Custom Map #10683: Dealer's Choice. By: The Destroyer

Started by AutoPost, May 28, 2023, 06:11:52 PM

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AutoPost

This topic is for discussion of map #10683: Dealer's Choice


Author: The Destroyer
Size: 256x188

Desc:
Choose your landing spot by choice of playing style. Choose Blue for an easier game or choose Red for a harder but quicker game. In honour of the character Neo from the movie Matrix when choosing the red or blue pill.

Martin Gronsdal


teknotiss

this is going to take a few goes to work out a good starting strategy!

just trying save the forge is going to be a bit of an effort!

but first, a plan for the spores i guess! ;)
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.... Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.... Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?.... Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" --- Epicurus

SanchesS80

I haven't find solution ((   I started at Blue area, removed all spore towers but then creeper floods my research building and it is over (((

Martin Gronsdal


Martin Gronsdal


D0m0nik

Nice map!
Can't see how it's possible to take the red pill though. Getting the forge on line would take a long time so certainly not a quicker route! Red pill = red herring.

Martin Gronsdal


stdout

This is a good map. I tried and failed multiple times, and even left it and returned the next day to try again.

Tried taking the pickups on the red pill first - failure.

Tried a mixed nullification/beam building approach on the blue pill - failure.

Finally got the blue pill cleared (don't build beams!), but then lost the forge - failure.

Got the blue pill cleared, preserved the mines and forge, but waited too long to get a foothold on the red pill - probably could have recovered, but chose to quit and restart.

Got the blue pill cleared, established good positions to preserve the forge and mines, very quickly built guppies and an army of cannons to go south, got a foothold before the creeper got too dense. Built sideways from there, at one point flew the CN down briefly to grab the powerups, and it was a mopup exercise. I could have shaved a few minutes off by being earlier with the singularity.

Really enjoyed this map and the challenges it gave and the thought that it by necessity provokes in the player. Hoping for more maps in the future from this author.

stdout

I went back and improved the score from 33 minutes to 25 minutes. Once again, I bow to Domonik's amazing score!

The. Destroyer

#10
Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. I almost assumed no one liked the map with the low scores given by some people. But now I think the low scores are from people that gave up too easily. LOL

A couple of tips for this map;
- You don't really need to start in the red zone. But it would help to collect the 3 Tech Artifacts as fast as possible. You can either land your Command Node there first to collect the tech and then move to the blue zone to establish a base. Or use a Guppy to land on red and build a few Collectors up to the tech which is a more effective route to take since your Command Node's movement speed is very slow until upgraded by the Forge.
- I deliberately left a gap in the air defences at the bottom of the red zone.
- Use your Bombers to help create a buffer between yourself and the creeper.
- Use the Power Zones left by the enemy after you've destroyed it with a Nullifier. It'll make it easier and quicker to spread out vertically.
- And lastly, it is possible to start on red. However, it will be a very hard battle and you will need to relocate your Command Node quickly to the blue zone once you've gotten a foothold on red.

Good luck everyone!

Martin Gronsdal

Could you show a screen recording of starting on red? It would be super interesting to see the process

D0m0nik

In theory you can start red, build one collector and then send the CN back to blue. You have time to take out about 15 or possibly 18 spores before they fire and then delete all collectors and just slowly move your CN around building nullifiers. This could take about 10 minutes though and would be a considerably worse tactic than conquering the blue island before sending the CN over briefly to collect the tech. You certainly can't start red and stay there so the map description is perhaps misleading.

Martin Gronsdal

What if.... I have an idea, will try it out later today.


Maybe, just maybe, one can (ab)use one special side-effect in this game, but I don't know if it will be enough

POMie

Quote from: Martin Gronsdal on June 05, 2023, 03:51:01 AMMaybe, just maybe, one can (ab)use one special side-effect in this game, but I don't know if it will be enough
I couldn't get any benefit from it Martin but I look forward to hearing about your success!