Knuckle Cracker

This topic is for discussion of map #7740: Doodle-3 (CSM + Magnetar)
(http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld3/queryMaps.php?query=thumbnailid&id=7740)

Author: Shatterstep
Size: 144x144

Desc:
Appropriate for both casual and advanced. Hints on the forum for getting a higher score. Stacked under command: - Reactor - Terp - Collector - Relay Control+Shift+H to toggle the stargate display I spent a good 35+ hours creating the map. Hope it is enjoyable. It is quite challenging to make something appeal to such a wide range of players. #CSM #Magnetar #GoodStart #BravoYum234 #BravoConucanis #BravoKajacx #BravoRegallion #BravoVirgil

Here are some hints and unit info for the map. While obvious to most, not everyone knows these:

TOWER CHIPS

• Creeper Variator Chip - Reduces the amount of enemy creeper output. Cycles output between 15% to 125% over a 1 minute period. (yes, 125% is more, but most of the time it is much lower).
• AC Variator Chip - Enhances the output of your emitters. Cycles output between 100% (normal) to 200% (double) over a 1 minute period. Especially awesome near cyan  (light blue) emitters which output AC twice as fast. Park near a numbered stargate with a lot of emitters near to enhance their mobile stargate linkers.  The #1 stargate right of command might be best)
• Annihilator Chip - Annihilates creeper. Maybe a bit too effective :-)
• Energizer Tower Chip - Upgrades your emitters without using power and has a massive area of influence. There are 2 total. One is a stargate network reward. Move from area to area to save on power costs and faster upgrading.

Find a good spot for the AC Variator chip early. Move the Creeper Variator and Annihilator chips around as you conquer the map.

UNITS

• Spore Chargers - They look like red puff balls. Linking these to your network ups the power of your AC spores. They can make a surprising difference early to mid game.
• Armored Emitters - They empower enemy emitters in their area of influence by x2 or x3. Mouse over to see details. Once conquered they double the power of all friendly emitters in their area of influence.
  Spoiler

  Location - The highest priority armored emitter is to the right of command, near the #1 stargate.
  Tactics - If you have the Annihilator, Creeper Variator, and AC Variator tower chips it shouldn't be too hard to take early. You shouldn't need to bring down the walls near the #1 gate beforehand. If you do, remember that game saving is your friend.
  Payoff - The conquered armored emitter doubles power, the AC Variator tower chip boosts output (cycling from normal to double power over a 1 minute period), and the high concentration of cyan (light blue) AC emitters put out enormous amounts of AC. Combined, the output will cycle between x2 to x4 power over 1 minute. Make sure to drop the wall between the conquered area and the #1 stargate. The mobile #1 stargate linker becomes awesomely powerful.

  [close]

MISC INFO

• Stargate Flood Levels - Moving clockwise around command node yellow stargates are lowest and red stargates are highest (and scary, 1200 emitters in red stargate area).
• Initial Stargates to Block -
  Spoiler

  • Red stargate in the upper left-most of map, above the armored emitter with the arrow flow gates. This stargate is vital to block from the start.
  • White stargate between the two slumbering emitters with red backgrounds that will wake in 333 seconds with 710 creeper. It is on the left side of map, below the lone stargate blocker. Just needs to be blocked before they wake.
    If you want to be aggressive, block at the start so creeper doesn't build up from white gate network, then try to take the slumbering emitters before they wake using the #1 stargate linker. I usually just barely take them in time. Make sure to seal around the stargate so you can move the blocker elsewhere once you have the immediate area secured. If you can't take them before they wake, just leave it blocked until you have taken the white stargate network.
  • The last blocker can be used pretty much anywhere to fit your immediate needs.

  [close]
• Higher Elevation - Higher ground matters. Gates and emitters at a higher elevation have a lot more push. Any time you can take an area at higher elevation it will greatly help. Most of these areas are protected with flow arrows so you can safely take earlier.
• Stargate Network Rewards - As you clear stargate networks of creeper, check next to Command to get your reward.
• Power for Emitter Upgrades - You will be starved for power most of the time because of emitter upgrades. Max upgrade level is 6.
  
  
  
  • The Energizer tower chips greatly help. Don't forget to move them around once an area is at max level. Especially useful for hard to reach areas.
  • Any power zones you get, prefer putting a reactor if you can.
  • Build reactors everywhere possible.
• Emitter Output Frequency - Cyan and dark blue emitters output twice as fast at 500 milliseconds vs. 1000 milliseconds for all other emitters. This is why dark blue emitters are a pain and cyan ones are awesome.

SHORTCUT KEYS

Has to be unpaused to use.

• Control+Shift+H - Toggles display of stargate flood levels (shows in the upper-right of screen).
• Control+R - Toggles display of symbols over stargates. Useful for colorblind / color-challenged eyesight.
• Shift+U - Toggles upgrading of an emitter once you have the emitter upgrader freed.
  
  
  
  • The emitter upgrader is the medium sized black square between command and the top of the map.
  • Game has to be unpaused for the command to work.
  • An arrow pointing up should appear over an emitter set to upgrade.
  • Max upgrade level is 6.

---

Note, this is the first map I have published as Shatterstep. Two other maps I published as 'Todd' and one I left blank but it has the title of: #7673: CSM-140 b (easy version).

I played this map over and over during development, trying both casual and expert play styles. I was surprised that modifications to enhance casual play made things more enjoyable for all play styles.

You should notice that I posted the same score of 16:04.4 as both Todd and Shatterstep. That is because I forgot to change my name when I first submitted the score.

Excellent game! Surely 10/10! Big thanks for enjoyment time!
Get from You some knowledge for my future maps.
Good lu!  :)

P.S. Your 35+ hours gave us nice result!
P.P.S. Not understand clearly about new unit Magnetar. But seems very interesting for future maps.

Yum234, glad you liked the map. Most of the techniques I used I learned from your maps, other map makers too. I tried to add my own spin. I think we all build upon each other's ideas.

Magnetar

The magnetar is from the Mistet campaign map. You may remember it was the planet the orbited the entire map and dragged creeper along as it went along the outside of the map. On my map it roughly orbits the right-most armored emitter and is much smaller in size and effect. It isn't linked to the armored emitter in any way. I just thought it looked cool there is all ;-)

I modified the magnetar so you can have it orbit a spot, set the field strength and how wide it pulls in creeper. I was able to get it to pull creeper in to areas that would normally be more resistant. I was just trying it out to see if it would be interesting game-wise. Seemed ok. I didn't really use it to noteworthy effect. I probably shouldn't have had it as part of the title.

Misc Changes

I made a few other changes from the base template. Improved descriptions for items, changed some of the default images for tower chips, and made some gates non-linkable. The non-linkable gates were a bit of a hack. I probably should have tied it to the red background that is used on the emitters to make the non-bombable. Maybe for future maps I'll change it.

Attached are the images for the magnetar.The 257x257 version was to prevent flicking. For some reason the 256x256 version flickered. No idea why. Note, this is a random image I found on the Internet. I didn't create it.

Since Regallion has the template on github, I figure you would probably be using that for future maps so you would need to import the image or something.

Hmm. I'm not sure how frequent I'll be making maps. I take way too long making them. Maybe I'll hold off until CW4. Dunno. I'll at least take a few weeks off from making any additional ones.

Thanks for this map, I enjoyed it immensely, 10/10

solid map, nice

Outstanding map! It's rare I find maps comparable to Yum's work, but yours definitely is. Thank you for feeding my addiction.

It's really, really good! A lot going on, you can see the work put into it.

If anything, I feel like there's a bit too much work put into it. Liek there are diminishing returns on complexity after awhile, if that makes sense. There's so much to take in that tons of things end up happening while you're not paying attention. It doesn't make the map worse per se, but it does reduce your ability to appreciate the sheer amount of detail?

Agreed on the diminishing returns. Good  and useful feedback. It occurred to me as well, especially as I looked back through other people's maps after I published mine. There are a lot of highly ranked maps that are much less complex. Makes me wonder if there are better ways to do things.

i did love that it was balanced enough to be beaten without upgrades, oldschool

Quote from: Riskbreaker on September 27, 2019, 09:44:37 AM
i did love that it was balanced enough to be beaten without upgrades, oldschool

I'll have to try that sometime. Sounds interesting.

I decided to do a version without upgrades. I modified the map and created an alt version: Doodle-3b (CSM + Magnetar) (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=32857)

CHANGES

• Removed emitter upgrading - means no lag and less micromanagement
• First bomb factory earned sooner
• Additional spore chargers
• Minor rework of terrain and stargates
• Minor rework of stargate rewards
• Strengthened magnetar. The unit still isn't used that well, alas. Maybe on some other map.

Maybe I'll have to avoid doing emitter upgrading for all my future maps. The lag it brings and micro is annoying. I'll have to see how people like the new version vs. this one.

BTW about lag:

If in CSM map exist UPGRADER UNIT and Upgrader's Chips big lag you can obtain in the middle of game when, for instance, you already upgraded to maximum 5/5 level many (50-70) emitters and obtain new upgrade chip. In this case yours ALL emitters started to upgrade and that leads to lag.
If before that you click "Shift+U" on main UPGRADER UNIT and cancel automatically upgrade will be no lag in game. And at that stage of game you don't need to upgrade ALL emitter but mainly in some strategic areas!

Good lu!  :)

This map is lagging too much on my machine, just has way too many things on it like emitters and so on...

Quote from: hbarudi on March 05, 2020, 11:14:42 PM
This map is lagging too much on my machine, just has way too many things on it like emitters and so on...

It has been months and I decided to play it again. Yeah, way too much going on. It lagged my machine too. I did an alternate version (Doodle 3b) without the upgrading, so it should perform better. I wonder if the magnetar also contributes to the lag. Hmm.

Upgrading can be interesting, but with so many emitters it becomes more of a chore and less fun :(

Quote from: Shatterstep on May 06, 2020, 03:52:47 AM

Quote from: hbarudi on March 05, 2020, 11:14:42 PM
This map is lagging too much on my machine, just has way too many things on it like emitters and so on...

It has been months and I decided to play it again. Yeah, way too much going on. It lagged my machine too. I did an alternate version (Doodle 3b) without the upgrading, so it should perform better. I wonder if the magnetar also contributes to the lag. Hmm.

Upgrading can be interesting, but with so many emitters it becomes more of a chore and less fun :(

In my CSM maps when player obtain upgrade chip for upgrade unit all/many units automatically start to upgrade and we have big lag in game. New version of scripts from Regallion can prevent that event. I can give you last version of that scripts.
P.S. Your game was so fascinating! Thanks again!  :)

Yum234, good info. I'm glad the issue was able to be figured out. Pity we can't update maps already published, though maybe that is a good thing because I would constantly be editing and re-submitting, lol.

Quote from: Shatterstep on May 06, 2020, 04:54:55 PM
Yum234, good info. I'm glad the issue was able to be figured out. Pity we can't update maps already published, though maybe that is a good thing because I would constantly be editing and re-submitting, lol.

In attachment last CSM template with all scripts from Regallion.

Good lu!  :)

Very nice. Thanks, Yum234 :)