kieran has outlined his preference for the Mortar very clearly and concisely, I believe; it was easy to follow your logic!
This sparked my interest in looking at your personal top list for Lemmings 2 skills again:
"My thoughts on the Lemmings 2 skills"Interestingly, from the top down, the first skill after those we already have (those being Miner, Builder, Shimmier, Fencer) is the Rock Climber. I still like the idea of lemmings climbing around 90° corners (transitioning from Shimmiers back into a Climber), and I don't think it would be necessarily harmful to allow both the Shimmier and the Rock Climber to climb up sloped ceilings, since they would be looking in opposite directions, which can be crucial (note that the L2 Shimmier can only go up and down sloped ceilings half as steep as the ones in NeoLemmix, i.e. two pixels in width for every 1 pixel in height).
But if we stick to the previous consensus that the Rock Climber would be too similar to the Climber in NeoLemmix, the next in line on your list was the Glue Pourer.Aside from distance-effect skills (both constructive and destructive), these "filler-type" skills were probably one of the most iconic sets of skills for me when I first started playing Lemmings 2. namida initially suggested the Sand Pourer here, which was quickly ruled out, but it seemed like the oddest choice of them all to me. The Filler is arguably even weaker, and the Glue Pourer would clearly be most powerful.
The instinctive response would probably be to reject the Glue Pourer on the grounds of it being too similar to the Platformer. Personally, I've always preferred the Glue Pourer to the Platformer in Lemmings 2 - but then again, L2 Platformers gain height, while the Glue Pourer barely does.
In NeoLemmix, where Platformers never gain height, the Glue Pourer would still have the following differences:- display standard "Filler" behaviour whenever the glue doesn't land on protruding platforms, because then, it doesn't shape into a bridge, but simply fills the gap like a liquid, slowly rising from the bottom to the top
- the pouring lemming remains where he is, rather than moving with the glue right away; so in that sense, I agree with kieran that it could still be regarded as a constructive skill at a distance
- increased speed compared to the Platformer. I was actually surprised to find out on one of kieran's L2 levels that I didn't have to contain the crowd while building a bridge with the Glue Pourer, because the Glue was moving fast enough to keep up with regular Walkers, even a little faster. This would never be possible with the Platformer. Thus, the Glue Pourer would allow for more interesting flow-control puzzles, and also allow teaching flow-control puzzles to beginners more easily - because the crowd isn't in such dire need to be contained.
So I personally would be fine with the Glue Pourer! It would probably be a Stacker vs. Stoner situation, in that Glue Pourer and Platformer are often similar, but different enough in the detail.For example, while designing my L2-style levels in NeoLemmix, I always wanted to replicate that typical "cover up trap triggers with Platformers" experience, which never works in NeoLemmix, a) because the trigger areas are higher than in L2, but also
b) because you can't assign Platformers on flat terrain. Thus, you have to artificially increase the altitude around the traps, making it blatantly obvious that you have to platform there, rather than doing anything else. This can also create "pits" around the traps when you don't actually want them to be there, but just regular traps that lemmings can walk through.
Glue Pourers would be interesting ways to deal with traps without resorting to the standard old "build over it" cliché.
They can even handle traps in narrow corridors, i.e. where you can't actually build, jump, or shimmy over them or go beneath them with destructive skills.
They would also provide more opportunities for flow control when it comes to creating bridges, and could handle small gaps efficiently, so that the player no longer needs to waste a bunch of Builders or Platformers on those (especially since the latter will always cause him to turn around after sealing such small gaps), or filling all these single gaps by dropping Stoners into them (waste of time AND lemmings).
However, if the Rock Climber is too similar to the Climber, and the Glue Pourer too similar to the Platformer, both of which seems justified to say - then the next skill in line on your list would also be the Slider. So let me address your primary criticism against including it in NeoLemmix:
in Neolemmix, the glider is already adequate at providing similar restrictions.
As I'm currently trying to create an L2-style pack within NeoLemmix (Lemmings Hall of Fame), I have tried various tricks to "simulate" existing L2 skills with NeoLemmix skills. The Glider has become a stand-in for "flyer" skills in combination with updrafts (Ballooner / Parachute / Jet Pack / Icarus Wings / SuperLem / Magic Carpet). The most similar one would probably be the Hang Glider.
The Slider however is not among the skills I would consider similar to the Glider at all! In fact, I tried emulating a Slider with a Glider in the attached level by using one-way fields, and it didn't work: The one-way field will trap the Glider between the wall and its trigger area, not allowing him to move at all (not even down). Instead, I had to use a Floater. (Replay is attached.)
You can try this out for yourself by simply replacing the Floater with a Glider in the attached level.
(Requires the experimental build of NeoLemmix that includes the Jumper.)
Counting stars. The one-way arrows on the right are where the Floater is forced into Slider-like behaviour.
Keep in mind that this typical "turning-around" behaviour is enforced by the environment here, i.e. the one-way field. This is a core challenge and also potential of the Slider that the Floater can't emulate. The Floater also can't transition to a Shimmier, and he requires a piece of protruding terrain (above the pipes on the right) to land on. Sliders, in contrast, can drop from an upper platform into a lower tunnel even when their edges are perfectly alligned.
Thus, while I do think comparisons with the Floater are fair when it comes to the Slider, the Glider seems hardly an appropriate comparison:- They start off looking in different directions: The Glider begins his drops looking forward, the Slider flips around. As established, the question of turning lemmings around just the right number of times is a common trademark of many of the most challenging levels that exist.
- The Glider can sometimes be steered into the same tunnel as a Slider could, yes; but it requires an
additional obstacle on the
other side of where he falls, and that obstacle needs to be at the exact right height. The Slider, in contrast, needs solid terrain on the
same side where he drops.
-
The Glider cannot transition into a Shimmier, not even into a Climber that would then allow him to transition into a Shimmier afterwards; he will simply bounce off any wall he touches.
- The Slider needs a straight wall in order to secure safe drops. The Glider doesn't have any such restrictions at all; it's usually more powerful than a Floater, not more restricted. (And the restrictions of the Slider compared to the regular Floater are what make him interesting, so having an even more busted version in the Glider that can fly and travel far distances across lethal gaps goes in the
opposite direction.)
Let me praise the Slider in your own words again:
7) Slider - Now here's a skill that's way cooler than the floater. It's heavily terrain-based and genuinely useful, and best of all it is absolutely hilarious in how it messes with the lemming's direction constantly, and often that can end up as a puzzle entirely by itself. The way it combos with the shimmier is just awesome, giving it quite a lot of flexibility. There's all sorts of stuff you can do with this skill and I think it deserves a lot more attention. I wish I'd used it more often.
The Mortar, in contrast, was all the way down on 17th place in your L2-list, behind the Ballooner, Attractor, Magic Carpet, and even behind the already-ruled-out Runner.