Custom Map #1498: Only Speed Can Win

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This topic is for discussion of map #1498: Only Speed Can Win


Author: Holy Spirit

Desc:
Can you survive? if you can you are god This map for patience player

[ea3401]

Phew...

[TypoNinja]

Fine line between challenging and an unfun slug fest.

You crossed it.

[fitz]

Phew...

Well if anyone was going to do it ... Well done!

[ea3401]

Homer: One small coffee, please, and a bunch of those placemats with the mazes on them.

Pimple-Faced Kid: They're all the same maze.

Homer: Somebody's gotta do 'em.

(Season 19,  Episode 1)

[Morlon]

Got it. Thats the kind of maps i really love.

Great work

[burguertime]

Done in two hours, could be faster, but game was in fast forward and I saved a couple bunkers for later.

This map is not much challenging in terms of skill its just a patience test, you just have to know how to open each chamber. best if each one of them is opened with your defenses a couple chambers backwards, so the creeper can spread safely.

click here to save the first capsules

Spoiler

Pause the game right at beginning, click on capsules and mark to dig the least amount of earth around to them so packets can go there. they rescue themselves. the anticreeper node and the bunker's misiles are enough to clear the path.

[close]

the timing on the drones in later game is awesome. you can tell that the map is well thought. if people dislike it, is a matter of taste.

you can think that the limits on units, the space, the 0.03s emitters are not your beach, I for one had fun cracking it.

Reminded me of "bored to death" CW1 map.

PS: did not understand map title.

[Mahdi]

I really enjoyed this one, great challenge!

[Karsten75]

Well, I take my hat off to some of the fast players on this map.

In normal circumstances, I would not play a map like this, but the start was so intriguing that I wanted to see if the map maker could persevere with the multitude of challenges.

I liked that you had to rush to get the capsules. Then there was a period of energy starvation (it helps if one rushes and control area 3 and 5 before one has to tackle area 2.

Area 2 presents interesting challenges in advancing towards the emitters. Crucuially important (for me - as are all of this discussion) was the mission to obtain launcher tech. For that to happen I had to control Area 2.

Area 4 presented little problem, except for the fact that fields mobilized in Area 5 while I was fighting and I had to divert to control Area 5 and destroy that emitter before I could complete Area 4.

All this I managed to do well before the pathway in Area 6 was completed. In fact, I dug some of that myself after I made sure there was enough AC to prevent dig packets from reaching the breach between Area 3 and Area 8.  The strong drones in Area 6 was annoying, but not overly so once I figured out how to neutralize them.

I then invaded 8 via 7. Again, a slugfest, which by now was getting boring.

I then sat around twiddling my thumbs waiting for enough technytes to fully upgrade everything (I suspect this is part of the reason my time sucked so badly).

Area 9 and 10 was truly boring. Pounding away at multi-million density creeper isn't fun. After opening every room I had to retreat into area 7 unto I could subdue the onrush of creeper.

And why on earth would you make the Conversion Bomb Tech cost 500??  That was just plain annoying. By now I had no more good feelings towards the map. Nor was I intending to get a fast score anymore, I just wanted to finish to see if there where any other tricks.

Area 11 I totally ignored, because killing the emitter in 13  would kill all the drones, gateways and emitters.

Area 12 was trivial, building 2 sets of 5 Conversion Bombs and setting off the nullifier on after the other. Another small annoyance was the lack of nullifiers.  There is a distinction (difference) between  a challenge and a waste of time. Being able to build only one nullifier and having to spend 500 units to obtain a tech is simply a waste of time.

With area 12 under control and the Dark Beam technology, the rest of the map was trivial - merely maneuvering Dark Mirrors and, once again, nullifying a bunch of emitters with only one nullifier being available.

So, in summary, brilliant first half, tedious second half. Time-wise I took maybe 40 minutes to reach room 8, and then >120 minutes for the rest of the map.

[spudwreck]

I really enjoyed the first half of this map if you cut off the top(11, 12, 13) it would easily make it into my most played maps.

[koker93]

I usually really enjoy a map that takes a while.  That said I also really hate it when a major contributer to that is lack of power and/or tech restrictions.  Your map would have been great - with enough room to build 70-80 pts in energy and no restrictions on its use.  All the restrictions do is take a map that could be a lot of fun and stretch the time to the point I am not willing to dedicate 2-3 hours of playtime to beating it.

[Bongo]

It started out so well but then became boring. My rule of thumb when making maps is that one should never have to spend more than 4 minutes (game time) MAXIMUM on any one section (irregardless of size), otherwise it turns people off. The artificial limits on things was a little annoying as well. It makes sense to limit shields, but everything else that was limited just made it take longer for no reason.

I only finished the map because I was watching a movie while playing (actually THREE movies)/

I would bet that if you allowed Tech Domes (limited or not) from the start, only limited shields, and toned down all the emitters so that each zone only takes 3 to 4 minutes it would be an awesome map. If you want to increase the challenge you could have faster drones, or fields that move the creeper in unexpected ways. There's no need for unit limits because the lack of building space limits energy, which limits everything else naturally.

[Laithaldien]

Oh my ... I knew what I was in for after reading the comments. The start really was as interesting as promised, clearing the chambers with Rift and Tech Center onwards it was ... a bit boring.
Never again - then I remembered what I did wrong, and here I am, playing again ...

Second round is not yet finished, but at the time of the third screenshot, in my first attempt I still had to clear the little chamber with the Maker and the bigger one with the Tech Center.

And almost 30mins faster. Now if only I knew what Mahdi did ...