Custom Map #7698: Seize the Pumps!. By: Jason Stevens

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This topic is for discussion of map #7698: Seize the Pumps!


Author: Jason Stevens
Size: 180x110

Desc:
You will need to move quickly to secure the pumps on this map - otherwise, you will find yourself facing too much creep to conquer. The pumps to the south pump to the southern islands with a mild amplification effect. The pumps to the north pump to the southernmost land mass with a significant amplification effect. #Pump #Runner #Spore #Heavy-Creep #Flip-Emitter Good luck!!

[Helper]

This looked pretty interesting, but turned into a good old-fashioned slog. Way too heavy on the Creeper trying to get to the Thor's and Bertha's - and you kept the bulk of the Totems out of reach too.
I waited until I actually finished it to comment, and I'm sorry to say that this just wasn't much fun.
I love playing a good tough game, but the first 40 minutes or so were nothing but a very slow slog.
Thank you for making the map though, that's more than I've ever done.
:)
H

[Karsten75]

I'm curious - did you grab ore island by ore island starting at the left or is there a different approach?

[jasons2645]

I'm curious - did you grab ore island by ore island starting at the left or is there a different approach?

Spoiler

The trick to this map is to take over the leftmost ore island and the northwest pumps ASAP.  If you don't do both of these things, it will be quite the slog indeed.  Even with this, it'll feel a bit sloggish for a bit to work your way to the southeast, but not too bad or for too long.  Once you've secured the southeast, it's easy from there with the berthas and the AC pumping to get to the finish.

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[Karsten75]

Like this? I've spent a significant amount of time in this position, only to find it a steady beat-back and when I quit here, I was definitely losing.

Edit: Ohh!!!  wait, sorry, I get it now.

[Riskbreaker]

in your print, there is an area with 2 totems completely free from creeper...i guess you thought upgrades werent important  :P

[marvinitfox]

This is indeed a long slog.
The NW island is useless as a pump station, but its access to totems for upgrades is ab-so-lutely vital.

One of the tricks that work very well on this map is the recycling-pumped-AC idea.
You put a pile of sprayers on the leftmost island, and have them collect & dispatch as ore.
Then you use that ore to create much more AC at the pumps, which amplify-feeds the leftmost island,
it forms a quite strong feedback loop.
Towards the end I was mining 60 ore, but using more than 500, and I never ran out!!

[Karsten75]

I think if you do it that way, you miss oe of the amplification loops. The 4 pumps near your starting base seem to also magnify  creeper pumped to that island. But drawing down the creeper on the island negatively impacts the amplification loop onward. That at least is my theory. Also I do find it beneficial to  attack down from the north-west, but I may moderate the amount of resources I divert to that endeavor - One still has to connect the CN to the Bertha pick=ups.

[Helper]

I think if you do it that way, you miss oe of the amplification loops.

Concur. I overloaded on the Sprayers harvesting and dried up that whole little island. I'm replaying that map (slowly and sporadically) to see if I can find a better solution.
H

[Karsten75]

This map is easier if you bear in mind that there is a series of cascading pumps that amplify creeper/anti-creeper.

I believe (but my time is not so high that I'm sure it's just execution vs strategy) that the objectives are:

1. Gain a foothold in the bottom right, start the first set of pumps to the ore island.
2. Dispatch guppies to the left upper corner to neutralize the 3 spore towers, and hold that corner  - both for the totems and for eventual campaign towards the Inhibitor
3. Start the ore airlift from the ore island
4. Flood the four pumps in the lower right of the map
5. If possible, start a temporary airlift to the totem island and if still possible, also take out the nearby spore tower.
6. consolidate control of the mainland with an eye to obtaining all the Bertha tech.  If you manage at the same time to sever the digitalis before it carries too much creeper into the void, I think that'll be a plus.
7. by now the pump on the island in the upper left quadrant should be starting to flood into void. You can connect from it both up and to the left, and towards the totem island. You should also have started a push from left to right along the top of the map by now, enemy units are conveniently spaced, so that if you take out the spore tower, you can us the PX to nullify the inhibitor.

As I said, there are better times than mine, there may be a better, less stressful strategy, but this was the best of the 3 ways I found to beat this map. One, incidentally was to start on the top left. It was tricky but yielded interesting results. THe fight for the ore isalnd was a bit clumsy, though.

[jasons2645]

So this is the strategy I intended when I made the map (not to say it's the only one that would work ;)

Spoiler

The trick is to take advantage of the cascading amplifying pumps.  So first, land toward the center in the south.  You don't want any creep making its way to the 2 southern pumps furthest to the west.  Once you have secured those two pumps from getting any creep, build snipers and beams to take over the center island furthest to the west.  You don't need guppies to do this - you just need relays.  Around the same time, start building a Forge and guppies to take the island to the northwest.  You want to send ALL the AC you mine up there with guppies since the AC will come back to the south in far greater force.

Once you've secured the center island furthest to the west to mine and the northwestern island to spray (and get aether), build mortors and slowly make your way east toward the tech.  The sooner you slow the creep going to the remaining 4 pumps, the sooner you win.  Once you've taken over the south entirely and you control all 6 of the southern pumps, victory is inevitable.  Even with the powerful inhibitor, the AC amplification will assure you victory.

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[Johnny Haywire]

Since there are only so many guppies & sprayers that will fit on the island, you can build lots of bombers and use them to transport AC to the island.

And even if you feel you're not moving fast enough, as long as you hold off creeper from getting to the two pumps on the left, you should be ok. Just build lotsa mortars and stuff and be ready for a slog.

Note: Once you take the bottom island, you can destroy all your weapons except for the beams and let it run. The AC on the islands will cycle and amplify over time. I let the game run for about 7 hours (game-time) and it still didn't quite close enough to the inhibitor for a nullifier so you'll need to use weapons.

Even though this was a slog I didn't mind so much - I moved very slowly and I was thinking I'd need to restart the map at about 30 minutes, but the mortars and amplification pumps held their ground and eventually pushed back. So the interesting mechanics of this map outweigh the long battle. And if you delete your weapons, you can run this at max speed and walk away so you're really not taking much time at all to beat the map. Just a thought.  ;D