Worms - alternative games. Part 1

Worms is one of the games that I have known for a long time (even before the advent of the PC) and I was not at all tired of it. The experience is quite large: in our student years, we often gathered from one of our comrades and Dandy and Worms - we replaced cards or dominoes from earlier generations. Since then, I have played infrequently and mostly with a computer (I went through almost all the gold training, I received the maximum title in the detmatch, I went through all the missions). At some point I remembered that I had a decent Internet channel for a long time and I can play on WormNET (for many years of the local game I just forgot that there is such an opportunity). Considering myself to be quite an experienced wormer (all the same experience, though not permanent, but more than 10 years), I went to WormNET ...

I experienced almost shock. I realized that on WormNET very rarely play Worms as we used to do it. That the varieties of games - hundreds, and the rules - go far beyond the environment itself. I realized that I was a noob in these varieties unknown to me and could not make even one move, according to the rules. In this post (which I wanted to write after this publication ) I would like to talk about the whole world of alternative games in Worms. I am sure that the majority of those who are not indifferent to Worms are aware of what they are talking about, but there are certainly those who were too lazy to understand or people like me who just play Worms themselves or with friends and do not visit WormNET.

General view

The main difference between alternative games and classics is the active use of the rope and the introduction of contractual rules that the game environment does not control (it follows that playing such games is only possible with a live opponent: the bot does not know the rules invented by players). For the game, the scheme of the weapon changes: there is no weapon at the start, except for the rope and the parachute. In order to attack, you need to find a box with a weapon that necessarily appears before each turn (this is set in the settings). Also, an infinite number of shots is set for the rope (by default, there are two shots, this is one of the reasons - that many wormers are not aware of the hidden potential of the rope). For games, a specific map is used, usually with a non-destructible landscape. The map is constructed in such a way that movement with the help of a rope is convenient (the angle of the shot of the rope is limited to 180 degrees). A world collection of maps for alternative (and ordinary games) can be found here . Below is a typical map for Shoppa:


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Contractual rules

After the hoster chose a card and the number of players that interested the hoster entered the game, the rules are announced. Basic rules are implied by default. There are several of them and usually they should be voiced by the players themselves (in private hosting, in order to show that you are not a noob and will not spoil the other game). There are no regular tools for kick in Worms, so the game with at least one noob is easier to finish than it hopes that the noob will enter the rules in a few minutes. So, two basic rules:

Crate Before Attack (CBA) - before the attack, be sure to find and raise the box with the weapon. Even if you have weapons from previous moves - you need to take the box. It is not always easy - 30 seconds is given per turn, and the card is not always as simple as in the example above.

Attack From Rope (AFR) - attack only while on the rope. Most weapons - no problem, you can use hanging on a rope (by the way, the buildup enhances the throw, but, obviously, reduces accuracy). The weapon that cannot be used from the rope is usually turned off by the hoster. Or for him an exception is allowed (that is, you can get off the rope). Using say a bazooka from the surface of the map, and not on the rope - is against the rule.

In the game - every man for himself or a team against a team. In the first case, the hoster announces how to attack. Most often, this is KTL (Kill The Leader) - the leading team in the standard of living, is attacked. Or ABL (All But Last) - you can soak anyone but the weakest. The attack of a non-leader in the first case or the weakest in the second is a violation of the rules.

Rope ninja

The main way to move during the game - the rope. As mentioned above, it adjusts to an infinite number of shots and with good training you can move at a crazy speed. This is very reminiscent of Quake's "jump" and makes the same impression on newbies. Below is a video with an example of such a move:



And this is not the most professional record. As in any game, there are unreal zadroty pros, demonstrating the passage of such a card in two times faster.

Using the classic method of movement is not prohibited, but will cause laughter among opponents, not to mention the fact that it will lead to defeat: each turn is limited in time (sometimes very tough, up to 10 seconds) for which you need to find a box and get to the enemy.

If you are interested in the post, I will be happy to write a sequel about several (most popular) varieties of games and strategies used in them. Brief information about the varieties of games can be read on the wiki where the block “Varieties of gameplay” was written by me back in 2008. The fact that the Worms article for a long time did not contain information about alternative games speaks well of their low prevalence. And also, there are very few Russians on WormNET (mostly USA and Europe, Asia are extremely rare, but they say that they have their own server where unreal pros live).

This is PPNH, please do not judge strictly.

UPD: Transferred to Games, thanks for the help Bright . Also in old backups of bookmarks, there was a link on WormTube (as you can guess from the name, there you can find demos of Worms games)