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
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!
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.
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(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]
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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.