Knuckle Cracker

Did you know that a group of penguins is called a huddle? English has all sorts of unusual group names for animals: a gang of elk, a sloth of bears, an exaltation of larks, a plague of rats, and so on. For this week's tournament, I picked out five unusual names for animal groups from this list (http://www.rinkworks.com/words/collective.shtml).

A few useful links:
All Tournaments (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7410.0)
Code Map Scoreboard (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewscores.php)
Tournament Score Tool (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7477.0)

Theme:
Animal Group Names



   
   
   
   
   
   

Map Name:	Size:	Complexity:
A Huddle of Penguins	Medium	Medium
An Army of Caterpillars	Large	High
A Tower of Giraffes	Large	Medium
An Ambush of Tigers	Small	Medium
A Raft of Ducks	Medium	High

Have fun with the maps!
For a challenge, try A Warren of Rabbits on M/H. Lots of fields, high-strength drones, and not too much room. I didn't include it in the tournament since it seemed too hard.

Quote from: mopa42 on September 17, 2012, 06:14:40 PM
For a challenge, try A Warren of Rabbits on M/H. Lots of fields, high-strength drones, and not too much room. I didn't include it in the tournament since it seemed too hard.

And fields, lots of fields - I hate fields - thanks.

shame you didn't go for a "murder of crows"!  :D
love the group names for things!  ;) great theme

Very clever choice of theme. I too thought of 'crows' and was surprised to see what a group of giraffes is called - how appropriate.

I'll get on these as soon as things clear up around here.

Nicely done.

1 min 30 seconds headstart on the first map :) Looking good so far

Quote from: SmileyCoder on September 18, 2012, 02:55:56 PM
1 min 30 seconds headstart on the first map :) Looking good so far

Yikes!
It's going to be a long week - nice game.

An Army of Caterpillars was quite fun with the big open chamber, and all the drones, and darn you Mopa for shaving off 30 seconds of the time in the first mission. Now I will have to that once more.

Quote from: ctuna on September 17, 2012, 06:57:29 PM

Quote from: mopa42 on September 17, 2012, 06:14:40 PM
For a challenge, try A Warren of Rabbits on M/H. Lots of fields, high-strength drones, and not too much room. I didn't include it in the tournament since it seemed too hard.

And fields, lots of fields - I hate fields - thanks.

He wasn't too kind... A Raft of Ducks is completely full of fields too.

Quote from: Wheatmidge on September 18, 2012, 06:33:19 PM

Quote from: ctuna on September 17, 2012, 06:57:29 PM

Quote from: mopa42 on September 17, 2012, 06:14:40 PM
For a challenge, try A Warren of Rabbits on M/H. Lots of fields, high-strength drones, and not too much room. I didn't include it in the tournament since it seemed too hard.

And fields, lots of fields - I hate fields - thanks.

He wasn't too kind... A Raft of Ducks is completely full of fields too.

A Raft of Ducks should be a little easier, since you can build in all directions, it has a stronger gravity, and there are no phantoms.
Waiting to attack until maxing out your research also helps in safe start, field-heavy maps.

Intermediate results:
Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	A Huddle of Penguins	An Army of Caterpillars	A Tower of Giraffes	An Ambush of Tigers	A Raft of Ducks	Total Score	Total Time
1	Wheatmidge	11442	11890	11288	11823	10904	57347	53:20
2	TheSmileyCoder	12136	12580	11753			36469
3	dt42	11997	11843	11561			35401
4	Martin	11910	12013				23923
5	Helper	11920			11676		23596
6	mopa42	12206				10993	23199
7	ctuna	11056			10917		21973
8	teknotiss	11210					11210
9	inept_celt	10666					10666

Best scores in Bold.
Scores recorded at 2012-09-19 02:48:45 forum time.

yay, i'm winning because I'm the only one who has completed all the maps so far.

Took me 3 attempts but I managed to knock off another 30 seconds of my time on the first mission and finish just 7 seconds ahead of mopa. I see that Helper has posted some nice scores too, seems we are in for a interesting end-game.

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	A Huddle of Penguins	An Army of Caterpillars	A Tower of Giraffes	An Ambush of Tigers	A Raft of Ducks	Total Score	Total Time
1	TheSmileyCoder	12222	12580	11753	11809	11469	59833	37:29
2	Helper	11920	12078	11645	11676	11431	58750	45:46
3	Wheatmidge	11442	11890	11288	11823	10904	57347	53:20
4	dt42	11997	11843	11561	11585		46986
5	mopa42	12206	12686			10993	35885
6	UoADeadeye	10942	10844		10624		32410
7	Martin	11910	12013				23923
8	ctuna	11248			10917		22165
9	teknotiss	11210					11210
10	inept_celt	10833					10833

Best scores in Bold.
Scores recorded at 2012-09-20 03:04:29 forum time.

So I decided I had to step my game up a bit, I knocked 40 seconds off the best time on the first map.

WOW, thats just nasty. I have played the first map 4 times now, and you manage to squeeze in a time thats 43 seconds faster then me. I would like to know your trick :P

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	A Huddle of Penguins	An Army of Caterpillars	A Tower of Giraffes	An Ambush of Tigers	A Raft of Ducks	Total Score	Total Time
1	TheSmileyCoder	12222	12580	11753	11809	11469	59833	37:29
2	Wheatmidge	12326	11890	11288	11823	11682	59009	43:23
3	Helper	12162	12078	11645	11676	11431	58992	44:02
4	dt42	11997	11843	11561	11585		46986
5	inept_celt	11090	10970	10906	10856		43822
6	mopa42	12206	12686			10993	35885
7	UoADeadeye	10942	10844		10624		32410
8	Martin	11910	12013				23923
9	ctuna	11248			10917		22165
10	teknotiss	11210					11210

Best scores in Bold.
Scores recorded at 2012-09-20 12:57:32 forum time.

i flew the ls down and capped the gateway before building anything else. it took quite a few tries to dodge the drones properly, but it was fun to do.

Quote from: Wheatmidge on September 20, 2012, 02:51:36 PM
i flew the ls down and capped the gateway before building anything else. it took quite a few tries to dodge the drones properly, but it was fun to do.

I used a similar approach on all my attempts, allthought I "dodged" the drones by using shields.

Dam you Wheatmidge. I was so sure I was gonna win this week.

Quote from: SmileyCoder on September 22, 2012, 08:53:53 AM
Dam you Wheatmidge. I was so sure I was gonna win this week.

I freely admit that I can't do games with "Experimentals" in them and need to add games with "Fields".
A rough week for the old guy.

Managed to rethink the first map and cut yet another 50 seconds off on my time. Who says pressure is bad?

Quote from: SmileyCoder on September 23, 2012, 05:09:21 PM
Who says pressure is bad?

Umm...me!
This whole week is kicking my butt - plus, you three are rocking on this thing.

When this is all said and done, I'd like to know how y'all attacked #1 & 2.

Wow, this has been one of the most competitive weeks in a long time. It's nice to be pushing each other to get better times.

Well, I was just happy to finish all the maps.  I'm way outclassed this week.  Nice job...

Quote from: deety42 on September 23, 2012, 08:09:39 PM
Well, I was just happy to finish all the maps.

Good comment - that should always be the first goal.
Looking forward to next week.

That was a lot of fun, but the tournament is now over. It's time to try out my fancy new high score table!

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	A Huddle of Penguins	An Army of Caterpillars	A Tower of Giraffes	An Ambush of Tigers	A Raft of Ducks	Total Score	Total Time
1	TheSmileyCoder	12346	12580	11812	11894	11469	60101	35:36
2	Wheatmidge	12326	12522	11667	11823	11682	60020	35:56
3	mopa42	12206	12686	11913	11872	11278	59955	36:53
4	Helper	12187	12078	11645	11676	11487	59073	43:21
5	dt42	11997	11843	11561	11585	10870	57856	53:47
6	Martin	11910	12013	11553	11083	10949	57508	56:18
7	inept_celt	11225	10970	10906	10856	10069	54026	89:39
8	UoADeadeye	10942	10844	9211	10624	9512	51133	108:56
9	ctuna	12175			10917		23092
10	teknotiss	11210					11210

Scores recorded at 2012-09-24 00:02:20 forum time.

Good job Smiley Coder! That is a very impressive time for map 1. You get to pick next week's tournament.

Certainly a interesting and very competive week.

The best competition week I've seen so far.

FYI - After I posted the prior week's results, someone called "the master" posted late scores that were about 2 minutes/game faster than all the rest of us.

I don't know if we have a new uber-player or if "Emperium" is re-visiting under a new name.

Just a head's up.

Quote from: Helper on September 24, 2012, 06:45:30 AM
The best competition week I've seen so far.

FYI - After I posted the prior week's results, someone called "the master" posted late scores that were about 2 minutes/game faster than all the rest of us.

I don't know if we have a new uber-player or if "Emperium" is re-visiting under a new name.

Just a head's up.

I don't see those scores now?

Its hard to tell whether its a uber-player or a cheater. I felt sure that noone would be able to shave off alot of time of the scores I posted first time round this week, but you all put that assumption to shame. Then going over the maps again and again, I managed to shave off just 10% each time.

SC -
I was talking about the scores from my last game (Star Trek...).

I have no qualms about admitting that a whole bunch of players around here can kick my butt on any given game - but posting the highest score in every game (higher by 2-3 minutes) just seem extraordinary.