Cheapo Level Pak topic

[Conway]

I just alt-tab to Paint to paste instead of exiting.

[Shvegait]

That's great that you finished them, and better than I could do. I made many of those levels in 1997 and I play some of them today as if it was the first time I've ever seen them.

Thanks. I don't want to imply that it didn't take much time or effort--some of the levels are really tough--I spent many hours on them over the past couple of days (I'm still on winter break)

It's supposed to be a little forgiving.

Sorry, that was a comment directed at Conway and guest.

Mayhem 2 is one of my favorites, I always wondered if anybody solved it the same was I do.

Sent you a message of my solution.

The answer to that question, and my intended solution, lies in this screenshot.

Ah, but it is possible to completely avoid the bowl of pea soup and only use the bottom route, with builders to spare even.

Yes, the last level is meant to refer to the first level. And it was supposed to be a fun level as a bonus for finishing all the previous levels. The very last level shouldn't be punishment, but a reward.

Yeah, that's a good point. It worked well in the original Lemmings (but not in ONML!   ) as a good end to everything you've worked up to.

[Conway]

This is how I did it, with a blocker to the far left. *screenshot* Tell me if you need an explaination.

[Essman]

This is how I did it, with a blocker to the far left. *screenshot* Tell me if you need an explaination.

Yes, that is my solution (and what I think is the only solution).

[guest]

By the way, when I was taking screenshots for one of my many posts, I found a way to take many screenshots at the same time.<snip>

Thanks for the tip!  I never ran into a problem with making multiple screenshots of the same level, since Alt-Tab appears to work just fine switching between Cheapo and other programs (assuming you have another program opened of course so you have something to Alt-Tab into).  But the Office clipboard manager is much more convenient of course.

[guest]

Yes, that is my solution (and what I think is the only solution).

Oh wow, although I had the same idea, I did it a much harder way.  I timed the first lemming that got up onto the steel block so that he explodes in mid-fall from the steel block you build up to at the beginning, exploding just before landing.  I then have the following lemming build from the left edge of the steel block so that no one will fall directly below (since the fall would be too high), and then put a blocker at the left.

No screenshots now since I'm at work, not that it matters since Conway's solution is much simpler.

[Conway]

I'm feeling very frustrated (in a good way) with Essman's Mayhem 27 'Press Adam's space grill'. All I need is one more builder! Damn!

[Shvegait]

Is there one of the builders that you use and perhaps don't absolutely need?

This level took me a good while to complete, and I barely made it when I did. But at first I remember needing one more builder and then realized it was possible using one less...

[Conway]

Yeah, I've done it!

[Conway]

Yippie! I've just finished all the Essman cheapo levels. The last three were surprisingly easy. Ones near the end I really enjoyed were 'Prison Escape Plan' (which is arguably the most enjoyable level in your four sets), 'Opposable Lemming' (using a similar trick to my lemedit 'Don't Just Dig') and 'Best Done While Smashed'. Please tell me what the intended solution is for 'Smashed'. Is the tiny step where a lemming can float onto just a rouse? Because he can't build from it as it's so small.

[guest]

Because he can't build from it as it's so small.

Hmm, interesting, I never knew there's such a thing as a piece of terrain you can't build off from because it's too small.

In fact, I distinctly seem to remember that lemmings can generally build off from as little as one or two pixels.  After all, in the first version of Taxing 23 Essman posted, you can climb all the way up to the thin pole and build on top of it, and that pole was what, 2 pixels wide, just like this tiny ledge here?

Can anyone show whether this can't-build behavior is standard behavior you can observe in, say, PC Lemmings, or is it just Cheapo-specific?  I wonder if the fact that this ledge here is right at the bottom row of pixels in the level has anything to do with this behavior.

[Essman]

Hmm, interesting, I never knew there's such a thing as a piece of terrain you can't build off from because it's too small.

It's a bug in the game. I moved the two pixel piece up by one pixel and now you can build off of it. In fact, my original solution did do that. But I have no idea what the solution is, with or without building off of the two pixel thingy.
I uploaded a new copy of the sets to the same location as always (search through previous posts in this thread for the link).

[Conway]

I have a vague idea what the intended solution is, but there is a much easier way.

[Proxima]

Still making slow progress; but then, I have a lot of other things to do.

I've done half of Taxing; level 15 was great fun, though very easy.

Was this the intended solution to Taxing 12? I seem to be addicted to finding the hardest solution possible........

[Conway]

I don't believe so. Here's my solution, then bash to release the blocker holding the others and bash at the base of the slope.

 Also, if you save it as a PNG image, it will be at near-bitmap quality, but much more compressed so you don't need to compromise colour.

 Also, I don't believe the tiny block in 'Best be done when smashed' can help anyway, since there aren't enough builders.