Sokoban II 574 is interesting to me. It is a good example of how to put into LaserTank a true Sokoban level that involves limited space. At the same time, a good portion of it is a puzzle using LaserTank elements. This message is to give some slight hints for the level in hopes that others solve it.
The level has 3 phases to it. The first phase is to get blocks on most of the tunnels in column N before moving the LaserTank to G6. In my case, the only tunnel I left empty at this phase was the yellow tunnel at N8. I also adjusted the position of 1 rotating mirror in this phase because it seems to be more efficient to do so in this phase than later. I found this phase to be easy. It took me 71 moves and 37 shots to get through this phase.
The second phase involves getting the rest of the blocks positioned properly before moving the LaserTank to L7. I believe the intent of the author was to have blocks on all tunnels before moving to L7. This phase is very difficult because there is limited space to move. Many times in this phase it will look like less progress is being made because the blocks often have to move away from their eventual destinations. Although it is possible to deduce which tunnels have to be filled last, that does not help me when there are so many moves involved. So I solve these levels mostly by trial and error. Once I solved the level by filling all of the tunnels, I was curious about this phase. Being that this is LaserTank and not true Sokoban, it can actually be solved without having blocks on all of the tunnels before moving to L7. Since I did not want to spend lots of time trying all of the possibilities via trial and error, I used a Sokoban solving program to try the different possibilities. Because those solutions would affect my final solution, I decided it would not be fair to submit my solution for a GHS. But since I do not want others to waste time trying all of the possibilities to see which is best, I will tell you that the solution I eventually chose has a block at F11 instead of on the red tunnel at F4, while all of the other tunnels had blocks on them. Even though that appeared to be the fewest number of moves, it was still long and very difficult. Another interesting thing is that the solution I used is shorter than what the Sokoban solving program showed because there are advantages to shooting rather than pushing. That also changed the order of some things. It took me 269 moves and 80 shots just to get through this phase.
I found the third phase to be a medium level in difficulty, which still means it took thought. I took advantage of the O12 mirror being able to rotate. There are many approaches in this third phase that work. So it is difficult to say if my solution is optimum, although I kept improving it a number of times. My final solution for the entire level took 752 moves and 382 shots.
Good luck to those that try this level.
The level has 3 phases to it. The first phase is to get blocks on most of the tunnels in column N before moving the LaserTank to G6. In my case, the only tunnel I left empty at this phase was the yellow tunnel at N8. I also adjusted the position of 1 rotating mirror in this phase because it seems to be more efficient to do so in this phase than later. I found this phase to be easy. It took me 71 moves and 37 shots to get through this phase.
The second phase involves getting the rest of the blocks positioned properly before moving the LaserTank to L7. I believe the intent of the author was to have blocks on all tunnels before moving to L7. This phase is very difficult because there is limited space to move. Many times in this phase it will look like less progress is being made because the blocks often have to move away from their eventual destinations. Although it is possible to deduce which tunnels have to be filled last, that does not help me when there are so many moves involved. So I solve these levels mostly by trial and error. Once I solved the level by filling all of the tunnels, I was curious about this phase. Being that this is LaserTank and not true Sokoban, it can actually be solved without having blocks on all of the tunnels before moving to L7. Since I did not want to spend lots of time trying all of the possibilities via trial and error, I used a Sokoban solving program to try the different possibilities. Because those solutions would affect my final solution, I decided it would not be fair to submit my solution for a GHS. But since I do not want others to waste time trying all of the possibilities to see which is best, I will tell you that the solution I eventually chose has a block at F11 instead of on the red tunnel at F4, while all of the other tunnels had blocks on them. Even though that appeared to be the fewest number of moves, it was still long and very difficult. Another interesting thing is that the solution I used is shorter than what the Sokoban solving program showed because there are advantages to shooting rather than pushing. That also changed the order of some things. It took me 269 moves and 80 shots just to get through this phase.
I found the third phase to be a medium level in difficulty, which still means it took thought. I took advantage of the O12 mirror being able to rotate. There are many approaches in this third phase that work. So it is difficult to say if my solution is optimum, although I kept improving it a number of times. My final solution for the entire level took 752 moves and 382 shots.
Good luck to those that try this level.