More on proper care and feed of mindworms

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Author Topic:   More on proper care and feed of mindworms

Dim Cat posted 06-06-99 11:13 PM ET
Somebody once wrote about the trick of getting demon boils in just a few turns. The idea was to set them on some sort of patrol route. Well, I'm playing Gaians right now (my first try actually) and I really got to love these nice creatures (forget about all the problems I had with them in UoP ).
I captured several mindworms early in the game, visited all the monolyths on the continent, and still got them at mature boils at maximum. So I decided to try the dirty trick and set them on patrols in fungus. Then Yang and Santiago simultaneously decided to attack me, so I got busy and forgot about my pets for a while. Several turns later, I decided to look at what happened. Surprise-surprise. One boil reduced to the previous life cycle, and another was all the way back to hatchlings! More visits to monolyths did not help at all, so now instead of full grown military units I have a bunch of kindergarten graduates. So much for tricks
Dim Cat
Mindworm Food and Supplies, Inc.
Delgath posted 06-07-99 12:46 AM ET
Mindworms are boring. Locusts are the best. With a swarm of 30 or so locust units you can have a lot of fun.
Dim Cat posted 06-07-99 01:07 AM ET
Locusts are cool, I agree . The only problem with them is that you can get them until later in the game. In addition, AI likes to build a lot of trace units, which makes locusts less effective.
Dim Cat posted 06-07-99 01:08 AM ET
Ooops, I meant cannot get them
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-07-99 01:31 AM ET
The monoliths will repair units many times, but upgrade them only once. There is a programming flag in the table for each unit to set the "upgraded at monolith" value - it's either zero or one, so the only time to upgrade at a monolith is with a Commando or the psi equivalent Great Boil unit. That way, you get the final upgrade to Elite or Demon Boil.
There is a bug or design flaw in the game where units occasionally get downgraded one level, either by changing home base, or in certain other strange cases, but I've never seen or heard of the units going down multiple steps.
Since you were playing Gaian, you have a probability of capturing wild mind worms, depending on your planet social engineering rating - it is possible that while patrolling, some of your original worms got munched, while you captured lesser level replacements.
I go "worm hunting" with conventional units, and capture mindworms often - if all your units are mindworms and you automated them, it's hard to tell what really happened, but "worm hunting" is a great way to get combat experience and to get cash.
Dim Cat posted 06-07-99 12:48 PM ET
Michaelthe Great:
(1) Do you mean that a unit can be upgraded once by monolyths in general, or once by a particular monolyth? I'm not quite sure, but I think I upgraded the same worms at least twice by two different monolyths.
(2) Actually, the very reason I noticed the change was because I had only two mindworms set on patrol at that time, nor did I capture anybody else, for I was busy fighting on other continents. I'm not so sure about SE changes, I might've done that.
Anyway, I thought it's funny
Darkstar posted 06-07-99 03:07 PM ET
Dim Cat - you are only supposed to be able to upgrade morale once by visiting a monolith. After that, it should only heal the unit. Doesn't matter if its the same or different monolith.
Strange things can happen to automatic units (Full auto, limited, patrol, goto). I have seen units capture a mindworm, which would go into auto and have to be clicked on to wake it. I've seen captured mindworms gain the orders that their captors had. I have seen them retain their orders from when they were wild and continue to carry them out (Head to city x and attack). Strange things indeed.
I have never seen a unit downgrade morale unless SE was swapped.
-Darkstar
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Author	Topic: More on proper care and feed of mindworms
Dim Cat	posted 06-06-99 11:13 PM ET Somebody once wrote about the trick of getting demon boils in just a few turns. The idea was to set them on some sort of patrol route. Well, I'm playing Gaians right now (my first try actually) and I really got to love these nice creatures (forget about all the problems I had with them in UoP ). I captured several mindworms early in the game, visited all the monolyths on the continent, and still got them at mature boils at maximum. So I decided to try the dirty trick and set them on patrols in fungus. Then Yang and Santiago simultaneously decided to attack me, so I got busy and forgot about my pets for a while. Several turns later, I decided to look at what happened. Surprise-surprise. One boil reduced to the previous life cycle, and another was all the way back to hatchlings! More visits to monolyths did not help at all, so now instead of full grown military units I have a bunch of kindergarten graduates. So much for tricks Dim Cat Mindworm Food and Supplies, Inc.
Delgath	posted 06-07-99 12:46 AM ET Mindworms are boring. Locusts are the best. With a swarm of 30 or so locust units you can have a lot of fun.
Dim Cat	posted 06-07-99 01:07 AM ET Locusts are cool, I agree . The only problem with them is that you can get them until later in the game. In addition, AI likes to build a lot of trace units, which makes locusts less effective.
Dim Cat	posted 06-07-99 01:08 AM ET Ooops, I meant cannot get them
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-07-99 01:31 AM ET The monoliths will repair units many times, but upgrade them only once. There is a programming flag in the table for each unit to set the "upgraded at monolith" value - it's either zero or one, so the only time to upgrade at a monolith is with a Commando or the psi equivalent Great Boil unit. That way, you get the final upgrade to Elite or Demon Boil. There is a bug or design flaw in the game where units occasionally get downgraded one level, either by changing home base, or in certain other strange cases, but I've never seen or heard of the units going down multiple steps. Since you were playing Gaian, you have a probability of capturing wild mind worms, depending on your planet social engineering rating - it is possible that while patrolling, some of your original worms got munched, while you captured lesser level replacements. I go "worm hunting" with conventional units, and capture mindworms often - if all your units are mindworms and you automated them, it's hard to tell what really happened, but "worm hunting" is a great way to get combat experience and to get cash.
Dim Cat	posted 06-07-99 12:48 PM ET Michaelthe Great: (1) Do you mean that a unit can be upgraded once by monolyths in general, or once by a particular monolyth? I'm not quite sure, but I think I upgraded the same worms at least twice by two different monolyths. (2) Actually, the very reason I noticed the change was because I had only two mindworms set on patrol at that time, nor did I capture anybody else, for I was busy fighting on other continents. I'm not so sure about SE changes, I might've done that. Anyway, I thought it's funny
Darkstar	posted 06-07-99 03:07 PM ET Dim Cat - you are only supposed to be able to upgrade morale once by visiting a monolith. After that, it should only heal the unit. Doesn't matter if its the same or different monolith. Strange things can happen to automatic units (Full auto, limited, patrol, goto). I have seen units capture a mindworm, which would go into auto and have to be clicked on to wake it. I've seen captured mindworms gain the orders that their captors had. I have seen them retain their orders from when they were wild and continue to carry them out (Head to city x and attack). Strange things indeed. I have never seen a unit downgrade morale unless SE was swapped. -Darkstar