A grand secret revealed: The last element of CW

[mthw2vc]

At long last, the time has come for me to reveal to the public the last and most often overlooked element of Creeper World 1's gameplay...

Before you begin reading this, attempt this map. Yes, I authored it. Yes, it is likely the hardest map you will ever play. But it serves a central role in my explanation and allows you to grasp the power of this element of play. What follows is the ultimate spoiler for the map. Do not read it until you no longer wish to find the solution for yourself.

Spoiler

Now that that's over with, let the exposition begin. If you wish simply to know the solution, I will tell you. Click an orange button in the top right corner of the menu screen before playing. Why this works, and how, are very important points to make. Double Down, as it is called, can be unlocked by finishing the last 2 Special OPs missions, although in order to do so, you must finish every conquest map. The question then becomes one of what it does, and how you can use it to your advantage. Some testing in the included maps reveal that it seems to make the creeper stronger, and so many people only turn it on when they want an extra challenge.

While that may seem to be all, if it were, you would not only lose, but lose faster. Clearly there is more to it. Using the marvelous power of the custom map editor, one can perform more precise tests. Upon doing so, one sees the effects more directly. As it happens, Double Down decreases the amount of time between emitter firings by 50%. Since emitters produce creeper, this works against you. There is still no obvious reason for this to save you. However, careful examination of the emitter firing procedure allows you to see what is really going on here. When an emitter fires, rather than adding its intensity to the creeper levels above it, it replaces the creeper level above it by its intensity. This means that a 0-intensity emitter removes all of the creeper above it when it fires. Since they fire twice as often, less creeper can get in, even though there is more on the outside.

The final piece of the puzzle comes with the knowledge that the creeper only updates its flow every 7 frames, or about 1/5 of a second. This is the reason 0.1 interval emitters seem to not be much stronger than 0.2 interval emitters until you attempt to cap them. Since these emitters fire roughly every 2/5 of a second, setting them on double speed means they delete creeper before it can spread to the other side.

The only question that remains is as to whether or not it is worth using on any given map. There are not very many that you benefit in this way from, but they do exist.

[close]

Read the replies at your own risk. I have neither power nor desire to prevent people from replying with spoilers.

[thepenguin]

another example

http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/mapcomments.php?id=2939&page=

[UpperKEES]

Wasn't all of this discussed here?

[mthw2vc]

That deals more with the fact that the creeper only updates every 7 frames. The knowledge of that fact and the knowledge of how to use it to your advantage are very different things. For many, it may not be a simple thing to connect the dots.

[Grauniad]

There are dots here?

[Overbyte]

The grand secret is the replay-abilty of the game.
Every map is a different chalange.. I, myself, like the micro-management of Age of Empires
I haven't delved into the micro-mechanics of the game, but love to hear you guys banter.
I learn alot from it..

[Blaze]

The grand secret is the replay-abilty of the game.
Every map is a different chalange.. I, myself, like the micro-management of Age of Empires
I haven't delved into the micro-mechanics of the game, but love to hear you guys banter.
I learn alot from it..

I know right?

[Kamron3]

The grand secret is the replay-abilty of the game.
Every map is a different chalange.. I, myself, like the micro-management of Age of Empires
I haven't delved into the micro-mechanics of the game, but love to hear you guys banter.
I learn alot from it..

Actually, the replay-ability of this game isn't honestly that great. Sure it kept me busy for about 8 hours doing the storyline, but after that my gameplay dropped off. I played a few CW1 maps here and there, but nothing was really fun after that for me.

[Ebon Heart]

I never really got into the conquest maps... so I couldn't beat this if I wanted to! (which I do) the lack of story line is what kept me away, after I beat the story mode, I went into map editing.

[mthw2vc]

The later conquest maps can get boring, yes... The early ones, on the other hand are fairly quick to play even without mad skillz. If I get enough requests (3, to be exact), I would be willing to post a gamedata.dat with enough in-game maps completed to unlock DD.

[Ebon Heart]

REQUEST! lol

[UpperKEES]

A worthy player plays all maps.... twice! Once normally and once in DD mode. Earn it! :P

[Ebon Heart]

some maps just can't be won on DD
EDIT: 200th post!

[mthw2vc]

Every non-custom/chronom map can be finished on DD. No known (to me) chronom maps are impossible, even on DD, although a few are difficult.

[Ebon Heart]

Someone needs to hurry up and find a chronom map that can't be won on DD!!