| An Introduction to Bomb Defense |
One of the most frequents complaints about Hexic is how difficult bombs are to deal with. Some players want to hold bombs off just long enough to get Hexic's harder achievements, while others want to produce high Marathon scores. A single Marathon game can continue indefinitely if the player has a sound bomb defense, and I will try to offer enough information to set on the right track any player who wishes to become proficient at bomb disposal.
If you are reading this thread hoping for a secret bomb defense system that will work perfectly every time, I'm not going to just spell that out for you; that would take the fun out of playing Hexic for people who enjoy figuring out such things for themselves. Because of the nature of Hexic, if someone were to post a video of exactly how he or she played the game, anyone with a certain level of skill could copy the method and in effect play exactly like the method's creator. Being an Old School kind of guy, I believe not in handing achievements to people who don't want to work for them, but in giving help to those who wish to do things themselves and who just need some assistance.
We've seen from posts on the xbox.com Hexic forum that most people find the 4x4 grid easier to create than the Masters Grid, so in updating this guide I've decided to keep using the 4x4 grid as a reference. The principles are the same, though I will add this: bomb defense is MUCH easier using the Masters Grid. It's possible to set up a defense with which you don't even need to count moves between bombs. And with that teaser, on with the discussion!
Is there only one way to kill bombs?
Definitely not. Most of what I know about Hexic I learned from RFG Scorpi, oldtaco and yojono. My personal bomb defense system started with a question I asked Scorpi when I was first learning this game: do you try to keep two of each color near the top of the screen to kill bombs? His answer: yes. From there I was able to find an efficient way to do this, and I'm about to explain the principles involved in making this approach work. I expect other players have different ways of killing bombs, and the differences may be minor or major, but I also believe the principles involved are more or less the same.
Before we begin…
At times I refer to the silver stars that compose RFG Scorpi's 4 x 4 grid by number according to the following scheme: in the top row of the grid from left to right we have 1, 2, 3, and 4. Second row, left to right, 5, 6, 7, 8, and so on, so that 16 is in the bottom right of the grid. The silver stars that are used to block off the rightmost column are not part of the working grid and thus do not have identification numbers.
I also refer to positions around silver stars. Six pieces will touch a centered silver star, and the positions are numbered starting at the top and moving clockwise, 1-6.
Vital Numbers
Bombs start appearing on Level 3, but generally not until well into the level, and then only every 15 combos and allowing you 9 moves before exploding. (If you are having trouble killing bombs on Level 3, please go back to the FAQ and read about the basics of Hexic, because with 9 moves and only 5 colors on the board, an organized bomb defense is not needed.) On Level 4, bombs begin appearing every 10 combos, and this interval lasts for the rest of the levels, though the number of moves before exploding decreases with each level up.
I say every 10 combos, but here I mean every 10 combos that the player intentionally causes. Sometimes you make a combo, either a simple 3-piece combo or a pearl or another silver star, and the way the new pieces fall on the board causes additional combos to happen. The combos caused by falling pieces do not count in the Every 10 Combos rule. Neither do player moves that do not result in combos, such as walking a star pair or rotating a star flower. When counting combos between bombs, you only need to count the combos that you directly cause. (This is not the case when a bomb has landed, of course. A bomb counts down whenever you make a move of any type, combo or not.)
7 is another important number, because that is how many colors you have to defend against on Level 7.
5 is another important number because on Level 7 you have five moves to make before the bomb explodes.
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| The Principles |
#1. Count to 10
The first element of defeating bombs is counting your combos and identifying exactly when you are one combo away from a bomb appearing: when you know the bomb will arrive on the next combo, you must move your defense pieces into position, then trigger the bomb in such a way that it falls exactly where you want it to so you can kill it. Use a piece of paper if you have to, or count out loud, if that works. However you do it, make sure you know when a bomb is about to drop. With a little practice, this should become the easiest part of your bomb defense.
#2. Pull The Trigger
When you're ready for the bomb to fall, make it happen. Notice in the picture how I have selected two yellow pieces and a silver star, and that a third yellow piece is just below my selection. This is where I will make a simple combo that will trigger the bomb to fall once I have everything ready for the bomb. It doesn't matter which color you choose for the trigger combo; it can be any color of which you have five pieces so that you still have two more to kill a bomb of that color.
The nice thing about this trigger is that all three yellow pieces disappear and the silver star falls exactly back into place on the grid. This way I still have complete control of my pieces.
When I trigger the bomb, it will fall into one of the spots currently occupied by the three yellow pieces that are part of the trigger combo. This is how I control not only WHEN the bomb arrives, but WHERE. Since I know where it will be (within three spots) I can assemble my defense pieces accordingly.
Is this the only, or the “proper” way to trigger the bomb? No. ANY combo will trigger the bomb when that bomb's time comes, and the example I have shown is a simple way to do it. I encourage you to try different methods of triggering bombs to see if another way works better for you.
#3. Send in The Pairs
The next thing to notice is that I have all seven colors represented in pairs, in addition to the three yellow pieces I will use to trigger the bomb. No matter what color the bomb is, I have two pieces of that color close and ready to rotate into position.
The first five colors, in this example they are yellow, red, purple, light green and dark green, are easy: it is a simple matter to move any of those colors next to the bomb in such a way that I can make a combo just like the trigger combo and end up with the grid intact as I kill the bomb.
For example, if a red bomb were to fall into the spot just above silver star #2, I kill the bomb with a single move and silver star #2 falls back into place on the grid as I do it. If a purple bomb falls into that spot, I would just rotate the pieces around silver star #1 twice counter-clockwise and kill the bomb with my third move.
A bomb of any of the first five colors can fall into any of the three positions vacated by the trigger combo pieces and be killed in a combo that keeps the grid intact within five moves. I know, I know, you want a video to prove this, but you'll just have to try it yourself to see that this is true if you can't visualize it.
The sixth color must be dealt with around silver star #3. In this example color six is dark blue, and its pair is waiting in positions 1 and 2 around silver star #4. If I get a bomb of this color, I move the bomb to position 1 around silver star #3, then move the dark blue pair into spots 2 and 3.
I said earlier that I would not be presenting a perfected system, and here we get to the imperfect part of the image I'm showing you. The seventh color, light blue in this case, is a small problem. The 4 x 4 grid handles six colors easily, but it makes getting that seventh pair to the proper place a challenge. In the sample image, the light blue pieces are placed such that just killing the bomb is easy: you're only two moves away from having the seventh color close enough to any of the spots where the bomb might fall to kill it. But how do you get those light blue pieces into position to kill the bomb AND keep your grid intact while taking only five moves to do so, no matter which of the three possible spots the bomb falls into? This question leads us to principle #4.
#4. Experiment to Find Your Own Solution
This principle applies not only to completing a perfect bomb defense, but also to refining a smooth, effective scoring method in-between bombs. There are many, many ways to play Hexic. As useful as the 4 x 4 grid is, it's really just a diving board from which to enter the deep end of the Hexic pool. What is the best way to collect multiplier pieces? How should you spend your 8 combos between bombs? Should you make flowers around pearls or silver stars? Should you use one pearl, two, three, four, or more in your scoring method? These are all questions that you can best answer by experimenting and finding a method that suits your own style of play. Someone who can move very quickly without making many unintentional combos will prefer a different scoring method from someone who must move slowly to avoid collapsing his grid. The only sure thing is that Hexic will allow you to find your own way if you invest the time to do so.
So back to bombs. How do we deal with that seventh pair? Try experimenting along these lines:
Perhaps not all of the seven pairs should have their two pieces touching each other.
Perhaps the pieces around one of the silver stars should be rotated once to the right. Or to the left.
Perhaps one or more of the positions I have grayed out should be used somehow.
I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. If you just want to kill every bomb and sometimes have to rebuild the grid afterward, you're all set with what I've shown you. If you want to score big and be able to do so in a timely manner, you will need to refine your method beyond my sample image. This leads us to the last principle in this discussion.
#5. As You Experiment, Try to Streamline the Set-Up Process
As you refine your scoring method, you'll probably get pretty fast because you'll be doing the same thing over and over between bombs. When you get to that prebomb position, however, progress grinds to a relative halt as you move your pairs and trigger pieces into position so you can kill the bomb. The first time you try to recreate my sample image, it will probably take you several minutes, at least. Can you make it to 10 million points when every nine combos you have to slowly recreate your bomb defense? Only if you are VERY patient. To be frank, killing bombs is a time-consuming drag. The best way to make it less so is to refine the method so that you can do it more quickly.
Perhaps this means starting to get pairs into position several combos before the bomb will arrive instead of only one combo before.
Perhaps this means leaving part of the bomb defense pieces in tact all the time, and using a limited part of the grid for scoring.
Perhaps this means keeping some of the pairs you will use close by so that they can quickly and easily be moved into position when needed, then returned to ‘storage' when scoring resumes.
Again, I could go on, but I hope you get the idea. As you experiment, always look for efficiency and speed.
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| Conclusions |
I wish to be upfront about one last thing: this is not the bomb defense I use when making MMCs. But what I have shown are the basics that evolved into my own bomb defense. I believe that everything you need to know to make your own has now been revealed to you.
Good luck, play fair, and have fun!
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