Custom Map #444: The Ultimate Ship Factory. By: JoaoPistori

[D0m0nik]

Just completed it and rather than jubilant I am exhausted!

A quite unique gaming experience, took a lot of concentration and patience but loved it all the way through. A detailed walk through is impossible as it would include about 50 save/reload/try again instructions!!!

My basic strategy in the end was:

Spoiler

Take bottom two mines, build two omni right and one left island, destroy HQ and use one amp gem for defensive structure. Allow omnis to take amp gems then move to bottom corners to collect lathe units. I then just slowly built up a fleet here but did not push out at all for 5 mins. Meanwhile...

When CN is ready to respawn landed just to the right of the centre of the middle tier and took the mine and then the ship spawner (just to the right of centre) before moving in to take the Mini Thor tech. As soon as the mine was taken I built an omni on the extreme bottom right of its range and landed it on the middle right island to take out the gun and collect the tech In retrospect may have been better to go left as you can take out a flip emitter).

The second the Mini Thor was collected I headed North as quick as possible and took out the whole lower line of spwaners and ship builders causing havoc with my HQ before heading for a corner and slowly working my way in for the next 10 mins.

Down below slowly pushed out into bottom corners and then up one side and then secured whole of the bottom. Thor came online at about 15 mins and it got easier. Kept all units together as much as possible, strength is in numbers in this level.

Very handy trick – you can trick the big guns on the top line with your HQ. Approach a gun at an angle of about 45 degrees. Just before you are in range place your ship as horizontal to the gun as possible. Rather than shoot at your HQ the gun will aim where it thinks you are going. Pause and quickly place your ship at 90 degrees or greater. The gun will then shoot in that direction with a little splatter that you should be able to avoid. Make sure that every movement of your HQ is to the extremes even if you only want to shuffle an inch. With a little practice you can work your way in and take out the guns with nothing more than your HQ. I was able to prevent the MiniThor from building making the map a lot easier.

Also do not underestimate the support ships. They are self powered and so work best outside of an energy mine radius and they can build ships here without any drain on your network. Vital for quick rebuilding if a MK7 destroys most of your fleet. And this will happen. A lot.

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Finally got it and what a rewarding feeling!! I'm tingling on the top of my head.

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Ok so my strategy was....

Spoiler

I started the same way everyone else did, with the omnis going left and right.  As soon as the two energy mines were made I disabled lasers and cannons on my HQ (to conserve energy) and sent it north to gather the miniThor tech and to nullify one of the two mk7 spawners.

Then I flew it all the way to the top and destroyed the two left most structures.

Then went south and destroyed the 8 structures floating in the center of the top. Then flew to the top right and destroyed the two on that corner.

At that point I parked the HQ in the top right where he stayed until it was finally destroyed mid game.

Basically at that point I held my ground at the bottom until the mini thor was completed and then it was a standard battle.

Dodging mk7 fire was key, and destroying those nightmare inducing latheship terrors before they undo much of your work. I found the "Fast Ship" was perfect to destroying them with a single kamikaze mission. If one wasn't available the Laser Gun also makes a great suicide mission.

The demolishers and the Shield ships were pretty much useless and I ignored them. Support ships were critical. I found that sending both support ships up the side along with the minithor and 2 BigLatchers they almost kept up with the energy requirements. That's what I used to finally take the top. Once I got that central energy mine, it was a rush of relief.

Thanks Joao for the nice game.

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[JoaoPistori]

So good to see that players (and most of them Map Makers - I have never seen so many Map Makers commenting on the same topic haha!) had tried and tried until beating the map!

All the commented strategies were interesting, even if they had failed. When I was making the map I completely missed the part where you use the HQ to early destroy some top-ship spawners (I did this with the 4-Latche ships after 10min play) and/or capture advanced-ship pick-ups. Strategies that you advance left, top, then returns to bottom, then right [...] instead of taking entire bottom, then entire middle, then entire top were very interesting too. Probably the "hardness" of the map made players have this lot of interesting ideas, calculations and  "chronological order of actions".

They were so interesting that I think I'll leave a chance for those strategies for the fourth map. I'm planning it to be as hard as this one (but it might be easier, as the player'll have super-mega-OP-custom-moduled ships). The third one will probably be at the same difficult level as the first map, where you learn how to use the new ships effectively (also, radius display is coming with 3rd map - with angle limit for Demolishers and Siege Ships).

Spoiler

I'm going to post my custom modules in Custom Modules Thread after finishing the 2 last maps.

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I hope everyone liked to play and compete with each other of who could beat it, because there's a new challenge coming up (4th map)! hahah :D

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Consider in the next map giving the player a ship with a mk7... Even if it's a tiny unshielded ship with thin walls. It would give more options in ship to ship combat.

[Sorrontis]

So good to see that players (and most of them Map Makers - I have never seen so many Map Makers commenting on the same topic haha!) had tried and tried until beating the map!

It's because you deserve it bud!  ;)

[D0m0nik]

I have to reiterate, this map is EXACTLY what I was expecting from PF. It is my favourite map by a mile. And no disrespect to the other map makers in this thread, I have loved all of your maps too but this has a scale and a sense of 'battle' that I envisaged from this game pre-release.

Please do make more of this kind Joao and please keep them challenging. They may not score well with everyone but those of us who crave challenging maps will appreciate them beyond measure!

[Sorrontis]

I have to reiterate, this map is EXACTLY what I was expecting from PF. It is my favourite map by a mile. And no disrespect to the other map makers in this thread, I have loved all of your maps too but this has a scale and a sense of 'battle' that I envisaged from this game pre-release.

Please do make more of this kind Joao and please keep them challenging. They may not score well with everyone but those of us who crave challenging maps will appreciate them beyond measure!

I concur!

[JoaoPistori]

Thank you so much guys!

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Domonik speaks for us all.  :D

[ChaosMaster130]

Count me in the "Finally beat this map" club.
Definitely was a epic fight though. Awesome job on the map  8)

[JoaoPistori]

I hope you like enemy ships with custom modules. Fights for the next map will become much more epic :D
And harder too. Destroying MK7 ships/stations was so easy :)

[D0m0nik]

I hope you like enemy ships with custom modules. Fights for the next map will become much more epic :D
And harder too. Destroying MK7 ships/stations was so easy :)

Just remember that if you close all back doors it could kill the fun for some of us, this map was challenging enough even with the 'holes'!

[JoaoPistori]

Well, I mean the fight against a single or two ships at once to be more challenging and not the "map's overall". This time some enemy ships weapon's range (and firepower) will be as high as your ships, making the part where you fight them very special.

The "overall" will be easier, since you'll have OP tactical modules, and then you just need to find how and where they work better

[GoodMorning]

That's enough PF for the day.

While I did this in a single attempt, I had eternal micromanagement available due to lag.

Strategy

Install HQ, Defensive Struc, Omnis, gems, Omni techs, pin down the left with the HQ, two Omnis each way.

Wasted a little HQ lathing time, by letting the guard ship on the next island build.

Get lower-left under control and mired, build everything available. Amp Demolisher. Press right, placing the Demolisher at extreme range and backing it up.

Control right corner once maintained rocketry depletes and then destroys the big ship. Another amped Demolisher. Put both on one side, fighting the station pairs. Eventually they will break through. Capture. Use freed-up power to take the other side. You now have breathing room. The three spawners are ready to assault, but I didn't hold the middle mine.

At some point, various ships start attacking. The Varro is worse than the mini-Thor, because the latter is more vulnerable to the particle-based weaponry. The Varro takes the hit in the front two MK7s, and keeps shooting as it retreats. Ram anything without an MK7 with a Fast Ship, 2/3 odds it survives. Extremely effective against those Lathe barges. If you have a pair, have then tag-team, one wounding the hull, and the other diving for the Core thereafter. This keeps both alive if done properly.

Omni rush to get the Siege Ships (right, then left). A little micro-dodging with stacked Omnis helps. Start building large ships in the still-protected starting area, with the helpful blue plasma. Amp the Siege Ship(s).

Push up from the left island, then right. This will take a long time, and you will lose a lot of ships, because you have nothing good against MK7s. Eventually, you will have the left of the second area.

Start chipping away at the twin MK7 ships. Eventually, they'll lack for the power to shoot. You will have problems from the other ships coming down. Persevere. Get the last remaining ship. By this point, you should have two Support ships, and know that when the MK7s stop firing, the Demolisher can come into its own.

While the Mini Thor builds, consolidate, and begin to fire at the MK7 station above you, left of the island. Again, patience. You't forget to keep managing the positioning to prevent an inopportune Varro. Work out where a Siege Ship needs to go to take out a Mini-Thor over that metallic land.

When you have a mini-Thor, the map is almost over. One Siege ship and the Demolishers can hold your base at the left-middle, and the Supports can shift power up as the lathes attack. Start at one end, work your way along, and finally go down at the right-hand egde to fry the ship you left alive earlier.

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Overall, still not an especially hard map, just fiddly. If someone managed to use the above walkthrough and managed their ships so as to avoid losing them, they would do far better than my hour-long time. The fact that even a workable strategy takes time to exhaust power reserves encourages the player to try alternatives. I don't like to lose, so I took a long-but-safer route.

This is probably tied as the best map in the Exchange so far, for my opinion. Subtract some rebuild time, and replace the Varro with something as "glass-cannon-y" as the other ships, and it's probably clear of the competition.

Oh, and as ever, make sure the HQ isn't hit by a stray MK7 shot.

Spoiler

It takes a long time to recover if that happens when you are attacking and about to field an assault from the big visitors.

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One minor thought: The Mini-Thor was a bit too large for its own good, as were the Supports. I know why this was, but I think that collapsing it a little might help.