Knuckle Cracker

Creeper World 2 => Code Mission Discussion => Topic started by: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 03:44:08 PM

Title: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 03:44:08 PM
Taking inspiration from the previous week's theme again, with another math related theme. This week's topic is "conic sections" (Including one degenerate case).

A few useful links:
All Tournaments (wiki) (http://knucklecracker.com/wiki/doku.php?id=cw2:weekly_5_map_tournament)
Code Map Scoreboard (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewscores.php)
Tournament Score Tool (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7477.0)

Theme:
Conic Sections



   
   
   
   
   
   
Map Name:Size:Complexity:
LineSmallLow
HyperbolaSmallMedium
ElipseMediumMedium
ParabolaSmallHigh
CircleMediumHigh
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: ea3401 on July 08, 2013, 05:19:29 PM
Parabola is diabolic.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Grauniad on July 08, 2013, 06:15:37 PM
Quote from: ea3401 on July 08, 2013, 05:19:29 PM
Parabola is diabolic.

If you say that,  I suspect the scores will be low and few this week. :)
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 06:28:35 PM
I don't know. I personally didn't think it was as difficult as some of the other ones we've had recently. A little tough to survive the first drone breakout, but once you get past that, it's not so bad.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 06:29:06 PM
Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
RankNameLineHyperbolaElipseParabolaCircleTotal ScoreTotal Time
1asmussen1211711583126141071283615538764:43
2dt421204011700126051053183885526463:58
3DougB118141130912417993878405331882:59
4Marley120991128812212906881325279990:55
5MizInIA1170410450119939439480348389221:41
6mopa421208511858126841046847095
7Atomicfrog121111176612831934346051
8Wheatmidge118351300011294963845767
9inept_celt119281077212155637541230
10Anarchy Ape11668987512036585939438
11ctuna12175117801278536740
12sept197311941103771187134189
13Martin120161261324629
14ea3401120141146723481
15RockyRaccoon118741033422208
16Line1180311803
17Ultraexactzz1150311503
18Hyperbola1097810978
19theo1070110701
Scores recorded at 2013-07-14 03:50:38 forum time.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: ea3401 on July 09, 2013, 01:33:33 PM
Quote from: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 06:28:35 PM
... survive the first drone breakout ...

Okay. I tried to prevent this breakout. That was a little bit complicated, but obviously not necessary.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 09, 2013, 01:45:44 PM
Quote from: ea3401 on July 09, 2013, 01:33:33 PM
Quote from: asmussen on July 08, 2013, 06:28:35 PM
... survive the first drone breakout ...

Okay. I tried to prevent this breakout. That was a little bit complicated, but obviously not necessary.

PREVENT it??? How in the world...
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: ea3401 on July 09, 2013, 03:52:14 PM
This is how I started "Parabola".
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 09, 2013, 04:46:37 PM
Ah, I see what you meant now. You managed to clear the first section before the breakout happened. When you said 'prevent', I thought you literally meant that you prevented the breakout from occurring at all, which I couldn't imagine happening. Still impressive, though. I had barely managed to build up enough defenses to survive the breakout by the time it occurred. It wouldn't have even occurred to me that it would be possible to fully clear that before the drones from the bottom broke out.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Wheatmidge on July 10, 2013, 12:42:28 AM
Hmm. I guess I couldn't catch up to ea's score this week. That was actually a fun challenge. I used a different strategy. I grabbed all the gems on the left and then flew through the stream and capped the top emitter and gateway before building any weapons (except one repulsor).
My defense was not as solid as for the breakout of the lower chamber I only had 3 blasters and a bunch of shields but it still held.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: deety42 on July 10, 2013, 05:08:05 PM
Well, I have to laugh.  My set up looks almost the same as ea's, except for the small fact that my time is at 7:00 ;)
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Marley on July 10, 2013, 07:14:28 PM
Note to self: the next time you're doing really well on a diabolic map, SAVE before doing something stupid! ::)

Oh well, I'm not playing that one again.  (*kicks self*)
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Anarchy Ape on July 10, 2013, 07:43:26 PM
Happened to me on Circle. Doing fairly well, about to cap last emitter, run to the bathroom and forget to pause, next thing I know half my base and all my defenses are gone.  40 minutes later, finally finish.  Won't even try to improve on my score.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 10, 2013, 10:56:48 PM
I'm not sure why, but lately somebody has been putting in the map name for their player name when submitting their scores. Maybe it's a new player who misunderstood what the field was for when submitting their scores or something. If that is the case, that field is for entering your name as you wish it to appear in the high score tables. You only need to set it once, and it'll stay set unless you change it later.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Marley on July 11, 2013, 10:32:59 AM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 10, 2013, 12:42:28 AM
I used a different strategy. I grabbed all the gems on the left and then flew through the stream and capped the top emitter and gateway before building any weapons (except one repulsor).

Ok, dumb newbie question.  What did you do about all those drones?  If there's a "Run away" strategy I haven't figured it out yet.  And how do you keep them from taking out the nullifier?
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: deety42 on July 11, 2013, 10:42:30 AM
There are several strategies for dealing with drones.   I'm not sure if you're talking about the first set of drones or the big breakout.  For drones early on, some strategies are:
- evasion:  Wait till a bunch come after the mother ship, then start moving away.  Moving on diagonals in a diamond pattern can work indefinitely
- blasters:  grab gems quickly and build the minimal number of blasters to take care of the drones.  Often you need to do some evasion while the blasters are building
- anti-creep: in some situations, getting a large field of anti-creep between the drones and the mother ship will kill off the drones.

When there's a huge breakout as in this week's tournament and I haven't built enough blasters to deal with it, I often set things up so there are shields in their path to run into...like a block of four or five of them in a row. 

Hope that helps.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Wheatmidge on July 11, 2013, 07:37:33 PM
Quote from: Marley on July 11, 2013, 10:32:59 AM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 10, 2013, 12:42:28 AM
I used a different strategy. I grabbed all the gems on the left and then flew through the stream and capped the top emitter and gateway before building any weapons (except one repulsor).

Ok, dumb newbie question.  What did you do about all those drones?  If there's a "Run away" strategy I haven't figured it out yet.  And how do you keep them from taking out the nullifier?

for mine I was using the "drone evasion" technique. you don't build any buildings until all the drones have targeted the LS and then you move around to clump the drones together and then run away in a diamond pattern. once the drones have targetted the LS they won't target anything else so you can build freely without having to worry about the drones destroying any buildings. It is quite intensive to play this way though since the LS has to continue moving indifinitely until you kill the drones. There are a few other discussions about the drone evasion technique on the forum and someone (sorry I can't remember who) actually made a Custom map that is a tutorial to doing it.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Marley on July 11, 2013, 11:50:20 PM
Quote from: deety42 on July 11, 2013, 10:42:30 AM
- evasion:  Wait till a bunch come after the mother ship, then start moving away.  Moving on diagonals in a diamond pattern can work indefinitely

Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 11, 2013, 07:37:33 PM
for mine I was using the "drone evasion" technique. you don't build any buildings until all the drones have targeted the LS and then you move around to clump the drones together and then run away in a diamond pattern. once the drones have targetted the LS they won't target anything else so you can build freely without having to worry about the drones destroying any buildings. It is quite intensive to play this way though since the LS has to continue moving indifinitely until you kill the drones. There are a few other discussions about the drone evasion technique on the forum and someone (sorry I can't remember who) actually made a Custom map that is a tutorial to doing it.

Yep, that's exactly what I was asking... sorry, should have been more clear.  (I was looking at Wheatmidge's photo with the clump of drones chasing the LS.)  I have played a few maps where evasion was necessary, and somehow got through them, but never got any good at it.  Probably never tried a diamond pattern.  Very cool, I'll have to practice.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Kithros on July 12, 2013, 12:47:24 AM
Quote from: Marley on July 11, 2013, 10:32:59 AM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 10, 2013, 12:42:28 AM
I used a different strategy. I grabbed all the gems on the left and then flew through the stream and capped the top emitter and gateway before building any weapons (except one repulsor).

Ok, dumb newbie question.  What did you do about all those drones?  If there's a "Run away" strategy I haven't figured it out yet.  And how do you keep them from taking out the nullifier?

He has all of the drones chasing the LS, and constantly moves the LS around in circles to prevent them from hitting the LS.

Gateways have a limit to how many drones they can send out, so if you build no buildings for enough time, you can get all of the drones to chase the LS and the gateway won't be spawning any more drones. The LS moves at the same speed as the drones so it is possible to evade them indefinitely.

EDIT: Oops, didn't see that it was already answered on the 2nd page of thread.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Marley on July 12, 2013, 03:00:21 AM
Quote from: Kithros on July 12, 2013, 12:47:24 AM
EDIT: Oops, didn't see that it was already answered on the 2nd page of thread.

There's no such thing as too many answers.    ;D  Thanks!
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: ea3401 on July 12, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 11, 2013, 07:37:33 PM
... someone (sorry I can't remember who) actually made a Custom map that is a tutorial to doing it.

Map 2320 (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewmaps.php?embedded=false&gameVer=&mapid=2320)  :)
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: MizInIA on July 12, 2013, 10:30:58 AM
Parabola I thought was hard to get started but went well after the second wave of Drones was defeated. I used the shield approach and they still got a couple of my blasters. It was Circle I had problems with. I just couldn't push the creeper back very fast. it took me forever to get that last emitter. if I rerun it I won't try to clean up the creeper inside the field but instead focus even my Launchers at the emitter.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: deety42 on July 12, 2013, 01:14:19 PM
Thanks!  I never realized that there were a finite number of drones from a gateway.  That's super helpful.  And thanks for the map number, ea.  I've searched for it but never managed to find it. 
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Wheatmidge on July 12, 2013, 05:14:18 PM
Quote from: ea3401 on July 12, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Quote from: Wheatmidge on July 11, 2013, 07:37:33 PM
... someone (sorry I can't remember who) actually made a Custom map that is a tutorial to doing it.

Map 2320 (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewmaps.php?embedded=false&gameVer=&mapid=2320)  :)

So EA made the map.  :) Sorry I couldn't remember
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: Marley on July 14, 2013, 04:18:07 PM
Well, that was a learning experience.   ;)  Thanks for all the drone juggling pointers everyone, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: asmussen on July 15, 2013, 01:29:20 AM
Final standings. Dt42 is up for the next tourney.

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
RankNameLineHyperbolaElipseParabolaCircleTotal ScoreTotal Time
1asmussen1211711583126141071283615538764:43
2dt421204011700126051053183885526463:58
3Marley120991128812212978381325351482:41
4DougB118141130912417993878405331882:59
5MizInIA1170410450119939439480348389221:41
6mopa421208511858126841046847095
7Atomicfrog121111176612831934346051
8Wheatmidge118351300011294963845767
9inept_celt119281077212155637541230
10Anarchy Ape11668987512036585939438
11ctuna12175117801278536740
12sept197311941103771187134189
13Martin120161261324629
14ea3401120141146723481
15RockyRaccoon118741033422208
16Elipse1205512055
17Line1180311803
18Ultraexactzz1150311503
19Hyperbola1097810978
20theo1070110701
Scores recorded at 2013-07-15 00:34:53 forum time.
Title: Re: Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Conic Sections - closing 14 Jul 2013
Post by: deety42 on July 15, 2013, 11:09:25 AM
Yikes! Okay, I'll try to post by this afternoon.  Thanks.