Part 143: Chunk

Chunk





Another really big map, though I think it's a hair smaller. We've got some dead space here though, land broken up into different sections, elevation changes, etc.




Beginning along the east edge, where we've got various Siphon resources, ore, a Totem, and a modest-sized plateau. A pretty darned good defensive location, and a Sprayer will help hold it initially.




Beams and a Forge are added fairly soon to further secure both present and future plans. A ways due west, this AC emitter is doing a pretty darned good job and seemed a good spot for the third Command Node. It looked like an area I should try to make something out of. Meanwhile the first salvo of 15 Spores was preparing to launch.




Spending some time at each area, I knocked out one emitter here and started ramping up weapons for a more substantive push.




Gradual progress was made by both networks. Here I needed a few weapons to surround the first emitter enough so I didn't destroy the AC emitter along with it.




Bird's-eye view 16 minutes in, as the two offensives slowly push towards each other. In the east, my goal is to turn towards the south as soon as I can, then isolate and clear out that corner so I can get the three Ore Deposits there. By the time I got there, my usual trio of SuperBerthas were in place and pounding the map wherever they saw fit. I was also about half-way through upgrades.




Concurrently, the secondary network had taken down an AE Tower and was working on breaking out of its bottleneck. After placing a bit more artillery, it was time to start really clearing the map more aggressively.




Ore income was now up to 9.0, allowing a second sprayer, and massed advance began from east to west along the southern strip.




Soon afterwards the two networks linked up, adding insurance against any potential energy issues that mighit arise.




This creeper position in the southwest had a little more emitter concentration on elevated ground, and slowed me down a bit. Not much though, I had enough firepower to overwhelm it. I was a bit concerned about those narrow passages to the north, but they ended up being of little consequence.

Soon I started to divide up forces more to somewhat increase the rate of progression. It was also at about this point that I began to remark on how much less tedious this map is than SuperFlat. It's still tedious, still a grind, but the variety in the landscape makes it only a fraction as annoying at least to me.




After blasting my way up the west side of the map, this crossing proved to be the greatest resistance I would face. Nothing that sheer brute force couldn't solve, and a significant share of the spore towers were in this area.

Afterwards, it was just more methodical clearing of the northern and eastern sections. Once again the overall time came in at somewhat over an hour.