Weekly history tournament - Really tall buildings - closing Oct. 31

[ctuna]

UpperKEES: my main problem with, for example, the cluster of blasters in the first and third maps, is how to keep them active while the collectors load. Do you space their arrivals a few seconds apart, send them in in small clusters or pairs, alternate their active states to delay them running out of energy, or what?

The last one is, I think, April 19, 1922, from the fighter aces tournament.

[UpperKEES]

Yeah, timing is very important (and can be frustrating). When you want to clean an area it's better when all blasters start firing simultaneously, so just activate them when they have all landed. Some might take a little damage, but once they start firing they will protect each other. This is also a reason to keep them close together.

Another reason is that they will fire at less creeper that way, thus preserving energy. This is also why you like them close to the edge of the map or an higher elevation.

Once an area has been cleared (often just 3-5 shots of each blaster are needed) you can indeed deactivate some of them, depending on the intensity of the creeper. You activate them again when the other blasters run out of juice. The +20% faster building upgrades allows you to use less fire power, because the collector being built will finish faster.

You'll have to experiment a bit with this and their positions to find the best set up and even then you'll probably fail more than 50% of the time when trying the use the minimum amount possible. I often use one blaster more than I really need to make sure I can set a decent time and try to do it without that one later on. I'm often that concentrated on the collector being finished that I forget to look at my bridging SAM exploding in the creeper ;)

Please note that some of the above advises also come from hi & Siccles, so it can pay off to join the chat once in a while to discuss the latest progress! :)

[ctuna]

Yeah, I get the SAM-sacrifice error frequently. I guess, again, it's mostly my lack of patience to keep trying when it seems so tedious. Also, I've tried the chat a few times, but rarely came across actual gameplay discussion - Maybe I'll give it a try more often. Thanks for the advice.

[UpperKEES]

Same for me, I don't have as much patience as some other who pause every 1-2 seconds (or even after a few frames in certain cases!). On the other hand I often pause every 10-20 seconds, which is a lot more than most people do. It just depends how much time I have available and how eager I am to win. When I think I can make it by just a few hours of intensive play, I'll go for it, but I am not able to keep that up for weeks (and I don't want to either).

[Katra]

I don't like to pause a lot except right at the beginning to set and build; but there are cases where I have to. (dropping a cluster of blasters into the creep is one - pause, set move, and unpause is my preferred method of doing it) And I'll pause frequently if I'm managing a blaster charge across a wide area. I can't click fast enough to keep a dozen or so blasters leapfrogging forward efficiently.  ;D

I don't use SAMs for bridging very often; but all too often I'll look down and see 'Spore attack in 0:10' and realize I forgot my SAMs...  (Sometimes that works out OK though; the last map I played on this week's OC disappeared just as the siren went off.)

[Fisherck]

UpperKEES, I think you put the wrong picture for May 3, 1973. It looks a lot like April 19, 1922 ;D.

[UpperKEES]

The last one is, I think, April 19, 1922, from the fighter aces tournament.

UpperKEES, I think you put the wrong picture for May 3, 1973. It looks a lot like April 19, 1922 ;D.

Oops, sorry! :-[ Something apparently went wrong there. Also my apologies for not noticing ctuna's remark about it.

Should be okay now.... :)