Custom Map #2745: Arc Eternal Redemption - AC Bomb. By: Hubs

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This topic is for discussion of map #2745: Arc Eternal Redemption - AC Bomb


Author: Hubs
Size: 120x120

Desc:
Arc Eternal Redemption: AC Bomb (Part 7) Relive the campaign as the creeper! Reclaim the worlds cleansed by Abraxis and get redemption. The humans have developed an AC bomb. Overcome their defenses and purge this world. Control the creeper and destroy everything you see. #PlayAsCreeper #PACRedemption

[Loren Pechtel]

This one's got me stumped.  I have everything but the center and I have a lot of digitalis on the center but I can't crack it.

[stdout]

Pixel by pixel with some well timed spores.

I haven't beaten it yet but it looks like that's the strategy.

[Portelly]

The first part is great but the central island is painful.
Grinding the pixels is boring

Can't find a way to time the spore correctly

[J]

Found the solution:

Spoiler

Spores only works

Spoiler

Take out the beams one by one, make sure they don't have enough time to rebuild.

[close]

[close]

[Hubs]

Found the solution:

Spoiler

Spores only works

Spoiler

Take out the beams one by one, make sure they don't have enough time to rebuild.

[close]

[close]

That's exactly what I did.

Spoiler

Try starting with the beams in the SW area of the base. After you take out 1 beam, split the western and southern spore towers to target different beams. Use the NE spores to target a beam on the north edge of the base. It takes a bit, but you should be able to clear the entire base with some good timing and gradually taking out beams.

[close]

[ak]

Any advice for the top-right island? 

Spoiler

I assume it's better to go there before the islands with the PZ sprayers....?

[close]

[isj4]

Any advice for the top-right island? 

Spoiler

I assume it's better to go there before the islands with the PZ sprayers....?

[close]

I wasn't scared.
I took the islands in this order:

Spoiler

Starting NW island point (easy).
The larger island to the SE using field and supported emitters.
W border island using two spores (as soon as the guppy has been destroyed the weapons are starved)
Larger island to the SE using supported emitter and field. PZ sprayers were no match for that.
SW island (field).
S border island (field)
Then the three south island. I think the field was enough.
The E border island proved to be difficult due to the PZ mortar so I switched to the north island using a combination of supported emitters+field and a single well-aimed spore.
Then raw push toward the PZ cannon on the small E island. It took a while due to the conversion bombs.
Then the E border island was starved and I just marched over it.

[close]

[Loren Pechtel]

Found the solution:

Spoiler

Spores only works

Spoiler

Take out the beams one by one, make sure they don't have enough time to rebuild.

[close]

[close]

I don't see how this works.  "Make sure they don't have enough time to rebuild." makes no sense as they do have enough time.  If I put basically everything into spores I can suppress all beams on the west side and get hits (enough that I spread digitalis onto the almost all the west half) but that's not enough to get a victory.  He's got plenty of cannons that can clean up what gets through, the cannons have no problems keeping the live digitalis at bay.

Going with emitters I can push live digitalis into the areas I have claimed but no farther.

[ak]

Way too much of a grind for the final island.

[J]

Spoiler

With all beams functioning, you can get ~1 spore on the island, just enough to destroy one beam. In the next wave you can get ~3 spores to land because the rebuilt beam doesn't have energy yet. With those 3 spores you can destroy that beam again and destroy another beam. Split the spores evenly over the four beams on the west side and they should all be taken out after one or two waves. As more spores start to land you can do much more damage to other units as well, and the units on PZ's will eventually fail. You could also try to destroy all eastern beams first, but make sure the west part doesn't rebuild.

[close]

[isj4]

Way too much of a grind for the final island.

I agree on that. All the other islands were fun and occasionally tricky.
The final island was the opposite of fun.

Regarding the beam rebuild: The spore towers fire with intervals of 20 seconds. A beam is rebuilt in 12 seconds (and takes approximately 10 more to fully charge). So either the cost of beams should have been increased to ~35 or the spore tower interval lowered to 11 seconds. As it is now the beams have time to rebuild and that makes the final island too grindy for my taste.

[RrR]

I not had the chance to play this game yet (managed to fry my computer), but one trick that I use when enemy units are being rebuilt too quickly is to

Spoiler

lay down digitalis where the unit was, then convert one pixel back to creeper just before the unit has finished rebuilding. The almost finished unit is destroyed and has to start again. You can do this several times if you like micromanagement!

[close]

[J]

Regarding the beam rebuild: The spore towers fire with intervals of 20 seconds. A beam is rebuilt in 12 seconds (and takes approximately 10 more to fully charge). So either the cost of beams should have been increased to ~35 or the spore tower interval lowered to 11 seconds. As it is now the beams have time to rebuild and that makes the final island too grindy for my taste.

Add the time the creeper still remains on the ground and the time packets take to get to the beam (x2 if you include charging). Even with less ammo you're making progress, as beams can't recharge as fast as they're firing, allowing your to break through more easily. If you can land a bit more creeper the collectors/relays around the beams can also be destroyed, which costs another 3 seconds for abraxis. Don't expect to win it in two spore waves, you need to use everything you have multiple times, but it works.
To time the spore attack, just pause all spore towers ('r') and reactivate them one by one by setting a target.

Anyways Hubs, I love puzzles like this, makes you think before you do something, and I'm looking forward to part 8.

[Hubs]

I not had the chance to play this game yet (managed to fry my computer), but one trick that I use when enemy units are being rebuilt too quickly is to

Spoiler

lay down digitalis where the unit was, then convert one pixel back to creeper just before the unit has finished rebuilding. The almost finished unit is destroyed and has to start again. You can do this several times if you like micromanagement!

[close]

This is a great tip that I use all the time.

Spoiler

Especially helpful when you can land a spore on a key collector or relay that is the sole source of packets for the area you are trying to take out. This doesn't always work when AC quickly refills the area tho. Check the AC level in the terrain/creeper meter. Digitalis create 1 unit of creeper in the cell if you delete it, so there needs to be less than 1 unit of AC for this to work.

[close]

Way too much of a grind for the final island.

I agree on that. All the other islands were fun and occasionally tricky.
The final island was the opposite of fun.

Regarding the beam rebuild: The spore towers fire with intervals of 20 seconds. A beam is rebuilt in 12 seconds (and takes approximately 10 more to fully charge). So either the cost of beams should have been increased to ~35 or the spore tower interval lowered to 11 seconds. As it is now the beams have time to rebuild and that makes the final island too grindy for my taste.

Thanks for all the honest feedback. I messed up the "flow" of this map up and didn't make a consistent difficulty throughout. The last island became an unintended puzzle that I decided to keep because it was fun to figure out personally and was interesting to execute a solution. Definitely didn't mean to make a nuhages level of difficulty in a series that is meant for players of all skill levels to enjoy. Guess I'm a bit rusty making PAC maps  ;D.  I considered re-posting a revised version of the map, but will probably just leave this one as is.