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[mclem]

OMG. No Ordinary Headache. I've done 3 cracking solutions, but just can't get rid of the excess Oxygen in time to stop a blockage. Fecking thing. Every time I get stuck, I switch the damn thing off, then have another idea and spend another half hour trying to implement it....

One way I like of solving this sort of problem (although be warned: There are still a few potential pitfalls with it. It works for "The second reactor works more slowly than the first", but not for "I have multiple possible outputs and one output gets clogged while waiting for what I need for the other one"):

Spoiler

You can use an OUTPUT command to act as a "Stall this WALDO until the pipe is free" instruction

 

[MacGurcules]

I haven't seen SolutionNet mentioned here yet. I'd recommend checking it out if you're interested in other people's solutions. It has a leaderboard system based on uploaded save files, including images of each person's solutions. Pretty interesting to see some of the high-ranked solutions.

This one-reactor solution to "4-4 No Ordinary Headache" blew my mind.

I try to stay away from SolutionNet. It's like cheating. I always feel disappointed when I see a solution that's so much more elegant than my own. Once I see it, I'll never be able to honestly claim credit for figuring it out myself. And if everyone just has easy access to the best possible solutions, it makes competing amongst your friends on the leaderboards that much less awesome.

There are some rad solutions there, though. And I'll occasionally pop over there just to check out the rankings and see just how much faster some things could be done. It feels good when you work out a reactor that puts out top-5 performance.

 

[Rubashov]

This is easily my game of the summer of the sale. So good.

I just spent hours on the 7-6 boss fight (asteroids). It took so long to make a working first reactor, that by the time I realized it wasn't giving me the right ratio of atoms for the next step, I just couldn't delete it all. 175 symbols later (in 2 reactors) my feeble and occasionally unfueled laser was barely able to blast everything away. It's amazing how you can start off with a poor design and just pile on more bad ideas until you find that one breakthrough to make the whole mess work.

I couldn't figure out how to get around the aiming mechanic that essentially wasted my third reactor for only a handful of symbols. Could've been a lot easier if I had a better solution there.

 

[The Technomancer]

Is there any way to rotate the fusion spots? Because being forced to fuse horizontally is really really annoying.

 

[Vlad]

Is there any way to rotate the fusion spots? Because being forced to fuse horizontally is really really annoying.

Uh, you can just drag the individual fusion spots to wherever you like.

 

[Traumahound]

Just wanted to pop in, brag, and call all you guys out. Just finished up world 4 last night. My OCD doesn't allow me to move on until I optimize a level as much as I can (and then I usually come back and do it again to eke out a few more cycles). But, it pays off since I now have to lowest cycle scores on my friends list for all the world 3 and world 4 levels.

I think I'm most pleased with my "No Thanks Necessary" score (but you don't want to know how long I spent working on that level).

This is definitely my game of the year so far. I can't think of any other game that actually gives me such a sense of pride in beating (and then optimizing the fuck out of) a level. I really enjoy the transition from "how the hell is this level even possible" to "fuck yeah, I'm a genius".

 

[mclem]

Uh, you can just drag the individual fusion spots to wherever you like.

He's talking about Fusion, not Bonding, and as far as I'm aware you can't rotate the fusion unit.

 

[mclem]

Just wanted to pop in, brag, and call all you guys out. Just finished up world 4 last night. My OCD doesn't allow me to move on until I optimize a level as much as I can (and then I usually come back and do it again to eke out a few more cycles). But, it pays off since I now have to lowest cycle scores on my friends list for all the world 3 and world 4 levels.

I think I'm most pleased with my "No Thanks Necessary" score (but you don't want to know how long I spent working on that level).

This is definitely my game of the year so far. I can't think of any other game that actually gives me such a sense of pride in beating (and then optimizing the fuck out of) a level. I really enjoy the transition from "how the hell is this level even possible" to "fuck yeah, I'm a genius".

I started out like that, but I've gone for pure progression lately. I'm now quite close to the end - World 8's defense level - but I'm looking forward to revisiting stuff to optimise it somewhat.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Just wanted to pop in, brag, and call all you guys out. Just finished up world 4 last night. My OCD doesn't allow me to move on until I optimize a level as much as I can (and then I usually come back and do it again to eke out a few more cycles). But, it pays off since I now have to lowest cycle scores on my friends list for all the world 3 and world 4 levels.

Even lower than yeoz? I think he had the lowest of everyone from this thread.

 

[mclem]

I just spent hours on the 7-6 boss fight (asteroids). It took so long to make a working first reactor, that by the time I realized it wasn't giving me the right ratio of atoms for the next step, I just couldn't delete it all. 175 symbols later (in 2 reactors) my feeble and occasionally unfueled laser was barely able to blast everything away. It's amazing how you can start off with a poor design and just pile on more bad ideas until you find that one breakthrough to make the whole mess work.

A sample for what you get when you just keep piling on the ill-advised ideas:

Yes, it really works.

 

[Traumahound]

Even lower than yeoz? I think he had the lowest of everyone from this thread.

On Worlds 3 and 4, yep, crushed him. He still has me beat in most of World 1 and 2.

 

[bigf00t]

I try to stay away from SolutionNet. It's like cheating. I always feel disappointed when I see a solution that's so much more elegant than my own. Once I see it, I'll never be able to honestly claim credit for figuring it out myself. And if everyone just has easy access to the best possible solutions, it makes competing amongst your friends on the leaderboards that much less awesome.

There are some rad solutions there, though. And I'll occasionally pop over there just to check out the rankings and see just how much faster some things could be done. It feels good when you work out a reactor that puts out top-5 performance.

I totally agree, I only look at levels that I'm completely finished with and think I did well on. I won't change them even if I see a better solution, it's a matter of honor. There almost always is a better solution though, and it makes me feel bad inside

But I keep playing.

 

[mclem]

The game so needs the ability to let you save out solutions so you're not too attached to them to experiment with new methods.

 

[The Technomancer]

I do kind of wish there was a mode where once you'd completed the game you could go back and try to optimize old levels without some of the restrictions. Having say...a sensor and a fusion pad in the same reactor could open up whole new avenues of design.

 

[Traumahound]

The game so needs the ability to let you save out solutions so you're not too attached to them to experiment with new methods.

Totally agreed. That's number one on my wishlist for the game. I haven't bothered trying to optimize for symbols used since I don't want to lose my speedy solution.

 

[mclem]

Just noticed on Twitter: New version coming up (already on Steam?) which adds Production puzzles (i.e. multireactor ones) to ResearchNet. So there's clearly still development going on.

 

[Vlad]

I totally agree, I only look at levels that I'm completely finished with and think I did well on. I won't change them even if I see a better solution, it's a matter of honor. There almost always is a better solution though, and it makes me feel bad inside

But I keep playing.

For me, it's kind of like Minecraft. I still have the first single-player world I ever made, and my original shack is intact, incorporated into my main fort. I could tear it down and make something prettier, but I keep it around to remember my humble beginnings.

Of course, in Spacechem, every single puzzle solution of "humble beginnings". I think I'd go insane if I actually cared about competing for high scores against the general public. The best I can hope for is being somewhat to the right of the bell curve.

Still having great fun, and as others have said, there's something incredibly satisfying when you finally get a solution that works.

I've been discovering some of the (as far as I can tell) undocumented keyboard shortcuts recently, though. Stuff like actually being able to hit delete to delete stuff, shift and control-clicking, and even being able to select multiple units by drag-selecting. However, there's still some functionality I'm wondering about:

- Is it possible to change the attributes of an already-placed instruction without right-clicking on it? Stuff like changing the color or changing a Grab/Drop to just Grab or Drop?

- How about deleting? Is there a way to change the keyboard shortcut for it? It's not a huge thing, but since I'm playing on a laptop I like to keep the right hand on the touchpad and the left hand near the WASD cluster.

 

[mclem]

Zach's just announced an iPad version:

http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/coming-soon-spacechem-on-the-ipad/

It’s taken more work than I anticipated, but I’m happy to announce that SpaceChem Mobile will be available on the Apple App Store for the iPad on October 1st! SpaceChem Mobile is a direct port of SpaceChem, meaning it’s almost exactly the same, but with a few notable differences:

The controls have been reimagined for touch (an obvious change), including a new way to quickly place arrow instructions (hold a button, drag a path).
The toolbar has been moved to the top to make it easier to place instructions.
The main campaign does not include boss battles or the story and is easier to progress through (more optional pipelines, specifically).
Video recording and forum signature generation are not available.
It only costs $5.99!

ResearchNet is fully functional in SpaceChem Mobile and will receive new issues of the Journal of Reaction Engineering at the same time as the PC version of SpaceChem.

I'm trying to work out what 'more optional pipelines' means. Branching paths through the campaign? More reactors for some of the tougher missions?

Disappointed at the loss of boss battles and story. They added a certain purpose to proceedings.

I don't actually *have* an iPad, but if I did, I'd be quite pleased about having the game to take on the road!

 

[jon bones]

Hope this doesn't qualify as a wise from the gwave situation but just picked this up on my iPad 2.

Woah! Love everything about this game - the music is excellent, the interface is smooth and the gameplay is difficult and engaging.

My only qualms are the lack of story mode / boss fights in the iPad version. Kind of a shame.

Still excited to go home and play, though.

 

[jepense]

Hope this doesn't qualify as a wise from the gwave situation but just picked this up on my iPad 2.

Woah! Love everything about this game - the music is excellent, the interface is smooth and the gameplay is difficult and engaging.

My only qualms are the lack of story mode / boss fights in the iPad version. Kind of a shame.

Still excited to go home and play, though.

I'd actually say good riddance to the boss levels. They were ok, but the normal levels were so much more fun. The biggest problems with the boss levels were that (1) you often needed to build manual controls in the reactors for timing the output of molecules, which was boring, and (2) it wasn't always clear what one should build because the way the monsters and weapons worked wasn't obvious until you actually experimented with them.

The story was nice enough, and getting to read new chapters was a fine reward for clearing levels, but it wasn't at all necessary for enjoying the game.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I really need to get back to this, it's been a couple months since I last seriously played.

 

[Dalauz]

*get his humble bundle code*
*enter here to ask about the game*
*read a couple of post, watch videos, gif and screens*
*leaves*

 

[Vlad]

*get his humble bundle code*
*enter here to ask about the game*
*read a couple of post, watch videos, gif and screens*
*leaves*

Yeah, looking at anybody's solution to something when you're just starting out is pretty daunting.

Seriously give the game a shot, though. It eases you into things really nicely, and it really is one of those games where you first see a level, go "wtf, that's way over my head", then feel super satisfied when you finally get back and beat it.

 

[Dalauz]

Yeah, looking at anybody's solution to something when you're just starting out is pretty daunting.

Seriously give the game a shot, though. It eases you into things really nicely, and it really is one of those games where you first see a level, go "wtf, that's way over my head", then feel super satisfied when you finally get back and beat it.

I'm Trying!

 

[Cloudius12]

At first I looked at screen shots and video and I was like, "WHAT". I went in game and noticed the keyboard config for the symbol and stuff and I was comparing them to what I watched and thought I had to press the keys in the correct sequences and stuff...

Glad it wasn't like that at all .

I don't think I'm going to play this game all the way through, but this game is pretty awesome.

 

[Bazza]

might be worth mentioning in the title or the first post that its available in the newest indy bundle, pick up 5 games for less than what this goes for on steam or pay more and give a little to charity at the same time.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

 

[Jive Turkey]

A sample for what you get when you just keep piling on the ill-advised ideas:

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594692996004615398/2458109D960E7ABCEBE721C1E8327D96C4069007/


Yes, it really works.

Geez...Did you make that mess? I ask because it looks identical to something I did.

 

[Grimm Fandango]

This game is basically wrecking my week. Can barely focus in class if I looked at a puzzle and didn't solve it. I'm trying to study right now but all I can think about is making phosphoric acid from water.

 

[Chris R]

Been playing this since it was included in the last humble bundle. Man this game is tough. Only at world two and having issues.

Is there a clear all button? Takes forever to clear the map after totally screwing it up.

 

[n8]

Been playing this since it was included in the last humble bundle. Man this game is tough. Only at world two and having issues.

Is there a clear all button? Takes forever to clear the map after totally screwing it up.

Haven't played in a while but a lot of common keyboard shortcuts work in game.
ctrl+A should select it all and delete clears them. (or just click and hold the selection on the grid)

 

[Vlad]

Haven't played in a while but a lot of common keyboard shortcuts work in game.
ctrl+A should select it all and delete clears them. (or just click and hold the selection on the grid)

Yeah, just checked and Ctrl-A doesn't work as a keyboard shortcut.

As far as the lesser-known selection stuff goes, here's what I'm aware of offhand:

• You can click-drag to draw a rectangle and select multiple symbols that way.
• Holding Ctrl while clicking on an existing symbol will let you drag a copy of the symbol (useful for multiple Bond- symbols, for example)
• Shift-Clicking will let you select multiple individual symbols (like Control-clicking in Windows)

 

[mclem]

Geez...Did you make that mess? I ask because it looks identical to something I did.

Yeah, that's entirely my baby. I love it dearly, although there's no way I could claim that it's *good* !

While it's almost never a particularly optimal setup, I'm rather fond of the whole "Use one WALDO to dictate a program for the other one to enact" approach.

 

[Vlad]

It's amazing how much slower my progress is getting the further I get into the game. This game has a great learning curve, as each puzzle is definitely taking significantly longer for me to muscle through than the one before it. Of course, since I'm only on the boss of the sixth world at the moment, the prospect of what the puzzles are going to look like for the rest of the game downright terrifies me.

On the semi-plus side, I've got a few of the optional puzzles that I skipped that I can go back to, so at least I can work on a different puzzle when I get really stumped.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Hey, there's an official thread for this gem of a game! I just started really getting into this when it showed up in my Humble Indie Bundle, and I'm hooked.

It seems that I, like everybody else, found the end of World 4 (specifically No Thanks Necessary) to be a huge spike in difficulty. I'm currently working on the boss fight for World 4 (glad to see that everybody else finds the boss fights annoying too).

I haven't really been working on optimizing solutions much really. My programming background is telling me to break everything up into as many small, easily digestible pieces as possible, which generally results in slow solutions. So far the best solution I've had is a 3-reactor solution to "Going Green" - it was also an epiphany where I realized that I could create a reactor stage that blindly repeated the same actions over and over again if a previous stage ensured that atoms came in a specific order.

Big fan of this game. It needs more love.

 

[rollingstart]

This is one of the most satisfying puzzle games I've played in a while.

You feel really dumb trying to solve a puzzle, but you feel really clever when you finally solve it. And you're not getting comfortable. Each stage is challenging.

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

bumping this for some quick noob help!

I just tried the demo and though i beat the third tutorial level, i noticed something:

Does the number of "icons" you put on the screen affect how fast the atoms get absorbed or whatever in the output area?

because i had my red circuit that was already running fine suddenly have atoms crash into each other as soon as i put up more icons to slow down stuff on the BLUE circuit which had nothing to do with my red one?

confused

 

[Danj]

bumping this for some quick noob help!

I just tried the demo and though i beat the third tutorial level, i noticed something:

Does the number of "icons" you put on the screen affect how fast the atoms get absorbed or whatever in the output area?

because i had my red circuit that was already running fine suddenly have atoms crash into each other as soon as i put up more icons to slow down stuff on the BLUE circuit which had nothing to do with my red one?

confused

If you're finding that stuff is crashing into each other, maybe lengthen your paths a bit so that the atoms will have gone through an output before the new ones get there?

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

If you're finding that stuff is crashing into each other, maybe lengthen your paths a bit so that the atoms will have gone through an output before the new ones get there?

yeah that is what i did eventually and i also kept using those circles with an arrow to make them pause a little each time they pass one...

however, why is it that between each pass, the output window/time seems to get smaller and smaller ?

 

[Danj]

yeah that is what i did eventually and i also kept using those circles with an arrow to make them pause a little each time they pass one...

however, why is it that between each pass, the output window/time seems to get smaller and smaller ?

Not sure, but if you have access to it yet, the SYNC instruction is how you get your waldos to wait until they're both ready. Also if you put the OUT instruction right after you DROP the atom in the output box, it may help. Finally, you don't have to put atoms in the exact same place in the output box, so if you've got two waldos collecting atoms, just have the other one drop it somewhere else in the box, to avoid crashes.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Finally, you don't have to put atoms in the exact same place in the output box, so if you've got two waldos collecting atoms, just have the other one drop it somewhere else in the box, to avoid crashes.

It was implicit in your statement, but worth stating explicitly:

When you eventually get multiple reactors chained together, as in A==>B==>Output, atoms will appear in the input of reactor B in the specific box that reactor A put them. So while it doesn't matter where they go for the destination, it's worth learning how to synchronize waldos so that you can drop all of your molecules in the same place.

 

[The Technomancer]

I decided that I should actually get around to beating my GOTY. I just got to the final level of the Space Station


*twitch* Ahahahahaha I don't believe this. This is insane. How do you pull this off?
I think I have a plan. 3 reactors. One reactor alternately passes Methane through the lower channel and strips methane into sequences of four H and one C on the upper. A second reactor takes just methane in and diverts it to the left and right controls. And the third reactor has to make both H-H and the N-F3. It has to make them given an input stream of HHHHCHHHHC. Its going to be insane. Its going to use a billion flip flops. Its going to be beautiful

I may not emerge from this

 

[Blast Processing]

Well here is the most jury-rigged solution I've done yet. It doesn't even work if you take it too far out past the 40 cycles needed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hd=1&v=9jwTnt59WkA

On the plus side, I only used 2 of the 3 allowed reactors!

 

[ZackieChan]

Goddamn, I can't even finish World 3! How do you people do it??

 

[The Technomancer]

Goddamn, I can't even finish World 3! How do you people do it??

By world seven or so most puzzles are taking me upwards of three hours to think through, and I can only do one, maybe two, per day before feeling fatigued.

I haven't even touched the game in a few weeks though because of sheer intimidation at what the last puzzle in world 8 is asking me to do.

 

[charlequin]

I haven't even touched the game in a few weeks though because of sheer intimidation at what the last puzzle in world 8 is asking me to do.

Yeah, I stalled out on the last puzzle of World 7, need to get back to it.

This game is essentially a programming simulation, so playing this after I get home is kind of like getting back to work, heh.

 

[Fixed1979]

So for some reason I decided to try the demo of this game tonight, fully anticipating playing for about 5 minutes and then deleting the demo. About 2 hours later I'm hooked. Not sure what took me so long to try this and I'm disappointed I missed some sales on it now. Anyhoo, I would certainly recommend it as a cool and challenging puzzle game. There's a few people I'm looking forward to passing it on to.

I just starting feeling like I was getting the hand of it when I clicked on the "Playing in the sandbox" winners page and immediately felt dumb as fuck again.

http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/playing-in-the-sandbox-the-winners/

 

[charlequin]

So for some reason I decided to try the demo of this game tonight, fully anticipating playing for about 5 minutes and then deleting the demo. About 2 hours later I'm hooked. Not sure what took me so long to try this and I'm disappointed I missed some sales on it now.

Did you buy it yet? PM me if not.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Haven't touched this game in weeks, and finally decided to jump back in.

Honestly, I feel like World 6 is a bit of a drag. Nothing new has really been introduced; it just feels like a lot of tedium. I was motivated by seeing some GIFs of some new upcoming puzzle mechanics, so I made myself push through. I now only have the world 6 boss battle left - hopefully world 7 either gives something new or ramps up the difficulty.

 

[Chris R]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxasE-aZMI

Super terrible, but at the same time I kinda like it. If I go back I bet I can speed it up quite a bit though.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Just started World 7 a few days ago. Flips-Flops are mindbending, to the point where I couldn't even figure out how to integrate them into the third puzzle (I think it was called No Employment Record Found). I solved it with an endless hydrogen fuse loop; definitely feels like I'm still missing something.