Custom Map #4303: Fish in the Barrel. By: martinuzz

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This topic is for discussion of map #4303: Fish in the Barrel


Author: martinuzz
Size: 192x192

Desc:
The pressure is on!

[martinuzz]

This be my second map. Took me over an hour to beat it, but I'm sure the veterans over here can do it in way less. Have fun!

[D0m0nik]

Really good battle map, I like it a lot.

The big energy packs allow for some early guppy work and allows for some really aggressive play which is great!

[Loren Pechtel]

Given the design of the map shouldn't this be fish in two barrels?

[martinuzz]

Holy bit shatman, you completed it in 14 minutes, D0m0nik? That's amazing. I would love to see a video of that, I think I could learn a lot.

[D0m0nik]

Haha thanks. I am not very technical and so won't attempt a video. To be honest it would be hard to watch as on a map like this I can take up to an hour to do the first few mins, it's pretty plain sailing from that point on. There is a lot of pausing, saving and reloading at the start. Fast times are more to do with patience than skill!

For most maps there is a certain set of objectives that can be achieved very quickly and make the map a lot easier. it may be quickly taking out a key unit, sacrificing a CN for a pick up or quickly gaining a high ground. Possibly all of them and a few more. On this map it is sending guppies out and securing the two sides in the first few minutes and stopping the digitalis from becoming a threat.

I have attached some image at key stages. Some notes:

I turned off the totems supply to ensure nullifiers charged. As soon as guppies left I stopped resupply as they would not be needed again. I stopped resupply to the cannons and disarmed them until I needed them, they were just to guard the nullifiers.
I used PZs for power at every chance.
Initial aether was used for power only.
I built cannons as soon as the relays were up, lots of cannons.
Strafers are essential to help stop the spread of digitalis. 3 each side are enough.

The best tip is if your power ever gets up to 20 in the green then you are not advancing or building aggressively enough!

[D0m0nik]

A few more stages. Shaved a few more mins off but I think 7 or 8 mins prob possible with some insane patience!

[Johnny Haywire]

I did pretty much EXACTLY what Dom did... except that I didn't use guppies and I only started on one side because working two sides just looked like too much of a hassle. I modified Dom's strategy to include tactics that would let me see if the 20x spore towers in the middle would ever fire. Those tactics included leaving the game running while making a couple runs to the refrigerator and snack closet. Did you know you can leave the game running and go as slow as you can imagine... yet those spore towers STILL won't fire? Yep, nearly 2 hours in and they were still building.

Sad, b/c I love spores.

I thought the map was pretty cool though! And that's just a sickly amazing time, Dom. You need to buy a recliner and rest a bit every now and then.   ;)

Thx for the map!  ;D ;D

[martinuzz]

Yeah, I realized afterwards that I put too long a timer on the spore towers. The 15x will fire at 1h in, the 20x at 2h haha. Blame my noobiness. The next map I'm working on will have spore towers firing at more realistic timers.

Might take a while though. New map is finished, now I just need to beat it. I think I made a *hard* map now.

EDIT: thx for the pics D0m0nik. They give a good overview of what you are doing. You surprised me at the point where you got into the middle lane before taking out the top platform. I guess the emitters on it could have used a bit more juice.

EDIT2: I think I'm gonna make it. Gimme an hour or two and there'll be another map.
Sneak preview:

[GoodMorning]

A note on shooting fish in barrels:
The fish doesn't have to be hit, the shockwave is almost as deadly in such a dense medium.

[Johnny Haywire]

Martinuzz - Heh heh, np on the spore timers. Your map is really cool... I'd say you have some great skills which indicates an excellent potential for future crazy maps! PLEASE feel free to make them as difficult as you want. It's not too often you come across a difficult AND fun map!  ;D

GoodMorning - True, and using a stick of dynamite is even more effective. Not... not that'd I'd actually know that from personal experience or anything...  ;)

[martinuzz]

The only difficulty I can foresee with that is that is that I actually will have to be able to beat any map I create myself. I think I'll hit my player ability cap before I hit my map nefariousness cap :)

[D0m0nik]

My one bit of advice would be don't try too hard to close all short cuts, for a lot of us there is a large amount of fun to be had in trying to find and exploit a maps weaknesses. If you are too succesful in limiting the shortcuts then a map can become very linear and tedious. But then again perhaps this is just my personal preferences! to just make maps that you enjoy playing and don't worry too much about times, scores etc!!!  :D

[Johnny Haywire]

"To Master Dom you must listen! Strong in the ways of making maps and completing them is he!"  ;D

[GoodMorning]

The map only needs a score submitted, there is no rule about who submits it.