Attention all Pass the Map 2 authors!In light of feedback and recent discussions regarding our community map efforts, I have taken it upon myself to reduce the chaos and difficulty of our PtM2 submission to something I think would appeal to a wider audience. I would like for the original authors to play this version and submit a score and give me some feedback before I post it to CS. My intent is to solicit ratings and feedback from the players on this lighter version of the map compared to the original to help us better gauge what the general community desires.
Changes:
- Removed the Drill Riders. Turrets coming up to the base was a major problem in the original.
- Connected all the rails. Put 2 medium-large turrets in the Drill Rider starting locations.
- Moved the starting location of the small/fast turret and shrank its range a little.
- Reduced the amount of creeper in the lower left corner (basically, the shield generator is at zero).
- Increased energy in one of the starting locations.
- Updated the turrets with a 2nd script. The range finder circle on the turret now works while the game is paused.
I think this keeps a bit of the challenge -- you still have to watch those turrets and your range to them, especially in the beginning. It's not too hard to power the damaged turret and save the forge. You can actually build up a base defense and be confident that your starting location will not be overwhelmed, once established. It still took me a little while to complete the map, but less than half the time of the original. I did have a couple of "oops" moments, but unlike the original, that didn't spell extreme disaster for my base, just a setback on my assault.
Great!
I did not play the earlier version, so this version is my first experience. I dropped down two CNs to the mid right to take out the tiny contained emitter thing. But of course my main obsession (based on the opening text) is to save the Forge. When I play test a map for difficulty I play by never pausing the game (because that's how some people play). I also play by dropping a CN (or two) and then counting to 10 before I do anything. That forces me to start from a position with an opening delay (again, because many players drop their CNs down then study the map).
So I can nullify the contained emitter thing but still have trouble holding that position because there is contained creeper that still spills out when the walls fail. It looks like I could start in the lower right of the map, though, and maybe hold that position. Problem is, I'm not sure I have any hope of saving the forge.
Now I don't think you have to bend over backwards to continue try to make this map really easy or anything... that could be a lot of work and the map just wasn't designed that way. Since this version is already substantially easier than the original version then you can call it a victory I think. I'm also sure if I study the map and try a few more times things will become readily apparent. I'm just giving my first impressions having not looked at the map before.
When building a nullifyer for the emitter in the right area, build a mortar as well, and it will destroy the creeper created.
I'm 640% sure that the rangefinder worked.
There is a small problem with the operating while paused. One of the small turrets still works when paused, maybe you have not updated it's script.
Quote from: Clean0nion on February 12, 2014, 11:06:37 AM
I'm 640% sure that the rangefinder worked.
It worked before, but now it also works while the game is paused.
Quote from: pawel345 on February 12, 2014, 12:03:00 PM
There is a small problem with the operating while paused. One of the small turrets still works when paused, maybe you have not updated it's script.
Hmm. I did not notice that. Do you know if it was the "speedy" small turret or one of the regular factory created small turrets?