Custom Map #872: Nebula. By: Sorrontis

[Nehrak]

Randomness just ruins this map... as soon as I made any progress it just wiped the map with square particles and there was nothing i could do.  Even with a warning and all the ships I could build, sitting next to each other with energy to spare, they all blew up immediately and there was no recovering because as soon as that happened the ships flew in and camped the energy mines.

Hitting L saved me one time, but charged too slow to be any use for the second time, and by the third time it happened I just quit.

When you wipe the entire map like that with nothing you can do to stop it the map just isn't fun

[Sorrontis]

Thanks for the review, Nehrak.
I can understand this is not your type of map, hopefully you'll find something else to your liking on the exchange.

[Lisimba]

Good map, though I don't like the randomness too much. If bad stuff happens on a timer or because you trigger it somehow, even if it eats your entire fleet, you learn and can plan for it next try. Can't do that nearly as well with random stuff, and there's a temptation for savescumming.

I like the resource mechanic itself, paying for energy with more enemies was an interesting tradeoff all the way to the end.

The three attacking ships:

Spoiler

I painted in my entire starting area with armored struc, all the way from the top of the map to the start of the enemy struc, and kept the two ships without engines in there. I occasionally lost one of the side mines but those are easy enough to take back. The struc will destroy the ships either coming or going, and later when the entire area is actually filled in they have no chance. Note that if you are in a bit of a tight situation you can ram them, especially if they're already damaged. I took out a few just with a discharger ship.

[close]

My route:

Spoiler

First time I did multiple expeditions down the left and right side but eventually ended up bogged down and decided to restart. Second time, I went down the left side, took the bottom left for a forward base, then went directly across the bottom to the ship spawners and took them out. Then up the middle, taking the particle spawners below the center. That bit will survive explosions once things are cleared out a bit so it's a good second base. Only then I took the bottom right and went back up. This was a pretty decent route.
Taking the center took rather long though, I had to do multiple charges to get rid of the ships there, with a lot of time spent recharging everything. There's enough energy with the trade mechanic, but it just doesn't go into the ships fast enough. There is probably a better tactic than what I did.

[close]

9/10 tough map

[Johnny Haywire]

Sometimes it helps to read first.

I used the "K" key like a Starbucks addict uses the restroom. I figured, "Hey, why not?"

Answer: The enemy rebuilds armor so fast after you use it so frequently that not much will kill it. I ended up ramming each ship with about 4 shielded ships simultaneously while firing on it with the two cannon ships and the MK7 ship.

I will probably want to replay this immediately after doing my own spinal surgery using the rustiest tools in my shed. I'll let ya know when that happens.

Cool map though!  ;D