How do you avoid the sandworms?

[King Poppa]

I'm only one game in, but half my army keeps getting eaten by the sandworm on a regular basis.

I get that vibrations/combat attract the big fella, but even when reacting instantly to a threat I still get at least a few units eaten by it. It is becoming quite annoying now that my last remaining opponent is on the opposite side of the map, and I must worry about losing supply and constantly dodging the sand worms.

There are also times where the shaking ground seems to follow a unit perfectly, is that an ability of the Fremen or something?

Overall the sand worm is kind of cool, but mostly just an annoyance by the end of my first playthrough.

[Soho]

I usually play with the setting for sandworms set to the highest level possible, this way it is as punishing as possible- you can turn it off, but that doesn't seem like it would be much challenge.

Staying out of the sand is an obvious way to avoid the sandworms. Only go in or through sand areas when absolutely necessary. So, for all the factions but the Fremen, use airfields to move your armies as much as possible, and drop-off on solid ground as much as possible. Make sure you don't have units standing around idle in the sand.

As the Fremen, use the thumper to move across sand areas, again as much as possible. Fremen of course have a very limited number of uses with the thumper so, you want to plan your moves so that you are only moving very minimally. I find that the actual number of troops moving in a group directly affects the sensitivity of sandworm attacks (the bigger the group, the more likely the sandworm will attack), so when possible I will move across sand areas one unit at a time and space them out so they cannot be eaten all in one gulp. Sort of like walking them through a minefield- if you only send one army through and he gets through fine, send another... then send another... pretty soon they are all through. This only starts to be a problem when you have to move them in an emergency situation (e.g. your village is under attack already) then it is time to use the thumper... or just flat-out risk losing half your troops. Moving along rock areas seems to help when you can, or having someplace you know you are going to try to take cover if there is a sand-worm attack, have that place planned out ahead of time. These measures won't save all your units all of the time, but it will mitigate your losses.

After some number of playthroughs you will see this is just a part of the environment, and it does work both ways. You are losing units to the desert, sure- but the enemy is as well, under the same circumstances, and they are possibly not as careful as you about it so they lose more.

Getting to that last base for a domination victory can be challenging especially on larger maps, if you don't have a really good way to get all the way over there. The randomness of the tiles laid for the map may make it so there just isn't a good way to approach and tackle that last base, even though you are dominating everything else. When that happens I don't see why you wouldn't go for an alternate victory condition, unless you have them turned off.

[Kōizumi Seishiro]

What Soho said. Hug rocks if you have to fight in sands (but thats old Dune 2 trick as well I ken). Also if a worm has just attacked nearby (like a worm sign at a harvester and it has come to the surface, or an enemy unit has been just eaten), it seems there's less chance for second worm sign, so you get a breather and can operate on sand for some time.
The opposite is also true: if there's a worm sign and you managed to dodge shai-hulud, it seems the worm is more likely to attack again at same very location

[Katitoff]

If I'm not near rocks to run to, I literally spread my army across all directions and hope for the best, I've had moments in the open when no one got swallowed at all due to this.

[Grape Ape]

By Deworming your pets, and keeping their shots upto date?

[Generic Roughneck]

Originally posted by King Poppa:

I'm only one game in, but half my army keeps getting eaten by the sandworm on a regular basis.

You don't, it's one of the design flaws I'm personally not a fan of, along with having to micro the harvesters.

[votadc]

Don't worry, there aren't sandworms. Right now there Is a placeholder event to pop worms to give a challenge. When they will fix AI there will be persistent sandworms in the terrain and you will have to attract them elsewhere to move your troops.

[King Poppa]

Originally posted by Webby:

Originally posted by King Poppa:

I'm only one game in, but half my army keeps getting eaten by the sandworm on a regular basis.

You don't, it's one of the design flaws I'm personally not a fan of, along with having to micro the harvesters.

I'm with you on this one.

I manage to avoid sandworms mostly now by moving my troops directly onto the rocky terrain around villages, but I can't help but feel like it turns most fights into a clusterf*** whereas I would rather be focusing on positioning my units and staying mobile, even if it doesn't count for much with the combat system.

[Rodso]

skill issue

that said just accept the losses

i find it funny when half my army gets eaten by a sand worm

[Necroscourge]

The other thing is that you're not playing correctly if you are marching your entire army across the desert. Use buildings to transport them.

[Generic Roughneck]

Originally posted by Rodso:

skill issue

that said just accept the losses

i find it funny when half my army gets eaten by a sand worm

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

The other thing is that you're not playing correctly if you are marching your entire army across the desert. Use buildings to transport them.

Nop, just bad design. Sandworm mechanics need a lot of work.

[Necroscourge]

Uhm, they work the same way they have always worked in Dune games. Lmao.

[Generic Roughneck]

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

Uhm, they work the same way they have always worked in Dune games. Lmao.

Nop, they don't and you'd know that if you have ever played "Dune Games".

[Necroscourge]

Is this the part of the trolling where you pretend you're a Duneier fan? I've actually played the Dune board game and read the novels.

Checkmate, kid. *mic drop*

[Generic Roughneck]

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

Is this the part of the trolling where you pretend you're a Duneier fan? I've actually played the Dune board game and read the novels.

Checkmate, kid. *mic drop*

I don't need to pretend and unlike you i'm trying not to be a ass that seems to believe he knows more than others that have read, played or owned all the same media of the franchise. Good for you, you have your opinion, so do others, move on.

Best pick that mic back up, you need a lot of work on your routine.

[votadc]

Originally posted by Necroscourge:

Uhm, they work the same way they have always worked in Dune games. Lmao.

There are no proper sandworms in this game because Is work in progress and they put a placeholder. In videogames they are present in the map and eat everything, in the board game they aren't a lame event that you can avoid with a flying unit but they will eat every unit in an ENTIRE REGION, also they hit randomly and don't care about vibrations because in that part the board game doesn't follow the book.