Prospector Zone S100-49 Nancorp III

[Anarchy Ape]

I've tried 4 different times, I can't seem to get a foothold on this map. Anyone got any advice?

[teknotiss]

I've tried 4 different times, I can't seem to get a foothold on this map. Anyone got any advice?

just got to get to that sector and i'll have a go and let you know  8)

[Anarchy Ape]

Appreciate it!

[teknotiss]

right i'm pretty sure i can win from this, and i'll post some later screenies if you need them.
(click them to get a larger view)
landing all CN's even if you will have to let one or two return to orbit can make a big difference in the early game.
let me know if this isn't helpful and i'll post some more as i make them (game is paused at 1m30s as i type)
fun little map, but it is a bit rough for the prospector zone.
later dude  8)

[teknotiss]

and a pretty inefficient 51m something... ::) well it's 2am so that's my excuse.  :D
this map is a really good practice map for some tormented maps, it's a great one for upping your game in terms of energy.

edit cos it was late and i forgot a "y"

[Anarchy Ape]

Yea tormented zone is a bit beyond my skill level. I enjoy the games, but I'm not great at the harder levels.

[Yalichenta]

thanks for sharing that map, it was quite fun :)

many map in tormented space are actually easier than this one. As a general rule of thumb, in prospector and in tormented space, bigger maps are easier than smaller ones, so if you stick to "decently big" maps (that are represented with huge planets), you should be fine.

I actually used a totally different strategy than teknotiss. I Beat that map on my first try in ~18mn40 (but then I did a few hard tormented space map, so I can say that I'm pretty experimented with those kind of maps), and then noticed I had totally forgotten to take screenshots/save game... So I restarted it and recorded my 2nd attempt. Depending on how much "help" you want, I'll just put a few hints in spoilers, and then the link to the video if you want a full walkthough. Don't hesitate to still watch it afterward to see what I did differently and maybe learn some tricks.

Spoiler

Every map I do, I start by puting speed x4, and let the creeper spread for 1mn (in game, so 15sec in real time) without building anything, just to find defensible positions (basically, anything that is flooded at the 1mn mark will be flooded no matter what, and any collector built there will be destroyed (even if it might still be worth building it > with lots of empty space around it a collector are worth it if they survive more than 25sec). The aim is to get as much information as possible on the creeper flow, and I usually plan my "first 5mn built order" around this map.

Next spoiler is the ordre I planned (and that worked, twice)

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Spoiler

first thing : I notice that the Freeze AoO can easily be taken at the very beginning of the mission, and that the main threat at the beginning is both emitters in the south-west corners). Using it on both emitters would allow to totally nullify their creeper production for 45sec, which basically mean and extra 45sec to build defenses.

The only defensible position is the north-west corner where the landing pad stands, but as creeper is really thin (and the artifact will help making it thiner for a while), so I know I'll have to build pulse cannon really early to make sure that my collectors don't get destroyed to soon.

Also notice both ore mine "easily defensible". As the creeper is quite thin, there are no pools, and space (therefore energy production) is extremely limited, a sprayer can be an extremely powerful weapon. As it take some time to build (2*25 energy for ore mine and 50 for the sprayer), I know I'll built those as soon as collectors are built. My plan at this point (only based on knowledge of the creeper at 1mn mark) is :

- take freeze artifact asap, and use it immediately on south emitors.
- start building 2 pulse cannon at ~20-25sec mark (as even with the artefact, a small amount of creeper will still come and destroy collector if there's nothing to protect them)
- build an ore mine as soon as I use the artefact, and a sprayer ~20sec later, so that it is built as soon as the artifact ends, and that creeper will start coming, and try to secure the 2nd ore mine asap (a sprayer can use up to 3 mines, the more mine you have the more AC it'll be allowed to spread). Also, as the creeper is really thin and the aim is to secure as much space as possible, do not activate AC collection field (it allows for more focused attacks, but in our case we want a broad defense).
- once the sprayer is completed, build reactors/mortars to deal with the wall of creeper that will undoubtedly come from the south

next spoiler is about what to do after the first 5mn ended

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Spoiler

Now that I had my first 5mn planned, I restarted the map, and did basically what I planned, and got to the ~4-5mn mark in a decently stable position.

However, Best defense is offense, and it's as true in CW3 as anywhere else ! So at this point I started to plan which target to attack first.

On inhibitor map, you don't even have to destroy all creeper structure, so usually the inhibitor is the obvious first target. Even if it's "far behind enemy lines", it's often possible with a few bertha/aerial support to directly focus it and destroy it. On this map the inhibitor is quite easily accessible, but the south-west emitters stays a huge threat on our economy, and if destroyed would give two PZ, and allow us to re-allocate all units on the inhibitors. So battle plan : kill both south emitters, then focus the inhibitor.

more details on how I destroyed them in next spoiler

[close]

Spoiler

For south emitters : they are decent but not that strong, so a couple mortars assisted with pulse cannon and the 2mine sprayer should do the trick. They are placed above us, and that will make them a bit harder to attack. If they were tormented-space-level emmitor I would most probably use a terp to give the extra needed edge and a place to build my nullifier (a shield might also work, but they are really energy consuming, and we don't have that much energy on this map). However these are prospector-space-emmitors, so 3mortars could nearly destroy creeper as fast as it was emitted, and the sprayer could protect the nullifier while it was building. I also placed a pulse cannon on the first powerzone I had to help protect my 2nd nullifier.


Once those 2 emitters destroyed, I could redeploy my mortars/sprayer to the est and get to the inhibitor. I built a strafer and a bomber on the 2 PZ to get an extra aerial support. got the 3rd ore mine (to supply the bomber), and both totem (even if it wasn't that useful in the end...), told the bomber to focus on the top-left edge of the inhibitor platform, and it dropped enough AC to protect the nullifier (it was also backed by the sprayer, a couple PC and 3-4 mortars and the PZ strafer, but having an extra depth 2 AC on top of it made sure it would survive and not get stupidly destroyed :D).

[close]

and the video (I had a few issues with OBS as it was the first time I recorded a CW3 video, and I didn't noticed that I wasn't recording the whole window, so you can't see the clock ig, I'll be more careful next time ):

Spoiler

[close]

[teknotiss]

good technique, i know i was too indecisive about getting rid of the bottom two early, i was too slow in choosing whether to just go for a I kill. i figured this would take 15-20 if i was focused and some of the real speed kings will do it in 5-10 i think.
and yes many tormented maps are easier, i meant good practise for smallish tormented maps  ::) (it was late and i was tired, sticking to that excuse too! :D)

and so i gave it another go 16:50.0 wooo :D no terping and just a concerted push south then to the I, Yali, cheers for the inspiration!

[Ceraus]

Building on the ideas given in this topic, I gave the mission a try and got 10:22. My early Sprayer (assisted) gradually made most of the low-ground area safe for Collectors while a Shield (with the usual Cannon/Mortar mix) pushed south, then east, directly to the Inhibitor, with a second Shield. I brought back the third Command Node quite soon and was able to keep it, which helped my continuous Reactor production; my low-ground Collector network was able to reach the Totems and I timed a Forge to make use of it. As soon as it was ready, a Power Zone Bertha cleared the Creeper near the Inhibitor, allowing me to plant the mission-ending Nullifier.

I got the south Emitters around 6:45.



Then I tried not going for the south Emitters (with the same techniques otherwise) and got 9:58.

[squallsoft]

This maps looks like a ton of fun! :)