Custom Map #3286: Spore assault. By: Tasonir

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This topic is for discussion of map #3286: Spore assault


Author: Tasonir
Size: 128x84

Desc:
Survive heavy bombardment from spore towers right from the start! Once you're defended, clear the relatively weak creeper on the ground. Requires relatively good power management early on, but gets easier once you're established.

[Tjgalon]

Don't let the low score get you down. It was a nice challenge that took me a bit to understand and finally beat it, I gave it a good ratting too.

[Johnny Haywire]

Not sure why this has such low scores. Usually that happens when something is either too hard or too easy. This is clearly neither. There's so much space to build collectors, and with 3 CN's you can have a powergrid and beams up in no time. You can even take out a couple spore towers before they fire if you're fast enough. There's AC, so you really don't need any other weapons other than sprayers - so no powergrid needed there. Definitely easy enough.

But not TOO easy. Spores fire pretty fast and if you are eating a sandwich and doing your taxes while playing this, you will probably fail. You can do this mission without pausing if you want to make it more challenging. Only takes about 5 minutes real-life time that way  ;D

Thx for the map - nothing fantastic, but definitely a fun test of building skills!

[Tasonir]

Thanks for the comments, and yeah the score is a bit lower than I expected, but it is a pretty plain/simple map.  I didn't try to make interesting terrain, it's more about the spore towers putting pressure on your energy supply early on, and then clearing out the creeper/spores efficiently.  I didn't try to rush too much with my own 27 minute time, but seeing two times in the 11 minute range, I think I'll try to get that down to less than 20 at least :)

Appreciate the feedback and am honestly surprised it's already got 20+ wins!

Edit: tried again with a 17 minute win, had a few losses but that's about what I expected.  I'm not too super efficient, so that's a fine score for me.  What do people think of the totem/ore arrangement?  I mostly just wanted to give access to those things if people wanted to use them, although I'm not too sure that ore is really helpful here.  I think the totems are worth powering up before you move off of the cliff, but I'm not sure which is more efficient really.

[Johnny Haywire]

What's helpful about ore is that it requires no power once you have it built. Also, AC is a great pusher when combined with mortars. The totems definitely help, although with that much ore & room to build with they're not really necessary.

As far as visual stuff goes, it doesn't affect the function of this map. I suppose people who like decorations might want more. I'm 99.99% function over form though. But yeah, if you wanna please those people you might want to add some flowers or stuff.

[chwooly]

I have to admit, I don't like having to restart maps, That is usually for me a nonstarter and when I am most likely to either not score or give a 1. however I did keep trying on this map and after about 10 restarts I was able to figure out a little secret.

Spoiler

I found that the spores like to go to the top of the map, I split up my CN's but put put them close to the cliff and then build the power grid and doubled up on beams at the top. By putting the CN close to the cliff I was able to lower reload times enough to slowly build up reactors while staying alive.

[close]

Hope that helps, and yes I did give a score that I felt reflects the map, No I didn't give it a 1  :P

[Johnny Haywire]

I have to admit, I don't like having to restart maps, That is usually for me a nonstarter and when I am most likely to either not score or give a 1. however I did keep trying on this map and after about 10 restarts I was able to figure out a little secret.

When this game is new to you there will be a lot of frustrating moments. As you play for a few months, you'll start to get the hang of it. Having played this about a year, I didn't find this map challenging in the sense that you'd need to save, restart, or pause. Here's why... (And this isn't a "spoiler" - it's just game mechanics & math).

Any time you have a lot of space to build with, start building a large network of collectors. It's fast power. There's no need to build any weapons other than beams for quite a while since the terrain level is so much higher than where the creeper is. Once you have a network of collectors that covers the "safe" area (i.e., pretty much everything is covered in "green"), you can build a reactor or two and/or the forge.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the game! It's also got a pretty cool community! =)

[Karsten75]

Hope this helps, and welcome to the game! It's also got a pretty cool community! =)

That's actually pretty funny, since chwooly  has been on the site 3 years longer than you - (s)he is just more sparing with posts.

[Johnny Haywire]

Wow, ok sorry. I just figured with the low # of posts and the mention of having to restart this map 10 times... anyway, didn't mean to insult anyone. But CW3 IS a cool community and the guys who are elites are cool about helping lesser-skilled players with learning better strategies. That's one of the things I've appreciated about it the most... always someone to learn from!  ;)

[D0m0nik]

To be fair I would also assume that anyone who rates a map a 1 because they can't finish it fist time is a noob!

[jaworeq]

Not sure how you guys did it, I just used weakness of the spores, as they dont attack certain buildings. So in pause I set up gazillion of reactors and beams (just enough to finish before 12 minute mark, when creeper is about to enter the cliff), and pushed from there.

[chwooly]

Wow, ok sorry. I just figured with the low # of posts and the mention of having to restart this map 10 times... anyway, didn't mean to insult anyone. But CW3 IS a cool community and the guys who are elites are cool about helping lesser-skilled players with learning better strategies. That's one of the things I've appreciated about it the most... always someone to learn from!  ;)

Nothing to be sorry about  :P

I started with creeper world and have been a fan ever since. That being said I don't like to think when I play games like this. I want to just destroy creep. so when I have to restart and restart pause pause pause,  it takes away what I play this type of game for. Once in a while I whine about it and then I move on. I am still waiting on the next game to come from Virgil. It looks great so far.

[Johnny Haywire]

I started with creeper world and have been a fan ever since. That being said I don't like to think when I play games like this. I want to just destroy creep. so when I have to restart and restart pause pause pause,  it takes away what I play this type of game for. Once in a while I whine about it and then I move on. I am still waiting on the next game to come from Virgil. It looks great so far.

Totally agree, dude. I rarely pause any map and actually prefer the map modifications that prevent saving and pausing to give it more of a "real-time" feel. I only paused this one at the start to set up an initial build... and I've found that if you just think a wee-little bit at the start like that then the rest is much easier. To me, less real-life time is usually better than a lower game-time score. Unless it's one of those "race-to-win" type maps.

I will admit that while I usually play maps at 10x speed I ended up only doing this one at 1-4x speed since stuff is happening pretty fast. So yeah, a bit harder than the average map but not bad at all if you just get the right setup at the beginning.  :D

[GoodMorning]

I, too, agree.

A pause at the start, lay out the network and possibly deactivate parts to accelerate the overall build, then fast forward all the way.

I want to ask, though... how did you get 10x speed? Is there an option I have been missing?

[Builder17]

10x speed is hack or something similar , not sure where to get it from.  8)