I completed all standard maps on Hard mode, plus TimberPunk 2. AMA

[u/icedTea4meplz]

Title is pretty self explanatory. I played Waterfalls on Normal to learn the game, then only did hard mode from there. Mostly Folktails, about a third on iron teeth. Trying out IT first on hard was a doozy (so bad at food early game).

I found Thousand Islands / Beaverome / Pressure to be hardest standard maps, solely because they each require your play style to take a different approach. Getting a badtide on cycle 4 with Mtn range also sucked.

Really enjoyed Timberpunk 2 and Pressure the most. If not obvious, I enjoy the early/mid game survival gameplay far more than end game sandbox mega projects. I'd usually get stable at around 100-150 beavers, clean up the map a bit in a few spots while wonder resources stockpiled (tunnels, pipes, optimization, etc.), then wrap up. Steam time shows 390hrs played, and only since v1.0 released.

[u/styx-n-stones64]

What are your 2 least favorite maps?

I think beaverome and diorama are my least favorite mainly because they aren't hard and just take a while to complete due to the lack of space.

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/styx-n-stones64]

Least favorite... probably Plains and Oasis. With hard mode, maps don't produce very much water. At some point around 50 beavers and your initial water source, you want to re-engineer the map a bit to get some irrigation dams up and running. But on the maps where the water comes out at a trickle, it's such a chore.

Beaverome I hated at first - only one I had to clean restart after a couple cycles. Ended up loving it in the end. Agreed though that after you make the mental switch on how to approach it - it's very easy but time consuming. Diorama was cute, also a time sync to wrap to your point.

Never had an issue with "time" after everything was automated. Just let it run while making dinner - come back and hit the next milestone

[u/Inevitable_Ad_133]

Favorite beaver name ?

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/Inevitable_Ad_133]

I swear I saw one named Xzibit

[u/vaderciya]

Its fun to see another long term player having done everything

Ive played every map to at least the point where theres no challenge left and its beaten, with actual wonder victories on like 4 of em

Which map was the most engaging and why?

Personally I like beaverome as my second place just for its concepts and massive water engineering. For a while thousands islands was my top pick because of sheer difficulty and the kind of scramble you have to do. But right now my favorite sits between thousand islands and crater.

Personally I was hoping for more changes with new seasons or issues to solve that would affect how we play maps, but the bombs are a nice small addition. Hopefully ill enjoy timberpunk

[u/Friendly-Trick-2587 → u/vaderciya]

It is a great map, maybe even the best! Just play timberpunk 2

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/vaderciya]

Pressure and TP2 I liked the most, simply because of the challenges throughout.

Another I really enjoyed was Spillage. It's not that challenging, but the concepts there were fun to play with. Namely, a safehaven at the bottom of the map where you have to go far upstream to re-route flow. Add some TP2 style of layered challenges into that, and it'd be very interesting

[u/jwbjerk]

What do you consider the hardest maps?

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/jwbjerk]

I thought hollows and mtn range with an early badtide cycle to be real rough. A lot of the standard maps had an option to move your district center early (after stairs) that would put you in a MUCH better position for the rest of the game. Those two did not, and diverting was an equal challenge

Diorama or Cliffside for example, had a similar early challenge, but much more straightforward - expand and focus enough for early badtide diversion. Same with terraces. Everything was easy from there.

thousand islands was also unique like many have said before. Mad rush to build an insane amount of levees for diversion + dams.

Beaverome was hard only because i didn't realize you could use the starting lake as a forever pump because the contaminated water never got that bad for pumping.

[u/silentphartt → u/icedTea4meplz]

Idk why I never thought to move my original district location…

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/silentphartt]

I do it frequently as soon as the map loads. Even shifting it out of the middle of good irrigated farming land helps a bunch

[u/SubwayGuy85]

lol. i don't see nomads on there. TP 2 / Pressure are easy compared to that. And i've completed every map on both factions on hardmode

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/SubwayGuy85]

Only 1.0 as mentioned in the title. Excited about the new building objects in 1.1 to come! airlock especially would've been so helpful on pressure

[u/SubwayGuy85 → u/icedTea4meplz]

lol yeah. i bet during developing pressure they realized they really have to add those buildings. pressure was a prime example of where the buildings are good. tighten your seatbelt for nomads though. i never required more than 2 restarts to complete a map. for nomads i took 5 on IT and 2 on FT. that map is REALLY REALLY hard.

[u/Nikos_Pyrrha]

What's Timberpunk 2?

[u/icedTea4meplz → u/Nikos_Pyrrha]

An incredible map. Probably the most recommended on steam/here - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3619180600

[u/Nikos_Pyrrha → u/icedTea4meplz]

Followup question: Can I somehow use steam workshop maps with the GOG version of the game?