Custom Map: Hard Art 7: Blue Studies

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This topic is for discussion of map: Hard Art 7: Blue Studies


Author: UpperKEES

Desc:
Blue + yellow = green when mixing paint. Can you do that? You'll start off with quite some blue, but the amount of yellow will increase during the first 10 minutes, so make sure you've got your defences up in time! Emitters can be capped by 3 blasters, although one of them can't be capped forever...

[UpperKEES]

Title:	Hard Art 7: Blue Studies
Difficulty:	Expert Only
Creeper type:	Land only
Remarks:	Blue + yellow = green when mixing paint. Can you do that? You'll start off with quite some blue, but the amount of yellow will increase during the first 10 minutes, so make sure you've got your defences up in time! Emitters can be capped by 3 blasters, although one of them can't be capped forever...
Description:	Kandinsky was like Mondiaan one of the pioneers of modern art and compared colours with music. I wasn't able to use the original colours (see map comments) and keep this map playable, so I transferred it into shades of blue and made the map more interesting by playing with the emitter frequencies; between minute 2 and 10 these will increase gradually. Make sure you get your defences up quickly and use your limited space as efficient as possible! ARTIST: Wassily Kandinsky TITLE: Colour Studies MATERIAL: oil on canvas YEAR: 1913 DIMENSIONS: 56 x 71 cm
Download page:	Hard Art 7: Blue Studies
Full size screen shot:
Based on:
More art:	See here for more maps about art (and jobs) ;)

[Miss Melissa]

good map. it's pretty damn hard.. it will take quite some time for many players to do. my first attempt lasted over 30 mins (game time) and i had only uncovered half the map.. but then i ran into a large deficit and it all came crashing down.  :( well i guess i learned something for the next try. thanks :)

[UpperKEES]

Thanks Melissa! :)

Yeah, you'll learn the first time where to put your priorities. During testing it also took me over 30 minutes to finish, but I'm sure I can improve my current time a lot, because I played it very laid back without too much pausing and often building too much at the same time. I have no doubt that I will have to replay after someone beating it.

Isn't it funny how only 6 emitters with 10 intensity can keep you busy that long? ;D

By the way: Hard Art 8 will be based on your second piece of art. I'm very happy the way it looks at the moment, so I hope you will too.

[SPIFFEN]

Oh im for sure not an expert player =P
It takes me about 30 min to feel safe in the corner ;)
Guess im not agressive enought to do this map ,
so I'll give it an rest for now =/

[UpperKEES]

Well, this map is actually between 'hard' and 'expert only'. The start is hard, but not too difficult when you have set up your defences in time. This is very well possible, also with enough energy to support your weapons.

Spoiler

Two of them are enough to survive and mortars are your best choice for this. When you build your reactors without a deficit you should be able to be save in just a few minutes. Aggression isn't necessary here. Don't forget to leave 1-2 spaces open to build blasters to get out of that corner!

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Please let me know what your problem is, so I can give you another hint. What made you spend 30 minutes there? Or were you having lunch at the same time? ;)

[SPIFFEN]

He he i know i waste alot of time not pauseing and do others stuff =P
I did manage to get out of the corner and went up to the left side ,
but i lost connection now and then .
Havent looked at the map in the editor ,
because im having an ongoing project there ,
But maybe i'll do now when i have save the tempmap with an name =P

I did save spot for 2 Blasters and sendt them away until i build more of them ,
until i had 6 blasters to get control over the next terrain lvl =)

Edit : oh i forgot to go fo the upgrade first , that should help alot =P

[UpperKEES]

He he i know i waste alot of time not pauseing and do others stuff =P

Yeah, a bit of pausing will help, especially when adding new things or moving units.

I did manage to get out of the corner and went up to the left side ,
but i lost connection now and then .

Spoiler

You may want to keep 1 blaster behind to protect that connection. Just put it at the side, so it doesn't waste ammo on other creeper (the mortars will take care of that).

[close]

Havent looked at the map in the editor ,
because im having an ongoing project there ,
But maybe i'll do now when i have save the tempmap with an name =P

There's no surprises in there, apart from the stacked emitters of 10 intensity. Only their frequency will increase a little (one additional step every 60 seconds between minute 2 and 10, so very gradually).

I did save spot for 2 Blasters and sendt them away until i build more of them ,
until i had 6 blasters to get control over the next terrain lvl =)

Spoiler

Before I go somewhere else, I first conquer the step below OC and build more reactors and blasters. When I conquer more terrain I do the same thing, until I have enough energy to finish the entire map (which is a lot; every emitter takes 3 blasters, so you know you need at least 18 energy ;)).

[close]

Edit : oh i forgot to go fo the upgrade first , that should help alot =P

Spoiler

Yeah, that certainly helps! Well worth sacrificing a collector for that! Just calculate: minus 10% building cost for the price of 10 energy. When you build 2 reactors and 2 collectors you already saved that 10 energy! Besides that the required collector will provide energy for a while (until it gets destroyed), thus returning it's own costs (break-even-point is about 80 seconds for a collector).

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[fraterpotens]

I found this map is pretty hard untill you secure the step below your initial spot.  from then on it's pretty straight forward.
I liked it though.

my first time through I chose 10% more energy, and it was not too bad, but I had to go to work before finishing the map and had to abandon it.  the second try through I chose the increased range.  I beat the map but it was much harder to get started.

[UpperKEES]

I found this map is pretty hard untill you secure the step below your initial spot.  from then on it's pretty straight forward.

Yep, the start is the toughest part (for most maps, as the energy collection growth is exponential). When you build things in the right order you should be okay and be able to fight your way to the totems rather laid back.

my first time through I chose 10% more energy, and it was not too bad, but I had to go to work before finishing the map and had to abandon it.  

Spoiler

This isn't a bad choice, although -10% building costs will save you much more energy when you obtain this upgrade during early game. +10% energy would be my second choice in this case, especially because you know you'll be collecting the other upgrades later on as well.

[close]

the second try through I chose the increased range.  I beat the map but it was much harder to get started.

Spoiler

Extra range is nice for your mortars, but you're already able to reach the deepest trench from your starting location. Besides that it can be beneficial to target shallower spots as well when these are near a deeper pool. See here for more info.

[close]

I liked it though.

Thanks! :) To be honest this is more a kind of a brute force map than I usually make, although planning your energy production, weapons used and route to the totems are still very important. My previous map was much more technical and my next map will certainly be technical as well.

I first wanted to use the original colors (see painting above) and give them a meaning, like with Hard Art 3: Color Planes. Unfortunately it turned out to be unplayable (as the colors were too diverse to be able to see what you are doing, whatever creeper color and energy collection color I tried), so I had to change my plans. After a comment on my previous map I decided to create a rather creeper intensive map instead (but without using very high intensity emitters). You have to do everything once in your life, don't you? (Well, almost everything.... ;))

[SPIFFEN]

For me it seemed that the map got harder for each time i played it =P
As if it was an bug , that the first times you play the map ,
not all emitters work as they should =)
( i probably build to fast or something )
But atleast i finally manage to post an score ,
after ALOT of tryes =P

[UpperKEES]

For me it seemed that the map got harder for each time i played it =P
As if it was an bug , that the first times you play the map ,
not all emitters work as they should =)
( i probably build to fast or something )

:D That would actually be great: a map that becomes harder every time you play it!

There could be a difference however: the mines have a certain random factor. Because they are located at the edge of the map they kind of fire in the same direction every time, but there is still some variation. When at least 3-4 shells hit the deep creeper you are lucky, but when only 1-2 do this you might have less time until the creeper returns....

But atleast i finally manage to post an score ,
after ALOT of tryes =P

Well done Spiff! :)

[snowmaker (JM)]

That took awhile  ;D

edit: I ended with about 41 energy and 20 usage.... I think I overbuilt

[Colin]

I only had to play it once to post a score, but still. . .  :o

Near the beginning, after I built up a bit in the corner, I sent 4
blasters up along the north wall to try to stop that emitter. But
I underestimated my energy usage and was in a grid-lock for about
20 minutes trying to build reactors while holding back the creeper.
After I capped the northern emitter I filled the top corner with
reactors till I had 32. Then I was fine  ;D

Hard/fun/awesome map KEES  :D

[UpperKEES]

That took awhile  ;D

About 30 minutes and a 3rd place isn't bad at all for a first try. I wouldn't have done any better, especially considering:

edit: I ended with about 41 energy and 20 usage.... I think I overbuilt

Heheh! :D Yeah, 41 is a lot and 9 more than Odin City can disperse (its maximum is 32 packets). Only 20 usage? Almost sounds like you didn't build a storage unit, which causes OC's maximum output to get stuck at 20, even if you collect more.

I only had to play it once to post a score, but still. . .  :o

Near the beginning, after I built up a bit in the corner, I sent 4
blasters up along the north wall to try to stop that emitter. But
I underestimated my energy usage and was in a grid-lock for about
20 minutes trying to build reactors while holding back the creeper.
After I capped the northern emitter I filled the top corner with
reactors till I had 32. Then I was fine  ;D

Spoiler

Yep, that's the route I take as well. After using the extra space in the top left corner I advance with 3 fronts (top, middle and bottom).

[close]

Hard/fun/awesome map KEES  :D

Thanks! :)