In the last time I from time to time played primarily ONML and a bit L1 in Winlemm 95 and tried to speedrun primarily Tame and to a lower extent Fun for myself for a bit. (It's the Winlemm version where they splat in “We all fall down“ (but don't splat in “Steel Works“).)
As a kid I only played the first two ranks of Dos and Winlemm ONML/L1 and am still not through with it but nevertheless encountered some things.
Although it's nothing new I just want to share my observations, experiences etc. Simon helped from time to time to understand them.
What I make use ofI use all of the conveniences that Winlemm has to offer:
- Action Replay
- Fast forward, which is brokenly fast on modern PCs
- Pausing and being in a very limited way able to assign a skill while pausing
- Directional and Walker priority selection as I got to know through
this thread Assignment one frame delayedOne general problem I have is that for some reasons for me all the assignments are one frame delayed. This is especially nasty if you want to assign a skill upon landing since you have then to click on the lemming while still in the air. This is a bit mediated by the possibility to assign skills while pausing. I often mess up basher assingments as well due to it and have then the turning basher.
Fast forward (ff) and PauseFast forward is blazingly fast and finishes the level in no time. So you can only use it to finish off a level or you can try to make a selfbuilt, very unreliable frameskip.
You can perform this quasi-frameskip by either pressing ff twice in quick succession or use ff in combination with pause.
The first method seems more elegant and faster but also less controllable than the second, since you can almost simultaneously hit ff and pause. If one uses the second method, one should not forget to first disable ff and then pause.
With fastly mashing pause you can have selfbuilt framestepping.
Action Replay (AR)Action Replay can be used in combination with ff(+pause) to get fast to the point where you've made a misstep. This makes dealing with levels much more convenient for me, although it is hard to pull off properly for me. Unfortunately there are instances where AR can desynch, which can lead e.g. to the situation that skills are used up but not assigned. But fortunately that hasn't happened that often to me up to now.
Other mechanics/pecularities:Exploder behaves like blockerIn Winlemm an exploder which starts to explode lets other lemmings turn around as if it were a blocker.
Falldistance to the wall of a climber after hitting ceilingIf a climber hits a ceiling it seems to have a higher distance from the wall than in the Dos version. You can build a stair that way that a climber can climb past it but lands on it when falling down after hitting the ceiling.
DiggingDigging seems to be slower than in the Dos version. The digger seems to fall down as soon as the hole opens (unsure if that is true in any instance).
Concerning ONML:
Time limits and RRIn ONML there are a couple of levels where you have to increase the release rate at some point to keep the time limit. I think there is at least one level where they have not even spawned before the time limit has expired. That's especially nasty when I'm using ff to finish off the level since I have a proper route. That way I have no incentive to increase the RR and if I use ff, the level is lost because of that. Increasing the RR to keep the time limit is in many levels just a pure formality and winning or losing shouldn't depend on it I think.
Hidden trapsIn ONML are levels that have hidden or only barely visible traps, often close to the exit when you think you have your route. I have to admit that it has that surprise effect and shows you that you shouldn't be too sure about your route. So it has its dramatic effect but it is nasty as well since you have to do everything from the beginning in the worst case although you were close to solving the level. In Winlemm it is a bit mitigated via AR+ff.
About some levelsI had so much issues with “KEEP ON TRUCKING“ for some reason. Generally the Crazy rank seemed quite nasty (executionwise) to me.
“It's a tight fit“ seemed ridiculously hard to execute for me and you have to think of increasing the RR on top of that. Maybe the frame delay for assignments played a role for that. “It's all a matter of timing“ was affected by that as well.