Part 191: Curiosity Station & Creeper In The Wind

Curiosity Station & Creeper In The Wind





It occurred to me as I was wrapping this one up that Curiosity Station might be a reference to the Mars Curiosity rover, red planet and all? Other than that, I've got nothing here. Anyway we've got a sizable structure to defend ...




With a decent-sized map and only three standard emitters, it was soon obvious that the Digitalis would be the greatest enemy. With the variety of different potentially inroads into the 'station' that it can take, and will if permitted to, I soon realized that an external defense of the perimeter was preferable so I didn't have to contend with my own walls interrupting LOS.




Internally I had the usual schtick, Forge, Reactor farm, some basic upgrades, and given the potential issues it seemed appropriate to have a number of backup Cannons. I didn't end up having any such crisis here, but better safe than sorry.

Terps are available but I decided against using them, throwing up a pair of Berthas and papering the station area with reactors where I could instead. It was more than enough.




A massed push to the north began with all cannons, then a couple of Mortars were added. It was steady progress, if slowish thanks to the ever-present and ever-annoying webbing covering much of the ground.




The second Emitter in the northwest is protected on a plateau, so I did the terp-platforming methodology and grabbed a couple of shields. Aside from this, it was a simple matter of pushing through the digitalis to the targets.




Creeper In The Wind. Another one that looks cooler than it is. Some of the geometrics have a practical purpose. Most of them are just there.




One Node for this map. I choose a more passive defense strategy, when actual Relaying straight towards the northwest and those raised whatever-they-ares almost certainly would have put an end to this more quickly. But with three standard emitters opposing us and that's all, it's not going to be a challenge either way.




So instead, realizing their importance, I fashion a Guppy and a Mortar, sallying forth to secure them ... too late. Of course all this costs is time, but it was still annoying.




Before long, I get a placement on the northern-most thingamajig, and and that lowers levels to where I can expand with additional guppies and mortars, and so on.




Relay connections are strung along the drying ground in the north, reducing and then eliminating the need for guppies. As more weapons are added, the flow of creeper is eventually cut off entirely.




Takes some more concentrated effort to press forward further, but not too much. The nullifying proceeds, and victory follows soon after.