Custom Map #10420: Ore map, no tricks - harder - 6. By: Martin Gronsdal

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This topic is for discussion of map #10420: Ore map, no tricks - harder - 6


Author: Martin Gronsdal
Size: 256x100

Desc:
different take on map #10415 start is moderate+ difficult, but you can do it!

[Stu]

Guffaw at my ignorance, I can't figure this out.

So, you can't just quickly nullify the inhibitor to cheese and win it because there's a different win condition.  You can't place beams anywhere near the inhibitor because there's an invisible emitter that holds the digitalis together (that somehow can be beamed).  There's not enough time to set up beams on the islands to the right, especially not with a guppy (I get you can nullify the AE thing by itself).  I figured you had to lure the spores into attacking below so I tried with piling up a bunch of different structures/units but there's still always a spore that will target your command center or upper relays and you don't have to the time to set up awkward sprayers to clean that up.  I tried the less hard version of the map but it starts in a very similar way.

What trick intended obvious gameplay mechanic am I missing?

[Martin Gronsdal]

So, you have to be quick and smart and think outside the box.

No hidden units here, except the core that binds the digitalis web together.

Hint:

Spoiler

units survive in creeper for a few seconds

[close]

Many thanks for playing!

[toolforger]

Relays are cheap, so you can quickly supply the comb island and place beams there.
There will be moments where you have excess energy that you can use to build auxiliary structures, and you'll need them once the spore bombardment intensifies, but you have to make 150% sure that there's always that 1 energy left needed to build the next relay, and those 5+25 energy to build and power up your beams.

[toolforger]

@Martin Gronsdal "No tricks" is completely misleading. The map tricks you into believing that the inhibitor can be nullified, and you need a trick for every island.

Two tricks I can't quite figure out:
1) How to take the collector island
2) How to free the PZ blocked by the CN so I can have some sort-of efficiency to clear the creeper from the digitalis. (Right now I'm spitting AC at it, but that's too slow and tryhardy.)

[Martin Gronsdal]

First, thanks for playing!

Alright, maybe "no tricks" could be a few tricks instead. But, on the other hand, the few tricks are pretty obvious... don't delete Inhibitor before you can, don't build beams to close to that core unit that binds the digitalis...

Other than that, your approach to spraypaint digitalis won't work, sorry to say that... you must get the collector pick up...

[toolforger]

Well yeah, I found out how to get the collector (a really nasty other trick).
I also figured out how to terraform the area under the CN (very thoughtful to leave the other CNs available so you don't have to wait).
BUT... I can't find a place to build the Thor! The only 9x9 space I see is under the CN, and if I send it to orbit, the network is depowered and the Thor won't ... ah. Wait. I CAN power the network, and the Thor is cheap.

Sir, you are a nasty, nasty man.

[Martin Gronsdal]

Music in my ears!

[toolforger]

One thing though: prefilling collector island with 400 creeper just means you have to fire too many shots of a non-PZed Bertha, it's just an annoying wait.

Also, I doubt many people will find all the tricks. I'm an old hand on CW3, I know most tricks, and even with that knowledge it was hard.
I think I could figure it out mostly because my experience allowed me to quickly discard ideas that wouldn't work. Somebody with less experience will probably get frustrated.

(Oh, and preventing the Thor from killing digi near one of your islands while making it do useful work is yet another challenge. I believe I have solved it but I have to see if my theory holds... right now I'm back at getting that dumb collector tech because I had to reload because the Thor killed digi better than creep :-( )

[Martin Gronsdal]

Spoiler

That's a mistake on my part. Where did you place your Bertha?

[close]

[Stu]

Well after hours of failed attempts I realized you can connect from the starter island to the comb island with a relay.  I thought I'd already tried that and it was slightly too far.  I guess I needed to think inside the box?

But yeah this map is much more difficult when you think you need to send a bunch of beams back and forth for ammo until you can get a guppy to resupply them and charge a nullifier to get a powered beam and range upgrades.

Anyway the rest was easy enough, I was able to confidently conquer the rest of the map and build a thor that immediately caused me to lose.  Forgot about those beams.  Close enough, I deserve a medal

[Martin Gronsdal]

Where did you place the Bertha?

[Stu]

Where did you place the Bertha?

If you're asking me I put the Bertha on the power circle where the command node is