Loud 01, "Wait till you see me dig, baby!": The Swimmer is actually intended for the pioneer lemming to go down on the left. A Digger staircase is indeed required, but only to get that pioneer lemming walking to the left while everyone else continues downward and to the right. The way you used several Diggers to instead have the
crowd go to the left, i.e. from the shaft on the right to a digger shaft on the left, was truly genious! :thumbsup: That's also why you didn't need the Swimmer even just for stalling, because the crowd was already safely contained.
I think this is deserving of a talisman!Loud 02, "Great balls of fire": The intended solution involves a Miner continuing over a Builder staircase. Both of your solutions saved several skills and are thus not really difficult enough for what I planned here. Yet, I once again run into the problem that there is nothing I can put on a piece of terrain that will allow a Miner to pass but not a Digger. Diggers are basically the Joker destructive skill, because they can get through all types of one-way arrows, except upward ones (which, in turn, stop Miners as well).
Loud 3, "Heaven is a place on Earth": I expected somebody would find a way to send all lemmings to the bottom exit. However, I did not reckon it was possible to have a lemming fall through the exit trigger area and stone at the very bottom! :D I might be able to prevent this by moving the bottom exit almost entirely off the screen, so that only one pixel of trigger area is still within the level borders. But even that might still alow a lemming to stone in there, as long as said lemming is at the last frame before falling out of the play area. Naturally, this stone then covers the exit trigger, so no lemming can exit at that exact spot - however, since the Stoner's head is round, the next-lower pixel is actually on the border of the level itself. As soon as a lemming steps onto this one-pixel-lower terrain, he can still exit (I just tried it in a sample level in the Fire tileset).
In short, there's no way of preventing this, plus you used some rather obscure tricks anyway, so I'll be happy for anyone who finds this solution! :thumbsup:
Loud 04, "Wake me up when September ends": intended.Loud 05, "When I come around": This is actually explicitly not the intended solution; the Climber is provided as a red herring, because if the lemming does "come back around" after mining and is a Climber, he will go over the stack at the end. The Bomber is a red herring in both solutions, obviously, since you have to save everyone. As such, the intended solution actually saves two skills, rather than just one:
It consists of bashing under the water first and then assigning a Shimmier to a Swimmer to have him jump into the water from below and use it as a lift. :D
You bypassed the whole thing by having the Climber turn around first, and bashing then. This was supposed to be prevented by the wall the Climber goes up being splat height - but of course, since you had the Shimmier left, you could have him go back towards the crystal and drop off in a place where there was no longer splat height.
In the intended solution, the Basher needs to come from the left (just like in your solution), so one-way left arrows cannot force the Climber to bash instead and end up going over the stack.
Instead, I had to put a little pillar under the ceiling now to cause the Shimmier to fall down earlier and splat, in case anyone else tries this. ;) I'm sorry, your solution was elegant and fine as it is - but it's the solution any seasoned NeoLemmix player would
expect, I'm sure.
Having a Swimmer jump into water from below by using a Shimmier requires more thinking outside the box, I believe. ;)
Loud 06, "Notice me, Lempai!": intended.
Loud 07, "Touch the hand of a Lem": Not intended, but close. You used a Bomber in the middle, rather than a Blocker to turn the lemmings from both sides around. They're supposed to fall through the trigger areas on the hands of the Blocker and consequently go towards both exits. I'm impressed by this "turning around inside a Bomber pit" in general, though; you've also used it to solve (or backroute) several other levels. First trick I've learned from you here! (And there's still a second one coming... ;) )
Loud 08: I think this level is still called "Rama Lema Ding Dong" in the current version? Turrican's recent comments in the Lemmings World Tour thread about the Clam Groupie level reminded me that I had actually already used this song title ("Clam-a-Lem-a-Ding-Dong"). Which is why the title has now been changed to Peter Gabriel's "Red rain", and I've added yet another object (guess what, red rain) to my strato_generalmd tileset. I was already wondering why nobody had complained about a msising piece yet - but I haven't uploaded either so far, apparently. Both are going to be included with the next update, though, so there should be no errors! ;)
On the solution, while this looked very elegant once again, it saved too many skills for my taste, and also skipped the main trick, which is really kind of unique here. So I'm going to need one-way left arrows at the bottom and more steel at the top. Thanks for showing me! ;)
Loud 09, "Born to be wild": Again, not the intended solution - but do I really want to cut this off by putting steel or upward arrows on the entire piece of terrain where you mined? You cleverly used the water to prevent the pioneer from splatting (since he needs to be a Swimmer anyway). I think you could have saved one Builder by making him a Climber as well, since he is the only one who needs to go up the rock on the right. Sparing a Climber is not something that might break the level - however, if another player uses your solution and does use the Climber, he will have an additional Builder, which has a much higher chance of breaking levels in general. On this particular one, though, I think the one-way arrows in front of the exit do the most important job already.
The intended solution is to go down the ice wall on the left, re-using one of the Digger tricks from "Wake me up when September ends" to turn the Digger to the right. So it might actually be better if this alternative solution exists, because it means the pack doesn't necessarily have to become too repetitive with the tricks it demands from the player. :thumbsup:
Loud 10, "Viva la vida": I tried to enforce a trick here and on "Stop crying your heart out" which I learned from PimoLems - it didn't work in either of these cases, because the rest of the level is just too complex. As such, it doesn't really matter that you released the crowd on the right straight away at the beginning, rather than at the end, as intended.
The Stacker is indeed supposed to provide initial height gain for the Miner, and then be removed with the Digger at the end, who then stops from hitting steel. However, the Digger wasn't actually planned to be assigned
while the stack is still being built. This is another trick I've learned from you today, especially since you reused later on! :thumbsup: It's funny how the stack will actually be built in the air, because the Digger has already removed the terrain right under him in the meantime.
Loud 11, "One moment in time": This is another one that requires a Miner going through over a staircase in the intended solution. You see what I meant with regards to the danger of my intended solutions being somewhat repetitive? As such, I'm glad that your first solution exists as an alternative (the one where you used all the skills). Stoning right next to the steel piece on the left to turn all the lemmings around above the exit already was very clever! :thumbsup: This saved you the hassle of somehow having to deal with the slopes on the bottom that lead direct towards the water ponds. Naturally, that's also the position where you assigned the Cloners at the end, to make up for the losses.
Your second solution, in contrast, saved a couple more skills - a couple too many for my liking, admittedly - by making more efficient use of the Cloners and actually having them perform skills every time they duplicated a lemming.
Since I do like your first solution, though, and there's no way of preventing your second solution without also blocking your first one in the process, I'll leave this level as it is. Instead, I made your second solution a talisman! :thumbsup: This means saving an additional lemming by avoiding the use of the Stoner.
Loud 12, "You can't always get what you want": intended. It isn't actually necessary to have the Climber be the one who builds the final staircase - the crowd can complete it before and continue to the exit. But I get that it's easier to time the assignment of the Basher the more lemmings are still running around. Also, there's no way to make the Climber accidentally turn around from building too far into the terrain, because the player can liberally choose the point of Builder assignment.
Loud 13, "The number of the Beast": backroute. I already thought I had been completely stupid by picking the wrong type of one-way arrows. But upward arrows are indeed needed to make the majority of the beginning section Digger proof - only the pillar on the right, through which you fenced, needed to have one-way left arrows instead. Quick enough change, fortunately! :D
Loud 14, "Reach for the stairs": backroute. I already had identified a very similar backroute myself and fixed it prior to uploading the most recent version. However, I once again wasn't prepared for your turnaround inside the Bomber pit. I was a little confused why you let the first lemming falling down drown, rather than making him the Stoner. But then I realised he had been a Digger before, i.e. falling down in the middle of the shaft, while all the other lemmings obviously fall down at the edge. So you needed the Stoner to fall off the edge as well.
The intended solution is building all the way over the water, shimmying down the staircase from the other side (hence the name), then stone under the upward arrows, have another Shimmier bomb a dent into the ceiling. Now you can platform from the Stoner, build up towards the ceiling, and eventually stack into the Bomber's dent, using the Shimmier to grab the ceiling and get the lemming on top of the stack, from where he can fence the crowd out.
. This might not fix everything, but it should at least enforce building the giant staircase to shimmy along, thus validating the level title.
Your method of isolating the pioneer was as intended, though - a reverse Builder, followed by a Shimmier using the ceiling to pull himself onto the staircase. This is another thing the title hints at - the first time you reach to get onto the stairs, the second time you actually reach for the stairs themselves.
Loud 15, "Fallen leaves": This is not too far off, but still a little easier than I wanted it to be. Maybe I can carefully place a couple more one-way down arrows - I need to be careful though not to place them too far down, lest they might cut off the Basher's intended path.
Loud 16, "Breakfast at Tiffany's": Once again, just wow! :thumbsup: At first I thought the lemmings would slip between the staircase and the lemon - you only had one Platformer remaining, which wouldn't have been enough to close the gap behind the lemon, plus a Blocker, which you couldn't use, because you had to save all remaining lemmings. I suspected the lemmings might be able to step from the lemon onto the staircase by slipping through it, but I wasn't sure until I actually saw it. Yet another talisman to your credit! :thumbsup: (Solve with just 3 Platformers and no Blockers - the latter needs to be specified because of the Cloners).
The Blocker is provided to cancel a Digger without terrain under his feet, much like in another level from this rank. Once again, I'm glad this alternative solution exits so that trick repetition is not enforced.
Loud 17, "Stand by me": valid alternative solution! I thought you were going for the intended one, because the beginning is exactly as planned. Then, you had the Swimmer do another round after freeing the Blocker. When you had the freed Blocker platform over the gap, at first I smelled a backroute. But eventually, you still used all the skills, and your solution required a similar amount of timing (digging to temporarily break the fall of the Swimmer) as the intended solution. You can only tell that it isn't the intended one by the fact that I didn't understand at all what you were saying about the Swimmer reaching the exit too early at the end.
This was so much fun to watch - first the positive anticipation of what initially looked like the intended solution, then the sudden surprise, and then, still fell everything into place so nicely, but in a slightly different way than expected! :thumbsup:
Loud 18, "Lems, Lems, Lems": close to intended. You used the Climbers and Shimmier merely for stalling, and very cleverly so. It is however also possible to have the Climbers go up the bars on the right and then shimmy onto the platform with the exit. The obviously need to do this before the pioneer bashes through the bars at the bottom and closes off the Climber path with a Builder at the top. But this is by no means a "Great Lemming Caper" exercise in timing. It's just that, rather than having to merely delay the lemmings that would otherwise be too close to the worker lemmings and die, you can already save some of them in advance, if you want to. The rest - the Swimmer and Glider, the one lemming that needs to build over the firetrap, sealing off the Basher tunnel with a Builder etc. - was all as intended.
Loud 19, "This time": The upper crowd is supposed to get contained behind the block first. You used a timing-based solution to stall the crowd a little more, so that only one lemming could slip out of the Miner tunnel towards the exit, and even though that lemming then needed to make his own Miner tunnel, you still saved 1 of the 5 overall Miners. That sounds like another talisman! :thumbsup: Especially since you agreed with my already-made suggestion of swapping this level with Soft 04, "Twist and shout". Having slightly more challenging talismans on the lower levels is a nice way to spice them up a little! ;)
Loud 20, "Bonfire": backroute. Both times, as you correctly identified. That was some serious fiddling going on, though, with fencing into the Stoner, cancelling the Fencer with a Shimmier, then bombing away the rest of what held the lemmings back with a Glider from above in mid-air. :thumbsup: The second solution made it easier by having the pioneer turn around on the chains in front of the exit by platforming, fencing up (which is indeed intended), then bombing away the terrain under the fire pits. I had already tried and made sure that the fire pits were wide enough to prevent going under them just by using Bombers.
The common denominator in both of your backroute solutions, though, is that the lemming platforming over the fire pits shouldn't be able to drop down on the other side in the first place. I've moved the fire pits to the right, all the way to the edge of the block, so that the Platformer can't safely drop down there. You can of course still cancel the Platformer with a Shimmier once he gets beyond the firepits. Then he'll drop down towards the level of the exit - but based on the skills you've used so far with this method, at that point you'll have a hard time turning him around again in order to fence everyone out. :evil:
This should only be possible for a lemming shimmying over the firepits under the platform. The Glider and Stoner are required to even build a platform at sufficient height in the first place.
Totally not intended - but the interaction of the Climbers on the top and the Swimmers from below was quite clever! :thumbsup: I could easily interrupt this by putting more steel into the pillar on the right. But for the time being, I'd say if anyone voluntarily wants to make a Stoner staircase, like you did, they can knock themselves out! :evil: It's not like the intended solution weren't a bit of a hassle, either.
Loud 22, "Three times a lemming": Close to intended. The additional Basher is indeed to stall the crowd a little more, so you don't actually have to crank up the release rate and do the second half of the level with the last lemming of the crowd, just to have enough time for everything. Maybe worth a Bronze talisman to solve it sparing one Basher.
Loud 23, "Everything I do (I do it for Lemmings)": close to intended. Again, at the very end you made a slight modification compared to my solution, which is why I didn't immediately understand what you were suggesting. I did indeed try various ways to make it important which of the two pioneer lemmings does what (Climber vs. Disarmer).
Only now did I realise that you opened my level yourself in the editor and added that one block of terrain to show me what you meant! :thumbsup: I definitely appreciate the effort!Freeing the Blocker by bombing the other pioneer was actually never part of the plan! :D In fact, you just have a plain, good-old Walker at your disposal for that. The thing is that you "wasted" it earlier to turn the one lemming back around after platforming. This wouldn't have been necessary, since he's a Climber and could easily get back up again. You only would have had to wait a little longer before assigning the Shimmier to the Disarmer.
I've attached my replay for this specific level. As you can see, both the Disarmer and the Climber are alive and well at the end. I could still make it important who of the two gets to platform over the water and who platforms towards the Miner shaft. However, my current solution would require an additional Miner.
I've now realised though that I wasted a Miner where you wasted a Walker! :-[ I initially planned to have the left crowd get into the Miner shaft by bombing away the remaining altitude from the top. But none of the two pioneers actually gets back on top of this section. As such, the first Miner in my replay is useless.
Instead, it can be used for precisely what you proposed, without me having to provide an additional Miner that might have ended up breaking the level.
Simultaneously, I could remove the redundant Walker you used to indeed enforce the mid-air bombing you did! ;)The screenshot was indeed really helpful! That little slope you put next to the block the lemming is mining through was really important! ;) I had tried just the block first, and it was either too high to mine from, or too low to enforce Climber usage.
I think this is the biggest contribution any tester has ever made to one of my levels! :thumbsup: I cannot thank you enough! ;) I'd happily put you into the "Author" line as a co-author... if it weren't occupied by the performing artist, as is the case in general with all of my music-themed packs. But you've already earned yourself your spot on the credits roll anyway, of course! ;)
PS: Your replay will unfortunately break as a result of this - I just had to replay the level myself, due to the slight alteration of the terrain. Closing the last couple of gaps with Platformers at the end now also requires a little timing, but simply using the last lemming of the crowd for this should give said lemming enough of a head-start to that nobody can fall through the gap the Shimmier-Clone needed to bomb for himself earlier - they will only get there once the Platformer is done re-sealing it.
Loud 24, "Stop crying your heart out": backroute. You weren't supposed to be able to bash through the block over the water pit. But that's an easy enough fix, just some good old steel straight through the middle of the block. :D Consequently, this means you can't build across the pit straight away - the lemming will bump his head and turn around. This is also the reason why you weren't supposed to be able to simply assign a Climber to isolate a pioneer lemming. Now, however, you shouldn't actually be able to do that anymore - because the Climber, after bumping his head on the now-Basher-proof block, will turn around and fall down. If he's a regular lemming (just a Floater), this isn't a problem; Climbers, meanwhile, are going to go up the wall and run straight into the fire trap. :devil:
So this is a semi-red-herring. The Climber still has to be used, but later - thus, isolating the pioneer lemming has to be done differently. This is how I want to finally enforce the PimoLems trick I mentioned above. :P
Loud 25, "With a little help from my Lems": close to intended. The Climber is just there so that the lemming can get over his own stack. I didn't consider that you could simply turn around on the wall first, build the stack while looking into the opposite direction, then turning back. Of course, if the lemming actually is a Climber, this doesn't work, because then he'd go over the stack and into the water. As such, depending on how you approach this level, the Climber is either a red-herring, or strictly necessary. I kind of like that, actually! :thumbsup:
Loud 26, "Euphoria": backroute. Oh, my gosh, this level has been uploaded for ages, and this is actually the same backroute nin10doadict had already used a long time ago. How come I never noticed or remembered to fix that? :-[ Emergency treatment with downward arrows is in order! :D
Loud 27, "November rain": valid alternative solution! There goes your signature "digging under a Stacker-in-creation" trick again! ;)
Loud 28, "In the bleak midwinter": close to intended. I think I did a little more fiddling around with that dog; you used the Miners and Platformers in a much more efficient way. The way to clear a path through the Christmas trees, and to turn around inside the tower with the exit, was all as intended, though.
And yes, this was indeed designed as a slightly easier version of "Valkea joulu" ;) (which, btw, is just the Finnish version of "White Christmas").
Loud 29, "You keep me hanging on": close to intended, valid alternative solution! The intended solution is more "epic", because it has the Shimmier travel all the way: He prepares his own path by platforming, collects all the pickup skills, glides down, and then becomes a Shimmier already at the water pond on the right. He then shimmies along his own previously-built Platformer bridge, into the Miner shaft coming from the crowd on the left, up into the Basher tunnel, grabbing the platform and then the staircase and finally continuing towards the ceiling over the water on the left. Because he is a Glider, he will also bump against the pillar in front of the exit when falling down, thus turning around automatically so that he can bash the crowd out.
The tricky part is getting the Shimmier from the Miner into the Basher tunnel: If you just assign a Miner to a Basher, the Miner will actually create a 2-pixel-increase at the point of convergence with the Basher tunnel, which will result in the Shimmier dropping from the ceiling right there. So instead, you have to get the Miner slightly lower - by very shortly assigning a Digger to him before he actually can start mining.
I'm still happy though that this one was still complex enough to be one of your favourites in the rank! ;) And since you also used all but one skill, I think this one is fine and more than difficult enough for the end of the second rank.
Loud 30, "Heavy cross": Oh, boy, there was so much stuff going on here. I think this is the first time I saw somebody else use a Glider like a Shimmier (here:to collect one of the pickup skills). This was originally just a joke I made in my pack Lemmicks (for NeoLemmix 1.43), where on the level "Coming soon: Shimmiers", Gliders would move along the bottom of a Platformer bridge due to an updraft.
While this feels a bit like a backroute, it's still anything but obvious, and you also said yourself that it took you a while to figure out. Since I don't see any way either of preventing this solution, even if I turn even more of the skills into pickups, I'll leave this one as it is for the time being, as well. Many other packs indeed just provide enough of a challenge by creating levels with very "iffy" terrain shapes. I usually can't figure out anything on those. And this odd, diagonal cross-shape is definitely a good candidate for me to finally have a level with "iffy terrain" myself. :D