Custom Map #7502: AC Spore Direction (HARD). By: Gio

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This topic is for discussion of map #7502: AC Spore Direction (HARD)


Author: Gio
Size: 255x255

Desc:
No network, and a tight energy production. Only an AC spore tower and some packs. What to do... Tips: 1. Secure the corners of the map so you can attack from different directions. 2. Guppies are your friends. 3. Don't be afraid to use the singularity weapon. 4. Rely on AC and plan your energy usage carefully. 5. The Artifacts are your helpers for the end game. Idea conceptualized by my AC Spore Spam map.

[D0m0nik]

Just a few reactors would not have changed the logistics of the game but would have made it vastly more enjoyable. Even fully upgraded you do not have enough power to run a forge, a totem, 4 cannons and 4 mortor.

[RrR]

Just a few reactors would not have changed the logistics of the game but would have made it vastly more enjoyable. Even fully upgraded you do not have enough power to run a forge, a totem, 4 cannons and 4 mortor.

Agreed, but the intensity of spore production would destroy the reactors every few seconds - unless you build enough bombers to distract the spores.

[D0m0nik]

Yeah I guess, I was thinking PZ shield but would take a battering. I also think there is a bug in this map, when I move CNs some of the links between connecting units stop working until I lift the unit and put it back down.

[Johnny Haywire]

This map really isn't difficult, provided you understand some of the very weird mechanics that it uses.

1) I didn't come close to running out of energy on this one. This map is mostly AC, and you can clear out the digitalis with strafers on a PZ.

2) Spores that are overloaded will often switch to their opposite. This happens on some maps where creeper spores generate AC, and vice versa. This happens on this map, so your buildings will take slight damage from friendly fire. Terps don't last long at all.

3) The AC Spore Tower seems to fire spores based on how many targetable units you have. You just might notice that guppies take very little time & energy to build, so build a ton of them. (If you're smart, you'll set them to "stop resupply" so they don't drain your energy). Spores will push the creeper back really fast.

4) See the AC emitters in the corners? With all the AC generated by the spores, do you think you really need those emitters? Or would you rather have a PZ there so you can easily take out the stuff around your base? Flip a coin, do the math, or just say eeny meeny miny moe - however you make decisions is up to you.

5) Build cannons and mortars just to attract the AC spores. Watch what happens. Need to clear some digitalis? Use a couple strafers on PZ's, as mentioned above. You need very very little power on this map. You could easily make do with half of the power that's supplied in the middle of the map.

6) Either sit and watch stuff, or leave the map and go do something more interesting while the AC spores clear the way for you. This isn't a difficult map, but that doesn't mean it's going to be a really fun map. It's a slog.

7) If you feel like using the forge for a singularity every now & then, I'd recommend using it near the 2000-per-second (200/.1) emitter, then hitting "freeze" and "convert" to take out at least 4 emitters. You conveniently have 4 converters and 8 freezes. You only need 4 of each to make this super-easy.

So, how non-difficult is this map? After grabbing all the Aether around the base, I walked away and forgot to watch for digitalis growing in my base. It took out the forge. Whoops.  ::) But since there wasn't a threat, I rebuilt the forge and kept going. Just build lots of stuff really fast and you'll see what I mean. Trust Johnny.  ;)

As for the map, I kinda liked it but the only "challenge" was the initial start and that's only challenging because of the weird nature of the AC tower. What I didn't like was the immensity of the map. It's one of those "You know you're going to win but it's going to take a long time" kinda maps. I would've loved this map if it had been a continuous challenge or a quick one.

Thanks for the map, and it's a pretty cool idea, Gio! Sorry it got such bad reviews, but I think if you put a little explanation of how the tower works in the map dialogue, it would've done much better.  ;D

[Gio]

Thank you Johnny for the tips. I expected a low rating for this map anyways because it was meant to be very difficult and the players have to come up with a new way of winning the mission, rather than just placing weapons and fighting the creeper. I only came up with a few tips that I used to win, and yeah, it was a nightmare to playtest and have it uploaded. I was thinking that this would be a very hard and timely mission because of the immense scale and the amount of obstacles in the way, but I still need to prove to myself and others that this map is possible if you have the patient and diligence to win this map. I came out feeling proud, yet I felt like that this map would be too difficult for players who hadn't grasped the concept just yet, so I came up with two other maps with the same mechanic, a medium one, and an easy one.
As for the dialogue option for the tower, I was still experimenting at the time, and I was thinking that the players might get an idea of how the tower might work and the idea of AC being >2048 turning into creeper. I would think that the mechanics wouldn't be displayed well if I made a ridiculous level like this, hence the easier maps. Anyways, I'm glad you took some time to attempt to what I feel like is my most difficult, and most drawn-out map yet (took me nearly a week to make, test, and win :P), and I know the feeling of how long it takes, and when a mistake occurs, it spells disaster really quickly. It's a matter of testing patience too once the mechanics are settled. I will try to best to make more maps in the future using vanilla features and maybe some time, I will start using CRPL, but who knows ::).

[Johnny Haywire]

Thanks for taking the time to make the maps and also for making them for players of all different levels!

And thanks for giving us some variety as well - that's always nice to have!  ;D