Lemmings presents GOTTA GO FAST!!! v2.00 [Difficulty: Medium - Very Hard]

[IchoTolot]

A variation on "Sneaker 21" that should be considered by a possible fix.

[Flopsy]

26/4/22: Gotta Go Fast v1.53 is out.

a further fix to Chilli Dog 19 to fix a major back route.

[IchoTolot]

Resolved the fixed level.

[Flopsy]

27/4/22: Gotta Go Fast v1.54 is out.

a further fix to Chilli Dog 19 to fix another major back route.

[IchoTolot]

Resolved and I got a good feeling now that I am at least close.

[Flopsy]

30/4/22: Gotta Go Fast v1.55 is out.

yet another fix to Chilli Dog 19 to fix yet another major back route.

[IchoTolot]

New solution, but now I again saved an extra Lemming.

[Flopsy]

4/5/22: Gotta Go Fast v1.56 is out.

Yes, you've guessed it, another back route fix for Chilli Dog 19....

[IchoTolot]

I don't think this solution is a big change but at least now I am at the save requirement again.

One thing though:

Spoiler

If the solution contains indeed bombing under the trigger of the teleporter, consider lowering the lava by 1 pixel. It is now very very precise and only certain if not one or two single miner positions achieve this. The lava being 1 pixel lower is a bit more forgiving and reduces the execution difficulty by a large margin.

[Flopsy]

Due to recent happenings in this community, I've taken the decision to formally request that no-one else posts Youtube LPs to their channels for this pack without my permission first.

The only person who has permission to post their LP is IchoTolot who has just started uploading videos of this pack's LP only yesterday. I am not aware of any other LPs at this time so this is the only one which has my express formal written permission.

I don't mind posting of replays in here but please no more video LPs.

Thank you

[Lehnah]

Awesome! Looking forward to playing this.

[Flopsy]

20/9/26: Gotta Go Fast v2.00 is out.

A long awaited fix to Chilli Dog 5 "Whodunnit?" which has remained unfixed for nearly 5 years.

New pack download attached to first post in topic 

[LemFan]

Unfortunately, backroutes are still out there. Even now, Gotta Go Fast isn't completely backroute-free. Sometimes it takes many versions to completely patch them out. It's sometimes a pain to fix backroutes sometimes when the level gets playtested in the NL Editor

[kaywhyn]

Hello Flopsy,

I've solved all of the first 5 ranks of the pack! I've attached my replays and am posting my feedback

Also, link to my LP:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYG1wcvQwIvw

Enjoy!

General Feedback

Lemmings: Gotta Go Fast! is the 4th level pack by Flopsy (after Seb Lems, MegSEGAbytes, and Modular Lems). As described in the OP, GGF is a heavily Sonic themed pack featuring Sonic Lems and cameo appearances of various characters from the Sonic series in the levels. Featuring 21 different tilesets, some of which make a return here from Seb Lems. 9 ranks of 21 levels each for a total of 189 levels, with 7 main ranks and 2 bonus ranks at the end. In the 7 main ranks, this means all of the 21 tilesets make an appearance once, while the bonus ranks break this "one level per tileset" that each of the main ranks presents.

As I've mentioned to Flopsy, my only exposure to Sonic is the TV cartoon The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog which used to air on TV in the 1990s. Other than that and quite possibly a brief exposure to one of the games that I might have either played or just watched a kid of a family friend of my dad's play at the house of my dad's friend, I haven't played any of the Sonic games. I didn't grow up on console gaming, just PC gaming. Though I haven't played the games, I'm still a Sonic fan, even if I'm not as well-read or all caught up on the Sonic universe I'm definitely learning a lot about Sonic from the various comments Flopsy has left on my LP videos though. I appreciate them very much and remarks as to whether my solutions are intended or not! I'm happy they've been a joy to watch and have provided much entertainment for Flopsy and any viewers that have stumbled on them

I've been enjoying GGF very much ever since I first started playing it last week and am looking forward to seeing the remaining levels of the pack! Flopsy did a wonderful job with this pack and I can absolutely recommend others to give it a try and play through!      

Rose Rank Feedback

Quite a nice first rank overall IMO, starting off with generous and lenient X-of-everything levels and gradually getting more difficult as you get deeper in the rank, ending off with a very nice boss stage and with an excellent talisman to boot! The other talismans themselves are quite good too, and honestly I'm quite happy I decided to rise to the challenge and go for them, even though I normally don't go for talismans This is why some levels have two replays attached. My general approach is to just solve the level normally without opening up the talisman to see what it is and either I get lucky and got the talisman on my first blind playthrough or I don't get the talisman. If the latter, then I simply retry the level after solving, open up the talisman, then try to obtain it. Sure, it's faster to just open up the talisman to see what it is first, but that's just not the way I roll with these optional talisman challenges The only exception I've made was for Lemmings Plus VI, but that was years ago, and I was told that the talismans don't exactly spoil any solutions

Spoiler

Rose 1 - Here We Go! Very nice and really easy level to start off the pack, if you don't bother for the talisman. If you decide to go for it, then IMO this is way too difficult for one for the very first level of GGF. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good talisman, but for those who go for talismans, it might be way too problematic when they find themselves unable to obtain it and all on the first level of the pack, which increases the chances of rage quitting possibly happening. At the same time, talismans are optional challenges, so it's not like they need to be obtained in order to proceed and/or solve all of the pack

Rose 2 - Let's Get The Show On The Road! Another very easy level. I don't think I've seen these masher traps before despite having played levels in this graphic set before. I'm always learning something new! I love the marquee in the level. Also the only reason the level has two replays is due to how I apparently didn't get the save all, and you know how much I love those due to it being my play style when it comes to Lemmings

Rose 3 - Knock Knock Knockin on Eggman's Door Only hard part is the exit area being somewhat small to get up there comfortably, but other than that another great, somewhat easy level that's definitely a bit harder than either of the two levels before it. That's also true that this is more of a Wafflem style level, since as you mentioned he loves button levels

Rose 4 - A Spring (yard) would be helpful here! Another great level, and it's significantly harder when doing the talisman since it's far harder to get up the level when miners are prohibited. One mistake I made, and that is the floating orb things aren't traps at all Well, that's my fault for not letting a Lemming get underneath to see if it kills and/or not using CPM, but you already know me with intentionally not using the latter to save time and to make things easier for myself

Rose 5 - Marble Garden Ruins Not easy to find the best way through the level due to plenty of obstacles in the way. Somehow I thought the talisman was no builders as well due to that being the talisman requirement for Rose 1, and indeed that turned out to be the case for my second playthrough as my blind playthrough didn't obtain it because I didn't think carefully before using that builder Nice level and honestly this was still a bit fun to puzzle through because of it being open-ended even with the talisman

Rose 6 - Caught by the sand (opolis) Wow, that's an interesting effect with updrafts on what appears to be "flowing water" which is harmless. Great level and talisman and it was fun seeing gliders to upwards due to the updrafts. Only hackish part of my solution would be finding the safe spot from the needles trap though

Rose 7 - Helter Skelter Yea, I knew this was a reference to the Beatles song of the same name, especially as the title refers to a playground slide. Quite possibly the most intense song ever recorded, with I believe Twist and Shout the next closest. Reportedly, at the end of the song, Ringo Starr throws his drumsticks and yells the "I got blisters on my fingers!" line because of how much his hands hurt from all the drumming for this intense song. Anyway, very easy if you don't bother with the talisman, but significantly harder if you go for it, though I think only a little bit easier than Rose 1's.

Rose 8 - Sing Little Lemmings! Nice level, both that and the talismans, with neither one not that much harder from the normal solution, especially the silver one, thanks to the very lenient skillset. Love all the musical notes everywhere.

Rose 9 - I Don't Fall That Way! It may be a jumpers only level, but it's not a trivial one by any means. Not hard as long as you see where each of the specialists need to go in order to make it safely through the level.

Rose 10 - Antisociology Not too hard either but still a pretty enjoyable one to work out, though the constructive skills ran out much quicker than I thought they would. Talisman luckily isn't too difficult or very tight on the time attack, as long as you multi-task even slightly efficiently.

Rose 11 - King for a Day First level with 3 talismans and I would say the silver one with the 12 builders max is the hardest one, as I fortunately already tend to go for save all's and the theme of trying to beat the levels under 10 minutes if a 10 minute time limit isn't present. As Armani mentions, it may appear very daunting and difficult, but it really isn't that bad thanks to the lenient skillset. The builder limit for the silver and gold talismans are the hardest IMO as mentioned. Great level and this was another really fun one to try and figure out the talismans for with the pre-placed hero specialist!

Rose 12 - The Goldfish Bowl As you've already told me, I completely overlooked sending a Lemming from the left entrance over the top via climbing and hence it's not true that it needs help from the right entrance Still a great level with a nice talisman to boot.

Rose 13 - Doorman Skillset may look quite lenient here, but the builders especially ran out much faster than I thought. Luckily there are skills to help easily with ascending with the stackers the rest of the way when trying to conserve the builders. The right entrance is certainly the hardest to get up safely, though in general the fire traps at critical spots made it difficult to ascend safely regardless. Still had fun trying to figure this one out while being as efficient with the skills as much as possible

Rose 14 - Random Acts of Kindness Ah, looks like this was the level that wasn't acceptable to submit for LDC #22 based on your response to Armani's solution for the level. Yea, I can see why, since all the zombies are contained here, which the rule didn't allow you to do. Thus, you submitted Random Acts of Nastiness instead. Anyway, this level was also fun to figure out and play. Looks difficult at first glance but it wasn't too bad once I realized the best way to get a worker over the top, as before for some reason I thought everyone needed to get over the top together, when only one is necessary to have your pioneer/trailblazer Nice job, and I especially like how the neutrals are completely helpless because they're stuck in their own hole in the large wall!

Rose 15 - You Gotta Go There To Come Back! Another nice level that I didn't have too much of a problem with running out of skills, though both the platformers and builders ran out much quicker than I expected It sounds like Armani made things a bit harder by going through the bottom from the right side rather than over the top like I did

Rose 16 - Hurry Up and Wait! I would say this is quite possibly the first hardest level of the pack, as the solution isn't really obvious in any way especially given the very limited skillset. Luckily for the talisman I didn't have to tweak my normal solution much to obtain it. Very nice puzzle with figuring out how to get everyone down safely and also with achieving the compression to get through the trap before the exit with minimal losses!

Rose 17 - The Lem's Too Strong Nice 1 Lemming level! Like the jumpers only level earlier in the rank, this is still far from trivial. Quite honestly, even though I know about the jumper => shimmier transition, I didn't think it would work based on how far the terrain is from the conveyor belt, so I was surprised to see that it does work, but it seems to be very pixel precise? Also, I think this was what made me check to see what was going on here with why the Lemming is allowed to shimmy, as it turns out a one-way conveyor belt is placed right on top of an exact identical conveyor belt that is steel, which is why shimmying is allowed. Once again, I overlooked cancelling a shimmier with a walker, as I keep forgetting about this!

Rose 18 - Across the Ice Cap we go! Harder than I expected but isn't too bad at all, especially once you figure out how to get your worker(s) to go over the top via the left side of the level. Even then, still not trivial, especially as the middle area is a bit tricky to navigate. Knowing myself, I probably made my solution a bit harder than it needed to be though            

Rose 19 - Airbubble Chamber This one was really fun to play and solve Wow, I even bested Armani's talisman record, so this could potentially be a separate talisman of beating by using no climbers in addition to keeping the talisman for Armani's record

Rose 20 - Around the Back of Shearing Hill Top Another fun one to figure out. Can't believe I didn't even notice the steel in the bottom left to stop the miner Definitely would had made the end part a lot easier than the way I did it!That was pretty much my favorite part of the solution with a worker coming from the other side to get over the exit and come back to release the crowd. Nicely done!

Rose 21 - Only in Dreams The first boss stage of the pack and much easier than several of the levels before it. This was really fun to play and solve, both the normal way and talisman! Can't believe I didn't see the entrance at the bottom right     

Shield Rank Feedback

Things are a bit harder here, though I breezed through the rank much quicker than I thought I would, considering how I was already struggling in so many places in Seb Lems in the second rank. In fairness, Seb Lems was one of the very first custom NL packs I played, back at a time when I wasn't as experienced as I am now and therefore roadblocks came up very often for me!    

Spoiler

Shield 1 - Perfect Situation Easy level to start off the rank but much harder if you go for the talisman. Even harder if you try and go for the save all like I spent so long in trying to get it to work! It turns out that it's possible but very hard to pull off and it just barely works with the skillset provided along with the restriction of no stackers allowed. Wow! Not sure why I bothered, but you know me, I love my save all's

Shield 2 - Vegas Two Times Even easier than the previous level, though here unfortunately losses will need to be accepted Timing isn't too tight at all with making the splatform before using up all the swimmers, made easier by how you don't need everyone to use both exits.

Shield 3 - Ride Across The River Excellent level with some neat tricks: Plugging up the gap with the stoner, extending the basher by providing a staircase for it to slide down, and to time it so that the basher destroys the wall before the climber can go up and die to the trap. This last one is a bit difficult to achieve, but it's the only way to solve the level. Then of course using the climber to bomb the wall near the exit to make a nice ramp up. Excellent job with this level!

Shield 4 - Jumping across the Oil Ocean Easy one despite the 2-of-everything skillset. Still enjoyed this one very much

Shield 5 - Lithium Stretch One of the hardest levels of the rank IMO but still an excellent level! I really love the path the swimmers take at the bottom in order to make the rest of the route and for one to come back for the crowd to take later on over the top. Carefully managing the builders is the hardest part of the level IMO, especially as you need 3 to get to the exit.

Shield 6 - Saving Amy! Another great swimmer level here, with I also agree with rescuing the bottom left entrance being the hardest part of the level. Getting up  over the top to make the route to get the others up later on can also be a bit difficult. As you've told me, I found a bug with the water on the right being placed a pixel too high. Not sure if the swimmers being able to get into the basher tunnel the way they did in my solution is intended though.

Shield 7 - Having A Blast Due to how you need to bomb away the walls in order to keep the platformer going so he doesn't get interrupted, I thought this level was inspired by a Genius level from LPII Solution isn't hard to figure out, it's the execution and timing that's difficult. Great level and was fun seeing it all work out

Shield 8 - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place! Quite an easy level, though only a little bit harder with the 42/50 talisman but is a significant challenge with the 47/50 talisman but luckily there's still plenty of skills and is still pretty open-ended all things considered. In the end, my solution could had been made a lot easier had I known about the triggers not being where I expected them to be, but meh, my solution works and still got to give props to me for not using CPM to help me out!

Shield 9 - This is How I Roll! As was pointed out, it's much easier to ascend on the right side than the left as in my solution. I also completely failed to see the lattice as a way to get further up without the need to use so many bombers Even with this eliminated, this isn't exactly what I consider a favorite of mine due to repeatedly bombing not being my cup of tea

Shield 10 - Happy Hour Very fun to solve especially when going for the save all. Not sure why I thought the terrain where the bottom right button is is steel though Other than that, I agree with Flopsy this is one of his best designed levels in this tileset! Well done

Shield 11 - Snow Way Out! Somewhat challenging but it's not too difficult. Getting up the left side is a bit tricky but luckily it's not too fiddly to pull off. Turning around at the top to be able to mine the crowd out can also be a bit challenging, but you do have the means to do so, and luckily there's multiple spots for you to be able to do so. Nice level!

Shield 12 - Endless Bummer Not as difficult as it looks despite appearances. If anything, once you realize how to get your worker by sending two on ahead one of which to block to turn the other around at the top, the rest should be easy. Getting up the level can still be difficult, but it mostly depends on how and where you ascend. Luckily my non-talisman solution needed a few small tweaks to get the silver talisman. Another great level IMO.

Shield 13 - Your Local Hero Very fun to work out and solve with getting the different specialists around to rescue each of the 4 entrances in their own separate corners. I agree with Armani that the bottom left entrance is the most difficult to rescue, though things can certainly be made a lot easier by sending the disarmer specialist. Even then, both talismans shouldn't be too terribly difficult considering the very generous skillset, with the skill you likely have to watch out for are the builders.

Shield 14 - Run Like Quick Sand Easy level as long as you realize how to get the glider over the top. Took me a while to figure out that the glider doesn't need the help of other skills to do so and that I somehow overlooked the fact you can assign the glider skill right away with Lemmings that fall out of the entrance to gain the height to achieve that Excellent level and one of my favorites!

Shield 15 - Painted Lines Another one of my favorites! Solution can still be a bit difficult to figure out especially with the 99RR and save all requirement. Here I completely overlooked the easy way to achieve the talisman and made it more complicated than it needed to be

Shield 16 - Let's take a Hot Bath! Not as hard as I thought, especially with miners and platformers as your only means to get up the level, but stoners and stackers can be used in combination with them. Flopsy has pointed out to me that the 20 platformer pickups is a mistake, so I've now went back and see if I can solve the level with the correct 10 platformer pickups only. I've labeled my second solution as the one where I was able to solve the level with less than the 10 allotted Fun level to see where how the worker goes and glides about the level to make the route

Shield 17 - Speed Dash Mountain Pretty much what I consider the hardest level of the pack up to this point, though it isn't helped by the fact that I came up with a really hackish solution in the end. It took a very long time to find, as I kept being at least a skill short or came up short on the save requirement I honestly was so relieved to finally solved the level after working it out for about 1.5 hours. I figured out how to get up the level on the right side pretty quickly, but it took a very long time to find a solution that works. Great level, but wow, didn't think skills but especially getting up the level with both entrances be so problematic!

Shield 18 - The Omega Standard Not too difficult, but not easy either given the very limited amount of digging destructive skills. There's luckily a few ways to go about the level and it's not too stressful despite the splat hatch at the start thanks to the very low 1RR. Nice level.

Shield 19 - There's A Star in the Night Sky Really nice 1-of-everything here. The hardest part of the solution for me to see was building to connect to the wall and then digging immediately once he turns around in order to get down safely. As a matter of fact, a level featuring this trick is something I definitely plan to make for my pack

Shield 20 - Back to the Shack Another excellent level, though like Armani it took me a while to see the digger to get another climber up the level who won't have the glider available because the first climber has it. Excellent solution and quite fun to solve and figure out!

Shield 21 - This Is Lemmings! Definitely harder than the previous rank finisher but still not too hard despite the very limited amount of skills other than the builders. Even then, don't be fooled by the amount of builders, even after you collect more via the pickups. Another nice rank finisher here                    

Ring Rank Feedback

I definitely felt the huge jump in difficulty right from the very start and hence Ring is big step up from either of the two ranks before it, but as usual lots of standout levels here!

Spoiler

Ring 1 - Casino is the Night Wow, already quite hard to start off the rank. I pretty much agree with everything Armani says about the level, that's it's hard to know where to contain the crowd and even after doing so it's also hard to get back up the level. The no walkers talisman was especially hard to figure out but it was very satisfying to had finally obtained it! Excellent level to start off the Ring rank!

Ring 2 - Street of Orange Light It may be a 5-of-everything, but it's still challenging IMO. The end part was especially hard for me as I kept coming up short on skills to get myself up the entire way to the exit. Once again, knowing about the finnicky trap triggers not lining up as the graphic would suggest would had helped me see how to conserve and be more efficient with skills. This I brought on myself of course with intentionally not using CPM while recording myself LPing Nice level nevertheless

Ring 3 - It Isn't Over One of the best levels of the entire rank! The digger usage is really clever here, as precise as it needs to be. Very fun to puzzle and figure out the solution! Well done

Ring 4 - Unplanned Roadworks Cool concept with the digger cancelling one another, just not my cup of tea due to the repetitiveness on assigning the same skill over and over. Not a bad level at all, just that I happen to not be much of a fan of levels where you need to assign the same skill over and over, especially if it's in a really short amount of time. I do understand why the wall is as high as it is though

Ring 5 - Lemmtris featuring Hydrocity Zone This was pretty fun to work out with getting the climber/swimmer worker around the level in order to rescue both entrances, as well as how to get to the buttons to unlock the exit. Here, I definitely could had used the floater to make things so much easier, but I didn't only because I thought that was the talisman Should had known it was for completing in under 10 mins as you have pointed out to me if the level doesn't have a time limit.

Ring 6 - Climbing the Wall Very fun to see really long miners in action here! The solution came easily to me when I approached the level by starting with the entrance that has very easy access to the teleporter. Nicely done with this level!

Ring 7 - Fight or Flight? Another one of my favorites of the rank! Once I saw where the shimmier is used and where it goes, then working backwards lead easily to the solution. Excellent solution!

Ring 8 - Reach for the Stackers Nessy! Nice level dedicated to Nessy here, and one that wasn't as bad as I thought considering that I consider levels that give a lot of stackers "hard for kaywhyn" levels I think I can easily save a stacker that I used to delay a Lemming so that he doesn't get trapped in the pit on the bottom right, but meh, couldn't bother myself to tweak it to get that. Besides, it still netted me the talisman

Ring 9 - Sacred Hearts Club Not as difficult as it looks despite the 1-of-everything skillset. Getting down safely with the top entrances is certainly the hardest part IMO. I managed to save two skills here. Nice level, with probably the only critique I have being it's probably a bit too tight on the splat distance, but it's a minor one, so it's fine I suppose

Ring 10 - Homewrecker v2 In contrast to Armani, I consider this a pretty hard level. So many possibilities that look like they can work but they actually don't. Getting into the small area to shimmy and then bash through the OWW at the bottom wasn't as hard as I thought, but it took me a long time to figure out how to get all entrances out with the very limited skillset. Great level, and this would be the newest hardest level of the pack for me, though it's probably about the same difficulty as Shield 17 for me, with the latter maybe a bit harder.

Ring 11 - The Last Blocker Fairly easy to work out how to do the level, just took me a really long time to figure out how to get the timing to all work out with getting the gaps done in time before needing to release the blocker and crowd, as a lot of my earlier attempts the solution failed due to the second gap not being done in time. I'm surprised to hear that cloning to get over the blocker to bomb him free is intended, but nice to know I got the intended solution!

Ring 12 - Do It With Love Another nice level which didn't take me anywhere near as long as the previous level. Getting up the miner tunnel is a bit precise, but it can be done without the stacker (talisman solution, which I could had gotten first try but I ended up using the wrong skill to spare ), with some really good timing.

Ring 13 - I Can Do It Without You Not as hard as I thought, though I would say the hardest part of the level is figuring out the best route through the level. Nice to know that going over the top as much as possible is the intended route. Didn't realize the horizontal bar where the entrance is is part of the graphics for the hatch. Nice level.

Ring 14 - Do You Wanna Get High? Another great level with a great solution, both normal and talisman! I would say the hardest part is knowing where to put the blocker in order to be able to free it later without also endangering the crowd later, though my guess is that it's easier to do it on the right side of the plane, as I believe Armani freed it with the final Lemming from the hatch.

Ring 15 - Orange Dream Another fun one that I enjoyed working my way through Took me a while to see that I was using the first cloner inefficiently, but once I did to realize to be able make other parts of the solution much easier later on, then the solve came easily. Guess I forgot about the vertical poles being part of the exit graphic. That's how long it's been since I last played levels in this graphic set, even though I've already played two of them earlier in the pack!

Ring 16 - Sandopolis Cathedral Looks daunting and difficult, but it wasn't too bad despite appearances. I really enjoyed working my way through this one too! Excellent solution, especially with everyone going over the top near the end while having a climber worker go through the bottom to dig away the final pole before the exit in order to make a splatform. Probably my only critique is the very precise builder/cloner after mining, but that's probably just how it is when it comes to the miner skill.

Ring 17 - Welcome to Flopadopolis Another fun one to play and solve! I really love how the solution all comes together if you do it correctly. Digger was probably the hardest to see in the solution, as the other parts are quite easy.

Ring 18 - Static Space Lover Another one that wasn't as difficult as I thought despite having a large amount of stackers. Also one with a really low RR so that it's not too stressful and hence you can either keep the crowds moving or not. Plenty of ways to go about the level. Going over the top to reach the exit is quite clever, and I love how the climber/gliders get over the stack at the bottom to reach the exit on their own

Ring 19 - Out into the Yard! Fun level to work out which is harder than expected due to the 4-of-everything skillset. It is of the open-ended type, but it's not as open-ended as you might think. Even then, have at it how you want

Ring 20 - Lems At Work Hard one for me, and I agree with Armani that rescuing both the bottom Lemmings is hard to figure out. This one took me a while. Skills ran out quicker than I thought, and it's not easy to work out how to get up the level when all you have are climbers and only stackers and platformers, while your only digging destructive skill are diggers. Plenty of possibilities that look like they can work but actually don't. Nice level concept though

Ring 21 - Let's Ride Very fun one to work out on a really nicely designed level by Wafflem! Luckily a save all is possible, but it's not easy to figure out how to do so by any means. Very nice rank finisher and well done to you and Wafflem with it!                    

Sneaker Rank Feedback

Not really that much harder than the Ring rank IMO, though I suppose I had a lucky break with about the first half of the rank and then got in trouble with a few difficult ones in the second half. As usual, some wonderful levels in the rank!

Spoiler

Sneaker 1 - Stuck in the Middle With You Really nice level to start off the rank! Figuring out how to build from both sides of the lava gaps is clever, especially the one before the exit, as is sending the preplaced climber to go over the top from the far left side. Well done

Sneaker 2 - We All Mine Down! Backroute #1 as you've mentioned. Also you mention this being hell to backroute fix, and as we've seen it's still not properly patched up. Sorry about that, but I will backroute levels if I see an opportunity to

Sneaker 3 - 69 and OUT! Very nice level, with the platformer used to extend the basher being quite clever. Time limit is probably a bit too tight, but luckily it can be avoided being a problem by just sending the climber over quite early.

Sneaker 4 - Let's Play Some Games! I remember this one from LDC #22, with the rule being NL skills/objects only. This is much harder than I remembered, though it's probably because it got patched it from the time I submitted my last solution during the several months before the pack's release later that same year. Still a nice level but with a lot of gotcha's to watch out for.

Sneaker 5 - The Lemming Waterfall Connection This was really fun to play and solve! I really like how you need to switch sides at least once in order to be able to rescue the entrances due to the water in the middle as well as the OWAs allowing only one way through. Pretty lenient skillset so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Sneaker 6 - Harpenden Square Very quick solve, just need to make sure to multi-task a bit and you'll be fine with finishing on time.

Sneaker 7 - Get Up and Fly Right This on the other hand I really struggled with I kept trying to fiddle with something in order to try and get the climber to beat the builder on time, but it wouldn't work no matter what. I also had the wrong idea of using the glider to come back and do both the digging and bashing. This turns out to be very wrong, as you'll always run out of time no matter what, even if you do manage to find a way to get the climber to beat the builder just in the very nick of time. Instead, you have to the digging with one Lemming and the other one does the bashing. The digger will continue to the steel and stop who then platforms, and he'll have more than enough time to finish the gap on time as the basher takes a while to release the crowd. Very nice level, but wow, didn't expect to have a really hard time here!

Sneaker 8 - The Edge of Glory Not as hard as it looks, but not a cake walk either. My solution really did look hackish so I thought it was a backroute, but since it nets the talisman my solution is fine as Flopsy mentions. Nice level.

Sneaker 9 - Your Latest Trick Nice somewhat challenging level, with the 99 RR the hardest to deal with despite the Lemmings going out in both directions. Nice trick with using a stacker at the edge to bomb the middle platform and to then get another Lemming that slips by to glide and land on it, while the last one platforms up the gap to be contained between the stack and the crowd. Must be done on the left side in order to be able to collect both pickups to finish the level. The area that the up OWAs cover is quite deceptive, though I think that's just thanks to the design and nature of them to make you think that it's not possible to mine at all just by looking at it.

Sneaker 10 - Rescue Plan Nice 5-of-everything level in the classic 8 skills that isn't too hard but not a cake walk either. The builders I found to the most problematic, though I also found the other destructive skills to be a problem too. Still, an open-ended level so have at it

Sneaker 11 - Flow Rider Nice water version level of Going Up...... I thought this would be pretty fiddly to get both entrances up and out of their containment areas, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It does require a lot of precision though, especially the talisman. I thought I would be stuck on the talisman for a really long time, but luckily I wasn't. Mining with the right entrance to rescue the left entrance is pretty clever Well done to Armani for the talisman though!

Sneaker 12 - Sector 4T Lemmings Oh wow, another really hard level that I struggled for a long time on. There are several possibilities that look like they could work but actually don't. It was somewhat frustrating because every time I thought I was onto something I run into problems with not having the necessary skills because I used a critical one too early or in the wrong place. I think once I dismissed not being able to mine through a builder staircase the get the crowd out as a possibility then that allowed me to focus on finding a completely different way better, but it still took me a long time. I really like the gliding near the exit and digging right away to prevent a climber from going out the side and walking into the fire trap. I think that's the first time I've ever seen this TBH, which largely contributed to me taking a while to getting the level solved. Nice level and well done again to you on using Armani's solution as the new intended way!

Sneaker 13 - Let It All Hang Out Didn't take me anywhere near as long as the previous level, especially as it's much easier to see the bashing away the stack to allow the climbers through to glide and land on the middle and exit platforms to make the catching platformer bridges. Nice level!

Sneaker 14 - The Cascade Swimathon Harder than I thought it would be, especially with working out how to do the middle area to get both entrance down safely and also to not lose anyone. Talisman solution took me a while to figure out, though it seems that I made both the non-talisman and talisman solutions harder than they needed to be Even then, great level and design and yes, nice throwback to the long staircase on Cascade on both sides which I failed to notice!

Sneaker 15 - Geronimo! One of my favorites! Solution was fun to figure out, with the only hard part being to time the climbers right so you can bounce the miner off with a blocker.

Sneaker 16 - Shining Light Another favorite of mine! Came close in some of my earlier attempts, but then I spotted a way to save the miner from needing to be used to free the blocker as it is useful somewhere else. I really like how the climber hatch can either all go over the top or can take the same route as the non-climber hatch Very nice solution where the passthrough blocker solution happens to also work as it's in the right spot to be able to dig it free AND release the climber hatch.

Sneaker 17 - Full Circle Can be fiddly to execute but luckily it's a really short level. Nice builderless level and again with using Armani's solution as the new intended way!

Sneaker 18 - The Sonic Mini Not as hard as it looks despite the very limited skillset. Even then, it's still challenging to figure out how to get up to the exit with the very limited amount of builders. Great level and design

Sneaker 19 - Watch Them Fly Sundays Backroute #2 but especially one that's far worse than Sneaker 2 backroute Sorry for beating you here again.

Sneaker 20 - Jardin de Flopsy Another favorite of mine! I especially like how to get a glider to land on top and dig away the OWW to free the bottom entrance and also with the route through to the exit that the worker must make from the other side thanks to the OWAs. Once again, deception with the OWAs where I thought you needed to build to get higher and be able to get past the OWW

Sneaker 21 - Dawn Treader Another level I struggled with a lot more than I thought I would and is so far the first and only level that needed me to switch to offline time to try and solve the level. Turns out I more or less had much of the solution correct, just the brute forcing my way through the narrow corridor above the exit was wrong. That made me waste unnecessary builders and thus kept preventing me from getting the level solved. The key moment was when I saw that the right entrance doesn't need help from the left entrance to be released. Instead, they can just build to get out. Not sure why I didn't see that before Then I worked my way backwards from there as I was certain I would now be able to get the level solved thanks to it allowing me to save up the builders and other critical skills for other parts of the level. After struggling a lot here, I would agree here that the level is probably a bit underranked, but if the intention is for this to be another rank finisher, then this would be moved up too far. It's probably only a little bit difficult and hence only needs to be pushed up a level slots anyway. For sure this is the hardest rank finisher so far. Well done again to Wafflem on a great level design and to you for stumping me with the solution!                  

Emerald Rank Feedback

I found this rank much harder than Sneaker, though still plenty of excellent levels!

Spoiler

Emerald 1 - Bad Day At Faraday's Nice level to start off the rank. It wasn't that difficult to figure out, especially as it's a stacker/cloner to contain the crowds at the top. The middle entrance also does that in the intended way, but if you place the stacker at the right spot you can make it a one-way blocker and hence you wouldn't need it.

Emerald 2 - Four Little Lems A bit harder than the previous level, but this was a nice level with 3 different specialists in their own cells and so you need to choose the right one to release in a particular order to be able to do solve the level. Even then, it's an open-ended level that still provides enough skills so that it's not really necessary to have the disarmer disable the traps for example. It's nice there's multiple ways to do the level and hence one specific solution isn't intended or forced other than the climber needs to be first to be released due to the tall OWW.

Emerald 3 - Fun With Flags One of my favorites of the rank! Solution isn't too hard to figure out and it can be mostly easily deduced with logic based on how and where the preplaced Lemmings are. I really love how the basher and digger are used to release each of the preplaced blockers! Only thing that took me a while was figuring out how to overcome the swimmer skill deficiency, until I realized the multiple Lemmings in the bottom left can just climb up the far left wall to take the top route to the exit. As such, I would say the builder is the hardest to figure out where it goes in the solution, since there's a few possibilities but they're all red herrings except for the correct spot in the intended way. Well done with this level!

Emerald 4 - Be Back In A Moment Probably harder than any of the previous 3 levels but still not too hard despite the 99RR. There's luckily multiple ways to solve the level so really the hard part is first managing the crowd at the start and then once you're successful then finding an efficient route through the level so that you have enough to get up the tricky lattice structure below the exit. Nice level

Emerald 5 - Jump For Joy! Nice level concept with bunny hopping from stoner to stoner with the preplaced climber/floater with a solution that's somewhat obvious to figure out, just difficult on the execution since you need to the stoners placed in the right spots. It's also hard to manage the crowd since there isn't any leeway in the amount you can lose except for all the stoners and two blockers after using the cloner. Love the builder/cloner of the climber/floater, as well as the cancel the digger with a blocker!

Emerald 6 - Sit Next To Me Hard solution to figure out given the very limited skillset and also how to manage the multiple entrances that are all preassigned climbers except for the top entrance which just releases one disarmer. Here the highlight feature came in real handy to keep track of where the disarmer is. Luckily the nice thing is if the disarmer is near the very front by the time the wall is breached then the climbers are delayed by the wall on the far left to give the disarmer enough time to disable the traps. Only thing I'm quite confused about is why a miner can't release the blocker of the middle right entrance but a digger can. Probably just another one of those deceptive up OWA area coverage. Nice level concept!

Emerald 7 - Bury Those Feet in the Sand Not too difficult despite appearances and the 2-of-everything skillset. Very nice solution especially with where the miners need to go and how to send a climber over the top of the level. Nearly got the talisman on my first try but I used an unnecessary extra skill to help the crowd get to the exit

Emerald 8 - Harden The Paint Another one that wasn't as hard as I thought, especially as it's fortunately not too difficult to be able to release the crowd with a stacker thanks to how small the space between the wall and blocker is. The only really hard part of the level is timing the release of climbers to come and block at the right spot and time to turn the builder to reach both the middle and top platforms with only a builder each, though the same can be said with the final builder for the bottom platform. Talisman solution fortunately also needed a minor tweak of my normal solution to obtain. Nice level concept here

Emerald 9 - Pinball Wizard Quite possibly the hardest level of the rank up to this point of the pack, that even though the skillset looks somewhat lenient it turns out to be quite restrictive. I once again overlooked the usefulness of the lattice to get higher up the level, as before that I kept trying to fiddle around with the miner to get as low as possible to be able to get the right entrance up the large structure to the latter's left. Nice level despite it taking me some time before I succeeded.

Emerald 10 - Pick A Part That's New Not as hard as it appears, especially as it's quite easy to spot the best use of the miner, though I found it difficult to get the timing right to put the blockers in the right spot to keep it going. As Flopsy has told me, my solution's a backroute, so this would be backroute #3 by me I still found this to be a nice level despite that and not easy by any means

Emerald 11 - The Curse of Lady Bay Nice level that has multiple ways of doing the level, though I believe in most solutions the builders are exhausted. It might still be possible to have a spare builder or two though. It's also not too difficult to rescue the splat hatch before you run out of gliders thanks to the very lenient 11-of-everything skillset, especially as the hatch can rescue themselves rather than need assistance from the other hatches. This was fun and enjoyable to play!

Emerald 12 - Random Acts of Nastiness This was the level that was submitted for LDC #22 R3. Watching Icho's solution, yea I'm sure the bomber was the way I was able to make a turnaround point for the zombies and then a stacker to prevent the normal Lemmings from getting in their way. Instead, here I was fortunate enough for no one to make contact with a zombie, even if one came quite near to getting zombified. I also remember this one being a pretty good level itself. Nice to know there's still a few alternatives through the level.

Emerald 13 - Dance Like A Fire Hard one for me, especially as we have a preassigned climber entrance and hence we need to manage them very carefully as it seems that you apparently can't contain them in the area right below it. I tried that initially and there doesn't seem to be enough skills for that? Or maybe there is, I just didn't do the level efficiently enough. I agree with the use of the digger to release the climbers all the way up to the very top. I initially thought they needed to go left, then right again to get to the top of the level. If that really was the way to go, then it would probably be next-to-impossible to do so, since the area is very small to platform to catch the others and they would need to be really compressed. Luckily, that's not the right way to do the level, and I was quick to abandon that approach when I saw a much better way through the level. This was still a nice level even if it took me a while before I solved it

Emerald 14 - Death and Destruction Another one of my favorites of the rank, whether the regular solution or the talisman, but I especially like the latter even better! Somewhat hard level with a bit of a non-obvious solution, with the hardest part of the solution to figure out IMO being how to deal with the OWW obstacle at the very start. Also same with how to contain the crowd with a somewhat high RR on a tiny platform. Once you're successful with that, then the rest of the level is a bit easier, though still challenging. While I figured out the normal solution fairly quickly, the talisman took me much longer, since the stacker was exactly what I saw the best use of at the bottom right to get the level solved in the first place The lightbulb moment for me was realizing that the glider and climber skills are on separate Lemmings, not both on the same one. Not sure why that took me a while to figure out to be honest. Well done with this level!

Emerald 15 - Life on the Nickel Another hard level to figure out the solution, whether normal route or talisman, but especially the latter was hard to figure out just like the previous level. The former has a really tricky timing element in order to block and turn the builder to get over the top. The latter luckily doesn't, but it's a much harder route to figure out. The lightbulb moment was figuring out that you need to breach the OWW from the other side via a bomber in order to make the ceiling thin enough for the others to step up through once the fencer stops. This I consider a nice level, just the OWAs everywhere kind of made the level look a lot more unsightly

Emerald 16 - Down the Hillside! A level where I struggled a lot more than I thought I would, similar to Sneaker 7. Timing is tight to get builder bridge done on time before the crowd arrives, but you also need to do the level in such a way that no one can make another round in the pit as there's not enough time to do so. Other than figuring out where the do the mining and digging, the solution execution is fairly difficult given the 99RR. Still a nice level here!

Emerald 17 - The Eskdale Drive Much easier than the previous level, though I apparently did the level slightly different from intended. I kind of had the feeling it should be possible to use two jumpers on the first Lemming to get far enough ahead to allow only one Lemming past the stack, I just did it wrong. So, I just had the second Lemming that would had gotten past the stack be the digger to collect the pickup below the entrance Nice level and solution, especially with making the miner (who also stops the basher by reaching in front of him early ahead of time) the swimmer so that he will be safe!

Emerald 18 - Tabloid Superjunkie Not as hard as I thought, though it's certainly quite hard to figure out how to get up to the exit given you only have stackers, diggers, and bombers to do so. Totally forgot about that unnecessary loss at the start that prevented me from winning, but luckily it was an easy tweak at the start while keeping the rest of the solution the same. Also I apparently wasted a stacker in trying to get the walker pickups, as the climber is able to climb past the overhang of the pipe terrain That spare stacker certainly would had helped me quite a bit! Nice level nevertheless

Emerald 19 - Confessions in the Pool Fun one to figure out and one which was harder than it looked due to the pretty restrictive skillset. Once again, I unnecessarily wasted a stacker due to how I thought the button at the top lead to the deadly ceiling In fairness, it's really difficult to tell that it's piece of terrain in the way, as it kind of blends in well with the background Nah, I'm blind, especially as I've been wearing glasses for almost 30 years. Anyway, that spare stacker would had helped me quite a bit here too! Nicely done with the level design!

Emerald 20 - Loyal Like Mark and Alice I saw the very long miner pretty much right away, just took me a long time to figure out how to not lose anyone to the water in the bottom right. I definitely consider that the hardest part of the solution, given the 99RR for two entrances. Took me a long time to figure out that making the first Lemming out of the top entrance a glider gives him just barely enough of a head start to close off the gap from both sides with two separate specialists. Also took me a while to wrap my head around of how and where the blockers needed to be, as for a long time I couldn't get away from thinking a blocker needs to be used to hold the top entrance back, which also unfortunately clashed with my thinking that all of them need to be used to bounce and turn the miner. The timing of the blockers was frustrating to get right, especially as the miner needs to be precisely placed and all blockers need to be in the right spots at the right time during the miner animation. In some of my near success attempts, I had expected the miner to continue down the staircase in the middle, only to not because it's 1-2 pixels too low I do like the level and its solution, just frustrating to get right, though with the miner/builder combo it's always precise.

Emerald 21 - "DMA" the Movie! A much easier rank finisher than the previous one, though still no cakewalk. For me, I personally consider the finnicky structure with the up OWAs the hardest part of the level, as I pretty much figured the other parts out pretty quickly. I would agree with Armani that the camera near the exit can be tricky to traverse too to get the crowd up and to the exit. Great level to finish off the rank!                      

So far, I've solved the first 8 levels of the Super Sonic rank and have enjoyed them, so I'm looking forward to playing the rest of the rank when I get the chance and seeing all the other levels of the pack! It has been a very enjoyable pack to play since I started last week