Custom Map #215: Volcanus-3. By: First

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This topic is for discussion of map #215: Volcanus-3


Author: First
Size: 162x121

Desc:
This planetoid, third in from Vulcanus, has significant vulcanic activity, plus a odd variant of the spore tower....

[Jamz]

I'm thinking of that "Y U NO MAKE TOTEMS" image right now.
Annoyingly, although there are totems in this map they are placed right towards the western side of the map. This means you can only begin to make upgrades once you've gained control of the map and pretty much almost finished it. :/
And not just the totems but the ore deposits too are all towards the west.
And also, Berthas cost a whopping 2500 packets.

It seems that the intention behind this map was to force players into one of those very loooooong, weary drawn out battles which aren't fun to play. I dont mind long battles in which there are loads of things to do, but this map isn't one of those. It's just a slow slow process of pushing creeper back.

There should've been at least 1 totem on the east side of the map to at least allow a slow progression of upgrades which wouldn't have been a game breaker but would've help speed things up a bit. And 1 or 2 ore deposits towards that side would again help a bit.

It's a shame because I think you came up with something really clever but I've just decided to stop now. Maybe I'll continue it some time later. Was hoping to give this a 10 rating but I think I'm just going to refrain from voting on this map.
Hope you do make some more interesting maps but also take into consideration what I've said.

[Karsten75]

The thing I found most disconcerting - and that I don't know if it was a bug or intentional design - was the spores that appeared out of nowhere over my territory and flew out to the CPRL towers.

Spoiler

To beat this map I had to restart (after a near-rage quit). In my second attempt, I basically for a few minutes ignored everything but getting a lot of energy. Then mortars to beat the Creeper off the highest ground. Then beams to start limiting the number of spores. Then starting to build a number of Berthas. Then a sloggy expansion with way too much terraforming for any reasonable score/time.

Getting the upper center CRPLP tower enabled me to put a beam there and basically quell all spores in that area.

[close]

As for the horrendous cost of building Bertha's, I'm reminded of an old story when Napoleon was still emperor. He wanted tree-lined roads for his soldiers to march along. His advisors told him that it would take 50 years for the trees to mature. His response? Why are you delaying? I started a few Bertha's early on, and more as energy would permit.

[First]

Cool, good feedback so far. Thanks for taking time to chime in. Keep the comments coming, I'll be noting them for my next map project.

I'm mainly cutting my teeth on CRPL in this map, so the terrain, totems and ore depos are just a vanilla DMD design. Good suggestions on their placements - noted for next time!

The "spore beacons" are working as intended. Actually, the CRPL for those towers is very simple, only 3 lines of executable code. The spores are at max payload, but the interval is settable (currently 30 seconds) so they get insanely difficult at shorter intervals, eg. 5 seconds. Mwuhahahahaaa!

The "volcanos" are a bit of a CRPL hack, being a relatively inefficient algorithm for building the cones. *code shame*. I'll put the cone-building code over in the coders corner for a peek.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

- First

ps. For the Berthas - I disabled them at first, then settled on a high build cost as I was worried they would be OP on this map. Would love to hear more player thoughts on Berthas  :)

[Helper]

ps. For the Berthas - I disabled them at first, then settled on a high build cost as I was worried they would be OP on this map. Would love to hear more player thoughts on Berthas  :)

Bertha's rock!

As for Totem placement and Bertha cost - I always wonder at the rationale behind these kinds of decisions. Making players hole up and build massive energy & offense is not in the best interests of having fun. Having to pause and build up for a couple of minutes is not big deal, but having to hold in place for 20-30 (game) minutes before you can start the attack is not moving the fun meter much.

Thank you for the time and effort you put into creating this. I'll look forward to your future games.

[asmussen]

Some of the terrain features, like totems could have been in a more optimal position, but overall I thought this was a pretty decent and creative map. I found the fact that there are no structures anywhere on the map directly emitting creeper interesting, and it makes you approach the problem from a different angle than you normally would.

[Helper]

Finished it and had some fun.
Those Totems just out of reach were a fight worth making.
After playing, I would suggest that there is a much better (faster) option than those very expensive Bertha's.
H

[First]

After playing, I would suggest that there is a much better (faster) option than those very expensive Bertha's.

Hehe, don't give it away!

[Foxcave]

Finished it without the Bertha's 8)

I like the map, because i do love big fights energy building and just pushing against creeper :)

For a first map, i wish i could build it!

[Asbestos]

The "spore beacons" were attracting a ridiculous amount of creeper in those spores. I couldn't even get close enough to them to cap them with a Beam.

[Loren Pechtel]

I was putting Berthas on every PZ I took but they didn't actually do much for me.

Using beams to keep the spores off your target works, for the spore towers you can also build a pillar for the nullifier.


The one thing I didn't like here is the self-repairing volcanoes.  You have to cut a notch into them for the nullifier, it took half a dozen tries on the last one before I got the nullifier in place.

I will second the near uselessness of the totems.