Custom Map #9855: Inhibitor on vacations. By: Martin Gronsdal

[teknotiss]

Are there any questions?

yes...

why didn't you put your CN's in a neat row for that screenie?  :( :o :o :o

Good point.
I'm going to replay the whole game from this start (see below).

Thanks for the wake up call!
;)



;) ;D 8)

lol nicely done!  8)

[D0m0nik]

Yes...

Why didn't you start building a forge from the first packet?

[Helper]

Yes...

Why didn't you start building a forge from the first packet?

Good question.
I've always done so to allow me to build up more power via Collectors.
Based on your question, I'll knock off that foolishness immediately!
Thanks.

[Weasee]

Why didn't you start building a forge from the first packet?

Hmm, I'm not sure it's faster to do it that way, because those build packets on the forge are not going into increasing the amount of power you have. Proportionally (at the very start) I think it's better to build power as fast as possible, and then start the forge once a few collectors have been built.

But I would have to test it!!!

[teknotiss]

Why didn't you start building a forge from the first packet?

Hmm, I'm not sure it's faster to do it that way, because those build packets on the forge are not going into increasing the amount of power you have. Proportionally (at the very start) I think it's better to build power as fast as possible, and then start the forge once a few collectors have been built.

But I would have to test it!!!

i think it makes sense to start the forge at about power generation rate of 2.

then you can carry on doing collectors 1 by 1 while the forge sets up, when you get to 4 start a reactor etc...

of course that is quite a bit of micro and i often cannot be bothered! ;D 8)

[Martin Gronsdal]

But here you have a maxed out totem. Does that influence the decision making?

[Weasee]

But here you have a maxed out totem. Does that influence the decision making?

A little bit yes. The totem doesn't help until the forge is finished building, so in this case we want to finish building the forge as soon as we can. The benefit from all that aether coming in overrides any power calculations, essentially you can build whatever you want at that stage.
With a normal powered totem(s), the benefit is not great, and the totems takes energy to power, it's a long time before you can save up for the first power boost. So for normal totems, delaying the forge allows to build the collector network much faster, until there is sufficient power left over to use on the totems and forge.

Edit: the fastest you can build the forge is by about 56.9seconds - only building enough collectors so that the power bar is always in the green. You start with 4.5 power available, each building takes just under 2.0 power to build. So to keep the build packet saturation on full on the forge (i.e. 2.0), that only leaves 2.5 - enough to build 1 collector at a time, until you get to 6 power, then you can build 2 at a time etc etc.
However, total power at 56.9 seconds is 18.0, which you need for building your cannons and beams to ensure you don't just die :-)

If you delay the forge until about the 10 second mark, and build 2 collectors at a time from the beginning, you reach 18.0 power at 50 seconds - you can build the equivalent cannons/beams etc 7 seconds earlier than the other build. But of course, your aether power ups are delayed 10 seconds....

which is better depends on the map I guess, and how much time you have to get your defences in order!

Edit Edit: I'm using the non-optimal grid placement, diagonal is probably slightly better!

[D0m0nik]

For this map 10 seconds makes a lot of difference due to the incoming spores and the potential to very quickly upgrade. For most maps the first minute is the most important if you are going for speed. If there is not much aether the forge could waith a little though, what's 10 seconds!

[Martin Gronsdal]

You guys just received a PhD in CW3!

[Helper]

You guys just received a PhD in CW3!

Summa Cum Laude!

I've been sitting here re-reading all the comments and thinking I need to finish up some chores and give this one another go.
If I can hold the thought, I'll do more screen grabs along the way.
This map is 'doable' by anyone and I'd sure like to get a whole bunch more scores (and better ratings) up on the board.
More later,
H

[teknotiss]

But here you have a maxed out totem. Does that influence the decision making?

not for the first min or so...  Weasee is right once the forge is done it the super totem is a game changer, but until then it is not a lot of help.