Custom Map #23: The Rings of Jupiter

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This topic is for discussion of map #23: The Rings of Jupiter


Author: Kithros

Desc:
A space map based on Bonus 6 (Odyssey) - but much harder.

[Kithros]

This map ended up being a lot harder than I had intended for it to be - when I was testing it it didn't seem so bad but between having already played previous versions of it, and being a bad judge of difficulty to begin with it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.

The main thing that will probably throw people off on this map is that this is not a map where you can just build up your defense then slog it out from there - you will need to be aggressive very early and continue to be aggressive to make sure you have enough energy production once all the emitters break free. Chances are if you ever stop pushing forward that you have probably lost, especially once the bottom titan starts to break free from the fields containing it. Similarly, don't try to build tech domes too early in the game or you'll be slowed down too much. The huge asteroids on the bottom offer a lot of build space early on, but in a few minutes the titan will break free and you won't reasonably be able to defend your buildings there. Try not to dig through the high cost terrain too much while you can use that space, so you can build weapons faster.

Early in the game, and for dealing with all the drones you will want to use creeper makers. You should have anti-creeper everywhere you are fighting at, but try not to get too much of the anti-creeper stuck in the fields. You'll need lots of blasters (especially against the drones) since it's wide open, and try to use launchers to focus on the asteroids where the creeper is a lot more dense. Repulsors are very useful once you get to the more dense creeper or for nullifying emitters, you'll definitely want to have some repulsors once you start getting close to the top emitter.


This is the general idea of how I started it, though it was from a saved game and I lost track of what I was doing at the time so it's not exactly what I did, but close enough.

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Before the drones at the bottom broke free I moved a bunch of my blasters down to both sides of the asteroid you started at and built more as necessary. I don't think I ever built any more tech domes than I already have at this point.

[Fisherck]

Still working on this one. Can't quite get it... :)

[florrat]

Ahh, finally I completed it. Very nice map. Really hard indeed.

First I tried it a few times myself, but failed miserably. Then I read your post with hints, with the most useful hint (for me) being to build reactors on the bottom two asteroids for the first five minutes. That really gives you a great energy boost to nullify the nearest emitter soon (the only one not IN a asteroid). For me, "soon" was just after the drones came from the top of the map. And with that I could beat the map in 40 minutes game time (I guess about 2 hours real time :D ). But I really love the map.

I people are interested: I have 8 save files at pretty different times, so I can post some screenshots how I did it.

Oh, and did these drones

Spoiler

really have to have 1000 hp?  >:(     ;D

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