| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Ergophobia
Perpetual Procrastinator
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 8074
Location: Nowhere to be found
|
 Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:11 am Post subject: Base Design Competition: Island 1 - The Results |
 |
|
First of all, apologies to all contestants. We have delayed the results for way too long now.
Now, without further ado, the results:
A sixth place is for Dark Canuck, with a total score of 33.
| Code: |
Sustainability – 8
Needs either constant red alert or active placing of weaken tags from the player. Two extinguishers in the same hallway (from which one in range of the wind machine) will cause problems if there’s two fires at the same time.
Traps – 4.5
Two traps in the main hallway, from which the second is wrongly triggered (the left wind trap doesn’t work) and the first one could be triggered better with only one laser. Second one also causes more minion than agent casualties. Outside trap works, but not very reliable and is also dangerous for your minions with no locked door on it. PM might have taken a different look at them though, since he deems them ‘effective against weaker agents’ and liked the side door trap.
Efficiency – 11
Long walks for buying objects and rooms. Loot is all placed in the inner sanctum, which is quite an inefficient way of using them. Hotel with lvl2 doors is quite a waste of minions. What’s the use for the shacks? Security system works, but would do much better with more cameras near the entrance.
Planning – 9.5
Large, oversized rooms with little objects in them. Freezer and control room placed close to the entrance while ‘innocent rooms’ like the staff room is in the far back. Long walks in general. Hotel placed on the far back of the island might not be the best idea, especially not a very small one. Briefcase racks are likely to get blocked by gold stacks.
Wow Factor – 0
Misc. – Seems you discovered the bug involving tourists and holding cells… |
Fifth place goes to T28, with a total score of 61.5.
| Code: |
Sustainability – 14
Looks like an early-in-game base. The one trap keeps nearly every single agent out of the base, surprisingly. Due to the small size fire response is quite efficient. Loot is placed a little risky near doors.
Traps – 5
Only one trap which causes a lot of casualties, but is very effective in what it’s meant for: keeping those pesky agents out of the inner base.
Efficiency – 17
Very efficient base overall, though due to the small size it only works for a small amount of minions, and thus problems will arise when you need to expand or use many minions for acts of infamy. Also there’s a lot of one-tile-wide places which cause bottlenecks. Only one security system that actually works very well due to the tiny size. Briefcase racks will be blocked when you get more gold. Minions have to carry bodies through the trap system.
Planning – 21.5
Not a single tile of space is wasted, and so this is a cheap base. But as said before, you will encounter problems when you need more space for a larger diversity of minions, which will probably cause a drop in efficiency unless very carefully done. Kind of looks like it has been built-as-need-aroused, with the rooms being split and scattered.
Wow Factor – 4
Amazingly efficient for such a small and simple base. |
Fourth place is for Arnizipal, with a total score of 76.
| Code: |
Sustainability – 16
Not much effort is needed to run this base. Traps systems are simple, but still efficient, and when an agent comes further he will likely get captured for breaking through a level-4 door. Fires are put out efficiently. Agents ignoring the tricks (which are very few) do get into the base with ease, and might cause some havoc in the control room if you don’t pay attention on high heat levels.
Traps – 8
Traps keep most agents away from the real base and require little power and maintenance. A very determined super agent might fight his way out, however.
Efficiency – 19.5
Loot covers most of the base and the security system works well. Every broken item is repaired within the minute. (except maybe for the trap at the far end) The outdoor sentry guns are a little dangerously placed though, and building times are a bit lengthy.
Planning – 29.5
Great overall looks! Training room could be a little smaller, as could the control room. (so the big screen covers all the minions) Very little to complain about for the rest, except for the outdoor sentry guns being ‘more like cannon fodder than cannons’, as PM put it.
Wow Factor – 3
Efficient for such a simple base design. Training room looking good.
Misc. – Nice opening shot. |
Third place is for ElectricMonkey, with a total score of 82.5!
| Code: |
Sustainability – 17
Keeps itself running very well, though some points deducted for Jet Chan whipping the whole thing out. Well placed lvl 4 doors.
Traps – 8
Traps are literally everywhere, which might cause some casualties, but since they’re usually non-lethal that doesn’t matter much. Nearly all of them run well. The inner sanctum trap might be a little harmful to the sensors and the pressure pads everywhere might be destroyed easily, but besides that good job. You might want to consider using freezer tiles in the lethal trap rooms.
Efficiency – 19
Nice security system, and loot is placed in the most important rooms. It could use a little more loot items though, especially in some recovery rooms. Object ordering could be greatly improved by replacing the small infirmary with a strongroom. Maybe it has a tad many doors, but runs incredibly smooth.
Planning – 30.5
Every room is sized just nicely, and with three entrances there’s access to everything. The two tiny power plants might be a bit dangerous though, and the outside lvl 4 door gets henchmen killed easily.
Wow Factor – 8
Very aesthetically pleasing and efficient. Traps everywhere for a true ‘Evil Genius’ feel. Good use of mouse mazes, and the time clock in the small mess hall. |
And the first and second places were a bit of a problem, but we finally decided to give Denebeim the advantage. So, second place goes to Maudlin27, with a total score of 85!
| Code: |
Sustainability – 17
The base keeps itself running. Trap systems keep agents away from the main base and even super agents are easily kept under control. Only problem here might be John Steele, since the power plants are very inaccessible, so a fire in there could be very lethal to your operations. Luckily we don’t have to worry much about him for quite some time to come. Security system could use a little more thought, but that’s the only major thing here.
Traps – 10
Traps are kept away from the minions and are literally everywhere. All power plants are safely locked away and the wind tunnels (4 of them!) earn some good cash. Good job!
Efficiency – 18.5
Loot is well placed around the rooms, and the inner rooms are placed together tightly. The armoury setup will prevent breakouts, but might pose a problem when a minion with low attention is escorting a prisoner. As said before, a fire in the power plants will be lethal, but that will be very unlikely.
Planning – 32.5
The base is very compact and no room is wasted, though the mess hall and archives could have been a tad larger. I’m also missing rifle racks, so guards are basically defenceless, even though there’s only a few of them. Nice armory.
Wow Factor – 7
Very impressed with the huge trap systems protecting the power plants. Good locker placement and overall great-looking base.
Question – How’d you get the laser trip wires placed over the motion sensors? |
And that means, Denebeim is awarded first place, with a total score of 87.5!
| Code: |
Denebeim
Sustainability – 16.5
Little effort required to keep the base running, but what needs to be done sure is a lot of fun. Some small accidents may occur with the flamethrowers or the traps guarding the holding cells but besides that, good job. Fires are dealt with very well.
Traps – 9.5
Impressed with the Prometheus-door combo. All traps run well and generate a fair amount of cash. PM suggests to replace the more dangerously placed proms with chimneys.
Efficiency – 20
Very few pieces of loot, but well placed. Sometimes minions get caught behind lvl 4 doors.
Traps in armory might pose a problem when minions have low attention. Recovery rooms placed together well, and overall a very efficient base. Only one entrance, though that doesn’t matter much with the small strongroom near the entrance.
Planning – 32
Very much thought went into this one. Quite some trap systems are present without harming the layout of the base itself. Level 4 doors in entrance hallway work very well in keeping the agents out. Huge security system, highly effective. (though there’s often at least one desk unmanned)
One minor thing: you might want to remove some corridors to be able to extend your recovery rooms a little.
Wow Factor – 9.5
Amazingly well thought out and efficient, while still having some good traps for money.
Note: Obviously some ideas were copied from Maudlin27's base. |
One word of warning for our winner though... we have played with the thought of giving a larger penalty for the obvious ideas gained from Maudlin27's entry. We will be more strict on this in a possible sequel!
But considering this IS the best entry we have here, I'd also like to give you my congratulations!
Please PM Jon to talk about a reward.
_________________
Known Bugs and Workarounds - Modding Howto - Walkthrough - Research Guide |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Arnizipal
Henchman
Joined: 24 Oct 2004
Posts: 471
Location: As, Belgium
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ergophobia
Perpetual Procrastinator
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 8074
Location: Nowhere to be found
|
| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Penguinman98 wrote: |
****AWARD CRITERION****
Self-sustainability: 20 pts
How much effort do you need to personally put in to keep agents out. Can SA's unhindered by your personal efforts penetrate your base proper? If fire breaks out, will your minions put it out? how much collateral damage occurs as a result? Is your loot placed where agents can steal them?
Trap designs: 10 pts
How evil are you again? The more diabolical the trap combo, the more points for this category.
*Not as weighty in the island 1 comp as less options are available. This leaves more room to impress the judges with ingenuity over variety.
Efficient Layout: 25 pts
Do your minions have to cross half the island to get to the helipad? Or cross your entire base to get from the staff room to the barracks? Can technicians reach every item in your base to repair them? Where are your briefcase racks, weapons racks, extinguishers, etc. Also considered here is where your loot is placed.
Planning: 35 pts
If your base appears to be bulging at the seams or has large empty rooms due to poor planning, don't expect much here. Take your time, decide how much space this room requires and where it belongs.
*With the issues of room availablility as the game progresses, this criteria gets much more credence for the base 1 comp. Good planning is absolutely essential.
Wow factor: 10 pts
Impress the judges with a totally new ingenious combination of rooms that make them say out loud "What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?"
100 points possible.
Points may be deducted for annoyances like constant warnings of "Security Door Breached" or anything else that detracts from the fun of the game. |
_________________
Known Bugs and Workarounds - Modding Howto - Walkthrough - Research Guide |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
denebeim
Fearless Leader
Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 20
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thank you very much. I appreciate that my work is appreciated  I really liked the promethius traps in the small rooms as well. They were amusing, they also take out agents who come lurking when the doors are not guarded.
I did take some of the traps from Maudlin, I'm still trying to get good at them, so I steal ideas that look good from other people.
For whatever it's worth, I wanted to go into why I was impressed with Monkey's design. It uses straight traps with only a very few level 4 doors. And yet almost no agents get through to the inner base. It works almost perfectly. I've tried to replicate the technique and I haven't had nearly as much luck. You do have to get rid of that large trap area to the south of the base though. It damages agents without killing them. That's a bad thing, traps should either be damage free or fatal. Anything else raises your heat too much. (yeah I know my prometheus traps didn't kill people, but they are so much fun)
The only thing I don't like about the game is there's too few things that will cause agents to get auto tagged. A perfect base would keep every agent out with no effort and a very minimal amount of effort for super agents. It's just not possible to do unfortunately.
Jay |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hyndis
Mad Scientist
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 244
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| denebeim wrote: |
The only thing I don't like about the game is there's too few things that will cause agents to get auto tagged. A perfect base would keep every agent out with no effort and a very minimal amount of effort for super agents. It's just not possible to do unfortunately.
Jay |
On the vanilla game, this is true. But with just single minor mod I can make this kind of base.
I'd so love to be able to submit a design using my security timeclock mod. That would make things so much easier, as I could actually control what my military minions are doing.
With my standard base design, I've got all of my henchmen standing guard at the main chokepoint with a hefty military minion support force very close. If things go bad, I have a second security system to call up the rest of my military minions with just a single tag. Normally there's 9 military guys supporting my henchmen in the main chokepoint, but with a single tag I can send 30 more military minions into the area if need be. That kind of firepower will settle things nicely.
My design tends to involve a lot of combat, but thats why I have a nearby freezer. My design is also mostly immune to high heat levels, for a large number of henchmen and mercenaries (the machine guns do nasty ranged damage) can hold off entire armies. I've taken out 3 SA's and about 20 elite soldiers all at the same time. 
To get investigators to leave my base, I put a freezer at the entrance so the investigators and take pictures of all of those pretty body bags. They'll then leave without causing any damage. When higher ranking agents arrive, they'll open fire as soon as they see all of my armed guards, which will cause the entire room to open fire at that foolish agent.
Due to the high heat that this design creates, my minions who wander outside the base tend to get slaughtered, which is why I made the immortal minions mod. It takes about the same length of time to restore a minion's health and endurance back to full as it does to train up a new minion. The knocked out minion also has to be carried back to the barracks before any healing can take place, which is almost impossible to do in a combat situation. So its not like my guards get up instantly with full health. They drop to the ground and are out of comission for several minutes in the best of circumstances. If they don't have time to heal before having to fight again, well, a 1hp guard doesn't last all that long in combat.
Anywho, are these submitted maps posted anywhere so the rest of us could look at them? 
And congrats for the high score, Denebeim. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ergophobia
Perpetual Procrastinator
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 8074
Location: Nowhere to be found
|
| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 3:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yup. Posted them on the main site yesterday. Look under 'downloads' then 'competition'.
NB: Kinda makes me think that there's possibly something hardcoded that when a lvl 4 door is guarded, agents are autotagged... maybe it would be possible to change it to a weaken tag or so?
_________________
Known Bugs and Workarounds - Modding Howto - Walkthrough - Research Guide |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tubros
Disposable Minion
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Posts: 6
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
Maudlin27, and you other, how do you get the base to autotag agents? Never seen that before and can't figure it out.
Great base I think, made me rethink my entire design strategy |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hyndis
Mad Scientist
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 244
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Tubros wrote: |
Maudlin27, and you other, how do you get the base to autotag agents? Never seen that before and can't figure it out.
Great base I think, made me rethink my entire design strategy |
If an agent attempts to open a level 4 door that has guards standing at it, the agent will automatically be tagged for capture.
This is useful because agents love to check doors, and while only that single agent who touched the door will be tagged for capture, the other ones in the group will enter into combat. Any nearby minions or henchmen of yours will also enter the fray. So, assuming you win, you'll have one agent in a holding cell and several in the freezer. All without having to lift a finger. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tubros
Disposable Minion
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Posts: 6
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 8:46 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Hyndis wrote: |
| Tubros wrote: |
Maudlin27, and you other, how do you get the base to autotag agents? Never seen that before and can't figure it out.
Great base I think, made me rethink my entire design strategy |
If an agent attempts to open a level 4 door that has guards standing at it, the agent will automatically be tagged for capture.
This is useful because agents love to check doors, and while only that single agent who touched the door will be tagged for capture, the other ones in the group will enter into combat. Any nearby minions or henchmen of yours will also enter the fray. So, assuming you win, you'll have one agent in a holding cell and several in the freezer. All without having to lift a finger. |
thanks! Will test it out! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
maudlin27
Minion With Nametag
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 49
|
| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
 if only I could've released my base at the end of the entry period. Was moving house + lost internet access for couple of months so wasn't able to though. Ah well!
To answer the question with my sensors, and also ask one of my own:
If you place your pressure pads down first. e.g. in a corridor trigger room of 4*4, place pressure pads in the central 2*2 square section. Then place the laser tripwires on the edges. You can also do the same with motion sensors as well as pressure pads. Experimented with this for my armoury (can't remembered if something similar to it made it into the final design). If you've a 'strip' lengthways of 6 tiles that you can use for sensors, put pressure pads on all the ones except the end 2 tiles. Put a motion sensor on one of these, and then the laser tripwire on the opposite end.
My own question was a query about the lack of rifle racks -I've just double checked my base, and they're definatly there. I also talk about them in my accompany explanationary notepad file.
If you look, I've spaced out the weaponry, to avoid long delays caused by minions attempting to arm themselves up. The pistols are all in one room, the heavy rifles are in an adjacent room, and the guards rifles are disguised in cabinets near the front of the base. not only does this prevent the delays, it also means that the guards can respond to any immediate threats to the base (they're going straight to the front of it), and if it was to be a serious problem they'd be able to hold up any enemies long enough for henchmen and the workers and advanced military minions to come along and finish the job. Don't spose the lack of rifes cost me 3 marks?  !
Also in terms of fires in the power plants, they're all protected by traps to stop the likes of john steele ever destroying them, and they're also spaced out, so even if a fire was to break out in one section, the base wouldn't grind to a halt, unless it was in the room with 8 power plants, but then this has so many traps covering it that it would take care of any super agents attempting to reach it. I agree that if a fire was to break out it'd be awkward to stop though (the relevent trap system covering that section would have to be temporarily disconnected, although I think I organised the trap system linking such that the power plants most likely to be affected will generally cause the least disruption to the rest of the trap network if taken offline), but then the only likely ways I could see a fire happening would be either if the power was to go offline (but for this you'd need a fire anyway, so unless the base was manually powered down/trap system completely taken offline this shouldn't happen), or if the game was played on hard, with an invulnerable steel, and even then it'd be unlikely - as the testing was for medium though, steel would be fried/gassed/stupidifed before he came close to a power plant !
Don't spose you'd have any tips on how I could improve on my security system btw? I tried designing it more around the concept of a laissez faire approach from the player as well as trying to ensure that there would be minions on hand to deal with any detected intruders, but this had the negative side effect of causing slight disruption to some minions as well .
_________________
Designer of the first infinite trap system
http://www.n1nj4.com/viewtopic.php?t=1248&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=540 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ergophobia
Perpetual Procrastinator
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 8074
Location: Nowhere to be found
|
| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| maudlin27 wrote: |
| My own question was a query about the lack of rifle racks -I've just double checked my base, and they're definatly there. |
Whoops. Must have overlooked the disguised ones. Apologies. But that was only me, so that's only half a point you're missing there.
| maudlin27 wrote: |
| steel would be fried/gassed/stupidifed before he came close to a power plant ! |
Problem with Steele is that he doesn't need to reach the power generators themselves... a simple corridor floor is enough for him.
_________________
Known Bugs and Workarounds - Modding Howto - Walkthrough - Research Guide |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
T28
Number Two
Joined: 21 Oct 2004
Posts: 1220
Location: some-where you're not. (like Canada)
|
| Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I have since changed the 1 trap with a lv 4 door and taken away the prelimanay wind machiens, and added a small accses cordor to the frezzer room for minions,, unfoutuletly it makes the minions carry body bags in the base
_________________
Wane: um, the pizzas here...
Sauron: did you tip him?
Wane: no.
Sauron: good man.
by me |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
FORUM: © 2003-2007 Jonathan Mayer and Mark Sowash. This site is in NO way affiliated with Elixir Studios or Vivendi. And remember - we are much more evil than you...
GAME: © 2004 Elixir Studios and Vivendi Universal Games. All rights reserved.
 |
FAQ
Search
Minionlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
