Custom Map #2452: CW2: the big dig. By: TrickyCorp

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This topic is for discussion of map #2452: CW2: the big dig


Author: TrickyCorp
Size: 90x300

[TrickyPlayer]

Both custom buildable units create a bit of lag by just existing. This lag becomes more apparent when you build a lot of them and the Range Boost ERN portal bonus is active.

In case you can't beat this, here's a few hints:

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Start

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Fill the starting area with towers, build a factory and a terp. After that, get ready to defend the right leakage area with cannons and Flares. You might also want some cannons to defend against the leakage on the left.

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Caves

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Don't open up caves when you're struggling. Make sure that you don't excavate near decaying terrain, the creeper will eventually get through the decayables.

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Blaster

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Since the Blaster unit heavily relies on ERN portal effects, only start using it once the Energy Efficiency ERN portal slot is fully maxed. When all portal slots are maxed, Blasters effectively take the place of cannons, and at that point Flares will have taken the form of alternative mortars. When giving an ERN to an Blaster while the ERN portal is already maxed out, it becomes nearly unstoppable.

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First Crimson Area

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Notice how it's pretty big? You could of course damage it yourself, but an Orbital or Anticreeper will be way more efficient.

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Big Purple Wall

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Get defences ready early, and consider using some dampen orbitals to be able to hold your ground. If it already broke down before you could get there, defend the two openings.

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Massive creeper numbers at the bottom of the map

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Throw some conversion bombs in there before it gets to escape. If you don't have enough liftic in time, either make sure it doesn't ever reach the triple crimsonator crystals using defences and dampen orbitals, or prepare for an tactical retreat.

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Bertha

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I myself didn't find any use for the Bertha, though it could be used to damage creeper at remote locations to prevent those areas from decaying extra terrain.

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How to get rid of that lag you might be encountering

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In order to reduce lag, destroy any units that don't serve a purpose, or move units to a strategic location rather than building new ones. This especially applies to the two Custom units. Given their big range, they will cause lag by checking tiles for creeper. Don't get the "Range boost" ERN portal upgrade if you are still experiencing lag despite following this advice.

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Also feedback plz

[Niflthaena]

My goodness, that was hard. Restarted three times to find a way to survive the crimson - and that way ended up being "accept we will lose the sky, move the entire base into the right caves".
Of course, since there was much less soylent there, I proceeded to have constant energy problems. Ended up tunneling through enclosed terrain to get sneaky access to resource nodes and relied almost exclusively on sprayers and flares.

Feels like I was missing something major that would let me take the caves fast enough to have orbitals to deal with that first crimson area... but nothing I tried did the trick. There aren't a lot of ERNs that early on, and blasters with energy efficiency alone seemed useless. Cheap, but not worth the space they take up.

[Thiazi]

There is a channel of blue creeper that turns into crimsonite if you let it also flow into the main mass of crimson - if you remove it before the crimson explodes it hugely reduces the amount of crimsonite you need to deal with.

That plus flares (which do huge damage) and a lot of anti-creeper should be enough, since the emitter by the crimsonite is weak.