Custom Map #11378: TEST BED for Angular Hover of 1 Command Ship. By: Oldnewby

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This topic is for discussion of map #11378: TEST BED for Angular Hover of 1 Command Ship


Author: Oldnewby
Size: 27x27

Desc:
This test bed map shows how to obtain perfect 45 second times on difficult east/west hovers beside Inhibitors. This map also has a generous energy gem so it is not necessary to build an array of collectors before starting the hover... North/South hovers are easy in comparison because the C Shop liftoff moves the center of the C Shit North almost on top of an adjacent nullifier...

[oldnewby]

This topic is for discussion of map #11378: TEST BED for Angular Hover of 1 Command Ship


Author: Oldnewby
Size: 27x27

Desc:
This test bed map provides an opportunity to obtain perfect 45 second times on difficult east/west hovers beside Inhibitors. This map also has a generous energy gem so it is not necessary to build an array of collectors before starting the hover...
North/South hovers are easy in comparison because the C Shop liftoff moves the center of the C Ship North almost on top of an adjacent nullifier...

Arg...  My print screen screenshots are not accepted by Steam for this demo....  Ouch!  Thousands of words without the pictures are almost useless...  But here goes............

SPOILER ALERT:-
-Place one C Ship on top of the Inhibitor
-Place the nullifier as high as possible beside that C Ship
-Place a stack of relays under the nullifier
-Click one relay then click the "O" key to highlight all of the relays then click the "C" Key to Deactivate all of the relays.... Note the bright red circles around each relay...
-Add a 2nd C Ship on top and one row to the West of the first C Ship...
-Free the 1st C ship to move by opening the command screen and clicking on it...
-Place that 1st C Ship near the bottom Left Hand Side...
-Place the 3rd C Ship on top of the new location of the 1st Command ship...
-Then return the 1st Command ship to it's first location on top of the inhibitor... Now you have two landing places for your 1st C Ship...
=YUCK- A FEW PICTURES WERE GOING TO MAKE ALL OF THIS INITIAL LAYOUT SOOOOO EASY...
-Throw a few unnecessary collectors around even though they are not needed here because the energy gem provides ample energy... Note without an energy gem one needs to layout and energize enough collectors to make up for the 1.5 energy loss when one C Ship takes off...
-Click on the green energy gem and install a syphon then "C" Key click on it to Deactivate the syphon
-So the Layout is complete
=RECOMMEND SAVING THIS MAP NOW !!!!

+DO NOT TAP THE "P" KEY...  THE WHOLE MAP IS DONE ON PAUSE
-Do tap the "N" Key... Each tap advances the map game time by something like 1/30th of a real life second... giving you absolute control of what is happening once you start...
-OK PRESS AND HOLD the "N" Key so the command ships will land at 1/2X the standard slowest came speed...
=NOTE how everything stops the instant you let go of that "N" Key...  Control... and time for an ancient geezer like me to think and see what is happening...
-Watch the energy packets flow into the nullifier and NOWWHERE ELSE...
-Watch the green energy bar at the top center of the screen
=When the green bar reaches "2" then click on the syphon and re-click the "C" Key to activate that syphon...  Once it receives 5 energy packets it will light up and you are cooking... with 10000 energy raring to go...
-Click on any spare collectors... no reason to other than to remind you that most of these simple 3 C Ship maps need each one of those collectors you laid out to be individually activated one at a time as the energy bar climbs back up and reaches "2"  [Never forget ---> The compound interest effect of micromanaging individual collector energization can make a huge difference to your energy supply and map times...]
=So now you click on the Nullifier and can either hold down the "N" Key or tap the "P" Key while watching the nullifier energy charge build up.    TO no more than 38 or 40...  Why watch??? because Pause is NOT reactivated until you tap that "P" Key again... [Remember ---> longer distances to the hover point will need more time than the above 38 or 40 nullifier energy start times allow... ]
=Me??? If I forget to save the map... or dose off in my dotage... I'll have to start over... Life is too short to waste...
=NOW You get to fly that #1 C Ship down to that 2nd landing field
=Here is where that stack of deactivated red circled stack of relays come in... they allow you to see when the center point of the C Ship reaches straight NORTH of the nullifier...  Now we just have to decide how much if any movement farther west is the optimum point that will keep the energy flowing down from the center point of the C Ship...
-When the vertical bar of the C Ship is straight NORTH of the relays... you should see even parts of those red relay circles on each side of that bar through those holes in the command ship...
=Now with the command ships initial take off surge moving it to the north... it is still likely to stay a bit too far north for an easy minimum score... Trivial errors can perhaps yield a 45.1 or even 45.3 time... Still far better than the standard 45.7 time anybody can get with zero effort...
=So... suggest a back and forth hover - - -  From a little just on the West then back over to the center of the stack of relays...
A few dozen two and froes and you have got your very own perfect 45.0 score...

EASY PEASY !!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD SHOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Weasee]

Too complicated !!

The trick with hovering, is that you only need to be accurate at TWO points in time.

The build packets flow from the CN at a regular rate; that sets the time it takes to build the nullifier.
The ammo packets flow from the CN at a regular rate; so that sets the time to charge the nullifier.

BUT There are TWO delays that occur:
 1. The time the last build packet takes to get to the nullifier (ammo packets won't start until the nullifier is built)
 2. The time the last ammo packet takes to get to the nullifier (won't fire until the last packet arrives).

So as long as your CN is directly over the nullifier at these two points (end of building, end of charging) the next phase will start immediately.

Any other time, the packets arriving at the nullifier will compress/decompress in time, but the overall rate from the CN is constant. You can even be far away from the nullifier when it starts building.

In your demo world; 3 CNs are enough to build two things at once with power left over, so you can just start building the nullifier and a collector. You need about 3.3 energy to supply ammo at the full rate to charge the nullifier, so two landed CNS + two collectors is fine. These will build before the charge phase starts, by that time you can start flying the CN.

See here for a demo: https://imgur.com/a/KZOXUZp

I was a bit sloppy with timing #1 but it turned out fine :-D

[Johnny Haywire]

OldNewby - thanks for making this map

Weasee - thanks for the concise and technical explanation of the game mechanics. I hadn't noticed that before.

45.1 was a good enough run for me and I don't want to try a third time so hopefully that won't make me lose a map anytime soon.

Thanks for the map!

[oldnewby]

Hope this Pdf image works????
Angular Hover One C Ship Screen Shots.pdf

The individual screenshots were lumped together and saved as the above pdf file Unfortunately without the individual simple step by step instructions...

I am still puzzled why the CW3 Steam Shift Tab Friends communication system accepts Screen Shot pasted images... but this CW3 forum does not...   
Perhaps K75 can advise...

Thank you Weasee for your concise - clear - explanation of the two critical times and why the CW3 maps work that way...  This really helps remove a lot of the drudgery of moving the landing zones to and frow like I have been doing...  And helps me understand how an incredible expert player like Alter Old can perform a hover during the middle of a hard fought battle...
PS They are on YouTube... See Alter Old on YouTube...
Creeper World 3 - Custom Map #2387: J Yrr49.2 (youtube.com)
Creeper World 3 - Custom Map #1317: Nearly Impossible I (youtube.com)
Creeper World 3 - Custom Map #2316: Tanex (youtube.com)
Creeper World 3 - Custom Map #2575: Guppy time (youtube.com)
Creeper World 3 - Custom Map #2998: Island Hopping RE-REMASTERED (youtube.com)