Worms is a series of computer games, consisting of the original Worms game, Worms DC, Worms 2, Worms Armageddon, Worms World Party and Worms 3D, as well as a number of smaller spin-offs including Worms Pinball and Worms Blast.
These games have been released regularly since the mid-1990s, and are available for Windows-based computers, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Boy, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and probably others. The game was invented by Andy Davidson of Team 17 originally for the Commodore Amiga computer. It was written in Blitz BASIC. It is part of a genre of turn-based games in which each player controls one or more characters, on a two-dimensional landscape (one horizontal and one vertical dimension), who attack each other with projectile weapons. The object of the game is to kill all of the enemy characters. Predecessors include Scorched Earth and Gorillas.
In Worms, the characters are represented as worms. Each player controls a team of several worms. They can move over the landscape in various ways, but their movement is restricted by a time limit. Over fifty weapons may be available, but games are usually played with a reduced arsenal, and many weapons did not exist in earlier versions. A team can gain more weapons by picking up crates that randomly appear on the landscape. Most weapons cause explosions that erode the terrain. The landscape is an island floating on a large body of water. A worm dies when it enters the water (either by falling off the island, or through a hole in the bottom of it), or when its health is reduced to zero.
Weapons
Air Strike
The air strike is the simplest aerial attack. Five bombs are dropped from an airplane, fly in a parabolic path and explode on contact. Each bomb does up to 30 points of damage.
The bombs cause only small explosions, so the air strike's ground penetration is negligible. It cannot be used against targets under overhangs.
The Donkey descends from the sky and smashes its way down through the landscape until it sinks in the water underneath.
Any worm in its path gets hammered. Not only this, the Donkey's vibrations are so great that worms in the vicinity suffer damage and will be knocked off any precipice they are near.
Any crates or oil cans in the way will explode, wreaking further havoc.
Worms bearing the full brunt of a Donkey strike may suffer 500 points of damage.
The strategic advantage of the Donkey, besides its power of wholesale slaughter, is its ability to kill worms that think they are safe because they are hiding deep underground. It can therefore completely upset an opponent's strategy.
The Donkey is sufficiently powerful that one should consider teleporting to grab it, because you don't want it in the hands of your enemies.
The Donkey makes donkey noises, despite the fact that it is concrete.
In the Worms universe, the Concrete Donkey is God, while its counterpart, the Foul Smelling Buffalo Of Lies, is Satan.
The Buffalo is yet to make an appearance in a Worms game.
The Holy Hand Grenade causes significant amounts of damage and will typically kill any worm nearby. Its shockwaves will cause damage to worms through landscape, and can knock a worm over a ledge.
The shockwaves can also launch a nearby worm across the screen, usually with enough force to cause death.
Before it explodes, the Holy Hand Grenade emits a cloud of purple vapor, and a choir of angels sings Hallelujah!
The name of this weapon references the Monty Python movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The homing missile can travel underwater and remain functional, although if fired too deep it will sink.
However, the pigeon is notoriously stupid and will often attempt to fly through the landscape, causing itself to blow up. Because of this is advisable to use this weapon only if there is a more or less clear path to the target.
The homing pigeon's explosion does only a moderate amount of damage.
Kamikaze is the last resort of a desperate worm, except in unusual circumstances. When used, the worm will tie a bandanna on its head, and
push forward, flying through the air (carving terrain out of the way) for
a ways, and then exploding. Any worms hit will go flying, suffering moderate
damage. While it's a flashy way to go out, it's most useful when the worm using
it can position itself so that its flight will completely remove a bridge that
several worms are standing on.
Land Mines are weapons that are dropped onto the terrain, in the hope that
later, some unfortunate worm will trigger it and suffer heavy damage. Generally
used more as a deterrent than an actual weapon, Land Mines are considered part
of the 'Dark Side' style of play. Some worms players have taken to planting
land mines on the heads of their opponents so they look like a cap, as a type
of bizarre humour.
The long bow is a projectile weapon that does a small amount of damage to an enemy. It's advantages are that you can fire it twice in a turn, and so hit two different targets; and that it does not cause an explosion and so may be safer than other weapons in some situations when collateral damage is a danger.
Each arrow from the longbow does 15 points of damage.
You cannot aim the longbow down.
Arrows are affected by the wind.
Use of Mad Cows causes three trustworthy heifers straight forward, each armed
with dynamite, set to explode when the cow reaches any obstacle. Care should
be taken not to use Mad Cows near such a barrier, as the damage is quite large
per cow. It's noteworthy that there is a delay between the cows, and if the
wielder takes damage between launches, the next launch will not occur.
The magic bullet is a superweapon that is seldom available in regular play.
It is one of the most powerful and accurate weapons in the game.
The magic bullet can be fired at almost any target on the landscape and it will find a path to the target, going around corners, through tunnels, etc. Occasionally it will fail and explode into some impediment, but this is usually only when there is little room to manoeuvre.
The explosion caused by the magic bullet is quite powerful.
Because of this it should not be used in close quarters.
A Mail Strike works in basically the same way as the Air Strike; the direction of the bombing (from the left or from the right) can also be changed, like Air Strike. However, the Mail Strike does not drop small, normal bombs, instead dropping five letter bombs which have a power somewhere between that of a grenade and a dynamite. These letter bombs are affected by wind, and flutter from left to right slightly at random, meaning that a mail strike is a very imprecise weapon; it is best used for bombing a very wide area.
MB Bomb is a kind of Air Strike; in this case, a big balloon full of explosives
is released that is heavily affected by the wind.
The Ming Vase is a very powerful cluster-type weapon that is typically dropped from above via the ninja rope or the rocket pack.
The Ming Vase explodes into five shards, each which carries the explosive and propulsive force of dynamite. Occasionally, you can use the Ming Vase next to a worm which will be knocked into the air during the initial blast.
Then a shard will hit the worm in mid-air, directing the worm far off the map.
Woe to he who uses the Ming Vase in a confined area such as a tunnel or bridge, although this is possible if you evacuate the area quickly. This will inflict a sick amount of damage to another worm.
When this is used, moles are dropped from the sky in a specified area, and
when they hit the ground, they begin to dig at an angle. They typically dig
all the way down to water, but if they encounter a cavern and fall, they
explode. Mole strikes are considered by some to be 'dark side' play, and
by others as being extremely effective against 'dark side' players as it tends
to open the tunnels.
This weapon sounds an alarm klaxon, and every turn thereafter, the water
rises slightly and all worms on the board loses 2 health due to radiation
per turn. Retrieval of a health pack will cure the radiation, but will of course
not negate the danger of rising water.
Parachutes often mean the difference between an embarrassing fall that ends
your turn and causes slight damage, and a safe drop to lower ground after
which you can perform an attack.
The prod is used to push an enemy worm over an edge. Usually you would use prod to push an enemy into the water. You can also push a worm over a ledge so he falls to the ground, in order to kill a weak worm, especially if there are mines over said edge. This is the most sarcastic way to kill an enemy, and is considered poetic justice if you cross half the map to prod your opponent off the map rather then just fire your last Holy Hand Grenade.
The victim does not have to be standing on the very edge but close to it for the prod to work. The advantage to using a prod is that there is no risk of collateral damage.
A danger is that, if you are standing slightly above the intended victim, you may prod right over his head, missing him and wasting your turn.
A suggestion would be to do it to worms that are by the edge of a cliff overhanging water, since if worms fall into water, they die.
(TIP) If there are a trio of worms lined up right below each other with some distance ahead from one to the other, you can prod the one on top and it will send a chain reaction through the entire trio and hopefully push all three of them into the water (or wherever you are aiming for).
When used, the Scales of Justice emits a powerful booming laugh and snappy comments like "x evens the score", "even stevens", or "x calls it even."
The sheep explosion will propel a worm, so a victim can be launched and possibly drowned. The explosion will also detonate oil cans and crates, which may cause enough additional damage to kill even a strong worm.
A sheep attack is especially useful early in a game, when the explosion can be centered among multiple victims. This works especially well if the sheep explodes in a tunnel. Because the sheep can travel quite a long way, and can drop down over a ledge without hurting itself, it is also a useful weapon for long-range damage, especially when a there is not room for a projectile weapon.
There are dangers to using an exploding sheep.
The sheep will turn around if it bumps into an obstacle, and may walk right back towards your worm, or in the very least, away from its intended target.
A sheep will walk right off a ledge, and if this is above water, it will drown.
The sheep is also a tool in that it can collect crates that are in its path.
If it walks into a crate, then you get the contents.
The shotgun is a valuable weapon because you can fire twice in a round, the blasts destroy small parts of the landscape, and a victim is propelled when hit. These advantages make up for the comparative weakness of the weapon, which causes a maximimum of only 25 points damage per shot.
Shoot a weak enemy worm so he is propelled next to a stronger worm.
When the weak worm dies and explodes, he does damage to the strong one.
Then you use the second shot to finish off the strong one.
Shoot a worm so the blast carries him over a ledge, then take a shot at another target.
Use the first shot to hit a crate or an oil can near an enemy worm.
If the resulting explosion doesn't kill him, finish him off with the second shot.
Blast a hole in the landscape with the first shot to give yourself a clear second shot at an enemy.
Shoot the landscape out from under an enemy, causing him to fall.
NOTE: If left for long enough, the super banana bomb will explode spontaneously.
The Blow Torch can be used to directly inflict harm on another worm. Although it's damage is somewhat limited it can be used as a comical way to 'finish off' an very weak worm.
The Blow Torch is one of the tools of Dark Side play.
The Bungee tool allows you to walk over a cliff without falling and hurting yourself. To use it, you activate the Bungee and just walk off of the cliff. You will fall down on a long elastic rope which will pull you down very close to the ground. To release yourself from a bungee and land without injury, you just wait until the bungee is close to the ground and let go. You can then finish your turn as normal, free of injury.
The Pneumatic Drill can be used as an offensive weapon, to limited effect, by first standing on the head of the victim, (not always easy) and then using the drill.
The Pneumatic Drill is one of the tools of Dark Side play.
It's a good idea to fire weapons, even if no-one is there, so that you can get escape time. The first player to get their worm to the area marked finish wins.
Dark side play involves the use of tools such as the Pneumatic Drill, Blow Torch and Girder to effectively burrow a worm deep inside the landscape away from harm.
From this point an elaborate Vietnam style system of tunnels and shafts can be fashioned with chambers blown using Dynamite.
Games involving Dark Side play on both sides can last much longer than regular games. Dark Side is the strategy of choice for some players while others may consider it tantamount to cheating.
This mode is specially named after a secret scheme in Worms Armageddon.
To earn this scheme, you must completely finish to the maximum rating all the 1st player Deathmatch levels, Missions, and Training Disciplines.
Once you do this, you receive the Full Wormage scheme, which has unlimited of all weapons, including Super and Secret weapons, which are otherwise unavailabe.
Many Full Wormage games on Wormnet do not use the real Full Wormage scheme, both because it is incredible difficult to earn, and because it's extremely cheap to have unlimited Concrete Donkies at your disposal.
Place your worm carefully, because in golf, location is everything. Worms have no energy, so the only way to kill a worm is to knock them into the water. Use low gravity and rope knock a lot. To win, destroy all opponents.
Aqua Sheep
The aqua sheep is an enhanced version of the super sheep. Its only difference from the super sheep is that it can enter the water without drowning. While in the water, it travels exactly as it does through the air.Armageddon
The Armageddon is arguably the most powerful weapon in the game. It is a shower of meteorites, each meteorite exploding on contact approximately the explosive force of dynamite (roughly 70 maximum damage). The meteors fall at a rate of about two every second for about thirty seconds. This attack destroys large parts of the landscape, killing most worms present except those burrowed deep underground.Banana Bomb
The Banana Bomb is a much more powerful version of the cluster bomb. It is triggered by a timed fuse (one to five seconds), which starts when the bomb is thrown. It is thrown with variable power. It explodes with the force of dynamite, and scatters five banana shards. The shards explode on contact, also with the force of dynamite. As with any cluster weapon, the banana bomb is more devastating in confined spaces.Baseball Bat
The baseball bat is designed to launch worms great distances into the water or onto mines. It is a contact weapon; i.e. it cannot be used from a distance. It has a variable launch angle, up to about 70 degrees from the horizontal. If several worms are positioned next to each other, this weapon can launch both of them. If the targeted worms fly somewhere other than expected, they lose 30 points of damage, plus fall damage depending on the trajectory.Battle Axe
The battle axe reduces a worm's energy (health) level by half (only a quarter in some versions of Worms Armageddon). It is a contact weapon.Bazooka
The bazooka is a variable-power weapon that launches a shell that explodes on impact. Unlike other throwable weapons, the bazooka is affected by wind. It is possible for a worm to fire the bazooka in one direction, and have the wind carry the shell back over his head and into a target behind him. Recent versions of Worms set the bazooka's maximum damage to 45; versions up to Worms 2 set it to 50.Carpet Bomb
Concrete Donkey
The Concrete Donkey is a powerful weapon capable of destroying the most powerful worm, even if he is hiding deep underground.Cluster Bomb
The cluster bomb is a red bomb the same size as a grenade (when unexploded); it also has the same weight as an unexploded grenade.
A cluster bomb can have its fuse set to anywhere between one and five seconds.
As soon as it is thrown, the cluster bomb's fuse starts to burn and after the specified number of seconds (three is the default) it explodes, scattering five smaller bomblets around.
This can be quite effective in either a very confined space (since all the bomblets blow up in the same place and can thus remove over 100 health points) or if exploded mid-air, so that the bomblets scatter across a wide area.
The Banana Bomb is a more powerful version of the cluster bomb.Dragon Ball
Ever watched the show Dragon Ball Z? Well it's pretty much self-explanatory. Make sure you're well aligned with your opponent before using this weapon.
The worm fires a purple fireball towards the enemy, throwing them back with a fair amount of force. Be sure to be fairly close to your opponent before using this for the fireball only travels a certain amount of distance.
Also, since it's damage is rather weak with a max damage of 30, I advise you use this weapon to worms who are near the edge of the terrain to ensure they will be knocked off. Exceptions can be made on several different occasions.Dynamite
Dynamite is exactly that in Worms - a small, red stick of dynamite which can only be dropped (NOT THROWN). As soon as the dynamite is dropped, its 5-second fuse (the length of time can't be changed) starts counting down.
When the dynamite detonates, it leaves a large physical blast circle (approximately twice that of a grenade) and sends out a shockwave which extends a little further. An adjacent worm could probably lose 70-80 health points, and would be catapulted outward, away from the explosion.
This can lead to some spectacular sea deaths.Earthquake
This weapon creates an earthquake, shaking things around a bit. It's
not directly offensive, so it's most useful when there are worms near
water that can slide right in, or mines that might move or bounce onto
a group.Fire Punch
Fire Punch is a cousin to the Dragon Ball attack. When used, your worm ties
a bandanna around its head and leaps straight up into the air, doing damage
to whatever its fist encounters (carving through terrain on the
way). Like with the Dragon Ball, this is a 'safe' attack that will not harm
your worm (although doing a fire punch when there's a mine above you would
certainly be unwise). The terrain-carving feature can be useful in the escape
of enclosure. French Sheep Strike
The French Sheep Strike is one of the most destructive and bizarre weapons
in Worms. When used, the first few notes of the French National Anthem play
while sheep, dressed in french garb, fall from the sky, bounce from place to
place as they destroy the landscape, and finally explode. The best defense
against the French Sheep Strike is to be deep underground.Grenade
The grenade is one of the most simple explosive weapons in Worms.
One sets the timer to between one and five seconds, chooses between very bouncy or not bouncy grenades, aims, and throws. The timer ticks down as soon as the grenade is thrown, and when it reaches zero, the grenade explodes leaving an empty blast circle around it.
If it lands in the sea before the timer hits zero, the grenade just sinks and nothing happens.Handgun
Holy Handgrenade
The Holy Hand Grenade is a much more powerful version of the regular grenade. It also differs in that it will not explode until it comes to a rest, and the fuse cannot be set.
It also appears to be a little heavier, so that it won't go as far when thrown, or bounce around as much when it lands.
Homing Missile
The homing missile in worms is an unreliable weapon that does minor amounts of damage. It is useful in that it can hit a target at a distance.
Unfortunately, it requires a more or less clear path to the target or it will explode into whatever is in its way. It creates little collateral damage and should be used only against well-exposed targets.
To a limited extent you can adjust the angle of fire as well as the force of fire to control the missile's path.Homing Pigeon
The homing pigeon is a weapon that allows you to strike an enemy from a distance. You first choose your target, then you launch the homing pigeon, which will then fly across the landscape and explode into the target.Kamikaze
Land Mine
Longbow
Mad Cows
Magic Bullet
Mail Strike
MB Bomb
Mine Strike
Ming Vase
Minigun
Mole Bomb
Mole Strike
Mortar
Nuclear Test
Old Woman
Parachute
Prod
Sally Army
Scales of Justice
The scales of justice redistribute the total life points equally among all suriviving teams (first) and all worms within each team (second).
This weapon should only be used if your team has the least life points of all surviving teams.Sheep
The sheep is a convenient weapon that can cause significant damage to enemy worms. When fired, the sheep bounces off in the direction your worm is facing. By firing a second time you cause the sheep to explode.
Alternatively, the sheep will explode on its own after about 10 seconds.
A sheep explosion is fairly powerful.
It will not kill a worm with full strength, but can kill a worm with 50 or so energy points.Sheep Launcher
Sheep Strike
Shotgun
Useful strategies include:
Shoot one weak enemy worm with the first shot, and another with the second.Skunk
Suicide Bomb
Super Banana Bomb
The Super Banana Bomb has exactly the same explosive power as a Banana Bomb, the only difference being that the main banana bomb and the five banana bomblets can be detonated by remote control, instead of exploding after a set number of seconds.Super Sheep
Uzi
Tools
Blow Torch
The Blow Torch is used to create horizontal tunnels in the landscape. It's use is almost entirely defensive, although it can in some circumstances be used with the Pneumatic Drill and Dynamite to launch an attack from below.Bridge Kit
Bungee
Freeze
Girder
The girder can be used either as a bridging mechanism or to build a protective sheild around one or more of your worms. It should be noted however that the girders are by no means indestructable. Girders, when used in this way, and in conjunction with the Pneumatic Drill and Blow Torch , constitutes what is known in some quarters as Dark Side play. Ninja Rope
Pneumatic Drill
The Pneumatic Drill is used to create vertical tunnels in the landscape.
It's use is almost entirely defensive, although it can in some circumstances be used with the Blow Torch and Dynamite to launch an attack from below.Teleport
The Teleport tool does exactly what it says on the tin; if you use a teleport, you can choose a point to teleport to, and if there is sufficient room at your desired destination for your worm to teleport into, the worm teleports.
This can make it difficult to teleport into a tunnel. Once you teleport, your turn ends, and if you teleport into mid-air, your worm will merely fall to the ground. And then its turn ends.On-line Play
On Worms Armaggedon and Worms World Party, there is a special feature called Wormnet, which allows players to compete over the Internet, using a Metaserver. There are several specially developed games for internet play, which include:Battle Race
You place your worm or worms at the location marked start. Worms do not have any health, so the only way to kill a worm is to knock them into the water.
However, attacking other worms to kill is not encouraged, and often is a cow.
It is quite all right to attack another worm to disadvantage them by moving them backwards. Be aware of all the types of jumping. You can launch yourself across large distances with nades. You should lay mines, because even though they take no health, if your opponents are hit, they lose their turn.
Petrol bombs are also useful as obstacles to players behind you. Bazookas and Grenades
You are allowed only to use zooks and nades to attack the enemy. You are not allowed to fire a bazooka in a str8 line at the enemy. Most hosts also disallow setting nades at 1 or 5 second times, and intentionally throwing a nade that comes to a rest before exploding. Teleporting, digging, or girdering is usually not considered a miss in ftm bng. Darksiding is a cow in bng. In bng, you ususally cannot move from the spot you intially start at, unless you dig or port. You will earn a lot of respect in bng if you do cool things with nades.
To win, destroy all opponents.Capture the Flag
Players are divided up into two teams. You place your worms on your teams side of the map. The first team to get one of it's worms over to the enemies flag wins the game. It can be important to leave some worms on your side for defensive purposes.Dark Side
The Dark Side strategy is normally the last resort of a player who has lost all but one of his worms, although it can be used from the very start of a game to great effect.Fort
Players are divided up into two teams. You place your worms on your side of the map. You are not allowed to enter the enemies fort. Some hosts allow you to fish, some do not. In most fort maps, there is a neutral middle ground, where anyone can go. To win, destroy all opponents.Full Wormage
A standard worms game, but with all or most weapons enabled. To win, destroy all opponents.Guns and Roses
Rope Race
You place your worm or worms at the location marked start. Worms do not have any health, so the only way to kill a worm is to knock them into the water.
However, attacking other worms to kill is a cow.
Try to keep your parachute active, so you do not lose your turn if you fall.
To win, get your worm to the location marked Finish, or in some games, there and back. If you have two worms, you can win either by getting both to Finish, or one there and back.Roper
Roper games often have very short time limits. Roper games are cba. Learn how to rope very well before joining a roper, especially a proper, or one in #RopersHeaven. In ropers, all four borders are turned on, so do not be afraid do drop onto water. In some ropers, weapons fall through borders, making droppping on water a good protection against nades that land right near you. It's a good idea to fire weapons, even if no-one is there, so that you can get escape time. To win, destroy all opponents.Shopper
Most shopper games are cba. You start out with little or no weapons, except ropes and chutes. Collect weapons from the crates that appear constantly. To win, destroy all opponents.