[Loap / Lemmings 3D] Lemmings Plus 3D - Release topic [V1.05 update]

[namida]

^ While not an actual improvement on the result, I can now make this a glitchless 3 turners. Major oversight on my part yesterday.

[kaywhyn]

Hello namida,

I have completed up to the Tricky rank, so I'm just going to drop off my replays and provide some feedback. I also have a LP of the pack. Great pack so far btw!

LP link here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJt1hv6lxgiu3m52_OSSGHaE Enjoy!

General Feedback

Lemmings Plus 3D is another custom level pack in the series by namida but this time for the game Lemmings 3D, not for NL. There are 80 brand new levels, 20 each in 4 main ranks, with the rank names being the exact same as the ones in the base game: Fun, Tricky, Taxing, and Mayhem. There are actually 100 levels in total, but the other 20 are the exact same ones as the Practice levels you can play in the base game itself. I am fairly new to the game of L3D myself, having never played it until my LP of it 1.5 years ago last summer. Since then, I haven't touched the game itself and therefore my memory of the mechanics is quite hazy.

Same with being completely new to the Loap engine, which is an engine developed by namida to allow you to play L3D and any custom content for the game, similar to NL for custom Lemmings content. It's also similar in that like NL, it has quality of life features, such as time skipping, frame stepping, and rewinding. Even without these features, Lemmings 3D isn't as bad or frustrating in the execution due to it being block-based, but they're still very nice to have, as they certainly beat having to fully restart the level and then watching the replay and then making sure to interrupt the game before the point of the screw-up.

To familiarize myself with Loap, I used the Lemmings 3D Winterland levels as a warm-up to get myself comfortable with the Loap controls. Though it's only 6 levels long, it was enough to get myself quickly in tune with the engine in preparation for LP3D. I can also say that it's a great engine, even if I still occasionally have a lot of hiccups in regards to the fiddly camera controls and movement

namida's pack also explores plenty of things that the makers of L3D didn't, particularly the 3D aspect of levels. Hence, his pack has taught me a lot of things I didn't even know was possible with the L3D engine.

Fun Rank Feedback

The first rank of the pack, these should generally be not much problem for anyone, especially as the rank consists mostly of X-of-everythings, with a few that aren't but even those aren't super difficult. Some are harder than the former, yes, but again the pack doesn't reach its true nastiness in the difficulty in this rank.

Some of my replays are a bit different than what is seen in the LP, as I was unfortunate in that I wasn't able to back up my Loap data and my replays for the Fun rank before my hard drive got corrupted. As such, I tried to recreate them as closely as possible, though obviously the details and timings differ slightly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fun 1 - Called Back To Duty Great level to get old players back into the swing of things, especially if it's been a while since last playing L3D. Even if you haven't ever played the game, this is at least a very generous level to start off the pack, as you're free to solve it any way you like and allowed plenty of losses.

Fun 2 - Security Walls Another really easy and great level.

Fun 3 - Lemmings on a Train Very nice train and design, with the added touch of the moving water. A bit harder than either of the previous two levels but still not very hard. Even then, there's still a lot of freedom to solve the level any way you want.

Fun 4 - Performance Tower Probably a bit hard for this early in the pack, particularly since there are two entrances to work with here and it's much harder to know where the top entrance will be when trying to work out how to get them down safely.

Fun 5 - The Grand Gallery Not very hard per se, but moving around the level is a bit annoying, especially when moving up, as the ceiling isn't too high, so I do agree with Direkrow's feedback here. I initially tried going for reverse mining, only to completely forget the basic function of the builder skill which is very helpful in getting up the level

Fun 6 - Indoor Maze Nothing too special here, though it's still nice how it looks like it doesn't matter which path is taken but in the end it does. Taking the most obvious will leave you with not enough turners to finish the level.

Fun 7 - Star Wars Pretty much the first level of the pack to have traps, though again you're free to carve your own solution, with the builder skill pretty much the only one where all will be used. We're also introduced to deflector blocks here and the level hence teaches the player to not always use such things in solving, as sometimes you do use them, other times you want to destroy them so you don't lead the Lemmings into danger. Making the builder placement very precise to avoid both the floor traps in the exit corridor is a bit bad IMO, though the fact that execution isn't as much of a problem in L3D due to being block-based kind of makes my criticism of it a moot point.

Fun 8 - Where Shall They Rest? Hidden exit level, so it's an entirely search for the exit type. Now, some aren't fans of this kind of level, but I myself generally don't mind such levels, as long as there's some kind of clue as to where it is. There aren't any indicators in the level to tell the player where it is, but I didn't mind this too much or downright hate the level as a result. In a way, it was kind of fun to play a level like this after quite a long time. Also the fact you have 20-of-everything except builders where you have none makes me forgive this level even more. Of course, namida could had been mean here and made the exit not at ground level in any of the pyramids, but thankfully it's not on higher ground. Just like "Corridors" from the base game, you either get unlucky and spend a long time here, or you get really lucky and are done with the level quickly, though I suppose there are in-betweens for them too.

Fun 9 - Spacewalkers One of my favorites of the rank, with needing to build across the open gaps in order to get around the floor traps, though Kieran was able to shortcut the level by building over twice the final floor trap.

Fun 10 - The Underlems Nothing special here either other than the nice touch of choice of corridors to go down and easier than some of the earlier X-of-everythings in the rank.

Fun 11 - Device Upgrade Nice throwback to one of the official levels with the computer monitor, except instead of it showing what's on the player's own screen, it instead is a screensaver of Rick Astley. This one managed to stump me for a while, as I kept trying to do things to the monitor in order to help the others up to the exit. Turns out it's not possible, as it is indestructible. This level did at least teach me something new about L3D, which is using blockers to build bridges going in opposite directions while still getting higher in order to reach the goal.

Fun 12 - The Armageddon Machine Pretty similar to Fun 4, though maybe not as difficult. It is a bit difficult to tell where to start digging in order to get down, though I suppose that's where counting blocks on the outside comes in handy and it kind of becomes an acquired skill in itself over time.

Fun 13 - Resist the Temptation Another level that took far longer than it needed to, especially as I couldn't dismiss a solution that nearly works but doesn't for a really long time. I later saw solutions from Ryemanni and Kieran that it is possible to use the platform that requires only 1 builder to reach the exit, so looks like I was wrong about it not being usable in the solution and that I simply did it wrong. Great level, though very sparse in the design. Look at me, being a hypocrite, when I myself am not an artist

Fun 14 - Pac-Lems Awesome, a level based on the game of Pac-man which I really loved and played a lot growing up, though I played a variant of it called Ms-Chomp which features a female Pac-man instead but othersie plays the exact same in going around the maze to eat the dots and power pellets to temporarily render the ghosts harmless which you can eat for bonus points. The level itself looks intimidating and difficult at first, but it's not too bad at all. I especially love the added touch of the ghosts as traps, which I incorrectly assumed they weren't

Fun 15 - The Mansion Possibly my biggest favorite of the entire rank, and quite so, as it seems very popular with everyone who has played and solved it. Excellent level which really uses the 3D aspect very well and would be completely trivial if you are given two turners. However, the problem is you aren't provided any, and so the main challenge is finding a way to redirect the crowds in the direction of the exit which is on a different axis. As a result, if there aren't any turners for this, then there must be deflector blocks in the level.

Fun 16 - Sea of Sugar Another great level, especially in the design, though my solution in a way looks like a backroute even though the 5-of-everything skillset suggests it's an open-ended level. The biggest reason for me thinking it is a backroute is how I don't use a lot of the level and instead went for a more direct approach. It was really the first thing I thought of, really

Fun 17 - Quadcore Quite possibly the hardest 5-of-everything level in the entire rank, along with there being 4 entrances to work with. There are a choice of exits here, and I'm wondering if it might had been easier to have gone for either one that are side-by-side Some of my early attempts had me coming up short on the requirement a few times, but eventually I found a really efficient way to minimize losses by sending just one Lemming towards to the splitter who luckily went in the correct direction to the OWW. Knowing where to put the turner for the exit I went for was a bit frustrating, as it's very hard to tell if you placed it correctly or not until you have built towards it and then you're able to tell if it was right or not. Even then, great level which forces you to be economical with your skills unless you risk losing too many Lemmings in the process.

Fun 18 - Just Let It Bee Aha, bee pun in LP3D Really nice design here with the bee and the flower. Probably the hardest part is at the start with the building, especially as it has to be simultaneous from both sides. It was also a nice to touch to interrupt them to prevent the fall from being splat height. After this part, the rest is a bit easier, though still not a complete pushover.

Fun 19 - The Side Act A level that I made much harder than it needed to be. In the process, I did at least relearn that the entrance is solid and can be worked on, so pretty much like a "Derangement of Science" kind of level, except it doesn't rely on that gimmick, as there are other solutions to the level that are easier than that. The hardest part is certainly figuring out how to get out of the starting area with at least two climbers, though again I overcomplicated this part. The rest is easy once you have accomplished this.

Fun 20 - Arctic Mission Really nice 1-Lemming builders only level to finish off the rank with really great use of Virtual Lemming mode. The route should be obvious for the most part, with the hardest one being the second builder and noticing the deflector block to build to. I myself missed this detail the first few times before noticing it.   

I must say that I'm quite impressed with this first rank, as I think it's quite well-done and well-rounded, containing a variety of puzzles, some with a few special gimmicks here and there. The variety is certainly what makes the rank really interesting. Now, I haven't yet made any level pack myself, but it tends to be quite difficult to make an interesting first rank. Namida has managed to make the Fun rank interesting throughout the whole ordeal. As he has explained in this thread, he went for a "something for everyone" when making the pack, even if it means there are some designs that won't be too popular, eg, hidden exits.

Tricky Rank Feedback

Now things are a bit harder than they were in the Fun rank, though still nothing that isn't manageable. Away go the X-of-everythings that were quite prominent in the Fun rank, so we pretty much had our fun, so to speak

Here, my replays for Tricky 2-5 are the same ones that are in the original recording of the video of Tricky 1-5, though in that one there is a point where you won't hear my audio commentary because my mom came into the room and in a blind panic I hit the circle for my headset which mutes the mic and also I pressed the hotkey to pause the recording. Once she left, I unpaused the recording but foolishly forgot to press the circle on my headset control to unmute the mic. I have totally forgotten that it mutes the mic, and it's been a long time since I have had an unfortunate thing happened while recording a video, so as you can see it's gotten to the point where this almost never happens anymore.

In any case, the video I did upload is the one where I simply recorded the final 22 minutes or so to the best of my ability but you will hear my entire audio commentary, just not the original. As such, what's seen for Tricky 2-5 is different than the replays I've attached here.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tricky 1 - SputLem IV I'm guessing the title is a reference to the spacecraft Sputnik. To start off the rank, I was stumped here for a while until I finally realized that you don't build to get into the opening at the start, as you need both builders to reach the exit. Eventually, you realize that you must navigate through the bottom carefully in order to avoid the gaps and also to redirect the Lemmings into the structure so that you can build out, block, and then build in the other direction to reach the exit. Nice one to begin the rank.

Tricky 2 - Redirect Loop Another level that I got stuck on far longer than I needed to be, though that was because I was completely stumped as to how to break the Lemmings out of the infinite loop. Seems my solution is a backroute, as I simply used RR manipulation so that the miner turns everyone around in time before the miners breaks through. I also use the basher on the second Lemming as a delay but apparently when the miner destroys a slab it interrupts the basher, which to be honest shocked me as I didn't expect him to not keep going. Guess the easiest fix here would be to increase the Lemming count.

Tricky 3 - Actual Maze Pretty much a far bigger and harder version of Fun 6 but it's still nothing too difficult. I believe the bombers are unusable here as the walls of the maze are indestructible and so it's an entirely pure turner maze.

Tricky 4 - Wafer Walkway It's pretty much Fun 9 but without floor traps to worry about. I especially like the walking over the exit to turn and then block to direct everyone home.

Tricky 5 - The Moat Looks difficult and intimidating due to 4 entrances and the splitters causing a lot of chaos, but it all comes down to observing the action and realizing that you need to pick a spot to start building towards the castle. Seems I did the level slightly different, as I had everyone go over the walls and down the hole in the middle at the top to be bounced off by the blocker to get home. A few of my earlier attempts had me a Lemming or two short of the requirement, but i was able to use some of the spare skills to help achieve victory

Tricky 6 - Timed Attack For a bashers only level, not trivial by any means at all. It's all about knowing when to bash the deflector blocks so that you don't get anyone trapped after it's destroyed. Some you destroy right away, others you need to wait at least a walking a cycle before doing so. It's pretty much all about fiddling around with it until you find something that works.

Tricky 7 - Sweetcake When I had solved this level, I thought it was a backroute, but apparently it's intended when I checked namida's video solution. Another level where if you had 1 more turner it would had been too easy. As such, you need to find a way to work with a turner less, and observing your environment carefully will help a lot, such as the deflector blocks that make up the exit.

Tricky 8 - Royal Run One of my favorites! After noticing some of my earlier attempts would had been a solve but one catches up too soon to the builder who does the long bridge to the exit, I realized what the turner and the basher were for. The remaining question for me to answer was where the turner needs to be placed so that he can be freed later with the basher but also keeping the crowd safe until the path is ready. Well done here namida!

Tricky 9 - Infinite Lemming Drive Somewhat difficult but ultimately a great level that can be figured out and deduced with logical reasoning. It's mostly clear that the only way to start is to send out a climber so that he can free the crowd by destroying the OWW. Everything else after this isn't as clear, though once again this is where looking around in the level will help a lot. My biggest problem here was I wasn't sure where the exit was, and as it turns out it's hidden behind a block but will be revealed after you bash through it. I don't think it's possible to see it without destroying the block hiding it first, as I don't think one can move around in any way to see it before you do so.

Tricky 10 - Longboy Got stumped here far longer than I needed to be, and I did think some tricky RR manipulation was needed, but nope, none is needed. My struggles simply came about due to having some incorrect assumptions about the solution, such as all 3 builders are needed to go over the top, when in fact one of them is needed to build over the spring. Also this level requires walking on top of the entrance to bridge the final gap before the exit, so unless you know this property of entrances, you'll probably be here for a while, so I understand Direkrow's struggles here. I just happened to notice this first on Fun 19 all because of the solution I used I especially like that long bashing section to delay the others long enough to give the worker enough time to bridge the gaps.

Tricky 11 - Deep Dash Great somewhat challenging puzzle, with the hardest to see being the digger and bomber. The key is in which Lemming does the digging to contain the crowd. I especially love the use of the bomber on the Lemming who goes around the level to prepare the route to release the crowd.

Tricky 12 - Guard Wall Almost an autosolve, except there's a giant wall standing in the way! The hardest for me was timing the first few climbers so that one of them turns around in the in-progress miner tunnel in order to mine in the other direction. I especially love the added touch of the miner going to the left to allow the remaining two climbers to hoist and walk towards the exit so that you turn the first one into a turner to direct the other towards the miner going to the left, who will turn around to mine to create an opening for the crowd to walk to the exit. Nice level!

Tricky 13 - Obstructed Shot Similar to the previous level in that there's just one thing standing in the way to prevent the others from landing in the area where the exit is because they hit the wall and splat when being flung by the spring. So, the main challenge is finding a way to get a Lemming to reach the tower and bomb it away. Here, I especially like the part of assigning a turner and then bombing him so that the others won't be trapped later on.

Tricky 14 - Mysterious Artifacts Looks simple but is deceivingly difficult. Here another level I made harder than it needed to be, as I used a completely timing based solution and was fortunate that no one caught up before the builder was done. I did indeed the climber turning back towards the crowd but somehow slipped my mind when solving Nice level, though!

Tricky 15 - Blazing the Trail Definitely the hardest X-of-everything level up to this point in the pack. After about 50 minutes on camera, I finally succeeded, though it's yet another one I made harder than it needed to be, in particular bombing as high up as possible instead of lower down. Still, it was frustrating to know when to block so that I could mine the other way. Also, I kept running into problems building up the miner tunnels, though I wonder if it was simply due to assigning the builders a half block too early. When I finally did make it up to the top, I found out I was a turner short, but fortunately I realized that my solution could still be salvaged. The good old build out, block, and then build in the other direction to reach the exit. Like Direkrow, even though I had the luxury of playing on Loap and hence have the convenience features, this is very well a level I likely don't ever want to play again

Tricky 16 - Firewall The first level to be a no solve on camera. My struggles all came about due to taking approaches that look like they could work but they don't, even though there were spare skills but the problem was not knowing how to use them to manage the crowd. Turns out the splitters are absolutely vital to the solution and that me not using them was the biggest reason for struggling a lot here. Great level!

Tricky 17 - The Nightman Cometh Nothing special here other than bashing a blocker free, though here the time runs pretty close to running out than the previous level.

Tricky 18 - The Barracks Another favorite mine of the rank! Thinking about the slider rope problem was a nice puzzle to solve. Seems my route is a bit different from the intended, as I didn't use all those walls as delays for the climbers and I even have a turner left. In addition, I used the quick turner to turn a Lemming and then bombed him to destroy the deflector to delay the rest. The timing seems a bit tight with the climbers going ahead to do the rest of the route and that one needs to turn around while the basher is going so he can mine the others free.

Tricky 19 - A-MAZE-ING Grace Another level that was a no solve and the one I got stuck on the longest so far in the pack, as I spent a lot of time with it off-camera than I needed to. It was all simply for not noticing that the deflector block I built over isn't bashed through, as they can turn around on it and go back the way they came from and still reach the exit. Not sure why it took me a long time to realize that. Before that, I kept thinking there was some other trickery in the level, like maybe something hidden somewhere that I just didn't notice. I always kept thinking I was a skill short. I know about the problem with one catching up to the basher to destroy the tall deflector block, and shortly after I noticed the deflector block that's built over isn't bashed through, I realized the answer is to either use a floater or RR manipulation. I chose the latter to resolve the catching up too soon issue. This is probably the first level to show that when rescuing turners they often have to take a completely different path to the exit, since they aren't on the same axis as the crowd who got turned. Great level, and certainly not a hard one. Tricky 15 would still be the hardest of the rank by far up to this point.

Tricky 20 - Data Corruption Sorry namida, backrouted this one Didn't use the climbers or the digger, but especially didn't do as your hint for the level in your second post of the topic says    

All rightie, halfway through the pack already and am enjoying it a lot! I definitely look forward to the second half, though I'm already getting stumped pretty badly with the Taxing rank. I'm only on Taxing 2 and it's already kicking my behind. As usual, I'll persevere through the remaining challenges and will get it completed or get as far as I can

[kaywhyn]

Taxing rank completed and so back with more replays and feedback

Taxing Rank Feedback

Similar to L1, this is where the levels really start getting difficult. I consider the first few to be huge steps up in difficulty, with the next several after being easier and a few near the end which are quite difficult. As a matter of fact, Taxing 2, Taxing 3, and Taxing 17 all stumped me pretty bad, with Taxing 9 being another, though namida told me it's one of the very fiddly ones, but I have seen Ryemanni's and Kieran's solutions and there's a really easy way to do the level so that it doesn't rely on luck or anything at all.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Taxing 1 - The Winding Way Great level to start off the rank. Somewhat difficult, though knowing bomber mechanics and how they work in 3D come in very handy here. My problems here came from how in the world do you get through 4 obstacles with only 3 destructive skills. It wasn't until quite some time when I realized that you need to send a climber in between the walls to be a bomber which will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. The rest of the solution came easily after that.

Taxing 2 - The King's Test A level that tripped me real badly. While spending a lot of time off-camera with this level, I did realize something about the bomber mechanics in that it destroys blocks adjacent to it in all directions, except for diagonally. I thought I had exhausted all possibilities and combinations, including bombing a digger/climber vs. bombing a walker, but no, I didn't. I didn't think to try going a slab lower than the blocker and the crowd and then bombing, which apparently released the blocker and creates a path to the exit at the same time, which again is killing two birds with one stone. The other tricky part is making sure you bomb the other tower where the deflector blocks are in such a way so that no one turns around on them again because they'll be trapped down below where the grass is if they do, with no way to escape.

Taxing 3 - Space Station Second level in a row to manage to stump me very badly and I too spent a long time with this one off-camera. I kept fiddling with ways to build to the higher platform from all directions but to no avail since you need to be able to have one builder for the exit, for obvious reasons. Turns out there's a part of the level that is very integral to the solution even though it looks like a complete red herring and just decoration. It took me a very long time to see bashing the tall pillar, blocking, and then building in order to climb it. This was very well-hidden IMO. Also you need to time the climbers in such a way so that one of them turns around in an in-progress miner tunnel who will build the bridge to the exit. Same thing with being able to turn in the lab structure so that no one slips by the turner. Hard one but a really good one!

Taxing 4 - The Ancient Lemming Curse Pretty much a breather level after the previous 3 which were all difficult in their own ways. The hardest part here was knowing how to get everyone down safely, with an additional caveat I learned which is Lemmings will not land on the builder staircase if they're not on the same axis as it. Also though it might look like it's a search for the exit level, its location is indicated by a special engraving on the wall block.

Taxing 5 - Deathspring Tunnel Difficult one but didn't stumped me for as long as I thought it would. This was one of the ones that Kieran got stuck on, but after having played and solved it myself, I absolutely can understand why it's a stumper. This level did at least teach me that it's still possible to bash a builder staircase even when the Lemmings are tightly compressed by two turners cancelling one another by their directions. It's still a pretty nice level IMO. Kind of reminds me of a certain contest level by geoo though probably much harder than this one.

Taxing 6 - Short 'N Simple As the title says, it is indeed "short and simple," though not a complete pushover. Not absolutely certain since I haven't played all of the pack yet, but this one might be the shortest level in the entire pack. After solving this, I watched namida's intended solution and was surprised to see there's 5 seconds less on the Dos version as compared to the Loap version. The solution is pretty much the same, with the builder a complete red herring, but the reason for the time limit difference is because of Dos having countdowns on the bomber/nuke, whereas Loap removes the timer on both and how Lemmings are still able to keep walking to the exit while the nuke timers are going on Dos vs Loap which have the Lemmings automatically go into the oh-no animation when time is up.

Taxing 7 - Tunnel Warfare Another turner maze, though here it doesn't have to be complete trial and error, as you can simply move around the level to find the exit first before doing the level. If you don't, you either get lucky and aren't here for long, or you get unlucky and you spend a while here.

Taxing 8 - Rapid Drive Don't be fooled by the save requirement. It might look generous, but it's actually quite tight, so you have to be fast to rescue the danger hatch, which in this case is the one over water. This one took me a few tries before I was successful in saving the right amount. However, as namida's solution shows I didn't need to do any timing or RR manipulation whatsoever. This level does have clever bomber usage in helping the other Lemmings who go around the big island to get over the wall later because it is now low enough due to the bomber destruction of the top.

Taxing 9 - Big Green Birb Another nicely designed level featuring a bird. My solution is pretty much entirely luck based in that I was fortunate in that everyone fell out in one direction. It didn't take me too long off-camera to get it solved, but I did spend a lot of time with it on-camera before I eventually called it quits. I checked namida's solution after I solved it just to see if it's supposed to be fiddly, and indeed our solutions are very different. He has also confirmed to me on Discord that it is a very fiddly one, though as mentioned before Ryemanni and Kieran found an easy way to do the level that doesn't rely on anything difficult to pull off or make the level entirely luck-based like in my solution.

Taxing 10 - Longboy (Part 2) Nice sequel to the original from the Tricky rank. This one was definitely easier for me, particularly since the solution has elements common to both, such as walking on top of the entrance to build. Nice use of a faller bomber to make a hole for the climber to get into and build to make a splatform.

Taxing 11 - Cold Snap Nice medium-ish level with a nice design too. Seems that my solution was almost intended but a minor backroute due to not using a climber, but that was only because it's possible to contain the crowd with a builder in the small holding pen area from which they are mined free.

Taxing 12 - The Outpost Another great level with an excellent solution. The hardest part here was figuring out how to isolate a Lemming to do all the long bashing undisturbed. It really does look impossible, but how quickly I forget things like assigning a turner/blocker with a Lemming that's wondering inside the digger shaft to achieve a pioneer Lemming, though in my case it turns out that's not needed and that a simple turner at the start and then making the Lemming that turned on him the digger is all that's needed to achieve this.

Taxing 13 - Complimentary Lemmings Great level with another clever usage of the bomber. I do believe there's an official L3D level like this where you go under the OWW. For some reason that took me a while to come up with even though it's nearly clear that it's impossible to go through the OWW since there's no way to turn around the climber and instead he is the bomber sacrifice to help the others go under.

Taxing 14 - The Claw Difficult one, though I eventually found an extremely easy solution which involves putting a turner on the builder staircase to turn the corner. The rest of the solution follows easily from it, but it still took a while to find.

Taxing 15 - Walk the Plank! Nice level, though one has to fiddle around with the floater assignments so that two of them from the nest (I don't remember the term for it in ship sailing) are close enough so that the second one will slip by the spring and therefore be able to exit. I kind of like the urgent timing and staircase building completion before the second who doesn't get flung by the spring slips by the worker. Oh, another great design here with the ship. I tried my hand at one for the current R2 for the contest and the biggest hint that it's a ship is from the title and also the flag.

Taxing 16 - Ultimate Lemja Warrior Difficult one which looks like it could be backrouted in several bad ways but all the ones I've tried all fail, save for the one I eventually found which seems to be a minor backroute. I thought the splitter needs to be avoided, but seems like all solutions use it, though the intended solution has Lemmings build straight ahead in the middle so that you can bomb both blocks on the sides away to release both groups. I thought it wasn't possible, but it apparently is with the use of climbers so that the deflector block on either side of the splitter doesn't turn him. In my solution, I used the two spare builders to build over the gap underneath the exit to avoid the loss, while Kieran used the builder after turning on the splitter/deflector block.

Taxing 17 - Wafer-Thin Another level that managed to stump me and which I spent a long time off-camera even though I was pretty close on-camera. My solution near the end of the video would had worked except it's one more loss than you're allowed (blocker, two turners, and a different Lemming who is bombed, therefore 4 losses instead of 3). Eventually, I found a way to get one of the turners released by assigning it in a digger shaft so that the digger releases him. In the process, the turner turns the two other climbers so that one of them can get turned in order to bomb the block missing the bottom slab away from the side and therefore not create a hole in the floor that would be directly in the crowd's path. I thought that was clever, though it's very timing heavy and not required. The intended solution involves turning at the top of the tall structure so that the faller explodes in front of the first block missing the bottom slab away. Yea, definitely a lot of my struggles with this pack come from how I'm not thinking enough in 3D here, and this managed to elude me completely

Taxing 18 - Entanglement Almost a breather from the previous level, though it cleverly uses the bombers to make the route for both lanes. In particular, two of the bombers are used from one lane to help the other get through, and one requires bombing a faller at the right time so that you can remove enough of the block to help the other one through. It's a bit harder on Dos since bombers are timed, but even with untimed bombers on Loap this was very hard to see in the solution. In the end, I made my solution more complicated than it needs to be, as I relied completely on enough Lemmings to slip by the basher before he traps the rest because he destroyed the ramp leading up to the exit. I'm not sure why I didn't see bombing the basher to open up the path for the other lane

Taxing 19 - Area 59 One of the hardest levels outside of Mayhem as mentioned by namida, I can definitely agree with that statement after having spent a lot of time on it on-camera, though I shortly realized the solution after I stopped recording. There are a lot of nuances in the level to take care, such as preparing the staircases ahead of time so that the crowd doesn't veer off into the electrical floor traps. namida has mentioned that the thing that trips people up the most in the level is how to turn the climbers on the deflector block near the very end of the level. Indeed, this caught me out too when I thought it should be possible with a bomber alone but isn't and actually requires a builder as well. Even then, I consider this one of my absolute favorites of the rank, even if it's quite annoying to navigate the camera on this level.

Taxing 20 - Taste of Nostalgia To close off the rank of a lot of great levels, we have a level whose solution really tricks the player into thinking you need to turn on the turners when in fact the skill is just used to hold the others in place while the route is being made. This is similar in that in NL sometimes you don't use the basic function of the blocker to turn others around but rather just to hold the Lemming himself in place while making the route. So yes, it does help to have played plenty of custom Lemmings content because there are some analogues that can be used, but a lot of time in my case I tend to get the difficult parts of the solutions very fast but I have the tendency to overlook the easy stuff a lot, as someone has once told me. This is very true of me, though I don't remember if I was aware of this before I was told this from someone.

Only the Mayhem rank left! So far I have solved the first 5 levels of the Mayhem rank and had an attempt at Mayhem 6 on-camera with no luck. It will require some more time off-camera to get solved. Let's see how far I can get with the final rank or if I can get through the entire pack just like Pooty, Direkrow, Kieran, and Ryemanni. I'm sure it'll be quite tough, especially if the Taxing rank was any indication where several managed to stump me for a long time, but I'll certainly do my best here! I don't intend to give up now, not with how far I've gotten with the pack! Which honestly is much farther than I thought, so yes, I am surprised at how well I'm doing, even though I at one point thought of putting the LP aside and coming back to it later because I got stuck badly very early in the Taxing rank. Nope, looks like my determination and perseverance are strong

[kaywhyn]

Mayhem rank completed and thus I have solved the entire pack and therefore join the likes of Pooty, Direkrow, and Ryemanni to have done the same, being the 4th person to do so My entire replay collection is attached and of course more feedback

Mayhem Rank Feedback

As this is the final rank of the pack, the hardest levels of the pack are all here. At the same time, the rank is a wild card in terms of roadblocks and hence there isn't much of a consensus on what the hardest level of the pack is. For example, Direkrow thought Mayhem 16 was the hardest, Pooty thought it's Mayhem 17 instead. I'm not certain about Ryemanni, but it seems that belongs to Mayhem 19? As the creator of the pack, namida also thinks it's Mayhem 19. My guess for Ryemanni is that I saw from his LP that the level took about 4 hours total on-camera before he finally got it solved, and that includes the time when he checked the first few seconds of namida's Dos solution for a little tip-off but that was the only portion he saw before he finally got it solved.

As for me, I would most definitely agree that the final 5 levels of the rank are most definitely some of the hardest of the pack. They're pretty much difficult in their own ways, though the final level doesn't come anywhere near as hard as the 4 levels before them. Granted, there are a few hard levels before them earlier in the rank. Overall, the entire rank was slow going, especially once I reached the double digit level numbers, often only being able to attempt just 1 level and either succeeding or not, most often the latter. There's definitely no doubt in my mind that the Mayhem rank of LP3D is far harder than anything the official L3D game throws at the player.

After much thought, I would have to say Mayhem 16 is the hardest of the pack, so same as Direkrow. Yes, Mayhem 16, even though it has the most generous skillset out of all the levels in the final 5 of the pack, being 9-of-everything, including turners. Maybe either Mayhem 4 or Mayhem 9 as being close seconds. At the same time, I can definitely understand namida's assessment of Mayhem 19 being the hardest instead, and Ryemanni's LP of the level is definitely good evidence of that. However, I guess I was fortunate enough to spot the solution and main trick of Mayhem 19 fairly quick, getting the level solved in far less than half the time it took Ryemanni. Even then, that doesn't mean I found the level easy by any means. I had much more trouble with the main trick than the solution itself, but the former is quite clever, though.

Whereas for namida's assessment that hardest is either Mayhem 18 or 19, for the former I found the level much harder to do than with the very tight time limit. Though, that is because I ended up really overcomplicating the solution. I kind of overcomplicated all of the 4 levels before the final level

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Mayhem 1 - No Spare Soldier Another very nice rank starter! It was pretty much an extension to Taxing 20's concept of holding a few Lemmings in place by becoming blockers themselves to contain the crowd and then releasing them all with a basher, including the turner.

Mayhem 2 - Perfect Show Possibly my favorite of the entire rank. I especially like the first climber being a turner and the second climber releasing him with a digger and once low enough he bashes in order to make it a survivable drop for him. Same with building over the gap and then releasing the crowd with a turner so they all drop onto the staircase, as well as releasing him with a digger. Definitely love how the solution all comes together.

Mayhem 3 - Die and Let Live A little challenging but not too much. Another level with a clever use of the bomber, being used to release the blocker who himself becomes a floater because he will splat otherwise, while everyone else from the top entrance will simply be stunned but survive. It's all about assigning the correct Lemmings the skills in order to get the bashing job done before anyone can turn around while it's in-progress.

Mayhem 4 - Candy Corner Definitely one of the hardest levels of the rank that's quite early. It easily belongs closer to or even in the second half of the rank. It is one where I did make the solution harder than it needs to be, especially as I complained about the area where the crowd is contained can probably be bigger to allow more leeway. It's far harder to stop bashers in L3D than in other Lemmings games, especially when you don't have builders or can't afford to with them or with blockers instead. I do like the concept and all, especially as I love builderless levels myself, but this one was frustrating to pull off. However, I did learn something from watching namida's solution, and that is you can stop climbers from climbing deflector blocks by digging the block underneath it. Good to know, so that came in very handy for a few levels later. That also showed me that I was wrong about climbers not being savable on that level

Mayhem 5 - Steps to Success It's all about the execution here, almost like Taxing 9, especially as there isn't much to do here except for floating and digging. It was more that I was a dummy here than doing the solution itself, even though there is also a lot of unnecessary precision I used, mostly with the floater assignments and even RR manipulation thrown in. It never occurred to me to have the non-floaters wonder into the digger pits of the floaters instead rather than keep the groups separate from each other. Even then, I did manage to only use two diggers, though that's probably already well-known and possible for this level as a challenge solution.

Mayhem 6 - Tomb Raider Agree with Direkrow's feedback on this level being a great puzzle in and of itself, where while this is mostly a turner puzzle, it goes beyond that and includes bashing through wall tiles that are marked with a graphic, indicating that it can only be bashed from that side, and so they are like OWW. It is a very big level and hence can appear very intimidating. Even moreso because there's a couple of places where the path forks. However, the saving grace is that they at least aren't very long before you need to backtrack and try the other. There is a special gimmick here in that one of the entrances that I missed is due to it cannot be freed from the outside. Because there was one entrance that wasn't accounted for, it made me think that I missed a path somewhere along the way. I did a reset and followed where I assigned the skills as the replay mode went on. Turns out I didn't miss any route and went down every path except for those that are complete dead ends. The answer is to cycle through the multiple cameras since they can free themselves without the help of the other entrances. You won't be able to solve the level otherwise if you don't use this feature of the game.

Mayhem 7 - Flying Sweets Pretty much a breather level and where watching namida's solution of stopping climbers from climbing a deflector block on Mayhem 4 really came in handy

Mayhem 8 - Color Display Can be challenging, but this one isn't too bad. I had the solution down somewhat quickly, but after that it was all about fine-tuning things until it worked. Some of my earlier attempts had me one short of the requirement. Decent level and kind of reminded me of a Bridge level from LPVI that I really struggled with, only much harder than this one.

Mayhem 9 - Breaking the Routine Another favorite of mine, especially once I figured out the solution. Somewhat of a roadblock as well, so agree with namida there. I must say the outer parts of the level after the first trampoline are really good red herrings/distractions Even when you do manage to get there, you'll find there isn't enough time to do so. I thought the solution I found was a backroute because it looked very hackish, but to my surprise it is intended after all from watching namida's solution.

Mayhem 10 - Detour Shot Somewhat easy and nearly another breather. The only difficulty I had was figuring out how to remove all 3 parts of the wall to stop the splatting from spring use. it's hard more due to the solution than the save requirement, as the latter is quite lenient here.

Mayhem 11 - Kingdom of Chaos Now back to somewhat difficult here but a pretty good one. I especially like how the climbers do all the work and they all are the sacrifices in order to help the floaters home. I'm not sure what happens in namida's solution with the one that turns on the turner, but I used him as a bomber sacrifice to free the floater blocker.

Mayhem 12 - Acrobatics Another level that is somewhat huge, hard, and intimidating. I sadly backrouted this one, though it nearly fails due to the top boundary and if it weren't for fallers having forward momentum it surely would had. Honestly, I'm not sure what happens in namida's video solution for Dos, so I'm better off watching namida's Loap replay instead

Mayhem 13 - The Grand Arch Slight backroute, though the fact I used all but two turners means I cannot lose anyone else except for the turners due to splatting or drowning. Thankfully, climbers affecting only the block they're on gets destroyed when bombed, hence everyone else was able to still walk into the bomber hole in the pillar. Once more, I learned something new from watching namida's solution with the Lemmings not falling off the staircase when turning on the second turner. Essentially, the intended solution requires simulating the effect of a blocker with two turners on staircases so that you can come back and build to get up to the exit. I originally tried going for the intended way but eventually gave up because I couldn't visualize it correctly. Needles to say, the level would be too easy if you were provided even 1 blocker. Since you aren't, you have to make do with turners instead. Most definitely one of the hardest levels of the rank.

Mayhem 14 - Luck Shot Definitely a level you either get very quickly or you struggle for a while on. I was the latter, but only because I didn't think the nuke would work despite my suspicions right from the very start. It was really me hastily coming to an incorrect conclusion when I haven't even tried nuking a level when there's a huge number of Lemmings in the level. After a long while struggling on-camera with it, I did have to spend some off-camera time on it. Very cool seeing the first nuke level of L3D in this pack, and now I know that such levels are possible to make in the engine.

Mayhem 15 - Aerial Assault Another level that looks intimidating and challenging but it really isn't that bad once figure out the correct way to do the level. I also ended up spending more time than I needed to on this level because I kept doing the splatforms wrong, when they're really all done in the pillars themselves after bombing to get climbers into them, never on the grass. Luckily, the save requirement is lenient here and so the main difficulty is just finding the correct way of doing the solution.

Mayhem 16 - Not Quite the Original Act Essentially L3D's equivalent of the NTTD levels found in all of the numbered Plus packs, i.e, LPI through LPVI. Same stats as them, with a few differences: 9 turners in addition to 9 each of the classic 8 skills, 4 minute time limit instead of 2 mins. This is definitely the hardest NTTD-like level I have ever played and solved. It took me a long time before I succeeded, though maybe not as long as Direkrow. The main reason why it's hard is due to saving everyone, even moreso when turners are involved, as even if you free them they have not turned themselves and so getting them to the exit later is also a challenge in itself. It definitely got frustrating for me after a while, especially when I thought I had the level solved when in fact I haven't, as well as timings not working out even after I thought I had the solution down. There's a really good reason why this level is very late in the rank!

Mayhem 17 - Winter Dynasty A level that appears harder than it really is. In the first few minutes, I thought this wasn't bad at all, but boy was I wrong. It seems the normal route is just too slow and you end up losing one more than you're allowed once the miner is done, the extra being the miner himself, as there's no way to turn him around back to the exit later. My off-camera solution is fiddly and timing heavy here, as I contain the crowd differently than the intended way, though i was fortunate that everyone walked out the correct way when they were bombed released and the turner when released is far enough ahead of the compressed crowds in order to not be turned around on the blocker and was able to overtake the basher before he destroyed the terrain leading up to the exit and they therefore cannot exit anymore.

Mayhem 18 - Activity Center I found this one harder due to the solution instead of the very tight timer, though it's yet another case where I made the solution far harder than it needed to be. In particular, I only had the crowd contained for about 5-10 seconds and I literally had to delay the basher being made a turner for as long as possible in order to finally get the timing and spacing correct so that I don't lose too many. I seemed to have defied the hint in this pack topic, as I went for the "incorrect" exit instead of the one that the intended route goes for, but they both seemed to be functional exits.

Mayhem 19 - Power Distribution Pretty good one here as mentioned. The RR manipulation was the one I had the most trouble with in the level, as I got the solution somewhat quick. It's far easier to get Lemmings trapped with a digger, as they can only step up one slab, not up to 6 pixels like in NL, though the difference is essentially due to pixel-based vs block-based.

Mayhem 20 - Final Frontier While definitely nowhere near the hardest or anywhere as difficult as the 4 levels before it, it's still no pushover. The teleporters and somewhat huge level does make the level look somewhat intimidating, but it isn't as bad as it appears. Indeed, I called it quits after close to 40 minutes on it. It was mostly due to exhaustion and given how very late it was where I am. Turns out that I nearly had a solution, I simply stopped too soon, just like I did with Taxing 19. In the end, a slight backroute, nearly similar to the one Ryemanni found. I must say that while I'm quite shocked that it took him more than 4 hours before solving Mayhem 19, I'm just as shocked that he managed to get this one solved in only about 10 minutes. So, it really does show that difficulty is different with different individuals, as well as how you just have to be in the right mindset. When you're mentally exhausted and sleepy, you can easily miss details that you otherwise wouldn't if you're in an alert state. All things considered, still a worthy level to end the pack on.     

With the completion of LP3D, I have officially completed all packs of the series! It was a long road and journey, but I have apparently accomplished the feat in just 3 years. So, for the time being I have finished all of namida's released packs for NL and L3D, which does include Doomsday Lemmings for the former. In fact, this pack of namida's was the very first one I LPed, back at a time when I was completely new to LPing and had far less experience with solving custom Lemmings level packs on NL and roadblocks therefore came up very often for me.

In closing, thank you for this pack and all of your Lemmings Plus packs, namida! I especially enjoyed your LP3D pack all the way from start to finish, even when I thought about putting aside the LP for a while because I got stumped pretty badly with a few early Taxing levels. The first few of Taxing are definitely a huge step up in difficulty, while the next several after the first 5 or so are easier. Just like L1, the halves of the rank can swap with one another, as, except for a few levels here and there, eg, Taxing 17 and 19, being difficult than most others around it, the second half felt easier than the first half IMO.