Custom Map #782: Starfall 4: The Experiment Must Not Continue

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This topic is for discussion of map #782: Starfall 4: The Experiment Must Not Continue


Author: Lysander

Desc:
Lyanna, Dirk, and Darius reach a top secret Federation research outpost, where they discover some disturbing experiments.

[teknotiss]

this map is NOT for those who like to blast creeper.
or get a map done quickly.
or like to build reactors, or anything really.
as usual lysander has made a pretty map and clever fields, but the gameplay is very slow and not for me

[Lysander]

Eeek, I knew this one was going to take some more time, but looking at the highscores I see this map must have caused some massive frustration to you good folk.

Here's a walkthrough, with it you should easily be able to do it in around 40 minutes like I did.

Spoiler

- Go right into the base, and through the first 3 test chambers.
- Pick up the launcher at number the fourth one. The two makers you have will easily break through the weaker field in that room. Don't forget the nano chips.
- Go down and pick up the beacon, use shields to fend of the drones. Put loads of beacons there (probably a good idea to upgrade beacon range), and deactivate them when they're fully charged. Turn them on one by one as the dialogue suggests.
Personally I punched a hole in the door to the next room, and built beacons all around it. And then some more in the room with the drones and the corridor.
Power will still be limited, but it shouldn't be that much of an issue.
- Get back to the top, again don't stop at any chambers. With 4 launchers (I think you could go up to 5-6 with the current power output)  and 4 makers you should easily get rid of the creeper that gathered at the top. One maker backed by launchers is enough to attack the emitters.
- Build ore rigs. It's possible you might need to start doing this before you get to the emitters.
- Build more makers. 8-10 is the number I usually worked with. Charge them up (I upgraded their capacity to 30m), seal of the first room with shields, get the makers inside (I usually put them in the upper left corner of the room) and fire a full burst from all of them. That should take care the creeper inside long enough for launchers to clean up the room with the emitter. When the creeper there is shallow enough you can put 3 or 4 makers to make enough room for a nullifier.
- Granted this part might be a bit counterintuitive. I found it's actually better to attack the third chamber next. Get your launchers and one maker to the left side of the base (use the time to charge up the other makers). When they clean up the room put shields above the bottom part of the room, put one maker there (fire one full burst, just in case), it should easily hold off the creeper being teleported from below.
You now have more or less undisturbed access to the beacons below.
- Storm the room with the floating square thingy (again you should have 8-10 of them for this). Fire a full burst from all of them, open the doors to the emitter and let your launchers take care of it.
Move in makers once it's shallow enough.
- With that thing out of the way, the finishing off the third room should be very easy. Just move in all the makers and launchers under the shields, and open the door.
- The fourth room (the one that had the launcher), again gets tricky, but the strategy is the same. Charge up the makers, move them in (just below the door is a good place, imo), full burst and let the launchers take care of the room with the emitter.
- The rest should be pretty straightforward. For the most part you won't need to charge up the makers anymore (the last room being the exception), and when you do, you can fire the burst before you open the door. Once you take out the room below where the drones used to be, and put a beacon there, you should have enough power for 7-8 launchers, so that should let you deal with it pretty quickly.

[close]

If you'd prefer this with screenshots, let me know.
But maybe the fellow who did this in 20 mins, should write the walkthrough ;)

Anyways thanks for the comment, thanks for playing, and thanks for putting up with me as I struggle with level design ;)
I must admit I have a slight fetish for playing games in a way they might not have been designed to be played, hence my experimentation with limiting the most essential techs in the maps so far.
The next map will probably be more of a good, old fashioned, creeper blasting one (hey, if nothing else, I'm running out of techs to add ;)).

[teknotiss]

i'll give it another go following the walkthrough.
a problem i have with map design is how to make it either scary or technical at the start without making the endgame either long or boring.
i've only posted 2 so far because i have about 10 ideas on the go that are either way too hard at the start or way too dull/long at the end.
i've been experimenting with giving the techs but limiting construction and making the player work for them (i.e. the dark beams have to be dug/fought to, or launchers are hidden so blasters and repulsors till you get to them) but this obviously only works for holdout then crush style missions.
i've also been trying giving tech by delay (can't build more till creeper kills the existing weapons), however getting the timing right is V hard.
on your maps i like the way you make them i just don't always like the way they play (know what i mean?)
i'll be back after another try

[sp988]

a little like paint drying.....   not a bad idea, just a slow, slow, slow game play...