Vulcanus: Kill the worms

[schorsch_76]

Hi, thank you for the cool DLC

I went to vulcanus pretty soon. I haven't finished uranium yet. Is there a possibility to kill the worms without uranium? I tried tank cannon shells but I couldn't kill them before they killed my tank....

[vinzenz]

Yes you don't need Uranium shells. I recommend you check out the Demolishers resistances in Factoriopedia (ALT + left click) and try a few different approaches.

[Rebmes]

For the first little while, you might have to raid their ore patches they move pretty slow and it can take a long time before they find you. Then you should be able to pick up and run. Better than nothing, until you can destroy those things. Not sure yet what it will take either drones fall down real fast. Might try quality drones with more health and damage.

[Daid]

After trying many thing for a whole evening, I managed to kill them yesterday without uranium ammo. I wonder if the regen rate is listed on the Factoriopedia, as it isn't listed in the tooltip. That would give some indication on the amount of damage threshold you need to pass.

Spoiler for those that want to know how I did it:

Bots seem to do little, I put down 75 destroyer capsules, the bots went down really fast and didn't put much of a dent. Mines explode before from the shockwave. Lasers do no damage, I found after made a ton of personal laser defence. Explosive rockets from a personal rocket launcher seem to do a tiny bit, but not much. Finally, I made a "killbox" with 2 rows of gun turrets with piercing ammo on both sides. And lured the beast in, it took short work of it, even if it destroys some of the turrets in the process. After some practice it isn't that hard to lure the beast while dodging it's attacks. I just fire 1 rocket at it to get it's main attention on me.

[WeirdConstructor]

I've recently watched Michael Hendriks live stream, where he fought small and medium Demolishers. Link to his live stream, which shows his approach: https://www.youtube.com/live/-vrkY3gZF2E?t=18887

His tactics ...

involved poison capsules and gun turrets with red ammo. (A lot) Poison capsules alone can suffice - but they need to be thrown with careful distance and takes some practice. I was not able to successfully work with that tactic in my own gameplay yet though.

[J-H]

I'm on Vulcanus and have ventured into the danger zones to find spice tungsten. I was able to run some long power poles in and deploy my one big miner to mine over 350 tungsten before shai-hulud a demolisher was detected. Hit-and-run mining is the key to getting a good setup going with 10-12 Foundries.

I'm currently building a rocket to go back to Nauvis to return with some atomic weapons after doing some base repairs. Worker bots keep dying and my remote bases are too far away to get on the network.

I have seen reference to "free rockets" from Vulcanus, but I think that's just because the foundries substantially simplify the production of metals, and don't run out. Cracking calcite and coal to make heavy oil, then cracking that to light and then to petroleum to produce plastics for higher end circuits means they aren't "free," although doing the setup wasn't too bad given prior experience on Nauvis.

The acid-calcite reaction to produce steam is powering my entire base for nearly free. Initially it wouldn't run the steam turbines I brought, but for some reason it is now.

A 100% Vulcanus start would be entertaining, although I think we'd have to start with some technologies researched in order for it to be viable.

[schorsch_76]

Thanks for the input!

I took the time to start to research the purple and yellow science and also implemented Kovarax processing as i need it later anyway.... Right now i prepare some stuff "How to kill the worms?": Poison, landmines and the uranium ammunition. I never realized there are two versions of uranium ammunition. Explosive uranium ammunition and "normal" uranium ammunition.....

[J-H]

Can confirm 30-40 turrets loaded with red ammo can kill a small demolisher with 20-30% losses.

[MeduSalem]

Yes you don't need Uranium shells. I recommend you check out the Demolishers resistances in Factoriopedia (ALT + left click) and try a few different approaches.

True, you don't. But it makes the small worms a cakewalk. I dropped down with a tank and full stack of uranium cannon shells and one-shotted the first two small worms to get to a tungsten field. xD

The medium ones probably take 3 or 4 hits. But I have not ventured that far out yet.

[XT-248]

Yes you don't need Uranium shells. I recommend you check out the Demolishers resistances in Factoriopedia (ALT + left click) and try a few different approaches.

Well. Actually,

at a few repeatable physical damage unlocks, uranium cannon shells can reach ~30k damage before resistance

, which is more than enough to kill a small demolisher using only a few ammo (less than a rocket launch capacity). They can be shipped to Vulcanis in bulk, and in return, the players can clear dozens of small demolisher territories at virtually zero risk to themselves.

This is achievable before unlocking another science pack or utilizing quality to boost ammo damage. All you need is yellow science pack production and some extra investment and build-up time before arriving at Vulcanis.


There isn't a better choice regarding how much damage can be done in a single hit before visiting another world. Even the more mundane approach (spam turrets or using poison capsules) comes with a non-trivial risk of dying.

[schorsch_76]

I cant get it

Uranium shells and explosive uranium shells didn't kill him before he killed me and my tank....

[schorsch_76]

After the 10th or 15th attempt i finally got him .... At YT (Nilaus) he just took 3 shots with that shells
https://youtu.be/qs76dTFSUvw?si=zbSp7f1fdhricteC&t=599

[jamiechi1]

And I would like to know where to find an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator to shoot the worms with.

[Diggs00]

with 22 simultaneous turrets with red ammo (fire speed and damage 5) and constant cannon shells (non-explosion) are not enough to out-damage the health generation. Is utility science required (for uranium ammo) to kill it?

[Stargateur]

put equipment in your tank (shield generator), tank have equipment grid now and use a rare tank. It's trivial to kill small demolisher with that, and you can even control remotely the tank. Use normal canon shell not explosive.

[J-H]

with 22 simultaneous turrets with red ammo (fire speed and damage 5) and constant cannon shells are not enough to out-damage the health generation. Is utility science required (for uranium ammo) to kill it?

Turrets are super cheap to make on Vulcanus once you have some foundries. I made a stack of 50, about 1500 red ammo, and then blueprinted 4 lines of 10-12 turrets w/ arms, red belts, and a chest at the end. Plop down 4 lines near each other (with power lines), and manually fill each chest with about 300 rounds, then lure your target over. Brrrrt.

[XT-248]

After the 10th or 15th attempt i finally got him .... At YT (Nilaus) he just took 3 shots with that shells
https://youtu.be/qs76dTFSUvw?si=zbSp7f1fdhricteC&t=599

Yeah, having a non-trivial amount of physical damage modifier/bonus from repeatable technology helps to overcome the HP pool.


I am glad you figured it out eventually.

[ManaUser]

The winning strategy for me was

lots of turrets plus poison capsules.

Specifically,

I place around 50 turrets (with a little red ammo in each), then use the poison capsules to lure it into that trap. Poison capsules are great (you can actually use just these if you have enough) because they let you stay out of reach. You don't need to hit the worm, just aim where it's going.

[danbopes]

I guess I just ended up cheesing it. 15 artillery turrets and you just spam them on the demolisher.

[kpreid]

In addition to the strategies already mentioned, I have found out that if you have Fulgora tech (I did Vulcanus just in the starting area, then Fulgora, then expanded on Vulcanus), it is possible to kill a small demolisher solo with just

the tesla gun, spamming destroyers, level 6ish damage research, and enough shielding and speed to survive being in close range

. I haven’t yet successfully killed any medium demolishers;

artillery and a fleet of spidertrons

are on my list of things to try next.