[Lemmings 2] Minimum skills for gold

[Simon]

Hi folks,

the forum is lacking action these days, so geoo and I had the idea for this. How many skills are required in <strong>Lemmings 2</strong>? We use the <strong>PC version</strong> of the game, and are interested in the <strong>minimum number of skill usages to achieve gold</strong> for each level. I'll update the post when new info is available.
<pre>
Level     I   II  III   IV    V   VI  VII VIII   IX    X  total
Classic   5    7    9    8    9   10    5    6   11    5     75
Beach     4    3    4    4    3    6   10    5    9    4     52
Cavelems  1    6    1    4    2    2    4    7    7    7     41
Circus    4    2    5    3    4    4    5    8    4    8     47
Egyptian  4    8    4    1    9    2    3    8    8    7     50
Highland  1    5    2   10    6    6    1    4    7    3     45
Medieval  6    6    3    7    5    5    4   10    3    5     54
Outdoor   1    1    4    4    3    4    5    9    6    3     40
Polar     6    3    3    3    8    3    4    5    5    4     44
Shadow   10    2    6    7    4    3    5    5    3    8     53
Space     2    5    7    5    3    6    8    4    5    8     53
Sports    4    2    5    5    5    2    4   10    2   11     50
</pre>
-- Simon

[Simon]

Notable levels:

Cavelem VIII, Wilma, has an elegant 7-skill fling route.
Medieval III, the lose-1 level, has a 3-skill solution.
Medieval V's 5-skill route is fun to figure out, try it sometime. :-)
Medieval IX with 3 skills will get you sore fingers, I suppose.
Outdoor VI is Magic of Mushrooms and has a 4-skill solution.
Outdoor VII is Natural Selection, it has a 5-skill solution while the indended one uses over 70.
Space V, Stainless Steel Lem, has 3- and 4-skill solutions with mad ballooner management.
Space VIII, Odyssey, has a 5-skill Tarzan route: Catch a bunch of fallers on the chain.

A few quirks of the L2 mechanics:

Lemmings 2 will not assign to a worker, but rather to the first lemming that came out of the hatch if there are several under the cursor.

There are several levels that look as if the designers put in backroutes on purpose, and they are always the most skill-efficient routes. Thanks, DMA! Examples: Beach IX, Polar X, Sports VII, Shadow VIII.

Runners can run past the medieval dragon.

Medieval X requires everyone to pass a catapult. Pull it to the left during the correct frame.

When a magno booter falls due to lack of ground, it will face the direction it was facing when he was assigned the booter skill. This is logical, but not intuitive when you remove the ground of a booter who walks upside down.

Key points to reproduce the solutions, as long as they're largely different from the intended solution:

Classic I: Two bashers, then build to the exit.
Classic III: 1 climber, 1 skill for almost each tetris piece, but 2 skills for one of the pieces.
Classic VII: Block a lemming into the steel so that he crawls up. Have im pave the way. Build over the blocker so that everyone crawls up. This loses 1, that's okay as you may lose 4.
Classic X: See LemSteven's method in reply #14.

Beach II: Jet pack down to the castle, use the 2nd hole from the left to get there, and continue to jet pack onto the parasol. This can be done with 1 jetpacker, but you have to be very quick. Rope to block off the path to the right, then laser blast on the parasol to free the crowd. See attachment.
Beach III: Control the crowd with an archer. Hang glide over the pond and to the right side, then hang glide to the exit. Laser blast to free the crowd. This laser blaster must be placed pixel-perfect, otherwise he either hits steel or exits before the click. See attachment.
Beach IX: Platform over the water, attract with the 2nd or 3rd lem near the water. Wait until everyone's out. Let the attractor fill to delay him. Mortar with the ex-platformer twice to make a hole to the left of the crowd, you now have a worker lem that's far enough ahead to pave the way.

Cavelems I: Club bash underneath the last dinosaur, I guess this must be pixel-perfect.
Cavelems III: See ccexplore's comment in Reply #2.
Cavelems VI: See ccexplore's attachment in Reply #2.
Cavelems VII: 2nd lemming stacks under the hatch. 1st one jumps over the trap, 3rd one platforms over the trap. 1st lem stacks on the hill, then jumps off to the left. Platform over the trap, rope to create land under the exit, rope to free the crowd.
Cavelems VIII: See ccexplore's method in reply #2.

Circus VI: See LemSteven's method in reply #11.
Circus IX: See LemSteven's method in reply #14.

Egyptian I: Use the digger and something else to unite all three crowds.
Egyptian II: Use two flame throwers and a stomper to unite all three crowds. Attractors aren't necessary.
Egyptian III: There are several 4-skill routes. One is fencing to the left at the bottom of the first staircase, then stomp, scoop, fence to the goal.
Egyptian IV: Twister level.

Highland I: Guide the twister along the bottom.
Highland III: See LemSteven's comment in Reply #3.

Medieval II: 3 twisters, 3 sand pourers. The last twister goes along the level's outer border.
Medieval III: This uses flinging, i.e. using the knockback of an exploder, and has heavy pixel precision. Stomp in the pit after the crowd is in there completely. Assign an exploder to fling a single lemming across the water while everyone else gets flung to the right. Use the roper to cross the water. See geoo's screenshots attached to reply #13.
Medieval IV: Follow the usual route, but use only 2 stackers. Have the 2nd lemming stack on one of the small platforms, and the 1st one on an upwards slope.
Medieval V: Use a bomber to the left of the hatch to fling a single lemming onto the trees. He'll be the waypaver, club bash out of the bomber hole when he's done.
Medieval VI: 4 twisters, 1 platformer. Basically, everybody is sent the slider route. Make a twister after the first drop, blow him down to make a single walker take the slider route. Blow the twister to the right, everybody else will fall into the collection pit. Conserve this twister, you need it to free the crowd later. Platform over where you'd normally jump with a running rock climber. Fall onto the platform to the left below the exit. Use twisters to get up to the exit.
Medieval VII: Fence, stomp, fence. If the first two lems are far enough apart, fence through the last tower, otherwise restart.
Medieval IX: Assign runner, fire two arrows back at the top platform. Make the 3rd lemming a runner as well. Rope with the 2nd lemming to turn the crowd around. Let the first runner build over the dragon, the other runner will run past the dragon unharmed.
Medieval X: Use the normal route, but pull the cataput to the left while the last lemming walks to the right. You get a 50 % chance of the catapult not picking up the lemming, otherwise the lemming gets flung back and will begin his journey anew. This saves a ballooner.

Outdoor III: Club bash into the big rock pile to the right of the blue flower, then have the basher rope up to the blue flower before he gets through. Rope to the highest point of the flying platform. Everybody should crawl up the platform with the exit now.
Outdoor VI: This uses 4 ropers only. Use two ropers to get everyone to the mushrooms. Have one rope into the air, so that the hook falls down on the platform right of the exit, to create a landing point. Rope to the exit.
Outdoor VII: Assign an attractor under the hatch. When everyone's out, have him jump. Just before the ex-attractor splats, make him a floater. Let him walk 1-2 pixels, make him a bomber. This will fling the crowd towards the left exit. Let the ex-attractor bazooka into his bomber crater to fling him over as well.
Outdoor VIII: Let a worker go up the rocky slope, this takes 1 attractor, 3 platformers. Fence through to the right, start very high so you'll reach the right side with more 2 platformers, plus 1 to reach the very top. The crowd will take this route as well.
Outdoor IX: See ccexplore's screenshots in reply #2 for a way to omit the builder from the followign 7-skill solution: Control the crowd with an archer. Build to the plant under the steel, bash towards the blossom. Rope to the steel, fire an arrow next to the hook to create a cavity. Free the crowd with a club basher, let them walk into the cavity. Build when they're all inside to trigger upwards crawling.
Outdoor X: See ccexplore's comment in Reply #2.

Shadow I: Flame throw into the first ramp to use the top route.
Shadow II: Guide a twister all the way to the bottem right, then fence through the roof.
Shadow III: On each side, flame throw, rope, fill.
Shadow IV: Jetpack over the the left and start working from there.
Shadow V: Let rock climber stick to the chain without any other skills, release him so that he falls down to the left. Platform twice and laser blast.
Shadow VI: Crawling route. Rope twice, then use the superlem to get back the lemming who overtook the first roper. See attachment for where to rope and superlem exactly.
Shadow VII: Standard 5-skill route.
Shadow VIII: Bash to the left. Use 4 bazookas to drop into the container above the cannons. You have to use each bazooka when you're on the leftmost pixel of the lowermost row of the previous crater. Bash free and platform.

Space II: Make two booters go counterclockwise. Explode the first one when he's above the second one on the destructible bar, this might require several attempts. The lower booter will fall due to lack of ground, and face to the left. Platform and fill.

Sports V: Standard route where you turn off the steam.
Sports VI: See ccexplore's attachment of reply #2.
Sports IX: Crawling route, just rope and glue pour. See attachment for where to rope.

-- Simon

[ccexplore]

minor improvements on Medieval IV (8 skills) and VI (5 skills)
Medieval IX down to 4 skills--I think you over-complicated that one a little, Simon http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />
Outdoor VIII down to 9 skills
Outdoor X down to 3 skills

Outdoor IX: finally improved Simon's geoo's solution to 6 skills.  Screenshots attached for the critical pixel-precision moves showing the exact lemming and cursor placements.

Cavelem III down to 1 skill...I'm frankly a little surprised to see any other results reported for this seemingly busted level, so please read the hints section and confirm that my copy of the level works the same as yours!
Cavelem IV 4-skills confirmed
Cavelem VI down to 2 skills! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/laugh.gif" alt=":D" title="Laugh" class="smiley" /> See attached screenshots for the pixel-precise details.

Sports VII down to 4 skills.  It doesn't take much imagination to know that the ballooner is key, so I attached screenshots showing that it is indeed possible to navigate your ballooner to where you see it ends up.  Maybe I'll add a section later here or some other post for ballooner navigation tips......

Sports VI down to 4 skills.  See attached screenshots.  Solution loses 1 lemming but that's okay for gold for that level.  If someone finds a way to just use the roper alone to trigger the you-know-what, that would cut down 1 skill and also make the solution save all.

Cavelem VII down to 4 skills.  See attached screenshots.  (From now on I'll just update the one zip file with new screenshots.)

Space III down to 7 skills.  Screenshots aren't that useful since there's a bit of "luck" involved, but they are available on request.  There's a quick tip in the spoiler section.

Space V down to 4 skills.  I added the screenshots for that one in the zip file.  I even included in the zip a detailed text explanation of the solution.  [edit: D'oh!  Confirmed LemSteven's 3-skill solution.  You no longer have to deal with roping and ballooning at the same time, but the hairy ballooning is pretty much the same.  Screenshots updated.] Yes, it's that hairy.  Sports VII has nothing on this one......

Space VI: 6 skills.  There's one pixel-precise move which I added screenshots for in the zip file.  See spoiler section for tips.

Space IV: 5 skills.  Screenshots added to zip file.  Similar to Sports VI, if someone manages to do a better job with the 2nd roper, one could cut down 1 skill.

Space VII:  tried a bunch of stuff and can't get past 8 skills.  Ends up with 2 relatively tame such solutions.  Added some hints in spoiler section.

---------------

(starting new zip file for levels below, as the first one is getting pretty big...)

Rounding out the rest of Sports:

Sports VIII: 10 skills.  This is probably same as Pooty's solution w/o the direct-drop.  Success requires an obscure trick that requires very precise timing (down to a single frame).  See hints and/or screenshots.

Sports X:  12 skills.  This is mostly the standard solution, except for one shortcut, whose pixel-precise details you can find out in the screenshots (it's practically identical to the same moves in Outdoor IX--in fact I worked it out using the screenshots I had from that level).  And yes, I've also tried roping to the exit from the right side, but invariably the rope breaks or is too steep, so I've given up on that.

Rounding out the rest of Cavelem:

Cavelem VIII down to 7 skills.  This is a tricky one.  I've added screenshots in the zip, as well as a text version of the full solution in the spoiler section.

Cavelem IX: 7 skills!  This uses a glitch involving the parachuter, allowing everyone to eventually all get down through the path on the right!  I explained the glitch in the spoilers section, and added some screenshots in the zip as proof.

Cavelem X: 7 skills--standard solution

And so the grand total for Cavelem comes to 41, tying with just 1 skill behind Outdoor's current record.

Space VIII:  5 skills.  This solution is all about the chain.  Full solution included in spoilers; accompanying screenshots added to zip file.

(aside: seems like there's potential for using the Space VIII method on Highland VIII, though much harder as you need to manage the canon also.  No idea when/if I'll try that.)  [edit: time limit might be an issue, and swinging everyone into a narrow bash tunnel would require superhuman precision.]

Highland II: 5 skills.  Added screenshots to zip and an explanation of solution in spoilers.

And no, please don't ask me when I'm going to get to Highland IV.  Actually it wasn't too bad! I've gotten 15 skills for Highland IV.  Added screenshots to zip and explanations in spoilers.

Rounding out the rest of Space (total=55):

Space IX: 5 skills.  Yet another crawl route.  I have to use roper+another skill to trigger the crawling.  Given the limited places where crawling is effective, I doubt you can get it to work w/ just the roper.  Screenshots added to zip file.

Space X: 9 skills.  This uses a shortcut to set up the glue pourer lemming in 6 skills (including the glue pouring) instead of the standard 7.  See spoiler section and screenshots.  I'm so far unable to fully release the crowd with less than 3 skills.  [edit:  improve to 8, see new post]

=======================

Okay, this post is getting way too long.  I'm starting a new post now for new results.

=======================

Medieval IX:  Ignore the first sentence in Simon's solution, switch the purposes of 2 skills, and that's pretty much the crux of my solution.  Waiting helps......

Outdoor VIII: platformers help everyone crawl up

Outdoor X: find the right place to stomp and you'll isolate a lemming

Cavelem III: if my level works like yours, falling off the right edge of the small mushroom next to the trampoline does not get you on the trampolines, so all you need to do is to establish a way to get up to that small mushroom.  You can do it with just one skill and it's pretty obvious which one.

Space III: it's a route going down and to the right, maximizing the amount of room for horizontal wandering back-and-forth crowd delay.  It's effectively a question of luck to make it work--you're good if no one overtakes your leader when he breaks through fencing to the right.  It'll be very close, making me believe a lower-skill solution is extremely unlikely (unless it's totally different).

Space VI: the skills-saving comes from assigning the "olympian lemming" runner and climber at the very start.  That works like a charm until you need the lemming to go down to the lower half of the level, instead of climbing to oblivion on the right end of the level.  That requires a particular skill assignment at a pixel-precise location--something to make it fall in a good way......

Space VII: You have plenty of options.  If you don't want to release the crowd using a stomper, there are at least 2 choices of 2-skill crowd releases.  If you do release the crowd with a stomper, stacker+platformer can make a survivable landing below.  If you only have bazookas left to get to the exit, 2 suffices (fire from afar so the projectiles land on the top portion of the obstacle, boring downwards from up there, instead of boring sideways through the thicker sloped section.

Sports VIII:  during the stacker's animation, there's a single frame in which he has just moved up onto the new brick but before turning around.

Cavelem VIII: have a left-facing lemming stack near the right wall of the bottom part of the pit everyone ends up in (see screenshot A).  You must stack at the pixel-exact location shown.  This will form a 2-pixel-wide pit between the stack and the left wall of the pit.

When the stacker has got up onto the final stack-brick and turned left, but BEFORE he shrugs, assign him a roller.  This will get him up the slope.  It won't work if you assign roller after the shrugging starts, or before he got onto the final brick, or if your stack isn't positioned exactly as shown.

Once he's walked left and went down and is stuck in a pit, have him fence left to continue further down the level, until he's stuck in the area above the exit.

Now wait until the entire crowd has come out, and your lone hero roughly about 8 pixels away from the left end of the pit, facing left.  Pause at that point, scroll back up to the crowd, and assign fencer.  Depending on your luck, you'll get someone to fence to the right, in such a way that the crowd doesn't spread out too much.  See screenshot E for what you're aiming for.

Scroll back down to the lone lemming, and have him jump up to the right end of the pit, and then just before he falls, assign him bomber.  The idea is to use the knockback of the explosion to reset the falling distance of the crowd, allowing everyone to survive.  You want to assign bomber roughly when the front of the crowd is maybe the height of 1 lemming away from splattering, if I remember correctly.  (I forgot to take a screenshot unfortunately.)  You're better off late than early, since splattering lemmings can still be revived by the explosion, whereas lemmings too high away will "miss" the force of the knockback.

Now everyone's just one fencer away from exiting.

Cavelem IX:  If you fan a parachuter against a wall, there's a frame in which he will actually stand at the wall, at which point you can assign him skill!  Moreover, if you assign him platformer at that point, there will be a 1-pixel gap between the wall and the first brick of the platform!  Just the perfect setup for this level!

Space VIII:  a.k.a the Tarzan level......

Pause when the level starts, and scroll to a position so that you can see both the wind-meter of the chain, as well as the teleport the left-entrance lemmings will come out from.  (See screenshot A for reference.)  Also make sure stomper skill is selected.  Now unpause and turn on fan mode, but don't fan yet.

Wait until the clock hits 3:44.  As soon as it does, immediately start fanning the chain.

Wait until the clock hits 3:39.  Pause as soon as it does, and assign stomper to 1st lemming from left entrance.  See screenshot A.  Pause immediately after skill assignment (as in, don't waste more than a frame or two).

Scroll the screen down, so that the full length of the chain, as well as the teleport at the lower-right corner of the level, are both visible.  Unpause and immediately continue fanning to maintain full wind-meter on the chain.

The timing should work out such that both the 1st and 2nd lemming from the left entrance will both be caught by the chain as they fall.  Moreover, they will be caught on the same link of the chain, which is important because lemmings on different links of the chain will be released at the same time, instead of one-by-one. It will also turn out that, as long as you maintain full wind on the chain, the chain's period of motion matches the rate of incoming lemmings very closely, so basically you can catch all 30 lemmings from the left entrance at the same link of the chain, one back-and-forth swinging of the chain per lemming!

However, we don't really have time to deal with all 30, so you need to start releasing one lemming ASAP to laser the floor below the left entrance, to cut off the flow of left-entrance lemmings onto the chain.  In executing the following moves, you must immediately pause after each mouse click, and then prepare to go back to fanning the chain when unpause, to maintain full wind on the chain:

1) release a lemming from the chain into the gridwork on the right.
2) assign that lemming rock climber, so he can eventually get into the teleport at the bottom right.  Watch for that lemming going into the teleport while you fan the chain.
3) as soon as the lemming disappears from the teleport (and while you continue fanning the chain), wait for about 5 and a half swings of the chain (one swing being half the chain's period of motion, counting left-to-right and right-to-left as 2 swings), then pause the game.
4) Scroll to the hero lemming.  He should be under where you'd use a laser blaster to allow the left-entrance lemmings to exit.  Use laser blaster.
5) Pause immediately and go back to fanning the chain again!

By freeing the left-entrance lemmings as soon as possible, you should end up with only about 20 lemmings on the chain.  When there are finally no more lemmings getting on the chain, you can start releasing them one-by-one to the left, where they will eventually get to the exit on their own.  Screenshots C and D shows roughly the position you want to release each lemming from, assuming you continue to maintain full-wind on the chain throughout.  Be careful not to release too high, or the lemming can end up on top of the structure instead of below.

(Because you don't have much time, you should strive to release a lemming each time the chain swings left.  You will actually end up with about 20-30 game seconds left that way, so you do have a little slack, just don't dawdle.)

Once the last lemming is off the chain, immediately have him stack to block any lemmings from heading to the right, then laser blast to free the remaining lemmings.

(Note on timing: sometimes the chain's wind meter doesn't reset when you restart the level using ESC key.  Above solution assumes the wind meter starts at nothing, as is the case when you get to the level from the menu screens instead of ESC-restart.  If you ESC-restart and find the wind meter already full, simply fast-forward until the meter dies down, then ESC-restart again.)

Highland II:  You can get out of the first pit using 2 arrows.  Basically fire one at a steep diagonal up-and-right direction at the top of the pit's right wall, and then fire another one at a shallower diagonal down-and-left direction at the floor.  The ends of the two arrows will touch, completing the path.  See screenshots A and B for an example [note: the lemming did move in that example between 1st and 2nd arrows.]

Now platform or fill over the next obstacle so you get to the top of the "fence", and then stomp at the pixel-precise location shown in screenshot C (look at screenshot D to see how the stomper's pit is located).

You'd notice with stompers and diggers, they will actually get into the steel for one row of pixels before quitting.  So if you assign fencer to the stomper when they're slightly below steel like that (see screenshot D), you can effectively start fencing one pixel lower than otherwise.  This is enough to allow the fencing to barely break through.  Yay!

Highland IV:  Have fifth lemming out throw standing at location shown in screenshot A.  1st lemming out will throw standing at location in screenshot B, and then throw again standing at location in screenshot C.  Immediately make 3rd and 4th lemmings pour filler.  This will allow escape from the pit w/o trapping any lemmings between the balls and the filler.  (See screenshot E.)

Now you need to throw 7 more balls standing at pixel-precise locations.  I'm lazy and did not include all the screenshots, but here are the locations:

1) 2 pixels right of where fifth lemming threw in screenshot A.
2) 3 pixels right of previous location in #1.
3) 4 pixels right of previous location in #2.
4) 3 pixels right of previous location in #3.
5) 4 pixels right of previous location in #4.
6) 4 pixels right of previous location in #5.
7) 3 pixels right of previous location in #6.

The end result should be screenshot F.  Now have someone pour to the right like in screenshot F.  Result is everyone can now get up the 8-ball staircase (screenshot G).  Finally, when a lemming reaches the very top of the topmost ball, start fencing to the right, and then make him jump to stop fencing when appropriate (screenshot H).

Space X:  The idea is to shoot the bazooka to the right with a lemming standing at the left wall of the pit.  Timed right with a runner lemming that you've jumped off the edge, the bazooka's explosion will fling the lemming onto the exit platform.  He can then bazooka to turn himself around and then pour glue.  See screenshots.

[LemSteven]

I can get us started on a few tribes:

Beach 1 -- 4
Beach 2 -- 4
Beach 3 -- 5
Beach 4 -- 4

Sports 2 -- 2
Sports 3 -- 5
Sports 4 -- 6  Edit: 5

Circus 1 -- 4
Circus 2 -- 2
Circus 3 -- 5
Circus 4 -- 3

Solution details are available upon request.

Edit 2:  Highland 3 is improved to 3.

  Build 2x starting 2 blocks before the red floor begins (it has to be in a pretty precise spot).  If done properly, the lemmings will fall off the top of the bridge, bounce off two trampolines, and make their way up to the ledge on the right side of the level (the one with 2 trampolines on it).

From this ledge, build one more bridge starting about halfway between the edge of the left trampoine and the little blue triangle.  Once again, it has to be pixel-precise.  If this is done properly, the lemmings will fall off the bridge, bounce off three trampolines, and head directly to the exit.

[Pooty]

Not long ago, I did this for the Sports tribe on the SNES version. When I get back home tonight, I'll dig the data up, find out which ones apply to the DOS version, and post it here.

[Edit] Levels 1, 5, 6 and 10 are too different to be of any use for this challenge (though if you want to know what I got, they were 2, 4, 7 and 9 skills, respectively).

The scores I got for levels 2, 3 and 4 are equal to LemSteven's, so...

Level 7 - 8 skills
Level 8 - 9 skills
Level 9 - 2 skills

[Simon]

I updated the grid with all of your solutions. I verified some of them, and believe others. Eveyone's made great efforts so far.

ccexplore:
Cavelem III: This is 1-skill, yep. <_<; We were talking about the grid in IRC yesterday, and were pretty sure we got all the 1's already...
Medieval IX: I've tried this one several times now, but couldn't get a 4-skill route to work yet. Is this one very pixel-precise?
Outdoor IX: The original 7-skill route was thought up geoo, credit where credit is due. ;-)

LemSteven:
Beach II: I'm trying to 3-skill this level right now by doing the 4-skill solution faster, but I'm not sure if it's possible. 4 might be the optimum. Edit: Got the 3-skill route, see attachment of reply #1.
Beach III: I couldn't reproduce a 5-skill solution, and were going to ask you for directions. Then I found a 4-skill one right now (attachment in reply #1), but still consider 5 for this and 4 for Beach II fine hacks.
Sports III: I've not found a 5-skill route yet, and would like to know it.

Pooty:
Sports IX is still 2-skill on the DOS version as well, just verified this (attachment in reply #1). I believe the mechanics stay the same between the versions.
I haven't had a good go at the other sports levels yet, but those numbers sound efficient already. I vaguely remember ccexplore having found an odd route for Sun Sign Selection, but I don't know any more if it was skill efficient.

-- Simon

[ccexplore]

Medieval IX: I've tried this one several times now, but couldn't get a 4-skill route to work yet. Is this one very pixel-precise?

No pixel precision for that one.  I guess some aspects of the solution may be a little non-obvious, although I expected with just 4 skills there are only a limited number of things for people to try.  I'll PM you the solution details.  I might add a hint for that level in my post.

[ccexplore]

I vaguely remember ccexplore having found an odd route for Sun Sign Selection, but I don't know any more if it was skill efficient.

It probably wasn't me; I don't remember anything about that level at all.  But I'm happy to take a look at that level now. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

edit: well, whatever that "odd route" was it definitely wasn't me.  I just managed a 4 skill solution for that level, but it's only relatively recently that I've mastered the art of ballooner navigation well enough to even dream of trying it.  So if that was the "odd route from ccexplore" I'd definitely remember it.

[LemSteven]

Beach III: I couldn't reproduce a 5-skill solution, and were going to ask you for directions. Then I found a 4-skill one right now (in my Reply #1), but still consider 5 a fine hack.

The only difference between your solution and mine is that mine used a canoer over the water at the beginning.  Oops.  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

Sports III: I've not found a 5-skill route yet, and would like to know it.

1.  Make a lemming an Attractor at the top so that one lemming gets past.
2.  The lemming that gets past drops down to a ledge below and turns around.  Make him a Platformer before he falls again.
3.  The lemming will drop down (safely) to the ground below.  Let him hit the pool table and turn around.  He will drop through a gap and approach a small pit.  Make him Platform over this pit.
4.  When the leader reaches the little Y-shaped hole (between the two red and white posts), make him platform over the left side of the hole.  He should fall down the right side and head left, following a path that leads to the exit.
5.  Release the Attractor by making him jump.

Also, I have a few more scores:

Polar 1:  6
Polar 2:  6
Polar 3:  4
Polar 4:  3

Classic 2:  8
Classic 4:  8
Classic 5:  9

Once again, solutions/hints are available upon request.

[ccexplore]

Here are some useful tips for when you need to exert very fine control over navigation of your ballooner (though often there're still an unhealthy dose of luck here and there I'm afraid).

• Keyboard shortcuts are crucial!  Just as "P" pauses, the SpaceBar key switches to fan mode just as if you click on the fan icon.  As you know, activating fan mode automatically unpauses, so using the keyboard shortcut is the only way to reliably have your mouse cursor at the right place beforehand.
  
  
• With the keyboard shortcuts, you can now scroll the screen to keep your ballooner in view, without fear of losing control over the fanning:  just keyboard-pause before you scroll, then after scrolling, place your mouse back to the desired position, then holding down mouse button and keyboard-activate fan to continue.
  
  
• As long as you're not too close to the level's top boundary, pushing a ballooner downward or keeping it stationary is actually pretty easy:  the fan's strength depends on how close it is to the balloon, so if the fan is at the right distance away and vertically above the ballooner, you can balance the force of the wind against the balloon's buoancy exactly so that the balloon's perfectly stationary.  Then you can slowly and carefully nudge your mouse downward to carefully nudge your ballooner perfectly vertically downward.
  
  
• Using roughly the same idea, you can also nudge your ballooner horizontally left and right:  keep your mouse at the same vertical distance above for vertical stationarity, and then move your mouse left or right until it's about diagonally away from the balloon, and at some point it will allow the balloon to slowly drift left/right horizontally.
  
  This is trickier though because once the balloon drifts far enough away horizontally from the fan, you start to lose vertical control, so you'll need to pause every now and then to readjust the position of your cursor.

I'm still relatively new to this, so I'll add more tips here if I discover anything new.

[Simon]

Also this hint, I don't know if it's already obvious from your notes:

• While fanning, if you pause to reposition the cursor or screen, do not let go of the left mouse button at all. When you continue with [Spacebar], the fan will be at top speed again. Only mouse clicks, not mouse holds, end the pause.

I believe this creates new opportunities for pause hacks. A single laser blaster should now be enough to get the jetpacker up in Cavelem IX. The real showcases are your Sports VII solution, and Space V with the high precision fanning while roping at the same time.

-- Simon

[LemSteven]

I've spent some time focusing on Circus 6, and surprisingly got it down to just four skills:

The first lemming fences to allow everyone to walk to the right.  The lemmings will walk across too small dips; make the third lemming a glue pourer as he is walking out of the second dip.  Two lemmings will be in front of him; make the second of those two lemmings a bomber a couple of steps before falling off the cliff.

If this is all done properly, the following should happen:
1) The first lemming will be flung over the gap toward the exit; he must land to the left of the trampoline below.
2) Most of the glue will accumulate in the bomber's hole, but a small amount should go over the cliff, where it will create a one pixel wide ledge so that everyone can drop safely to the cannon at the bottom of the level.
3) The bomber will be injured, allowing for the glue to settle before he gets up and drops off the cliff.

The lemming that is flung over the gap must bomb when he is above the trampoline.  Finally, align the cannon properly so that the lemmings land on the trampoline, which should bounce them through the last bomber's hole and up to the exit.

[ccexplore]

As I've just discovered and noted on the Lemmings 2 glitch thread, it looks like direct drop doesn't work on DOS Lemmings 2.  Pooty's 9-skill Sports 8 solution requires direct drop AFAIK, so unless someone actually got that to work in DOS Lemmings 2, I think we need to remove that result from the scoreboard. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />

To be fair, there's a small chance I made a mistake during my testing.  But it's small enough that I'm taking the failure of direct drop as fact until proven otherwise.

[geoo]

Yeah, in the tries I had on Outdoor 6, I didn't get it to work either.

Here are some very prelimiary results, meaning I didn't double-check most of them yet and there's likely room for improvement. I just wanted so have some kind of upper bound, and from that it seems that indeed Outdoor will end up with least skills required. On that note, it seems that Outdoor and Medieval provided more opportunity for interesting solutions than the others do. EDIT3: Well, in hindsight Cavelem proved to be pretty interesting as well, especially with such efficient solutions to VIII and IX.

Beach       -   -   -   -  4?  7? 12?  7?   -  5?
Circus      -   -   -   -  5?   -  5?   -   -   -
Egyptian    -   -   -   -  9?   2  3?  8?   -   -
Polar       -   -   -   - 10?   3  4?   5  8?   4
Shadow    10?   2  6?  7?  4?   3  5?   6   - 10?

EDIT: Polar VI down to 3, exactly the same solution, just without one useless skill waste.
Shadow VI improved to 3 by Simon using a better approach.

Shadow 8 can almost certainly be reduced to 6, using the cannon pause behaviour (EDIT: 6-skill solution now confirmed):

As you might have noticed, at times lemmings get stuck in the cannon when you pause the game; this behaviour can be used to get two lemmings that are rather close to each other to be both launched by the cannon, even though under normal circumstances the second lemming would bypass the cannon before it's ready. In essence, the cannon action consists of two parts: in the first part the lemming is igniting the cannon, and in the second one the lemming is launched (the latter is when the cannon changes its animation frame). In the meantime the lemming walks to the front of the cannon to get into it. However if you pause the game, part one of the cannon action will still run, while the lemming will stand still. This results in the launching animation being triggered while the lemming is still standing in front of the cannon; the animation is not affected by pausing. Any lemmings that are currently in the cannon will be flung out during this, and no lemming may ignite the fuse at this time. However as soon as this animation is done, the next lemming can already ingnite the fuse, even if the current lemming isn't in the cannon yet. In effect you save the time the ignition takes, which takes the largest portion of one cannon cycle.

Screenshots to various of my solutions, some older, some newer, are attached. Outdoor 6 is a timing inprovement on Simon original route using the hook to enlargen the ledge.

[LemSteven]

Geoo's Circus scores match what I have.  Also, I've got 4 skills for Circus 9:

The first lemming pole vaults from a pixel-precise position a couple steps after entering the level; he should get caught on one of the blocks above the exit and fall safely, facing left.  Make him platform over the gap and use a magic carpet to get him to the ledge above and to the left.  Finally, laser blast to free the crowd.

I've also improved Space 5 down to 3 skills! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" />  The general idea is actually quite simple, but still frustratingly difficult to execute, as it requires both speed and precision with a ballooner.

Make the first lemming a ballooner as soon as you can, and quickly direct him down to the lower of the two ledges below.  Pop the balloon and fire a rope from the edge of the steel to catch the others.  This all has to be extremely quickly, so that the rope is fired before any lemmings fall to their deaths.  Finally, use a bomber at the beginning of the rope.

Finally, I've got a 6-skill solution for Classic 10 using the crawling trick.  It's a bit trickier than Classic 7, though, because you have to save the blocker in the end.

Edit:  More scores:

Highland 5:  6 (I can't find anything better than the intended solution.)
Highland 6:  6 (Again, nothing out of the ordinary)
Highland 7:  1 (This one should be pretty obvious, but the time limit actually makes this somewhat challenging.)
Highland 8:  4 (Involves a backroute; see detailed solution below.)

Move the cannon halfway over and let one lemming use it, then move the cannon all the way to the right.  The first lemming platforms when he reaches a gap; he will hit a wall and turn around.  Use the fan to get the chain going to full blast; the goal is to catch the lemming on the chain as he falls to the left.  Release him from the chain when it is moving left and if you're lucky he will get hurt on the uneven rock wall at the left side of the water.  Bash as soon as he gets up, and then platform to the exit as soon as he's done bashing.  Finally, laser blast to free the crowd immediately before he exits.