Knuckle Cracker

Creeper World 3 => The Outer Sectors => Topic started by: TonyP2000 on October 05, 2013, 09:19:25 PM

Title: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 05, 2013, 09:19:25 PM
It seems like people are starting to finish off the game and make it to the alpha sector. I think its a good time to start some discussion on our personal favourite alpha maps.

I never played too many maps myself (but when I do, I will post them here), my favourite so far are:
Metriod by MadMag
NACDAR by virgilw
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Valley on October 05, 2013, 09:30:00 PM
CuriosityStation by V is fun!
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 05, 2013, 09:37:40 PM
CuriosityStation is awesome because it came out right around the time the rover landed.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Valley on October 05, 2013, 10:29:30 PM
Flood walls by koker93.. Good stuff..
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Valley on October 05, 2013, 11:59:39 PM
Quote from: Valley on October 05, 2013, 10:29:30 PM
Flood walls by koker93.. Good stuff..

Haha computer slowed down towards the end of this one.. Getting a strong hold on that last ridge was tough.. But once you nullify one.. The rest are soon to follow..

So I thought I was finished.. But I missed an emitter in the middle of the map.. Just glad it was being capped haha.. That could have been bad. Don't know how I missed it.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 06, 2013, 05:30:28 PM
Give "Earth" by Fisherck a try. Good throw back to the CW1 days.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Valley on October 06, 2013, 09:57:09 PM
Quote from: TonyP2000 on October 06, 2013, 05:30:28 PM
Give "Earth" by Fisherck a try. Good throw back to the CW1 days.

Nice catch. Will have to try that one after football or tomorrow.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Katra on October 08, 2013, 01:30:06 AM
'Solar System Shakeup' by Fisherck makes you really think about how to invade each planet.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 08, 2013, 08:37:07 AM
Concur with 'Solar System Shakeup' - fun game.

I don't usually like the really big games, but tek's "point to point" was a lot of fun.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 08, 2013, 10:17:35 AM
Quote from: Helper on October 08, 2013, 08:37:07 AM
I don't usually like the really big games, but tek's "point to point" was a lot of fun.
cheers chap!  8)
my fav at the moment is CMan's "Beau Jest" tricky to get a foothold and not too long to wrap up.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: J on October 08, 2013, 10:41:32 AM
I've barely played maps in other systems but my current favorite is childs play by J. I've also played teks point to point but I got bored at around 38%. Interesting start though.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Miksu on October 08, 2013, 04:59:14 PM
My mind was blown when I read this thread... There is more than Virgilw's alpha maps O_o
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 08, 2013, 05:33:47 PM
Quote from: Miksu on October 08, 2013, 04:59:14 PM
My mind was blown when I read this thread... There is more than Virgilw's alpha maps O_o

There is a lot more than V's maps lol. In fact he does not even have the most maps contributed to that sector. That award goes to J with 17 maps.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Cavemaniac on October 08, 2013, 09:49:13 PM
My favourite Alpha map vote goes to:

teknotiss - Clear your castle.

It's the one right at the end of the demo trailer with the words 'Massive Fun' overlaid.

Too true.

If you just like blowing stuff up, this is the map for you.

Also a big fan of tek's Runner a farm for some 'back to our CW1 roots' action.

My favourite map I created (can I vote for my own maps?!) is The Great Divide - which ironically is actually a DMD map with a few subtle tweeks to gameplay.

That darn Dial Map Device is way smarter and way more creative than me...
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 09, 2013, 10:36:22 AM
Quote from: Cavemaniac on October 08, 2013, 09:49:13 PM
My favourite map I created (can I vote for my own maps?!) is The Great Divide - which ironically is actually a DMD map with a few subtle tweeks to gameplay.

Personally, the best map that I made my self is Total War. Tons of different ways to beat it.

I gave Point to Point a shot and gave up after the second wave of spores.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 09, 2013, 11:18:54 AM
Quote from: TonyP2000 on October 09, 2013, 10:36:22 AM
I gave Point to Point a shot and gave up after the second wave of spores.

sorry they are a bit heavy  ::), but once you get some PZ's the spore stop being an issue

i also love TonyP2000's Warzone Classic. i played it when we didn't have forges or berthas and i saw it would be cool with some more units, now it's updated it's one of my favourite huge maps
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Harkler on October 09, 2013, 04:01:06 PM
Graunaid: Waternaris is probably my favorite Alpha map because it was the first difficult map that I beat. virgilw: Brain was pretty cool too, but once you recognize the pattern, it becomes a button mashing test.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: JF-T on October 11, 2013, 02:20:48 AM
So far I've only really played one which was Brain. I liked it, it took me about 20 minutes to beat it pretty much since i usually catch on slowly with puzzles, when i got to 5 i caught onto the order and the puzzle's key.
I plan on giving Metroid a try when i have an hour to spend. an hour if not more :)

I'll probly play much more on the 23rd.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Sohee on October 12, 2013, 11:50:20 PM
all of teknotiss map. ;) i'm fan!
his maps took out my whole day;;

not easy. not too hard. fun and challenge for my skill.
i hope his next map in colonial space.

..except thor's thunder. FPS(frame per second) is too low to play. :(
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: NNR_Alex on October 13, 2013, 12:43:43 AM
Madmog's Metroid is kicking my ass right now.  I know what it is, I suck with energy management, so my spore towers aren't getting recharged, but I'm starting to last a little longer, actually had a forge up and running for a bit, just need to work in energy management and careful expansion.  So on that note I bet 'point to point' is going to give me hell too, we'll see.

I'm done with all of Virgil's maps now.  Nacdar was fun, I took to the 'wall myself in' strategy rather than approaching it how he did it.  I couldn't even remember how he dealt with the runners in that map, but I don't think he'd designed snipers yet anyways.  That was another map that I had to restart a few times.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 13, 2013, 09:22:30 AM
Quote from: Sohee on October 12, 2013, 11:50:20 PM
all of teknotiss map. ;) i'm fan!
his maps took out my whole day;;

not easy. not too hard. fun and challenge for my skill.
i hope his next map in colonial space.

..except thor's thunder. FPS(frame per second) is too low to play. :(

cheers dude, nice to hear!  8)
sorry about thor's slowness, if you turn the creeper and air units transparent and turn off mist effects it'll speed it a little, but it is a heavy map. it's a little slow on my 3.5Ghz quad-core with 4 Gb of RAM so prob not one for the lower end machines.
i should probably make a smaller version for thor's thunder 2!
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:08:55 AM
Quote from: teknotiss on October 13, 2013, 09:22:30 AM
Quote from: Sohee on October 12, 2013, 11:50:20 PM

..except thor's thunder. FPS(frame per second) is too low to play. :(

cheers dude, nice to hear!  8)
sorry about thor's slowness, if you turn the creeper and air units transparent and turn off mist effects it'll speed it a little, but it is a heavy map. it's a little slow on my 3.5Ghz quad-core with 4 Gb of RAM so prob not one for the lower end machines.
i should probably make a smaller version for thor's thunder 2!

I just played it (again) and still like it. It keeps you engaged the entire time.

*Problem*
There are no scores registered for completion - even mine. I tried registering twice and the on-line score table is still blank.
H
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: J on October 16, 2013, 08:12:21 AM
Quote from: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:08:55 AM
*Problem*
There are no scores registered for completion - even mine. I tried registering twice and the on-line score table is still blank.
Already reported on another board, might have to do with the ' in the name
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:22:28 AM
Quote from: J on October 16, 2013, 08:12:21 AM
Quote from: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:08:55 AM
*Problem*
There are no scores registered for completion - even mine. I tried registering twice and the on-line score table is still blank.
Already reported on another board, might have to do with the ' in the name

Thank you.
In that case, I did it in 3 1/2 minutes.
;)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 16, 2013, 01:32:26 PM
Quote from: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:22:28 AM
Quote from: J on October 16, 2013, 08:12:21 AM
Quote from: Helper on October 16, 2013, 08:08:55 AM
*Problem*
There are no scores registered for completion - even mine. I tried registering twice and the on-line score table is still blank.
Already reported on another board, might have to do with the ' in the name

Thank you.
In that case, I did it in 3 1/2 minutes.
;)

Whaaat! you did "thor's thunder" in 3.5 mins ??? ?

wow i thought some who got really aggressive would get under 10 but 3.5 is criminally easy for that map!
thor is a bit OP, perhaps someone could CRPL me a micro thor? no beams and 33% power weapons? and a third the size?  :D
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 16, 2013, 02:22:35 PM
tek -
Sorry...I was lying through my teeth.

The real time was about 44:30.
A really good player can probably get that down to about 30:00, but it would take some concentrated effort. I got smacked about half-way through with one stinking Spore and had to regroup a little bit.

That was a really fun game and I'll give it another go at some point.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 16, 2013, 02:55:28 PM
ahh -sigh of relief- :) i figured some of the speed kings could get it done much faster then me, but i thought 10 or so would be the absolute fastest, 30+ will be the average for sure. i like the thor unit, but making a map still fun with it is tricky ::)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 16, 2013, 04:15:17 PM
I am going to have to try this Thor's Thunder next time I get the chance, it sounds like a challenge.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on October 18, 2013, 02:15:36 PM
Just finished Chunk from MuadDib, now that is one hell of a battle. Give it a shot if you like huge maps.

And tek, I finally tried Thor's Thunder, that was chaotic! Never got to finish it though.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 18, 2013, 02:27:33 PM
Quote from: TonyP2000 on October 18, 2013, 02:15:36 PM
Just finished Chunk from MuadDib, now that is one hell of a battle. Give it a shot if you like huge maps.

And tek, I finally tried Thor's Thunder, that was chaotic! Never got to finish it though.

Muad's maps are pretty cool, Chunk was fun! thor's thunder is a bit messy, but if you move fast you can kill the emitters on the right and then grab the rightside second thor, once that's done = win!  :D
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Ceraus on October 19, 2013, 03:46:13 AM
I tend to dislike huge maps: they usually take too long to beat and are repetitive the whole time. There's a point where you're clearly winning, but still need 20 minutes to push back Creeper on a large front (I call such missons front-pushers). Also, scrolling through them to micromanage is a pain.

With that said, some of my favorites:




Link327 (bottom left)

The Gatekeeper
A three-part, no-Aether medium-large map with early pressure and strategy. Once you're safe, the final push against the enemy castle is fun to optimize.

An old friend
Small map, easy on the eyes; quite hilly, lots of emitters, including an AC one.

Unknown Scenario - Part 2
Medium-large, tons of energy income, race against time. Creeper takes a while to spread, allowing total map control. Possible to win before spores! Dunno what Part 1 is.




ShadowDragon7015 (bottom right)

The small one
Very, very tiny, lack of space to build. No real threat to build; challenge is in taking over other islands, which I found very fun. Major micromanagement needed for good time; I had to juggle units just to make place to build others.




Fisherck (right of virgilw)

Earth
A classic medium map, but a front-pusher.

Solar System Shakeup
Long horizontal map where you island hop through the solar system. Varied challenges and approaches. Got a crazy score.




MadMag (up from virgilw)

Creeper Hollow
Small, tight map, nice terrain, clear stakes, pretty hard. Many possibilities at start. Emitters intentionnally too close to map edge; only spore towers leave usable Power Zones.




teknotiss (upper middle-right)

All those maps have interesting concepts, but in general, I found that they overstayed their welcome, making you go through the same challenges multiple times. Still have a few I want to try.

get the gear
Fun concept: can only build very few things; need to advance to unlock more. No Nullifiers until end, but more and more emitters.

creepy castle
Medium-large, nice terrain. Two castles to conquer on the way to the final emitter (would've preferred just one).

shield shove
Tons of energy, but only small number of weapons allowed.

pyramid power
Medium-large map with overpowered emitters in the center and Meso-like shield/AC pyramids around.




J (upper left)

Tons of interesting concepts around, much CRPL, some confusion. On the hard side. Have only tried a few yet. Note: "Creeper Wall" is NEVER a metaphor.

asteroid map
Very very tiny, almost no space to build at all, powerful emitters, quite hard. Start with 7 full Guppies and 1 full Bomber. I hate Johnathon.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: NNR_Alex on October 21, 2013, 04:32:21 PM
Just finished all but one of teknotiss's maps besides thor thunder, waiting on the fix for that one.  And I didn't bother submitting a score for point to point since I just kinda screwed around on that one and said "I'll let the pyramids do all the work for me.  Only weapons I built were Bertha's to speed the process up and of course beams.  So many beams.  Overall all your maps are fun.  You like to give us a pretty generous start on most maps and overpowered weapons, which are just fun for destruction's sake.  The hardest maps I had I think were 'Get the gear', and 'AC is the Key'.  Runner farm was an unexpected, but delightful surprise.

Spoiler
I had to quickly destroy my half charged nullfier that was about to wipe out my lovly AC supply
[close]
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on October 21, 2013, 04:40:33 PM
Quote from: NNR_Alex on October 21, 2013, 04:32:21 PM
Just finished all but one of teknotiss's maps besides thor thunder, waiting on the fix for that one.  And I didn't bother submitting a score for point to point since I just kinda screwed around on that one and said "I'll let the pyramids do all the work for me.  Only weapons I built were Bertha's to speed the process up and of course beams.  So many beams.  Overall all your maps are fun.  You like to give us a pretty generous start on most maps and overpowered weapons, which are just fun for destruction's sake.  The hardest maps I had I think were 'Get the gear', and 'AC is the Key'.  Runner farm was an unexpected, but delightful surprise.

Spoiler
I had to quickly destroy my half charged nullfier that was about to wipe out my lovly AC supply
[close]
cheers dude  :)
i like to play at various speeds on maps so i make them with speed runs(ish) and overbuild options most of the time. my first run on point to point was only using beams and pyramids, it took ages!
i also love the massive explosions and tons of spores thing too.
i think i'll prob mostly go for smaller maps in future, i know the slower machines have a hard time on the massive ones, still some maps just need to be huge! ;)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Ceraus on October 23, 2013, 04:16:17 AM
Continued exploring the J system.

The 3 Creeper Wall missions are worth a try.

The Pit looks broken to me.

The Totem's totems make AC rain around the map and getting a foothold on the central island is hard. The Totem 2 has you island-hopping to activate totems that, in this mission, also depower the final emitter, which is so powerful it threatens to seep into space.

Both Tucana's have you play around with 10-cost Collectors, 20-cost Relays, Cannons and Mortars; no Reactors or Nullifiers! The small version sports hard energy management while the big one is more of a classic push.

Xeniveral is described, at the beginning of the mission, as "the first mission from the old alpha versions that seemed impossible". Seems I was the first to beat it.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: J on October 23, 2013, 08:05:45 AM
Some maps have invisible towers due a fix in late development. 4 of them are fixed in the next update (-->signature). I won't fix and wipe out all scores of CreeperWall 1 because it is pretty clear where the tower is.
Xeniveral: This map is now possible due some balance changes as this map is very old (before the blog post of 1 April '13). In beta we tested this map in late development and G said that the two maps he put in his system were even harder.
Note that even in The Totem 1 the totems decrease the power of the emitter.
Nice to see someone exploring my system :)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Ceraus on October 24, 2013, 03:31:55 AM
Quote from: J on October 23, 2013, 08:05:45 AMNote that even in The Totem 1 the totems decrease the power of the emitter.

Oh! Well that explains why that AC seemed so very effective.

I tried Grauniad's Aigues-Mortes and it was pretty easy: the beginning position is large yet easily defended and taking out the Inhibitor wins the mission. But his Waternaris map is ridiculously hard! You have little space to build and while the creeper takes 2 or 3 minutes to mount pressure, it quickly overwhelms.

Redlemon's two maps are quite hard too. Bardel, discussed in the impossible maps topic, only gives you 12 collectors for energy (no reactors!) and little in the way of weapons. Took me over an hour. RunnerUp was probably harder in alpha, but it's still quite interesting as-is, with no good start position and tiny, far-away islands to invade.


Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 24, 2013, 05:56:46 AM
Waternaris was the source of a great deal of discussion within the Beta group and remains one of my Top Ten favorite games. It is a very tight game, but manageable. Starting at the landing pad at the lower left, your only focus for the first two+ minutes is building power.
From about 2:10-2:15 you will have to build a couple of PC's and maybe a Mortar, but increasing your power - while defending a small footprint was the key for me.
I have some old screen shots if you're interested.
H
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on October 24, 2013, 09:34:18 AM
Quote from: Ceraus on October 23, 2013, 04:16:17 AM
Seems I was the first to beat it.

The games in the Alpha sector got a pretty good workout during the Beta phase. Virgil wiped all of the scores prior to release.

I remember playing "Xeniveral", but my score was nowhere close to yours. Nicely done!
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wally on October 26, 2013, 03:44:04 PM
Just wanted to congratulate MadMAg for "Creeper Hollow" map, I just finished it in about 25 minutes.

I love those tiny maps were every packed counts, every bit of terrain is a pain to conquer, you have to start it over a dozen time to figure out how to survive the first 2 minutes. But in the end you jump all over the room when the last emitter dies !

Thanks for this grat map !
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: MadMag on October 26, 2013, 04:22:59 PM
Thanks! Have you tried the original from CW1? :)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wally on October 26, 2013, 05:02:25 PM
Quote from: MadMag on October 26, 2013, 04:22:59 PM
Thanks! Have you tried the original from CW1? :)
Yeag, many years ago, since I bought and played and replayed all CW series.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Ceraus on November 07, 2013, 05:32:57 AM
Thought I should keep logging the maps I liked.




hoodwink (top left)

Those maps aren't hard, but they test your assault capabilities and I can't seem to speedrun them properly.

Tide is a very long, narrow, flat horizontal map. Two Totems at one end, 5000 Creeper per second at the other. Very nice practice.

Paradime is a straightforward island-hopper where the single challenge is a Guppy-fueled deep Creeper assault. Nice practice too.

Nomland has easily-crossed space that makes you start position trivial to defend. From there, you get to assault a huge Runner island and another one that's pretty deep in Creeper and whose Emitters are hard to reach.




MuadDib

Pothole is a quick, tiny map where you start in a deep crater surrounded by basic Emitters. But in the crater, you have equivalent Anti-Creeper Emitters to protect you. How fast can you get out?

ThunderBluff, obviously inspired by the Warcraft region, is small and full of strong Emitters, but you have easily defendable plateaus. Still, it's easy to get overwhelmed.




Cavemaniac (top)

Almost no CRPL in this system; most missions give you the usual arsenal and send you on your way. However, some map layouts are very unique.

Riftworld and especially Airbase One are island-hoppers with islands where even Guppies can't land.

Pop-Up is full of walls that prevent you from attacking until the Creeper melts them.

The Bardel Redemption is a real mind-twister: your Command Nodes automatically land mostly in space, there are no legal spots to move them, you have almost no build area and Digitalis is incoming. Good luck!

Descender gives you a good start against weak Emitters on a central island that's surrounded by Spore Towers mostly protected by no-fly zones and unreachable by Relay (Power Zone-less, anyway).

Beau Jest starts you in a nice fort with pre-built weapons, Reactors and Forge. But the map is huge and the enemy Emitters are overpowered; luckily, you can get to build Thors. Although two of my Thors bugged during construction and were stuck at 585/500. Which makes even less sense when you realize that they cost 800 in this mission.

Stairway 13 is hard. There's quite a lot of space, but while the Emitters are stuck at the bottom of 9-deep Olympic-sized pools, they're so overpowered they flood out before you can even make a Cannon. Digitalis, Runners and Spores soon join the party.

Among the other maps, The Bardel Convention and Pamukkale are classic pushes with nice terrain. Leapfrog and Runner Wash are interesting, but I found them tedious.




Hunter Seeker (top right)

Wind is a vertical, large-front map with lots of build space and available Anti-Creeper and a nice wind source that keeps pushing down toward the Emitters.

Boss starts you with non-Bertha Power Zones and tons of Anti-Creeper and build space, but you have to maintain a huge front against some of the most overpowered Emitters there is. Luckily, some kind of gravity keeps the Creeper dense, so it spreads slowly. But occasionnally, the enemy CRPL-attacks, either sending Spores, blocking your view temporarily of quickly sending a spear of Creeper towards you. I had to learn the hard way that non-auto-target Berthas keep firing on the spot you tell them to.




Lich98 (left, slightly down)

Demo World is straightforward but does allow a few different approaches.

The Name looks slightly ridiculous but is a big island map that rewards strategy. Good coordination is key for a good time.

The Start is a small, brutal map with Digitalis and Runners and terrain that's hard to cross.




Michionlion (up-right from center)

Little Gliese is the smallest interesting Creeper Worldmap ever, I believe. You can't really lose, but victory is not straightforward: Structures have an unusually low cost, you start with two loaded Guppies and can't land a Command Node. Pretty fun.

Twisted Island has a main island with strong Emitters and other islands that require a variety of approaches.

Trae Noria has a really tight start that I had a hard time making work: if you can't Nullify those few Emitters really quick, you have to fight them. Then it's typical moving from island to island.

Altiar is a medium map with standard terrain where the Creeper gets dense and you have limited Energy and weapons.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on November 08, 2013, 11:06:37 AM
Madmag's Metroid -
Wow! I'd forgotten how much fun it is to watch his games in action.
The custom pieces (bad guys and good guys) he's put together made me forget to play and just watch them work.
This is one great map!
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: NNR_Alex on November 16, 2013, 11:28:21 PM
Finally beat MadMog's Metroid.  I had to restart I dunno how many times, but I finally hit the perfect starting balance of Beams and energy production.

I gotta say you had a few surprises in there to overcome.  I'm still not sure exactly why you call it Metroid though.  Is it cause your mobile units sorta look like Metroids?
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2013, 10:41:45 AM
Quote from: TonyP2000 on October 06, 2013, 05:30:28 PM
Give "Earth" by Fisherck a try. Good throw back to the CW1 days.

So far I've been overwhelmed every time.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on December 18, 2013, 09:08:57 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2013, 10:41:45 AM
So far I've been overwhelmed every time.

Here is a 2 minute screen shot for 'Earth'. From this point, you can defend easily and begin building up for your attacks.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: TonyP2000 on December 18, 2013, 11:16:57 AM
I liked Earth too, awesome map.

Quote from: Helper on December 18, 2013, 09:08:57 AM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2013, 10:41:45 AM
So far I've been overwhelmed every time.

Here is a 2 minute screen shot for 'Earth'. From this point, you can defend easily and begin building up for your attacks.

I also found it useful to drop a CN on Canada and defend from there as well, it gets you nice in close to the emitters in the Atlantic Ocean.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Randomgold on December 18, 2013, 07:41:29 PM
Ok, I gotta know something.  Did anyone enjoy using the terp on the 'Earth' map a little too much, or was it just me?
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Zaggy on December 19, 2013, 11:46:51 AM
I love terping, I did enough to add some walls around the oceans so I could build up and take out emitters in the north.  I started in the southeast, but expanded across the whole bottom pretty fast, and terped up a little more of Antarctica so I could get more green space, and use mortars to keep the thick creeper from flowing over.  Just using mortars and blasters were all the weapons I needed to reach the emitters.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on December 19, 2013, 03:19:58 PM
Quote from: Loren Pechtel on December 15, 2013, 10:41:45 AM
Quote from: TonyP2000 on October 06, 2013, 05:30:28 PM
Give "Earth" by Fisherck a try. Good throw back to the CW1 days.

So far I've been overwhelmed every time.

"overwhelmed" by creeper? or by the map?
cos if it's creeper i thought earth was pretty gentle.
i played first on antartica, slow but not too bad, spread out and mortars are your friends on this map.
i've played from north/south america too and that was much quicker, i could get more ac faster on that try.
i killed the north atlantic emitter and put a shield on it and the game was basically mine.
on my first go i terped from antartica to aus then to japan, i went a bit terp-crazy, it happens sometimes  ::)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 08:07:14 AM
huh, i cant seem to get the right balance between beam and energy, had to give up. help please, thanks
on the medroid map
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on December 22, 2013, 09:12:20 AM
Quote from: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 08:07:14 AM
huh, i cant seem to get the right balance between beam and energy, had to give up. help please, thanks
on the medroid map

You need to more clearly identify the map.
If you post a screen shot of your game in progress, it will help us help you.
H
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: pawel345 on December 22, 2013, 09:30:03 AM
I made some screenshots of my beginning in Metroid, hope they help.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Grauniad on December 22, 2013, 10:06:45 AM
Quote from: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 08:07:14 AM
huh, i cant seem to get the right balance between beam and energy, had to give up. help please, thanks
on the medroid map

Metroid has a very difficult start. You have to get the two CNs down and connected and several Beams up to defend against the spores. Don't expand too widely, concentrate on defending a small area and growing a reactor farm.  I think on my first play, I had about 10 restarts. Now I can get away with success every 2nd-3rd restart.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on December 22, 2013, 12:13:21 PM
Here is a screen grab at the :44 mark.
Your primary concern is that Spore coming down from due North.
Build a small spread of Collectors (as mentioned by G), then start your first Beam at about :30
You will need 2-3 more Beams down the right side of your base, but you have some extra time to get those in place.
Once your Beams are in place, keep the same Collector footprint, but add Reactors to build your energy.
Save your game about every 20-30 seconds.
Adding a couple Cannons and a Sprayer will keep you safe from the Creeper until you can build up for your attack.

:44

4:00

Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 02:48:11 PM
how come you used both orbitors? and how did you do all that on so little energy, i was really energy depleted when i gave up and came to you guys. thanks for your time.
I tried it, and still lose stuff what am i doing wrong? i cant stop that creeper on lower sw and i got hit buy a spore
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Michionlion on December 22, 2013, 02:54:53 PM
Quote from: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 02:48:11 PM
how come you used both orbitors? and how did you do all that on so little energy, i was really energy depleted when i gave up and came to you guys. thanks for your time.

Um... the second CN gives you more energy.  *facepalm*
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on December 22, 2013, 04:17:31 PM
Pmouser -
What you call the 'orbitors' is a Command Node/Nodule (CN), and in all cases you need to get them on the ground ASAP. Each CN contains xReactors and everyone should use them to build out their energy network. Not using one in like driving your car with one foot on the brake.

Get both of them on the ground and then start building your collectors - two at a time to start, then increasing as your power builds up. Take care to not run deficits on your energy.

There is a link around here somewhere (help anyone?), that describes each of the units plus a bit about how to deploy them.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on December 23, 2013, 01:19:14 PM
Quote from: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 02:48:11 PM
how come you used both orbitors? and how did you do all that on so little energy, i was really energy depleted when i gave up and came to you guys. thanks for your time.
I tried it, and still lose stuff what am i doing wrong? i cant stop that creeper on lower sw and i got hit buy a spore


CN's give 1.5 energy each, so landing as many as possible as early as possible is a good general rule  8)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Helper on December 23, 2013, 01:40:00 PM
Quote from: PMouser on December 22, 2013, 02:48:11 PM
how come you used both orbitors? and how did you do all that on so little energy, i was really energy depleted when i gave up and came to you guys. thanks for your time.
I tried it, and still lose stuff what am i doing wrong? i cant stop that creeper on lower sw and i got hit buy a spore

You need to give us more information.
Keeping in mind the old axiom that a picture is worth 1,000 words, hit the "F12" key to get a screen save of your game.
Doing that will store a .jpg at:
C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\CreeperWorld3\Screenshots
Attach the .jpg file to your next post.
Using the F12 will give us what we need to give you better advice.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 23, 2013, 02:02:50 PM
did not work, so i have to explain, what is that diamond shaped gray thing way to the right that defeat everything shooting creeper at them? and how to defeat it? since i cant even get close to it. thanks
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: kwinse on December 23, 2013, 02:42:17 PM
Fly a sprayer over to the AC emitter island (and turn on its field, 'cause hey, free AC spraying). That will distract the creeper gun.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 23, 2013, 03:07:04 PM
will it kill the sprayer? like my other stuff
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 23, 2013, 03:57:21 PM
ok, thanks, i did do the begining and am dug in, i have a nice base thanks for the begining advice  i then came to this creeper gun as i cautionally advanced.
here is an image of where i am:

(http://i.imgur.com/Y2Qw7w4.jpg)

hope that works
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Katra on December 23, 2013, 08:39:41 PM
I fought my way around the outside of the gun's range until I had plenty of power, then slowly advanced on two fronts.
Spoiler
The gun fires at the CLOSEST unit. If that is part of a cluster of weapons they will destroy the creeper while taking only minor damage. The trick is making sure your collector/relay doesn't get hit.
[close]
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 24, 2013, 05:36:30 PM
ok thanks, i won that map, i am now on to up and over? how to do it. thanks
here it is:

(http://i.imgur.com/Mk6ZlGe.jpg)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wheatmidge on December 24, 2013, 11:11:40 PM
Quote from: Katra on December 23, 2013, 08:39:41 PM
I fought my way around the outside of the gun's range until I had plenty of power, then slowly advanced on two fronts.
Spoiler
The gun fires at the CLOSEST unit. If that is part of a cluster of weapons they will destroy the creeper while taking only minor damage. The trick is making sure your collector/relay doesn't get hit.
[close]
Spoiler
I had a different strategy for the creeper gun. I put a few sprayers on the anticreeper island to give the gun something closer to shoot at at first. Then after barraging the area of the gun with bethas I surrounded the gun with sprayers and then used a guppy to build the nullifier
[close]
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: NNR_Alex on December 25, 2013, 03:02:24 AM
Quote from: PMouser on December 24, 2013, 05:36:30 PM
ok thanks, i won that map, i am now on to up and over? how to do it. thanks
here it is:

(http://i.imgur.com/Mk6ZlGe.jpg)
This one has given me trouble as well.  I've tried to rush the middle emitter with no luck.  I can usually get all three nodes connected and the walled off emitters nullified, but doing that means I haven't gotten other weapons built to defend from the middle emitter.  It also overflows too fast for me to nullify the spore towers.  I feel like I'm onto something but missing some steps somewhere.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Fisherck on December 25, 2013, 08:58:19 AM
For Up and Over you want to take full advantage of the ore that I gave you on the map. Once you build them, sprayers are zero energy weapons, and that can be very helpful in energy crunches like this one. After that it gets fuzzy (it's been a while since I've played it... ;)), but it's crucial to get rid of those runners nests as soon as possible. It's very hard to fight runners on an uphill battle, and that will slow you down a lot (once again, sprayers will help you with this). Hope that helps :)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wheatmidge on December 25, 2013, 11:38:37 AM
I gave Up an Over a playthrough last night.
The biggest piece of advice I can suggest is that you can build a siphon and then get rid of both runner dens after they have only made about 5-10 runners and then one sniper can get rid of the remaining runners so you won't have to deal with them at all.
After you destroy the runner dens just focus on some defences. Sprayers are very helpful in uphill battles because they splash up the hills when they shoot and as Fisherck pointed out they do not cost energy once built.
I would not worry about the outside emitters for quite a while, they will not overflow easily. And it will only take one mortar each to completely stop them.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 25, 2013, 12:37:16 PM
what about the spores? and i cant get rid of the runner nests because they disable the collectors and nulifier i used to try. and i cant do it fast enough before the creeper arrives
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wheatmidge on December 25, 2013, 01:17:39 PM
Quote from: PMouser on December 25, 2013, 12:37:16 PM
what about the spores? and i cant get rid of the runner nests because they disable the collectors and nulifier i used to try. and i cant do it fast enough before the creeper arrives

Place your orbital as close to the runners nests as possible and you will not need a collector in between it and the nullifier. And build the nullifier as far away from the runners nest as possible and the runners shouldn't hit them much. I think my one finished without being shot by a runner and the other one was only attacked once.
you will need a few beams to deal with the spores. I actually forgot to build beams fast enough and had to do a little clean up after the spores killed a few collectors.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 25, 2013, 01:29:13 PM
ok, thanks, can you put a screen shot up of your line up please? and will the map still be close to imposible when i do what you said?
How many sprayers per orbitor?
putting in the forge really messes up my energy levels too.
I tried and i cant get my sprayers up in time so still imposible
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Wheatmidge on December 26, 2013, 10:51:32 PM
Quote from: PMouser on December 25, 2013, 01:29:13 PM
ok, thanks, can you put a screen shot up of your line up please? and will the map still be close to imposible when i do what you said?
How many sprayers per orbitor?
putting in the forge really messes up my energy levels too.
I tried and i cant get my sprayers up in time so still imposible


I would show a screen shot... I had actually meant to take one but I haven't figured out what the hotkey is for screenshot yet. Sometimes I'm a little silly and don't understand basic things... sorry.
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: PMouser on December 27, 2013, 12:41:36 AM
try F12 , if not please try to explain what to do. thanks
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: teknotiss on December 27, 2013, 10:27:25 AM
Quote from: PMouser on December 25, 2013, 01:29:13 PM
ok, thanks, can you put a screen shot up of your line up please? and will the map still be close to imposible when i do what you said?
How many sprayers per orbitor?
putting in the forge really messes up my energy levels too.
I tried and i cant get my sprayers up in time so still imposible


3 ore mines will supply one sprayer without ore mine upgrades
the forge is tricky but energy upgrades first and disconnecting ("c") some totems will help early on with energy management.
also you can have a sprayer always on, with shields behind it you can set up a buffer of AC that will flow up terrain slopes.
good luck (and no published map is impossible, positive mental attitude will help)
Title: Re: Best of the Alpha Sector
Post by: Grauniad on December 27, 2013, 11:58:56 AM
This thread had completely veered off its "Best of..."  theme. Please start or continue how-to tips and advice in respective topics for each individual map.