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Author Topic:   Mindworms all over the place

Dreamer posted 06-20-99 06:15 PM ET
Hi guys,
I'm really enjoying the game, but when I get some time into a game, mindworms starts to appear all over the place.
Is there anything to do about it? Can it be turned off or something?
It's impossible to defend, and the game takes forever, when I have to see 30-45 mind worms attack each turn.
Hope to hear from you,
Dreamer
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-20-99 06:45 PM ET
It's mostly a matter of your SE (social engineering) choices and your industrial output. If you are free market with lots of boreholes, planet's going to get pissed.
It can't be turned off, but it's almost totally controllable based on the social and industrial choices you make. If you build Centauri preserves, Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests, etc. and limit mines, boreholes, echelon mirrors (and to some extent condensors) to a reasoanable amount.
Things that piss planet off: Total industry, total climate change (heat from boreholes and echelon mirrors, and rainfall from condensors), total terraforming, and total fungus removal. Moderate these to the extent you can, and you won't have major problems.
Dreamer posted 06-20-99 06:49 PM ET
Hi Michael,
Thanks - I'll try to be nicer to the planet in the next game then
Take care,
Dreamer
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-20-99 07:39 PM ET
Your welcome, Dreamer
The Mindworms aren't the least of it either -look on some of the other posts about volcanos appearing, asteroids wiping out your cities (email rackam and he'll send you neat before and after screenshots), etc.
I think it's one of the more fun aspects of the game.
Zardoz posted 06-20-99 08:41 PM ET
Just one thing. If you plan to Transcend you are to have Planet go ape when you build Voice of Planet.
Nell_Smith posted 06-22-99 06:12 PM ET
And one other thing... using Planet Busters will make Planet go crazy mental... and I think Nerve Gas Pods have the a similar (though lesser) effect, although I hardly ever use Nerve Gas and so I'm open to correction on that.
Nell
JayPegg posted 06-23-99 03:03 PM ET
Hey Dreamer,
I'm sure we've all experienced your little problem, and it can be a killer if you're not for the planet.
This is one good way of taking down them nasty mindwords. Load a 1-1 chopper with trance and empath, put your best reactor on it and churn them out. Also station trance, empath defenders at you basses. AND BE SURE TO REMOVE ALL FUNGUS FROM AROUND YOUR BASSES! The next time you pb or ed gets to you, send out your choopers to take down as many as you can. When the remaining worms end up next to your base, use your trance, empath to finish them off. There.
Zoetrope posted 06-25-99 10:35 AM ET
Nell: nerve gas can be _much worse_ than PBs. I dropped several PBs in succession on the Spartans and Hive, but worms weren't so bad (OK, 10-20 near my mineral-craziest bases), and Planet only flooded at the usual rate of 300 metres per decade.
In another game, when I nerve-gassed every enemy (PK) base and every mindworm stack, this seemed so effective, until my ally (Hive!) turned on me (for being so inhuman!), and the worms went absolutely berserk: every base in about twenty squares got mobbed every turn, and Planet flooded at 1000 metres per decade. There was no way I could cope, so I quit and replayed from before my first use of X-units, thereby winning using conventional weapons, without all those nasty side-effects. Bases were slower to conquer, but at least I survived to win.
Apparently, noone else has nerve-gassed as heavily as I did that first time, because I've never seen others report such fast rises in sea level.
Aredhran posted 06-25-99 10:45 AM ET
Yin did once...
Resource Consumer posted 06-25-99 11:20 AM ET
I may be the only one who gets SO fed up with that boom sound and all those worms appearing that I build the Centuri Preserve as a matter of priority. BEFORE, I even show any eco-damage.
As Morgan (FM/Wealth) - this is a necessity for me if I am really to rape the planet to my heart's desire.
Resource Consumer
- burn a Gaian for breakfast -
MichaeltheGreat posted 06-25-99 11:33 AM ET
RC - I do the same thing, no matter what faction I play, and I also reposition the population in my cities to eliminate ecodamage.
Once I've gotten close enough to transcendence to start having worm problems, I've got magtubes connecting my cities and a large number of clean superformers to handle the last few turns.
Darkstar posted 06-25-99 02:33 PM ET
Zeo - I used to nerve gas the hell out of all my enemy. Back in version 1 and 2. But I only did that a couple of times under version 3. Building a new base, and it STARTING with eco-damage of 55 while it was IMMEDIATELY hit with that industry bust (and didn't have any mineral production) really clued me in to why I was fighting 20+ mindworms in a grouping of a dozen heading for all my cities... and getting hit with Flooding (between 30m and 333m) every 2 turns. And then it got nasty when I got Synth Fuel.
I tell you, I am very disappointed that Firaxis took away Nerve Gas. They should have removed it entirely or left it alone. As it is, you are better off nuking than gassing. Seems ridiculous when the gas won't bother planet, just the things bothering it.
-Darkstar
Nell_Smith posted 06-25-99 03:14 PM ET
Zoetrope & Darkstar:
Thanks for the info... I've only ever used Nerve Gas in human-v-human multiplayer, and those games are over pretty quickly, so I couldn't really tell how badly the Nerve Gas was affecting the Planet.
RC:
I build all the "eco-friendly" base facilities as soon as I can as well... usually before I start getting eco-damage... it annoys me too much, having to rebuild terrain enhancements that have been eaten by fungus!
Nell
HelloKitty posted 06-25-99 03:31 PM ET
you can always make hundreds of 1-1-1 clean units and cover the whole area. I havn't tried it but I do make alot of them in multiplayer, they never win but they slow down my enemies. I am a pain in the arse.
sure you can attack my city after you walk through 20 units.
LoD posted 06-26-99 03:14 AM ET
Alternatively, choose rare lifeforms when you generate a map.
Has anyone noticed this: after the VoP there's some random fungus growth - but later, when you have a fungal bloom resulting from eco damage, there are no worms in it?
LoD
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Author	Topic: Mindworms all over the place
Dreamer	posted 06-20-99 06:15 PM ET Hi guys, I'm really enjoying the game, but when I get some time into a game, mindworms starts to appear all over the place. Is there anything to do about it? Can it be turned off or something? It's impossible to defend, and the game takes forever, when I have to see 30-45 mind worms attack each turn. Hope to hear from you, Dreamer
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-20-99 06:45 PM ET It's mostly a matter of your SE (social engineering) choices and your industrial output. If you are free market with lots of boreholes, planet's going to get pissed. It can't be turned off, but it's almost totally controllable based on the social and industrial choices you make. If you build Centauri preserves, Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests, etc. and limit mines, boreholes, echelon mirrors (and to some extent condensors) to a reasoanable amount. Things that piss planet off: Total industry, total climate change (heat from boreholes and echelon mirrors, and rainfall from condensors), total terraforming, and total fungus removal. Moderate these to the extent you can, and you won't have major problems.
Dreamer	posted 06-20-99 06:49 PM ET Hi Michael, Thanks - I'll try to be nicer to the planet in the next game then Take care, Dreamer
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-20-99 07:39 PM ET Your welcome, Dreamer The Mindworms aren't the least of it either -look on some of the other posts about volcanos appearing, asteroids wiping out your cities (email rackam and he'll send you neat before and after screenshots), etc. I think it's one of the more fun aspects of the game.
Zardoz	posted 06-20-99 08:41 PM ET Just one thing. If you plan to Transcend you are to have Planet go ape when you build Voice of Planet.
Nell_Smith	posted 06-22-99 06:12 PM ET And one other thing... using Planet Busters will make Planet go crazy mental... and I think Nerve Gas Pods have the a similar (though lesser) effect, although I hardly ever use Nerve Gas and so I'm open to correction on that. Nell
JayPegg	posted 06-23-99 03:03 PM ET Hey Dreamer, I'm sure we've all experienced your little problem, and it can be a killer if you're not for the planet. This is one good way of taking down them nasty mindwords. Load a 1-1 chopper with trance and empath, put your best reactor on it and churn them out. Also station trance, empath defenders at you basses. AND BE SURE TO REMOVE ALL FUNGUS FROM AROUND YOUR BASSES! The next time you pb or ed gets to you, send out your choopers to take down as many as you can. When the remaining worms end up next to your base, use your trance, empath to finish them off. There.
Zoetrope	posted 06-25-99 10:35 AM ET Nell: nerve gas can be _much worse_ than PBs. I dropped several PBs in succession on the Spartans and Hive, but worms weren't so bad (OK, 10-20 near my mineral-craziest bases), and Planet only flooded at the usual rate of 300 metres per decade. In another game, when I nerve-gassed every enemy (PK) base and every mindworm stack, this seemed so effective, until my ally (Hive!) turned on me (for being so inhuman!), and the worms went absolutely berserk: every base in about twenty squares got mobbed every turn, and Planet flooded at 1000 metres per decade. There was no way I could cope, so I quit and replayed from before my first use of X-units, thereby winning using conventional weapons, without all those nasty side-effects. Bases were slower to conquer, but at least I survived to win. Apparently, noone else has nerve-gassed as heavily as I did that first time, because I've never seen others report such fast rises in sea level.
Aredhran	posted 06-25-99 10:45 AM ET Yin did once...
Resource Consumer	posted 06-25-99 11:20 AM ET I may be the only one who gets SO fed up with that boom sound and all those worms appearing that I build the Centuri Preserve as a matter of priority. BEFORE, I even show any eco-damage. As Morgan (FM/Wealth) - this is a necessity for me if I am really to rape the planet to my heart's desire. Resource Consumer - burn a Gaian for breakfast -
MichaeltheGreat	posted 06-25-99 11:33 AM ET RC - I do the same thing, no matter what faction I play, and I also reposition the population in my cities to eliminate ecodamage. Once I've gotten close enough to transcendence to start having worm problems, I've got magtubes connecting my cities and a large number of clean superformers to handle the last few turns.
Darkstar	posted 06-25-99 02:33 PM ET Zeo - I used to nerve gas the hell out of all my enemy. Back in version 1 and 2. But I only did that a couple of times under version 3. Building a new base, and it STARTING with eco-damage of 55 while it was IMMEDIATELY hit with that industry bust (and didn't have any mineral production) really clued me in to why I was fighting 20+ mindworms in a grouping of a dozen heading for all my cities... and getting hit with Flooding (between 30m and 333m) every 2 turns. And then it got nasty when I got Synth Fuel. I tell you, I am very disappointed that Firaxis took away Nerve Gas. They should have removed it entirely or left it alone. As it is, you are better off nuking than gassing. Seems ridiculous when the gas won't bother planet, just the things bothering it. -Darkstar
Nell_Smith	posted 06-25-99 03:14 PM ET Zoetrope & Darkstar: Thanks for the info... I've only ever used Nerve Gas in human-v-human multiplayer, and those games are over pretty quickly, so I couldn't really tell how badly the Nerve Gas was affecting the Planet. RC: I build all the "eco-friendly" base facilities as soon as I can as well... usually before I start getting eco-damage... it annoys me too much, having to rebuild terrain enhancements that have been eaten by fungus! Nell
HelloKitty	posted 06-25-99 03:31 PM ET you can always make hundreds of 1-1-1 clean units and cover the whole area. I havn't tried it but I do make alot of them in multiplayer, they never win but they slow down my enemies. I am a pain in the arse. sure you can attack my city after you walk through 20 units.
LoD	posted 06-26-99 03:14 AM ET Alternatively, choose rare lifeforms when you generate a map. Has anyone noticed this: after the VoP there's some random fungus growth - but later, when you have a fungal bloom resulting from eco damage, there are no worms in it? LoD