Part 130: Unknown Scenario - Part 2 & 4.2 An Old Friend

Unknown Scenario - Part 2 & 4.2 An Old Friend

Video





The map extends a bit further to the south but this is basically it. There are four spore towers in that complex that forms the southeast of this map. They cover an AE Tower and an Emitter that spawns 1000 creeper every half-second. For our part, we have a fortification in the northwest, and a chasm protects the northeast. Rather obviously, the two parts are not connected and it'd be nice to use all those ready-made reactors, lots of ore over there as well and a few Power Zones.







Wait, what? Has our 'daughter' finally gone insane and starting talking to herself ... or her 'finite construct/limited self-projection/imaginary friend'? In true Creeper World fashion, this will not be explained, nor is it ultimately even relevant.




Bad grammar FTW ...




Spelling aside, how can something be 'too strong' for 'ultimate' weapons? And who is 'he'? She does seem to be telling us to use berthas though.




So something bad happens in seven minutes, I guess?




Thanks Skars-Self. I took judicious notice of this, and yet I didn't fully realize the half of it.




It's pretty self-evident that the first move needs to be connecting via Relays. Then the three siphons also stand out - they have 250 energy each.




Then I threw up the Ore Mines, and then as seen here put up Beams in our northwestern network.




After a while, I decided to go more aggressive and try to completely restrain the creeper to its' compound, putting Beams up on the walls around it to contain the spore attacks. 3:29 mission time here, with the spore towers at 69% construction. I'd also set that SuperBertha on auto-target by now to start keeping the creeper in check, and had a Forge going.




Less than two minutes later, this happened. About 20 beams, one on a power zone, is clearly not even remotely close to enough. I needed to drastically adjust my definition of 'overbuilding'. Moving the Command Node in closer is definitely the right move I think, just not nearly enough to help save this.

Take 2 - 8:14 video




Same idea here except I went for it right away, and ended up with most of two rows of beams up, just outside the walls in this case. By the way, the first launch happens at about 5:11 mission time. So what was that 7 minutes nonsense from the briefing?




Soon it's clear I don't have enough energy for this. I started building a few more reactors, but I only have half of what I need and the constant waves of spores don't give you time. I didn't realize at the moment that I had almost 250 Aether. I don't think investing it all in energy efficiency would have been enough - but it darn sure would have gotten me closer and I should have tried. Instead, this happened ...




I concluded that I needed a better starting build order to get more Beams and Reactors. Which is a good thing to do anyway, but I was closer to winning this one than I thought.

Take 3 - 14:50 video




Focusing on energy first, I moved all the beams out, put up a third SuperReactor, then filled the rest of these with reactors as I was able. I would eventually improve the process of timing here but I kept this basic idea. I'm also ignoring the ore for now - that's a luxury to be dealt with later.




That SuperBertha can keep the creeper under control ... if you activate it soon enough. I didn't. This is what happens if you don't.

Take 4 - 16:34 video


Aided by me overbuilding beams and running short on energy, along with having the bertha activated but not as soon as I should have, I eventually had the same result with only modest improvement.

Take 5 - 19:02 video

Same thing for a third time, worse than the first two. *Slap self*

Take 6 - 20:21 video


Annoyed at myself for some early overbuilding, I cut this one off early.

Take 7 - 20:37 video

I activate the bertha too late. AGAIN. I could put more shots of this, but really just look at the first one. It's pretty much the same. I also threw in completely forgetting to build the Forge as a bonus feature of this particular fail.

Take 8 - 22:13 video




This is just shrunk down to show everything with the timing. Connect to the northeast with relays, move the beams, get the siphons up, build the first couple reactor rows, activate the bertha, build the forge. I think this is the first time I got that sequence correct. 1 minute and 4 seconds, so four minutes and change left to get ready.




The rest of the reactors in the northeast came next, but I wasn't satisfied. MOAR REACTORS in the northwest as well.




Then it was time for Beams. Lots of Beams. Two full rows and more under construction by the time the spores launched. Energy income was at a bit over 60 ... and still the deficit soon hit 35. I spent too much Aether on Build Speed ... packet speed and energy efficiency are everything here as has been mentioned. I did eventually get the mental memo that it was a good idea, and I had enough reactors and beams that the deficit was sustainable in the meantime. Barely.

Building more reactors, researching improved range for the beams, etc. was up next. Having finally made it past this Spore Surge, I wanted to make darned sure I stayed on top of that situation.




Having boxed the enemy in, I now wanted to close the net. Grabbing up the various ore deposits and putting up Sprayers on the compound wall, along with connecting to those extra Totems - which I could and should have done earlier to make my life easier - was next. With regards to those platforms with the holes in them - no Terps allowed on this level. So I decided to go around them. A good choice when it's the only one available.




First I built a few cannons just inside the compound, then added a couple of sprayers, gradually escalating a push along the eastern map edge. When spores started targeting relays far enough in that the outer ring of beams couldn't reach them, I both increased range again and built a dozen or so beams inside, closer to the attack group.




Once we got close enough, Mortars were added as well. I thought about a Shield but didn't seem a good idea with AC helping us and a high volume of creeper. From here I simply crammed in more and more, with continuing upgrades, and it was enough to kill off this cluster and end the threat.

A quirky little level that's all about that first five minutes. It only took 20 minutes total to finish once I'd gotten over that hump, and it wouldn't surprise me to see it done in less than ten. This is a new definition of a lot of spores though, putting even Flood Walls to shame. Accordingly, I was basically forced into getting the Beam Lover achievement.




4.2 An Old Friend. It's time to revist the whole 'let's start in a crater' schtick.










Huh? Only my question is who is that shadowy, nameless figure, and why does nobody seem to care? And who taught you grammar anyway??




Ahh, poking more fun at the Story I see.










"Doing better as she has done back then". MAX, FETCH ME MY SEDATIVE!!!










Do shut up and get to the bloody point please.










That ... was something. What, aside from a frontal assault on clear thinking and the English language itself at times, I'm not sure. But that AC emitter is at 50 per half-second, the others scattered about in opposition are 20 per half-second. So it is quite useful.




At first, the AC holds things off. Soon the creeper starts to push it back around the black rock formation, and it needs help. Meanwhile we snag the ore deposits we can, and work on building energy and cannons to equalize things.




There's no easy way to get around the elevated positions, but I think this is better than heading west. Progress is slow, partly because of limited energy and partly because there's no Totems, hence no upgrades. I can build reactors but collectors seemed to me better in order to boost energy supply early.




Reaching the top here on the eastern edge, I start slowly building some reactors and also add a Mortar to help us approach the first target. Later I brought the sprayer up as it was proving annoying to get a Nullifier in place otherwhise - a thin carpet of anti-creeper gave us just the little boost needed.




Once the two elevated emitters in the southeast corner went away, it was a bit more simple task of mostly working down hill to cut things off. I'd also added a couple more defensive Cannons, and a pair of mortars by the AC emitter to help ensure nothing too troublesome happened over there.

There wasn't anything particularly interesting about the rest - a fairly tedious moving over highly-even terrain with minimal-speed weapons.




A while later, possibly the most extreme ridgeline I've yet seen in CW comes into view. It drops sharply on either side, and the logistics of placing weapons and relays would get somewhat interesting. That was definitely the biggest remaining challenge, as the overall creeper level was steadily declining.

I left this level just thinking it was a bit tedious and definitely too easy. If the AC emitter was dropped significantly, requiring more of the player initially; or perhaps if you didn't start with a few collectors already in place, the early part could be quite a bit more resistant. As it is, it just seemed a laborious and somewhat annoying task.

Now I'm moving on to four-planet systems, beginning with Hunter Seeker.