Custom Map #2358: Fortress. By: Kizzycocoa

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This topic is for discussion of map #2358: Fortress


Author: Kizzycocoa
Size: 255x255

Desc:
A small fortress map. it's a fair challenge! I made this map as I like turtling, and wanted a nice map to just turtle for a while. It's fairly challenging, with most tech lying on the field, rather than having it right away.

[Tero]

Great map!  I like a nice time sink too.  I didn't understand the second spore tower in each corner.  The spore count was way to high and I think the build time is something like 25 hours??  I wouldn't want to spend that much time on a map.  Tech placement was balanced.  But providing the player with one Bertha and a handful of Strafers would have added depth without diminishing game play.  Or having the Bertha/Strafer tech trade places with the Sniper or Forge would be very interesting. 

[darzog]

In starting the map, I'm curious.

Spoiler

Is there any way to get the bertha (or any one in the corner) tech right at the beginning?  I've tried relays all the way down and I just can't reach the last one before the space it needs to be in gets overrun.  I've also tried collectors, but they are way slower, or moving the CN, but it is also slower.  I also tried building one collector first then the line of relays, but still the packets have left the CN but aren't quite there in time to build the relay.

[close]

[warren]

In starting the map, I'm curious. \[spoiler\]

You can warp the CN into position from orbit. However, in order to do this with your only CN, you mus really love berthas.

[Jerdog]

The bertha corner is key.  Once you get the bertha and its corner you can mow down the creeper that remains to pick up the other stuff.  With limited berthas that would have taken much much longer.

IF the CN had started in orbit I may have tried placing it near the berths for a quick pick-up.  But you'd still have to defend it while building out to the other sides.  Not enough early energy for that.

While the extra spore tower didn't serve much purpose it was in just the right spot for a PZ nullifier.  ;)

[RealAndy]

I like how after getting a corner and knocking everything out, you still have to clear the rest of the creeper to get the rest of the tech, and given how much there is, it is a bit of fun.

[PMouser]

i cant get the bertha since i cant land by it. so how to do it? ty

[warren]

You can land by it, you just need to put it back into orbit and wait thirty seconds. But that is the harder strategy, as it takes about a minute of economy building time away.

The way it is supposed to be played, build a strong economy in the centre then build a ring of mortars and blasters when the creeper gets close, then very slowly fight towards the corners.

[darzog]

Yeah, I couldn't get the bertha right from the start, and you sacrifice too much trying to work around just getting the bertha.  The better starting move is to just focus on your base in the middle; you can easily make it strong enough to withstand the creeper.

Also while building your base:

Spoiler

While building your base, you can send relays out to collect the techs directly right/left/up/down from your base before the creeper gets there.  Personally I just got the forge and sniper, but you can get the others if you want.  Terp would have been helpful at the end but not necessary.  Forget about the corner techs for now.

[close]

For your defense:

Spoiler

Station two blasters focused on digitalis at each cardinal direction to keep the digitalis out of your base.  If you have snipers, you can also post one at each direction.  Position 2-3 mortars along each face of your base.  Add a few beams in each corner to handle spores.  Fill the rest of your base with a forge and reactors.  That, as you're buying forge upgrades, should be enough to hold your base while you advance.

[close]

To advance:

Spoiler

Pick one corner to take.  I chose the lower right since berthas will be the most help for clearing out the map to collect all of the tech.  I advanced straight to the right, using the walls to cut a path through the creeper.  Once I had secured all the way to the right edge of the map, I worked my way down.  You can collect the bertha tech before breaching the corner fully, so grab it and build a few.  They fit inside the walls along the east side, so I put them there to be protected.  I left enough mortars and blasters to hold the lower right corner, then pushed up to the upper right corner to grab the shield tech.  Since I hadn't gotten the Terp tech, reaching the inhibitor was proving problematic, but combining shields with blasters and mortars got me through.

Know that getting to the inhibitor is hard, even with maxed forge upgrades, without a Terp, so don't make my mistake.  :)  Good luck.

[close]

[Loren Pechtel]

Problems:

1)  The inhibitor in the NW only emits 100 rather than the 1000 of the other emitters.  This base is easy to crack.

2)  The second set of spore towers won't come online for more than a day.

My approach:

Build collectors to the 4 side techs.  Build a grid of collectors out to the ore and square it up.  I was able to hold this line against the creeper.  Two lines of blasters, then two more, then play leapfrog with them.  Once I reached the walls I put blasters on them and worked them towards the corners.

As the NW corner was weaker that's where I got first.  It also yielded strafer tech.  From the wall I could nullify the runner nest, from the runner nest I could nullify the anti-air (and the spore towers but they didn't matter).  Now the strafers could come in, they kept the PZ from the anti-air clear, that nullified the remaining emitters.  The puny inhibitor didn't have a chance at that point.  I didn't even collect the rest of the tech until the inhibitor blew and took out the other anti-air so my strafers could clear the way.

[Karsten75]

For the life of me I can't recall the tactic that got me my time on this map. Tried it yesterday and my "new" time was nearly double my best time.

[Haineko]

I wish I'd known I only had to kill one of the inhibitors. xD