Difference between revisions of "Shopper"

Revision as of 06:06, 13 September 2009

	W:A replay: An example of a Shopper game (3vs3) with DarK, Random00, SPW, Incog, Paya and REM; taken from Worm Olympics
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Shopper, or more specifically, Rope Shopper (due to its variation from the original Team17 "Shopper" scheme, which was not heavily rope-based), is one of the oldest fan made schemes in Worms Armageddon. Furthermore, Shopper and its variations are nowadays the most popular schemes played on WormNET.

The goal in Shopper is to destroy the opponents using weapons obtained from crates, collected within a relatively short turn time with the help of the Ninja Rope. Little or no combat equipment is present in player's inventory at the beginning (hence the term "shopping" for weapons). Shopper is played on an indestructible terrain (toggled as a scheme option) and specially designed maps, usually with roof to allow smooth maneuvering around the map.

Considerable skill with the Ninja Rope is required for playing Shopper, however unlike some variations, a classic Shopper scheme is very suitable to practice mastering the rope.

To make the scheme more challenging, specific rules has been brought into, which all players must follow (see below).

History

Shopper was created around 1999 on Worms Armageddon. It was commonly known at the time as Rope Shopper due to its variation from the original Team17 "Shopper" scheme, which was not heavily rope-based. Though it is unknown who was the original creator of this variation, it is clear that one of the most important contributors from the very start was the player, Dogma. With the creation of his shopper map, City Shopper, he set the tone for the design and layout of shopper maps for many years to come.

In the earlier days of shopper, it was commonly considered to be a game for newbies. The most popular scheme in that time was roper and proper, which required a lot more rope skill than shopper. It was common that most newbies would start practicing their rope skills on shopper maps, moving to the more difficult rope games once their skills had grown.

Around 2002, the attitude towards the scheme has started changing. Many who were considered to be elite roper players had left Worms and with it the strong dislike towards shopper. The shopper game grew more and more in popularity, passing proper as the most popular game on the way.

In 2004, a new variation of shopper hit the community like a bomb. Star Worms came out with his idea for the Wall-X-wall shopper. This idea caught the attention of the community and soon became as popular as the original Rope Shopper scheme itself.

The rules

Shopper uses a set of rules commonly known as the PACK rules. Where PACK stands for;

• Pile (In order to hurt the player who is last with a weapon in your inventory, damage must be spread to at least 1 other team. Generally the Pile rule is combined with ABL or KTL these days.)
• ABL (Injuring any team with a weapon in your inventory. Do NOT injure the last team unless the Pile rule is used and you spread damage to multiple teams with a weapon in your inventory.)
• CBA (Collect a Crate at the start of each turn Before Attacking with a weapon from your inventory)
• KTC (Kill The Cow or person who is breaking the games rules.)

The ABL rule is sometimes replaced by KTL:

• KTL (Injuring the 'leader' with a weapon in your inventory. Damage can be spread amongst other teams so long as the leader is injured in the blast.)

Around 2000, a new rule which originated from the Roper scheme made its entrance into Shopper:

• AFR (Attacking from the rope when it is possible with the chosen weapon.)

The combination of AFR and the PACK rules then became known as the proPACK rules. Around 2003, the AFR rule got so integrated into Shopper, that the difference between PACK and proPACK was forgotten and AFR became a standard Shopper rule.

As well as the rule mentioned in PACK, shopper had a few less formal/agreed upon rules:

• No girders. (They change the landscape permanently.)
• No nukes. (They change the landscape permanently.)
• No permanent blocking (e.g. using arrows, Girders, Nukes, Etc.)

Across the player base, Shopper rules are generally addressed purely by acronyms of the 3 fundamental rules - AFR, CBA, KTL/ABL; others are considered common sense. KTL prevails over ABL these days and is the one implicitly used, unless signalized otherwise.

The maps

Shopper maps on WMDB

Shopper maps on Blame the Pixel

The Scheme

Variations

Of all the schemes known in Worms, Shopper probably has the most variations. Because of its extensive popularity, many people came up with their own variations to the shopper scheme, some better known than others:

Wall-x-Wall Shopper

Main Article: Wall-x-Wall Shopper

In this variation, the player has to touch a number of specified number of walls highlighted by the map before attacking each turn, in addition to collecting a weapon crate.

Fly Shopper

In this variation, the player has to fly across a pillar in the middle of the map at least once before attacking. For this, a new rule was created: FBA, meaning Fly Before Attack.

The Term "Fly"

Beginners to this scheme sometimes have difficulty of understanding what a valid "fly" is. Here are some basic concepts concerning this:

• During a fly, the worm can not touch the object in the middle, doing so makes the fly invalid. For obvious reasons, however, it is allowed to touch it before and after the fly - eg. when doing a special kind of fly called "mexi".
• For the fly to be valid, the rope can not attach to anything while going over the object - eg. it isn't enough to just swing the worm over the top of the object.
• The fly must always be initiated from rope, but the player doesn't necessarily have to attach the rope again on the other side - eg. if the worms hits an object on the other side (the opposite wall, for example) and the parachute activates, the fly is still valid. Also, when TestStuff is activated, it is common practice to consider a fly valid if the player activates the parachute manually while still flying over the central object, and then descends to the other side.

Chamber Shopper

In a Chamber Shopper, the map is divided into several chambers, often with open tops and separated by a number of vertical pillars. The overall feeling of the game is akin to that of the flyshopper.

The FBA rule (see above) may apply.

Pod Shopper

This scheme's uniqueness lies in that the map consists of 2 or more separated pods. The players must go from pod to pod in order to collect a crate and to find a worm to attack. The games tend to be short, as lots of worms fall into the water accidentally or due to attacks. There are no specific rules whatsoever besides the normal Shopper rules, although KTL/ABL is sometimes omitted.

Moon Shopper

The only thing separating this scheme from Shopper, is that the players have to activate Low Gravity in the beginning of each of their turns.

Surf Shopper

In Surf Shopper the players must skim their worm across water onto an island to be allowed to attack. This creates a specific rule called SBA, meaning Surf Before Attack.

In order to be able to fire the rope after skimming on water, it is imperative to activate TestStuff.

Bungee Shopper

This is a Shopper with bungee instead of ninja rope, and maps designed for bungeeing around. Players must attack from bungee or during flying. The use of TestStuff is required.

Chute Shopper

A variant without ninja rope, and with maps designed for parachuting around. Players must attack from parachute.

Tunnel Shopper

A mix of Rope race and Shopper.

Speed Shopper

A Shopper with 10 or 15 second long turns.

Power Shopper

A Shopper with high power weapons and 15 second long turns.

Drive-by Shopper

The player has to make a lap around the map.

Loser Shopper

Shopper played on any map where you can't drown. First to kill all their own worms is the winner.

Crate Collector

A WWP scheme with WormPot's "Super Rope mode" and "Crates, crates and even more crates" settings are on.

See also

• WormNET Etiquette