Custom Map #1733: Super Tower 3 PAC. By: J

AutoPost · February 13, 2015, 02:36:50 PM

This topic is for discussion of map #1733: Super Tower 3 PAC

Author: J
Size: 96x63

Desc:
Another old script recycled in a #PAC map! #Jmaps #PlayAsCreeper #SuperTower

stdout · February 13, 2015, 07:31:41 PM

96 downloads and 5 scores submitted. There must be some key to victory that we're missing here. Spoilers?

teknotiss · February 13, 2015, 08:48:34 PM

Quote from: stdout on February 13, 2015, 07:31:41 PM
96 downloads and 5 scores submitted. There must be some key to victory that we're missing here. Spoilers?

me too please! i have tried pushing for all three nearest pz's, no joy, i end up swamped in AC. :o
what are we missing? 8)

Ratboy · February 13, 2015, 09:06:36 PM

2 problems
1 - game locks up if I try to load a save on this map.
2 - I've covered the entire map in creep and didn't win.

metalsiagon · February 13, 2015, 09:18:35 PM

There's 6 scores up now, so its definitely possible. I'm at a Nuhages map level of frustration here :D

Linden · February 14, 2015, 03:40:32 AM

Well phew - if the experts are stumped, then I don't feel so bad about being so. :D

J · February 14, 2015, 05:50:00 AM

The first PZ you can take is the reactor guarded by two cannons, make sure you have the totem first.
With the top right base disconnected from its main energy source, you can starve it.
With only the starting emitter and one totem, you can destroy the PZ beam, but you cannot cover it in digi.
The super tower gains strenght exponentially (+10% per core returned), so it sorta acts as a time limit. The moving spore towers are the easiest to destroy, but you can't just do that by sending a single spore at them. You need half of a side covered in 1+ creeper.
If you don't get a victory, wait until the towers on the sides pop up and destroy them, once you've destroyed them you should get victory very soon.
As for the saves, I didn't test saving and loading, sorry for that.

RrR · February 14, 2015, 06:02:57 AM

This map is as hard as the original super tower map, which is to say near impossible. It took me multiple attempts to get it right. With most PAC maps, slow and steady is a viable tactic, not with this map as the amount of AC produced soon begins to overwhelm.

There was about a minute wait between all structures being destroyed, with the map knee-deep in creeper and entirely covered by digitalis, as the victory conditions being met.

(Also found a bug with the PAC code - if you accidentally target a spore tower at itself, you cannot untarget it. Not a problem when you have more than one, as you can use select all, but when you only have one ... game restarted

Spoiler

spore towers are probably useless in this map as it is difficult to keep the PZ beam knocked out for long enough to get much damage done.

[close]

)

Some hints?

Spoiler

With some luck and judgement, it is possible to take the PZ north west of the starting emitter. No other emitters are possible to reach (the PZ beam is possible to destroy but seems to be just out of reach to plaster with digitalis). Then persuade one of the CN that it would be happier in orbit - one is close to energy deficit - the networks are independent so knocking one out knocks out a lot of the defence.

[close]

teknotiss · February 14, 2015, 08:03:23 AM

took the north west PZ, wowzer that was some micro control of the field pushing! ::)
this is totally doable now, but it's going to take a bunch of rage quits and reloads i think! :o
a little too random i think, but it could be because i have no idea what the moving CRPL units are actually doing. are we able to destroy/use them if we get creeper on them? the text hint isn't too clear, but i don't think i played the original so i dunno if it was explained before.
still entertaining, if frustrating! 8)

stdout · February 14, 2015, 08:19:53 AM

Quote from: RrR on February 14, 2015, 06:02:57 AM(Also found a bug with the PAC code - if you accidentally target a spore tower at itself, you cannot untarget it. Not a problem when you have more than one, as you can use select all, but when you only have one ... game restarted

There is a way. Use the multi-select method. Click and draw a box around the spore tower and it will select the lone tower. Then you can click elsewhere to move the target.

stdout · February 14, 2015, 08:39:47 AM

The game just "stopped" - at 8:32 mission time everything stops moving except the blasters continue to act like they are shooting (but no shots are fired). The timer continues moving and I can select my towers and change their status but nothing happens.

Linden · February 14, 2015, 08:57:25 AM

Quote from: stdout on February 14, 2015, 08:39:47 AM
The game just "stopped" - at 8:32 mission time everything stops moving except the blasters continue to act like they are shooting (but no shots are fired). The timer continues moving and I can select my towers and change their status but nothing happens.

I got that, too. I thought it was my PC, to be honest. Very odd.

J · February 14, 2015, 09:07:02 AM

The PAC scripts work normally and the ST scripts never had any trouble before (they're attached to a seperate core), the only things I changed were some variables, an extra victory condition and I added some lines to the ST scripts so that they don't continue while paused. I don't know why the game stopped but I think it's the best to simply not use the ST scripts anymore in PAC maps :P

Hubs · February 14, 2015, 09:08:50 AM

Something is off with this map. Any time I reloaded a save that was after about 3 minutes game time it would either have randomly placed piles of -10 AC, or if later in the game it would freeze. Not sure it that's part of the challenge, but it was really annoying.

As for the map, it was extremely difficult and frustration until I figured out how to take out the NW base. After that it's a piece of cake.

J · February 14, 2015, 09:33:22 AM

The ST does add 100 piles of 10 AC to the map if you manage to decrease it's energy level below a cetain level, so if you're seeing multiple piles of 10 AC before you killed a single core, something went wrong. ~~It can only happen once so it shouldn't happen again if save and load again.~~ The only reason I can think of now is that the :Awake function broke the do-loop (which has a Delay command in it), making the ST check for the current power before the towers are returned.
The ST loops through 6 items (energy used -> returned):
1 - spores - the spore towers moving along the sides create 3 AC spores each (10->11)
2 - creeperkillers - fast moving emitters remove creeper and AC from the sides (e/10->e/10)
3 - emitters - some AC emitters emitting AC (e/16->e/16+1)
4 - multiplier - multiplies the creeper underneath it with 1.1 (14->15)
5 - AC piles - Some piles of 5 AC, you probably won't notice this, but it does add 10 frames delay to the script for every pile added. One pile for every 10 energy (0->0)
6 - multiplier - collects creeper and AC, and releases 1.5 times as much at the end of the run (18->20)