Wibble's thoughts on Lix Lemforum levels

[Wibble]

At last...

Spoiler

What I am interested in is that from the  backroute post, it says Proxima's solution did not dig there, so there is another intended solution out there somewhere.

[Forestidia86]

At last...

Spoiler

What I am interested in is that from the  backroute post, it says Proxima's solution did not dig there, so there is another intended solution out there somewhere.

Congrats on solving.

Concerning Proxima's solution

Proxima digs at the lefthand side like the "backroute" and you, just not at the same time as the "backroute". Your solution basically matches the solving replay by Proxima.

[Wibble]

I think I'd have been there for months trying without those hints. Every other level I've had hints for has not required nearly so much!

Hopefully the solution has taught me some things I can apply to later levels - it's a bit like Snowball Battle in that a general assumption you almost always apply to levels is turned on its head

Spoiler

for example the idea that sometimes you don't use the first lix to dig

[Forestidia86]

For Gr8 Escape think problem oriented.

Hint 1

Consider what you know about the skills you've available and how it can help you.

Hint 2

Focus this thinking on the builder skill and what you know about it.

[Wibble]

Hmm...I'm going to post my thoughts as much as a way to help myself as anything on Gr8 Escape.

Spoiler

With only 3 bashers, 1 basher needs to be used to take out 2 pillars for either the upper or lower trapdoor if not both.

Scenario A - If you bridge up to a height to only use 1 basher on the lower one thats 3 bridges used. Add in 4 more to span the gaps and you have just 2 left, not enough to stall with.

You can bash through the first bridge or build an extra bridge to pen all the lix in. But the latter will require a bash to get back out anyway, and then you need to somehow turn around the lone lix to have them undermine the top half. And I can't see how to do that.

So I don't think I have enough materials to make that work.

Scenario B - as shown in the attachment I gave - go lower so you can bridge to the first white ball, then bridging left allows you to use a single bash to undermine.

Problem is that again there aren't enough spare bridges to stall with.

Again, I could build a bridge up against the first tunnel to block most lix in, or use 3 right left bridged - however I'd then need an extra basher to get them back out. Which I haven't got.


Following the advice in the hints, what do I know about bridges?

1) They have a fixed height and width. So I know for example that I will need 4 bridges to span the 2 gaps.

2) They take time to build, making them require stalling/be useable as a stall.

3) They can act as turners if a lix bangs their head - the way this terrain is set up that's useful as a stall for 1 lix.

4) You can speed up building a bit if one lix passes a bridger and starts to build at the edge of their plank. Tried that with a similar approach to the playthrough I attached, it may save an extra lix or 2 but not 100%.

3 adjacent bridges act effectively as a 1 direction wall. Of course, for this level that would then require an extra basher to then fix. 

They will turn if put up against a blocker (not relevant to this level)

If a lix is trapped in terrain they will build a single plank then stop - and from what I can see will not rise by stepping onto said plank.

[Forestidia86]

I can tell you as much that

Spoiler

one of your thoughts about the builder is the key but maybe not in the way you think.

[Wibble]

Brute Fours - A very apt name for the level, I took a lot of attempts experimenting with various possible combinations. Really curious to know if mine is the only solution, feels like more should be possible.

Spoiler

As soon as I had the idea to use the bridge there I solved the level, I was using the bridge lower down or with a basher to rescue the left/rightmost lix before that

100% Built by Lixes aka Tribute to Tribute to M. C Escher? - I'm 1 bridge short, feels like I'm so close but so far.

Spoiler

I have also tried using the block on the right in the same way as I do on the left, but it doesn't save me any bridges there.

Waltz in C Sharp Miner - Felt the key to this level (geddit?) was

Spoiler

seeing how to save on miners when rescuing the lix from the top trapdoor

. I don't know if I did a backroute or if

Spoiler

using the miner as a turner

was intended? A nice level again presenting lots of possible options and asking you to optimise the limited skills available. Given the most known composer of a piece of this nature is Chopin, surely the traps should have been the spinning blades?

Wait Why is There a Tree? - Presumably, there is a tree because

Spoiler

it makes the title work?

. Included here for completion in order but I haven't spent too long on this yet.

Spoiler

Fairly sure I can see where to use the imploders and climbers, I think the missing piece for me is seeing where the diggers come into it.

Get Hype - Solved this one fairly quickly after abandoning the red herring idea of

Spoiler

using the exploder at the top to fling 1 lix to the right to get the platform built, and others to the left for the excavations

Timing is a bit fiddly

Spoiler

in making sure that athlete is the exploded lix and not the miner

All Aboard the Pain Train - Given the fun I had with COTG it would be something of an irony if I solved this straightaway. Funnily enough, I haven't, though like WWITAT? its a level I can take a bit more time to explore I think.

[Proxima]

Finally getting round to watching some replays to my levels.

Brute Fours:

Spoiler

I need to tweak the number of lix so you can't just ignore one trapdoor. However, your solution is very close -- with the bomber and blocker left over, you could have saved the left group from the position you reached.

Waltz in C Sharp Miner:

Spoiler

Exactly as intended. The title is a reference to Chopin but I don't get what you mean about the sawblades?

Toccata is exactly as intended.

The Circular Ruins:

Spoiler

This is not intended; there is an intended trick that gives you a lot more space to place the skills so they are less precise. I should see if I can tweak the level to enforce this.

Thomas the Climber is intended. As for the title, it's both a pun on Thomas the Rhymer and a very obscure hint. (The name "Thomas" means "twin".)

Buridan's Lix:

Spoiler

Your replay is a failed attempt for the left exit. I could give hints but I don't know if you want that.

Rumble to the Bottom: Close enough to intended.

I'm Gonna Make You Mine: Not intended, but this is a level where anything that works is acceptable.

Dividing Three By Two: Good solution.

Down Among the Dead Lix: Also good. I think my solution does use two bombers to turn around the right group, but yours is a bit more elegant.

Lixster Quadrille: This is another "anything goes" level. Yours is a good solution.

This Lix is Your Lix: Much nicer than my solution! I will definitely leave this in.

[Wibble]

Chopin = Chopping = Blades? A simple pun.

Brute Fours - replay with 18 lix saved attached, so the save requirement can go up to that to get around my unintended solution.

Buridan's Lix - hints would be appreciated, even with a limited skill set I'm not seeing it. 

[geoo]

Hopefully the solution has taught me some things I can apply to later levels - it's a bit like Snowball Battle in that a general assumption you almost always apply to levels is turned on its head

Spoiler

for example the idea that sometimes you don't use the first lix to dig

It's funny the way you state this, because I think you've probably used the trick/idea stated in spoilers probably a dozen of times already (just not necessarily with a digger). And I'm sure it won't be the last

Alien Invasion -- This level has always been riddled with backroutes (which explains the Lixes spawning in the wall...).
Your solution is very close in spirit to what I had in mind; mine is arguably a tiny bit more elegant (no fiddly skill placements), but I don't think I can remove your variation.

COTG - I think the solution I found first is the same as Simon's, and I wouldn't say it's a backroute (but maybe Proxima's opinion differs).
I remember struggling with this for a bit as well though, and

Spoiler

iirc in earlier solutions I exploited the bauble as well, which got it to be moved a bit higher.

100% Built by Lixes -- This is probably not much of a hint, but I'll spoiler it just in case:

Spoiler

You can save a builder in this level.

And another very loose one, just to taunt you

Spoiler

You are indeed very close.

Buridan -- Left exit: There are actually (at least two) different ways of doing this! I'll clue at only one of them.

Spoiler

Looking at your solution attempt, there's one obvious way to shift some skill placements
to make fewer (but still too many) Lix die before the bridge creating the safe fall is created.

Spoiler

Can you apply a similar idea somewhere else to give the trailblazer even more of a headstart?

Spoiler

Some of your skill placements feel a bit like a waste of a skill. Use them differently to realize
the previous hint.

Buridan -- Right exit:

Spoiler

You need to stall the crowd, create a safe fall for the worker, and also for the crowd.

Spoiler

This involves a trick (or two) you should be familiar with.

[Wibble]

Progress update - I have 9 levels left to solve in Vicious now - The Gr8 Escape, Buridan's Lix, 100% Built by Lixes, Wait Why is There a Tree, All Aboard the Pain Train, Tinker Tailor Soldier Lix, Theresa Falls Up the Stairs, Heed the Traffic Light, Halfway Down the Stairs, and Chasm.

I have also solved a couple of Hopeless levels, (Division of Labour and Empty Space is Hardly a Waste, both done fairly quickly) -  haven't really spent long on anything in Hopeless yet though.

Feel like I'm close with some and clueless with others...

For the remaining solved vicious levels:

Survival of the Craftiest - Solved 1st attempt, the only fiddly bit to me was

Spoiler

use of the batter

. Liked the level in terms of just how big it looked (without being onerous in length)

Dream the Impossible Dream - Also solved fairly quickly, (fewer than 10 attempts)

Spoiler

Here the fiddly bit was getting the timing right to use the right hand basher

. Feels to me like a lot of the alternative routes can be ruled out very quickly?

Triangle Inequality - Reminded me of Tribute to Benny Hill in that its about clumping the group together, but it seems much easier than that level - feels like it should be in Cunning at the latest? As a level at that difficulty level its a nice idea.

3.1.1.1 - I felt it was very generous with the skills available, and the terrain made it pretty clear where to deploy most of them, so it only took a couple of goes.

Finale - Solved this more quickly than Toccata, though of course Toccata has to go first. And with the artwork used in Toccata you can't even switch the names.

Spoiler

Feels like a fairly conventional level, once I worked out that you can afford to have a few lix splat at any rate

. Like SOTC I liked the fact the level had scale but did not take a long time for any attempt.

Strange that 4 of the last 5 levels in Vicious have been relatively tame, idk if that matches others experiences?

Also attached is a better but still failed attempt for Buridan's lix, an optimisation of the earlier one. 8 lix saved now, so there is still something I'm doing wrong.

[Forestidia86]

Triangle Inequality - Reminded me of Tribute to Benny Hill in that its about clumping the group together, but it seems much easier than that level - feels like it should be in Cunning at the latest? As a level at that difficulty level its a nice idea.

3.1.1.1 - I felt it was very generous with the skills available, and the terrain made it pretty clear where to deploy most of them, so it only took a couple of goes.

[...]

Strange that 4 of the last 5 levels in Vicious have been relatively tame, idk if that matches others experiences?

Your solution to Triangle Inequality is a known backroute.

As I indicated in an earlier post I agree that 3.1.1.1 feels on the easier side for the rank and could in my view be ranked down or come earlier in the rank. The level design indicates indeed much there.

I think I myself backrouted Dream the Impossible Dream, so I can't assess how hard it is intendedly (can't tell you as well if your route is intended or not at the moment). I can't remember Finale (in comparision to Toccata) very well, so I can't assess there either.

[geoo]

The backroute to Triangle Inequality being known must have slipped me, because it completely trivializes the level.
Here's a fix (I hope):

[Proxima]

Finale is intended. I agree with it being easier than Toccata, but as you said, can't really switch them (Incidentally, all three levels were originally created in Cheapo using Repton graphics -- but the level now called "Prelude" used Repton 1 graphics, while "Finale" used Prelude graphics and was called "Prelude". So the ordering made more sense then.)

Survival of the Craftiest is anything-goes. Nice trick with the batter

Dream the Impossible Dream is a backroute.

[Wibble]

Halfway Down the Stairs - Nice timing level, feels like I may have backrouted it somehow as I saved 2 more than required and had skills remaining?

Spoiler

with better timing on the miner I'd have a platform as well

. A 1 of everything puzzle which is nothing new as an idea but interesting to see how many ways you can have lix climb up terrain with no bridges.