Philippines" - not "The Philippines"
Quote from: xoft on December 11, 2011, 01:35:00 PM
"Czech Republic", when spelled in English, is a pretty boring standard map. On the other hand, the native title "česká republika" actually poses a challenge

Don't sweat it guys, as per the mission brief, I'm happy to record them any way - the list is there to provide inspiration, it's not a definitive list.

I'm happy to have two Philippines, two Czech Republics and two Netherlands - OK, one Netherlands and one Holland (as per list)...

We're just looking for good codes here. USA wasn't much of a challenge, but we may find that another variation gives good results. Has anyone tried "The Democratic Republic of the United States of America"?!

I think I've updated everything (took half an hour!) - sing out if I've missed anything or got it wrong.

Keep at it guys - we're still looking for a map that Kithros can't beat!

Well done on Saudi Arabia!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: lich98 on December 11, 2011, 03:09:47 PM
United Kingdom under large, high looks moderatly interesting, didn't beat it on that I beat it on small, low that was a true walk in the park.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 11, 2011, 07:39:21 PM
"Timor Leste" - worth playing. Lots of weird field movement. Fun start.

EDIT:
"Azerbaijan" - done. An OK game.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 11, 2011, 09:59:39 PM
Finally managed to conquer Madagascar.  ;D

Upside down gravity and build, emitter and gateway open to surface and practically on surface (plus another large chamber that will send creeper to surface after some terrain erodes) and limited build space before you take out the surface emitter. And then you have a 69M titan down below.

Initial position is pretty easy to attain due to strong up gravity, but limited energy makes any offensive really tough.  Was finally able (after several restarts) to nullify the surface gateway emitter by careful use of repulsors, shields, and blasters. Then start really building infrastructure and killing the big chamber that reached surface. Followed by the (large and complex) chamber with the titan and  a separate small chamber.

BTW the proper strategy makes this possibly the easiest 69M titan in a non experimental map. Even so ended up with a 46 minute game time.  ;) Definite addition to the fun list.


edit:
Lesotho

Aaverage map with lots of phantoms.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: weekendgamer on December 12, 2011, 08:14:36 AM
You know the official name is Republika ng Pilipinas, not just "Philippines". I used The Philippines because it was more fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 12, 2011, 02:03:55 PM
Challenge match: "Bosnia and Herzegovina on Large/High".
There is an Emitter set at 104 million near the bottom left that I just cannot neutralize.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Colin on December 12, 2011, 02:36:14 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 12, 2011, 02:03:55 PM
Challenge match: "Bosnia and Herzegovina on Large/High".
There is an Emitter set at 104 million near the bottom left that I just cannot neutralize.

If there are any crystals on the map, save
them so you can have more than 60+
energy, then dig out the entrance into the
emitter as a "maze" and put shields in the
"maze". Then blast it with launchers and
it helps to save all the AC in the map for
the final nullify too. If you can't do it I'll
have a crack at it later today. Good luck!  ;)

The most important thing about dealing with
100M+ intensity emitters is having a ton of
energy. Kithros can tell you about how to do
it with less, but I like to have tons of energy.  ;)

EDIT:

Just looked at it, odd, there is two titan
emitters!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 12, 2011, 03:13:38 PM
Quote from: Colin on December 12, 2011, 02:36:14 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 12, 2011, 02:03:55 PM
Challenge match: "Bosnia and Herzegovina on Large/High".
There is an Emitter set at 104 million near the bottom left that I just cannot neutralize.

If there are any crystals on the map, save
them so you can have more than 60+
energy, then dig out the entrance into the
emitter as a "maze" and put shields in the
"maze". Then blast it with launchers and
it helps to save all the AC in the map for
the final nullify too. If you can't do it I'll
have a crack at it later today. Good luck!  ;)

The most important thing about dealing with
100M+ intensity emitters is having a ton of
energy. Kithros can tell you about how to do
it with less, but I like to have tons of energy.  ;)

EDIT:

Just looked at it, odd, there is two titan
emitters!


Well, of course it can be done with less energy - but you still should be getting as much energy as you can when dealing with titan emitters regardless of what is the bare minimum - the main key to using energy efficiently is using as little energy as possible using blasters/repulsors (be that by using shields or just balancing them appropriately) and as many launchers as possible. If you use too many blasters any titan will seem impossible. Saving ore for the nullify is also helpful.

I had over 100 energy production by the end of this map, which is plenty to deal with a 100M intensity emitter - I recommend killing off the lower intensity titan first before heading for the 100M emitter, so you can take all the build space at the bottom of the map - it should be possible enough killing the 100M emitter first though.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 03:33:09 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 11, 2011, 07:39:21 PM
"Timor Leste" - worth playing. Lots of weird field movement. Fun start.

EDIT:
"Azerbaijan" - done. An OK game.

Updated

Quote from: Katra on December 11, 2011, 09:59:39 PM
Finally managed to conquer Madagascar.  ;D Definite addition to the fun list.

edit:
Lesotho

Aaverage map with lots of phantoms.

Updated
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 03:38:33 PM
Quote from: weekendgamer on December 12, 2011, 08:14:36 AM
You know the official name is Republika ng Pilipinas, not just "Philippines". I used The Philippines because it was more fun.

Excellent - that's what I'm looking for.

The UN list is far from comprehensive - for example, it does not list England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland (OK, that last one probably goes on the 'disputed list) as countries in their own right, rather it lumps them in together as United Kingdom. Which is right from a UN/administrative point of view, but isn't what we were looking for with regard to finding cool codes!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 04:14:04 PM


Namibia.

No challenge at all...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 05:18:29 PM


South Africa.

Awkward, but not hard.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 12, 2011, 05:53:13 PM
Just finished Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two titans took really long to vanish. And just as the final LS disappearing animation played, I noticed, "Hey, I had four fully charged AC makers hidden here. I forgot about them, didn't use any AC in the game ;)"
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 12, 2011, 06:00:53 PM
I'd *love* to see Kithros beat Bhutan. It seems similar to Boo - a titan emitter and a drone gateway on the surface, zero gravity. But gems are rather close to the surface, it just might be doable. I'm not trying though :)
Spoiler
(http://xoft.cz/img/bhutan.png)
[close]
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Colin on December 12, 2011, 07:16:48 PM
I'll have a crack at it xoft, I'll edit when I
finish.  ;)

Lol, never mind I'll let Kithros handle it.  :-X

I tried a number of combinations of getting
the red gems/digging in shielding repulsars
ect, couldn't ever get a foot hold.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 12, 2011, 07:22:14 PM
Bhutan is waaaay easier than Boo - i'll play through it sometime tomorrow probably, but the emitter is further from the surface (the one on Boo you don't even have enough time to pick up the one single red gem without building shields), there are vastly more gems (one red gem vs. 2 red gems, a green gem, a blue gem and a white gem?), and way more building space (Boo actually is possible to survive the very beginning on incidentally - I did that once but I didn't have any build space to get enough energy production to keep building conversion bombs and died about 5 minutes in). Bhutan should definitely be possible to beat.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 08:35:13 PM


Bosnia and Herzegovina

Updated.

Egypt - pretty dull.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 12, 2011, 10:11:46 PM
Bangladesh

OK map but nothing special.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 12, 2011, 10:28:49 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 12, 2011, 10:11:46 PM
Bangladesh

OK map but nothing special.

Updated

Jordan - bit naff...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 13, 2011, 04:33:01 AM
Quote from: lich98 on December 11, 2011, 03:09:47 PM
United Kingdom under large, high looks moderatly interesting, didn't beat it on that I beat it on small, low that was a true walk in the park.

Yep - that was interesting!

Though I was on auto pilot and actually typed in Great Britain instead of United Kingdom.

Muppet!

In case you're interested, as far as I know, the full name is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Have to try that one some time!

Good map though.

A rare code map that allows for effective use of C-Bombs.

Nice for a time trial, though I didn't do well - the Mrs kept pestering me.

'Go take a shower', 'come help me make dinner', we're going shopping - NOW!'

Women just don't understand how IMPORTANT computer games are to guys!

:D
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 13, 2011, 07:52:03 AM
Dad-gummed wimmens!
Can't live with 'em and you sure can't live without 'em.

"Brunei Darussalam" - complete.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: fitz on December 13, 2011, 09:26:52 AM
Côte d'Ivoire - completed

Pretty dull.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 13, 2011, 12:26:55 PM
As far as Bhutan goes, I pretty much grabbed the gems, built up shields and a single blaster to deal with the drones at the beginning:

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/vLLXc.png)
[close]


After that I just rebuilt shields as necessary, and massed reactors + built a dark beam. If one were really desperate for time I think grabbing the technytes + red gem under the surface would be worth it, but I didn't feel like bothering with that since it will make it a lot more tedious and it wasn't necessary.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/PZ3pW.png)
[close]


I didn't finish the map, it's a simple experimental map slog from here and I don't really feel like doing that right now.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 13, 2011, 03:59:04 PM
Well, no Kudos until Your name is in the score-list ;)

I'm finding "Brunei" rather interesting. It took me a handful of restarts before I finally grabbed a foothold. This is the kind of map I like playing - not too easy, not too Kithros-paced, just difficult enough :)

Edit: On top of that, Brunei has a semi-titan emitter (58M) with no experimentals. All the fun elements in one level.

Edit 2: Brunei done. Definitely my favorite country so far.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: CobraKill on December 13, 2011, 06:04:01 PM
East Timor -  Surface emittor (sorta) but strong downwards gravity. Drones come quickly though. I nominate for the fun list. Feel free to boject though

Kosovo - Boring, all emmitors are underground.

EDIT: I nominate Marshall Islands for the fun list? I don't think I was very clear when I first said that.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 13, 2011, 06:53:37 PM


Syria.

Thoroughly average map.

Amazing country to visit though. Shame about the current troubles...

I think I've updated everything - let me know if I missed anything.

Still waiting for someone to post a score on Bhutan - any takers?




Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 13, 2011, 07:25:17 PM
Ok, I put a score up on Bhutan - I even missed a crystal, but I don't really care too much about my scores for experimental maps because they're too tedious to play for time.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 13, 2011, 09:44:37 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 13, 2011, 07:25:17 PM
Ok, I put a score up on Bhutan - I even missed a crystal, but I don't really care too much about my scores for experimental maps because they're too tedious to play for time.

Try to sound a little enthusiastic about it!

Updated - and I added it to the 'fun' list 'cos it's challenging. Let me know if this is wrong.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 14, 2011, 03:35:44 PM
Bulgaria: plain level, nothing special about it
Burkina Faso: Looked interesting in the preview, but proved rather boring. Left gravity, large caverns, lots of goodies, zero fun
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 14, 2011, 07:08:05 PM
Since Israel was mentioned earlier I decided to try the other side.

Gaza has a supertitan at the bottom but is otherwise no big deal.

Palestine, however--I'm not real good at this yet but it certainly seems impossible.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 14, 2011, 08:03:46 PM
Palestine has a trick to the start that will make it much much easier to deal with:

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/z8GxP.jpg)
[close]

That makes it pretty easy to nullify one of the emitters, and gives you plenty of build space. From there there are quite a few ways to go about the map - the way I personally went with:

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/ynSnh.png)
[close]

From there I clean up the right side, then I can start building up underground with no shortage of space whatsoever. Pretty straightforward map from there - there's a titan, but there will be plenty of room to get enough energy to take it out, especially since there are all build directions.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/br0OU.png)
[close]

EDIT: Put up a score for it.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 14, 2011, 09:02:58 PM
@Kithros -
Excellent!
My approach was similar, but I kept losing just before taking out that first Emitter.
Thanks,
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 02:23:37 PM

All updated.

Also Turkey - nothing to report.

I'm struggling with England - sideways gravity, nowhere to build, lots of fast and high strength drones, loads of emitters just below the surface, decaying terrain...

In short, the perfect map!

I've gained a toehold on a couple of occasions, but have only yet managed to cap one emitter!

The one saving grave of this map might be the strong gravity.

Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 02:52:54 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 02:23:37 PM

All updated.

Also Turkey - nothing to report.

I'm struggling with England - sideways gravity, nowhere to build, lots of fast and high strength drones, loads of emitters just below the surface, decaying terrain...

In short, the perfect map!

I've gained a toehold on a couple of occasions, but have only yet managed to cap one emitter!

The one saving grave of this map might be the strong gravity.


I think you're probably being too hesitant to attack - if you move really quickly you can nullify the left emitter easily and dig underground for plenty of build space before the right emitter connects to that chamber.



EDIT: For instance, this is where I am 1 minute into the map:
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/zsEQS.jpg)
[close]
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 03:06:52 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 02:52:54 PM
I think you're probably being too hesitant to attack - if you move really quickly you can nullify the left emitter easily and dig underground for plenty of build space before the right emitter connects to that chamber.



EDIT: For instance, this is where I am 1 minute into the map:
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/zsEQS.jpg)
[close]

Yup - you nailed it.

I take out the emitter quickly, but I've so far failed to take advantage of my early victory and get under ground.

Will keep plugging!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 15, 2011, 04:57:09 PM
Kithros, how do you take care of those drones? You always seem to have lots of them around your LS at the starting screenshot and suddenly they're gone in the second screenshot. Especially in the Palestine screenshots...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 05:01:40 PM
Quote from: xoft on December 15, 2011, 04:57:09 PM
Kithros, how do you take care of those drones? You always seem to have lots of them around your LS at the starting screenshot and suddenly they're gone in the second screenshot. Especially in the Palestine screenshots...

Well, 1 shield can kill off 4 drones, and the LS can survive being hit by 3 (normal health) drones as long as there's at least a small amount of time to regenerate, which means 7 of those drones are essentially already dead, and my blasters finished building to kill the other drones. If necessary I could build more shields, but I always take advantage of the health on my LS when dealing with early drones (unless I anticipate needing to move through the creeper with the LS at some point of course), since it won't really help me later on.

EDIT: The LS can actually survive 4 drone hits also, but in that particular case only 3 drones crashed into it, just so nobody gets confused.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 05:20:55 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 05:01:40 PM

I always take advantage of the health on my LS when dealing with early drones (unless I anticipate needing to move through the creeper with the LS at some point of course), since it won't really help me later on.

EDIT: The LS can actually survive 4 drone hits also, but in that particular case only 3 drones crashed into it, just so nobody gets confused.


Heh heh!

Just before I read this I tried letting a drone hit the LS on the England map - one drone, one hit, loud bang, LS go bye-bye!

Note to self - don't try it with 17HP drones!

On a related but way off note - can anyone please tell me - or point me to a thread that explains how to insert pictures into these posts?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 05:30:30 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 05:20:55 PM

On a related but way off note - can anyone please tell me - or point me to a thread that explains how to insert pictures into these posts?




You can either use an attachment (under additional options in the bottom-left corner), or you can upload it to some other site (I use http://imgur.com/ (http://imgur.com/)), and then link the image using the insert image button (be sure to link directly to the image, not to the page that shows the image, ie. where it says direct link)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 05:54:19 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 15, 2011, 05:30:30 PM
You can either use an attachment (under additional options in the bottom-left corner), or you can upload it to some other site (I use http://imgur.com/ (http://imgur.com/)), and then link the image using the insert image button (be sure to link directly to the image, not to the page that shows the image, ie. where it says direct link)

Sweet - thanks for that. It's been bugging me...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 08:36:04 PM
˙pǝʌןos sı uǝɯǝʎ
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 08:45:44 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 08:36:04 PM
˙pǝʌןos sı uǝɯǝʎ

Ummm.

OK...

You wrote it upside-down for my benefit 'cos I'm 'down under'?!

Updated!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 09:21:27 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 08:45:44 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 08:36:04 PM
˙pǝʌןos sı uǝɯǝʎ

Ummm.

OK...

You wrote it upside-down for my benefit 'cos I'm 'down under'?!

Updated!

No, because it's a build upside-down map.

Wales is also solved.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 10:06:39 PM
Viet Nam is beyond my skill but I beat Vietnam.

Venezuela is also done.  A slogging match but nothing difficult.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 11:15:29 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 09:21:27 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 15, 2011, 08:45:44 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 08:36:04 PM
˙pǝʌןos sı uǝɯǝʎ

Ummm.

OK...

You wrote it upside-down for my benefit 'cos I'm 'down under'?!

Updated!

No, because it's a build upside-down map.

Wales is also solved.

Heh heh!

In that case,

E
n
g
l
a
n
d

Done. It would have been funnier if I'd put it sideways like the map gravity!

England was a nightmare start, which turned into a normal, if awkward map.

Not sure I'd call it 'fun'..!

Wales, Vietnam and Venezuela updated.

Anyone know if Viet Nam is correct? I've not really found any references to that spelling except in the UN list we're working from.

Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 12:01:21 AM
Uzbekistan is too much for me.

Uruguay defeated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 12:41:51 AM
United States is too much for me.  Creeper and very tough drones break out at about 2:30.

United Republic of Tanzania (note you have an extra word) solved.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 16, 2011, 01:43:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 12:41:51 AM
United Republic of Tanzania (note you have an extra word) solved.

Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 12:01:21 AM
Uruguay defeated.

Updated.

I noticed the extra 'of' in the title. Weird.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 16, 2011, 02:26:11 AM

Greece.

One of my favourite countries.

One of my least favourite maps.

Sigh.

Dull.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Mr.H on December 16, 2011, 06:01:28 AM
Your using a UN list? Doesn't that mean your missing loads of countries?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 16, 2011, 06:24:24 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2011, 10:06:39 PM
Viet Nam is beyond my skill...

Use Kithros' technique to get past those ground level emitters.
1 - grab the easiest jewel;
2 - build a couple of shields for survival; and
3 - build a couple of Blasters to commence operations.

"Viet Nam" is complete (somehow I just knew I would be going back there someday).

"Viet Nam" is the ancient name, "Vietnam" is current. Either is correct.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 16, 2011, 01:44:57 PM
Quote from: Mr.H on December 16, 2011, 06:01:28 AM
Your using a UN list? Doesn't that mean your missing loads of countries?

Absolutely stacks of them! As previously noted, it lumps England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into 'United Kingdom'.

It's just a place to start and as per the mission objective, we're also doing alternate spellings and variations of place names (i.e. USA, U.S.A. etc).

Feel free to find the 'missing' countries and either post a score, or list them here and I'll add them to our mission objective list.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 16, 2011, 01:48:29 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 16, 2011, 06:24:24 AM

"Viet Nam" is complete (somehow I just knew I would be going back there someday).

"Viet Nam" is the ancient name, "Vietnam" is current. Either is correct.


Updated.

You've not been back? I guess it'd be, well, weird...

Thanks for clarifying the 'Viet Nam' spelling.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 16, 2011, 02:21:34 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 16, 2011, 01:48:29 PM
Updated.
You've not been back? I guess it'd be, well, weird...
Thanks for clarifying the 'Viet Nam' spelling.

Visiting Kiwiland and OZ is at the top of my bucket list...not so much that other place.

Is there an implication around here that the UN could possibly have made a mistake? I'm shocked, I tell you...Shocked!

Did like your response though - now we will get even more games to play.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 16, 2011, 04:34:04 PM
Burundi done. Tough start - 4M emitter and a stream of drones on the surface. One of the better maps.
Cambodia done. Nothing special, just 2 emitters and 1 gateway altogether, fast level.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 16, 2011, 06:54:16 PM
Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Boring and barren, but done.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 16, 2011, 06:55:13 PM
Malta

Pretty average map.

edit. Mali

3G down right, 8 phantoms every 30 seconds from close range, and strong drones that will escape via decaying terrain if you're too slow on the start. Nothing special after taking that first chamber (but small has a much different gateway position.)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 07:31:02 PM
United Kingdom is boring and defeated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 16, 2011, 08:52:07 PM
United Arab Emirates defeated.

A real pain--you have to assault a huge main chamber with fields with 22 energy.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: fitz on December 17, 2011, 05:18:35 AM
This is a great concept. I have been running through some of the countries.

Some maps are relatively straightforward so I play them in turbo mode and do not allow the use of 'save' or 'pause'. It's not good for the blood pressure but can liven them up.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 17, 2011, 06:35:17 AM
"Lao People's Democratic Republic"

Fun start, but then pretty routine.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 17, 2011, 01:31:50 PM
Eritrea: too easy to be any challenge
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 17, 2011, 01:36:42 PM
Georgia looks tough, maybe even impossible - exp, 12M surface emitter, not much terrain to build anything though, and phantoms every 30 seconds.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 17, 2011, 02:35:20 PM
Quote from: xoft on December 17, 2011, 01:36:42 PM
Georgia looks tough, maybe even impossible - exp, 12M surface emitter, not much terrain to build anything though, and phantoms every 30 seconds.

All updated.

Any takers for Georgia?

Looks like a nightmare start...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 17, 2011, 03:26:03 PM
Not impossible, I of course started by building a few reactors and taking the white gem:

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/KNo6A.png)
[close]

After that I build 2 conversion bombs and more shields as necessary along with a few more reactors:
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/MxX2A.png)
[close]


When the 2 conversion bombs finish, I send them into the chamber just below me and then grab the red and green gems in that chamber. I surround the emitter with shields, and start building another conversion bomb and a nullifier for the emitter.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/dGyop.png)
[close]


From here it's pretty much just a race to build up enough energy to support a dark beam before the anti-creeper bubble fails (well, truthfully there are many things you could do to buy time if you needed to, but I didn't need to so I just built up the dark beam)
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/N9pTx.png)
[close]



I'll probably finish this map sometime - I don't have the time right now to finish it, but it's definitely possible.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 17, 2011, 04:22:52 PM
Maybe we should start another category - countries that only Kithros can beat ;)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: mthw2vc on December 17, 2011, 05:32:53 PM
If such a category were made, I would feel obligated to demonstrate that someone else is fully capable of beating every map in said category.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 17, 2011, 06:14:43 PM
Well, sir, then You can start with Saudi Arabia and Georgia :)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 17, 2011, 06:15:54 PM
Grenada finished. Something in reverse-gravity-reverse-builddirection levels makes them appealing to me, I quite enjoyed this one, even though I knew from the start that it's gonna be rather easy
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 17, 2011, 06:32:35 PM
Quote from: xoft on December 17, 2011, 06:14:43 PM
Well, sir, then You can start with Saudi Arabia and Georgia :)

@xoft - there is a famous quote from Sun Tzu that is applicable here.
There are a (small) handful of uber-players hanging around this place and all we normal people can do is watch in wonder as they work their magic.

:)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 17, 2011, 06:41:42 PM
United States liberated. And nominated for the fun list.  ;D

Once I decided to retreat to the right side it wasn't even all that tough. Screenshot is at the point where victory was assured. The shields and repulsors weren't necessary; the maker was part of my offense. (For cleaning up the sky.) Probably wasn't actually necessary to dig in either; just move to get fighting room. Fighting heavy creeper plus many strong drones in one very small space is a recipe for fail.  ;)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 17, 2011, 06:49:39 PM
Ukraine is tough--supertitan and a surface emitter.  It's also got three crystals near the start that really taunted me, I can see no way to safely collect them.  (They're all next to terrain that's going to collapse and let in tough drones.)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 17, 2011, 11:38:39 PM
Uganda is too much for me--surface emitter & drones.

The only thing remotely interesting about Tuvalu is the creeper will break through a fair distance near the start point, you can easily leave yourself open.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 18, 2011, 08:31:34 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 17, 2011, 11:38:39 PM
Uganda is too much for me--surface emitter & drones.

Use the patented Kithros method of "Grab the jewels and run". Then build a couple of Shields & Blasters and life is good.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 18, 2011, 02:45:10 PM
Turkmenistan -- too much for me.  One surface emitter that's not too much of a threat due to the high gravity, but there are two more & drones that will soon break through, not to mention 12 phantoms to drain your power.  The first breakthrough wiped my base, I don't see how to cope with it.

There's also the problem that there's almost no build room.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 18, 2011, 03:17:06 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 17, 2011, 06:41:42 PM

United States liberated. And nominated for the fun list.  ;D


Tuvalu, Grenada and United States updated.

I didn't miss any did I? Sometimes posts don't make it clear if a map is completed or not!

I'm glad we found a fun version of United states - USA and U.S.A. were a wash-out.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 03:35:21 PM
I finished Georgia a little while ago, and just beat Turkmenistan - on  that one, I recommend picking up the white gem and taking out the left emitter early on - the right emitter won't break free till about 3 minutes, which is enough time to prepare after taking out the left emitter (plenty of build space below there). As far as killing the left emitter goes, be sure to take advantage of the fields.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 18, 2011, 03:56:14 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 03:35:21 PM
I finished Georgia a little while ago, and just beat Turkmenistan - on  that one, I recommend picking up the white gem and taking out the left emitter early on - the right emitter won't break free till about 3 minutes, which is enough time to prepare after taking out the left emitter (plenty of build space below there). As far as killing the left emitter goes, be sure to take advantage of the fields.

Updated - would you recommend either for the fun (or perhaps 'challenging') list?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 04:04:06 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 18, 2011, 03:56:14 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 03:35:21 PM
I finished Georgia a little while ago, and just beat Turkmenistan - on  that one, I recommend picking up the white gem and taking out the left emitter early on - the right emitter won't break free till about 3 minutes, which is enough time to prepare after taking out the left emitter (plenty of build space below there). As far as killing the left emitter goes, be sure to take advantage of the fields.

Updated - would you recommend either for the fun (or perhaps 'challenging') list?

Georgia ould be quite challenging for most people for sure, Turkmenistan probably would be but I'm bad at judging difficulties of maps - Turkmenistan can be annoying with phantoms, but I didn't find it particularly hard (but admittedly, any map I find hard is extremely difficult for a casual player).
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 18, 2011, 05:17:52 PM
Dinner's done.  Boring.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 18, 2011, 06:19:06 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 04:04:06 PM
I finished Georgia a little while ago, and just beat Turkmenistan - on  that one, I recommend picking up the white gem and taking out the left emitter early on - the right emitter won't break free till about 3 minutes, which is enough time to prepare after taking out the left emitter (plenty of build space below there). As far as killing the left emitter goes, be sure to take advantage of the fields.

I'll put Georgia on the fun list - but skip the other if it's annoying!!

Funny how nobody has done Australia yet.

Updated - would you recommend either for the fun (or perhaps 'challenging') list?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 18, 2011, 06:46:29 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 18, 2011, 06:19:06 PM

I'll put Georgia on the fun list - but skip the other if it's annoying!!

Funny how nobody has done Australia yet.

Well, the map isn't that annoying - I pretty much just always hate phantoms.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 18, 2011, 11:43:14 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 18, 2011, 05:17:52 PM
Dinner's done.  Boring.

You didn't mark off Turkey.


Meanwhile, Tunisia has a surface emitter, drones and phantoms.  I can't handle all three.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 19, 2011, 01:14:23 AM
Cape Verde completed. upside down build, and 2G up left. OK map but not particularly hard. (I was attacking 2 and 3 chambers at once.)

Edit: Tunisia completed and nominated for the fun list.

Just move LS as far down and right as you can while building three reactors and 1 blaster (placed to cover the LS and reactors.) Once the blaster is loaded and killing drones dig after the three red crystals and don't forget to spend some of that crystal energy on phantom coils. Also be aware that a bunch of fast 8 HP drones will break out to emerge from the same hole as the surface emitter after several minutes.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 19, 2011, 06:06:47 AM
"Uganda" is done.
I mentioned it up above, but wasn't very clear about it.

I got bogged down on Turkmenistan (flipping fantoms!), and will come back with Kithros' method at some future point.

Giving "Australia" a go right now.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 19, 2011, 06:46:03 AM
"Australia" - done, no fun. Just big and easy.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 19, 2011, 09:49:52 AM
"Trinidad and Tobago" - done. Quite routine.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 19, 2011, 11:32:35 AM
"Cambodia" - routine. No fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 19, 2011, 08:13:32 PM
"Guinea-Bissau" - both fun and challenging. Interesting starting few minutes.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 19, 2011, 09:05:56 PM
Tunisia is defeated.  I nominate this one.

Surface emitter, surface drones & some fast and tough ones that break through in not too long.  It's good despite the phantoms.

Tonga defeated.  You're energy-limited at first but otherwise there's nothing interesting.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 20, 2011, 12:00:45 AM
Guinea completed.

Experimentals, but pretty ordinary. Plenty of time before anything reaches the surface.

edit
Central African Republic

Upside down gravity and build with a surface emitter; but little challenge.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 20, 2011, 01:55:20 AM

Wow guys!

You're on fire!

I've been a bit busy with that 'work' stuff lately so I've not been posting scores myself.

All updated.

Many thanks to everyone who spotted my *ahem* deliberate mistakes.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 20, 2011, 04:59:54 AM

Scotland.

Done.

Not hard, but...

Time consuming as it was difficult to get a straight run at it - upside down build and up left gravity with drones and a surface emitter (but easily dealt to...).
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 03:17:13 PM
To Go is gone.  Nothing interesting.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 20, 2011, 05:54:36 PM
"Austria" - done...OK, but we have better.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 20, 2011, 06:50:27 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 03:17:13 PM
To Go is gone.  Nothing interesting.
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 20, 2011, 05:54:36 PM
"Austria" - done...OK, but we have better.

Togo and Austria updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 20, 2011, 07:24:43 PM
Belgium - No surprises
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 17, 2011, 06:49:39 PM
Ukraine is tough--supertitan and a surface emitter.  It's also got three crystals near the start that really taunted me, I can see no way to safely collect them.  (They're all next to terrain that's going to collapse and let in tough drones.)

I said it was tough, not impossible.  It's solved although it's not marked off.  I was just grousing about crystals that you can't safely take early on because they'll soon allow drones through.

...

Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 21, 2011, 01:28:59 AM
Uzbekistan completed. Definitely a fun map. Surface emitter (with a field that will make a decent volcano after a couple cycles) and drones. Then a huge chamber with a fairly long period field and a bunch more drones.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: lich98 on December 21, 2011, 09:17:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.

Kiroths can you try this map for us? thanks
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 10:18:19 AM
Quote from: lich98 on December 21, 2011, 09:17:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.

Kiroths can you try this map for us? thanks

I'm not quite sure why you're saying you need to dig to avoid the creeper - if you were playing it safe and just didn't dig to the central chamber at all early on, the creeper will never be remotely threatening for an extreme amount of time since it will just puddle at the top of the map. For the easiest and probably most effective way to deal with the drones (it should be easily possible to fight them off too if you had to):

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/69uvR.png)
[close]


When going for time it would definitely be worth grabbing the white gem, but if you just want to beat the map it's not necessary.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 21, 2011, 06:28:03 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 10:18:19 AM
Quote from: lich98 on December 21, 2011, 09:17:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.

Kiroths can you try this map for us? thanks

I'm not quite sure why you're saying you need to dig to avoid the creeper - if you were playing it safe and just didn't dig to the central chamber at all early on, the creeper will never be remotely threatening for an extreme amount of time since it will just puddle at the top of the map. For the easiest and probably most effective way to deal with the drones (it should be easily possible to fight them off too if you had to):

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/69uvR.png)
[close]


When going for time it would definitely be worth grabbing the white gem, but if you just want to beat the map it's not necessary.

And you can defend yourself this way??  Your screenshot doesn't show any reactors.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 21, 2011, 09:02:21 PM
I have gotten sufficiently far past this point to say it is possible.  (In digging to the gateway you take a red gem.) (Have not completed yet due to lack of time.) The random movement of the drones sometimes does take too long for them to exit the chamber (you can't get the shaft bottom shield built before the field shift dumps the creeper on it.)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 09:44:36 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 21, 2011, 06:28:03 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 10:18:19 AM
Quote from: lich98 on December 21, 2011, 09:17:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.

Kiroths can you try this map for us? thanks

I'm not quite sure why you're saying you need to dig to avoid the creeper - if you were playing it safe and just didn't dig to the central chamber at all early on, the creeper will never be remotely threatening for an extreme amount of time since it will just puddle at the top of the map. For the easiest and probably most effective way to deal with the drones (it should be easily possible to fight them off too if you had to):

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/69uvR.png)
[close]


When going for time it would definitely be worth grabbing the white gem, but if you just want to beat the map it's not necessary.

And you can defend yourself this way??  Your screenshot doesn't show any reactors.

Defend yourself from what? If you fly to the bottom-left, the creeper won't reach you for 7 minutes, and even then all you need to have  built in that time is 1 single launcher to defend yourself.


EDIT: To put it into perspective, I built all this without building a single weapon (other than the nullifier) - and again, it is not necessary to pick up the white gem, it will however make things faster (ie. you don't need to mess around with shielding the creeper from the middle chamber if you don't mind playing through it slower). The creeper at the top of the map is still nowhere close to threatening me.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/WMzRy.png)
[close]

EDIT AGAIN: Finished the map and put a score up since people seem to be having trouble with it - I still don't see why this map should be so hard as long as you don't overreact to the creeper puddling at the top of the map though..
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 21, 2011, 10:55:47 PM
That makes 3 scores on Thailand.  ;)

Definite nomination for the fun list - but I strongly recommend against going for the white gem until you're ready to attack the big center chamber.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 21, 2011, 11:11:13 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 09:44:36 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 21, 2011, 06:28:03 PM
Quote from: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 10:18:19 AM
Quote from: lich98 on December 21, 2011, 09:17:37 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 20, 2011, 10:24:37 PM
Thailand--I see no viable approach at all.  It's an upside-down map in which over 50% of the space in the third row (the ground is almost totally flat) will be full of creeper within 20 seconds.  There are strength 13 drones behind one decayable medium block and half of that third that won't immediately flood with creeper is also decayable.  To dig in deep enough to avoid the creeper (gravity is going to bring it up, not down) requires removing 30 blocks, two of which are cost 10 blocks.  This merely gets away from the creeper, it provides no building space and no defense against the drones.

Kiroths can you try this map for us? thanks

I'm not quite sure why you're saying you need to dig to avoid the creeper - if you were playing it safe and just didn't dig to the central chamber at all early on, the creeper will never be remotely threatening for an extreme amount of time since it will just puddle at the top of the map. For the easiest and probably most effective way to deal with the drones (it should be easily possible to fight them off too if you had to):

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/69uvR.png)
[close]


When going for time it would definitely be worth grabbing the white gem, but if you just want to beat the map it's not necessary.

And you can defend yourself this way??  Your screenshot doesn't show any reactors.

Defend yourself from what? If you fly to the bottom-left, the creeper won't reach you for 7 minutes, and even then all you need to have  built in that time is 1 single launcher to defend yourself.


EDIT: To put it into perspective, I built all this without building a single weapon (other than the nullifier) - and again, it is not necessary to pick up the white gem, it will however make things faster (ie. you don't need to mess around with shielding the creeper from the middle chamber if you don't mind playing through it slower). The creeper at the top of the map is still nowhere close to threatening me.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/WMzRy.png)
[close]

EDIT AGAIN: Finished the map and put a score up since people seem to be having trouble with it - I still don't see why this map should be so hard as long as you don't overreact to the creeper puddling at the top of the map though..

It's not the creeper I was particularly worried about, but defending myself from the drones and having build space.  How are you maintaining those shields holding back the creeper on the left?  I would have expected them to have popped by now.


Anyway, another one that's got me:  Tajikistan.  Zero-g, surface emitter, I'm getting overwhelmed.  I can just barely get dug in over on the left but I can't get phantom coils up in time and then repulsars for when the creep breaks through the shield.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 21, 2011, 11:11:53 PM
The Swiss didn't live up to their reputation.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 21, 2011, 11:16:59 PM
I just replace the shields whenever they turn the other way - but again, as I've said many times - you *DO NOT NEED TO* take the white gem, which means you do not need to ever build shields there if you just dig around the decayable terrain.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 22, 2011, 01:03:31 AM
Tajikistan is toast.  ;D Another for the fun list.

The trick is to snag the group of three crystals in the center while moving the LS down and left. Then build a quick shield wall straight up from the highest point of ground in the center. Build up power and back up that shield wall with a few blasters, a second layer of shields, and repulsors in that order. (I lost the top half of my wall because I tried to delay building the second layer for the top few sections; but I was able to eventually fight back the breakthrough with blasters.)

Don't forget to keep your reactor farm covered with phantom coils as you dig down. If you have space cleared and aren't in deficit you should be able to build the first set when the first siren goes off. (I also deactivated the lot as soon as the last phantom died the first two or three cycles; then reactivated when the siren went off again.)

Screenshot is when I was ready to start my attack. (This ended up a two dark beam map.  ;))
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 22, 2011, 02:26:32 PM
All updated.

Good work guys - we're getting a nice list of 'fun' maps together.

Won't be long and we'll be able to vote/argue about which is best!!

Edit: Cyprus. Pretty standard...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 22, 2011, 03:22:15 PM
Guatemala beaten. A surface gateway/emitter in the same square, which is something less common; up gravity, top build, but nothing too challenging, really.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 22, 2011, 03:24:34 PM
Also, I've beaten Burundi and Cambodia some time ago, they're not yet crossed out in the list (maybe I forgot to write it here ;) . Burundi would be a nomination for the fun list, it has a rather challenging start
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 22, 2011, 03:27:07 PM
Chile

Decent map but not particularly challenging. (Makes good practice for clearing large chambers with fields.)

Comoros

Another nomination for the fun list. Real tricky start; creeper separated from surface by 1 layer decaying terrain. Then about the time I was about to replace my initial shield cap with repulsors the drones from a deeper chamber broke through.

Another huge chamber; but no fields on this one. (I did no digging to get the LS to its position in screenshot. Almost makes micro rifts irrelevant.)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 22, 2011, 03:41:20 PM
All updated.

I was just about to tackle Chile too - it's been on my mind lately!

I was standing on Ocean Beach at the Whangarei Heads, looking out to sea, where there's nothing between New Zealand and Chile but about 4,000 miles of South Pacific Ocean...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 22, 2011, 04:18:34 PM
Sweden is boring.  You have tons of build space, no big chambers to fight.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: lich98 on December 22, 2011, 04:37:43 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 22, 2011, 02:26:32 PM
All updated.

Good work guys - we're getting a nice list of 'fun' maps together.
Won't be long and we'll be able to vote/argue about which is best!!
With a hurt/heal? then we can run a contest to see who can get the best scores/times total! cool
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 22, 2011, 07:29:22 PM
India

Upside down build, up left gravity.

Hungary

All directions build in a non experimental map.

Both average maps.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 22, 2011, 08:02:57 PM
"Barbados" - done. No fun.
"Burundi" - done by someone else.
"Cambodia" - worth playing.
"Chile" -  done by Katra
"Comoros" - done by Katra and Kithros
"Cyprus" - done by a cave man

I'll check more after "Big Bang Theory" is over.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 22, 2011, 08:28:15 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 22, 2011, 08:02:57 PM
"Barbados" - done. No fun.
"Burundi" - done by someone else.
"Cambodia" - worth playing.
"Chile" -  done by Katra
"Comoros" - done by Katra and Kithros
"Cyprus" - done by a cave man

I'll check more after "Big Bang Theory" is over.


All updated - added Cambodia to the 'fun' list (this was what you meant?).

Wouldn't have picked DBIT as a Big Bang Theory watcher...

That show gives me more howling fits of laughter than any other show I've ever seen - the flashback to when Sheldon and Leonard first meet and Sheldon suggests sorting out the TV schedule around 'Firefly', because "it's going to run for years" just about crippled me, I laughed so hard... I can't believe I just bought the box set of Firefly from Amazon for a tenner...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 22, 2011, 09:31:45 PM
Swaziland.  A bit limited on build space at first, otherwise zzzzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 22, 2011, 10:54:46 PM
Suriname.  It looks scary due to a lack of terrain (just below the surface and open to it is a emitter and gateway that extends just about across the entire map) but it wasn't all that hard.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:09:11 AM
Libya may be impossible. Looks good at first (A bit short on build space but lots of accessible crystals. Gateway and emitter open to the surface - with 2 widely separated entrances - but only 4 HP drones and the creeper won't overflow for a while.

Then at about 1 minute a 57M titan breaks through into that open to surface chamber; along with 9HP drones; and if you survive to about 2 minutes a bunch of 16 HP drones will join the party.  ::)  Even if one were to hold on I'm not sure there is enough build space available to power an attack on a titan emitter.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 05:37:46 AM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 22, 2011, 08:28:15 PM
Wouldn't have picked DBIT as a Big Bang Theory watcher...

That show gives me more howling fits of laughter than any other show I've ever seen - the flashback to when Sheldon and Leonard first meet and Sheldon suggests sorting out the TV schedule around 'Firefly', because "it's going to run for years" just about crippled me, I laughed so hard... I can't believe I just bought the box set of Firefly from Amazon for a tenner...

I found that show by accident and have been watching all of the re-runs. After many (too many) years in the Infantry, I switched to the IT side and have worked with every one of those geek characters (and dated a couple of Penny's here and there).
:)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 23, 2011, 10:19:34 AM
Quote from: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:09:11 AM
Libya may be impossible. Looks good at first (A bit short on build space but lots of accessible crystals. Gateway and emitter open to the surface - with 2 widely separated entrances - but only 4 HP drones and the creeper won't overflow for a while.

Then at about 1 minute a 57M titan breaks through into that open to surface chamber; along with 9HP drones; and if you survive to about 2 minutes a bunch of 16 HP drones will join the party.  ::)  Even if one were to hold on I'm not sure there is enough build space available to power an attack on a titan emitter.


Reminds me of 'some go once' - but this one is quite a bit easier. I didn't use any real tricks, just manage your energy well and  be sure to use repulsors. I'm not sure what you mean by a shortage of build space, because if you kill off the bottom emitter (completely unconnected to the titan), then you can easily get to 60+ energy per second - I think even without that there would be enough build space, but it would be a lot slower.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:49:09 PM
Liberia completed. Something of a slog with a 78M titan.

Kyrgyzstan

Surface emitter and drones. Another for the fun list.

Malaysia - average map.

Maldives

Upside down build, up left gravity. Nothing special here.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 23, 2011, 03:09:48 PM
Sudan is down.  A bit limited build area at first, no challenge otherwise.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 06:40:26 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:49:09 PM
Liberia completed. Something of a slog with a 78M titan.

Katra,
How do you get close enough on those 'Titans' to finish them off w/o Experimentals?
Every time I try to work one of those (with undimished 220 energy) the Nullifiers always blow up. I've tried Blasters, Launchers, and Repulsors (and various combinations) but nothing seems to work.

Thanks,
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 23, 2011, 06:52:26 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 06:40:26 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:49:09 PM
Liberia completed. Something of a slog with a 78M titan.

Katra,
How do you get close enough on those 'Titans' to finish them off w/o Experimentals?
Every time I try to work one of those (with undimished 220 energy) the Nullifiers always blow up. I've tried Blasters, Launchers, and Repulsors (and various combinations) but nothing seems to work.

Thanks,
dbit

Two more things I've found that can help:

1)  Makers.  Dump a bunch of anti-creeper when you're trying to nullify them.

2)  Shields.  The build a lot faster than a nullifier, sometimes you can get them up (make sure you have a nearby rift for maximum build speed) in positions to shield the square where you build the nullifier.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on December 23, 2011, 07:11:48 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 06:40:26 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 23, 2011, 12:49:09 PM
Liberia completed. Something of a slog with a 78M titan.

Katra,
How do you get close enough on those 'Titans' to finish them off w/o Experimentals?
Every time I try to work one of those (with undimished 220 energy) the Nullifiers always blow up. I've tried Blasters, Launchers, and Repulsors (and various combinations) but nothing seems to work.

Thanks,
dbit


You typically want a wall of repulsors around the emitter (sometimes 2 layers of repulsors), 3-4 blasters (more if they aren't fully upgraded), and a whole lot of launchers.

Shielding off titans usually won't work out - if you can manage to build a shield next to the emitter (the key thing here being that the shield needs to be built a space closer than a nullifer has to), then chances are you would be able to nullify it anyway (that said, this strategy works very well on normal emitters if there are fields pushing it in the other direction temporarily).


Anti-creeper certainly helps, especially on maps with shortages of build space, but for the most part repulsors+launchers are the key when dealing with high densities of creeper in general - with the exception of when fields are involved , never waste your energy using repulsors in the opposite or same direction as a field (from a 90 degree angle is okay in some instances), and use more blasters to compensate for the absence of repulsors.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 23, 2011, 08:17:48 PM
I normally use 2 layers of repulsors on 1 side of the emitter (At least 3 wide; sometimes 5) and a loaded maker or more if I have ore. (Liberia had very little ore) Where possible I have the makers fully loaded and time out 10% bursts to last as long as it takes to nullify the emitter. I'll generally start with from 4-6 blasters plus as many launchers as I can get in range (or have power for.) If I'm still not managing to stick the nullifier I'll add more repulsors and/or drop blasters right alongside the emitter. 

Having crystal energy left so you can use over 60 energy helps, but is not essential. I killed all my crystal energy on Liberia.

Shields are more useful for emitters in fields. Or when using conversion bombs on the creeper around emitters.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 23, 2011, 08:23:46 PM
Sri Lanka.

zzzzzz
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 09:15:02 PM
Good scoop - thanks.
I'm going Titan hunting.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on December 23, 2011, 10:07:42 PM
Latvia - weak surface emitter but nothing special.

Lebanon - average map.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 24, 2011, 12:50:05 AM


Bolivia.

Surprises <=0

Will update list later - it's Christmas Eve already here in NZ, I've been working all day and my feet hurt!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: CobraKill on December 24, 2011, 01:31:50 AM
Just turned Christmas Eve here in Minnesota (12:30) Merry Chritmas everyone!

Now to find a map no ones done. Hmmm...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 24, 2011, 12:45:15 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 23, 2011, 05:37:46 AM

I switched to the IT side and have worked with every one of those geek characters (and dated a couple of Penny's here and there).
:)


Sorry dude, I can't resist - Re: your Penny's.

Do you mean hot blonds, or dumb blonds?!?

;D
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 24, 2011, 12:55:01 PM


All updated.

It's 6:15 on Christmas day and my boy woke me up early, he was so excited.

He's three years old, ginger - and feline.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 24, 2011, 01:31:12 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 24, 2011, 12:45:15 PM
Sorry dude, I can't resist - Re: your Penny's.
Do you mean hot blonds, or dumb blonds?!?
;D

Well...during a very fortunate phase, one who was both (hot and dumb).

Let's see...why was I here???

Oh yeah - "Belarus" - very plain and straight forward.

(Cats are cool!)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 24, 2011, 01:56:45 PM

Fiji - sideways gravity.

That's as exciting as it got...

Updated all.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 25, 2011, 12:36:35 AM
Spain done.  Nominated--you fight the first chamber with <7 energy, it's got creeper, fields and drones.  There's also a breakthrough at 1:30 that decides how you're going to get in there.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 25, 2011, 12:14:10 PM
Concur on Spain - good fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 25, 2011, 01:38:28 PM
Spain updated and added.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 25, 2011, 02:12:26 PM
The rebels of South Sudan are defeated.

No challenge here but the map is very strange for a random map.


Somalia defeated.  A surface emitter with very minimal build area to fight it--nominated.


Solomon Islands defeated.  Moderately tough--limited build area, you have to fight a big chamber with two emitters, drones & fields without too much energy.


Slovenia--I'm not going to bother.  It's obviously easy.

Slovakia--cakewalk.  Experimentals.

˙ɥbnoɹɥʇ ʞɐǝɹq ʎǝɥʇ uǝɥʍ uıɐd ןɐǝɹ ɐ 'oozɐʍ ǝɥʇ dn sǝuoɹp puɐ sɯoʇuɐɥd 'spןǝıɟ 'ǝɔɐds pןınq pǝʇıɯıן  ˙ǝɹodɐbuıs ǝʇɐuıɯou ı
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 26, 2011, 02:30:53 PM
Lithuania - nothing new.

Updated all.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 26, 2011, 05:52:05 PM
Sierra Leone.  A pack of tough drones breaks out fairly quickly and when you don't have a lot of space to power the fight.  There's a "surface" emitter that won't be a factor for a long time due to being in a big chamber with heavy gravity.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 27, 2011, 09:07:29 AM
"Bahrain" - got the Titan without Experimentals!
Great advice on that posted above - thanks.
dbit

[EDIT]
"Benin" - nothing to see here folks, just move on.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on December 27, 2011, 10:49:55 AM
Denmark done. Rather boring.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 27, 2011, 11:07:24 AM
"Brazil" - don't bother.

I'm starting this one now: "Democratic Republic of the Congo"
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 27, 2011, 01:51:00 PM
Not too hard - the start is a little touch and go - but lots of fun:
"Democratic Republic of the Congo"
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 27, 2011, 05:45:21 PM
Seychelles are down.  Surface emitter & drones, limited build.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 08:55:24 AM
"Congo (Republic of the)" - done, no fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 28, 2011, 02:25:22 PM


Awesome guys.

All updated.

I've not had a chance to play over Christmas - long hours working.

Don't get a job in retail!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on December 28, 2011, 02:27:07 PM
Maybe Im misunderstanding the system. I thought you would strike through the countries done, but notice that Seychelles and Denmark for instance are not striked out.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 03:19:23 PM
Work is good for paying the bills, otherwise it gets in the way.

"Costa Rica" - annoying phantoms, but an OK game.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 03:49:39 PM
Caveman -
All of the following are done - but not marked off:
Bahrain
Benin
Brazil
Congo (Republic of the)
Costa Rica
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Dominica
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Slovenia

If I spot some others, I'll give a shout out. I've been checking for 'on-line' scores before playing and there have been some that were played, but not recorded in this thread. Maybe someone else is just giving it a go and not aware of our goal here.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 04:32:51 PM
Serbia defeated.  Surface emitter but boring.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 04:33:48 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on December 28, 2011, 02:25:22 PM


Awesome guys.

All updated.

I've not had a chance to play over Christmas - long hours working.

Don't get a job in retail!

You missed Seychelles.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 05:13:49 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 04:33:48 PM
You missed Seychelles.

It is 11:00 am in New Zealand right now. He is probably doing that work thing.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 07:24:36 PM
Wow!
"Dominican Republic"

Tough (for me), very interesting start, and a LOT of fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 07:43:20 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 28, 2011, 05:13:49 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 04:33:48 PM
You missed Seychelles.

It is 11:00 am in New Zealand right now. He is probably doing that work thing.

His "all updated" post was after my post saying I had done the Seychelles.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 08:53:11 PM
Senegal--I'm being killed by a surface emitter + drones.

Sao Tome and Principe--a supertitan somehow got away from me (I was slowly hammering it down and looked away for a moment--and somehow it had taken out most of my launchers.  No fields, I don't know how.) and wiped 1/4 of my base but I managed to recover.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 29, 2011, 03:32:48 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 08:53:11 PM
Senegal--I'm being killed by a surface emitter + drones.
You can actually safely nullify the emitter in the beginning of the game, since there's a field around it just slow enough to build and execute the nullifier

EDIT: Senegal done, not much of a challenge, actually.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 29, 2011, 08:37:56 AM
CM -
These all now have scores (some duplicates from prior post):
Bahrain
Benin
Brazil
Congo (Republic of the)
Costa Rica
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador - fun start, but routine after about 2-3 minutes
Ecuador
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Slovenia
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 29, 2011, 01:54:00 PM

Who left a muppet at the controls?!

I open two forum tabs - one with the first post open in modify mode so I can wade through responses and update the completed list. But I forgot to hit 'save'.

So, though I had updated everything in the list. you guys couldn't see it yet!

I got home 15 hours later and found it still sitting there patiently, waiting for me to just click the save button...

::)

Anyway, many thanks to all for spotting my omissions, and special thanks to DBIT for the easy-to-check-off list (TM).

All updated.

Damn it! I did it again - I nearly forgot to 'save' on the other tab!

Definitely updated this time!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 29, 2011, 02:01:33 PM
Thanks Elmo!
ROTFL
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on December 29, 2011, 02:05:31 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 29, 2011, 02:01:33 PM
Thanks Elmo!
ROTFL

My wife has a T-Shirt which, at first glance looks like an AC/DC T-Shirt (heavy metal band) - but if you look closely, you can see it's Elmo with an electric guitar, and the legend says 'AB/CD'!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 29, 2011, 05:37:52 PM
Elmo is cool and he can really get down with his posse.

"Finland" - Done and an OK game. Nothing great, but worth playing after you get through the fun list.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 29, 2011, 09:34:40 PM
Quote from: xoft on December 29, 2011, 03:32:48 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 08:53:11 PM
Senegal--I'm being killed by a surface emitter + drones.
You can actually safely nullify the emitter in the beginning of the game, since there's a field around it just slow enough to build and execute the nullifier

EDIT: Senegal done, not much of a challenge, actually.

How do you nullify it?  I've tried all the positions I can put the nullifier, it's always destroyed.  You're on large/high, aren't you?


San Marino--50M zero-g surface emitter.  Experimentals, no good digging.  I'm being overwhelmed.

Samoa.  Defeated.  Zzzzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 30, 2011, 06:18:10 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 28, 2011, 08:53:11 PM
Senegal--I'm being killed by a surface emitter + drones.

I was able to get it by using Shields - and will now try to finish the game.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on December 30, 2011, 09:14:52 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 29, 2011, 09:34:40 PM
How do you nullify it?  I've tried all the positions I can put the nullifier, it's always destroyed.  You're on large/high, aren't you?
Yes, I'm playing on Large / High, since that's what the very first post in this thread says.

At first I used shilds to block the creeper from flowing to the surface, then I grabbed the white gem and immediately nullified the emitter. My score is posted, got no screenshots, though.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 30, 2011, 12:28:41 PM
I think you will find it a little more efficient to build your shields (top 2 first, then side 3) and immediately build your Nullifier. Move the LS down as closely as you can to shorten the packet travel distance.

As soon as the the Nullifier goes off, move to your left enough to dig to the white gem. Build a couple of Blasters and a Launcher to handle the left over Creeper and start building your energy & Techs.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 30, 2011, 05:32:04 PM
Quote from: xoft on December 30, 2011, 09:14:52 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 29, 2011, 09:34:40 PM
How do you nullify it?  I've tried all the positions I can put the nullifier, it's always destroyed.  You're on large/high, aren't you?
Yes, I'm playing on Large / High, since that's what the very first post in this thread says.

At first I used shilds to block the creeper from flowing to the surface, then I grabbed the white gem and immediately nullified the emitter. My score is posted, got no screenshots, though.

No success, I'm a couple of seconds short on being able to contain the creeper.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 30, 2011, 05:43:45 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 30, 2011, 05:32:04 PM
No success, I'm a couple of seconds short on being able to contain the creeper.

Please read my post again - and look at the screen capture I posted for you.
Pause (P key) the game before you start.
Put the top two Shields in place as soon as the screen evolves and hit the P key again.
As soon as the last packet leaves the LS to finish the top two Shields, pause and place the 3 vertical Shields.
P key again to let them build.
Again pause as soon as the last packet leaves the LS to finish the 3 vertical Shields.
There is plenty of time for all 5 Shields to be built before starting to build the Nullifier.
Learning proper use of the pause key is really the key to finishing many of the games in CW - especially the tough ones.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 30, 2011, 07:01:38 PM
BTW - if any of you are interested, there is an on-going weekly series that I just found.
Details on the current one here:
http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=9171.0
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 30, 2011, 10:57:05 PM
Argh!!

I fairly easily beat

Sant Vincent and the Grenadines

and then noticed the typo.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

on the other hand...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 31, 2011, 12:27:52 AM
Somehow I missed listing Samoa as completed.

Saint Lucia is done.  You have to fight a supersized chamber with 16 energy to start.  As it contains 3 drone gateways this is a bit of a pain but that's all.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on December 31, 2011, 08:21:04 PM
"Equatorial Guinea" - Done. OK start, routine finish.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 01, 2012, 01:09:21 AM
Saint Kitts and Nevis, another zzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on January 01, 2012, 06:55:57 AM
"Estonia" -  Done, no fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 01, 2012, 11:30:06 AM
Rwanda.  Zzzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 01, 2012, 07:56:48 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 30, 2011, 10:57:05 PM
Argh!!

I fairly easily beat

Sant Vincent and the Grenadines

and then noticed the typo.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

on the other hand...

I've done that - so now I copy and paste!

Still waiting on a score for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

All now updated.

Sorry I've been absent so much lately, 'work' keeps cutting into my CW2 play-time...

I'll endeavour to update every day or three...

Keep up the good work and happy New Year!!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 02, 2012, 12:13:39 AM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 01, 2012, 07:56:48 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 30, 2011, 10:57:05 PM
Argh!!

I fairly easily beat

Sant Vincent and the Grenadines

and then noticed the typo.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

on the other hand...

I've done that - so now I copy and paste!

Still waiting on a score for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

All now updated.

Sorry I've been absent so much lately, 'work' keeps cutting into my CW2 play-time...

I'll endeavour to update every day or three...

Keep up the good work and happy New Year!!

Keep waiting, it's got me.


Portugal done.  Zzzzz.

Poland done.  Easy enough it's hypothetical inhabitants that are the butt of jokes could even do it.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on January 02, 2012, 05:43:56 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 02, 2012, 12:13:39 AM
Poland done.  Easy enough it's (sic) hypothetical inhabitants that are the butt of jokes could even do it.

The proper form of the possessive is: "its" (but I won't make any jokes about your grammar skills).
:)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 02, 2012, 06:02:42 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on January 02, 2012, 05:43:56 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 02, 2012, 12:13:39 AM
Poland done.  Easy enough it's (sic) hypothetical inhabitants that are the butt of jokes could even do it.

The proper form of the possessive is: "its" (but I won't make any jokes about your grammar skills).
:)

Serves me right for staying up that late.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 02, 2012, 06:25:26 PM
I decided to take a break from custom maps and conquer a few more countries.  ;D All of these are average to good maps; but nothing special.

Haiti  - 3.34G down/left
Honduras - build left, gravity right.
Kazakhstan
Jamaica
Iraq - has a surface emitter, but it won't fill its large pit for quite a while.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 02, 2012, 06:50:50 PM
Peru is down.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 03, 2012, 05:33:28 PM
Kuwait appears impossible. I can't dodge the many drones long enough to set up a defense, much less handle the phantoms.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 03, 2012, 07:37:49 PM
Paraguay.  It's mostly one big chamber, but no big problem.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 03, 2012, 08:31:30 PM
Kiribati - Experimentals; but a walk in the park.

Luxembourg - Sideways gravity and build - long march through chamber that reaches from bottom to (almost) surface but not hard.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 03, 2012, 08:39:42 PM

All updated.

Kuwait added to 'impossible' list - feel free to show us all how awesome you are and be the first to post a score!

Quote from: Katra on January 03, 2012, 08:31:30 PM
Kiribati - Experimentals; but a walk in the park.

My 30 year old 'social studies' school memory kicks in, and reminds me that 'Kiribati' is pronounced something like 'Kitty Bus', was formerly known as the 'Gilbert Islands', and is the group of islands containing Tarawa, the site of a major WWII battle - US Marines vs. Imperial Japan.

Who knew that stuff was still in there?!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 03, 2012, 09:01:12 PM
˙s,b ǝʌıʇɐbǝu ɥbıɥ ǝɥʇ oʇ ǝnp ʇɐǝɹɥʇ ɐ ɟo ɥɔnɯ ʇou ʇnq ןןıʞ oʇ uıɐd ɐ s,ʇɐɥʇ ɹǝʇʇıɯǝ ǝɔɐɟɹns ɐ sı ǝɹǝɥʇ 'ǝɔɐds pןınq pǝʇıɯıן ɥʇıʍ ʇɹɐʇs noʎ  ˙ɥɔʇɐɯ buıbboןs ɐ ǝʇınb 'spןǝıɟ ɥʇıʍ uɐʇıʇ  ˙ɐǝuınb ʍǝu ɐndɐd
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 04, 2012, 01:34:46 AM
Iran conquered after an epic battle. Strong left gravity, right build. It's a fun map
Spoiler
for certain definitions of fun. The beginning was a royal pain in the tail. Fast 7 hp drones below 1 layer of decaying terrain (which opens up 4 spaces wide) and phantoms.

Took several restarts before I managed to find the combination of shields and blasters that kept the pack of drones from doing me in. (And using 1 maker to keep the creeper from rising too much.) Once I managed a stable defense it got pretty easy; just build up plenty of power and march down through the open chamber; then taking out the other chambers in sequence. (engaging one while mopping up the previous where possible.)
[close]
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 04, 2012, 02:08:25 PM

Updated.

Nearly there with the list guys, feel free to suggest alternate names for countries to spice things up.

Anyone know the native spelling for Poland?

I'd love to give them a fighting chance - the English spelling wasn't much of a challenge!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Lord_Farin on January 04, 2012, 02:52:52 PM
Ecuador is done; nothing special
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 04, 2012, 03:41:28 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 04, 2012, 02:08:25 PM
Anyone know the native spelling for Poland?

Polska.

I'm afraid I can't provide the full name, which would be something like "republic of poland", You'd need a native speaker for that ;)

EDIT: Asked my sister-in-law, her boyfriend is Polish, he said "Rzeczpospolita Polska" is the official name.

EDIT 2: I'm nominating "Polska" for the fun list - it has a surface emitter, 10 phantoms, soon in the beginning drones break out to the surface from two gateways, one set strong, the other set super-fast. Within a few moments 6 emitters join in a single cavern that spews creeper to the surface using a field. Still I managed to beat it, barely ;)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 04, 2012, 04:04:10 PM
Kuwait done. The start was pretty tricky with all the drones swarming out, but as soon as you manage to grab the white gem, things get under control rather quickly.

Nauru done. Top left gravity and upside down build, both a surface emitter and a surface gateway, 2 phantoms every 45 seconds. A tad more difficult than average, but not too much.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 04, 2012, 08:10:09 PM
Italy - up left gravity, upside down build but nothing special.

Ireland - average map.

Indonesia - one for the fun list. Surface emitter; later another chamber breaks through into the surface pool and adds 14 hp drones.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on January 04, 2012, 09:12:31 PM
Here's an 'other' challenge for anyone:
"29 Second Ave"

I can get a hold started but after about 10 minutes or so, I get overwhelmed.
If anyone can figure it out, please post a screen shot - it's driving me nuts (a very short drive).
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 04, 2012, 11:23:05 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on January 04, 2012, 09:12:31 PM
Here's an 'other' challenge for anyone:
"29 Second Ave"

I can get a hold started but after about 10 minutes or so, I get overwhelmed.
If anyone can figure it out, please post a screen shot - it's driving me nuts (a very short drive).
dbit

Yup--nasty.  You don't get much space and as the ground wears away more and more stuff will be giving you trouble.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 05, 2012, 12:13:35 AM
Pakistan is down.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on January 05, 2012, 09:09:21 PM
Gabon - monster Titan that will take some work to get.
Worth playing.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 12:57:08 AM

Gambia - so easy it's boring.

Might provide some fun for a speed challenge or practice with experimentals in a safe environment.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 01:38:47 AM


All updated.

I'm glad that we found a worthwhile Poland map.

'29 Second Ave' had better prove to be possible - I wasted a lot of time trying to find the 'trick'!

Nice work guys.

Keep at it!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 06, 2012, 03:42:24 AM
'29 Second Ave' is tough indeed. I think I have a toehold, but any advance will be slow from here. I seem to be able to hold this position as long as needed, but there's no space to build anymore. Luckily I could at least build 2 tech domes, so after a very long while I should be able to upgrade and then perhaps push further.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 06, 2012, 03:53:03 AM
Cavemaniac, you might want to consider putting an English name next to all those native-spelled countries, just as a reference.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on January 06, 2012, 12:09:31 PM
Finally got around to looking at some of the maps - 29 Second Ave is a fun map - it should be possible to turtle it out in the corner, but I prefer the more aggressive approach:

I opened the chamber a bit early to let my launcher do damage to the creeper, then when the fields turned right I shielded off the emitter and nullified it. I also built some blasters to deal with the drones (make sure to keep them out of the drone path when the drones initially break through, since they will be in a bigger group)

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/vbmPm.jpg)
[close]


From there I expand further down, and I built 2 repulsors, 2 launchers and 5 blasters to defend from the emitter below me - initially you should have both of the launchers firing into the repulsor beam to keep the creeper from overflowing. Once you can afford it, get another launcher to start hitting the high density creeper in the chamber, and once the densities die down a bit you can deactivate one of the launchers firing into the repulsor beam.

I attacked the annoying gateway + emitter to the left of me before it became a nuisance with the terrain decaying through, after killing that off it becomes pretty straightforward to build up and slog through the creeper+drones.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/DjQbk.png)
[close]






The main thing to this is that repulsors + launchers firing into the repulsors are *VERY* effective at defending choke points, even from high densities (I think initially it was about 1.5M density creeper in there or so being held off by 2 repulsors 2 launchers).

EDIT: Posted a score.


Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: DethbyIT on January 06, 2012, 02:00:37 PM
Kithros - outstanding!
Great help on the Repulsor/Launcher concept - as well as how to attack that far left Emitter and Gateway.
Will give it another try.
dbit
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 06:55:31 PM
Oman is done.  Boring.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: lich98 on January 06, 2012, 07:58:04 PM
Malagasy Republic the Democratic Republic of Madagascar try it, I didn"t get a chance to, but for homework I was resurching Madagascar and though you might like another name, looked interesting in the code map preview.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 09:22:43 PM
Quote from: lich98 on January 06, 2012, 07:58:04 PM
Malagasy Republic the Democratic Republic of Madagascar try it, I didn"t get a chance to, but for homework I was resurching Madagascar and though you might like another name, looked interesting in the code map preview.

The very first thing I ever did in the Tropical Travel Industry was assist in dispatching an expedition to trek the Madagascan highlands. After that I was hooked!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 09:26:05 PM
Norway.  Sideways and limited space but nothing else interesting.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 09:28:26 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on January 06, 2012, 02:00:37 PM
Kithros - outstanding!
Great help on the Repulsor/Launcher concept - as well as how to attack that far left Emitter and Gateway.
Will give it another try.

What DBIT said!

Got it - man what a struggle!

The key was the combination of repulsors and launchers aimed at the breakthrough spot.

That and walling off the side of the fielded area to stop the erosion.

Anyway, countries all updated and English names added to the list in [brackets].
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 10:30:15 PM
The scammer country fell.  It took a while but nothing notable.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 10:59:02 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 10:30:15 PM
The scammer country fell.  It took a while but nothing notable.

Umm...

Which country have you invaded?!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 07, 2012, 11:13:58 AM
Nepal conquered. Surface emitter and gateway, but combined with all build directions and abundant gems, this was pretty straightforward.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: lich98 on January 07, 2012, 11:36:08 AM
Germany completed sort of a slog fest plenty of room to build ans expand with no real threat.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 07, 2012, 12:21:39 PM
Guyana done. Nothing special.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 07, 2012, 01:44:48 PM
Republic of korea seems impossible. There are two surface emitters, one surface gateway, 6 phantoms, no accessible gems and almost no buildspace.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 07, 2012, 01:51:29 PM

Updated.

There's two 'impossible' maps in the queue now - feel free to have a crack at them!

Also, feel free to submit alternate codes - i.e. Korea vs. Republic of Korea.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on January 07, 2012, 02:26:58 PM
Kuwait was already done by somebody I believe - and to be honest, it isn't really even close to impossible, you just need to know how to use shields against drones (or if you wanted to do it the tedious way how to use LS drone evasion indefinitely).

EDIT: Republic of Korea should be possible too, I'll get around to it sometime - LS drone evasion on all the drones, then use a repulsor to nullify the left emitter. Hide on the left side of the map and it's all easy from there.

EDIT AGAIN: Put a score up for Republic of Korea.

I flew over to the left, used LS drone evasion (I think it would probably be possible to mass a ton of weapons at the top of the map without using drone evasion too, and then move in and overpower the emitters since they're fairly weak emitters, but that would be much slower), and built some reactors + a repulsor once the gateway stopped sending drones (note that I kept spending energy building them, but deactivated them before finishing while the drones were still being sent out). I built a shield to hold off the right emitter, and nullified the left emitter.

Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/Kxojg.png)
[close]

From there I built a launcher to hit the right emitter from above, picked up the remnants and got a creeper maker + 2 blasters, repositioned the repulsor as necessary and killed off the emitter. Nothing to the map after the surface emitters are gone.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 08, 2012, 03:30:03 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 10:59:02 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 10:30:15 PM
The scammer country fell.  It took a while but nothing notable.

Umm...

Which country have you invaded?!

Nigeria!


Niger, though, has me.  There's an early breakthrough of a zero-g emitter & tough drones from two gateways.  It's impossible to dig in.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 08, 2012, 05:32:30 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 08, 2012, 03:30:03 PM
Niger, though, has me.  There's an early breakthrough of a zero-g emitter & tough drones from two gateways.  It's impossible to dig in.

You need to build a dark beam before the only opening to the surface decays. I've tried and it is possible. First build only as much as energy permits, until you get to the first crystal, then start the dark beam and as many reactors as possible. Don't build phantom coils until necessary, usually 0:25 before the phantoms will do. Switch off the coils as soon as they finish destroying phantoms, this'll save your energy.
The rest of the map is simple slogging; I'll post the score tomorrow when I finish it.

Niger is definitely worth playing if you need to brush up on fast start-up and rapid energy management. I found myself micro-stepping through much of the beginning.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on January 08, 2012, 05:56:05 PM
Posted a score for niger. Fun map. I even managed to kill of the first emitter before discovering that the map had experimentals :P
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 09, 2012, 03:15:56 AM
Niger finished and posted. I'd say this deserves nomination.

I noticed some of the countries I did were still unmarked in the main list:
Kuwait - challenging start with surface emitter and drones
Libya - fun to start, titan emitter breaks to the surface quite early
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on January 09, 2012, 04:33:37 AM
Croatia is deffinately not easy. Tried it a few times, but still no luck. I think it IS doable though.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 09, 2012, 01:57:57 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 08, 2012, 05:32:30 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 08, 2012, 03:30:03 PM
Niger, though, has me.  There's an early breakthrough of a zero-g emitter & tough drones from two gateways.  It's impossible to dig in.

You need to build a dark beam before the only opening to the surface decays. I've tried and it is possible. First build only as much as energy permits, until you get to the first crystal, then start the dark beam and as many reactors as possible. Don't build phantom coils until necessary, usually 0:25 before the phantoms will do. Switch off the coils as soon as they finish destroying phantoms, this'll save your energy.
The rest of the map is simple slogging; I'll post the score tomorrow when I finish it.

Niger is definitely worth playing if you need to brush up on fast start-up and rapid energy management. I found myself micro-stepping through much of the beginning.

How????

I just tried that approach, I put it down quite early and it wasn't quite ready at the breakthrough and it wouldn't have mattered anyway--I only had an energy production of 5.




Nicaragua down, Zzzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 09, 2012, 02:31:44 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 08, 2012, 03:30:03 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 06, 2012, 10:59:02 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 06, 2012, 10:30:15 PM
The scammer country fell.  It took a while but nothing notable.

Umm...

Which country have you invaded?!

Nigeria!


Hur hur!

Would someone please send me $10,000 for legal fees so I can send you the $1.2M oil fortune that your great uncle left you in his will?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 09, 2012, 02:35:27 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 09, 2012, 03:15:56 AM
Niger finished and posted. I'd say this deserves nomination.

I noticed some of the countries I did were still unmarked in the main list:
Kuwait - challenging start with surface emitter and drones
Libya - fun to start, titan emitter breaks to the surface quite early


Sorry xoft.

All updated now.

Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 09, 2012, 02:36:04 PM
Loren Pechtel,
You need to spend everything on reactors. At 2:00 I had energy production of ~10.7, several reactors building and just digged out the second batch of technites, so I could improve my reactor efficiency further. I've already got the dark beam running and since it was almost full of energy when the cave broke through, it can survive for some time on less than 12 energy. Just enough to finish the reactors needed.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 09, 2012, 02:38:37 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 09, 2012, 02:35:27 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 09, 2012, 03:15:56 AM
Niger finished and posted. I'd say this deserves nomination.

I noticed some of the countries I did were still unmarked in the main list:
Kuwait - challenging start with surface emitter and drones
Libya - fun to start, titan emitter breaks to the surface quite early


Sorry xoft.

All updated now.



I edited what I thought was the last post in the thread--oops.

Nicaragua down, Zzzzz.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Kithros on January 09, 2012, 02:39:13 PM
Worst case scenario if you don't have enough energy - there's actually an interesting tactic that can be used for those kinds of experimental maps, where you build 2 long columns of shields around the terrain that will decay through - then you can turn the dark beam on for short bursts to hold the creeper off instead of needing to have the dark beam constantly running, since the shields will keep the creeper inside of the dark beams path. If you need to you can turn the dark beam on for a somewhat longer time to destroy and replace all the shields.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 09, 2012, 02:45:13 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 09, 2012, 02:36:04 PM
Loren Pechtel,
You need to spend everything on reactors. At 2:00 I had energy production of ~10.7, several reactors building and just digged out the second batch of technites, so I could improve my reactor efficiency further. I've already got the dark beam running and since it was almost full of energy when the cave broke through, it can survive for some time on less than 12 energy. Just enough to finish the reactors needed.

I can't imagine how you are accomplishing that in 2 minutes!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 09, 2012, 04:43:57 PM
Ghana and Gambia done. Neither was interesting.

Some may have noticed, for the others I'm giving a little trick: pressing the N key while the game is paused will step the game one frame. Using this, you can achieve a pretty tight timing that might be needed in some missions - as soon as you grab the crystal, or as soon as that terrain is digged... That's micro-stepping ;)

Loren Pechtel, what did you spend those technytes on? I spent my first batch on decreasing unit cost, this helped me reduce the build-time needed for the dark beam, as well as for all those reactors. The rest was used for packet speed and energy storage. The second batch was used to improve reactor efficiency and I don't remember what else.

EDIT: I tried re-playing the level, and I got to ~16 energy and running dark beam at 1:40 :)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 09, 2012, 08:06:43 PM

Mexico - interesting looking map, but pretty standard play.

Updated...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on January 10, 2012, 03:44:08 AM
Finally managed to beat Croatia. I would say its worthy of a nomination.

EDIT: Posted a score for Morocco. VERY boring.

EDIT: Panama, Interesting start, rest is a sluggish.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 10, 2012, 01:55:22 PM
Updated.

We're nearly done with the list guys!

Are there any non English speakers participating?

If so, we could use some alternate country names/spellings to extend this challenge.

I've included Aotearoa which is the Maori name for New Zealand as inspiration.

Edit: Aotearoa done - no challenge...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 10, 2012, 04:25:10 PM
Quote from: SmileyCoder on January 10, 2012, 03:44:08 AM
Finally managed to beat Croatia.

Damn, 3 seconds slower than you :P
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 10, 2012, 06:10:23 PM
Mauritania done. Left gravity, right builddir, surface emitter, 10 phantoms; but still too easyto be much fun.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 10, 2012, 10:09:40 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 09, 2012, 04:43:57 PM
Ghana and Gambia done. Neither was interesting.

Some may have noticed, for the others I'm giving a little trick: pressing the N key while the game is paused will step the game one frame. Using this, you can achieve a pretty tight timing that might be needed in some missions - as soon as you grab the crystal, or as soon as that terrain is digged... That's micro-stepping ;)

Loren Pechtel, what did you spend those technytes on? I spent my first batch on decreasing unit cost, this helped me reduce the build-time needed for the dark beam, as well as for all those reactors. The rest was used for packet speed and energy storage. The second batch was used to improve reactor efficiency and I don't remember what else.

EDIT: I tried re-playing the level, and I got to ~16 energy and running dark beam at 1:40 :)

That N command let me get a lot farther than I did before but I still only had 9 at crunch time.  I'll try again.


Finally, although I still can't come close to your energy level.  I didn't even have 13 when I had to switch the dark beam on.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: SmileyCoder on January 11, 2012, 06:19:31 AM
Here is a way to do the first emitter that doesn't even require use of experimentals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tw2RZus_S4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tw2RZus_S4)

Sorry about the sound quality. Forgot to turn of the microphone, and you can even hear my microwave going off from heating lunch at some point :P
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 11, 2012, 03:20:12 PM
Myanmar liberated. No particular challenge.

Also Burma (the former name of the country.) Ten phantoms launching from practically on the surface, and one huge roughly boot shaped chamber to clear. (plus the phantom gateway and another with 2 emitters in a separate small chamber.) Not much of a challenge once you sit six phantom coils right on top of the launch gateway. (First time I've been able to do that without digging.)

Two of the gateways on this one are sitting directly on emitters.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 11, 2012, 04:46:11 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 10, 2012, 04:25:10 PM
Damn, 3 seconds slower than you :P

Rectified :)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 11, 2012, 05:21:46 PM
Romania done. Disappointingly easy - although it has a surface emitter and gateway, it is too easy - too many gems near the surface.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 11, 2012, 09:33:31 PM
Quote from: SmileyCoder on January 11, 2012, 06:19:31 AM
Here is a way to do the first emitter that doesn't even require use of experimentals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tw2RZus_S4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tw2RZus_S4)

Sorry about the sound quality. Forgot to turn of the microphone, and you can even hear my microwave going off from heating lunch at some point :P

I would have thought you would have run out of energy with that strategy.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 11, 2012, 10:27:02 PM
Monaco is done.  The rich can't put up much of a defense.

Montenegro, though, I'm stuck.  Just under the surface there is a chamber going virtually all the way across (and counting decaying terrain it goes all the way), many weak spots that will break through and tough drones besides.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 11, 2012, 11:28:17 PM
Micronesia (Federated States of) defeated.  A pain because again it has a huge chamber just under the surface but this one doesn't break out and you have a mountain you can tunnel into for some build space.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 12, 2012, 02:39:24 AM

Updated.

Won't be long before we can start arguing about which is the best country in the world!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Loren Pechtel on January 12, 2012, 05:29:59 PM
Mauritius is down.

As is Liechtenstein.

Everything left is too much for me.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 12, 2012, 07:45:40 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 12, 2012, 05:29:59 PM
Mauritius is down.

As is Liechtenstein.

Everything left is too much for me.

Updated.

Now have a crack at some of the 'fun' maps so you can nominate your favourite(s)!
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 13, 2012, 03:51:21 PM
Netherlands and Palau done. Neither was any challenge, both were slogging missions.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Katra on January 13, 2012, 07:21:58 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on January 11, 2012, 10:27:02 PM
Montenegro, though, I'm stuck.  Just under the surface there is a chamber going virtually all the way across (and counting decaying terrain it goes all the way), many weak spots that will break through and tough drones besides.

I too am forced to admit defeat. Once the second layer of  decaying terrain on the left erodes away the field there pushes creeper out and overwhelms me. Too strong to hold down with any number of repulsors I have power to build, and the drones take out shields...
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 14, 2012, 01:54:37 PM
Montenegro done. That was tricky! :) It took about 20 restarts to get it done properly. Unfortunately that means I haven't got enough screenshots.

Spoiler
The basic strategy was to dig up the green and red gems as soon as possible, then build 4 blasters near where the green gem was, use the space under the green gem to build more reactors. Then I moved the LS to the right and built three blasters and a shield above the decayable ground to the right of the blue gem. By this time the drones started flowing in, so the memory gets fuzzy :) I just know I made three launchers, cleared the top-right part of the chamber, then digged the solid terrain below it for reactor buildspace.
(http://xoft.cz/cw2/10.png)

Then finally I managed to nullify the topmost emitter and soon after that I grabbed the white gem. That allowed me to build many more blasters, needed for defending the top-left part of the chamber that would get flooded from below, the decayable terrain would break at about that time. I cleared the reactors I had there and replaced them with shields and blasters behind them. I had just enough energy to fight everything off, but the field kept pushing creeper to my shields, breaking them, so basically I had two "chambers" made of shields, when the first chamber got busted, I pulled all weapons from it, letting the weapons in the second chamber take care of the drones / creeper; then the field let go and I rebuilt the first chamber.
(http://xoft.cz/cw2/13.png)
Once the next emitter gets nullified, it's pretty standard slogging mission.
[close]
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 15, 2012, 11:09:40 AM
Iceland finished. Nothing special.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Lov on January 15, 2012, 01:17:16 PM
Philippines done it's a very long slogfest.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 16, 2012, 02:49:58 AM
Philippines is a slogfest, but on the other hand it's pretty interesting from the beginning - 12 phantoms, combination of super-strong and strong super-fast drones breaking to the surface through a single decayable tile and a titan emitter in that same chamber. I had fun playing that one, although it took me some 45 minutes to beat :)
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 16, 2012, 02:18:00 PM


All updated.

Philippines and Montenegro added to the fun list - though perhaps Montenegro should be the 'challenging' list!

We've slowed right down now that most countries are 'done'.

Please start nominating your favourite map(s) from the list of fun codes we've discovered.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 16, 2012, 02:42:01 PM
Republic of Moldova finished. Nothing interesting.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 16, 2012, 03:06:47 PM
Updated.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 16, 2012, 03:49:41 PM
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines done. Not bad, but still there were better.

I guess that's the last one, isn't it?
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 22, 2012, 08:27:59 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 16, 2012, 03:49:41 PM
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines done. Not bad, but still there were better.

I guess that's the last one, isn't it?

Rzeczpospolita Polska [Poland]

Pretty good actually, a titan emitter and some time constraints - but no match for me...

Now we're finished!

Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this mission!

I'll post a new topic and we can argue about the best one.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: xoft on January 23, 2012, 03:41:49 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 22, 2012, 08:27:59 PM
Rzeczpospolita Polska [Poland]

I don't see your score posted, you sure you played the right mission, no typos? I managed to play a few countries with weird typos :)
But the level description is right, it was a titan level.

I'm going for all the nominated levels, try to see which one's the best. Tried Armenia and so far, not much challenge.
Title: Re: Mission: Which is the 'best' country?
Post by: Cavemaniac on January 23, 2012, 10:21:22 PM
Quote from: xoft on January 23, 2012, 03:41:49 PM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on January 22, 2012, 08:27:59 PM
Rzeczpospolita Polska [Poland]

I don't see your score posted, you sure you played the right mission, no typos? I managed to play a few countries with weird typos :)
But the level description is right, it was a titan level.


Darn it, I didn't think anyone would actually check up on me!

Must have forgotten to hit the submit button - fortunately, I saved just before I opened the last chamber so replaying and posting a score wasn't such a huge deal.

Quote from: xoft on January 23, 2012, 03:41:49 PM

I'm going for all the nominated levels, try to see which one's the best.


That's what I'm gonna do too - there's not a lot of new custom maps around these days.

Just gotta remember/check which ones I've already done...