Custom Map #1784: [pac] you shall not pass. By: GuardianDragonlord

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This topic is for discussion of map #1784: [pac] you shall not pass


Author: GuardianDragonlord
Size: 128x512

[Jican]

Didn't really like it. No real way to push past the blimps since they're stacked what looks like 5 deep and immortal. Can't go by blob or spores because of the range. Then the separation of the island is so wide, with more stacked blimps make this an absolute slog.

[Durikkan]

Played a little bit of it, but dropped it because it looked like a frustrating slog.  Lasers, missiles, orbital weapons coming down on you.  The creeper++ means the only creeper building it makes sense to use from the standard arsenal is just emitters, because they're the only thing scaling up.  That being said, the sweeper and the AC mines will keep you from really making progress at any decent speed.  So basically it felt like you're more limited by waiting for creeper++ to increase than anything actually skill or strategy related. 

It might be better if it was at least the V2 of the pac shaper stuff, so that you could put something down next to one of your strong emitters and make use of it, but having to constantly replace the thing if you want to do that makes that a bit tedious. 

[Vyce223]

I uhh, I'm not sure what to say about this once, once again a laggy mess. I don't even know if the 0fps wave I'm sending currently can even beat it... and that's worrysome as I filled the whole map with sporefuls... at 4x speed less than 3 seconds have passed so far ingame as of currently writing this it's insane. While at the beginning not so laggy, to get anything done at the end? Outrageous. This has to be the worst one yet from you unfortunately. It's just not fun in the slighest.

[reddwarf12]

Like someone mentioned above, it was basically just waiting for Creeper to expand (for me anyway).

Spoiler

I wasn't able to bridge the gap over to the fortress as long as their M-rift was feeding resources to it. So, I had to devour the whole mainland with emitters/stashes before turning to the now somewhat compromised fortress. Waves of egg-blobs by the hundreds overwhelmed them eventually.

[close]

What confused me was the optional victory requirements. I ended the game with a deep ocean of creeper over the whole map, and the victory requirements like nullify and regain terrain didn't make any sense.

[CS Z]

What confused me was the optional victory requirements. I ended the game with a deep ocean of creeper over the whole map, and the victory requirements like nullify and regain terrain didn't make any sense.

The game and server should require mapmakers to complete all objectives in a single run before they can submit their maps.  On both this and the revised version of this map, no one has completed two of the objectives, including the mapmaker.

[Karsten75]

The game and server should require mapmakers to complete all objectives in a single run before they can submit their maps.  On both this and the revised version of this map, no one has completed two of the objectives, including the mapmaker.

Since we don't require that map makers achieve all optional objectives, it would seem rather pointless to gripe on multiple maps about the same issue.

There are many that think like you do, but equally, there are many that think that it's not strictly necessary.

Some map makers may wish to give stronger players a "stretch" objective, sometimes (and I have done this myself) I know all objectives are achievable, but after playing the map for the umpteenth time to balance it, I really don't want to get all the objectives again.

What we do take issue with, and what you may use the "report" button on the map page in Colonies for, is to report maps that have maliciously set an objective that cannot be accomplished.

[Durikkan]

What confused me was the optional victory requirements. I ended the game with a deep ocean of creeper over the whole map, and the victory requirements like nullify and regain terrain didn't make any sense.

I think the optional objectives here are based on you losing the map (So the only way to get them to outright lose the map), which is an unusual style choice, to be sure, as you're being incentivized to just fail the mission if you want them. (although you have to basically fail and then claw your way back in the same playthrough, which is why almost no one bothered to do that)

[mctie89]

It's possible to get every goal.
So far I see three players who have gotten all three. Not sure if they were all achieved in one play but at least the attached snip of my last playthrough shows all green before clicking rift jump.

Give these maps a chance before just assuming the creator made the map wrong. It does seem weird to me how in Creeper World 3 a challenging map could get a fairly good score. Somewhere around 7 or 8. Probably from players who liked the challenge or enjoyed effort into figuring out how to beat the map. But in Creeper World 4 a challenging map tends to get tags like "impossible", "bad", "broken". I have played a lot of maps and in my experience only a couple of maps labeled this may actually be bad or broken. In most of these maps it's just that they are hard or a challenge or maybe could even get tagged as "puzzle". I'm not sure why players are doing this, but it would be nice if people would tag maps better. Or take another try at a map before tagging it negatively and try to solve it. I have run into this so often that I now ignore these tags and just play it anyways, most of the time playing through and not finding anything wrong with the map.


Solution (At least this is what I did)

Quick summary steps:

Spoiler

Allow everything to get built and completely nullify you.
Destroy nullifiers and take over map upwards
Then attack bottom of map

[close]

Long detailed explanation:

Spoiler

1) Get creeper into the area with the ern forge. I then placed an emitter to fill area
2) Start placing "launchers" in this area. I set them to spores and targeted bottom area so they get destroyed and don't hit any structures. Once you have enough launchers destroy any emitters you have placed. I had 13 launchers, but probably only need 6-8.
3) Allow structures to build and eventually nullify you. I ended up placing creeper absorbing structures around my main emitter to allow nullifiers nearby to be able to build. I used "blubbers" at first(destroy them when almost full and they explode anticreep) and then used "sporfuls". The sporfuls are good when there is already anticreep around. They absorb creep, the anticreep flows in and destroys them before they can absorb enough to launch spores(most of the time).
4) Once nullified and launchers are targeting an area where the spores just get blown out of the air, just wait. Wait for all creeper to be taken by anticreep and the "Reclaim" objective to charge to 100% and activate. Once it charges, you should now have: "Nullify Enemies", "Activate Totems", "Reclaim", and "Collect Items" done.
5) Now go on the attack. Set your launchers to blobs and target the three nullifiers around your emitter. By this point I had 13 launchers, so I set about 4 launchers for each nullifier.
6) Now that your emitting creeper again, take over the map above you. I just placed emitters and placed mesh everywhere.
7) Once the entire top is covered, attack the bottom. (Note: If for some reason by now the "Hold" objective isn't completed, wait til the 40 minutes has passed.
8) To take this area you just need to keep sending waves of spores or blobs down until the many Thors run out of ammo. (I placed many emitters in the area with the ern forge and then placed rows and rows of sporfuls(100's). They fill quick and you can re-place 100's more. And did this several times.)
9) Once they run out of ammo, that's it. You will have taken the bottom of the map and the rift lab will get covered in creeper.

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