Skills: 2 Climbers, 2 Floaters, 2 Bombers, 6 Builders, 1 Miner, 1 Digger
Save Requirement: 16/20
Time Limit: None
Release Rate: 50
PlaythroughI see at least three obstacles to overcome. Considering the skills I have on offer, I'm going to either be digging down through or building over the top. The pair of pipes on top of the wall in the middle are interesting. Could I possibly dig down between then and bomb to destroy that wall?
Without reading too much into how many of each skill I have, I was thinking something like this:
I decided to start trying things to see what happens. I often do that in large, complicated levels. Before I figure out how to solve it, I need an idea of what will and won't work. What are my options?
For example, it turns out mining at the start won't work if I want to avoid the pit on the left. It's too slow and a lemming turns around:
I can lose 4 lemmings though, so I keep going.
Turns out bombing there does work. That's cool. Surely that's part of the solution... why else would those big pipes be there?
Unfortunately, a single bomber is not enough to get through the barrier on the right. The solution won't be this simple. Let's try something new:
An athlete can go over the wall at the start while the crowd drains into the pit on the left. I have so many builders, surely I can just build the crowd out of the pit once the path has been prepared?
Turns out that doesn't work. You need 7 builders to get the crowd out of the pit and over the wall, but I only have 6. That means no matter what, I need to use a destructive skill of some kind to get the crowd from the hatch to the ground on the right.
One idea that came from this discovery was:
This only uses one builder in preventing the fatal fall, not two. That means I can use the spare builder to get the crowd over the wall.
Unfortunately...
...one miner is not enough to complete the solution from here. I need even more builders to boost the miner up or something.
At this point, I start getting stuck. There's three barriers, but I only have enough digging supplies to destroy two of them. A digger+bomber can remove the middle wall, but two bombers are required to clear the left wall. Even digging down...
...the bomber's radius doesn't quite reach.
I tried a whole lot of stuff at this point. Fruitlessly. For almost an hour. Finally though, I got an idea. I'm surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner, because it's actually one of my favourite tricks!
I can set up a builder bridge between the middle and right barriers, then mine down the bridge, like so:
This allows me destroy two barriers with one miner! Perfect. However... as you can see in the screenshot, I use a bomber to set this up. That means all I have left over is 1 digger and 1 bomber, which is not enough to get the crowd past the first barrier on the left.
And so... I called it a day.
---
So, about a week later I return to the puzzle and realize that I was actually 90% of the way there. If I could just save that bomber, I'd be able to free the crowd and the whole solution would work out. Well, it turns out you can:
Yep, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but you can just use another build to boost the height of the bridge. No climb+bomb nessecary. The miner still comes out too low with this set up, so I have to interrupt the miner with another builder at the right time to create a step. It works, though!
So putting it all together. I assign two athletes then dig a pit to store the crowd in:
I build the bridges I need to build. When the athletes walk back, I bomb them both to free the crowd:
Then I mine down the bridge and perform an animation cancel:
Finally, success! Two extra builders and 28/30 when I only needed 26/30, though? Makes me think I didn't get the intended solution. Either way, that was the hardest puzzle so far for me.
Apparently this was one of the first puzzles ever created that used the mining-down-a-bridge trick. If so, I can imagine this blowing people away when it was first released. It's a wonderful trick. This is a good showcase of that trick too.
That said, I don't like some of the more misleading aspects of the level's design. The pipes on top of the central barrier ended up not indicating anything. Likewise, the pit on the left is completely skipped over. Figuring out the trick is tough enough without being led down the garden path.
AddendumIn the original game, you were forced to use the digger as I had done in my solution. However in NeoLemmix, bombers are instant, which means you can explode two of them right away to free the crowd:
If you then proceed with the rest of the solution:
You end up with an even more impressive saving of 1 climber, 1 floater, 2 builders and 1 digger.
Also it turns out I did obtain the intended solution, more or less. The two extra builders can be used to boost the miner tunnel higher and remove the need for the animation cancel.
ReviewPros: A pioneer of a very cool trick. Challenging, satisfying.
Cons: Terrain is misleading in a way that's not fun. Lining up the miner is really fiddly. Lots of waiting for climbers.
Look: Pretty good. The sculptures either side don't really do it for me, but otherwise no complaints.
Score: 6/10
Solution Replay