Knuckle Cracker

Creeper World 3 => Custom Map Discussion => Colonial Space Map Discussion => Topic started by: AutoPost on March 11, 2018, 10:13:57 PM

Title: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: AutoPost on March 11, 2018, 10:13:57 PM
This topic is for discussion of map #5568: Khel's Advance
(http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld3/queryMaps.php?query=thumbnailid&id=5568)

Author: Zydrate
Size: 256x256

Desc:
Part 2 of my unknown campaign. I still consider it easy (because I can do it!) and veterans will destroy it. As it stands, It's probably still time consuming for casual players such as I. I actually really enjoyed playing this and I hope everyone else does, too!
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: Zydrate on March 12, 2018, 02:24:31 PM
Commentary!

I was actually really proud of this one as my second outing. Probably worked on it continually for about four hours (including some other side-stuff, internet, and World of Warcraft) but even with all that I was constantly poking at it with some advice from the discord.

I liked the idea of the constant threat of spores forcing players to take care of them rather than just going straight for inhib, though I imagine with a few beams they cease to be a problem. Still, I found them to be an annoyance so my playthrough I went for them.
I found myself not really doing anything with the right side in actual play. There were some mines and the like but I didn't need them too much.

I enjoyed trying to traverse the scattered terrain and for some reason the use of terraforming didn't come to me til later in the game where I was plopping Berthas on like, every power zone which led to a smoother endgame.

As you can tell I'm a turtler and someone has done it in fourteen minutes. Oh well! Hope they enjoyed it at least. Still a far cry from the ~five minutes someone can do on my first map.

My next map I'm going to go a bit smaller and hopefully even more aggressive creep to keep me on my toes and make the game last.

I'm an EZmode player so I hope to be a go-to for fun, casual levels.
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: cornucanis on March 12, 2018, 04:40:12 PM
Quote from: Zydrate on March 12, 2018, 02:24:31 PM
As you can tell I'm a turtler and someone has done it in fourteen minutes. Oh well! Hope they enjoyed it at least.

I'm not sure if I'll end up giving this map a shot since I'm not the biggest fan of max size maps, but good money says the top scorers dropped their CNs in the northwest at the beginning of the map. You can easily secure those PZs for reactors and berthas to get a very fast start.

A good rule of thumb when making a map is to let it run for a minute before finalizing to see how the first minute plays out. A fast player can build a nullifier within that first minute, so you want to make sure there are no potential nullifier spots that are still creeper-free a minute into the game. This is especially true of the inhibitor, but you generally want to avoid letting the player kill an enemy unit early for a free PZ (unless you intend for that to be part of the strategy). I'll put the rest in spoilers since I'm detailing a speed strategy for the map  ;)


Spoiler
Giving them 2 PZs that remain creeper free for a full minute is an extension of the same issue. I can build a cannon in one of those PZs very quickly (takes about 20 seconds with 1 CN, faster if you have multiple) which will very neatly secure the area around it since there is no heavy pressure on the PZs. I can then drop a reactor on the other PZ, subdue the other enemies around the zone, and start making PZ berthas within the first minute or two. Definitely not the biggest mapmaking oversight in the world, but I thought I'd let you know what the loophole was in case you were curious how people were still getting relatively low times  ;D
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Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: Zydrate on March 12, 2018, 05:46:21 PM
Thank you for the tip. I do know the general idea behind speed runs but I, somehow, am incapable of plopping my bases on creep. My collectors get nuked immediately and cut off supply to any guns I might normally be able to build. I don't know how they do it. Oh well!
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: Builder17 on March 13, 2018, 11:16:28 AM
One collector and one nullifier is enough often if there is creeper-free spots.
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: Zydrate on March 13, 2018, 04:35:31 PM
Almost 100 downloads. That's... surprising considering how new I am at it. And some people somehow got 'worse' scores than I did :D Maybe they spent time clearing the right side of the map, of which I did not.
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: daniels220 on March 14, 2018, 02:10:27 AM
cornucanis, I'm not so sure about the NW corner...I saw the opportunity immediately, and tried it, but there's so little space to build and the emitters, though not outrageous, are not to be trifled with. A PZ cannon isn't nearly enough to hold for more than a couple minutes—it just doesn't hit hard enough, you need a mortar—and there's a runner in stun range of the other PZ (and out of range of a PZ cannon), so the reactor is a bit of a non-starter. Give it a try and see what you think...maybe you can pull it off, but I sure couldn't.

+1 on the advice to let the map run for a minute before finalizing, though...that's the first thing I do as a player before deciding how to start, and it really gives you an idea of where the big threats are and where you can get a free land-grab, kill something early, etc.

Zydrate, some thoughts. I found the spores annoying, yes, but nowhere near worth going and killing them when I could just go straight for the Inhibitor. I was able to sneak my way around the bottom without much fuss and run a line up the right-hand side while slowly pushing out all around. As usual, once 3+ PZ Berthas come online it's game over...was probably like 3min from then until the end.

Overall, nice map!
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: Zydrate on March 14, 2018, 01:47:38 PM
Thanks for complimenting the map :D

And yes, I do let it run for a few minutes to see exactly how 'aggressive' the creep is and I up their values when I think its advance is too slow.
Title: Re: Custom Map #5568: Khel's Advance. By: Zydrate
Post by: D0m0nik on March 15, 2018, 04:41:31 PM
Nice map.

Spoiler
For me the fastest way was to land on the ore mines on the right and just go straight for the inhibitor. 1 CN bottom for the totem and a few berthas.
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