High score / time challenge / speed run strategies

[Bovius]

I haven't seen a thread discussing time challenge strategies, and after examining the high score boards, it looks like there's still quite a bit of headroom, at least on some Conquest maps. I'm currently sitting at #2 for total Conquest scores, yet I top the list on only a couple of maps. I'm hoping a few of the other big hitters on the leaderboard visit the forum and contribute a few of their strategies.

Some of this advice may be good for people struggling to complete a map to begin with, but in general this is geared toward lopping off as many seconds as possible, associated risks included.

The setup:

When tackling a new map for the purposes of a time challenge, start a new game and do nothing for the first couple of minutes. There are several things you want to look out for:

• Watch where the creeper grows, and take note of how long it takes for lakes to fill and barriers to overflow. Often there will be an easy approach to an emitter that isn't obvious in the first few seconds of the game.
• Check where the totems are in relation to each other, the emitters, and the surrounding terrain. On many maps, you will only need to fight for one of the totems if you finish in the first few minutes, and on a couple you won't need to build weapons at all. Decide where to put Odin City, and if it would be worthwhile to plan any additional movements once the game starts in earnest.
• Evaluate each emitter. Which ones will be easy to cap? Which ones can you safely ignore? Which ones will need suppressing fire for the final push? In general, capping an emitters that are behind totems takes more time than edging just close enough to link up that final totem.
• If your previous runs aren't very close to the top score for this map, take a glance at the leaderboard and see what the top score is. You can learn a lot about what that person had to do, and what they didn't have to worry about, by letting the map run empty for that amount of time. Keep in mind how long the push to the final totem will take; for most maps, I expect the last 100-200 points to be dedicated to the final push and building collector chain.

Gameplay progression:

For maps that don't have a more elegant solution (little to no weapons used), my game usually has three distinct phases.

• Phase 1: Energy income. Build collectors toward totems and other key points, usually no more than necessary to reach the destination. Don't link up to totems yet unless it's obviously advantageous to do so early on; you won't have much energy to spare at this point. If you don't have to go too far out of your way for upgrades, pick some up, giving preference to the 10% energy  and the 20% build speed upgrades.
• Phase 2: Manufacturing. Usually, once your energy income gets past 2, you can start making weapons. Start with a drone base if the map warrants it, otherwise start building blasters. Continue building collectors or relays to get you as close to your totems as possible. If some low cost weapon usage will get you an advantageous early position for the final stage, do it. Otherwise, try not to consume any energy by firing weapons. Link up to any accessible totems during this phase. You may wish to relocate your city or build a packet speeder or two, depending on how far away the remaining totems are.
• Phase 3: The push. Send out drone(s) and blasters to cap key emitters, clear the path to the final totems, and build a collector network to link them up. You should be done building structures other than your final link up path. This is where the risky business comes in; sometimes, the quickest solution is defenses that will hold just long enough to power the last totem up, rather than something sustainable. Also, since blasters aren't usually used as part of the network backbone because they need to be moved so often, it's easy to forget that they can be used as part of the chain as long as you alternate with collectors. Doing so as part of your final link up can save a lot of time.

Energy usage:

For most maps, going for a high score means working with a small energy income, often no higher than 2 or 3 units. This has a few implications.

• Balancing energy usage is the most prominent element of a time challenge game. Starvation is a high score killer, and usually, so is a full energy reserve. Keeping your output running at full capacity without emptying your reserve is a near constant balancing act, but it's what makes a score worthy of the leaderboard. It'll make you do things like destroying a drone base after the final bombing run so you don't have to pay for reloading in the final seconds of the game.
• I generally choose to use drones instead of mortars. Counterarguments are welcome, but according to virgil the energy use per bomb in drones is notably less than in mortars. That's not the only reason to use them, however. A send-and-forget weapon is useful in the last stages of a game, when you've got plenty of other things to manage. Drones don't consume a steady stream of energy while they're on bombing runs, which is usually the time when you need as much available energy as you can get. I've found this empty-then-recharge cycle is easier to work into my energy management. Finally, sustained suppressing fire on a specific location is often more desirable in the final push than a mortar that could fire at alternate, less important nearby targets.
• I usually build blasters away from front lines and then air drop them in place when they're needed. Unless a blaster is holding a critical chokepoint, capping an emitter, or barely keeping the creeper from washing over your structures, firing one is wasted energy until the final push.

Specific tactics:

Paratroopers. Probably my favorite. Build a handful of blasters, usually 3-5 depending on the situation, and deploy them all at once right around an emitter. If the emitter's in deep creeper you may want to nuke the area just beforehand with a drone. Several blasters firing at once can clear a suprising area of creeper and cap an emitter. If performed correctly, the blasters will have enough ammo to keep the emitter capped long enough to link up with collectors and reload (or to finish the map). Positioning the blasters is important; you don't want them to be firing on nearby creeper replenished by other emitters if at all possible. Emitters on hilltops tend to lend themselves well to this. It is also for this reason that I never choose the range upgrade.

Often I'll try to cap more than one emitter simultaneously in this manner for the final push, deploying as many as 15 blasters with accompanying drone fire. 15 May seem like overkill and too much for a speed run, but paying for 15 blasters that only need to be loaded once takes less energy than 3 blasters that are constantly firing for a few minutes. Hmm...I should run a breakeven analysis on this and see how long a blaster has to fire to consume the energy equivalent to building and loading another blaster.

Final advice: Sometimes there's a less obvious path to a totem that ends up being easier. It may take you through more creeper, but you may be able to get rid of that creeper with a well-placed drone bombing or by capping an emitter with paratroopers.

That's all I've got for now. Please feel free to contribute strategies that work well for you.

[knucracker]

Excellent post... I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Aurzel]

this earns the Aurz seal of approval d(^.^)b

[Dranar]

Right now i'm currently creating the slow process of making a Wiki page for each planet, adding the stuff that's in it, and 2 strategies, 1 normal and 1 step by step. If someone could help me i'd be heaps grateful.

[Aurzel]

step by step isnt really necessary except for the ones people have big problems with, lets just work on getting a general one up along with a screenie for each i think

[Dranar]

Ok, i'll just do the normal strategies for now.

[RG]

I also tend to use drones quite a bit, one tactic I've been working on prefecting is to send out 3 or 4 drones one after the other with short delays so that I get a period of constant bombing to support mass invasion tactics.

[Kamron3]

My only strategy right now is:

Win the Game

and what you have just done:

Lost The Game

[Young]

Sticky this. The information in here is very useful.

[Dranar]

I have a strategy:

(If you can) Build reactors until you get atleast 9 or 10 energy collection.
(If you can) Build as many drones as there are emitters, and set them on each one.
Build about 5 or 6 blasters and move them right where the emitter is. It should cap it off for a long time, but they'll die if you dont connect them to Odin City quick enough.

[Aurzel]

it's not very energy efficient and would take a long time to set up wouldnt it?

[Capn Trey]

Great advice!

I guess I didn't invent the paratrooper attack... drat!