Jamis: Level2.level - Return to Alpha Quadrant v.2

[Jamis]

Hello again all.

I wasn't completely satisfied with how Return to Alpha Quadrant played out so I modified it up a bit.

There are now 13 central asteroids you will need to conquer, which allows for 9 computer players to be a part of the action (8 on the fray, and 1 central).  Along with those 13 central asteroids, you will also need to take and hold the four closest asteroids towards the edge of the map.  Two of those four asteroids you share with your neighbors, so hopefully you will be having battles on multiple fronts.

Defensive trees are still very strong, and I'm looking in to a way to remove them completely from my maps.  If I figure that out, I will be putting out a .v3 and let you guys decide which map you like better.

Seed attack distance has been increased which makes them actually worthwhile now when enemy seeds are in their presence.

I've also standardized the seed speed stat across every asteroid to make things a bit more uniform.  Asteroid strength still increases linearly as you approach the center of the cluster.

In the screen shot below, the green guys are the starting locations of all the players.  By default, the bottom right is where Player 1 will start.

I hope you all enjoy.

-Jamis

[M0rtii]

I think a level without any defense trees would be interesting.  I like the idea and layout of this level, but the defense trees seem to be too strong.  The computer opponents usually grew 3 defense trees per asteroid and with them being stronger, it became tedious to take asteroids.  I was blowing through 200-250 seedlings per developed asteroid.  It basically took forever because I had to build huge fleets for every single asteroid.  If you can't get rid of the defense trees, maybe making them weaker than normal would render them useless.  I don't know exactly how the AI makes its tree decisions, but for the sake of having a decent opponent, the AI would need to use less defense trees if dialing down the strength.

Really though, I've liked both these levels so far.  I think they just need tweaking.

[Jamis]

I think I have a partial solution for my defensive tree problem.

Check out the next level I'll be putting out today (level3.level - Cutting Corners).  The trees are still very strong, but the seeds themselves have been tweaked to better deal with defensive trees.  You'll still need a large army to overcome the devensive trees, but you won't lose as many seeds taking them down as you do right now.

If people seem to like those options better, I'll update all of my boards with it.

-Jamis

[Mr Frank]

Making defense trees cost some ridiculous number of seedlings would probably have the desired effect.  Sorry for not checking in case both tree types use the same variable for cost, but I'm feeling lazy.

[scratch]

I think the stronger defensive trees aren't that bad. Until now i was able to beat every level without planting def trees myself, i just build up a proper army every time. Your map here didn't challenge that way of playing the game - but made it more fun since the masses can't just overrun the roids that easily anymore.

[Bonobo]

Hello Jamis, I hope you still follow this forum. I have renamed your level and added it to a ZIP file collection of all oldstyle (*.level) levels in this thread.