Weekly 5-Map Tournament - Constellations - Closing 21 July, 2013

[deety42]

Well, I'm running out of themes, so I just went through a list of constellation names looking for some decent maps.  Enjoy!

A few useful links:
All Tournaments (wiki)
Code Map Scoreboard
Tournament Score Tool

Theme:
Constellations



   
   
   
   
   
   

Map Name:	Size:	Complexity:
Boötes	Medium	Medium
Caelum	Medium	High
Cassiopeia	Large	High
Centaurus	Small	Low
Pisces	Large	Medium

[dlbushman]

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	Boötes	Caelum	Cassiopeia	Centaurus	Pisces	Total Score	Total Time
1	asmussen	12040	11205	11994	11684	11935	58858	35:04
2	dt42	11900	11120	11951	11631	11756	58358	38:56
3	Martin	11686	10662	11604	11545	11983	57480	45:53
4	Marley	11082	10454	11358	11558	10919	55371	64:33
5	DougB	11393	9982	11137	11408	11104	55024	66:45
6	inept_celt	11283	9576	10399	11540	10816	53614	80:31
7	dhc	9832	8157	9623	10877	9040	47529	157:41
8	MizInIA	11218	9790	10415	11055		42478
9	Overbyte	9288	8233	9928	10842		38291
10	Atomicfrog		11353	12370		11973	35696
11	ctuna		11114	12052	11671		34837
12	J	11881			11570		23451
13	dssdba	9418			9947		19365
14	ea3401				11927		11927
15	c'est moi	11433					11433
16	sept1973	11201					11201
17	Boötes	11044					11044

Scores recorded at 2013-07-21 08:14:33 forum time.

[dlbushman]

So many zero gravity and all build direction maps this week.  I wasted probably 20 minutes (mostly paused) on one map trying to build the 'optimal' reactor pattern from here:
http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=6149.15 (page 2)
http://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?topic=7162.0

Also, when there are strong emitters and experimentals, I get lazy and just shoot the dark beam at the emitter to destroy it  :-\

[deety42]

Wow!  Good for you.  If there is plenty of terrain to build in, I generally get lazy and just dig paths 2 wide to fill with reactors.  If there's not much terrain, then I try to get more efficient t shapes...

I've been trying to practice with experimental techniques which is why I put those maps in.  I don't have the patience for some of the turn the beam/reflectors on and off techniques, but I like trying to figure out a good path that clears spaces for nullifiers quickly and using conversion bombs as well.

[asmussen]

I usually only try to approach the optimal build pattern when there is limitted space available. If you have enough space that it isn't going to be a problem, then the main thing is to select a build pattern that allows you to build a reactor in nearly every space that you excavate, so that you aren't wasting energy digging out more spaces than you need to hold the reactors you are building. There is probably also a small mathematical advantage to building in the optimal pattern because it means that your reactors on average can be closer to the LS, minimizing packet travel time during the excavation and building, but I'm not sure that it's that large of an advantage. I usually don't go quite that far when optimizing. I find that the levels of optimizing that it takes to get the really high end scores takes a lot of the fun out of most of the maps. That's just me, of course. Some people love that level of optimizing.

[ea3401]

... I don't have the patience for some of the turn the beam/reflectors on and off techniques ...

You do not need much patience, when you are using the keyboard shortcuts. See attached test-map.
Pause with 'p', when beam is running and then
klick on 2nd  mirror, press 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n' and klick again,
klick on next mirror, press 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n' and klick again,
klick on next mirror, press 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n', 'q', 'n' and klick again,
and so on
...
(sometimes the last 'n' isn't necessary)

[Kithros]

If you want to know of something *really* tedious to get higher scores on maps consider this:

You can have shields last twice as long by deactivating them every other frame. Creeper only moves every 2 frames (well, strictly speaking half of the map moves on each frame, so if the shield is in the middle of the map this might not work), but shields take damage every frame. This means that if you deactivate shields on the frame creeper isn't moving, it won't take damage and won't die.

EDIT: Also worth noting that a similar idea can be used with repulsors to cut their energy cost in half. In a very awkward edge case it's even possible to have a repulsor point both up and down at the same time and push the creeper back on both sides, if it happens to be in the middle of the map.

[asmussen]

If you want to know of something *really* tedious to get higher scores on maps consider this:

You can have shields last twice as long by deactivating them every other frame. Creeper only moves every 2 frames (well, strictly speaking half of the map moves on each frame, so if the shield is in the middle of the map this might not work), but shields take damage every frame. This means that if you deactivate shields on the frame creeper isn't moving, it won't take damage and won't die.

EDIT: Also worth noting that a similar idea can be used with repulsors to cut their energy cost in half. In a very awkward edge case it's even possible to have a repulsor point both up and down at the same time and push the creeper back on both sides, if it happens to be in the middle of the map.

Oh, now that's just evil... :)

[asmussen]

I replayed 3 of the maps to get better scores, and on each one of them my 2nd time ended up landing exactly on an even minute with no seconds, completely by accident! That's a 1 in 216,000 shot right there. Weird... :)

[Marley]

If you want to know of something *really* tedious to get higher scores on maps consider this:

You can have shields last twice as long by deactivating them every other frame. Creeper only moves every 2 frames (well, strictly speaking half of the map moves on each frame, so if the shield is in the middle of the map this might not work), but shields take damage every frame. This means that if you deactivate shields on the frame creeper isn't moving, it won't take damage and won't die.

EDIT: Also worth noting that a similar idea can be used with repulsors to cut their energy cost in half. In a very awkward edge case it's even possible to have a repulsor point both up and down at the same time and push the creeper back on both sides, if it happens to be in the middle of the map.

Ok, I knew I was an amateur, but I really had no idea just how far I had to go.

Or don't have to go.  Is it still fun when you do that kind of stuff?

[Kithros]

If you want to know of something *really* tedious to get higher scores on maps consider this:

You can have shields last twice as long by deactivating them every other frame. Creeper only moves every 2 frames (well, strictly speaking half of the map moves on each frame, so if the shield is in the middle of the map this might not work), but shields take damage every frame. This means that if you deactivate shields on the frame creeper isn't moving, it won't take damage and won't die.

EDIT: Also worth noting that a similar idea can be used with repulsors to cut their energy cost in half. In a very awkward edge case it's even possible to have a repulsor point both up and down at the same time and push the creeper back on both sides, if it happens to be in the middle of the map.

Ok, I knew I was an amateur, but I really had no idea just how far I had to go.

Or don't have to go.  Is it still fun when you do that kind of stuff?

I've actually never used either of those strategies - I rarely use the frame by frame playing, but it is possible to improve on times with strategies like these. Most of my times have a lot of room for improvement despite how far ahead they are of most peoples. I do however have a pretty good idea of what's *possible* to do in the game still, even if I don't necessarily use it.

[asmussen]

Final standings:

Results Per Player


   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rank	Name	Boötes	Caelum	Cassiopeia	Centaurus	Pisces	Total Score	Total Time
1	asmussen	12040	11205	11994	11684	11935	58858	35:04
2	dt42	11900	11120	11951	11631	11756	58358	38:56
3	Martin	11686	10662	11604	11545	11983	57480	45:53
4	Marley	11247	10454	11358	11558	10919	55536	63:06
5	DougB	11393	9982	11137	11408	11104	55024	66:45
6	inept_celt	11283	9576	10399	11540	10816	53614	80:31
7	dhc	9832	8157	9623	10877	9040	47529	157:41
8	ctuna		11211	12052	11671	11765	46699
9	MizInIA	11218	9790	10415	11055		42478
10	Overbyte	9288	8233	9928	10842		38291
11	Atomicfrog		11353	12370		11973	35696
12	J	11881			11570		23451
13	sept1973	11201			11304		22505
14	dssdba	9418			9947		19365
15	ea3401				11927		11927
16	c'est moi	11433					11433
17	Boötes	11044					11044

Scores recorded at 2013-07-22 00:03:06 forum time.