Custom Map: Choose Your Weapon!

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This topic is for discussion of map: Choose Your Weapon!


Author: Crysen

Desc:
This map is designed with three main approaches, two obvious which are hard and expert respectively; one not so obvious, which makes the map... trivial...

[Crysen]

Hi! I just realised that this map looks absolutely confusing (and unappealing) from the screenshot as well as the initial survey. Just to help players along, it's messy but necessarily so - I designed it so that

1) Mortar players *cannot* exploit the flat terrian in the south;
2) Blaster players *cannot* exploit easy access via relays  and emitter capping up north.
3) Expert players have a slightly harder time looking for the map exploit deliberately left in the map.

Hence, depending on the weapon you chose at the start, you will have to use rather different approaches to win. I'm fairly experienced myself (though not an expert) and found that I had a hard time with mortars, but blasters was comparatively easy; if you choose drones, don't look at me - I've no idea how to play that either =).

*Note that the emitters in the tech enclosures are there purely to prevent players from collecting more than 1 weapon at the start; they will never overflow, so there's no need to take them into account in the main gameplay.

[Karsten75]

There are several ways to complete the map that I suspect you might not have thought of. :)

[km]

Sorry, I chickened out of this one. Fastest score seems downright impossible to me!

[Crysen]

There are several ways to complete the map that I suspect you might not have thought of. :)

Oh! That's great! What was your method? I thought I'd covered all the possibilities in planning the layout - but apparently not! Hope you found it interesting though!

Sorry, I chickened out of this one. Fastest score seems downright impossible to me!

Well, not by conventional methods, at least - the fastest score requires usage of the map exploit. There is a sweetspot on the map somewhere, or you can create one yourself!

[Fisherck]

It took me a try or two to find the right starting place, but I got it.

Well, not by conventional methods, at least - the fastest score requires usage of the map exploit. There is a sweetspot on the map somewhere, or you can create one yourself!

;D That is a good way to put it.

[Crysen]

Sorry, I chickened out of this one. Fastest score seems downright impossible to me!

Oh, just for comparison's sake, here's the huge difference in timing in my own playthroughs:

Mortar - 56 min (ignored mortar option of collecting and using blasters in midgame, would prolly be about 30-40min then)
Blaster - 15 min
Drones - ??? (never tried)
Exploit - 2 - 3 min

So - don't be embarrassed about posting slower scores! It really depends on whether you want to take up the challenge or not.

-Edit-

Well, I'm surprised! I just tried Drones- It was surprisingly easy. I had though both northen and southern flooding to be much harder to controlly with the long recharge from drones but apparently not! Even faser than blasters actually - 11:12

[Karsten75]

This is your first map and most map makers have a lot to learn from their first maps.

So I made you a . It is not the optimum way to play and win - that I will leave for people to find on their own.  It is merely to show you that there need not be an either/or choice of weapons. In fact it is entirely unnecessary to build more weapons or more energy than you initially provide.

The creeper is never a threat and it is trivial to connect to all the techs and totems.

But you have good ideas, so I look forward to more maps from you - at least you made a map that is playable, as opposed to the noobish mistake f making a map that is totally impossible.

What I haven't figured out is what strategy you followed to post the 2:23 time. I either get the time on the video, which is around 3 minutes or the much shorter time of well under 2 minutes (which I see Fisherck also figured out).

[Crysen]

This is your first map and most map makers have a lot to learn from their first maps.

So I made you a . It is not the optimum way to play and win - that I will leave for people to find on their own.  It is merely to show you that there need not be an either/or choice of weapons. In fact it is entirely unnecessary to build more weapons or more energy than you initially provide.

The creeper is never a threat and it is trivial to connect to all the techs and totems.

But you have good ideas, so I look forward to more maps from you - at least you made a map that is playable, as opposed to the noobish mistake f making a map that is totally impossible.

What I haven't figured out is what strategy you followed to post the 2:23 time. I either get the time on the video, which is around 3 minutes or the much shorter time of well under 2 minutes (which I see Fisherck also figured out).

Thanks for the compliment and encouragement - I saw the vid; clearly, the difference in time is mainly an issue of expertise rather than approach - you were much more efficient and deploying your resources and a great deal more aggressive in game play than I am. Originally, the only sweet spot I intended to leave was the one at the lower left of the map (near the mined sink), as I thought it would be highly unintuitive for any player to move OC to just an unrelated spot. It was more an easter egg than anything, with the stockpile being a taunt to find the egg; my true purpose was to confine players to decide on, and confine themselves to, using one, and only one type of weapon.

Once OC passed near enough to charge the blasters, I moved OC to the cradle with the relay tech. From there, it was about the same except that I was more conservative and hence somewhat slower (I got the totems first, then went for mortar tech rather than doign it simultaneously).

It was only after publishing that I realised that exactly those structures could be sacrificed to make way for OC. Didn't recall or republish because I thought the point was moot anyway. Thanks for the vid!

Have a few more concepts although your play demonstrates that one of the more interesting ones wouldn't work, but I'll work on the other.

[Karsten75]

Hmmm... even knowing what you did I cannot replicate your time - I consistently run over. I did manage, however, to cut several seconds off my time as  per  the video clip by bridging with weapons and so eliminating two relays in favor of two collectors.

Oh well.

[fractalman]

...wait, how am i supposed to get blaster tech initially  ???
...I unfroze the three blasters on the left, used those to protect most of the stuff, while immediately building a collector chain to the drones.

with that, i was able to get a time of 9:22 using drones :S.

still not sure what the "exploit" is.