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Creeper World => Custom Map Discussion => Custom Map Comments => Topic started by: AutoPost on August 11, 2010, 11:52:17 PM

Title: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: AutoPost on August 11, 2010, 11:52:17 PM
This topic is for discussion of map: Hard Art 4: Impossible (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2859)
(http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/thumb.php?id=2859) (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2859)

Author: UpperKEES (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/viewmaps.php?author=UpperKEES)

Desc:
Is this impossible cube impossible to you? Don't worry too much about the spores; there will be only 1 from each side and you have 6 minutes to prepare. After about 1 hour 6 of them will arrive from the top, but you should be finished by then. Based on a detail of a work by M.C. Escher.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 12, 2010, 05:47:08 AM
Title:
Hard Art 4: Impossible
Difficulty:
Hard
Creeper type:
Land & Air
Remarks:
Is this impossible cube impossible to you? Don't worry too much about the spores; there will be only 1 from each side and you have 6 minutes to prepare. After about 1 hour 6 of them will arrive from the top, but you should be finished by then.

Based on a detail of a work by M.C. Escher.

Description:
M.C. Escher is not only well known for his regular divisions of the plane (like Nice Job 22: The Artist (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=3787) and Hard Art 1: Horsemen (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=4032)), but even more for his impossible buildings and other structures. Most of these are rather hard to depict as a CW map, unlike this simple cube (also known as a Necker cube), which is based on a detail from his famous work Belvedere (see below).

Please note that every 3 minutes one spore will arrive from each direction, starting at 6 minutes playing time. Emitters will increase in strength (both intensity and frequency) after 2, 4, 6 and 8 minutes.

ARTIST: Maurits Cornelis Escher
TITLE: Detail from Belvedere
MATERIAL: lithograph
YEAR: 1958
DIMENSIONS: 46.2 × 29.5 cm

Download page:
Hard Art 4: Impossible (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2859)
Full size screen shot:
(http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=978.0;attach=1052;image)

Based on:
(http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=978.0;attach=1058;image)

Detail of:
(http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=978.0;attach=1060;image)

More art:
See here for more maps about art (and jobs) ;) (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=978.0)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: RichieRich on August 12, 2010, 09:04:35 AM
Unless I am missing something terribly obvious, I think that is one of your hardest maps.

I lost OC about 5 times, then more careful building allowed me to get 2 morters and 2 blasters for the OC pit. Built one SAM as I misread the instructions and thought one spore would come every three minutes and took a hit and lost OC at 8 minutes.

I think I will leave this till tomorrow night.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 12, 2010, 10:46:19 AM
Quote from: RichieRich on August 12, 2010, 09:04:35 AM
Unless I am missing something terribly obvious, I think that is one of your hardest maps.

I don't think you did, as there's no special trick or something that I use; just normal gameplay. It's indeed quite hard, so it pays off to think about how to kill the creeper in the most effective way.

Quote from: RichieRich on August 12, 2010, 09:04:35 AM
I lost OC about 5 times, then more careful building allowed me to get 2 morters and 2 blasters for the OC pit. Built one SAM as I misread the instructions and thought one spore would come every three minutes and took a hit and lost OC at 8 minutes.

Spoiler
Mortars are indeed essential during this game and so are a few SAMs (but not many). To state it even more clearly for others: after 6 minutes 1 spore will arrive from the top (intensity 1). 5 seconds later 1 spore will arrive from the right, another 5 seconds later 1 spore will arrive from the bottom and another 5 seconds later 1 spore will arrive from the left. This cycle will repeat every 3 minutes. The hardest minutes are between 4 and 8 minutes of game play; if you survive these you will most likely finish the map.
[close]

Quote from: RichieRich on August 12, 2010, 09:04:35 AM
I think I will leave this till tomorrow night.

Good luck! :)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: Miss Melissa on August 12, 2010, 09:11:22 PM
I agree with Richie Rich, that was pretty rough.. perhaps not the hardest, but indeed quite frustrating in the beginning. My perseverance eventually paid off tho, good map! Keep em coming, and ill keep trying.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 13, 2010, 03:54:08 AM
Quote from: Miss Melissa on August 12, 2010, 09:11:22 PM
I agree with Richie Rich, that was pretty rough.. perhaps not the hardest, but indeed quite frustrating in the beginning. My perseverance eventually paid off tho

Yeah, I guess most people will need a few attempts before they find the best setup. Maybe nice to know that this wasn't different for me after tweaking the emitters. I played the final map 4 times before I submitted my score (the 3rd time I managed something around 25 minutes and tried the 4th time to get it under 20 minutes, but I failed).

Nice to see the first 3 completion times are within 43 seconds, so I won't be surprised if someone is going to beat my time.

Quote from: Miss Melissa on August 12, 2010, 09:11:22 PM
good map! Keep em coming, and ill keep trying.

Thanks Melissa! :)

To all: thanks to Roccologic the highscore tables for my maps (http://home.pages.at/lemming_data/creeperworld/UpperKEES.htm) have been updated again.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 15, 2010, 07:33:38 AM
Because this map seems a bit harder than expected I'll give a few hints how to solve it:

Spoiler
- First start generating energy by building collectors (this won't be a surprise ;)).
[close]
Spoiler
- Pick up the 2 nearest upgrades as soon as possible and choose wisely.
[close]
Spoiler
- Your initial defence should exist out of 2 mortars. You want to have 1 of them up at exactly 2:00 minutes playing time (on the left) and the second one at about 2:30 (on the right). When you've build your collectors efficiently you should have enough energy to keep building.
[close]
Spoiler
- Add another mortar later on. Try to spread your mortars as much as possible to use their energy efficiently. Occasionally move them around a bit when you need to.
[close]
Spoiler
- Build 4 SAMs 1 minutes before the spores will arrive. You'll be building with a deficit, but you'll make it.
[close]
Spoiler
- Start building reactors when you're out of space.
[close]
Spoiler
- Add a 4th mortar when your energy allows for it.
[close]

From this moment on it should be pretty straight forward. Let me know if you need more tips. :)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: Fisherck on August 15, 2010, 02:56:33 PM
A hard map indeed. I started out trying to build to far. Small is the way to start in this map. On one of my first tries, I was doing pretty good, until I looked at the time until spore attack. 26 seconds. Needless to say I started over. My next try was much more successful. Great map.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 15, 2010, 03:32:26 PM
Quote from: Fisherck on August 15, 2010, 02:56:33 PM
A hard map indeed. I started out trying to build to far. Small is the way to start in this map. On one of my first tries, I was doing pretty good, until I looked at the time until spore attack. 26 seconds. Needless to say I started over. My next try was much more successful. Great map.

Oh man! What a great time! I'm not sure whether I'll be able to beat that one.... But of course I'm gonna try!
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: Fisherck on August 15, 2010, 03:36:54 PM
Revenge! Now I need to go see if I can beat your time on Funneled (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2744&page=). Though, I am not sure about that one...
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: snowmaker (JM) on August 16, 2010, 11:31:26 AM
Getting a foothold was definitely the hardest part :) Fun to play!
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: SPIFFEN on August 17, 2010, 07:48:09 AM
I was thinking about makeing an map like this for some time back ,
but i did'nt set my mind to do so , or didnt think i could manage to do so .
It was when i made :
(http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/thumb.php?id=2130)
SPIFFENs Stripes 7  (http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2130&page=)
And made an comment in that map about  optical illusion  (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=3390.msg15368#msg15368) .

But you did make it look very nice =D

Edit : i made an thread about  Optical illusions maps .   (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=4329.0)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 19, 2010, 08:09:47 PM
Quote from: Fisherck on August 15, 2010, 03:36:54 PM
Revenge!

Pfffff, that took a while.... I needed 4 attempts.... :P

Quote from: snowmaker (JM) on August 16, 2010, 11:31:26 AM
Getting a foothold was definitely the hardest part :) Fun to play!

Yep, that's right, although reducing my time by 35% wasn't easy either. Thanks! :)

Quote from: SPIFFEN on August 17, 2010, 07:48:09 AM
I was thinking about makeing an map like this for some time back ,
but i did'nt set my mind to do so, or didnt think i could manage to do so.

But you did make it look very nice =D

Edit : i made an thread about  Optical illusions maps. (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=4329.0)

Thanks to you as well Spiff!
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: fraterpotens on August 26, 2010, 02:45:47 PM
very nice map,
hard to get started but each time I died it was clear what I did wrong and how I could fix it.

As I mentioned before, I like the ramp up, but it is good when the emitters reach peak strength within the first 10 minutes, so you can lose 5 times in a row but not feel like you have just been wasting huge amounts of time.

Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on August 26, 2010, 08:25:34 PM
Quote from: fraterpotens on August 26, 2010, 02:45:47 PM
very nice map,
hard to get started but each time I died it was clear what I did wrong and how I could fix it.

Thanks, that's always nice to hear. :)

Quote from: fraterpotens on August 26, 2010, 02:45:47 PM
As I mentioned before, I like the ramp up, but it is good when the emitters reach peak strength within the first 10 minutes, so you can lose 5 times in a row but not feel like you have just been wasting huge amounts of time.

I'll keep that in mind when creating my last few maps, although HA-9 will probably have a bit slower growth of emitter strength, because a tough terrain doesn't allow the player to develop that fast.
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: DethbyIT on December 27, 2010, 06:13:58 PM
First of all - excellent map.
Thank you.

I never did figure out the right placement of those first two mortars, so had to augment with a Blaster.
After that, it was build up energy and take one corner at a time.
Lots of mistakes on my part, but lots of fun to beat a tough map.

LOL!
In the old days, our motto was "The difficult we do immediately, the Impossible takes a little longer." (or a lot longer in this case).

dbit
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on December 28, 2010, 12:28:18 AM
Thanks dbit, I'm glad you still like them! :)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: DethbyIT on December 28, 2010, 07:05:47 AM
Quote from: UpperKEES on December 28, 2010, 12:28:18 AM
Thanks dbit, I'm glad you still like them! :)

Your maps are all great - I've downloaded and (I think) attempted all of them.
My main problem is finding the time (and skill set) to finish.
:)
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: Kamron3 on December 28, 2010, 08:57:03 AM
UpperKEES - Do you mind if I make a specific map pack for your maps so people can download them at the same time (and save time, too!)?
Title: Re: Custom Map: Hard Art 4: Impossible
Post by: UpperKEES on December 28, 2010, 04:56:46 PM
Quote from: DethbyIT on December 28, 2010, 07:05:47 AM
Your maps are all great - I've downloaded and (I think) attempted all of them.
My main problem is finding the time (and skill set) to finish.
:)

well, you finished some rather hard maps already (like this one), so I'm sure you'll make it and gain some skill every time you complete the next. :)

Quote from: Ichigo on December 28, 2010, 08:57:03 AM
UpperKEES - Do you mind if I make a specific map pack for your maps so people can download them at the same time (and save time, too!)?

Sure, I just replied here (http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=5550.msg30626#msg30626). Thanks! 8)