Hi there!

Although I've been a fan and frequent player of W:A for years now, I have never been a member of a Worms community until now. In fact, I was unaware that the game was still being updated, and that new (awesome, by the way) features are constantly being added. I made sure to get the latest update and patch.

I have much unclearness about the game, and I thought that you guys can help me out. :)

Here are my questions (I may edit this post if new questions come to mind):

1) I see a lot of people mentioning the term "rope-knocking". I searched the forums for a definition, but couldn't find one. Can someone elaborate? :/

2) When you jump off a rope in mid-air, what determines in what direction the next rope you fire (while still being in air) will be fired?

3) I find a large variety of weapons to be useless. This includes mortar, cluster bombs, some animals, handgun, etc. But since I am perfectly aware that I am a newbie, I suspect that I am missing some important advantages of those weapons. Can someone explain how to properly use them?
(also, include how to use weapons which YOU think are at-first-sight useless, because I might have missed some)

4) I saw some replays of worms walking backwars. How is this possible?

5) I checked out some mission demos from this site: http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php
I am confused; First, the author says who beat the mission for the fastest time, but then the replay shows the mission being completed much quicker. What does he mean by "perfection"? O_o

6) How can I activate in-game chat for W:A? After much online experience with WWP, I am getting tired of not being able to say ingame "HAHA, OWN3D !1!!!" to my friends. :D

7) Is the concrete donkey available only in WWP? I've never encountered it in W:A.

8) What does "front-end" mean?

9) Are replays only watchable at 1x speed?


Well, thanks for taking the time to read my questions. I'd appreciate it if you could answer them. :)

1) I see a lot of people mentioning the term "rope-knocking". I searched the forums for a definition, but couldn't find one. Can someone elaborate? :/


That's when you swing your worm on the rope, let go, and let the worm fall to the ground. With the right momentum you can have the worm slide into other worms, therefore knocking them around.

3) I find a large variety of weapons to be useless. This includes mortar, cluster bombs, some animals, handgun, etc. But since I am perfectly aware that I am a newbie, I suspect that I am missing some important advantages of those weapons. Can someone explain how to properly use them?

The mortar and the handgun pretty are much the most useless weapons ever, alongside the mole (together my friends and i call them the "unholy trinity" in a particular scheme we play. It's mentioned many times in the attached game, since Jeremy was really unlucky and kept collecting rubbish weapons)

The cluster is mostly useless but there is a little tactic called "cluster-f*cking" that everybody hates. If the enemy worm is on a slope you can position the cluster underneath them so that the clustlets all explode together and cause about 90 damage. Takes a bit of practice to get the judgement right. There might be one instance of this in the attached replay, since they tend to be common in that particular scheme (called a Team17 scheme). Update: yes there is, 19 minutes in.


4) How can I activate in-game chat for W:A? After much online experience with WWP, I am getting tired of not being able to say ingame "HAHA, OWN3D !1!!!" to my friends. :D

Page Down


5) Lastly, is the concrete donkey available only in WWP? I've never encountered it in W:A.

It's in WA, and with the latest update and the Full Wormage (i.e. everything unlocked) you can add it into schemes.

5) I checked out some mission demos from this site: http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php
I am confused; First, the author says who beat the mission for the fastest time, but then the replay shows the mission being completed much quicker. What does he mean by "perfection"? O_o

The quicker replay was done using a special tool that negates the need for judgement, reflex, skill, etc. So in some ways it's like the mission is being played by a robot that does things 100% efficiently, with no error. This is what I mean by "perfection" and the percentage is a measure of how close the record-holder got to that perfect play.

The quicker replay was done using a special tool that negates the need for judgement, reflex, skill, etc. So in some ways it's like the mission is being played by a robot that does things 100% efficiently, with no error. This is what I mean by "perfection" and the percentage is a measure of how close the record-holder got to that perfect play.

That's unbelievable. O_O

May I ask who is responsible for the programming of that tool?

That'll be Deadcode, and it's only in the hands a few select people including him (it will eventually be made public but it's not secure enough yet... and obviously we can't have it in the hands of people who'll use it illegitamately)

Deadcode being the guy who also programs the updates for W:A ^.

Since Run didn't mention this, I'm pretty sure the front-end refers to the menus (e.g selecting singleplayer, multiplayer, etc.). You can download alternate ones that users made.

Edit: Oh, and walking backwards is shift+arrow key.

8) What does "front-end" mean?

Menus and Editors and stuff. Everywhere in the program where you aren't actually playing a game.

It looks like you've confused everyone (or at least me) by adding more questions and changing the numbers around. Now I can't tell if anything is left to be answered.

It looks like you've confused everyone (or at least me) by adding more questions and changing the numbers around. Now I can't tell if anything is left to be answered.

Sorry about that. :)

Only questions 2 and 9 remained unanswered.

Well, replays can be sped up with the number keys. e.g pressing 2 will make it 2X speed, etc.

I suggest you create a new post for new questions, not edit the first one.
1) I see a lot of people mentioning the term "rope-knocking". I searched the forums for a definition, but couldn't find one. Can someone elaborate? :/
If you let your worms go off the rope still with momentum from the last swing you can bump into other worms and shove them around, grouping them together in piles or even shove them in to their watery death.
This is possible in the online channels Anything Goes and Ropers Heaven (and since some beta update also in offline multipayer games; but not yet in LAN and direct IP games, if you use the "offlineropeknocking.reg" file in your install folder.)
2) When you jump off a rope in mid-air, what determines in what direction the next rope you fire (while still being in air) will be fired?
IIRC, it is the same angle the rope was when you detached it.
3) I find a large variety of weapons to be useless. This includes mortar, cluster bombs, some animals, handgun, etc. But since I am perfectly aware that I am a newbie, I suspect that I am missing some important advantages of those weapons. Can someone explain how to properly use them?
(also, include how to use weapons which YOU think are at-first-sight useless, because I might have missed some)
Every weapon has some advantage.
The handgun with its 6 shot with 5 damage points each are perfect for killing multiple low-health worms or for pushing multiple worms into the water because you can move your aim during the shot.

Mortar and clusters can be used to cause massive damage to a worm in a tight spot or if you want to hit some low-health worm or an oil barrel over a large distance and don't want to aim exactly with another weapon.

All the animals are good weapons as they can cause a maximum damage of 75 points.
Except for the skunk which causes only 15 damage but makes worms sick, deducting more health each turn

The mole also causes few damage but with its ability to dig tunnels it can be very useful to reach certain spots.
The game type "mole shopper" is based on this, played on a completely filled block of terrain with the worms sitting in holes.

It can be useless if the indestructable terrain is enabled though.
4) I saw some replays of worms walking backwars. How is this possible?
Shift + arrow keys.
5) I checked out some mission demos from this site: http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php
I am confused; First, the author says who beat the mission for the fastest time, but then the replay shows the mission being completed much quicker. What does he mean by "perfection"? O_o
Deadcode the author of the beta patches uses a tool that enables him to play the game at zero speed, moving the worm and doing actions frame by frame.
He can also rewind to a previous position.
And he has a tool that let's him see the ballistic paths from all the weapons' projectiles, but also the worms and where the rope will hit.
6) How can I activate in-game chat for W:A? After much online experience with WWP, I am getting tired of not being able to say ingame "HAHA, OWN3D !1!!!" to my friends. :D
"Page down" and "page up" to open and close it respectively.
With the beta updates the chat menu is opened when the game starts and a message is written how to use it.
7) Is the concrete donkey available only in WWP? I've never encountered it in W:A.
No, it is available in W:A too, but being a superweapon it's probability to appear is very low (provided that superweapons are actually enabled in the weapons options).
With the beta updates you can now also edit the superweapons.
8) What does "front-end" mean?
Quoted from here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-end):

In software design, the front-end is the part of a software system that interacts directly with the user, and the back-end comprises the components that process the output from the front-end. The separation of software systems into "front ends" and "back ends" is a kind of abstraction that helps to keep different parts of the system separated.
9) Are replays only watchable at 1x speed?
No, you can use the number buttons (on the typewriter block) 1-9 to accellerate the game and shift + 1-9 do slow down.
Rewinding is not yet possible.

Hmm, shame. Rewinding would be awesome. Hopefully a feature in the 4.0 Update.

Originally Posted by ablafer
2) When you jump off a rope in mid-air, what determines in what direction the next rope you fire (while still being in air) will be fired?

Here's a more detailed explanation. Say you were to shoot the rope then start swinging across the terrain. The angle at which you leave the rope after each swing is the same angle as what you will shoot the rope after before the next swing. So if you left the rope at 60 degrees, then you would shoot the rope at 60 degrees.

Oh and say you were to leave the rope like this (saying that the forthcoming slash is the rope) /, then when you shoot the rope again it would shoot in the opposite direction but at the same angle, like this \. Knowing this is very essential to knowing how to do certain tricks such as shadow. You can find a list of tricks and a demonstration of each (make sure your pop-up blocker is off) at www.rrkit.com

you shoot the rope and start swinging... you de-tach the rope at 60 degrees... when you shoot again it will be at the OPPOSITE angle to what you de-tached from... so opposite 60 degrees... and you cant shoot it flat straight across while swinging like tarzan either :)

or am i wrong about the opposite angle... lol i have no clue what the opposite angle of 60 degrees is... but am i right?

The opposite angle of 60 degrees could be 60, 120, it all depends on how you set things up. But yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. I mean, that's how spikes work. You release when the rope is parallel to the ceiling, and when you fire it, it goes at a horizontal.

A couple of your questions are answered in the readme of the latest updates. You might like to read through it if you haven't already, so you can take full advantage of all the new features.

2) When you jump off a rope in mid-air, what determines in what direction the next rope you fire (while still being in air) will be fired?

I think the answers to this question have been a bit confusing, so I will try and make it clearer:

Imagine your worm is attached to the rope and not moving, so the rope is going vertically up from your worm; call this 0 degrees. If you re-fire the rope now it will of course go up at 0 degrees again. Now imagine the rope is going up to the left at an angle of 10 degrees from vertical. If you re-fire the rope now, the next shot will go up to the right at 10 degrees from vertical, in other words opposite. The maximum angle you can re-fire the rope at from mid-air is about 38 degrees from vertical. So if your rope is going up to the left at 38 degrees from your worm, then the next shot will go up at 38 degrees to the right. However, if your rope is at more than 38 degrees from vertical (so the rope is starting to get closer to horizontal), then when you re-fire the rope, it will only go up from your worm in the opposite direction at the maximum of 38 degrees. And if your worm is upside down so that he is higher than the point where the rope is attached, then the next rope shot will also fire in the opposite direction at the maximum of 38 degrees.

I mean opposite as if you were using a protractor. Like if you were looking at the 60 degree angle on the right side of it, then the opposite angle would be the 60 degrees on the left side. I'm not talking about a full 360 degree angle, in which the opposite of 60 would then be 300. I think....

thats as clear as anyone can make it... thanks for that precise explanation bloopy :)

All in all, the rope is a rather mysterious beast and it requires further study before we can make any assertions

if it was mysterious we would have asked deadcode eons ago about it.

how do you choose super weapon proboability?

use schemeworks

but just so you know the game wont read that data from the scheme no matter what... wait for an update that will.

More questions:
-What is the maximum damage you can deal by a direct hit (falling damage excluded) from a bazooka/grenade/HHG/dynamite?
-What is the max dmg you can deal with an uzi/minigun?

I would also like a replay of completion of the rifle and artillery ranges for a gold medal. It seems impossible to get more than silver for me, and I am not really improving at all. :/

More questions:
-What is the maximum damage you can deal by a direct hit (falling damage excluded) from a bazooka/grenade/HHG/dynamite?
-What is the max dmg you can deal with an uzi/minigun?
Bazooka: 50
Grenade 50
HHG: 100
Dynamite: 75
Note that the projectile must be as close to the worm as possible, which means "inside" the worm.

Uzi: 10*5 = 50
Minigun: 20*5 = 100
Note that every bullet must hit the worm directly.

No, it is available in W:A too, but being a superweapon it's probability to appear is very low (provided that superweapons are actually enabled in the weapons options).
With the beta updates you can now also edit the superweapons.


So i though we couldn't edit superweps probability could you clarify that please bonz?

Note that the projectile must be as close to the worm as possible, which means "inside" the worm.

Not true. For some of them, they need to be a certain distance above the worm's head to do maximum damage. The center of the impact of the explosions often happens a little below the weapons, which is why for example, a worm goes flying in the air when you put an HHG on its head.

I made 77 damage with a mortar today. :)

Ghost;539509']So i though we couldn't edit superweps probability could you clarify that please bonz?
You can edit ammo and delay, but not the power and the crate probability.
Not true. For some of them, they need to be a certain distance above the worm's head to do maximum damage. The center of the impact of the explosions often happens a little below the weapons, which is why for example, a worm goes flying in the air when you put an HHG on its head.
Ah, yes. I forgot to edit my post.
I thought I had once seen an option in Fiddler where you could edit that offset...

Note: the rope does most damage when aimed directly at the other worm's head.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/c/ce/200px-Scorpionkjpg.jpg

Had to be done, Yargy.

someone whos good at explaining technical stuff should explain the rope and repeat swings when the rope is bent around something...

and its very easy to do 90+ damage to a worm with a default mortar... at the cost of your own health :)

When the rope is bent around something, it's basically the same as I described before. The angle that matters is the angle of the rope going up from the worm, but in this case to the nearest bend, and not to where the rope is attached.

hey... my post was on the last page and got moved to the second after i revisited... how odd...

I would also like a replay of completion of the rifle and artillery ranges for a gold medal. It seems impossible to get more than silver for me, and I am not really improving at all. :/


I think I've got a replay of both downstairs.... I'll find out later. Anyway the key is to consistently practise that training type. I was in the same boat as you but I just kept to it and BAM I got gold!!

My times:
Artillery: 4:16
Rifle: 2:36

Deadcode's one hour plus shotgun training: http://download.yousendit.com/8805318904CBBCD8

Lex's 5:47 artilery training: http://download.yousendit.com/5FDDCB6F5DA6C8CC

Edit: Make it quick, I believe YouSendIt files only last 7 days.

The quicker replay was done using a special tool that negates the need for judgement, reflex, skill, etc. So in some ways it's like the mission is being played by a robot that does things 100% efficiently, with no error. This is what I mean by "perfection" and the percentage is a measure of how close the record-holder got to that perfect play.No. You seem to be very uninformed, despite your hosting of these replays! :eek: Tool-assisted replays as fast as those mission replays are not skill-deprived and easy. Tool-assisted speeding takes a lot of thought and game-understanding. It's not like there's a bot doing everything for you. For example, for a long time, nobody knew Operation Market Garden was possible in 3 turns, or Chateau Assassin in 1 turn. The methods used in most (if not all) of those tool-assisted replays are brilliant. Take a look at c0o1's Countdown To Armageddon replay. That one is unbelievable. It is on the very brink of impossibility to do that mission in 6 turns, tool-assisted or not. The creator is a creative genius.

I could go on and on about this.

I could go on and on about this.

So could I but I didn't want to end up getting bogged down in details that would have resulted a big tedious essay ;) I thought I'd keep it short and simple to understand, even though at heart it's wrong.

A bit like when you teach kids what light is. Nobody starts off with quantum mechanics.

Besides, the only wrongness I'll concede is that I said it negates the need for judgement... that's true for aiming (since you can use aiming tools to predict your shot) but it's not true in the sense of strategy. But it does negate the need for reflexes (since you can use single-step) and hence negates the need for any skill at all. The rest is strategy; forward-thinking and all that.

And it is like a robot is playing it :)

negates the need for any skill at all.I'd argue that the ability to strategise is a skill.

it negates the need for judgement... that's true for aiming (since you can use aiming tools to predict your shot)You still have to decide exactly where to hit, and there's no trajectory mapping for objects which are affected by explosions. You are misinformed. It takes a load of judgement to decide what sort of shot will be needed to get a worm into a specific spot, and what to do from there. Then there's the butterfly effect, where, if you want to change something early in the replay, you have to remake the rest of the replay entirely, which makes you have to judge all the shots again. Also, there's the judgement of timing actions to go together in sync. This is why there were so many revisions of the Mars Star tool-assisted replay.

I would tell a child what light is in a way they would understand rather than lying about what light is just to make them excited. Tool-assisted mission replays are not "like the mission is being played by a robot that does things 100% efficiently, with no error". They are "played frame-by-frame, allowing a human player to decide what they can afford to do without the burden of reaction speed. They also use aim-path prediction and have indicators telling the player some information they need to know to make well-informed decisions. They take many hours of patient decision-making skills, judgement, and revision before they are as good as the ones listed on Nanacide. They can very-often be improved, and there is much that a player isn't able to predict as the best path to take at first, so they are quite error-prone. The tool-assist version of WA is not as sophisticated as it could be yet, so most of the decisions and judgement must still be made by humans."

By the way, Run, I'm not meaning to sound hostile. I just wanted to tell it from the perspective of one who has struggled to make great replays with the current tool-assist version of WA. I'm sure you knew that I'm not a hostile person though. ;)

Sigh.

I'm sure ablafer got the point. If i was belittling the effort it takes to make a perfect replay, then I'm sorry for that, but I'm sure ablafer is happy with the answer he got, even in light of your corrections.

He may have been happy, but he wasn't informed. :p

/me gets the last word.

/me wonders why the "/me" command isn't implemented in all major software.

/me tells people to ignore his wonderings and not attempt to answer them, because he already has some very-plausible reasons conjured.

Light comes from the sun! :)

Is level 22 (the banana one) bugged?

Honestly... When I get low gravity, the wind blows in the direction, opposite of which I need it to blow in order to use the parachute successfully.

This makes the mission impossible to beat. O_o

I have no idea how I've managed to beat the mission several years ago...

skip your go? lol i dunno.

The parachute isn't the solution.

I'm not going to play games.
Just tell me what the solution is. ^^

I know for a fact that in the set of tries before the double damage starts to appear, the wind blows in the correct direction when you get low gravity. :P

Have you read the official mission walkthrough?
Have you looked at the mission replays on wahelp?

Of course Tools make records much easier. Most of the records many could have figured with the necessary time, the major let down is that it's too tedious as you might have the idea in the head, but you need 1000 tries to get that shot right.

With tools, you only need a bit of thinking.

Have you read the official mission walkthrough?
Have you looked at the mission replays on wahelp?

The links are dead.

Besides, I aksed whether the mission is bugged (earthquake starts before 5 mins have expired).

do mission 1 in 1 turn then :) or if your a human then just do it in 2...

The links are dead.
You're a liar! The links are NOT dead.
Mission walkthrough:
http://wa.team17.com/main.html?page=good&area=miss&miss=four
Mission replays:
http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php
Besides, I aksed whether the mission is bugged (earthquake starts before 5 mins have expired).
Where does it say that the earthquake starts after 5 mins?
Events in Worms are triggered turn-wise.
The earthquake is triggered after 12 turns, i.e. after your 6th turn.

You're a liar! The links are NOT dead.
Mission walkthrough:
http://wa.team17.com/main.html?page=good&area=miss&miss=four
Mission replays:
http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php

Where does it say that the earthquake starts after 5 mins?
Events in Worms are triggered turn-wise.
The earthquake is triggered after 12 turns, i.e. after your 6th turn.

Ooops, sorry. ^^

I never even knew of that walkthrough.

As for the replays, they display inhuman skill, which I do not possess. :P

As for the replays, they display inhuman skill, which I do not possess. :PI'm a human though!

there are 2 replays for each level.... 1 is a inhuman replay and the other is your standard record holder...

continuing:
is it possible to beat level 7 (not mushroom out there) on the first try?

You only have a rope, and you gotta twist it to an impossible angle, given your position. :[

If you mean at the start how you gotta swing up onto the mushroom? That is actually quite easy. Again go to http://www.nanacide.com/wahelp/info-missions.php and scroll down the that mission. Click on the name of the mission to download the replay, not on the link to the tool-assisted replay.

Here's a super-easy way to beat that mission:

Try collecting the teleport crate :p

It helps more