Greetings all
EDIT 3/2019: SEE THE REPLIES TO THIS THREAD FOR LATEST CHANGES TO MAP AND MOD (and a guide how to play the hero unit - Alpha).
This post serves to answer a few questions about my 2 survival maps, "Survival Mayhem&BO 3D (v1 or RPG version)".
For those unfamiliar, it is a "3d" survival (air & navy waves too), that features slightly edited units, mini bosses, and a final Omega boss with several million HP (depending on the type of Omega that spawns).
Before we begin, one important piece of information:
This map is featuring the following MODS:
"Total Mayhem"
"Blackops:Unleashed" -- without these two, THE WAVES WILL NOT WORK.
"Etreme Wars" -- not the whole mod, taken some units for one of the final "Omega" bosses, and the mid antiboss turret.
I would like to thank Uveso for allowing me to promote and use these mods and the units they contain, for this map's purpose.
Other thanks go to Uveso, for helping me out with some really specific segments of the code,
Franck83 and EntropyWins for help with minor issues,
alvst and... currently he is PlayerOne, (before he was MistyHymen, MeatyOwlLegs and such, you know, the high ranking guy that keeps changing his nicknames every chance he gets). Ok, that guy, for helping with ideas, testing, icon creation...
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There are 3 sections to this guide - general setup, "balance" mod walkthrough, and tips 'n' tricks (mostly on how to play the Alpha hero unit and deal with telespawning SACUs, Omega boss and navy waves).
So, here goes:
Part 1:
SETUP section:
- The top Player7 position is allied to the attacking waves, it can be left blank or played as a human/AI/AIX to give a survival game more diversity.
(BE ADVISED that the wave difficulty and nuke frequency depend on the number of players present in game, so having Player7 occupied makes them stronger).
- the left bottom corner player, Player 1, is a hero spot in the _RPG version of the map. It does not get a standard commander, it has no mexes or hydrocarbons to build a standard base. The game style with it is quite different (hence the "RPG" in that map's title).
- MODS are essential for this map to work. "Blackops:Unleashed" and "Total Mayhem" as a bare minimum, and, depending on the map version, "Survival Maybem&BO balance" (required for the _3d_RPG version). Without those you will get errors in game or the map will not load correctly at all.
I strongly advise to use the "Survival Maybem&BO balance" mod in both versions, it gives some very specific units very useful in that map, like better anti air for Aeon, or shielded defense submarines for UEF, or underwater shields for Seraphim...
Lastly, "Quality of performance" to speed things up later on (the map will slow down towards the end even on strongest machines), and Blackops: ACUs works rather well.
- the rest is usual. Waves frequency set to "Streaming" (or else you will miss out on a lot of short lasted waves, as well as mini bosses), wave difficulty to 32 or less (I STRONGLY ADVISE THIS, unless you have a well coordinated team that knows the map). "Pause" waves are implemented ingame at certain times, to compensate for the "streaming" setting.
Additional commanders - pick the factions carefully because you only get 1 type.
The "MOAR" options will provide you with more of them (d'uh!) and some faction variety.
EDIT 14:9.2018: - new map option added, "Faction restrictions". On by default, it prevents some units of other factions to be built, if you have not started as that faction (8 units in total, for example - Yolona Oss if you did not start as Seraphim). Only works with the Balance mod (otherwise, Yolona, Artemis etc will be restricted regardless of this option). The purpose of this map option is to increase teamwork and provide a bigger challenge to players. Can be turned off in map options.
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Part 2:
"Survival Mayhem&BO balance" MOD:
What the mod does is A: adds some units, B: edits some units (mostly boost to price/stats), and C: bans or un-bans others.
Be advised that the purpose of this mod is exclusively to serve the map, so the units made and tweaks done in it are made in a way that serves that purpose only, not to make it into a stand-alone mod to be used with other maps.
In general, the mod uses units from TM and BO, some edited, as well as edits some vanilla units, to make certain factions into specialists:
UEF - Turtle - superior turrets, sustainability, only t2 air
AEON - Support - only ones with t3 air unrestricted, less-nerfed RAS SACUs than the other 3 factions, strongest shields and anti air turrets, long range TMD,
CYBRAN - Navy - Leviathans submarines kick ass, HARMS as well, only t2 air.
SERA - AOE damage - only ones with nukes enabled, most turrets deal splash, some t3 air enabled but less than Aeon, good vs navy as well.
A: Added new units:
- Advanced amphibious t3 power generators for all factions - be careful, they explode more than their standard t3 brothers, when killed. (Due to unknown reasons, adjecancy does not work on Aeon pgen, power output increased +1500 for Aeon to compensate).
- "Sky tracker" - Aeon t3 ultra heavy anti air turret. Massive range and DPS, but with a high cost as well. Well suited for taking out heavy targets like CZARs or air bosses, not that great vs large swarms of units.
- "Mother tortoise" Aeon flying mobile t4 shield. Very slow moving. Has several defensive traits.
- "Total Annihilation" Aeon t4 submarine. (Unavailable for defenders)(-not anymore), but implemented in-waves. Has very strong torpedoes, TML and a shield. Comes pre-loaded with 1 SMD.
- "X-Terminator", terminator's bigger brother. Do not let it use it's laser for long. Dies with a painful BANG.
- "Universal colossus" - bigger, badder GC.
- "Aurora" Aeon t4 experimental supershield ("Palace"), 99 000 shield points, massive recharge, massive area of cover. Energy consumption is massive as well.
- "Leviathan MK2" Cybran advanced t3 submarine. Leviathan's bigger, stronger, badder brother. Available to build.
- "DOOM beetle" t3 Cybran Fire beetle, with further increased hp/dmg/size (from Fire beetle's already increased) and reduced speed, explodes with massive dmg when killed.
- "Sephamat" Seraphim t2 underwater shield generator. Similar in stats to land t2 shields but with a x3 energy consumption to handle the water pressure. Good in prolonging lifetimes of HARMS/subs.
- "Silencer" and "Silencer MK2" t4 antiboss turrets. Unavailable to build, owned by the Seraphim defending player, or by the Alpha hero player, depending on the map version. Extremely slow ROF but massive damage + stunn effect vs all minor boss units and even some Omega bosses. The basic turret upgrades to the MK2 version with double ROF, double damage (so, effectively quadrupling the ROF), and slightly increased vision range. A must-use vs bosses and Omega, as well as sniping those pesky Avalanche beetlebots.
- Advanced t3 shields are available for all factions, so there is no need to use the "advanced shields" mod
B: edited units:
(there' s a lot done, so i will just name a few):
- most higher -end units have had their wreck's mass reduced by 80-90% due to the fact that the wrecks are not disabled in this map.
- Paragon price increased massively (by cca 4x) while it's resource output nerfed 50%, to make it much harder to get. (Also, when you do manage to get a Paragon up, expect increased units and nukes striking you down).
- Yolona price increased while damage nerfed to 200 000 (from 1 milion), however, dmg areas have been increased and the secondary dmg boosted to 30 000.
- Sera Rift slight increase to price, allowed some experimentals to be spawned and not just t2/t3 units).
- Novax sat increased in price but also in damage output, to make it more useful as a sniper wave killer.
- Artemis satellite increased in price, in damage and given massively increased hp as well as a fast recharging shield (to counter the fact some BO/TM units are able to shoot it down. Antinuke siloses have been boosted in their damage vs the satellite as well, to compensate for gained hit points).
- all t3 advanced air staging buildings got massive boosts to torpedo dmg and range, hp, or gained shields, but at an increased cost (I will add anti nuke ability to them later),
- Sera's turrets have been balanced - Lambda turrets got a massive hp increase, a shield, increased dmg but with increased cost, t1 experimental PD got a better range (they could not hold a candle to for example Aeon's Mizura), t3 turrets got their range or damage increased.
- Brute, t3 Aeon superheavy turret got increased hp, price, range and much bigger dmg + a huge splash, but at extremely reduced ROF. This is also true for the UEF's "Tower boss" t2 PD, to a smaller extent.
- Dreadnoughts have had their price and hp increased,
- HARMS, ExCatalists and Perses have had their prices increased slightly, to compensate for their kicking of swarm ass,
- BlackOps t4 experimentals like Goliath, Thaez -Atha and Hades got a hp boost (and a price boost as well),
- all SACUs have had their HP increased to make them more of a challenge when they "teleport" behind defenders lines
- RAS SACUs have been significantly nerfed, both via price increase and resource output - Aeon's less than other factions),
- Tempest drones from BO have been nerfed in hp from the insane 7000 to 3000,
- Atlantis HP increased by a lot and cost by a little to make UEF more viable as an anti-navy option here,
- Most air units that are not restricted have had their costs and build times increased slightly (Sera's more than Aeon's, who also have fever air units restricted for them),
- Most t3 anti-air tanks have been boosted in hp/dmg/price, most notably Aeon's "Tachylite".
- Fire beetles (and Doom beetles) are a real menace now if left unchecked - they die with a devastating bang for anything close to then (with No friendly fire collision the dmg still occurs upon death to other survival attackers - pretty useful in thinning their ranks).
- Cloaking tech got a big nerf via price and energy consumption increasing,
- Anti nukes got a buff on their anti-Artemis cannon, due to increased hp and shield of the sat.
- Regular land nuke siloses (only available to Sera and banned for others) have been nerfed (increased cost, construction time) to make Player7 slower in nuking the defenders,
EDIT 14.9.2018: New changes:
- Naval mass rigs buffed to tech 3, with increased hp, price, consumption and mass yield (23/s). They should be built instead of t3 mexes, where it is safe to make them (away from enemy ships).
- Advanced power generators buffed in energy yield but also in price and OnKilled damage (magnitude and radius),
EDIT 12:10.2018:
- Added Salem MK2 destroyer (big range, strong torpedoes and torp deff), both in waves and as buildable,
- Tweaked t3 and t4 artillery (increase in price but also in damage, increased splash damage area, some like cybran and sera have a small stun, Mavor x2,5 damage with a much larger splash but 50% rate of fire and can now stun everything - including bosses and Omega!
- Tweaked Novax sat (increased price, increased dps by a lot as well as splash area)
- Buffed Tripple threat cy t3 turret
- Added Obelisk cy t3 superheavy turret
...i shall add more as i remember them/make them
C: Restrictions/un-restrictions:
- By default, this map comes with Paragon, Artemis, and air units disabled. The balance mod unrestricts them (air t3 is still restricted to some factions, and t4 air to all defenders, however, Player7 can build them all).
- mass converters are restricted for defenders (not for pl7), however the mass is still bountiful from wrecks,
- Only Sera can make land nukes. While all can make naval nukes, be advised that they only do 25 000 dmg.
- Naturally, all boss units, be it mini boss or Omegas' are unavailable to build for human players.
EDIT 14.9.2018: New restrictions:
- Added map option to increase faction diversity. If turned ON, players can no longer make certain units outside their faction when given the tech, as follows:
Scathis+HARMS for Cybran, Perses turret for UEF, Aurora shield, Sky tracker turret and Artemis satellite, for Aeon, Yolona and Lambda turret for Sera.
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Part 3:
Tips'n'tricks
The map starts slowly, but becomes increasingly more horrid. Not due to numbers of enemies, but quality.
Your biggest challenges will be:
A: Destroying the naval swarm (specially the underwater part - subs and the huge numbers of amphibious land units walking underwater and exiting to dry land in the middle of your team's territory.
COUNTER: Early on - "Antinavy turrets". Each faction has them, they are tech 1, though they only strike on water (and only above water targets), their range is massive and they are cheap...ish. Make them early, they will help tremendously against surface threats.
HARMS. Harms harms harms. And then some more harms. Also, be sure to have made lots of harms. Subs help as well, specially those with torpedo defences or even torpedo redirection (like Cybran's Leviathan subs).
Make Sera underwater shields, to prolong the lifetime of said harms and subs. Yes, there is such a thing as Seraphim tech 2 underwater shields. USE THEM.
Secondly - naval bosses and parts of the land swarm WILL go through all your subs and harms at some point. Greet them with turrets on their way out, near the spot where they exit the waters.
TIP: Be sure to dominate at least the waters closest to the base, then send SACUs in to reclaim the insane numbers of wrecks left there by the enemy. It can literally triple your mass income, even while most wrecks are only worth 10% the build cost.
Closer to home shields, you can make t3 Air staging beacons to serve as turtles for when the shields go down (they have been significantly buffed, and have useful abilities, like shielding or repair or even cloak). And. Build. HARMS.
Lastly, a tech 3 naval mass rig brings in 5 more mass per second than a t3 mass extractor. Be sure to build them in areas where they will not get killed.
https://pasteboard.co/HEJRYVh.png <------ CLICK ME! For visual representation.
The red lines represent good places to make HARMS. The yellow ones - sub-optimal, because they will hit rocks or do not have enough range to be effective. Pink lines you should avoid, because the majority of units passes down that line. And some of those units explode with a large splash. The red circle is the place you need to have packed full of Antinavy turrets and ultra heavy land turrets, as well as shielded to the max, whereas the green circle is where you should focus A LOT of shorter-range point defenses, to quickly dispose of land units exiting the waters.
Finally, and i cannot stress this enough - MAKE SACUS AND RECLAIM THE WRECKS IN WATER!!! This is the main reason why you must defend from the water and not from the shore - to have access to tons of mass that the ships and subs leave behind.
If you are having trouble handling the naval spawn, take a look at these 3 pictures to see how players 5 and 6 handled it on 40 enemies per minute difficulty (not the default 32 that you are struggling with):
https://pasteboard.co/HI5ujuk.jpg <------ Here's a good example of early anti navy build, before HARMS come into play.
https://pasteboard.co/HI5vvZk.jpg <------ Mid game anti navy build for position 6
https://pasteboard.co/HI5w9QF.jpg <------ What you should be building up top, and where
B: Avalanche beetlebots and other long range threats. We are talking 120-200+ range here. It takes 3 nukes to kill a single beetlebot (200.000 hp), 2 Artemis shots, a lot of TML's, or even several Scathises work nicely. Be sure to keep their Avalanche and Agriope arties cleared out when they appear, or you will soon be shelled beyond your ability to sustain shields. Yolo is the best option here, 1 shot kills a beetlebot easily.
C: SACUS "teleporting" behind your lines. Anti teleport turrets do not work here, because they are scripted in, not teleported.
COUNTER: They spawn in a line that goes slightly below the mex fields. Be sure to NOT build anything important in that area, specially not any Yolonas/ Paragons OR Pgens, because the SACU death explosions will take them out. Shield your mex field and valuable buildings in that area heavily, place t1 turrets inside the mex field for fast and efficient SACU kills.
TIP: mobile shield generators work wonders with this issue. Also, use the lower edge of the map as a safe zone for the most valuable buildings, or volitale ones like Pgens.
D: Bosses and the final boss, OMEGA:
Bosses come in several form - water based ones, underneath the waves, land based ones, air based ones, and the final one. They increase in hp and damage as time goes by, first one having 40 000 hp while last ones having over one million. Be mindful which part the air boss comes at (xxl Soul Ripper armed with lasers), and make sure to stun them with the antiboss turret, whoever owns it.
As for Omegas...it depends. Expect hit points from 4.000.000 to over 8 mil. Different approaches will be required for each of them. Some may have a 1mil fast respawning shield, some may have stronger, slow respawning shields, some have antinukes, some are cloaked, some do increased damage the longer they strike the same target (like a well-augmented Aurora shield, for example). Some cannot be stunned by the Antiboss turret. Some have an area of effect anti air field, or an emp stun field. Some have swarms of very long-range TML. Some shoot Artemis "nukes". Some Omegas are air based, or naval.
Look for strengths and weaknesses. While some have large splash dmg, they may be weak vs singular units being thrown at them. Some fall to nukes, or swarms of air. Some lose a significant portion of their DPS if you neutralize their missiles with TMD. Some simply need to be met all-in and hope you outgun them before they walk through everything.
In any case, upgrading the Antiboss turret will go a good deal towards getting those millions of hp down. They will be stunned more often that way. Some units, like Mavor or certain upgrades on the Alpha (hero unit) can also briefly stun Omegas.
Currently there are 10 Omega types, 8 of those land, 1 air, one naval, with more coming soon.
In any case, the greatest tip I can give you is to RECLAIM. You can double your mass production. You can use that mass for another Yolona, or for more shields, or for a swarm of t3 subs...but if you do not use reclaim, you WILL be overwhelmed and crushed. Mass extractors alone here anre not and will not be enough! So make 10+ tech 1 factories right from the start and make them spit out engineers and just send them to their doom in the fromt lines - they will collect much more than you spend on making them!
THIS MAP AND MOD ARE BEING UPDATED CONSTANTLY, SO MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE LATEST VERSIONS FROM THE VAULT!