canonical link to CPACK - where to get the author-maintained version

Cursor maps have a very simple nature but can become increasingly complicated when more scripts are added into the map. The basic principle is that anticreeper is created at your pointer's location if there is already anticreeper there. The amount that is created depends on the amount of terrain that is covered in anticreeper. This means progress is made by covering as much terrain in anticreeper as possible, preferrably in a way that it can sustain itself. Some Cursor maps instead have you use a Creeper Cursor which is the same as the normal cursor, but for creeper.

Some Cursor maps will use a mirror cursor that mirrors your cursor's movement through the center, meaning it'll be on the other side of the map compared to your (real) cursor. This 2nd cursor will usually be of opposing type, meaning that if your goal is to make anticreeper fill the map, the mirror cursor will usually be creeper based. The “enemy” cursor will usually be weaker than yours in some way. Either it grows in power slower, or it has less power overall. When playing these types of maps, beware of the mirror cursor.

Usually the objective of an cursor map is to fully reclaim the entire map. Hold and nullify objectives sometimes show up as well. If other scripts are also involved there might be some of their signature objectives in the map as well.

The current Cursor scripts will always try to have an target area that's somewhere within the map borders to make mirror cursor modes better. Cursor maps from before the first mirror Cursor map don't have this feature. Furthermore, the Cursor won't create anything on void to prevent certain strategies on maps with mesh. There are some versions which lack this restriction though.

The CPACK which is (theoretically) linked at the top, also found in most cursor maps under the name “CursorBuilder”, is a template to build your own cursor scripts. Read the comments written inside the script of the CPACK for more information. The intended way to use it is by copy-pasting relevant parts from the script into an empty new script, thus forming an working cursor script if done correctly.

Make sure you set all the unit limits to 0, as the cursor script won't do that itself. If you want to leave some units in, that's also fine. One could even keep all units in if they want.

Make sure areas aren't connected too much with each other. You can do this my connecting areas with each other by small “bridges” of land and making the rest of of edge of the connected areas void/space. Like that, areas won't interfere with each other too much. Using absorber won't allow creeper/anticreeper to get past without the cursor to guide them, which can also be useful sometimes.

The most important part is adding some breeder patches, making sure there's an good starting area, and having the right balance overall. With an anticreeper based cursor the starting area is all areas filled with anticreeper at the start, with the creeper cursor it's the same but for all areas with creeper instead. The breeder patches should be stronger when more far away from the starting area on average, so that the map isn't balanced just around the start.

Balancing the map when it isn't balanced can either be done by making breeder/enemies stronger or by making the cursor stronger. The “PowerPerTile” variable controls the power of the cursor here. You can also make areas less/more connected to each other to balance things.

Overall, the general rule with cursor maps is that there are no strict rules. The script can do it's thing in any case, though it's advised not to make a map that demands too much attention from both cursor and something else, as that would just become a multitasking/pause fiesta. And don't forget to actually add in the cursor script(s) of your choice, or it won't be a cursor map.

No documentation as they don't tell you what version they use.

Added a variant to the template script (CursorBuilder) so that there is now also an option to have emitting only obey void restrictions (Instead of just having a version that ignores all restrictions, or obeys all of them.) Also added mirror options to only horiontally/vertically mirror the cursor. No important gameplay changes, only new options.

No relevant units (yet)

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