Custom Map #48: Natlan

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This topic is for discussion of map #48: Natlan


Author: ThirdParty

Desc:
You are on a ridge in the middle of an ocean of creeper, with limited technology. Can you reclaim territory from the sea? #TechLimits: #NoTerps #NoReactors #CRPL #Spores #Runners #RealWorld #Earth #AtlanticOcean #Portugal #Azores #3P

[ThirdParty]

In case anybody needs geographic orientation: you're looking at a large portion of the North Atlantic Ocean, slightly drained.

In the center of the map, where the player will probably land initially, is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with the Azores (Portugal) poking above the surface.  In the lower left corner, the spore tower is on a rise which, if you followed it off the map, would lead you to Bermuda (UK).  At nine o'clock, the emitter is on a plateau associated with Newfoundland (Canada).  In the upper left corner you can see a bit of Greenland (Denmark) poking above the surface.  At eleven o'clock you can see the ridge that leads to Iceland.  At twelve o'clock is a rise that leads, I think, to the Faroe Islands (Denmark).  In the upper right corner, the runner nest is on a plateau associated with Britain; a bit of Ireland and a bit of Brittany (France) are visible, poking above the surface.  At two o'clock, Portugal pokes above the surface.  At three o'clock, the lower of the two ore deposits is on Madeira (Portugal).  Also at three o'clock, but further to the right, you can see the Canary Islands (Spain).  At four o'clock, the emitter is sitting on Morocco.  And finally, in the lower right corner, the spore tower is on Cape Verde.

The map is as accurate as I could make it, except for having been smoothed.  You see here a continent-sized section of Planet Earth--but a section whose geography is almost completely unfamiliar to us, due to being slightly underwater.

[Helper]

"Natlan" = North Atlantic?
Looking forward to playing this later today.
H

[hbarudi]

Any walkthrough?
Got easily defeated on this map, the creeper just keeps coming and the energy is not sufficient to reach any nullifiable enemy let alone defend myself.

[Tyler21]

Here are some tips:

Spoiler

- Expand your network to any available land. Always. In the first half of your game (until you can seize aether packs and nullfiy some enemies) everything will be about energy management. You might get a lot of 'collector' destroyed' notifications in the beginning, rebuild them if possible. Learn which are the 'weak' spots around the starting position and put blasters there.
- Use your first three Aether packs (whichever you take) to increase energy generation rate to level 3 (20+40+60), but don't upgrade levels beyond 3 because they are too expensive. Rather increase AC efficiency, fire rate and/or fire range. You might put some Aether on build and packet speed as well.
- Use mortars only if you see dense creeper  (use arm/disarm) otherwise they are a big waste of energy.
- Seize the two ore depos near 'Madeira' (East) as soon as possible. I think this should be the first priority after you manage to build a minimal defense. They are on high terrain, it's relatively easy to secure them. AC will be very important for seizing Aether packs as creeper flows very fast and blasters usually can't keep the creeper away from packs until you build the siphon. AC will solve this issue.
- Don't try to nullify the runner nest in the beginning, it's quite difficult to nullify because of the terrain and digi and the runner spawn interval it really friendly. Put two snipers on reasonable locations from where they can shoot runners. Do not worry about digitalis spreading as you won't see any runners, simply avoid building on it.
- After you have AC, target the emitter on the East, then the spore tower in SE. If you manage to nullify these, then it's only a matter of time to beat the map.
- The freeze artifact is useful for nullifying the runner nest. Use the convert artifact ONLY if you are close enough to the Western emitter in order to build a nullifier on the newly created AC field. That will make your fight much easier.

[close]

[hbarudi]

Thanks for the help, once I got the anticreeper mines on the right of the map, but does require being aggressive but not too aggressive. Once the emitter and the phantoms are nullified on the right, then I was able to get a lot of collectors and energy to finish the map.