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This week: Korbat's
Lab
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Well, Sloth just won't be happy until we have some more Grand Master rankings
under our belts, so here we are again.
This is a very easy Grand Master ranking to get if you can get past the first
few boards (GM at 1200 is possible on the 4th board). Here's the rundown on
the ranking break points:
- Amateur 100
- Novice 200
- Expert 500
- Master 800
- Grand Master 1200
The game itself is similar to an early video arcade game called Breakout,
which was a one-player game of Pong against a wall of bricks. It has been copied
many times in many countries, but the basis is similar--break the bricks.
In Korbat's Lab, unlike the original game, the ball doesn't speed up as you
get into higher levels, and there is a complex list of potions that you can
catch for a variety of effects. The difficulty of each level is more in the
design of the level, and unfortunately, in a randomness of which potions will
appear.
And they're boxes, not bricks. Let's see if I can say that right as I write
this article.
I won't give you a long list of potions and what they do; I'm sure there will
be Web sites with that sort of information before long if there aren't already.
I'm more interested in what you have to learn to get good at the game when the
random number generator isn't doing much for you. I'll just list a few kinds
of things that can happen with a potion; there are more:
- Slow down or speed up your paddle
- Make your paddle bigger or smaller
- Turn the ball red until you hit it again, during which time it will go through
anything
- Give you a guided missile to direct (briefly)
- Make your arrow keys go reverse of normal (eek!)
- Kill off all the Spyders and Korbats for that level
So, let's get into what you're trying to do. The primary goal of each level
is to clear all the bricks, um... boxes. Some take more than one hit to clear,
some explode when you hit them, and some take out everything below them when
hit. Like with the original Breakout, one thing you'd like to do is to keep
the ball above the field (the bunch of boxes) so it'll keep bouncing without
you having to bring your paddle into play.
Most boards have a space up the right and left sides, and with a bit of practice
you can send your first ball up there. Learn where to put the paddle relative
to the lines on the wall behind it, to make the side shots. You'll have a different
position depending on what the lowest level of the field is, too. A row across
the shelf is different from one hanging in mid-air above it (I don't know how
they do that, either...) One in particular works well with the paddle just a
tiny bit out from the left wall. Wait a second after positioning your ball before
shooting to ensure the same shot each time.
(I have noticed a variation in starting positions as new versions of the game
have been released, so be prepared to have to retest that)
---
On to how to handle the paddle, and then we'll talk a bit about strategies
for different situations.
You move the paddle left and right with the arrow keys, but it's not normally
very fast, so you need to be able to estimate where the ball will go. If you
play billiards, this might be easier for you, but with a bit of practice you'll
be able to predict. Stay under the ball, because the one thing you do not (I
repeat, not) want to do is let the ball go by your paddle. There's no time limit
other than bedtime, so just be patient and keep the ball moving.
If you're moving your paddle the same direction as the ball, you'll hit it
in such a way that it sends it back the way it came. Move your paddle in the
opposite direction and the ball will continue, though perhaps at an angle closer
to 45 degrees. If you stay still, it pretty much bounces like you'd expect off
the wall. A teeny bump of the paddle in one direction or another will sometimes
make the ball go more vertically, though that's harder to do consistently.
Note that I talk about you moving the paddle at the time of impact, but in
this game there's about a one-second period after you stop that your previous
motion will still affect the ball. Use that to your advantage if the ball is
up against the wall--you can move up to the wall a half second before hitting
the ball and it'll still bounce it off at the sharp angle it would if you were
out in the open.
When a Korbat gets involved, the ball will head off in some direction, usually
not where it was going originally, and rarely where you were thinking it would.
This is why it's especially important to keep the paddle under a Korbat that's
about to hit your ball. You have to be ready for anything. And because of that
one-second latent effect I just mentioned above, you'll send the ball back to
the Korbat if you run after it. It's best if you can anticipate (good luck)
and get there and be stopped for a second when the ball arrives.
Sometimes Korbats will send the ball off on a very slow side to side trip--stay
with it (it moves a bit faster than your paddle) so it will spin back vertically
when you hit it. If you just barely tap the ball, it will go back up as slowly
as it came down. You might want to have lunch handy--that's a really slow trip.
Spyders aren't as violent with the ball, and have to hit it just right to
alter its course, but they've got a knack for being in the wrong place just
when you've got a bead on that last box. I don't like them either.
---
Now, a philosophical bit: Not all Good Things are good.
It would seem that getting a red ball that would go through everything whether
steel blocks, boxes, bombs, etc. would be a Good Thing. And it is, sometimes.
But sometimes it will mess up a perfectly good area that would allow the ball
to bounce around a lot unattended. Then you end up trying to carefully position
several single shots to take out the stragglers.
You'd also think that killing off all the Spyders and Korbats would be a Good
Thing, but remember that they add variety to the bounce of the ball when they
touch it. There are some levels where despite a bit of randomness built into
the bounce, a ball can end up stuck in a sequence of bounces. With a handy beastie
to knock it off course, you're back in business. Otherwise you could possibly
end up having to shut down that game and lose the fabulous score you were about
to send in. Okay, that only happened to me once, but I had a really good score
going and it wouldn't have happened if the creatures were still skulking about.
How about a big paddle? Sounds good because you wouldn't miss the ball so
much, but remember that you sometimes want to avoid a potion that might be a
Bad Thing potion. Now you're carting around a paddle the size of a Dung Catapult
and can't pick off just the ball alone.
Fast paddle? It's better than a slow one, but once you get your rhythm down
at normal speeds, you can overshoot the ball pretty easily. It doesn't matter
why you miss when you miss the ball, so think about it before you increase the
odds of missing.
---
Okay, and finally... How to work the boxes to best advantage.
Let's say you can get to a bomb. That will clear an area 2 in each direction,
or at least do that much damage (if boxes around it are 2-3 hit boxes, they
may not be destroyed.) So, don't spend a lot of time knocking out the other
boxes that will go away anyway when you hit the bomb--just concentrate on getting
to it.
Fire at the top is great, because it clears everything below it in that column
(especially cool if there's a bomb below). Do it if you can. There's one level
with fire all across the bottom row. Must just have looked pretty, because with
nothing below, those might as well be regular 1-hit boxes.
If you have a place you can whack at for a bit and send the ball up above
the field, do that early on. You don't want to spend a bunch of time beating
on the field from the bottom when it would do it all for you.
Of course, if you have a shot you've practised, don't do it when there's a
Korbat over there. They have a pretty large effect area (the area around them
where they affect your ball) and if you recall, there's no time limit. Just
wait for them to go get a sandwich or whatever it is they do.
If you do get the ball bouncing nearly straight up and down, take advantage
of its ability to gradually eat away at columns of boxes. The other advantage
of the ball not going at sharp angles left and right is that you are more likely
to be able to catch a potion without missing the ball. I repeat from above...
don't miss the ball.
---
I guess that's about it, short of listing the potions. The only thing I will
mention about the potions is that there's more to it than just what colour it
is. You also have to notice what colour the bottle is, and whether or not it's
flashing. There's even more to it than that, but you'll learn it for yourself
if you play enough to get high scores.
Getting a Grand Master's a piece of cake. Well, at least now it is...
Next: Code Breakers
Articles so far in the series: Nimmo's
Pond, Pyramids,
Swarm!,
Scarab
21, Pterattack!,
Sakhmet
Solitaire, Chute,
Destruct-O-Match,
Neggsweeper,
Techo
Says and Deckswabber.
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Docktor
is Grand Master of Korbat's Lab and several other games. He holds the Grand
Master position in the "Game Strategies Guild" where strategies such as presented
in this article are discussed among the members. Comments and assistance from
other guild members may in part be reflected in this article, for which Docktor
is most appreciative.
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