Cloud Fun

[MMM]

Had a short match against AI and it definitely feels much better playing the map now. There is still a slight problem with the AI though, if one of their gruntz steps on the BHS near the fort they will stay there until they're dead - I think replacing it with a BTS should solve that. I think it would also be better if the switches controlling the center of the map were moved to the middle as to allow for both bridges it controls to be up half of the time. Also, the balls controlling the pyramidz near the forts should probably be slowed down a bit - the only successful attempts at penetrating any fort that the AI managed to make involved wingz or toobz, but oddly enough there are a lot of those, even though as far as I can see they're not that easily accessible. Otherwise, I think the map itself is fine, and the problem is really just the available tools and toys.

It already feels like there's a few too many wingz and toobz attacks, so it would really be better if the wingz available at the fortz were one time use only. The same goes for the brick laying tools, even if they're nowhere near as gamebreaking. And as before all of the toys really shouldn't be there, or at the very least should also be one-time use only. I didn't yet get around to exploiting the tools at the edges of the map, but I think it would be better if all of the powerups that can be dug up on the sides of the map were moved there to replace them, maybe also with a slightly higher duration than the other ones to balance how inconvenient it is to retrieve them (and then come back). The curses should probably be moved there as well to preserve map symmetry. Lastly the tools and toys in the center of the map should also be one time use only, and the timebombz should be replaced by another tool, they are insanely strong especially considering the area it's given out in.

Hope this doesn't sound too critical of me, I do appreciate this map and playing on it but I think all of these changes would make a very big difference.

[Zu]

Alright, let's try this one more time:

www.dropbox.com/s/ws9i7n8f1uysvbx/ZusCloudFunV4.WWD?dl=0

The changes:

- Replaced the BHS with BTS.

- Set all the toys, wings, toobs, bricklaying tools, and also the tools in the center of the map to respawn every 10 minutes. I think that's the closest to one-time use as I'm willing to go, since I would prefer not to have them non-respawnable, if possible.

- Slowed down the rolling balls that control the pyramids.

- Moved the BTS-es that control the bridges in the center to the middle, while also speeding up their rolling balls.

I believe that the high number of toobs might be a quirk of the AI, since I've seen them just spawn them out of nowhere.

[swietymiki]

You missed two wingz (one in the NW fort, the other in the SW fort) while modifying respawn times, they are still set to 2 minutes. And what about the spygear?

[Zu]

Just updated the link, thanks for pointing this out. I could have sworn that I got them all...

I also replaced the spygear received at the start with another shovel. There's a respawning copy of spygear at the edges of the map, so I suppose there's no harm in removing the starting ones.

[MMM]

I'd say it looks really good now, only a few smaller issues left. The zap cola apparently refreshes every 10 seconds which is extremely generous, and likewise for the powerups that last for minutes (the ones that are dug up on the sides). Something I also noticed is that sometimes I was confused as to where I needed to go since I needed to head towards my fort to get tools, this should be fixed by changing the positions of the tools and the grunt creation points. Lastly there's a couple of rolling balls that end up in the water at the south of the map at the beginning of the match, that, as far as I can tell, do nothing and should probably be removed.

[Zu]

Alright, one last try: www.dropbox.com/s/51gz2elijhuc9wj/ZusCloudFunV5.WWD?dl=0

- Upped the respawn time of the zap-cola kegs to 1 minute.

- The powerups that can be dug up only last 1 minute now. I think it's fair, considering that those particular ones are one-time only.

- Added more fortress flags all over the place, which should hopefully be enough for knowing where to go.

[MMM]

I think there is no longer anything that needs fixing. Thanks for the efforts!

[GooRoo]

Apr 2, 2018 9:54:08 GMT -8 Zu said:

Alright, let's try this one more time:

www.dropbox.com/s/ws9i7n8f1uysvbx/ZusCloudFunV4.WWD?dl=0

The changes:

- Replaced the BHS with BTS.

- Set all the toys, wings, toobs, bricklaying tools, and also the tools in the center of the map to respawn every 10 minutes. I think that's the closest to one-time use as I'm willing to go, since I would prefer not to have them non-respawnable, if possible.

- Slowed down the rolling balls that control the pyramids.

- Moved the BTS-es that control the bridges in the center to the middle, while also speeding up their rolling balls.

I believe that the high number of toobs might be a quirk of the AI, since I've seen them just spawn them out of nowhere.

Okay, I have SAVEd the version 4 map to my hard drive, and will complete the maintenance later tonight (I hope). Six CLz (so far) requiring Announcement changes and web site uploads ... and I am sure I will find more as I continue going backward through posts with images, maps, etc. to improve the Forum.

[Zu]

Actually, GooRoo, the most recent version is V5...

MMM, glad to hear that everything is good now! If you and swietymiki end up having another match on the newest version, then please let me know about the results!

[GooRoo]

Apr 3, 2018 17:23:44 GMT -8 Zu said:

Actually, GooRoo, the most recent version is V5...

MMM, glad to hear that everything is good now! If you and swietymiki end up having another match on the newest version, then please let me know about the results!

So I need to acquire it, along with any other supporting material for it, so I can re-upload everything to the FOrum's web host. (Now that I am able to spend time here, once again.

[GooRoo]

Apr 2, 2018 12:35:10 GMT -8 Zu said:

Alright, one last try: www.dropbox.com/s/51gz2elijhuc9wj/ZusCloudFunV5.WWD?dl=0

- Upped the respawn time of the zap-cola kegs to 1 minute.

- The powerups that can be dug up only last 1 minute now. I think it's fair, considering that those particular ones are one-time only.

- Added more fortress flags all over the place, which should hopefully be enough for knowing where to go.

I have this one SAVEd to my hard drive, took a BMP image via the GLE and converted it to JPG (saved about 4Mb) and created a new ThumbNail.jpg for it. I have two more (at least!) of your CLz to process, so it may not happen today.

[swietymiki]

We already played the newest version yesterday. This is the latest Statz page that I have from this map:

Battlez are a lot shorter now and the AI can finally get to enemy fortz without dying.

[Zu]

Great to hear that everything is in order now. Thanks for testing and for the feedback.

[GooRoo]

Apr 4, 2018 5:21:54 GMT -8 Zu said:

Great to hear that everything is in order now. Thanks for testing and for the feedback.

Is there anything changed in Version 5 that would show up significantly different than the "View the map!" from 2013? If so, could a new "View the map!" image be provided?

For the time being, I will use the 2013 image in the various index elements.

[Zu]

The newer map can be found here: puu.sh/A0cjW/d50ef7978a.png

[swietymiki]

I noticed that the newest map image provided by Zu didn't replace the old one in the thread.

[GooRoo]

Aug 6, 2018 1:11:09 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

I noticed that the newest map image provided by Zu didn't replace the old one in the thread.

Check it now.