Custom Map #3801: Tentacle Takeover. By: planetfall

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This topic is for discussion of map #3801: Tentacle Takeover


Author: planetfall
Size: 181x141

Desc:
A familiar battlefield with an alien adversary. Can you defeat the ever-expanding web? #NoDigitalis #NoSpores #NoRunners #CRPL #CustomEnemy

[Loren Pechtel]

Those tentacle things take a lot of killing!

[stdout]

I hardly know what to say except wow! 10/10.

[ea3401]

10/10  :)

[Krossi]

Same here, WOW!!!! 10/10 ;D ;D ;D
TY For the great map!!!

[D0m0nik]

Yep, again WOW and 10/10, Planetfall does not make maps often but they are of the absolute highest quality, flawless.

Looking forward to a replay tomorrow, would like to try and challenge Coca's impressive time of 31 mins  ;)

[chwooly]

That was a solid 11, Great map, I just hate that no matter how much aether I use I can't get N's to fill faster. Oh well. Either way great map. Thanks for making it.

[GoodMorning]

It just keeps getting better.

For anyone who has difficulty:
Safe:

Spoiler

Your starting area is fairly safe, as long as you install Mortars and a Sprayer (always on). You can then Nullify anything that appears on the wall.
Once you feel ready, push outward. Keep hitting the central node, and each hit will destroy something attached. You should be able to gradually chip away at the network. The network can be destroyed for that PZ you wanted only when there is exactly one Emitter left in the network. If it has a brain, hit it twice in quick succession to kill it.

AC (to hold off new spawns) is a must, as is build speed (for the Nullifiers).

[close]

Quick(er):

Spoiler

Encircle the network you wish to destroy, otherwise you can end up with a fistful on the other side of the central node, and a hit to the middle will only kill one of them. Much faster to flank it and hit all of them. The more you hit, the less there are which can spawn more, and so on...

[close]

I doubt there will be much need for those spoilers, but just in case...

[planetfall]

Spoiler

The network can be destroyed for that PZ you wanted only when there is exactly one Emitter left in the network.

[close]

Call me a pedant, but this is not technically true. You just need to nullify the entire network in one go (granted, this does usually mean one emitter.) With shields, high ground, and a bit of luck with the emitters' spawning pattern, it's possible to take out the entirety of one of those 8-child networks with a single nullifier.

Glad to see people enjoyed this one - but it was mostly a throwaway proof of concept, hence the plagiarized terrain :P I'll take this as confirmation that I can put this enemy in other maps, then.

The brainy emitters are a bit unfortunate in that you can entirely cheese their "panic mode." What's SUPPOSED to happen is they produce a giant creeper wave, acitvate a repulsion field, and emit faster. What I bet happens is each player encounters this exactly once and then figures out it can be bypassed by timing the nullifiers a few frames apart. To be fair, the non-center brain emitters have such a short timer that this is borderline mandatory for them. What I may do for future maps is increase the panic timer but make the the emitter invulnerable for the first 10 seconds of it.

[GoodMorning]

Pedantry override: The CRPL sacrifices all other Emitters first, so at the point where the root dies, there is exactly one left.

Regarding brains, what happened for me was that the non-roots died as normal. The roots need a bigger multiplier and repulsion field if you intend that they will be harder than that. What happened the first time for me was:

Spoiler

Fry rest of network.
Hit root. Oh, it turns red and lives.
Existing units take care of the extra Creeper without noticing much difference.
Start new Nullifier.
Darn, it's back to normal before the Nullifier is finished. Disarm. Build extra.
Rearm a few frames apart. (Try two at the same frame later, be puzzled that it doesn't work.)

On a later brainy root, notice that there is a crescent opening in my AC, though a Sprayer keeps the root flooded. Infer weak field.

[close]

I would increase the timer, and change graphics twice, perhaps making the pulsing effect stop for the duration of invulnerability.

The biggest thing I noticed on this map was that the major strategic change was the AC supply going out of debt.

I'm not sure if the best strategy is to Terp everything eight ways to Odin, or to take the outside first. Certainly the standard "minimum surface area" approach was not the fastest.

If I may, I'll steal borrow some elements and upgrade the Breeding Emitter script I started out with.

[Laithaldien]

Love the idea, hate the execution.

Turned into a lagfest pretty fast, with the central brain constantly adding new emitters. Please consider adding an upper limit as with the outer brains.

[coca]

Awsame map! One of the best maps i ever played!!
But now i have to replay it and try to beat D0m0nik again ;D

[planetfall]

Love the idea, hate the execution.

Turned into a lagfest pretty fast, with the central brain constantly adding new emitters. Please consider adding an upper limit as with the outer brains.

What game version are you using? It's possible you're on an ancient version and the map uses CRPL commands that have been added since then. While the center emitter technically has a ridiculous limit of 3^999, it is in practice limited by forcing new emitters to be a certain distance apart. That's what happens for me on 2.12, and what is decidedly not happening for you.

[Rhadamante]

Love the idea, hate the execution.

Turned into a lagfest pretty fast, with the central brain constantly adding new emitters. Please consider adding an upper limit as with the outer brains.

What game version are you using? It's possible you're on an ancient version and the map uses CRPL commands that have been added since then. While the center emitter technically has a ridiculous limit of 3^999, it is in practice limited by forcing new emitters to be a certain distance apart. That's what happens for me on 2.12, and what is decidedly not happening for you.

Can confirm the map does work as intended : after a while, the tentacle reach the map borders and almost never grow a new emitter. I'll shamefully admit I didn't finish the map though (I'm not very good and it would have taken too much time given my play style) but it's still a 10/10 without a doubt.

[GoodMorning]

At a guess, a list copy error for Ancestors/Descendants?