Tournament time again! This should be pretty fun.
After our code map tournament of tournaments, it is only appropriate to have a tournament of codes. To cryptographers, codes and ciphers are different things and I've tried to honor that distinction. There are plenty of interesting ciphers, such as Vigenere, Caesar, AES for another week. Look at wikipedia for details on any of these.
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:Famous Codes
Map Name: | Size: | Complexity: |
Morse Code | Large | High |
ASCII | Medium | Low |
Konami Code | Medium | Medium |
PURPLE | Small | Medium |
RSA | Medium | High |
I gave the first four a shot; I'm the first to submit scores.
Morse Code is a tough one; with the continuous flow of high-HP drones with limited building space, it can be difficult to make progress.
ASCII is a relatively quick one. I have to retry this for a better time.
Konami Code isn't too bad either; there's 7 emitters to take care of here.
PURPLE is deceptively easy. You may think your time is limited, but it does take a while for creeper to break free, and by then you're probably busting in on the right side anyway.
RSA has a few crystals and chips near the surface, but not too much building area, combined with relatively strong emitters for a map without experimentals.
Good luck everyone (even though there's no luck in CW2 other than phantoms)!
Quote from: Zaggy on October 16, 2012, 08:59:55 AM
Good luck everyone (even though there's no luck in CW2 other than phantoms)!
I just feel the need to point out that drones also have luck to them. It's a question of which building they choose to target.
I always wondered what algorithm governs drone behavior. I've never quite been able to pin it down. Or, is there some randomness involved if an object is not within a certain distance? Just speculating...
Virgil discussed it somewhere.. not sure where. But a Drone will randomly select any building or unit that it can get to and then go for it. If it is walled off it will randomly choose a point within its available area and go there. When it either gets to its target building or location it searches again.
In the case of drone evasion, if the LS is the only thing for the drones to target they will target it. and they will go to where ever the LS was when they searched for it. when they get to that point they then go towards the location where the LS is again and again, and again....
Scores as of today:
Results Per Player
Rank | Name | Morse Code | ASCII | Konami Code | PURPLE | RSA | Total Score | Total Time |
1 | Zaggy | 9255 | 11009 | 10908 | 11489 | | 42661 | |
2 | TheSmileyCoder | | 11454 | | 11994 | 12048 | 35496 | |
3 | Helper | | 11447 | | 11963 | 11585 | 34995 | |
4 | inept_celt | | 10792 | | 11113 | | 21905 | |
5 | franke99 | | 10843 | | | | 10843 | |
Scores recorded at 2012-10-16 15:14:08 forum time.
Nice scores from Helper. :)
Morse Code was tricky to crack, but I had my best creeper cryptanalysts working on it :)
I must be doing something wrong in the Morse Code. 10 attempts and I keep getting killed. Grrr.
If you are dying on Morse Code it probably means you are being too aggressive. You have to start that one defensively I think. Which is always a little sad, because being defensive does not help your speed.
I WILL!! find a way.
Quote from: SmileyCoder on October 18, 2012, 03:58:32 AM
I WILL!! find a way.
Finally managed to get a semi-aggressive approach.
And to beat Konami Code make sure you dig up twice and then dig down twice, then dig left, then dig right, and then dig left again, and finally dig right. That should give you a great start. Or 30 tries.
Quote from: Wheatmidge on October 18, 2012, 03:59:28 PM
And to beat Konami Code make sure you dig up twice and then dig down twice, then dig left, then dig right, and then dig left again, and finally dig right. That should give you a great start. Or 30 tries.
huh?
Quote from: SmileyCoder on October 18, 2012, 04:00:15 PM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on October 18, 2012, 03:59:28 PM
And to beat Konami Code make sure you dig up twice and then dig down twice, then dig left, then dig right, and then dig left again, and finally dig right. That should give you a great start. Or 30 tries.
huh?
One video game company (Konami I guess?) making games for the NES, then the SNES used the same cheat code on all their games - up up down down left right left right b a start. It's one of those cultural references.
I see. Thank you for the explanation. I've only ever used PCs as gaming platforms.
I see Wheatmidge is making a real effort at taking the first place this week.
Final scores are in. It is really close but TheSmileyCoder wins the tournament this week.
Results Per Player
Rank | Name | Morse Code | ASCII | Konami Code | PURPLE | RSA | Total Score | Total Time |
1 | TheSmileyCoder | 11090 | 11486 | 11719 | 12062 | 12048 | 58405 | 32:14 |
2 | the master | 11402 | 11494 | 11557 | 12032 | 11885 | 58370 | 32:22 |
3 | Wheatmidge | 11193 | 11466 | 11302 | 11998 | 11752 | 57711 | 37:21 |
4 | mopa42 | 10881 | 11383 | 11674 | 11945 | 11784 | 57667 | 37:58 |
5 | Helper | 10551 | 11447 | 11584 | 11963 | 11670 | 57215 | 41:58 |
6 | dt42 | 10094 | 11299 | 11305 | 11632 | 11632 | 55962 | 51:38 |
7 | ctuna | 9956 | 11081 | 11315 | 11851 | 11438 | 55641 | 55:31 |
8 | Zaggy | 9255 | 11009 | 10908 | 11489 | 11462 | 54123 | 70:19 |
9 | franke99 | 8577 | 10843 | 10826 | 11182 | 10976 | 52404 | 87:49 |
10 | UoADeadeye | 7059 | 10590 | 10333 | 11042 | 11023 | 50047 | 130:20 |
11 | inept_celt | 7749 | 10792 | 10232 | 11113 | | 39886 | |
12 | Martin | | | 11283 | | | 11283 | |
Scores recorded at 2012-10-22 00:00:52 forum time.
I would very much like to know who this "The Master" is.
His MO reminds me very much of Emperium. He used to do the same, posting scores very near the top-scorer, but did so using cheats/hacks. He was careful not to win any tournament (I don't really know why).
If your playing the game for real, then come on, shows up some of those skills. Make a video showing you beating Morse Code in 7 minutes, I would love to see that, and learn from it.
He pulled the same thing a few weeks ago - posting some truly astonishing scores.
From a purely technical standpoint, I would love to see HOW Mission #1 can be completed in under 8 minutes.
We have some players here that are nothing less than gifted, but (unfortunately) we also have those playing with hacked/cracked versions of the CW.
I know my own time on that map was "real", and I also know I did a few messups that I didn't bother to load/redo to improve, so I certainly believe that the time Wheatmidge posted is realistic and attainable.
I however would love to see an approach that could lead to a 7 min time on that map. Maybe I just "did it wrong".
Quote from: SmileyCoder on October 22, 2012, 08:54:57 AM
Maybe I just "did it wrong".
LOL!
That was going to be my line.
I realized after seeing your and Wheatmidge's times that my first approach was completely wrong and had some thoughts on a better method...then the new map queue filled up and I spent two days beating on that. Don't think I could have gotten a 9-10 minute score, but was hoping for better than 15.
Who's due up to make this week's map?
So, since it's over, what was the better method? I tried slow buildup, moving across to the right side and digging down, and that was safe but really slow. I tried getting the white crystal, then dropping through into the cavern, but was hard pressed to beat the cavern's emitter and the eroding terrain around the gateways.
I grabbed the white gem, and then set up a defense with 1 launcher, 3 blasters(set to shoot drones only) and 3 repulsors. Then I dug and expanded my energy output and broke out right in between the two gateways and that was my battle point.
I don't know how the master did it faster. Possibly if you could grab all the gems at the beginning and still manage a defense.
That screen shot is amazing. I just couldn't manage to get that far built up by 5:41, even though that was kind of the approach I settled on in then. Wow! I'm curious, do you remember what order you did tech upgrads in?
A post script...I just noticed one major difference: you left the hard to dig through terrain alone, while I tried to tunnel and build there. If only I had infinite time, I'd try it again that way...
Quote from: Helper on October 22, 2012, 09:30:34 AMWho's due up to make this week's map?
I suppose that would be me. Im fresh out of good themes, but maybe an hour on my exercise bike will give me a fresh mind.
The first 15 tech points are almost always spent on 12-decrease cost, 2-packet speed, and 1-max energy. I also put off building tech domes until I have hit the point where I can't dig fast enough to spend my energy building reactors.
Thanks for the shot and the strategy, Wheatmidge. Like DT, I can't reproduce the build-up some of you folks get in the time you get it, even though I do generally go for the same first upgrade you described. Gotta keep working on it.
I went all the way to the bottom to try to use the gravity to enhance my attack, but in retrospect, it wasn't really in the right direction or strong enough to justify that, I guess.