[Neolemmix] Mikes Lemmings [Difficulty: Medium - Hard]

[IchoTolot]

And here are what should be the final version of my replays.

[Turrican]

And here are what should be the final version of my replays.

That's correct! All your solutions now , are intended , or acceptable alternatives!

[IchoTolot]

While recording the pack I might have found an error in one of the levels:

- Wicked 4 (The VAR edition of FC Lems) there is a trap hidden inside the large part of terrain left of the exit. I did not notice it while playing as clear physics was not nessesary, but during recording I like to show the clear physics picture as well and I noticed that weird trigger area inside the terrain.

I bet it was an oversight while placing the other traps so I am reporting it here.

[Turrican]

While recording the pack I might have found an error in one of the levels:

- Wicked 4 (The VAR edition of FC Lems) there is a trap hidden inside the large part of terrain left of the exit. I did not notice it while playing as clear physics was not nessesary, but during recording I like to show the clear physics picture as well and I noticed that weird trigger area inside the terrain.

I bet it was an oversight while placing the other traps so I am reporting it here.

You are correct! That trap was an oversight , so I removed it.

The result : I have uploaded the version 1.07 of the pack. It contains the version 1.04 of "FC Lems screwed by the refs - VAR edition" , which has a trap that had beeen placed inside the terrain by mistake, removed.

[Turrican]

I have uploaded the version 1.08 of the pack.

It contains the updated versions of  "FC Lems screwed by the refs" ( version 1.09 ) , and  "FC Lems screwed by the refs - VAR edition" ( version 1.05 ) .

Both new versions , contain a backroute fix , for a backroute that I have found , that worked in both levels.

[kaywhyn]

Hi Turrican,

I have solved all of the pack. Here are my replays. Also, I know you're already aware, but I'm going to link to my LP of the pack in case anyone else wants to watch it (I know you all do! ):

LP link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJsK3ZHMJTjd-huos3Qmsrpx. Enjoy!

General Feedback

This is Turrican's first NL pack and is a small one of 17 levels: 7 levels each in the two main ranks, as well as 3 levels in the Bonus rank. The levels in the Bonus rank consist of two levels from other authors that Turrican decided to put in the rank, as well as a level from Turrican himself, which he added to the pack in later versions. Despite being a small pack, it's not an easy pack by any means. In particular, I think most would do fine with the Wild rank. The Wicked rank is where there's a noticeable step up in difficulty. I certainly felt it, and it was pretty much slow going throughout, although some levels I was simply a dummy on. Others had me genuinely stuck for a time, but eventually I came through and was able to solve them. The interesting thing is that I essentially got two levels solved each time in the difficulty rating, with the exception of the final level, which needed two videos to get solved, although they both exceeded an hour in length.

Wild Rank Feedback

As mentioned before, I think most can get through this difficulty with not too much problems, as I would say the difficulty here is around medium, which is what Turrican classified the difficulty as on the lower end. The only really hard levels in this rank were Wild 4 and Wild 7. Everything else was either easy or in between.

Spoiler

Wild 1 - The Space Outpost Nice level to start off the rank. I especially love the bomber trick to release the pre-placed disarmer. I did at first fall for the trap of platforming both sides of the gap where the disarmer is trapped in the pit with the OWWs, though I would say that was simply jumping into the level before I managed to work everything out in my mind Nice mix of the Space tileset from L2, as well as SQRon's tileset.

Wild 2 - Butterfly Islands I love these tilesets of David's. They're really high in artistic quality, and his mastery of artistry certainly shows in his The Lemmings Have Grown pack, which I had the pleasure of LPing earlier this year. Nice open-ended level here

Wild 3 - Reachable Heights Modification of a level by Turrican, called Unreachable Heights, as the original was a glitch level, but since glitches are absent from NL, the solution needed to be adapted. Another open-ended level as stated from Turrican himself. This one did give me problems and I did struggled a bit longer than is actually seen in the LP, but this solution is different from the initial solution I found, where I had a lemming from above drop right on top of the blocker to release him. The rest was down to timing.

Wild 4 - Miniature Lemmings A very hard level, I thought. The level definitely got a "how in the world is this possible?" reaction from me, especially given that you only have one platformer. Certainly a nice trick with the stoner and platforming/cloning, but this is very precise in order to bridge the gap on both sides. Other than this, getting through the floating triangle structure efficiently was also very hard. My solution is a bit different from Icho's, although yours and mine are similar in many ways. I guess that's the beauty of the game, where there can still be slight variations of the solution Very nice use of the tileset here, although I kind of hate how the background stuff can easily be mistaken for solid terrain, though a large part of that is due how I generally don't use CPM while LPing, as I prefer to figure things out as I go rather than take the easy way out by activating it

Wild 5 - Lemmings Checkers Club Nice level which was a quick solve here. I like the builder steps past the steel wall. I need to remember that the solid red is steel for this tileset. I always keep confusing it for solid terrain

Wild 6 - Outside the Control Room My favorite of the rank here. I love how multiple lemmings need to go to various areas of the level to get to the buttons. Nice use of the shimmier to get the button around the middle on the left side and then again to get him to safety.

Wild 7 - FC Lems screwed by the refs Nice builderless level to finish off the rank, although another hard one in the difficulty rating. Due to how you only have two skill types available at the start, this would perhaps be a big hint to the solution in the area. I was a dummy and kept thinking that I needed to get up by going to the far left first. Seems that the RR was purposely set so that everyone stacks on top of one another so that you only see 2 lemmings on the screen. Once you realize what the solution entails, the rest is just down to timing, and so the execution can be a bit frustrating.

Wicked Rank Feedback

Lots of the levels here are a step up in difficulty, and I certainly felt the jump in the difficulty, especially since solving times slowed to the point that it was essentially just 2 levels solved per video. The exception is the final level of the rank, where I needed two videos to get it solved, although the lengths of both exceed an hour each

Spoiler

Wicked 1 - Pencils Hiding my Painting Once again, nice use of Davids' tilesets. Nice trick of cancelling a basher midstroke with a walker and then building immediately upon stepping up through the ceiling in order to stop anyone from following him. This has to be done at a very specific spot so that you can still get to the paintbrush with your 3 builders available. Also I like the bashing and cloning it to send a lemming back to the crowd to release them with a miner. I've already seen this combo in a United level, so that came in handy for this level This is quite difficult to see. For the end part, I kept thinking that 3 platformers aren't enough to reach the exit. Once again, I would definitely ease up the precision, as I don't understand why the gaps have to be exactly one platformer/builder length every time. At least make it clearer that the gaps can be crossed with a certain number of platformers/builders. To be fair, I didn't check with CPM that the clouds are solid terrain instead of background. Then again, I probably could had figured that out only due to how it's pretty much in the way of the exit. Overall, nice level to start off the rank, although certainly a difficult one.

Wicked 2 - Shadows in the Sky Very similar to Wild 7 in that it's a builderless level and you have to do more or less the same thing here as in the aforementioned level. The small alcove after the first tall wall can be a bit frustrating to time correctly so that the climbers can step up through the ceiling later, but at the same time the blocker can be released via a digger and cancelling with a basher. My main gripe is that I'm just not a fan of the silhouette sprites and tileset, especially since it's very difficult to tell who you're assigning a skill to, and it's impossible to tell which lemmings have a permanent skill because there's no color shift to indicate that. Colorful Arty has told me that he's thinking of making the shade a bit brighter so that it's no longer impossible to tell who has a permanent skill, although he hasn't done anything about it yet. He's not active here on the Forums these days.

Wicked 3 - The Crystal Coves Nice level, but the start with containing the crowd and only sending one on ahead with just builders is very frustrating. The builders might seem very plentiful, but they do run out much faster than one would think. Fortunately, it's possible with careful placements to finish with leftover, as seen in both Icho's and Turrican's solutions. Mine happens to use all the builders. Here, it's absolutely necessary to know about the trick of getting builders to turn if the RR is high enough. The way to do this is to build and then have the second one build just as he steps off the first builder's first brick. The head check triggers, interrupting the second builder after one builder brick.

I've had an attempt at the Superlemmini version of the level some time ago, though that time I couldn't get it solved because I got very frustrated in getting the execution down. Now that I know the solution to the NL version, I will certainly give it another try, and it might not take as long.

Wicked 4 - FC Lems screwed by the refs -VAR edition Almost a repeat of Wild 7, except there are now traps on the far left. I think there is also a change in the skillset as well, but I'm not sure. Only slightly harder, but not by much. I would certainly say the hardest part is making a turn around point in the middle area. Once you achieve that and make sure that everyone can proceed to the right, the rest of the solution is pretty much the same as Wild 7.

Wicked 5 - To the Stargate! Hard level, especially the start with keeping everyone safe. It took me a while to figure out how to get the pickups along the wall. I kept trying so hard to get everyone on the platform where the first button is, when in actuality you just need to get one up there. I don't think I ever knew that you need two platformers in a fencer tunnel in order to bash all the way across successfully. I've checked the intended solution after solving, and honestly I don't know if I ever would had been able to come up with that, especially with keeping a fencer going with a stoner(s). Then again, I believe there is a level in one of the Lemmings Plus packs where this will be required, although the nice thing is that it's the only thing that's required in the level. It's simply all about getting the execution correct. However, in this level there's way more things needed here, and as it's very difficult to pull off, honestly I think you should allow my solution to slide despite it being a backroute. Basically, namida's level is a good example of why one shouldn't make levels requiring it, because fencers get interrupted very easily on even ground.

Wicked 6 - Dockside Warehouse I've already played this level when LOTY 2020 happened earlier this year. Hard level, mostly due to how I tend to be very bad with using stackers to solve levels. Here, I decided to manually recreate the solution by hand, as although I have a replay for when I solved it back in April, I don't think it will work here. I did notice a stacker was taken away, and you already explained that it was due to a backroute you found.

Wicked 7 - Airborne Rodents Nice level to finish off the rank, but a very hard one. The sheer size does make it look intimidating, but it's not as bad as it appears. Certainly the hardest part is working out what needs to happen while at the same time making sure you don't lose too many, which I sometimes ran into. I often had a lot of doubts about whether I was doing the level correctly. The biggest annoyance was how a lot of the gaps were off by a pixel. I checked yours and Icho's solutions after I solved it, and mine is nowhere like either. However, it still ends up using all of the skills, and I guess I overcomplicated the solution. Even then, since mine is just as hard or even a bit slightly, I say my solution should be allowed to slide as well. It's not too far enough from the intended solution, save for the area near the exit, where I simply avoided losses to the traps

Bonus Rank Feedback

As mentioned, two of the levels are from other authors that Turrican decided to use for this rank, while the remaining level is Turrican's creation. These are all very quick ones, and it kind of helps that I've played the two levels that aren't by Turrican already some time ago, and so I'm already mostly familiar with the solutions to them. Hence, Turrican's level is the only new one here I haven't played before.

Spoiler

Bonus 1 - Excavations in the Cubic Cave Nice short and somewhat easy level. I was a dummy and didn't realize how to properly think of saving one of the blockers. I kept thinking to block on the builder staircase to the left of the partial OWW, when in fact it should had dawned on me that it needs to happen on the other side of it Wow, talk about me overthinking simple stuff like that

For Dodochacalo's level, I mentioned that I think it was a glitch level, as it's originally a Lemmini level. However, I just checked and it's not, so I definitely confused it with another Crystal level by him which does use a glitch.

Finally, for Gronkling's level, it's a very minimal level that's supposed to demonstrate that

Spoiler

miners can cancel each other out, but to do so is extremely difficult, as you need to place both miners at the right spot and time.

Also, I remember that the level had a 1-minute timer


Overall, nice job with your first NL pack Despite the short length which isn't as short as namida's Holiday Lemmings Plus pack, I still enjoyed it very much. So, thank you very much for this, and I'll be giving your Superlemmini pack a go at some point. It's not going to be for some time, but I will get to it eventually. Hope you're doing well, and I'll see you around here sometimes Thanks for watching my LP and commenting on my solutions on the videos themselves too

[Turrican]

I have uploaded the version 1.09 of the pack. It contains updated versions for two of the levels. These levels are:

"Airborne Rodents" version 1.05 : The updated version contains a fix on the trigger area of a trap .

"FC Lems screwed by the refs - VAR edition" version 1.06 : The updated version contains a backroute fix .