I've beaten the toughest!

[freeafrica]

I know it's a bit of a clickbait title, but let me summarize the scenario which I've just completed:

1. hardcore, because I've used save/load game functionality only to continue my play, and I've never died during the play-through (this was my 7th try)
2. setting -> deathworld marathon
3. quite big of a desert for start (seed: `262728989`)
4. no laser / no solar / no logistics (achievements unlocked at rocket launch)

It took ~76 hours to finish this scenario, this is how it looks on my first launch:

dw_map.png (477.93 KiB) Viewed 3615 times

Let me know what you guys think, or if you feel, you can drop me a `seed` which you think I can't finish w/ these settings! (I play only in vanilla)

[niko19225]

Well fine...
0.18.X
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CALU+DEC2a4a4DheYEdxnOY78DIDGKAVH0BikF4IBmYURBawAEkA
UtwAg6MnwTn8wIAEyrmrg==<<<

[DaveMcW]

Well fine...

Definitely a challenge, but it has some weaknesses.

Spoiler

deathworld.jpg (162.28 KiB) Viewed 3409 times

[freeafrica]

Well fine...

Definitely a challenge, but it has some weaknesses.

Spoiler

deathworld.jpg

Looks weird, how come the bases are that huge around the starting area? Did you modify the deathworld-marathon settings? Btw, does a map seed also include game settings?

Gonna give it a go after work! ;]

[Koub]

Because the starting area size was set to none. Starting area size is arguably THE most significant setting to make a map go from "piece of cake" to "You'll wish you were already dead".
It governs how fast the biters will notice you and come for you, on a given map.

[freeafrica]

Well fine...

Definitely a challenge, but it has some weaknesses.

Spoiler

deathworld.jpg

Looks weird, how come the bases are that huge around the starting area? Did you modify the deathworld-marathon settings? Btw, does a map seed also include game settings?

Gonna give it a go after work! ;]

lol, its not just the starting area... lot of settings are tweaked, difficulty is off the charts :] no chance

[Drakken]

Great work! I am working at this challenge with a few caveats making it IMHO even harder.

My settings: The only water is in the starting area, so there are no barriers to attack from all directions. Moisture settings at minimum. Tree setting at minimum. And bias set up to maximize sand vs red desert. I only allow a maximum of 2 oil wells inside the ring of biter bases. (I have to cycle through a lot of random seeds to find a suitable map) I play with zero robots, even those just for repair. The only thing I can do to make this harder is actually decrease the starting area size to under 75% (default deathworld marathon setting) or have no oil in the starting area which I believe would make it impossible.

I was on my way to winning in .17 (about to start blue circuits and had a stable base) with these settings and stopped playing. I have lost a dozen games in 1.0 at this point. It seems to me that 1.0 may be harder than my last run in .17? Getting the base defenses to hold long enough to reinforce with flame throwers turrets has been rough to say the least.

I can't stress enough how hard this can be. I know this type of game is not for everyone and can be extremely frustrating. Early in the game you have to run around constantly reloading and repairing guns while trying to expand and build a more permanent and automated set of defenses. With settings like this there is almost no dissipation of pollution naturally and all that pollution feeds the biter bases constantly. The waves of attacking biters is nuts and even tightly packed guns with AP ammo behind a wall end up getting destroyed frequently. It isn't until flamethrowers are up to supplement the guns that you can get any sense of safety. Yet still you have to keep an eye out for any destroyed pipes on the perimeter that will drain your flamethrowers.

I hope I win this eventually.

Finally I wish they had a "Lazy Bastard" achievement for deathworld/marathon settings so I could take this one extreme step further... Because I like pain...