Custom Map #568: The waters of death

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This topic is for discussion of map #568: The waters of death


Author: Mr.H

Desc:
Whilst enroute to resupply at colony prime, your liberation ship is suddenly under the influence of a tremendous amount of gravity. You wake up buried beneath the ground, and hear the faint humm of emitters activating, you man your battle stations, but with limited supplies do you really stand a chance? Uncover the secret behind this mysterious planet, if you survive ofcourse...

[Mr.H]

Hello everyone I hope you enjoyed my first map :). Now then if your having difficulties or just want some best time hint use these spoilers :P.

Any advice (fullout criticism is not advice) is welcome since I'd like to hear what you guys think and some improvements I should make. I personally playtested it three times, and theblasters testing help was much appreciated(thanks for spotting that shield issue ;) ). Anywhu who knows, maybe Ill make a sequel:).

Also if you thumbs me down please tell me why, maybe I can fix the problem or just use that knowledge in future maps.

Don't read the spoilers if you haven't played yet, this will ruin the fun and challenge only use it if a, you are stuck b, you want to redo the map for best scores.

The spoilers have different versions. The first one gives a small clue, the second gives more clues, and the third one is if all else fails.
Hint 1(small tip):

Spoiler

Did you notice those two tubes at the right and left? Im sure they'll cut down on that slog of yours :P

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Hint 2(good guidelines):

Spoiler

Get that maker ASAP, use the tubes and put launchers in them so you can get you blasters in position. Have your main siege be conducted from the tubes(or one)

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Hint 3(totally stuck):

Spoiler

Build three reactors with you starting energy and one phantom coil to the top left of your ship. Start placing more reactors until you have at least 10, then build another phantom coild directly above you. (the bottom two phantom gates release friendly creeper ;) ). The initial siege when the creeper breaks your shield wall won't be too bad. Three blasters and oen launcher is more then sufficient, and you have enough time to build it(just remember to manage energy well). The creeper field in the tube(the central area) is controlled by a field that turns on and off every once ina while. You can see rows at
the bottom where the creeper is really dense when it is on these then dissapear when it is off. Use this to you advantage and move your units when it's off. The frontier on your left isn't very good for getting a progressive foothold, so instead( after filling your side of the canyon compeltly with reactors(one or two tech domes), build three blasters and a launcher near the bottom right (where the phantom gate is). Then open it up and priortise on getting that tube to be inaccesible by the creeper( you'll need it later). Then do blaster jumping to move forward (build 2 more at this point), having trouble with energy? Use your techyntes(from the domes I told you to build) and research energy efficiency as far as it can go. The emitter with the moving field in the bottom centre is your 'friend' as it takes the creeper with it and moves it to the top. Once you've blaster jumped you blasters near the centre(remember to use shields), build a reactor which just allows you too reach the other side of the canyon. Now use the field trick I said earlier and move your units one at a time each time it happens. Also remember to build a micro rift so you can supply your bottom troops continiously. Once you've established your foothold, get one or two blasters and move them slowly to the left. Then start moving your units up to completly block of the central tube. Your units are holding back the creeper so you can now build a beacon on the left canyon side so you can reach the maker. Congradulations you got it:P! Move your launchers into the right tube, and make your maker follow it(build a micro rift to speed things up). The maker is a great boost as the tube fields affect anti-creeper too! Meanwhile start building into the left canyon, once you've filled it up (remember the phantom coils). You'll have loads of energy so build some more blasters and take the battle to the creeper. Your tube frontier should be working well now so move oen or two blasters in to hold back that creeper. First you should target that emitter near the top right witha 30s interval. Use the blasters to hold back the creeper and the maker to give you the extra boost, use the two launchers to target that emitter when it bursts. Once you've advanced enough build one shield under it(this is where the field moves to) and wait for it to burst. As soon as your units dealt with that build a nullifier, when it's complete it should nullify it exactly when it burst again.
Now it's a simple creeper eradication job. Inorder to get that conversion bomb(which allows you victory easily:P), you'll need to destroy thsoe three emitters(one is under the tech). Use a maker with shields at the bottom to giev you that litle boost. Research level two fire rate for your blasters and use three and jump them each time. Also remember to have launcher support. Nullify the three emitters, and congradulations victory!

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Cheers,
Mr.H

[SmileyCoder]

I enjoyed this map as it was a real challenge.

Spoiler

I was initially never able to get across to the other side to the maker. I simply couldn't get the energy. After a while of trying, I left 4 blasters to keep the right tube free, and then made my way up, and managed to kill of some of the emitters and gateways, but couldn't quite get to the Conversion Bomb. However with less emitters on top, I was now able to make it across the chasm, get the maker, use it to get the creeper bomb, and from there it was easy.

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One of the good things in this map is that I found very little "slog" where I just wait to clean up that giant pool. That was fairly limited, the map was well balanced, and it was a challenge to complete it.

[Mr.H]

Yeah in my first version the conversion bomb wasn't there. So that meant 30 minutes of launchering that milion density cube are in the top centre. So I put the conversion bobm there as a little prize, but the narrowness of getting it from under those emitters is difficult, let alone impossible without the maker. I was first scared to put in experimentals because they were way to overpowered, I hope the difficulty of getting the tech(it requires you to defeat most of the map first) would balance that out. Thanks for the feed back :)

[TonyP2000]

Nice map, but I must say, personally, I didn't find this one as hard as you made it out to be. The only difficulty I had was that I had very little energy to work with, and I was in a deficit for a long time. After that, it was pretty easy. I had no problem keeping the creeper from destroying my ship but that is probably because almost all the maps that I have made and had that sort of aggressive beginning.

Good map, it was just a lot easier than it was made out to be.

[SmileyCoder]

I think you managed to achieve that goal very nicely. Experimentals can be good if used right. Your example of using it to "mop" up the remaining creeper in the end is good example of a non-overpowered use.

[Mr.H]

@ Tonyp2000 That just means ur really good ;) . But Idon't remember mentioning specifically the words: this map is difficult.

[TonyP2000]

lol, thanks, I am not great, I have just play tested these kinds of maps way to much. You don't literally say the map was tough, just the way you describe it "if you survive" and a couple of the map mod comments made it seem that this was going to be tough.

Still, it was fun though. Nice use of the CBs.

[DethbyIT]

This map is definitely on my "Play it again Sam" list.
The first run-through was just to complete it (and survive), but the next time will learn from my mistakes.

Very nicely done and thanks for posting it.
dbit

[Mr.H]

Very nicely done and thanks for posting it.
dbit

Thanks for the kind words dbit :P. Im currently throwing around the idea of creating another, map potentially a storywise sequel(i'll make sure there aren't any spelling mistakes in conversations this time *facepalm*). I'll either use my allready made volcano map and modify it to suit the story and crank the difficulty scale down a lot(i'm unable to finish it myself ... :P ). But im making a list of potential plot ideas, one of them sound particularily intresting. I'm just uncertain whether I can fill in some gaps in the credits area( some people dissapear etc) or if I should leave this open for potential sequels to creeper world,, pretty much Im not sure whether or not virgil is planning to fill those holes or not.

Any ideas are welcome :),
Mr.H

[Katra]

Seems to be a variety of attack strategies used on this one.

Spoiler

I slowly built power and weapons until I was able to nullify the bottom center emitter; at which point the weapons I already had soon cleared the bottom of the shaft out. Then I worked my way up both tubes while building reactors in the left side ground. (All the while slowly advancing up the shaft.)

Nullifying that last emitter under the conversion bomb tech took some fancy positioning of launchers so they wouldn't target the super dense spots of creeper.

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[Mr.H]

Yep that's exactly a great tactic:), the conversion bomb is tricky-but it is a conversion bomb afterall:P