Some Thoughts on Gas Grenades

[David McMurdo]

I love the gas grenades and try to employ them in every match, but the only other people that I've seen using them are those who are clearly newcomers to the game just testing out the weapons.

Before they made the mark 2 cluster bombs weaker there was absolutely no reason to use gas grenades (or any other crafting equivalent) because the mark 2 clusters were the obviously superior choice in any situation. Now all of the alternatives are just as valid.

In case anyone doesn't know, when you gas an enemy worm they lose five hit points per turn, so it's a slow burn thing. If I can't gas a worm by the time that it's my first worm's turn again then I just don't bother because by then you're far better off just going for as much direct damage as possible.

Whether or not an opportunity presents itself to use a gas grenade is to some degree down to chance. The gas emerges from the top of the grenade and is then carried by the wind in a fairly large cloud. This means that simply dropping a gas grenade next to a worm will usually result in them not getting gassed at all. You have to drop it beneath them, or at the very least in a tiny crater beside their feet or something. So you need the enemy worms to be placed in an appropriate situation and the wind to be in your favour (assuming you can't get to the other side of them).

If used right, gas grenades can easily win you the match. The other day I played against tanooke who almost always beats me. It came down to the wire and I ultimately won, and the main reason I did is that on my second turn I managed to gas two of his worms, neither of which he got the chance to heal during the match. So that was ten hitpoints I was taking from his team each turn. It adds up quickly.

On the other hand if you don't know what you're doing or try to rush it things can go horribly wrong. Earlier today I was fighting mobo, another player I know is great. I thought that since this weapon had given me a good edge over tanooke I should try and repeat the tactic against him. Unfortunately in my haste and desperation to gas at least one of his worms I accidentally gassed two of my own. Sigh. I fought to the bitter end, but I think we both knew I had lost in that instant.

So I think gas grenades are an excellent weapon, but you have to know when and how to use them. I will now only use them against great players if I get a chance to gas two or more of his or her worms, because when you're fighting a great player you can't really afford to put off dealing lots of damage for too long. They won't, and they'll seldom make mistakes.

I really wish there were more weapons of this indirect nature in Worms W.M.D. Many people have called for the return of the petrol bombs, which I totally agree with, but I'd also love to see things like the totems from Worms Reloaded. I just love these more tactical, slow burn weapons and utilities.

[Rantsi]

Sounds like a skunk replacement.

[```skunk3```]

The game still needs a skunk though. And a gas gun, poison strike, etc.

I'd prefer to see whoopsie cushion over a gas grenade personally.

[Schorsch Wadschinken]

In the current scheme they are far too risky in my book as proper usage relies on so much RNG.

By crafting one you are giving up on either a minigun, a luzi or a triple barrel shotgun, all fantastic weapons. The automatic weapons very reliably deal 70 to 60 damage to multiple targets if they are somewhat close to each other or in the same line of sight. That's one or possibly several worms down to 30 / 40 hp pretty much instantly, and 30 / 40 hp is still an easy potential one hit kill - not much better than a worm poisoned down to 25 - 1 hp.

The Gas grenade doesn't just suffer from inherent limitations like its position and wind direction, but the scheme is taylored against its use like I said - too much RNG. If a health pack drops for your enemy early, usually that's +25 hp for their worm. But if you attacked them with a gas grenade just a couple turns earlier, this health pack can easily be worth the 70 damage you lost by giving up the minigun.

The other issue is that it requires time and effective usage. Effective usage means that if you use a gas grenade on a worm and then keep shooting it, you are losing out on damage that the game would have dealt to it anyway, and thus again wasting miniguns and other great craft weapons. Depending on the enemy's position, they can easily negate effective usage of Gas and only leave their poisoned worms vulnerable to attacks.

The problem with time is two-folded: For one, there's the stupid RNG with health packs and vehicle drops. It should be in your best interest to finish a match as quickly as possible to avoid getting screwed over like that. These drops can completely negate any positive effect of the Gas Grenade.
The other issue is that Gas takes a lot of time. A worm who was merely poisoned takes eleven whole turns to reach 45 hp. A good opponent can turn the use of Gas into a wasted turn and simply kill you much faster with direct damage. That is the risk you usually run with Gas, but in this game and scheme it's coupled with all these other huge risks on top of that.

For these reasons, the Gas Grenade is not part of my arsenal.

[noworriesm8]

It's official, Gas Grenades stink...

*Cough*

Okay, now we've got that over with - I was skeptical of their use at first, but have since realized that it can be a matter of spotting the opportunity to poison at least two of the opponents worms at once. A single one will rarely cut it, but more than that, as exercised by Lord of the Epochs (what a name by the way), and the value becomes substantial.