Wicked 1 -
Pencils Hiding my Painting Once again, nice use of Davids' tilesets. Nice trick of cancelling a basher midstroke with a walker and then building immediately upon stepping up through the ceiling in order to stop anyone from following him. This has to be done at a very specific spot so that you can still get to the paintbrush with your 3 builders available. Also I like the bashing and cloning it to send a lemming back to the crowd to release them with a miner. I've already seen this combo in a United level, so that came in handy for this level
This is quite difficult to see. For the end part, I kept thinking that 3 platformers aren't enough to reach the exit. Once again, I would definitely ease up the precision, as I don't understand why the gaps have to be exactly one platformer/builder length every time. At least make it clearer that the gaps can be crossed with a certain number of platformers/builders. To be fair, I didn't check with CPM that the clouds are solid terrain instead of background. Then again, I probably could had figured that out only due to how it's pretty much in the way of the exit. Overall, nice level to start off the rank, although certainly a difficult one.
Wicked 2 -
Shadows in the Sky Very similar to Wild 7 in that it's a builderless level and you have to do more or less the same thing here as in the aforementioned level. The small alcove after the first tall wall can be a bit frustrating to time correctly so that the climbers can step up through the ceiling later, but at the same time the blocker can be released via a digger and cancelling with a basher. My main gripe is that I'm just not a fan of the silhouette sprites and tileset, especially since it's very difficult to tell who you're assigning a skill to, and it's impossible to tell which lemmings have a permanent skill because there's no color shift to indicate that. Colorful Arty has told me that he's thinking of making the shade a bit brighter so that it's no longer impossible to tell who has a permanent skill, although he hasn't done anything about it yet. He's not active here on the Forums these days.
Wicked 3 -
The Crystal Coves Nice level, but the start with containing the crowd and only sending one on ahead with just builders is very frustrating. The builders might seem very plentiful, but they do run out much faster than one would think. Fortunately, it's possible with careful placements to finish with leftover, as seen in both Icho's and Turrican's solutions. Mine happens to use all the builders. Here, it's absolutely necessary to know about the trick of getting builders to turn if the RR is high enough. The way to do this is to build and then have the second one build just as he steps off the first builder's first brick. The head check triggers, interrupting the second builder after one builder brick.
I've had an attempt at the Superlemmini version of the level some time ago, though that time I couldn't get it solved because I got very frustrated in getting the execution down. Now that I know the solution to the NL version, I will certainly give it another try, and it might not take as long.
Wicked 4 -
FC Lems screwed by the refs -VAR edition Almost a repeat of Wild 7, except there are now traps on the far left. I think there is also a change in the skillset as well, but I'm not sure. Only slightly harder, but not by much. I would certainly say the hardest part is making a turn around point in the middle area. Once you achieve that and make sure that everyone can proceed to the right, the rest of the solution is pretty much the same as Wild 7.
Wicked 5 -
To the Stargate! Hard level, especially the start with keeping everyone safe. It took me a while to figure out how to get the pickups along the wall. I kept trying so hard to get everyone on the platform where the first button is, when in actuality you just need to get one up there. I don't think I ever knew that you need two platformers in a fencer tunnel in order to bash all the way across successfully. I've checked the intended solution after solving, and honestly I don't know if I ever would had been able to come up with that, especially with keeping a fencer going with a stoner(s). Then again, I believe there is a level in one of the Lemmings Plus packs where this will be required, although the nice thing is that it's the only thing that's required in the level. It's simply all about getting the execution correct. However, in this level there's way more things needed here, and as it's very difficult to pull off, honestly I think you should allow my solution to slide despite it being a backroute. Basically, namida's level is a good example of why one shouldn't make levels requiring it, because fencers get interrupted very easily on even ground.
Wicked 6 -
Dockside Warehouse I've already played this level when LOTY 2020 happened earlier this year. Hard level, mostly due to how I tend to be very bad with using stackers to solve levels. Here, I decided to manually recreate the solution by hand, as although I have a replay for when I solved it back in April, I don't think it will work here. I did notice a stacker was taken away, and you already explained that it was due to a backroute you found.
Wicked 7 -
Airborne Rodents Nice level to finish off the rank, but a very hard one. The sheer size does make it look intimidating, but it's not as bad as it appears. Certainly the hardest part is working out what needs to happen while at the same time making sure you don't lose too many, which I sometimes ran into. I often had a lot of doubts about whether I was doing the level correctly. The biggest annoyance was how a lot of the gaps were off by a pixel. I checked yours and Icho's solutions after I solved it, and mine is nowhere like either. However, it still ends up using all of the skills, and I guess I overcomplicated the solution. Even then, since mine is just as hard or even a bit slightly, I say my solution should be allowed to slide as well. It's not too far enough from the intended solution, save for the area near the exit, where I simply avoided losses to the traps
