Custom Map #832: Cup o' Joe. By: stdout

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This topic is for discussion of map #832: Cup o' Joe


Author: stdout
Size: 256x144

Desc:
Mire all.

[GoodMorning]

Umm... Somehow, I've (at the moment) got the top score for this one. No idea how. All I can think of is that everyone who is better at the game than I has made the mistake I usually do, and assumed the victory condition to be Emitter destruction.

All I can say is that there is probably 30sec of fat in that 3min to trim out.

Spoiler

HQ -> lower/left mine, flip Emitter. Meanwhile, build small ships and a Cannon. Gems to a mine defence tech, power, Omni reactors and build speed. Remaining Cannons (not required). Other ships as the particles start to hit the cup. As the Omni reactor tech hits 70%, build them all (should have been earlier). Land, destroy craft-spawners "in" the cup. Make sure an Omni sits on the steam. Shielded lathes into the middle, supported by a Cannon (or rather, the port on it). Omnis should be turning the cup blue by now. Press on with those lathes, though you will should win before they reach anything else. I had to make two, three waves of Omnis - this overhead could be trimmed too.

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Aside from that surreal experience, I enjoyed this one. It had the feel about it that I can best describe as "flow", something that seems to occur almost exclusively in stdout's maps, and is typified here. Thank you.

[ColonelSandersLite]

I posted 3rd @ 3:58 on the first try.  My approach was completely different.

Spoiler

Start by claiming the mine in the NW corner.  Initial gems in energy mine production, move/build speed, omni cannons, omni reactors.  As soon as the mine is claimed move your HQ to the southern edge of your energy field to defend your ships as they build.  Deploy the shovels, pt boats, and fighters along the southern edge of the build energy area to get their guns going ASAP, and get the Cannon Ships building.

As soon as the cannon ships are built, move to the southwest corner and claim that mine and emitter.

As soon as that's done, build your omnis and take the land.

Don't forget that the nudges can be used to help mire the land.  Also don't forget that cannons can shoot at mire.

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[stdout]

Thank you for the comments.

GM I was never able to flip that lower emitter during the game open. Flipping that early would be a path to a very fast victory. The emitter was designed to be strong enough to thwart an early flip, forcing an opening move on the top-left and moving down once a few more ships are built.

Edited to add: I was able to flip that emitter at open by quickly building a few ships to help out. It makes it easy to get into the 3 minute win range!

[GoodMorning]

I did it by building the mine first - the HQ attraction protects the mine, and the mine provides the power to keep the HQ running when the hull is damaged.

HQ-only attacks are one of the few times that the energy cost of hull, rather than the build time, is significant.