Custom Map #9921: The Dendron System. By: stdout

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This topic is for discussion of map #9921: The Dendron System


Author: stdout
Size: 115x200

Desc:
Dendron system == high value to us. Very well protected on most sides but we managed to land a strong foothold of 7 emitters. Expand and attack, but analysis suggests chance of victory extremely low. They have too much energy and AC mines, with powerful defenses being erected, with reinforcements already in movement to engage us. Nevertheless, give your best effort and search for any holes in their defenses

[teknotiss]

an excellent map, cheers dude!  8)

[stdout]

Thank you, cheers!

[teknotiss]

Thank you, cheers!

no worries, more PAC maps please!

[rennervate]

i'm 2 stupid 4 this kinda gamemode.
I played the recommended tutorial. but here I can't even get out of the starting position. unfortunately I'm missing a few years after the release... my fault  :P

[RrR]

i'm 2 stupid 4 this kinda gamemode.
I played the recommended tutorial. but here I can't even get out of the starting position. unfortunately I'm missing a few years after the release... my fault  :P

You've replaced some emitters to spore towers, and aimed the spores somewhere sensitive?

[teknotiss]

i'm 2 stupid 4 this kinda gamemode.
I played the recommended tutorial. but here I can't even get out of the starting position. unfortunately I'm missing a few years after the release... my fault  :P

i can help... here is a basic "how to" guide for playing PAC maps.  others might need help too, so i covered the basics here too...

(incidentally this is a pretty good PAC map for starting with too, nice size, good illustration of the concepts the player needs to know etc, not too long or hard)

so with the PAC mode the idea is to spread Digitalis to all the AI-player held Power Zones (PZ) and then build your creeper "units" in those PZ's, this lets you kill all the AI units and win.

you can assign other keys but essentially all you need to know about creeper units is:

1 is for the Digitalis tool, this can be made larger pressing "r" and smaller pressing "e".  when it is white you will lay/paint digitalis on land OR on void as long as the creeper under the tool is at least 2 deep. if you press "t" the tool will turn red and you can remove digitalis under it (the creeper or anti-creeper on the digi will be released at this point.

2 is for placing an Emitter.  Emitters can bu placed in burst mode, or left in pulse mode.  "e" and "r" toggle this for emitter.  a red circle appears for burst mode.  burst mode stores up a "burst" of creeper, this can be a good way of spreading digi close to Emitters.  Emitters can support each other too, click an Emitter (or draw a box and grab a group of them) and then click the Emitter you want to support.  the amount of creeper and the time between bursts will be much more powerful with a supported Emitter, play with that and see the numbers on the Emitters change.  also if an Emitter is charging up to burst you can press "e" or "r" and it will immediately release what is stored in it, this is useful if the AI-player is building a nullifier near an Emitter or Spore Tower.

3 is for placing Spore Towers.  Spore Towers fire spores, but you can (usually, some maps have uncontrollable ones too) place a target by clicking the Spore Tower and then clicking the target you want to hit.  you can group select and group target too, and "e" and "r" are used to suspend the firing count down at "0 secs til fire" so you can co-ordinate the spores you are firing at the enemy.  you CAN fire spores at the void.

4 is for the "Push" tool.  Once you have a totem connected with digi it will get a blue circle around it.  this gives the Push tool some pushing force, each captured totem (up to number 5) gives more "push" to the Push tool.  this is good for moving creeper around the map.

you can also delete a unit and the PZ will be free to use again, once the digi has recovered.

on this and some other PAC maps there are sometimes runner nests.  connect them using digi and see what happens, in some maps they will get shot and drop loads of creeper, in others they might carry anti-creeper payloads, you will find out...



so some tactics to get you moving on this one:

select all the emitters (you can draw and grab them or click one and press "o", this selects all Emitters, or Spore Towers, space cancels selection) and then click one of the edge ones, right or left.

spread a lot of digi so the AI cannot build a nullifier.

then click the supported one and click the other Emitter on the map edge, also spread a load of Digi

(keep an eye on the nullifiers, if one is getting to 50% built click the supported Emitter and then support the Emitter that will be nullified, you will be able to kill the nullifier no probs, especially once you have some totems connected to the digi)

spread Digi all over that lower landmass, then once it is all "live" and connected to other Emitters select only the left most Emitter and use "shift+X" to delete the Emitter.  replace it with a Spore Tower.

aim the spore just above the landmass due north of the ST.

be ready with the Digi tool.

Spread and connect that Digi to the landmass.

use the Push tool to "push" creeper onto the Digi over the void.

then using "t" rapidly (you can do it paused too) over the northern edge of the void covering Digi you can (with the Push tool too) spread creeper out over the void since it will delete and repaing the digi, letting the creeper spread out.

that should get you going!

feel free to ask for more help or more clarity! 8)

and "4" you can

[rennervate]

Thank you both for the very helpful tips