Thread for MM #13 praises / curses and advice. Level 1: A Festive Thief by @Killer74 This adventure has fun story / theme. A bit on the random side, because you only control one character, so killing the dogs (and the first camera) can be a bit tricky. Once you've cleared all the mobile enemies, it just turns into waiting for Toughness and/or getting lucky with Whirlwind Enemies. Nevertheless, quite good addition to the MM family. Level 2: Circus Camp by @tuknir Nicely decorated small map. Plus side for exactly three controllable character, making this suitable for co-op. That Acid Fiend can be pretty scary, but in the end this is quite easy map. It was fun to play with those immunity-granting armors. Level 3: Lord Stafford's Hunting Brigade by @adajon More challenging than the Circus Camp adventure. I beat this on the test server with first try, but required two restarts now that I played this on live server. Not too hard, but this requires careful play for sure. This has also three characters / minion groups, which is always a plus. Nice finale for this edition of Mauve Manticore.
Congratulations to everyone who won! Level 1: A Festive Thief by @Killer74 I remember helping out with this map and encouraging Killer to post it to MM... I wish I had not because it took my over 15 tries to do it! Nevertheless a fun map, and lots of well-placed doodads. Level 2: Circus Camp by @tuknir Its fun to see Flax digging in the early MM posts and makes me wonder why he is going back rather than looking at the new ones Anyway, I am kidding but I do REALLY like this map - using the character's abilities to win the game is an amazing idea though I think i'v seen it be used before, I just cant remember where. I didnt really know what the monkey was for, I am guessing it was just for flavour. Level 3: Lord Stafford's Hunting Brigade by @adajon Another really fun map that requires a bit of tactical positioning and a bit of luck on the AI's stupid movement. ~~~ All in all, I really liked all of these maps + their well written stories and I guess Flax got back at me for whining about how easy the last few MM's have been
A Festive Thief: this may require a few restarts until you can draw a string of attacks. Tactically, the small room away from the cameras looks good, but can mean that you're getting bushwhacked by all four of the dogs at once. I beat this by holing up in a corner next to the first camera and drawing a couple of acid sprays as a barrier (which also dissolved the camera), then bolting the dogs one by one. Circus Camp: the key to this is to keep the ooze alive and with intact armour. Ideally, you want the dogs to attack the skelly after you've drawn bones armour, the monkey to take out the acid fiend, and then the ooze (with amorphous body) to soak up the ogre's hits. Hunting Brigade: my favourite of the three, an old-fashioned maneuvre and whack-a-mole. The chupas are (just) the priority because of their drain and flight. Don't waste Alet Zhav's powerful bashes unless you're sure that you're not going to trigger a block or jump back, and don't waste the deadly sparks on single opponents - to win this, you really need to be hitting 2-3 enemies with each deadly spark. Prepare for Alet to draw defensiveness, as well, by keeping the imps as a screen between him and the mobs.
Hint about the possible use of the monkey copied from the MM submission post: Spoiler: Monkey Maneuvers Bonus points to make a super monkey... Spoiler Pickpocket Only Bones & Amorphous Body
A Festive Thief: Great fun! I enjoy the scenarios that have a mix of weird puzzles and challenging combat. I didn't like having to "solve" the laser turret puzzle twice, though, since it adds quite a bit of tedium at the end. Maybe with only one turret you have a realistic chance to flit past without killing all the dogs, but I don't see the issue there. Circus Camp: A little too simple for my tastes, since the special armor is so good against the AI. I could see the Acid Fiend punishing a mistake pretty hard, though, and overall I don't mind the occasional fight that's more about fun. I really love the monkey idea now that Pawndawan pointed it out, but it seems super unnecessary without an opponent that can deal both types of damage. Hunting Brigade: Running in a giant circle like a jerk is probably my favorite thing to do in Card Hunter. For some reason my chupacabrae ignored their flight aura and just hopped lethargically through my blocking terrain. That made it ridiculously easy, but reading Happenstance's post above I'm going to assume my experience was a fluke. Overall: Is it just me, or does Mauve Manticore really love dogs?
I enjoyed all three maps. Ran it co-op with a friend. I have a profound hatred of Acid Demons now. Never knew they were so obnoxious!
How did the first map work with coop? Did you take turns each round, turn or did one of you just play it through all the way?
Nice to see my maps are still enjoyable . I will try make a few new ones when i have the time and after i relearn how to use the editor
Had more fun with this MM than some in a while. Might actually run it again from time to time. Festive Thief gave me a bit of trouble when I first started, but a really lucky WWE first turn let me waltz on through (it threw the closest camera and dog and the far turret all to the outside of the building, and dropped the nearer turret in the corner of the first room, facing the wall with no rotates.) I had the most trouble with the Circus Camp -- the Acid Fiend kept having one more acid terrain than I had moves, so I lost my ooze's armor before it could properly tank the ogre too many times. Replayed it maybe four or five times. Really hated that acid demon. When I won it, I killed the demon with a pickpocketed acid spray, which was most satisfying. The Hunting Brigade was fairly straightforward for me after I figured out halfway through the first run that "run away! run away!" was a much better strategy than "bunch up and get mobbed by a pack of wolves".
Oh neat, just found this thread. $:^ P (Was looking for something else in particular.) Yep, I enjoyed! Festive Thief, (as my current forum status mentions,) took me three tries. That camera in the first room was always my first target. On either the first or second try, I had a WWE throw the first turret safely into another room and the second turret outside, but the dogs eventually overpowered me. On the third try, I barely outmaneuvered the dogs within the first 5-10 rounds, all of them dead, me left with 1 HP. For the next 35-or-so rounds $8^ | I tried WWE'ing the turrets a couple/few times, but they just wouldn't go anywhere satisfactory, thus I finally just loaded up on movement and Toughness to sneak past the first one, then movement and control to trapse casually by the Clumsy second one (even though, funnily enough, I also had a Toughness for that one, ha ha ha). 'Twas fun. I never caught why the cyberspace visuals were used until I looked at CT5's video thumbnail. Ohhhh, sparkly red and green, got it. (As it was, I thought it was a bit weird all the Christmas decorations on the table considering this was February's MM and I didn't play it until March. heheheh) The story was odd to play -- I'm a thief returning to the scene of the crime -- and I wasn't feelin' it, wasn't drawn in by that ~shrug~, but it was a funny little puzzle of patience nevertheless. Circus Camp, beautiful. Yeah, one *the* very first things I did was steal the ooze's armor -- but it was okay, it had two of 'em. $:^ P lol That way, I could draw the dog with the skeleton; keep the ogre at bay with the ooze; and let the monkey multitask between the keeping the fiend's attention off the others, helping take out the dog if it came nearby, and doing fun stuff to the ogre (like stealing an attack, ha ha ha ha). The fiend didn't bother me much; it wound up taking out my decoys of ooze and skeleton; I believe I tried twice, with my first time losing my monkey because I got greedy (iirc, could've passed but instead attacked it, then got controlled onto acid for a loss), and last time not making such a silly mistake. I *loved* playing the "monkey escaping with its friends from the ogre guard and some other attractions loyal to the circus" story. $:^ ] The Hunting Brigade, I think I got on my first try? I might've lost one or two minions, for which I felt a little bad. $:^ ] I just ... (is the term kited? stayed just out of reach, tricking them into following me, positioning them as such, etc.?) kited-I-guess the brigade, smacked 'em around some, lit them up with sparks, and continued being the self-assessed most powerful sorcerer in all Cardhuntria. $:^ D
