Custom Map #7788: Too Much Creep. By: Jason Stevens

[AutoPost]

This topic is for discussion of map #7788: Too Much Creep


Author: Jason Stevens
Size: 256x200

Desc:
But the good news is that there's also too much AC - well, once you can turn the amplifying pumps from creep to AC... This is a difficult map. You will likely want to start by playing with the pumps, understanding where they pump to and their amplification effect. #Heavy-Creep #Pump #Toggle-Pump #Spore #Runner Good luck!!

[KingGladiator88]

I dont know what to do. I am able to expand to the southern area and take out the air shields around the pumps. But There isn't enough space to get energy to push out to take the first 2k emitter on the west side, and by 40 minutes the overspillage from the center island just overwhelms everything so you cant even reach the east red emitter. i can activate both of them but I cant do anything.

You say the hardest part is learning what pumps go where, but without being able to take control of any pumps except the starting 8 I cant even take a peek at them. let alone test through trial and error...kinda have to get to the trial part at least. I think that the center island pumps all push creep to the east island with totems and the starting pumps push creep into the southern part and maybe the 6 on the west island go to the center but I just cant really tell. By the time you are able to put any AC on the south pump area you'll likely be overwhelmed from the spillage

Also kinda a jerk move to have a whole bunch of totems absolutely swamped in creeper from the overspillage on the center island but have an indestructible air shield over them so you can't even charge them with guppies until you are at the final part of the game which you likely dont even need upgrades at that point

Depending on how fast I am to get down to the south part of hte map and get the air shields, this is the best I can do before the void gets utterly flooded with creeper

[jasons2645]

So this is definitely a very tricky map ;)

Here's where the pumps go...

1) The toggle-able pumps in the northwest pump to the totem island to the east
(20x amplify for creep; 3x amplify for AC)

2) The toggle-able pumps in the southwest pump to the little island to its southeast, just southwest of the big pump
(20x amplify for creep; 3x amplify for AC)

3) The two toggle-able pumps next to the big pump pump to (1) and (2)
(20x amplify for creep; 6x amplify for AC)

4) All non-toggle-able pumps pump to the large center land mass with the inhibitor (the southern region)
(3x amplify for creep; 3x amplify for AC)

5) The big pump pumps to the large northwestern landmass just to the east of the 2k emitter
(20x amplify for creep; 9x amplify for AC)


I will respond to strategy in my next reply to keep this entry focused on the pumps :)

[jasons2645]

Ok, so now onto strategy...

Spoiler

I specifically designed this map to allow for quite a few different winning strategies, with trade-offs all over the place.  I've played some of them to make sure they'd work, but certainly not all of them.  I will offer my thoughts, but know that there may be an even more optimal solution than what I'm about to offer...

Operating the toggle-able pumps while they're pumping creep is incredibly expensive with the 20x amplification.  Thus, I decided to only take one of the two starting positions rather than trying to take both at the start.  I intended the northern start position to be a little easier, since you can operate the pumps briefly at the start, then shut them off while you rely on your high position and let the creep build up a bit against your base, then get AC pumping into those pumps and turn them back on to flood the totems with AC.  Once you do that, you can fly guppies to the southern end of the totem island, then build relays to access them.  Note that you'll eventually need to build mortors to fend off creep spillage, but with the AC flooding, through the pumps, that won't be too hard.  I intended the PZs to be great spots for reactors, where mortors would be built next to the wall.  The AC would flow from the high terrain to the low terrain to fill the pumps.  Any creep coming over the wall would be met with AC, but this should be avoided since you need to pump as much AC as you can. 

As an aside, the southern start position is great for building relays to get to the islands in the south.  This isn't strictly necessary since you can use guppies to ferry AC to the big pump from the northern start position.  But the big bonus of the southern start location is the ore.  This allows you to produce far more AC to pump, but it's a trickier start since you will definitely need the Totems and your only access to pump AC to the totem island is to get to the big pump and turn on the pump going there.  You cannot take long to get to the Totem island, so you'll likely want to ferry AC there and build sprayers.

Finally, there are a few things you will definitely want to do no matter what:
1) Nullify the two runner nests at the beginning of the game
2) Ferry AC to the big pump and consider turning on one or both of the toggle-pumps to help you - remember that these pumps amplify AC twice as well as the other toggle-able pumps, so ferrying AC there to pump it may be well worth the effort
3) Activate the flip emitters in the southern corners - they'll help you later in the game

Anyway, I hope that helps!

[close]

I dont know what to do. I am able to expand to the southern area and take out the air shields around the pumps. But There isn't enough space to get energy to push out to take the first 2k emitter on the west side, and by 40 minutes the overspillage from the center island just overwhelms everything so you cant even reach the east red emitter. i can activate both of them but I cant do anything.

You say the hardest part is learning what pumps go where, but without being able to take control of any pumps except the starting 8 I cant even take a peek at them. let alone test through trial and error...kinda have to get to the trial part at least. I think that the center island pumps all push creep to the east island with totems and the starting pumps push creep into the southern part and maybe the 6 on the west island go to the center but I just cant really tell. By the time you are able to put any AC on the south pump area you'll likely be overwhelmed from the spillage

Also kinda a jerk move to have a whole bunch of totems absolutely swamped in creeper from the overspillage on the center island but have an indestructible air shield over them so you can't even charge them with guppies until you are at the final part of the game which you likely dont even need upgrades at that point

Depending on how fast I am to get down to the south part of hte map and get the air shields, this is the best I can do before the void gets utterly flooded with creeper

[marvinitfox]

I dont know what to do....
Depending on how fast I am to get down to the south part of hte map and get the air shields, this is the best I can do before the void gets utterly flooded with creeper

Your first problem is not enough power.
You could, roughly triple your power with that same territory.
No need to use beam on PZ, put reactors on there. The enemy has plenty spores but they spread out and can be easily defeated with pairs of normal beams.
Fill all that empty space on the islands with reactors.
In total, you could have about 35 *more* power than you do in that screenshot, with the same territory.

But, when you have this added power available earlier, you can reasonably easily take all the islands before the flooding begins.
Then either go for the eastern totem island, or (what i chose) make a fleet of guppy for power and AC to take and profitably use the top.

Something like this:(sorry about the bad clipping on the image)

[willbir]

That was epic, I was only planning on playing for 15 minutes, thought I'll just figure out the starting position then finish it another time, 3 hours later...

[jaworeq]

I had pretty decent control of the totems and started moving out from NW corner. Then I shot couple mortar rounds at emitter, disabling digitalis and flooded everything including big pump x.X
Considered restarting, but managed to clean it up with berta and bombers shooting at big pump and won it just in 2.5h ;)

[chwooly]

Nice map, Like the controlable pumps, However I would have like descriptions and/or lines so I knew where the pump was pumping to also I wasn't aware that the

Spoiler

2 emmitters on the lower corners were switchable, A description there would have been nice.

[close]

But not having them also gives  you a reason to play it a second time as you now have a better understanding of the map.

Cheers

[jaworeq]

What does the green thingy in the middle of map do?

[RrR]

What does the green thingy in the middle of map do?

It makes anti-creeper if supplied with power, otherwise, it makes creeper. It doesn't make enough to make much influence until the assault on the final island

[Johnny Haywire]

This is a really clever map! This was my first map with the pumps, so I wasn't exactly sure what to do at the start, but once you see where the AC goes, it's easy to get the totems.

With the multiplicative amplification, you can essentially produce an endless loop of constantly-increasing AC - I thought that was a cool feature of the map.

The Thor is unnecessary, but it's such a cool unit many players may want to build it just to watch it shoot stuff.

Thanks for the map! Great work!  ;D ;D ;D

[jasons2645]

Yeah, I had intended on that happening as just one extra curve ball, but when I played the game, I made the same mistake not realizing my mortars got in range of the emitter and would disable digitalis at that specific time ;)

I had pretty decent control of the totems and started moving out from NW corner. Then I shot couple mortar rounds at emitter, disabling digitalis and flooded everything including big pump x.X
Considered restarting, but managed to clean it up with berta and bombers shooting at big pump and won it just in 2.5h ;)

[jasons2645]

Thank you and glad to hear you liked it!  I certainly wanted this one to be a a bit trickier than most ;)

This is a really clever map! This was my first map with the pumps, so I wasn't exactly sure what to do at the start, but once you see where the AC goes, it's easy to get the totems.

With the multiplicative amplification, you can essentially produce an endless loop of constantly-increasing AC - I thought that was a cool feature of the map.

The Thor is unnecessary, but it's such a cool unit many players may want to build it just to watch it shoot stuff.

Thanks for the map! Great work!  ;D ;D ;D

[Karsten75]

[Johnny Haywire]

Nice time! Grats  ;)