Large worms

[thetrav]

So, I've taken out a few bases with Large Worms guarding them.

So far it's been a total PITA. With a lvl1 power armour and a lvl2 shield gen I can take about 4 hits from one then I'm out. The rocket does very low damage against it and can't fire from out of range.

My strategy so far has been to run in, fire one shot, run out, wait for shield to regen. I've got a laser turret battery to hold off any spawned biters while I do this.


Is there a less annoying way?

[FishSandwich]

Poison capsules are pretty effective. Run in, poison it, run out, wait for it to die.

[tralala]

This and you can stay just outside its range but place laser cannons within shooting range (you can place them a little bit ahead of where you stand). Lasers will take out worms pretty quickly.

[ssilk]

Poison effects worms only if they are out of the ground!

[dj_lefull]

You said it only effects them when they are out of the ground? that is odd since i've killed many Large groups of worms with Poison capsules when they are in the ground, is that a bug or something?

[ssilk]

That was my experience with them and that's about 6 weeks ago. <shrug>

[slpwnd]

Poison works on worms (starting from 0.9.something) regardless of whether they are in the ground or not. This is driven by a flag "breaths-air" in the entity prototype settings in data file.

[Zourin]

Distractor bots.

Just lay down a small pile of them in the base and let them get to work. Being laser based and unlimited, they're generally better than turrets for most combat situations while you draw off most of the defending force, allowing the bots to wreck base with general impunity, although you should keep in mind that very dense, large bases will require a very significant distractor bot swarm.

[Sparkerish]

Do you have 'extra' turrets? I find that a single turret can withstand 3-4? (I forget) hits from a worm before it is destroyed. A turret placed within range of a worm will be attacked and worm will not change targets until it is destroyed (ammo NOT needed). SO...
1-place turret within worm's range,
2- step just within rocket range,
3- FIRE until turret has been hit 2-3 times (1-3 rockets at slower firing I think)
4- Fix turret ( I sometimes retreat to fix turret, ie. count shots and move as soon as 'last' rocket is away, be sure 'last' acid doesn't hit turret before you fix it enough to withstand hit)
5- repeat 3 & 4 until worm is destroyed. (or 4- Replace turret - did this a lot 'perfecting' this strategy but did finally get the count right having 2 within range of worm is very useful)
Remember, you cannot RUN until your rocket hits (but you can walk away) (I don't remember if you can fix turret before rocket hits...I don't think so)
-note if turret is destroyed worm WILL target YOU unless another turret is closer, ie you can place several between you and worm. only one turret will be targeted at a time.
Some adjustment is needed if multiple worms or spawners are present.
For spawners I use a Block of loaded turrets behind walls just out of worms range to deal with biters. (useful to retreat from swarms as well)

Good Luck and
Have fun !!

[Ric]

The biggest annoyance with these bloody big worms for me is not killing them, it's the fact you get no reward of alien artifact goodies when they are dead. I'm right at the end of the tech tree and am having to go through more nests than I would care to admit to get the required artifacts for all the body armour stuff/top tier researches.

I've no problem with it being a challenge, in fact I relish in it. I just wish I got something for the work.