Custom Map #6776: AC To Save The Day. By: Jason Stevens

[AutoPost]

This topic is for discussion of map #6776: AC To Save The Day


Author: Jason Stevens
Size: 128x256

Desc:
This is a somewhat unusual map in that you initially can only use AC to combat creep. Will AC be enough to get to the mortor and cannon techs in the south? Or will you succumb to the creep from the north? You will need to move quickly!

[Voriah]

Being limited to only one command center, you have to choose between maintaining power supply and defense in the center island or the production of ore. You can not do both at the same time. The spore generators on the south side do not have land underneath them which prevents using them as long range relays. The overwhelming creep production to the north eventually breach the containment and cross the gap before the slow back and forth ore and power production yields enough to free the technologies. Either there was a mistake in the design, or I am missing a piece of the puzzle.

[teknotiss]

Being limited to only one command center, you have to choose between maintaining power supply and defense in the center island or the production of ore. You can not do both at the same time. The spore generators on the south side do not have land underneath them which prevents using them as long range relays. The overwhelming creep production to the north eventually breach the containment and cross the gap before the slow back and forth ore and power production yields enough to free the technologies. Either there was a mistake in the design, or I am missing a piece of the puzzle.

haven't played this one but you have guppies so you can use them to ferry ore and AC as well as power to islands etc!

from the quick look at the map i think it is reasonably doable but this is a super hard, probably needs a bunch of restarts/loads to get the right start up sort of map.

i recommend focusing on power and beams for a bit, then use guppies to start getting you some ore fairly early.

sorry i don't have the time to do a screenshot play by play of a setup!

hope that gives you some hope! 8)

[GoodMorning]

I had a look at the gameplay...
Guppies are the missing element, I think.

I can't be bothered doing the micromanagement and waiting out the lag, though.

Ore

It's possible to set up Guppies to and from the Ore islands

[close]

Forge

The major priority is to get a Forge up and Guppy to the six-Totem island right at the bottom of the map. Using eight Guppies or so, you can keep the Greem Emitters producing AC, eventually flooding that island. Do this as early as you can, so that there is a minimal Creeper buildup.

[close]

Upgrades

Move speed and Ore efficiency upgrades are your friends.

[close]

Time

You can get a set of eight Mass AoOs my further Guppy micro-landings on the factory-islands. This can keep your walls safe for a lot longer, especially with a few Bombers to catch any overflow.

[close]

Nullification

You can Nullify all the spores south of the main island, giving you more space to work with. the Runners are harder to squish, but possible. Add Snipers. Be sure that you won't lose anything important to the Creeper on that Digitalis wire before Nullifying the Emitter.

[close]

Hint

Three-Guppy groups can keep the factory island green-Emitters supplied.

[close]

I haven't bothered to micro-replay in order to have time to try out different strategies on the corner islands, but I suspect that the trick is overwhelming air power, followed by some suicide Sprayers. Presumably the top is mop-up once you have the factories, and the weapon techs are a nice bonus.

Edit:
Stubbornness sent me back to this ... I've won it, but it wasn't all that interesting after the first part.

"Survive Spores" "Get upgrades / micromanage Guppies" "Get AoO factories" "Get Thor" "Get Inhibitor".

Everything after the lower corners were secure was dull mop-up. The most interesting part was the beginning.

[Johnny Haywire]

This really isn't as difficult as it seems. The center island is easy with mass collectors at the start. I tried landing on the lower left to take the mortar, re-orbit, and then land in the center island and almost survived. Building collectors with mass beams is the easy part.

As Yum stated earlier, you can use a few guppies with no micromanagement to power the lower center island. Why no micromanagement? Because if you land them in the right places, they'll deplete their energy before their health runs out. Once you see the AC in the islands, you can build sprayers. You can grab 4 mass drivers, and use 2 on each corner island to secure those.

Once you do that, the game can be over, if you want it to be. Hint?

Spoiler

You have four (4) mass driver factories. There's an inhibitor which means if you can clear the area, and land your CN there, almost everything dies instantly (not the flip-emitters). You have a forge that can produce a singularity. Or two. Hopefully, you know what to do from there  ;)

[close]

I liked this map, except for the tech we had to pick up in order to meet the victory condition. I found all the tech to be completely unnecessary, as well as all the ore mines. Still, it's a fun challenge with spores, guppies, and AC - ya gotta love that, right?  8)

Thanks for the map, Jason - another cool one!  ;D