Part 72: Bonus 9: Cubic
Bonus 9: Cubichttps://youtu.be/xVBoiOTV_6k
There's more below. It's a 3x3 'cube', in Zero-G once again. I'm completely secure here though. I could stay here forever. The trick is to successfully expand. The room directly below has a weird long-delay pulse emitter and that's it. 200k every minute. Actually not that much in the grand scheme of things. But it also has 10 HP. The room to the right is empty. And those are the two options before me.
Here's the rest of what's coming up later.
With no immediate threats for the first time in a few levels at least, I get reactors and tech domes up right away.
As I move into the left-middle square with some blasters, creeper bars appear in the top-middle one, immediately destroying most of my buildings there. You just knew it was too easy to be true. I think, but am not sure, they are generated by the top-right chamber. Which is super great.
I put up a launcher to work on that a bit but mostly just keep focused on the left side, building three nullifiers at a crack to take down this emitter.
The square just on top of this gateway in the bottom-left contains one billion creeper. It's like the Nexus level, only no conversion bombs or dark beams. This is the instant after I release it. I, uh, didn't check how much was in there.
Less than a minute later as it bubbles upwards much more quickly than I can deal with it. Ok then.
** Take 2: 10:30 video, 7:15 mission timer.
I know I can claim the square directly below as a safe zone, so I go there first this time, building up energy and tech capabilities again. It seems safer to try to deal with what's along the top than to fight with a billion creeper.
Building reactors on the 'gaps' in between where the bars form after clearing them out, I move across and eventually discover that the top-right chamber has a different gimmick. Gravity shifts every so often(30 seconds). 40k creeper every half-second is produced by the emitter, but the biggest problem is getting a nullifier built before it shifts again and takes it out.
One of those places where packet speed is beneficial, I weaken the concentration and then eventually get it done.
Then it's time for fun with drones, for which I add a lot more Blasters to my collection. Once they've been slaughtered sufficiently in the chokepoint entrance, I've got almost half of the rooms under my control.
I overprepared for the middle room, but that's because I didn't know it was 'frozen'. It's just a case of enough firepower to take out a full chamber of 2M-density creeper.
Bottom-middle, where there's just an annoying, fast-moving creeper creature. Eventually the blasters rip it apart.
On to the bottom-right, which I really should have done earlier. Almost 2M density here as well, and this one with an emitter to replenish it. 200k from that thing six times a second, so over a million/sec. And I end up with a big deficit soon, but by that time I'd more than gained the upper hand.
You might say I wanted to be darn sure the next time I released 1 billion creeper that I was ready for it. I now have reactors on nearly every available surface.
It still wasn't close to enough; 43 energy in, 23 deficit. And the creeper threw a big fit, but this is as close as it got. My second line of defenses and shields ended up being completely unnecessary. But you can't be too careful.
After this demonstration of gimmicks on parade, there's one more to complete all of the 'official' material.