Custom Map #1860: Hillside Fortress (PAC). By: Ranger Von Danger

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This topic is for discussion of map #1860: Hillside Fortress (PAC)


Author: Ranger Von Danger
Size: 320x200

[CS Z]

On my first attempt, I got all the way to the end of the top and bottom lanes and then got stuck.  The Thor + mortars at the bottom lane wiped out my creeper to nothing.  The top lane had too much AC and mortars to push past.  The middle lane stopped progressing toward the end (more Crazonium?) and is too narrow to put any units down.  There's not really enough creeper for blob/spore/skimmer spamming which the Thors just make quick work of anyway.  And the lanes are lined with hidden Crazonium walls, which makes it impossible to push creeper out of the lane and onto the hill.

[Malignantmind]

On my first attempt, I got all the way to the end of the top and bottom lanes and then got stuck.  The Thor + mortars at the bottom lane wiped out my creeper to nothing.  The top lane had too much AC and mortars to push past.  The middle lane stopped progressing toward the end (more Crazonium?) and is too narrow to put any units down.  There's not really enough creeper for blob/spore/skimmer spamming which the Thors just make quick work of anyway.  And the lanes are lined with hidden Crazonium walls, which makes it impossible to push creeper out of the lane and onto the hill.

I'm in a similar situation. Made it all the way to the end of the bottom lane, but cannot progress any further. Two emitters there, a field gen, and crimson, and it's just a dead stop right under the airship. Middle lane, not even a quarter of the way through. Since it's too narrow to place anything, I don't see it progressing any further. Top lane is bare, with a field gen  holding the AC back at the end, but with the ERN'd mortars within range, I can't get any creeper, to pile up there. And with the berthas and bombers, I can't build up enough creeper to actually send any big waves of blobs/skimmers/spores. And that's with several built floods helping in the backlines.

It's a cool map design, but poorly balanced.

[thetroll527]

There is a way to break through, took me about 30 mins stuck there trying different things to finally get through.  Just keep at it, you will figure it out.

[Lentil]

Good map.  A bit tougher than the last few PAC maps out recently. For those having issues, I've found I can get through long walkways and tough defenses by dropping down in a straight line one crimsonator, two or three emitters, then a field generator pushing down that line.  I was able to power through the channels into the back pretty easily.  I first tried through the bottom lane leading to the airship but couldn't get passed it. The anticreeper just stopped me there. But the top lane was easier because it was a bit narrower, concentrating all that pink creeper into a towering inferno of 'coming through'. Once I got through, I just waited a bit for the terrain in the back to eat through, then dropped down more emitters, crimsonators, and a field generator get to get back up the cliff to go after the airfield and two berthas. Once I was on the cliff I deleted the units in the trench.  This let me build up creeper and have a 'base' before pushing down into the a/c breeder fields. Once they were covered, there wasn't much anticreeper to bother me and I was able to climb up and get the factory and laser beams. After that it was easy to flood the rest of the back line, get up on the other cliffs, and go for everything else.  I didn't use blobs or spores or skimmers at all - the airships tear them up to easily.  At the very start I just threw down all my supply in crimsonators and watched the pink flood march across the map.

I use a lot of crimson creeper. It stands up to airships, mortars, earned guns and anti-creeper.  Trying to get around with regular creeper - no thanks - it is too easily beaten back.

[alche]

lol, played the whole map without realizing i got the whole blobs, spores and flood menu to use...
btw, you need to use a field gen to push thru the ditch all the way to to top, it pushes back the ac too, so it lest you reach the creep gen on the flor over there 

[Ranger Von Danger]

lol, played the whole map without realizing i got the whole blobs, spores and flood menu to use...
btw, you need to use a field gen to push thru the ditch all the way to to top, it pushes back the ac too, so it lest you reach the creep gen on the flor over there

I thought it was obvious.

[ikkonoishi]

lol, played the whole map without realizing i got the whole blobs, spores and flood menu to use...
btw, you need to use a field gen to push thru the ditch all the way to to top, it pushes back the ac too, so it lest you reach the creep gen on the flor over there

They aren't really that useful other than the egger. They take so long to charge.

[CS Z]

I completed it in 29 minutes on my second attempt.  It's a bit disappointing that the top lane is easier to get through than the bottom lane.  As a result, the rift lab is gone before most of the base is destroyed.  The first half of the map is a 5-7 minute rush to get to the lanes and then the next 20-25 minutes are spent slogging to the lab.

[Ranger Von Danger]

The field gen pushes both creeper and anti creeper. When you get through one of the lanes, place a field gen so that it is fully submerged in creeper as close as you can get it to the AC. Then point it in the direction you would like to push the AC. There is a generous amount of breeder there to help you get a foothold if you can just get some creeper onto it.

[Niflthaena]

I like the map. It's got some neat ideas and generally good execution.

That said, it's not balanced right. I got an idle sub-11 minute time by placing the following in straight lines, bottom to top, starting at the west edge:
Emitter | Sporly | Scimmer | Scimmer | Scimmer | Scimmer
Then I set it to fast forward and waited. Spores took both forward bases at around 6 minutes, giving enough erns to emitters to skimmers to push the Lab over at 10:35.

There's a massive amount of creeper breeder at that edge, being countered by a huge air force in the middle of the map. As a result, the effective amount of creeper for attacking is low, but the player has an awful lot of resources for unit spawners. Less breeder and less bombers would move balance more towards the middle, making creep control more viable.

Another issue I encountered is just how much broken terrain there is. Mesh is a major part of these maps, but broken terrain prevents mesh placement, even after it's all the way down. This could be used selectively to give Mesh more fine-tuned limitations, but in the current layout Mesh is nearly unusable save for the pre-placed lines - which further hinders Creep tools.

[Caz]

Can push up the lane, but then the AC and mortars brickwalls all progress.  Doesn't matter what combination of buildings you use, nothing can break past the AC+mortar.  Maybe this worked a month ago, but it doesn't as of 9-03-2021.

[heritor]

Can push up the lane, but then the AC and mortars brickwalls all progress.  Doesn't matter what combination of buildings you use, nothing can break past the AC+mortar.  Maybe this worked a month ago, but it doesn't as of 9-03-2021.

I've seen you comment on a few threads advising maps aren't workable, so I thought I'd test and check to make sure a recent update hasn't broken them.

Here's my runthrough of this map, completed directly before uploading.

[John Galt]

I really love every map I've played by Ranger my only regret is that even though the frontal assault is so interesting and fun there is a huge shortcut by simply attacking from behind thanks to all the mesh.  I played it both ways because it was such a unique map, but you can beat it in just 7 minutes with minimal effort behind enemy lines without even using any of the fun creeper objects.  It's a shame that many won't get to experience the full map because of this little shortcut.