Custom Map #7994: Too Many Enemies to Count. By: Jason Stevens

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This topic is for discussion of map #7994: Too Many Enemies to Count


Author: Jason Stevens
Size: 200x256

Desc:
Up for a challenge? In addition to all the enemies listed below, you'll find the spores on this map don't always determine their targets the usual way... This is NOT a sleeper map, but it does have sleeper units in it (see below). There is a hard version of this map available. This is the standard difficulty map. #Spore #Runner #Sleeper-Strafer #Sleeper-Beam #Pump #Aether-Factory #Heavy-Creep #Flip-Emitter #Capture-Emitter Good luck!!

[marvinitfox]

ok. *this* variant I could defeat.
.
.
.
Barely.

Took 1:14:35 , and by the time i got there game could not save, claim victory, or exit. Ah well, I am ***not*** re-doing it just for a score.

Dear Jason,
You are a very mean person to make such a nasty level as this, and then label is as the "standard" version.
Either that, or you are some sort of CW3 gameplaying DemiGod, and I stand in awe at your magnificence.

Owch,
Marvin.



One utterly essential trick needed to have any chance:

Spoiler

Take out 8 of those central Strafers right at the start, before settling in

[close]

[jasons2645]

Yeah, I heard on the forums some other folks having issues with these kinds of maps being responsive.  I never ran into that issue and the sleeper scripts are fairly complex (my hats off to those who contributed to the sleeper scripts), but I'm also running on 4GHz 6-core Xeons with 32GB RAM...  Sorry to hear you couldn't claim victory at the end :( 

As for your spoiler comment...

Spoiler

You may not want to wipe out those green sleeper strafers at the start of the game.  Those units consume tremendous quantities of creep, so by eliminating them at the start of the game, you will find a much deeper creep coming at the grey sleeper strafer / spore producer, which will result in much more frequent heavy spore attacks.  Not to mention the deeper creep coming up to both potential starting points.  If you can work your way east faster than the green sleeper strafers can hatch, you'll reap significant benefits :)

[close]

ok. *this* variant I could defeat.
.
.
.
Barely.

Took 1:14:35 , and by the time i got there game could not save, claim victory, or exit. Ah well, I am ***not*** re-doing it just for a score.

Dear Jason,
You are a very mean person to make such a nasty level as this, and then label is as the "standard" version.
Either that, or you are some sort of CW3 gameplaying DemiGod, and I stand in awe at your magnificence.

Owch,
Marvin.



One utterly essential trick needed to have any chance:

Spoiler

Take out 8 of those central Strafers right at the start, before settling in

[close]

[Johnny Haywire]

I tried the "impossible" version first and restarted several times - even resorting to saving the game occasionally, which I really don't like to do - and finally decided to try this version.

This one is pretty easy, to be honest. Having almost survived the map with only one CN, hunkering down in the bottom left corner, having 2 CN's at the start opens up a world of possibilities. I'm not sure if you're supposed to start in the bottom left, but having 4 PZ's early on seemed to me like the way to go.

To me, it seemed vitally important to send the AC up to the 10x-amplifying pumps, rather than try to push back the creeper. That works really well, btw. From there, it was just a matter of time.

This map can be done with minimal pausing at the start (I think I stopped pausing around 4-5 minutes into the game) and there's no need to save if you're building safely. (Just a note for others who don't like to micromanage or pause or other such things).

I think the map is really cool, Jason! I'm not sure I understand the mechanics of the occasional hurricane of spores that come from a seemingly random place, but hey why not? I'll try the "hard" version next and hope it's not agonizingly difficult.

[jasons2645]

Glad you liked it!  And I agree, on this variant, you can take both the north and south start positions and send AC up to the amplifying pumps early on in the game.  Makes a big difference!!  The hard version is pretty difficult without being agonizing - unlike the impossible version which is one of the toughest maps I've ever made...

I tried the "impossible" version first and restarted several times - even resorting to saving the game occasionally, which I really don't like to do - and finally decided to try this version.

This one is pretty easy, to be honest. Having almost survived the map with only one CN, hunkering down in the bottom left corner, having 2 CN's at the start opens up a world of possibilities. I'm not sure if you're supposed to start in the bottom left, but having 4 PZ's early on seemed to me like the way to go.

To me, it seemed vitally important to send the AC up to the 10x-amplifying pumps, rather than try to push back the creeper. That works really well, btw. From there, it was just a matter of time.

This map can be done with minimal pausing at the start (I think I stopped pausing around 4-5 minutes into the game) and there's no need to save if you're building safely. (Just a note for others who don't like to micromanage or pause or other such things).

I think the map is really cool, Jason! I'm not sure I understand the mechanics of the occasional hurricane of spores that come from a seemingly random place, but hey why not? I'll try the "hard" version next and hope it's not agonizingly difficult.

[Johnny Haywire]

unlike the impossible version which is one of the toughest maps I've ever made...

LOL @ "One of the" - you mean there's one that's harder?  :o

Also, I've been taking out the lower left every time I start for the PZ's to clear the bottom so I can freely use the aether factories. Worked well in the regular & hard versions but not sure if that's really the way to go. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Just curious.

[jasons2645]

"Death by Spore or Emitter?" is another pretty tough one I made a long time ago ;)

And you are spot on with nullifying those two strafer hatchers before turning on the aether factories.  The other option is to send a bunch of cannons with a digitalis focus - enough to still land some after hatching and after the enemy beams take some out.  I prefer the nullifying approach :)

unlike the impossible version which is one of the toughest maps I've ever made...

LOL @ "One of the" - you mean there's one that's harder?  :o

Also, I've been taking out the lower left every time I start for the PZ's to clear the bottom so I can freely use the aether factories. Worked well in the regular & hard versions but not sure if that's really the way to go. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Just curious.

[Johnny Haywire]

Thx, I'll try it again later when I have a bit more time to focus.

I did one run taking out the central strafer producer, then the two in the left corner, but kept getting overrun.

Just happened to find what I think is a key to the solution... will report back later.  :P